My Divergent Life (Completely Fan-Fiction) Wattys2015

Chapter 17: Landscapes Aren't Fun

        "All initiates, get to the pit for final testing!" A male announcer yells. Today is the day I will go through my fear-landscape, I am ready. I've listened to everything Lamar has told me, whether it had to do with trust, not doubting myself, or advice, and I am prepared because of him.

        Lamar and I had decided to already be in the pit so I was ready.

        After a few minutes of waiting, the whole area was packed by initiates and Dauntless members.

        "Initiates!" Lamar shouts to get everyone's attention. "You are about to go through your fear-landscapes, you will enter them in order of how you are currently ranked. Because Mathew is ranked last, he will enter his fear-landscape first, and Jade will go last." Lamar pauses and looks around at us. "Are you going, Mathew?"

        Mathew hops out of his chair and jogs over to a hidden area, likely where everyone will go through their fear-landscape. I look at Lamar, he looks back at me for a few moments, then walks away. He doesn't follow Mathew's footsteps to the hidden area, I don't know why. Maybe he isn't aloud to, I'm not sure I care though.

        As everyone goes through their fear-landscapes, I think about what fears I could have in my landscape, not including the ones I've already faced. Screams and words and names are drowned out by my thoughts until I hear my name.

        "Jade." I recognize the voice, but no names come to my mind as I walk over to the hidden area Mathew disappeared to. I see a chair and familiar person. It's Zach, I remember now that the voice belongs to him.

        I sit in the chair and wait for Zach to inject me. I hear him say something but I can't comprehend his words. I open my mouth to ask him what he said, but I am already too far away from the real world to do anything. My eye-lids fall over my eyes and I am gone.

        My eye-lids flick open when I hear something creak. I am standing on a tall building, the wind is pushing me around. I know what this fear means and how to get past it. I fall to my knees from the wind, I don't try to get back up. I crawl over to the edge of the building and see the metal ladder I have used to get down every time. I turn myself around and lower my feet to a rung. I climb down a few rungs so I can get my hands on the ladder, I make sure I am holding the sides and not the rungs.

        After about 15 seconds of climbing down, the wind shifts my weight to the right, I ignore it and climb down faster. The lower I get, the softer it'll blow. I look down, idiotically, and fear stabs my side. I feel frozen. It isn't real. I remind myself. I continue to climb down until I am a few rungs from the bottom of the ladder. Then, the scene before me disappears.

        Seconds later I am tied to a tree, flames surrounding me, just not behind me. The flames rise, quicker than in the simulation, but I know what to do this time. With my heart beating rapidly, I kick the tree, it leans, I kick it again and again until I am laying down flat on it. The fire burns through the rope holding me against the tree and the rope tying my wrists together. I slide off the tree. When I land, the heat from the fire is no longer present to frighten me.

        A new scene appears, I am trapped by water. I don't know how to swim, I can't remember how I passed this fear in the simulations. I see a wooden deck likely used for fishing, my arms swing around, I can't think, I'm just trying to move.

        Suddenly, I feel water push me slightly towards the deck, then away from it. I try to remember what I was told to do if I wanted to swim, nothing comes to my mind. I lean forward and move my legs up and down to try to move towards the deck. After a few moments I realize that I am getting closer to the deck. Once I am close enough, I throw my arms onto the deck and pull myself up. I need to catch my breath, but I think my fear-landscape will not allow it.

        I am left in darkness for a few minutes as I wait for the next fear to ambush me. By the time the scenery of the next fear shows up, I have caught my breath.

        Suddenly, my arms are tied to my body and I am trapped in a cell, I haven't faced this fear before, I'll have to figure it out on my own. I can already tell the fear is being unable to escape. I try to extend my arms and break free of the chain, but I can't, it's metal.

        Then, I see a small flame coming from the corner of the cell, I walk over to it and bend down so the fire can burn through the chains. The metal turns red and burns my skin. It isn't real. I tell myself.

        After a few moments, the chain disconnects and falls from my body. The fear disappears and leaves me in darkness.

        Then, I see Lamar walking towards me. I don't understand, I'm not afraid of him, I look over my shoulder to see if anything behind me is useful. But there is only a bed. I look back at Lamar, he is right in front of me now. I look up at him. He takes my face in his hands and pulls my lips to his. I try to think about why Lamar is in my fear-landscape, but I can't think, my mind is blank.

        Lamar's hands slide from my face, down my arms, across my waist, and stop at my hips. I feel a few of his fingers press against my skin in between the hem of my shirt and the top of my leggings.

        His hands begin to slide up, not to just touch my skin, but to remove my shirt. I stop him with my hands and move them back down.

        Then, it hits me, my fear is not him, it is what he might want from me. I know I told him I didn't want to, but this fear is showing me that he might not hold back much longer, I can't do it.

        I pull away from Simulation Lamar, but he doesn't let me go far, he presses up against me and kisses down my neck and over my collar-bone. I feel him pull down the top of my T-shirt. I pull away again, placing a hand on his chest to stop him from pressing against me.

        "Stop, I can't, especially not in a simulation." I say. I don't look at him. I grab Simulation Lamar's arms and pull them away from me, I step back and walk away.

        A moment later I hear sobbing, the fear where I must either kill my family or be killed. I turn around to see them, my whole family, my father staring at me while the rest of them cried. I feel something cold nudge the back of my hand, a gun. I grab it and lift it so it is aimed at the wall between my brother and sister. This isn't real, they won't die. None of them.

        I move the gun around and look at the floor beside me, I know it's aimed at one of them, but I can't tell which.

        "I love you." I say.

        I squeeze the trigger, and this fear ends with a bang.