near north side//peter hayes

16

I wake up to a loud knock on my door. Peter sits up looking concerned. I get up and slip his shirt over my head. When I open the door it's Eric.

"What's up?" I ask him.

"It's one of the initiates. I figured you would want to know. Al jumped into the chasm," Eric tells me.

I'm only partially surprised. I knew Al was weak. I knew he wasn't going to make the cut, but I think I always assumed he would just live factionless.

"Let me put on some clothes," I tell him.

I head back into my bedroom.

"More leadership problems?" Peter questions.

I take a deep breath. "There isn't an easy way to tell you this, but Al's dead."

Peter looks surprised. "What? What happened?"

"From what we know he jumped into the chasm," I tell him. I slip on a pair of pants. "I have to handle this. There will be a funeral today. You don't have to go unless you want to. You can stay here until then."

I make my way down to the chasm. There are only a few people milling around, it's still early. Eric already got a few guys to fish Al's body out. As they are working on pulling him up more people are gathering around watching. In the front of the crowd is a mascara streaked Christina and a barefoot Tris.

Eventually a huge, dark shape appears above the ledge, and a few Dauntless rush forward to help the two men haul it over. The shape falls with a thud on the Pit floor. A pale arm, swollen with water, flops onto the stone. I look up and see Christina pull herself tight to Tris' side, clinging to her arm. She turns her head into Tris' shoulder and sobs. Tris doesn't look away.

A few of the men turn the body over, and the head flops to the side. The eyes are open and empty. And the nose has a high arch, a narrow bridge, and a round tip. The lips are blue. The face itself is something other than human, half corpse, and half creature.

People start to murmur.

"One of the initiates."

"What happened?"

"Same thing that happens every year."

"He pitched himself over the ledge."

"Don't be so morbid. Could have been an accident."

The sight sends shivers down my spin. I stood in this same spot last year when Alina did the same thing. She had dropped in the rankings just like Al and she had seen no way in recovering. All thought with her there was no question of it being an accident. She left me a letter. For the longest time I beat myself up over it. If I had just heard her I could have stopped her. If I was nicer to her. If I had just let her beat me in a fight. I know now that none of that really made any difference.

"They found him in the middle of the chasm. You think he tripped over his shoelace and... whoopsies, just stumbled fifteen feet forward?"

I kneel next to Al and push his eyelids shut. Trying to make it look like he's sleeping, maybe. I know it's stupid. Death isn't sleep.

I stand up and see Tris sink to the ground taking Christina with her. Tris presses both palms to her chest and rocks back and forth.

Someone brings a large black bag to put the body in. I can tell that it will be too small.

Tris clamps her mouth shut, and it sounds like she groans. She pulls her arm free and stands, leaving Christina on the ground. She runs and I run after her.

"Tris," I call out her name. She stops running and looks at me. "Come with me."

She doesn't say anything as she follows me up to my office. I haven't spent much time here since initiation started again. I open the door and let her walk in first. She looks around for a moment.