Chapter sixteen: Stage Two Of Initiation!
Chapter sixteen!
Today is the first day of stage two, but as far as I can tell it involves sitting in a dark hallway waiting, to be called by Four, and walk with him behind the closed doors. None of us have a clue whats happening behind the doors. We Dauntless-born and transfers sit in the hallway waiting. Will and I are sitting one besides the other a few empty spots besides us, and there sits Tris. Across from us sit Lynn, Marlene, and Uriah. They were with us in capture the flag, I saw the a few times after and said hi.
“So,” says Lynn, scuffing the floor with her shoe. “Which one of you is ranked first, huh?” Her question is met with silence at first, and then Peter clears his throat.
“Me,” he says. “Bet I could take you.” She says it casually, turning the ring in her eyebrow with her fingertips. “I’m second, but I bet any of us could take you, transfer.” I almost laugh.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, if I were you,” Peter says, his eyes glittering. “Who’s first?”
“Uriah,” she says. “And I am sure You know how many years we’ve spent preparing for this?” If she intends to intimidate us, it works. I already feel colder. Before Peter can respond, Four opens the door and says, “Lynn.” He beckons to her, and she walks down the hallway, the blue light at the end making her bare head glow.
“So you’re first,” Will says to Uriah. Uriah shrugs.
“Yeah. And?”
“And you don’t think it’s a little unfair that you’ve spent your entire life getting ready for this, and we’re expected to learn it all in a few weeks?” Will says, his eyes narrowing.
“Not really. Stage one was about skill, sure, but no one can prepare for stage two,” he says. “At least, so I’m told.” No one responds to that. Ten minutes later, I already fell aslepp, and it's not untill I woke up, that I realized I have fallen asleep on Wills shoulder.
"I'm sorry." Will apologized "Did I wake you?" He asks.
"No, I'm sorry for falling sleep on your arm." I say.
"It's okay it doesn't bother me, plus I like watching you sleep." I smile sheepishly. Four walks out.
"Christina." Four says. Will leanes in close and whispers.
"Good luck." I smile at him, then leave.
Behind the doors In the room is a reclining metal chair, similar to the one I sat in during the aptitude test. Be side it is a familiar machine. This room has no mirrors and barely any light. There is a computer screen on a desk in the corner.
“Sit,” Four says, and I don't object, I just wonder if I'll have to take the aptitude test again, I'm still pretty shaky about it. He holds out a needle. I am a bit frozen, because I don't say anthing, he walks twoards me with the needle.
"What's the matter Candor, did you finally learn how to not speak?" Four says.
"I'm not Candr anymore, I left them for a reason, I'm Dauntless now." I tell him. He nods at me, as if he was actually proud of what I had just said.
"So I think that you already gathered, you are going to go into a simulation, this time, it's not an aptitude test, we already know that you are Dauntless, and we don't have to check again, this time the simulation is going to take you to your worst fears, also known as your fear landscape." He says. Then he injects the needle, and it doesn't hurt bad, but I do wince.
“The serum will go into effect in sixty seconds. This simulation is different fr om the aptitude test,” he says. “In addition to containing the transmitter, the seru m stimulates the amygdala, which is the part of the brain involved in processing negative emotions —like fear—and then induces a hallucination. The brain’s electrical activity is then transmitted to our computer, which then translates your hallucination into a simulated image that I can see and monitor. I will then forward t he recording to Dauntless administrators. You stay in the hallucination until you calm down—that is, lower your heart rate and control your breathing.” Lets hope that it's more simple than that.
....................................................................
I'm back in Candnor in my room, when I hear a scream, followed it is another high pitched scream, it's Roses voice.
"Christina!" She shouts at the top of her lungs. I run into her room, and that's when I see a moth, I have a fear of moths, and so does Rose. Then after I see another moth, then another moth on the wall on the bed, I start to run outside. I try to carry Rose with me, but she was not able to move. Then she disappears.
"Rose" I shout. "Rose!" I yell. I run out of the house, but the moths are fllowing me, then I see more moths, this time hundreds of them swarming in the sky, I try to swat them away enough so I can run, but they're swoarming me.
I yell, and try to run, but they're crowding me, there sre moths everywhere. One of the moths tries to get into my moth, but I shut my mouth, and clenshe my teeth. I'm lying in the floor, unable to move. Then in the middle I see my mother.
"Mom!" I yell, I use all my strength, to pull myself up, and I walk to my mother. When I get there M y mother hugs me, then slowly she turned into a swarm of moths. It's like I'm in an ever-lasting nightmare. Frustrated at the moths for first taking Rose than my mother. I start swating them, battimg them away squishing them with my shoes. Then on the floor lies a gun, I take it, and start shooting at the moths, killing hundreds of them, then the last fire sounds, and all the moths are dead......................
I wake up, and realize that I'm hysterically crying. That was awefull, being in there was aweful.
