All for You.

Chapter Five - A Promise

Chapter Five - A Promise

•••• Violent themes in the form of a flashback occur in the italicizes part between the + signs please read appropriately ••••

-- Cara

You can tell she doesn't recognize the leg she sees.

Part of me wants to know what's going through her head, but the other half of me could give paid to be told what is.

"Tris, you're going to have to relax, okay? Your leg isn't healed enough for you to move it, and I could unintentionally hurt you, or you could hurt yourself if you do. I have to take your stitches out, but I promise you it won't hurt."

Her whole body is tense, watching Marie's every move as she moves the medical scissors near the thin black thread holding her leg together.

The second the metal of the scissors touches her leg, she jumps. Luckily, Marie knew what she was doing, for she knew not to cut the first time the metal touched her.

Tris breathes heavily, her chest rising and falling as if she was being stabbed over and over.

"Hey," I say quietly, turning her head to meet mine with a light touch of my finger. "Tell me what's going through your mind."

"Metal." She says in a strained tone.

"What about it?"

Marie has grown still, seeing what I am doing.

Tris stutters on her words. I'm unable to understand what she's trying so hard to say.

"Shhh." I push some hair out of her face to see her eyes tightly closed.

"Metal almost killed me." She croaks, barely comprehensible.

"But this one won't," I tell her.

"It hurts." She exclaims, tensing her body in a different direction.

"What does?" Marie asks.

Tris doesn't answer, her heavy breathing resuming its pattern from before.

"Tris," I say in a stern, quiet tone. "Tris. Look at me. Open your eyes."

"Please, no." She flinches.

+

"You know what happens when you speak up, Beatrice." He says, looking into her eyes.

Looking at her, I see her standing her ground, staring back.

I wish she would look away; for her own sake.

"Why do you never seem to understand?" He says, unlocking the cell and barging in.

He gets down to her level on the ground for she is unable to stand from the amount of metal in her leg.

Metal bullets he put there.

I see her tense under the tattered brown shirt with gaping holes in it. She went from strong to scared in a matter of seconds.