Momma's Little Soldier

Chapter 22

I thought saying bye to Damion was hard the first time, but boy was I wrong, completely wrong. "Don't give me that look Sunshine, because if you start crying, I'll start crying and I almost positive that no one here wants to see me cry." He is right, he is an ugly crier. I took a deep breath and quickly blinked the tears in my eyes away, "Yeah everyone would cry from laughter if they saw you crying." We both laughed as we walked to where the other families were leaving. Today wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for Max, we ate so much cake I feel myself bouncing around from all the sugar, he told me how Olivia and the kids are, he told me that they all miss me which made me a little bit homesick. He told me that I look really mature and that I really belong here, both physically and emotionally since he can read me like an open book. Neither of us mentioned my Divergent problem, but that was for the best, the last thing we needed was for someone to overhear us. I even introduced him to my friends and their families, it was just... the breath of fresh air I needed to keep pushing forward. Damion stopped and faced me for a moment, "I know you didn't want to come here Sasha, but I can honestly tell you that you have never looked more happy and content. You were never like this in Erudite." With one last hug, he left.

My hand makes its way to the necklace and holds the yellow diamond, I take a deep breath and feel a sense of relief wash over me, I start to feel at peace. Would my life be so much easier if I had just ditched my mother's plan and gone to Amity? Maybe she would've become suspicious and tried her hardest to figure out if I am Divergent or not, if she ever finds out, I would rather end myself than have her kill me. No, she would never want to get her hands dirty so she would probably have Max kill me instead, yeah, I would rather end myself if that ends up happening. I know I can't tell anyone, but maybe if I tell Max, he would try to protect me in case my mother was to find out and turn on me? No that's stupid, Max also has it wired into his brain that all Divergents are bad and must die, but then again I don't want to find out. Not wanting to disrupt my friends saying bye to their families, I walked over to the tattoo parlor, maybe I'll get another tattoo since it's been a little while. When I opened the door, Tasha was the first person I saw, "Hey Ash, enjoying Visiting Day?" I nodded my head. "My brother just left actually," she gave me a confused look, "he isn't my actual brother. He's my mom's assistant and he basically watched me grow up." The nod she gave me showed me she understood what I was saying.

"Anything I can help you with?"

"I'm thinking about getting a new tattoo, any ideas?" Tasha nodded her head and told me to sit down at her station. I sat down in the chair as she came up to me with a piece of paper in her hand, "I've been wanting to tattoo this on someone for a long time now and I think you would look badass if you got it." When she turned the paper around, my mouth let out a gasp. It was two phoenixes, one in solid black with its wings spread wide, but the one behind it was all colored with different shades of orange and red to resemble fire as if it had risen from the ashes. It was truly stunning and the details were amazing, "And I was thinking, I could put fire all the way around your wrist and drag it up to your forearm underneath the phoenixes. What do you think?" My smile should've been enough, but I nodded my head as well. "I'm thinking hell yes, I need that right now." After a few hours of small talk and watching Tasha work on the tattoo, it was finished and I was right, it was truly stunning and so was Tasha, I do look pretty badass with this on even with the dress and heels. "I love it, thank you so much." I gave her a quick hug and continued to admire her work. "Thank you for letting me tattoo it on you. Since it's not busy, you can stay here and hang out while I clean all of this up."

Silence fell over the entire shop while Tasha was cleaning, the silence made me remember what I was thinking earlier did I make the right choice to stick with my mother's plan? I looked up at Tasha, who was putting things away, and I knew I had to ask her, "Do you think I made the right choice coming here?" I kept my voice low. She looked at me for a moment before she continued with her equipment, "They will find out who you are a lot easier here. They do every single year."