Before Four [book one]

Ch.11

I was breathing hard, beads of sweat forming on my forehead.

"Beatrice Prior." They had called. My mother and father smiled at me, but I could tell they weren't as happy as they looked.

Caleb.

It was his choice, but I'm still kinda furious.

Forgetting about my brother, I found myself up at the crowd, hundreds, thousands of people staring at me. The stands of gray, red and yellow, blue, black and white, and then the pit of black. All eyes are on me.

I was handed a knife.

I was mostly terrified.

I've thought about my decision, but it's all too hard.

Abnegation.

Erudite.

Dauntless.

As I slid the knife across my wrist, I watched as the copper-red blood dripped onto the black coals.

My eyes shot open and I was sweating, a lot. And I was in a lot of pain, yet I couldn't feel anything.

That dream was about the Choosing Ceremony. The Ceremony that Tobias will go through in a couple days, and I will go through in two years.

I groan in pain as I weakly turn my head to the right and see Tobias sleeping away in a chair. The image of him is blurry. Wow, I am dizzy. I managed to sit up and just sit there. I don't remember much of what happened, but it was intense. It was sick. Tobias was getting beaten by his own father and I saw it. The belt and the scars and- no. It was too much. I also remember myself getting beaten to a pulp by Marcus. And now I know that Tobias has gotten rid of Marcus, for now, and has taken care of me when I was unconscious. I am in his bed, in his room. He is sleeping in a chair next to the bed and looks exhausted.

I sigh and attempt to stand up, leaning against the bed for support. I hop over to the wall by the bedroom door and sigh once again. I glance back at Tobias, and then down at myself.

Is it possible for all of your bruises and scratches to be gone in twenty-four hours?

I furrow my eyebrows, and manage to walk down the stairs.

I walk over to the kitchen, now realizing that I am starving. I walk over to the window over the sink and glamce outside. It's nearing pitch black outside. How long was I out? I go over to the tv and turn it on. The time pops up in the bottom right hand corner and I see that it's ten o'clock at night on Saturday. Marcus came here Friday, so that means I've been out longer than twenty-four hours. I sigh and turn the tv off, walking back into the kitchen and fixing a sandwich for myself. I start to put away the ingredients when a masculine voice scares me to death.

"Not gonna make one for me?" Tobias is leaning against the wall and smirking.

"I didn't want to wake you. You looked exhausted." I smiled at him. He smiled back, but still had bags under his eyes and he just didn't have that glow, I guess.

"It's fine. I'm fine. But how are you?" He walked over to me.

"Good, I guess. But there are no marks on my body, so I guess you're magical?" I chuckled and glanced at him from making his sandwich.

"I fixed them up a lot. I don't really know how it worked actually." He shrugs and chuckles too.

"Good thing it did." I finish making Tobias' sandwich and then hand it to him. He smiles and takes it from me and we eat in silence. After I'm done, I clean up my plate and then sit on the couch in the living room.