Free Four: Insurgent [Book 2] (ON HOLD)

2.

TOBIAS

  2.

  I WAKE UP THE NEXT MORNING, feeling refreshed, especially after washing up and putting on a fresh shirt. Red- the color of shirt I was provided. I'm not exactly a fan, I'll admit, but I pull it over my head and the cool fabric sends up a fresh smell to my nose. A knock comes at my door, and I assume it's Tris because I don't know who else would come to my door.

When I swing the wooden door open, I find it's not Tris, but a middle- aged woman with brownish hair and a comforting smile. I look at her blankly.

"You are Four?" she asks.

"Yes."

"You are supposed to come meet in a half hour for the decisions," she says. She doesn't have to explain what decisions- it's whether or not we will stay here or have to find a way to fend for ourselves while the next few days unravel. "And this is for the small girl, pain medicine," she says handing me a small bottle. "One dropper full every six hours." I take the bottle and she smiles and, not waiting for my reaction, walks away in a little scuttling motion.

I walk down the hall, remembering where Tris' room is. I knock on the door lightly. "Come in," I hear.

I open the door, and Tris sits at the edge of her bed, looking fatigued but much better.

"The Amity are meeting in a half hour." I say, pushing my eyebrows up, and leaning into the door a little dramatically, "To decide our fate." If anyone had ever told me that I would one day be dependant on a bunch of Amity- I would have punched them.

Tris shakes her head, and her long blonde locks slide comfortably around her face. "Never though my fate would be in the hands of a bunch of Amity," she says, giving a much more pleasant voice to my own thoughts.

"Me either. Oh, I brought you something." I undo the top of the bottle of pain medicine and hold out a dropper of the medicine- clear like water, but it smells like disinfectant cleaner. "Pain medicine. Take a dropperful every six hours."

"Thanks," she says, taking the medicine immediately. Her face pinches just a bit at the taste. I lean against the inside of the doorframe.

I try to see her how others see her, and not the Tris I see. Most would just see her as an unusually small Dauntless, though I see her as the girl I love and as one of the toughest people I know. Her friends see her as impressive, but still more fragile than she is. I think about how her family sees her. How her parents saw her. I wonder if they ever saw the Dauntless side of her before she chose. Probably not. She doesn't believe she's selfless, but she really is. To her parent's she was selfless, small, sweet… Beatrice.

I slide my thumb into one of my belt loops, "How are you, Beatrice?" I ask, trying out her old name on my tongue. It feels strange and foreign, but nice.

"Did you just call me Beatrice?" she asks, eyebrows lifted in confusion.

"Thought I would give it a try," I smile at her. "Not good?"

"Maybe on special occasions only. Initiation days, Choosing Days…" she says, and pauses, trying to think of more. I don't blame her, she's been a Dauntless officially for a day- less than a day- she wouldn't know all the holidays yet.

"It's a deal." I wish I could just keep talking to her lightly, but I need to know what's really going on in her head. "How are you, Tris?"

She seems to mull the question over in her mind, and her body clenches ever so slightly- I barely notice. "I'm…" she shakes her head, the natural light from the window reflecting off the long strands of her hair. She looks back up at me, and I beg myself to think of a way to take the look that she has now out and away so she doesn't have to feel it again. "I don't know, Four. I'm awake. I…" she continues to shake her head, as if that will help her clear her mind and jumble up the thoughts in her head so they will once again fall into place. But that is impossible. I walk over to her, wishing I could take the question back. I place my warm hand on her cold cheek, my thumb skimming over the corner of her lips, and I press one finger behind her ear, to move her head up, and I bend over to kiss her.