Transparent: A Divergent FanFiction (Book One) ©

Chapter 12

                “What were they?” were the first words out of her mouth.

                “You knew,” I said instead; my voice hollow and stinging with betrayal. “How long?”

                “What did you get?” she insisted, her voice struggling to stay calm.

                “No! You don’t get to ask me that!” I surprised myself by answering back sharply. “You’ve kept things from me. You’ve lied, you’re a liar!” I accused.

                “Sage, tell me!” She demanded.

                “You, of all people, you? What else don’t I know? What else have you been hiding?” I prodded. “I’m not telling you anything until you come clean. I feel like I don’t even know who you are anymore!”

                Grabbing a hold of my arm, she yanked me inside and locked the door, and then she motioned for me to sit. I stood my ground though, and instead crossed my arms and went to stand by the window. She approached me slowly, her brow furrowed in concern, and instead of yelling at me as I’d thought she’d do, she hugged me. Wrapping her thin arms around me, whatever anger I’d felt vanished, and I found myself hugging her back.

                “I’m your mother Sage, that’s who I am,” she whispered into my shirt. “And you are my son, my little boy. I have hidden things from you, yes, but it’s been for your own good, for your own protection.”

                I nodded and felt the last of my angst disappear, instead replaced by more confusion. “Please tell me. I need to know. What is it that you’ve been hiding?”

                “Okay, I’ll tell you,” she finally answered after a moment of hesitation.

                “How?” I sighed, pulling away and sitting on one of the chairs in the kitchen. “We’re candor, honesty is everything. How did you manage to live this life with secrets hanging over your head?”

                She sat across from me and I saw her sit up, her eyes alert and her expression open. She was about to tell me the truth. Though, what did I now, she could be preparing to lie to me again and I’d never even know. All this time that I’d thought I’d seen her be honest; it had all been a ruse.

                “I love our faction, I believe in what we represent, and I used to think I was willing to give up anything for the truth to be known.” She brushed at her eyes. “But then I found the one thing I’d be willing to lie for. You’re father, he-“

                “He’s dead,” I cut in; not understanding where she was heading. “Car accident, remember? It was in the papers and everything.”

                She shook her head swiftly, her eyes burning with a fire I’d never seen before. “Yes, yes he is dead, but not because of an accident. He was murdered.”

                I didn’t answer for a solid minute as the information sank in. My mind connected the dots; adding one piece of information with the next. “He was Divergent.” I stated; no question in my voice.

                “Yes,” she nodded. “He was and he told me. I loved him and understood the danger of what he was because you see; his older sister was killed for that exact same reason. He was already being watched but we managed to live out of the radar for years, we even began to think the whole divergence incident had been forgotten.” She smiled and her hand found mine. “Mara was born, and then you followed shortly after. Everything was picture perfect, the image of the ideal family.”