Happy birthday Soina! Happy New Year everyone else!
*****
“Dead inside
My heart and soul flatlines
Put your mouth on mine
And bring me back to life”~ Dead Inside, Skillet
*****
It’s quite hard to measure time when you're (a) not the one with the watch (b) the only thing you can hear is silence, occasionally interrupted by your… I don’t even know what to call Callie anymore. Friend? Best-friend? Helper? Acquaintance? Anyway, she keeps flicking the strap of my comm watch back and forth, doing and undoing the clasp, turning on and off the little light so that it lights up her face in flashes, and watching her makes my eyes hurt.
But I estimate that’s it’s about twenty minutes before I hear a noise from outside the cell door. And it’s odd, because the plan we made with with Cara wasn’t supposed to be put into action until night time, and although, like I said, I don’t know how much time has passed, I’m pretty sure it’s not yet midnight; I can still see sunshine streaming through the window.
The door clicks open and… Jeanine Matthews steps through. I’m honestly shocked. Why is she here? I don’t understand.
“Hello, Amber Rose.” She runs her finger down my chin, making me shiver. “Don’t look so scared. Eric would kill me if I hurt you; he’s made that clear enough.” He has? Why? He’s done it himself enough times. “I’m just here to perform a few tests on you both.”
Callie stares at her. “Tests? On us? Why?”
Jeanine laughs, and the sound could freeze a heart, it’s so cold. “Oh dear, I think you know why.” Callie visibly gulps. Of course. Because Jeanine thinks she's Divergent. I wonder what she’ll do when she finds out that she’s wrong. I know one thing; Jeanine hates being wrong.
She turns to me. “And Amber Rose, as you well know, every experiment needs it’s control.” So I’ll be her guinea pig. Great.
“Shall we?” She opens the door for us, politely - as though we have a choice in the matter.
*****
I’m strapped down to an experimenting table. In the very corner of my eye, I can see Callie through the partition of a white curtain. Jeanine stands over me, papers in her hand and a confused expression on her face.
“Amber, these are your aptitude test results. Erudite. Everything on here directly conforms to the Erudite way of thinking. Candor is the complete opposite of all the answers that the test provides. Why would you choose it?” I don’t say anything, mainly because there’s a gag covering my mouth, but it’s not like I would explain my personal family life to Jeanine anyway.
She pulls out another sheet of paper from her stack of documents. “And these are your little friend Callie Rae Pierson’s. Completely normal. Candor. No sign of originality or of anything that doesn’t directly conform to normality. She’s not Divergent.” I know, Jeanine. I’m still trying to work out in my head why she would say such a thing.
“How did she break the control of the serum?” That’s a good question, Jeanine. And if you don’t know the answer, why would I?
“No matter. We could use two controls. A fair test is a good test, correct?” Correct. “We have two more Divergents available for testing. Unfortunately, the girl is injured, but the boy will do. Tobias Eaton…” she murmurs under her breath. “The Abnegation wonder boy with only four fears.” Only fours fears? I know how the Dauntless training works. That’s phenomenal. I struggle to break the gag, and strain to get my wrists out of the hoops and ropes holding them down. Nothing works. Tobias. They’ll kill him, or hurt him or worse; they’ll turn him into some kind of weapon against the resistance.
YOU ARE READING
Truth (a Divergent Fanfic)
Romance"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Amber Rose is a Candor initiate, an Erudite transfer and a liar. Struggling to fit in in a place she doesn't belong, how can...
