belligerent

Stolen Key

The whole world spins like a top infront of my eyes. The deadline is staring us right in our faces and we have no plan to stop them. 

A month. Only a handful of weeks for us and there is so much on our agenda. We don't have soldiers and if David finds about Nita too soon, we are already damned. I shake my head to concentrate. We need to be ready to fight, even in small numbers.

From the corner of my eye, I see Caleb laughing hard, his hands covering his mouth. Behind him Tris grins with her teeth carelessly. Her smile touches her eyes and it's been long since she actually laughed out loud. 

"You had no idea how much mad Dad was!" Caleb snorts. "You kept cutting his Abnegation Tshirt and offered it to Mum to sew it again for you." He smiles wider and Tris joins him. "Mum got caught with you and you had a long break before she thought of teaching you how to sew it again." 

I stop, listening to their chuckles dissolve into smiles. Mostly because I don't want to go back to my room and also that I would rather prefer to hear them laugh than endanger my life with Zeke or Christina. 

"How did she die, Caleb? Why did she had to leave in the first place?" Tris asks, persistent on getting her answers. Caleb hesitates for a moment. 

"She died for you." I speak up, startling Caleb. He turns and finds me facing him. I hope he doesn't assume I was sneaking at them. 

"For me?" Her eyes turn sad and teary, like she was never worth saving for. 

"Yes." I insist. "She died for you to save you. Because she loved you. And so did your dad." I say. I realize, at that moment, we never told her legendary story of how she saved the whole Chicago and the people but could'nt save herself. This is wrong. She should know about her past by starting from her story. The story she wrote for herself.

I'll remember to mention that to Christina to k0zeep that in check. 

"Well, I should probably leave." I say and walk out the room. "Four! Wait!" Tris calls and runs to catch up to me. 

"You okay, Tris?" I ask because she's feels too erratic and anxious than before. I eye her suspiciously but she doesn't react. 

"Yeah. Totally." She pants and her hand touches my palm. We both halt. I sense colour rushing to her cheeks which looks adorable on her. Instead of acting oblivious to her reaction, I grab her hand without shame and squeeze it lightly. 

"Are you sure?" I halfly tease while the rest is actually worried. "You look red. I mean pale!" Her smile vanishes and she really looks red. Oh, how much I love to see her blush. 

"No, I was wondering if you ever saw my mother." She looks up, her eyes full of hope. "Have you?" She sneeks a look at our hands and wraps her fingers closer to mine. I try not to smile. 

No, I haven't seen her mother in person. Only once and even then, she didn't know who I was. Tobias Eaton, a weakling who fleed from Abnegation to Dauntless to run away from his dad to save his pathetic life. And when he meets an Abnegation Council Member, he couldn't even make a good expression on her with his new identity. 

"I'm sorry, but I haven't." i say, appologising. She shakes her head. "It's okay. Even I don't remember my mother." She doesn't laugh because it doesn't seem a joke to us. It's a serious matter. She can't forget her mother, like she forgot me. 

"Hey guys!" Christina yells from behind. "Christina?" Tris lightly seperates her hand from mine and steadies her. I'm surprised she isn't acting all vulnerable now. More like she can stand on her own; independant. I prefer her that way. 

"I have an announcement." She exhales. "Christina..." Concern covers my face as she stands stiff with her panting breaths. "We all have have conceded the idea proposed by Lynn that we all should practice fighting." 

"Fighting? Why?" I ask. I don't see oursleves as good soldiers and neither as vulnerable pigeons. We can fight yet, we're not that expert. 

"Because it's been a while since we punched something." Christina's eyes shift to Tris. "You need to learn how to fight too. And really quick. You may not know when you will find yourselves in trouble." Her comment wasn't meant to discourage Tris but she coils like it's her fault she is weak. 

My shoulders tense but Christina laughs. "Looks like I can use Tris for now." She winks at her. "Don't worry, you''ll be great at fighting. Trust me." Her laugh breaks the tention and the trott off to the next hallway. 

Tris looks back at me last time and mouths a bye. She turns around and disappears in the hallway. It's okay. I have another job to do. 

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"Ezekiel Pedrad! I demand you to open your door!" I shout at his room. He sleeps in his own bedroom now, since he recently found his keys. The door jiggles and soon Zeke emerges in lousy clothes and  dishevelled hair. 

"Four? Is that you?" He rubs his eyes. 

"Pardon me for ruining your beauty sleep but Shauna is calling you in urgent" The sarcasm is light yet it makes Zeke contort his face. 

"Aw, man! I already ran out of my soaps. How is she even-" He runs towards the hallway and he's gone. With a heart of a lion, I peak inside Zeke's room. 

It's wrong. Part of me says. You have to pay your debt. The other argues. It is still wrong! The first complains. I can't quite come to the terms to actually steal Zeke's keys and give it to Peter. Zeke will notice it. Besides, Peter isn't good enough to entrust him with the keys. What will he do? 

I walk into his room. The keys are jammed into the keyhole, an extra hanging from it's loop. I can have the key! 

I will have the key. But I do not know what my action will lead to now.