E.A.T.O.N.

Chapter 8

We walked down to the choosing ceremony together, me, my mother and my father. It was exactly the same as it had been 4 years ago, just this time we were missing a significant member of our party.

I still miss her. How can I stop missing her? Will I ever be able to stop missing her? I have no idea at all. Tears welled up in my eyes, but before they had a chance to fall I brushed them away with the heel of my hand. I couldn't cry in front of my parents. And also, I didn't want my eyes looking red and puffy for when I first meet my fellow Abnegation members. Clearing my mind and entering a state of peace, I scurried after my parents, who were waiting at the bus stop.

On bus.

Look at view.

Sigh.

Look at view again.

Glance at parents.

Continue to look at the view.

Off bus.

The bus journey seemed to stretch out for hours. Years. Millenniums, possibly. All the nerves that I'd been trying to hard to push aside were surfacing again, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop them. My hands were shaking when we finally stepped off the bus into the cool, fresh air. Actually, I wouldn't call the air fresh. Industrialised was more like it. Factories loomed in the distance, skyscrapers towered over me. Lights lit up the compound in every direction. It was strange. It was Erudite.

Waking down to the Hub was daunting to say the least. I told myself that it looked lovely and that Anna must be having a great time, but in reality I was scared for her. Everyone wore glasses and lab coats. Everywhere you glanced there were books. Computers. Knowledge. How could she do this to herself? I had no clue.

"We're here Marcus." I heard my dad say from beside me.

At the sound of those words I stopped, my eye-line dancing upwards to the top of the building. Someone was peering out the crystal clear window, looking down on us. They were female, that's pretty much all I could tell about them because they were at such a high altitude. But suddenly, it was as if my eyes had become finely tuned to the height and I focused in on the women.

Tall, but not too tall.

Blonde hair. Or was it brown?

Dazzling blue eyes.

"That women up there looks a lot like Anna, don't you think?" my mother took the words right out of my mouth.

Those blue eyes were unmistakeable Anna's.