Shared Pain

Chapter Two- The Test

I was sitting in the cafeteria with Caleb. My back was burning and I couldn't do anything to help it.

We were waiting patiently for our names to be called for our test.

Caleb seemed really nervous. His face was flushed and he kept wiping his sweaty hands on his trousers.

Me on the other hand, I wasn't nervous at all. I wasn't a good Abnegation, I wasn't selfless. I was not staying here, anywhere but here.

"Caleb Prior".

Caleb stood and disappeared behind a door. He was going to be Abnegation. He was always kind and selfless, it came easy to him.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. It had been a long and uncomfortable night. Not to mention painful. I tried to relax, but it didn't work.

"Beatrice Prior".

I was called into a room a couple doors down from my brother.

I stood with difficulty and slowly walked towards the man at the door. It took all my strength and will not to wince.

"Follow me". The man said.

I did as she asked and followed her to a small room in which the walls were covered in mirrors. A lone chair was in the middle of the room, connected to a bunch of equipment.

"Sit". The man said.

I crossed my arms and starred at him.

He was an attractive man, short, ruffled, dirty blond hair, dark blue eyes, and he was built and muscular. He was in all black, had to be a Dauntless.

He glanced back at me and did a double take, probably confused or surprised that I was still standing.

"I said sit". He said harshly.

"Your not asking very nicely". I said.

I knew that this kind of attitude would gain me ten lashes, and I also knew that Marcus would hear of this, but hey, I was running off maybe an hour of sleep and my back hurt like hell.

"Sit down, or I'll make you".

I rolled my eyes and sat down.

My back strung and screamed in pain but I pushed through it and leaned back in the chair. The Dauntless man handed me a vile of clean liquid.

"Bottoms up". He said.

I gulped down the clean liquid and handed the vile back to him. My eyes slowly shut and the pain in my back drifted away as I slipped into my simulation.

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I was standing in the middle of an empty room, surrounded by mirrors. Looking around I noticed two baskets on the floor. In one basket was a block of cheese, in the other was a knife.

"Choose" a voice told me, but I didn't move. "Choose" the voice urged. I still didn't choose.

A low growl came from behind me. Slowly I turned around to see a dog, it's mouth turned up in a snarl. I spun back around to reach for the knife, but it was gone. My heart was beating at an un-natural rate. An idea popped into my head and I fell to my knees.

The growling stopped and I felt something rub into my hand. I look and see the dog rubbing into me as if it wasn't snarling and growling at me a moment ago. Joy filled me and I laughed.

"Puppy"? A girl came out of thin air and headed for the dog. The dig growled again and took off after the girl. I was right behind it. I flung my body forwards and landed in the dog, but instead of being sprawled out on the floor, I was in a train.

"Excuse me"? The man beside me asked. "Do you recognize thins man" he asked pointing to the picture on the news paper he was reading. I did recognize the man, but shook my head no.

"Please, if you do you could save my life"! The man pleaded. "No, sorry" I said. Then everything faded.

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My eyes fluttered open and I looked over to see the man tapping away at a computer.

"What was my result"? I asked.

"Abnegation". He said.

How? How was I Abnegation? I wasn't even close to selfless.

The man sighed.

"Dauntless and Erudite".

"Wha"?

"Your Divergent". He said

I had heard Marcuse talk about Divergent once. They were apparently not good to have around, most of them were factionless.

"Go home, say the serum made you sick". He said.

I stood up and brushed off my pants. The man pointed to a back door and I walked out that way.

Divergent. Gee, all I wanted was to not be Abnegation. Now look at me. Abnegation, Erudite and Dauntless.

And the best part? I knew exactly who I wanted to be.

I walked through the door to my house and was met by Marcus in the living area.

"Why are you home"? He asked.

"Serum made me sick, they sent me home". I said, shrugging.

Just then the message machine beeped on the wall.

Marcus' house is the only one that is aloud this machine because he needed to communicate with the office, being our head in government and all.

He tapped a button and a woman's voice played through the machine.

"Mr. Eaton sir, we would like to inform you that Beatrice Prior had been very rude to her tester".

The woman's perky voice said.

Marcus looked over at my, his eyes pooling with an angry glow.

He hit a button on the machine.

"Thank you Nancy". He said.

Marcus reached for his belt in one swift motion had it off.

My body shook slightly.

"Shirt off". He says flatly.

I slipped my shirt off and kneeled in front of him.

One lash.

Two lash.

I felt all my wounds from yesterday get deeper and old scares opened, as well as new cuts.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

I let out a sigh of relief before I felt another lash connect with my back.

He's never gone over ten before. Ten was enough to leave damage, but not enough to make me unable to function.

Nineteen.

Twenty.

The sides of my vision has stated to darken. I haven't passed out during a beating in forever. I had slowly gotten stronger, but now? I wasn't used to this many lashes.

Twenty four.

Twenty five.

He finally stopped.

I was on my stomach on the floor. I could see a small bit of blood around me on the floor. I started to black out, but before I did, I saw Caleb come in the door, he rushed to me and I gave him a faint smile before I went into darkness.