Just Another Experiment

Chapter Three

Trance is waiting for me at the bus stop. Everyone who is sixteen stand in silent. All the little ones are chatting with each other.

    The bus creeks to a stop and opens the doors. I sit in the front like always but Trance sits next to me. I look at him. His eyes look worried but he looks fine. "Ok. What is up?" I ask. He takes a deep breathe. "Remember what our..." He pauses and clears his throat. He tries again. "Remember what our fathers said before...." He stops there. I know what he going to say. Before they died. A lot of people died going to the outer city-including my father and his. I just stare at my hands. I decide to finish it for him. "Before they died they said "Decide on what's best for you even if it is selfish. It is more important than the selfless answer." I stop there going no farther. I haven't thought about that for a while. I look at Trance. He is nodding while looking at the seat. We both don't talk about our fathers a lot. I clear my throat. "Do you already know your answer?" My voice sounds high which I wish it didn't. "I really don't know." He replies finally looking at me. We stare at each other for a second. Then I nod. "Me too." I finally say.

    We wait in the hallway tell our names are called. Trance sits next to me where our faction sits at. I wipe my hands again. I place them on the floor and close my eyes. I just sit there for a while then something strange happens. Trance moves his hand on mine. I stay frozen. In Liberal we don't do stuff like that. You only do that inside of your homes and if you are married.

He laces his fingers between mine. I could feel his hands trembling. He is as nervous as I am. I open my eyes and look at him. He is already looking at me. Not even looking, he is staring at me. He looks from my eyes to my nose to my mouth. He leans in close to my ear. "Remember to chose what you like. Not to chose the one everyone else is saying." I open my mouth to say something but then his name is called.

He squeezes my hand and gets up. I am still in shock. I watch him go near the bowls. Someone offers him the knife but I can't tell who it is. He slices his hand and takes a step forward. He puts his hand out and puts it over the Stalwart bowl. His blood drips and sizzles in the bowl. I stare at him with open eyes. My friend Trance was one of the most selfless person I know and he chose Stalwart. He walks over there with his head held high. I hear mumbling from the Liberal people and I see smiles and some frowns from the Stalwart. Why are they frowning? They got a new member.

My name is called. I wipe my hands and stand up. I slowly walk over there. Someone from Rational puts there foot out to trip me. I quickly jump over there foot and continue to walk.

    I see who the person is. I could tell right away that she is from Stalwart. She is wearing a black dress and red lipstick. She has blond hair and blue eyes. Her hair is tied up in a ponytail. She offers me the knife and I cut my hand. It stings but I push the pain aside. I will stay with my family. I will, I will, I will? I put my hand out with my eyes shut. I hear sizzling and I open my eyes. My hand is over the Stalwart bowl. It is sizzling on the coal. I smile in the inside like I knew that was my answer but I am frowning. I walk behind the Stalwart initiates that chose to stay at their faction. I stand right beside Trance. We give each other glances once in a while until all the ceremony is done.

    I wait a while before we start running toward the stairs. I am already breathless. Why did I choose this faction? We run up the stairs to the top floor. The initiates that chose their faction are sprinting. I have to run twice as fast to catch up with them.

    We jump to several buildings but they aren't that far apart. Then we come to two buildings that are about ten feet apart from each other. The initiates jump like they done this thousands of times. They probably have. I sprint and jump. I will make it, I will make it, I won't make it. My hand catches the ledge. My feet are dangling in the air. I gasp. People are going right past me. I also can't believe that Trance was one of those people. I try to pull myself up. One of my hands loses its grip. A girl stops and looks at me. She was a transfer from Tranquil. She pulls me up right before I fall. "Thank you" I say it with a gasp. She nods and we start sprinting to catch up with the others. They all stop.