Truth (a Divergent Fanfic)

Chapter Thirteen

Heylo people and other people and more people!

I realise that I haven't updated in ages (guilty face), but I've been SUPER busy and also just basically working out where Truth is going (I've sussed the ending now - yay)

But today. Today my friends, we have an update (cue the aplause and the trumpets).

And the last thing that I have to say before I let you read Chapter Thirteen, is that this (long awaited) chapter is dedicated to my maths-buddy and fandom-friend Grace, who does not, regretfully, yet have Wattpad (I did TRY to convince her, people, but it didn't quite work).

Anyway, rest assured that she is still a true fan : D and that the ending of Allegiant tore up her insides as much as they did anyone elses.

Rock on, Grace, rock on.

P.S. This isn't edited, only spellchecked, and on some parts, not even that. Please don't hate me.

*****

"Love has four letters, but so does hate.

Lives has five letters, but so does dying.

 

Friends has seven letters but so does enemies.

Truth has five letters, but so does lying."

*****

My footsteps thud on the floor, my heart pounds against my ribcage and, apart from these sounds, the only thing I notice is how there is just not enough room in my lungs for the air I need to breathe. The steps seem busier than I know they really are as I run up them at a pace, because each and every person is an obstacle in my way, preventing me from reaching my bed. I fling the door open and it hits the wall behind it with a crash, causing the people walking the corridors to stare in shock but I’m too anxious to care about anything else right now – and I’m a crazy psychopath on a mission so who cares if it’s loud?

My darting eyes take a second to focus in their frenzy, landing first on the black and white walls and ceiling before my gaze bounces onto the bed. It’s a letter. My heart rate starts to slow; maybe it will be bad news, but ultimately it’s still just a piece of paper. I force my mouth and nostrils to make normal breathing motions – in, out, in, out.

Letters aren’t common in today’s day and age because of what Abnegation knows about waste ad because of the technology that Erudite have spent generation after generation painstakingly developing. But one lies on my bed regardless.

It crosses my mind to wonder how it got there, but then I see the Dauntless seal and I freeze. Is it Eric? Is he all right? As much as I pretend I don’t care about him, I do, I really do; he’s my brother and he’s been a constant figure in my life, whether for good or bad. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one that sees the real him, even if the real Eric is more twisted than the image he projects outward, and it’s kind of gratifying to know that I’m the only one he can be himself around, even if it’s worse when he is.

Slowly, my hands reach for the letter the way a child might reach for a burning flame – drawn in, seduced by its dangerous beauty but reflexively flinching away in shock and mental pain as soon as my hand makes contact with the thick creamy paper. This letter is as likely to burn me as a flame is – or maybe even more so. A burn stings badly, but at least it has not, cannot harm anybody else. My brother as Dauntless leader… well, I’m not so sure any more.