We Are Divergent

Chapter Thirty-Five

Tobias and I didn’t talk that night or the entire next day. I can’t stand being around him when he’s all sullen about being damaged. It doesn’t make sense. He of all people should know that he is just as strong as anybody else. I’ve talked with him about this so many times and he should be right beside me, fighting with me. That night I decided that I had to tell him I would be leaving soon. Despite his ignorance towards what I’ve tried so hard to explain to him, I still love him. I could die going into Chicago, and he needs to know.

When I saw him alone sitting on his cot I walked in, standing a few feet away from him. I hadn’t said a word to him since he told me I wouldn’t understand. “We need to talk,”

“Tris, are you still mad? I’m sorry, I-“

“I know, you are sorry. Doesn’t change the fact that you still think you’re damaged and you still wouldn’t listen if I tried to talk to you about it.” I said, crossing my arms. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m leaving the bureau. David showed me a recording of the city. They’re planning to bomb the bureau and David wanted to reset everybody. He wanted to reset the entire population, erasing everyone’s memories, in hopes of restoring the experiment. I talked him into letting me go in there and talking to them and I’m leaving in a day.”

He stood up, his expression outraged. “What? Tris, you can’t go in there you will get killed!”

“Maybe, but he’s getting together a huge army to back me up so I can make them listen.”

“But that might not stop them, it’s not worth risking your life!”

“Hell yeah it is! I would risk my life for the chance that everyone back there wouldn’t be reset. Are you even hearing what I’m saying?” I asked, throwing my hands up in the air. “Everyone! Our friends, children, lovers, they wouldn’t remember a thing!”

“Please, just stay, please.” He begged.

“Why? So you can sneak around here a little more and not talk to me?” I yelled.

“Fine. Why don’t you just let them erase everyone?” He yelled back. “They’re all damaged anyways! Let them reset me too! It would benefit the rest of the genetically pure world!”

I gasped. “I can’t believe you said that,” I whispered.

His face fell. “Tris, I didn’t mean that.”

I turned around, tears falling from my eyes and headed for the door. “Of course. And the United States also didn’t mean to mess up the genetics of half of the world. Both were accidents, but both couldn’t be taken back.”

I ran down endless halls, wiping tears from my face. What has happened to everything? I thought back to initiation, and how hard everything seemed back then. Who knew it could even get any harder? None of this would be happening if the bureau just realized that dividing people and restricting them wouldn’t create diverse people. It would create people who are fearful of doing something different then what they are told. Not everyone can be brave, but it doesn’t mean they are damaged. Everyone could be “divergent” if they were given a chance, who cares what our DNA says! Resetting memories and letting innocent people live in poverty isn’t the right way to purify our world.

I stopped running and stood in front of this odd statue like thing. It was a large, odd slab of rock with water dripping onto another slab of rock, drop by drop.

“Tris?” I heard from behind me. I turned around to see Uriah standing behind me. “Are you crying?”

“No,” I said, sniffling.

He snorted. “Yes you are. What’s the matter?” He stood beside me and stared at the odd statue also.

I decided to just tell him. “It’s Four. Zoe did genetic tests a couple of days ago, and she told him he wasn’t genetically pure. Ever since then he has been acting completely different. We barely talk and he acts like he is some broken damaged person just because his DNA says he is! He is strong and brave enough to alter simulations, and he has done everything that I have done, so I don’t know why it matters so much to him!”

Uriah’s eyes widened. “Wow. I had no clue that was happening.”

“Well it is, and things are different with us now. We had a big blow out. And it wasn’t one that we can easily solve, especially when he still thinks he is damaged.”

“I completely see where you are coming from Tris, he shouldn’t feel like what Zoe told him changes anything, but you should also try to think about how he is feeling. He sees how the genetically damaged people are treated, like in the fringe, and it makes him doubt himself.”

“It makes everyone doubt themselves, it’s disgusting! But he should know better than that.”

“Yeah,” He agreed. “he should. But I imagine it could be hard to be surrounded with the proof that you are supposed to fail. He must feel like he can’t do anything about it, like his failure is preplanned and written in his blood. These people act like the reason the people in the fringe do bad things is because of their DNA, when really they are just trying to survive, like everyone else in this world.” Uriah spoke.

I didn’t think of it that way… “I’ve tried to talk to him though! I’ve tried to explain, and he’s said so many hurtful things. I love him and we’ve always talked about things that bother us, and then he tells me that I don’t understand him, like we are suddenly so different.”

“I don’t know what to say. I can’t really fix that.”

I sighed. “I know you can’t, but you helped calm me down a little.” I gave him a hug. “You’re a good friend, you know that?”

He grinned. “Duh,”

I laughed a little. “Where were you headed before you heard me?”

“Oh, I was going to see Christina,”

I narrowed my eyes. “You like her,” He blushed and shook his head. “You know you like her, why do you both keep denying it?”

He waved me off with a flick of his hand, still blushing. “Bye Tris!”

I shook my head as he walked off. Things are so complicated. I’m really doubting that things will ever settle down. In a perfect parallel universe, the world would be normal, and Tobias and I would be fighting over things like children, and bills, and jobs, not over genetic purity. We are all diverse, and we all feel different parts of ourselves, despite what our DNA reads. I love him with all my heart, I really do. He is my other half.

 Suddenly I hear an explosion and realize that it is all around me. Maybe I am the explosion… It’s hard to tell anything apart when your mind is roaring and you don’t know if you are standing or flying, or breathing or crying. The last thought I have before my world finally goes black is that even if you do have another half of you, it is still hard to be a completely whole when everything around you isn’t.