Writer Games: The Final Twist & A Night in Wattpad Manor & Faction Wattpad

The Betrayal: Austin Hawke

I thought it would be  Aidan. As soon as they told me one of my family members was facing  Factionless life, I thought it would be her. After all, she would be the  one of us to do something stupid in the name of her own wishes. She was  always the one who did that. I was in hysterics, prepared to fight like  hell to keep her in her Faction. After all, she had earned it. She had  passed. I was ready to lose my place in Abnegation to keep her in  Candor; if that wasn't selfless that I didn't understand what was. They  can tell me I'm selfish all they want because fighting for her is more  important.

So when I walk into the  small room where they told me I'd meet my loved one, I'm shocked to see  my mother sitting in front of me. My lawful, mostly-rule abiding mother  is sitting there with thick shackles on her wrists. I stand there  dumbstruck for a moment before the officer in the corner clears his  throat.

I'm tempted to tell him  to go screw himself but it would be selfish to take my anger out on him.  It's not his fault that my mother has done something wrong. I sit down  and stare her questioningly. I know I'm not supposed to be curious, so I  won't ask. And if she doesn't explain, in going to leave. I'm going to  leave her behind the way I should've the day I spilled my blood on those  stones. Faction before blood.

"Austin... Austin, it's  not what they say! It's not what they think! You have to help me!" She  already starts with the yelling and demanding. We haven't even said  hello yet.

I don't respond, I just  frown. I don't want to play the game where she asks me to cover for the  things she's done. We did that too much when I was a child. 'Tell Daddy  you broke the picture, it wasn't my fault' she whispered to me when she  broke a picture of my parents that Father had said not to touch. I still  have the scar on my shoulder from where he hit me.

"Austin, I didn't steal  anything! I didn't do it! I wouldn't do it! You know I wouldn't!" Mother  was pleading but it wasn't the desperation that made me snap my eyes up  to her face, it was what she said.

Stole something? My  mother is a thief. I wait for the shock to come but it doesn't. It  sounds like her, she did whatever she wanted to get what she wanted. She  made us the same way, Aidan and I. She told us it was okay to take  things as long as you put them back.

"I don't know anything.  It sounds like something you'd do. Why don't you tell me what happened?"  I say calmly and quietly to mask the anger that's running through me  right now. She's wasting my time. I know she did it. I know she's lying  to me and it hurts. It hurts to listen to your own mother lie straight  to your face.

She looks at me like I'm  a demon. Her eyes are full of tears and they seem to bore a hole in my  soul. She's trying to guilt me into believing her. Or maybe she's not. I  can't be sure anymore. For an ex-Candor, she's a good liar. Another  lie... If Aidan hasn't pressed a note into my hand when she left I  wouldn't have known. I wouldn't have read that she lied to us. She  always lies.

"They said that I stole  files from Erudite! They said that I'm giving stuff to Dad to mess with  the system! It's lies! I wouldn't do it, Austin you know I wouldn't do  this after what happened before! You have to believe me!" She grabs my  hands and her handcuffs did into my wrists too. I pull my hands away  like she burned me. I've even developed the Abnegation hatred of being  touched...

It does sound  farfetched. Not the stealing files part, I'm sure she would do that if  she was given the chance. The part where she gave them to Father. If she  was passing information on to him, why would she be the only one here?  Why wouldn't he be facing Factionless life? This is all on her. Unless  it's not...

"Is he the one who gave  you away? Is the one who accused you of doing something wrong?" My voice  is barely a whisper, as it has been since I donned my grey clothes. I'm  not sure I like my voice when it's quiet. My mother is loud. My sister  is loud. I'd be lost in the roar of their voices if Aidan was here.

Her angry eyes just  stare ahead. She knows I'm the smarter of the twins, that I'm not going  to be tripped up by her lies. But she also knows I'm the one that will  want to believe her.

"Austin I didn't do  anything! I didn't do anything! Dad doesn't have anything, I didn't give  anything to him! Tell them I didn't do it! TELL THEM I WOULDN'T DO IT!"  She slams her hands on the table and yells. I just cringe, I can't help  it. I hate her yelling at me. I've always hated it. But I can't even  yell back anymore.

I want to tell her yes.  That I believe her, that I'll fight for her. After all, wasn't I  prepared to do that when I thought it was my twin? Wasn't I prepared to  give up my life in a Faction for her? This is my mother, I should be  prepared to do anything for her. But I find myself doubting the words  that are about to come out of my mouth. After all, she's lied to me for  so long. Little lies and big ones. Who's to say she's telling the truth  now?

"Say my name..." I  whisper, hot tears starting to well up in my eyes as I look down at the  table. It's been bothering me ever since I read Aidan's note. People  know who we really are. But I'm sure my mother- the woman who raised us  and knew us more than we knew ourselves- doesn't know.

"Austin. My daughter Austin." She says dismissively. It hurts even though she doesn't know it.

"You're wrong. And  you're also a liar. You may not have given anything to Dad but you're  not innocent. I'm not wasting my time any more." I lean forward and  whisper in her ear before standing up and turning my back.

It might be wrong. She's  my mother after all. But she's a liar. And she's hurt me more than she  could know. It may be stupid to condemn her based on things she did to  me as a child but I'm not just saving myself. I'm saving Aidan from  having to go through this with her. I'm letting my mother be punished  for her own good. And that's selfless enough for me.

Mother screams at me as I  leave, terrible nasty things. But she says what I wanted to hear. I  smile as I walk away to leave her with her fate, no matter how horrible  that may be. No matter how much of a betrayal this is. Faction before  blood after all.

She called me Aidan.

That is, before she called me a bitch.