I Can't Hide The Fire Within (Divergent Fanfiction)

I Can't Hide The Fire Within Part 8

Hello! Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it!

“I’m sorry. I’m probably depressing you. Let’s change the subject.” Dean said, trying to shake off the fact that he had just revealed a very personal and sad truth about himself.

“I thought I told you not to apologise.” I said in a fake stern voice, whilst bumping my shoulder into his causing a small smile to flicker on his face. It wasn’t big, barely more than a twitch, but I still saw it. “And hey, we all need to rant about our factions occasionally. They aren’t perfect and we all hate at least one aspect of them.”

I just tend to hate more about mine than most. I think sourly to myself.

I know that I’m harsh on amity and it is actually a nice faction to be in, but it’s just hard to like a place when you never really feel at home there.

“Really?” Dean asked, looking for reassurance.

“Of course. An entire faction can’t all have exactly the same beliefs and likes and dislikes. They’d have to all be clones. They can agree on the majority of things but there will always be those who don’t like something. Every faction member is not like every other faction member, we’re all our own people and we just chose the faction that we fit in best.” I say, shrugging.

“So what do you hate about amity?” Dean asked me curiously.

“The conflict room.” I said quietly, whilst looking down at my fingers in my lap. They’ve started trembling. God I hated that room.

“What’s the conflict room?” Dean asked, frowning.

“Amity is all about peace. We don’t like confrontations and conflicts. So when there’s an argument or a fight, other faction members step in. They separate those involved in the altercation and they get sent off to the conflict room.” I say all this into my lap, not daring to look up. “There they get injected with a peace serum so that they calm down and no longer want to fight. It always works.”

“Wait! They drug you?” Dean asked incredulously.

I just nod.

“They can’t just do that! It’s wrong!” Dean protested. I was secretly quite glad by his reaction. In amity I seemed to be the only person who really had a problem with the idea of drugging people so that they got along.

“They can, and they do.” I say with a bitter laugh.

“Have ... Have you ever been drugged?” Dean asked cautiously, as though he didn’t know whether he was asking a really personal question or not.

“Yeah. More than most actually.” I admit. Much to my parents horror I had been taken to the conflict room 6 times and I always go kicking and screaming. I just can’t seem to control myself when I disagree with someone. Others of my faction will just let the different opinions slide or pretend to feel the same so that they don’t cause a fuss, but I just can’t do that. I try, but I can never seem to shut my mouth when I’m supposed to. My mother actually hit me when she first found out I had been taken to the conflict room. She couldn’t believe that I had humiliated her and my father that way. It’s rare for my parents to ever physically hit me, even they think that it was a stretch in beliefs to call hitting someone a means to reaching peace, but when I really angered them they would. She had slapped me in the face and given me the coldest glare I had ever received, called me an ‘embarrassment’ and left. “Most people in amity never have to be taken to the conflict room. They all just get along.” I say quietly.