Fictional Afterlife

Chapter 2

And that day comes back in a whirlwind. It was him or me. I could've shot him in his hand or his leg. I could've kept him alive. But, I chose myself instead. I let him die. I saw the life leave him. And now he's standing in front of me, like nothing even happened.

"Tris, what are you doing here. Well, I can kind of guess. What happened?" He looks sad. For me. Me. The girl who took him away from life, and sentenced him here.

"I-I'm sorry," I say. Tears singe my eyes. "I'm so sorry."

The next thing I know, his arms are wrapped around me, holding me in a tight embrace.

"You are the bravest person I know. You did what you had to do. It's okay. Now what happened?"

I recapped everything to him. When I said Christina's name, he flinches like flames licked his skin. When I'm done he pulls me to him, and let's me break down into his chest. I never wanted to leave Tobias. I wanted to die, I would've greeted it with open arms. But, in those final seconds I knew I wanted to live and experience everything with Tobias. To feel his lips kissing my collarbone. Now, Will and I have something in common: we had to leave the person that we love the most. The three teenagers in the room just awkwardly look at their shoes. Will, gives me a hug and says he wants me to go on a tour with one of the boys here. Before he leaves, I catch his arm.

"Why did you forgive me," I ask sheepishly. He stares at me for a few moments before he speaks.

"If I were you, I'd shoot me too." Then he disappears. A different boy appears. An unlit cigarette is perched in his mouth and his blue eyes spark with life.

"My name is Augustus Waters," he says.

"I'm Tris Prior," I reply. He motions for me to follow him. I hesitate, but follow him anyway. He stops in front of a large, circle of crystal.

"This is the orb. You can look down on your loved ones to see how they're doing. It hurts but at least you know they're okay. We all come here; some more than others. It's too much for some of us. Fred over there apparently didn't check on his family for a year after what happened. It was too much for him to handle." I walk over to the thirty foot stone cold crystal orb. The image flickers to a girl. She has various IVs in her arms and she's got tubes in her nose.

"You see that girl with the pixie haircut? The one in the hospital bed? That's Hazel Grace Lancaster. She gave my an infinity in a number of days. But I think she'll be joining us soon."