Resurgent: A Divergent Story//editing

Chapter 38

- Al -

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I lay awake, not able to sleep. The events of these past few days have been awful. It feels like it was so long ago that I saw my name was on top of the rankings for stage one of initiation. First, Hector tells me he loves me, and I don't say it back. Then, Hector jumps, I mean is pushed, off the chasm. Next, we all find out that Kevin did it, and then, Kevin kisses me. And now, we have to go back to initiation.

My alarm wakes me up, I hadn't even realized I fell asleep. I rub my eyes, and I look over at the rest of the just waking initiates. I see Maci is braiding Jenna's hair, Jo is still in bed, Jordan and Tommy are walking towards the showers, and thankfully, Kevin is nowhere to be seen. I quickly get up and get dressed into black leggings and a black tank top. I walk into the bathroom, and brush my hair. I pull it into a ponytail as Jo slumps into the bathroom, looking like a zombie. I laugh as she stumbles over her her own feet. She sends me a glare, but I ignore it and walk out of the bathroom.

When I come into the dorm, Kevin is standing there, with two coffees. I try to pass him, but he stands right between me and the door.

"Hey, Al." He smiles.

"Move out of my way." I say, not wanting to hear any excuses from him.

He smirks again, "Well, someone isn't a morning person."

"What do you want?" I rudely say, but I don't care.

He smirks again, "I brought you a coffee," he says, and when i give him a look saying seriously, he says, "as a friendly gesture."

I take the coffee, not because I accept the offer, but because I need to wake up, and caffine sounds so good right now. I push past him, with the coffee in my hand, and head down the halls to the room we used to play in. I hear Kevin coming from behind me, but I don't turn around. I think of all the times we used to play truth or dare in that room. We were in there so many times, I could get to it from anywhere in the compound with my eyes closed. I used to have so much fun in there, and now I'm terrified to enter it.

I push open the door, and benches line the border of the room. I am the only one in here, so I sit in the middle of the bench on the right side of the room. Kevin walks in right after I take my seat, and thankfully sits directly across from me. Even though he on the other side of the room, he is still about three feet away from me.

I take a sip of my coffee, and lean my head back against the wall behind me. I am so nervous, I can feel my leg shaking. Kevin looks like he is going to say something, but Jo, Claire, Maci, and Jenna walk in. Kevin smiles, and Jo and Jenna sit on my sides.

"I got you a bagel", Jo says, "Since you left so early."

"Thanks," I say, and shove the bagel in my mouth. I finish it in three bites, and the rest of the wait is silent.

Once we are all in the room, Me, Kevin, Jo, Claire, Maci, Jenna, Jordan, and Tommy, Amar walks through the door at the other side of the room.

"Everyone is here except Hector." Amar says, looking at his clipboard.

Jo is the first one to say, "'R, he's not coming. He's still in the hospital."

Before Amar can respond, the door that we all came in is opened, and in walks Hector. He has an air cast on his leg and a cast on his arm, but other than that, he looks pretty good. I smile at him, and he smiles at me. Jo notices that Hector needs to sit, so she stands up, leaving the seat next to me empty. He sits down, and I give him a quick kiss on the cheek. I look at Amar, and he doesn't look back at me.

"Okay, so today is the first day where you wil face your fears," Amar says.

Maci looks at Amar like he just told her she has to jump off the Hub building without a parachute. "Face our fears?" She asks.

"I can't say anymore than I just did." He looks at all of us. "First, Claire."

Claire looks up, and her mouth is open, she looks at Jordan, and he winks at her. She follows Amar into the room, and I gulp, I have never been so scared in my life.

After Claire, Jordan, Tommy, and Maci have gone, Amar opens the door. "Al."

Hector gives my hand a squeeze and I stand from the bench. I walk through the door and into the room. Amar stands there and types some things on his computer. He motions for me to sit down in the chair, and I do. I have to grip the handles on the chair to keep my hands from shaking.

"Al, this is going to be fine, you just have to calm down, and it will be okay." He says, and I shake my head. He puts a little thing on my forehead, and one on his and then he types more on his computer. He inherited the computer skills from Dad, and I got none of it. You couldn't have me do something on the computer if my life depended on it.

He presses more buttons, then gives me a cup with a clear liquid, and I drink it, then all I see is darkness.

When I open my eyes, I am no longer sitting on the chair. I am standing in a tiny box, just big enough for me to fit in, dangling from over 100 feet up. I look around through the clear box, and laugh. I am not afraid of hights or confinment, like my dad. Then, I feel a drop of water on my head, or what I think is water, but water doesn't crawl around, or have eight legs. I swipe it off my head, and there is a huge spider on the ground. I shriek at the top of my lungs. I try to smash the glass but it won't break, even if it does break, I will drop over 100 feet to my death. Another ten spiders fall, and i stifle a scream. Then I think to myself, spiders can't hurt me, they're tiny. I look down, and the spiders grow. Crap. I start crushing the spiders, but every time i crush one, ten more appear. I stop moving when the spiders are up to my knees. What am I going to do?

Then a spider bites my finger, and blood starts to spill from it. I scream in pain, and finger starts to swell. Another bites me and I scream, then I realize, I can block out pain. I take a deep breath, and the pain just fades. I think to myself, What did Amar say when he told me I was Resurgent? Amar. He put me in the simulation. This isn't real. I smash the glass below me, and I fall.

I sit straight up in the chair in the simulation room. I am breathing really heavily, and Amar looks at me.

"What?" I ask him when I catch my breath.

"Al, that was insane, how long do you think you were in there for?" He asks.

"Twenty minutes?" I guess, watch it have been more like an hour.

"Al," Amar says, "You were in there for one minute and fourteen seconds."