"Nicely done, you were pretty good, for a first timer." Four says, I try to stop crying, but I can't. "Your free to go." He says, gratefully I get up, and right before I walk out I wipe the tears from my eyes, and walk to the dorms.
At the dorms, all the other initiates Dauntless-born and transfers are in the room, five minutes later Will comes too, they're all crowding Peters bunk, as he reads the newspapper. After hearing the begining I can tell that it's an Erudite papper, attacking the Abnegation.
"Never have we ever seen more than one Abnegation ,or some years nine ever transfer from the faction, but this year not only was there one tansfer there were three transfers, which goes to show, what faction are they, are they really that Selfless, or do they abuse theryre kids." Peter reads, suddenly Tris walks into the room.
“The mass exodus of the children of Abnegation leaders cannot be ignored or attributed to coincidence,” he reads. “The recent transfer of Beatrice and Caleb Prior, the children of Andrew Prior, calls into question the soundness of Abnegation’s values and teachings.”
“Why else would the children of such an important man decide that the lifestyle he has set out for them is not an admirable one?” Peter continues. “Molly Atwood, a fellow Dauntless transfer, suggests a disturbed and abusive upbringing might be to blame. ‘I heard her talking in her sleep once,’ Molly says. ‘She was telling her father to stop doing something. I don’t know what it was, but it gave her nightmares.’”
So this is Molly’s revenge. She must have talked to the Erudite reporter that I yelled at. She smiles. Her teeth are crooked.
“What?” Tris says, in a shaky voice, ten she clears her throat. "What?” She says again this time steady. Peter stops reading, and a few people turn around. Peter turns last, with a wide smile. “Give me that,”She says, holding out her hand. Her face turns red.
“But I’m not done reading,” he replies, laughter in his voice. His eyes scan the paper again. “However, perhaps the answer lies not in a morally bereft man, but in the corrupted ideals of an entire faction. Perhaps the answer is that we have entrusted our city to a group of proselytizing tyrants who do not know how to lead us out of poverty and into prosperity.”
Tris storms up to him and tries to snatch the paper from his hands, but he holds it up, high above her head so she can’t reach it unless she jumps. She lifst her heel and stomps hard on where the bones in his foot connect to his toes. He grits his teeth to stifle a groan.
Then she throw herself at Molly, before she can do any damage, Will wraps his arm around her waist to stop her.
“That’s my father!” She screams. “My father, you coward!” Will pulls her away from Mooly, lifting her off the ground. Will drags her out of the room and into the hallway. Once the door shuts behind him, he lets go, and Tris shoves him.
“What? Did you think I couldn’t defend myself against that piece of Candor trash?”
“No,” says Will. He stands in front of the door. “I figured I’d stop you from starting a brawl in the dormitory. Calm down.” She laughs a little. “Calm d own? Calm down? That’s my family they’re talking about, that’s my faction!”
“No, it’s not.” ere are dark circles under his eyes; he looks exhausted. “It’s your old faction, and there’s nothing you can do about what they say, so you might as well just ignore it.”
“Were you even listening?”
“Your stupid ex-faction isn’t just insulting Abnegation anymore. They’re calling for an overthrow of the entire government.” Will laughs.
“No, they’re not. They’re arrogant and dull, and that’s why I left them, but they aren’t revolutionaries. The y just want more say, that’s all, and they resent Abnegation for refusing to listen to them.”
“They don’t want people to listen, they want people to agree,” she replys. “And you shouldn’t bully people into agreeing with you. I can’t believe my brother joined them.”
“Hey. They’re not all bad,” he says sharply. and Al walks out.
“It’s my turn to get tattooed,” I say trying to defuse the tention.. “Want to come with us?” I smooth my hair.
Al gives me a piggyback ride. I shriek as he charges through the crowd. People give him a wide berth, when they can.
My shoulder still burns. i persuaded Tris to join her in getting a tattoo of the Dauntless seal. It is a circle with a flame inside it. Will and Tris walk behind Al and I, close enough so I can hear them.
“I can’t believe you got another tattoo,” Will says.
“Why?” Tris says. “Because I’m a Stiff?”
“No. Becau you’re…sensible.” He says.
“So, what was your fear today, Tris?”
“Too many crows,” Tris replys. “You?” He laughs.
“Too much acid. It’s really fascinating how it all works,” he says. “It’s basically a struggle between your thalamus, which is producing the fear, and your frontal lobe, which makes decisions. But the simulation is all in your head, so even though you feel like someone is doing it to you, it’s just you, doing it to yourself and…” He trails off. “Sorry. I sound like an Erudite. Just a habit.”
“It’s interesting.” Al almost drops me, and I slap my hands around the first thing I can grab, which just happens to be Al's face. He cringes and adjusts his grip on my legs.
At a glance, All seems happy, but there is something heavy about even his smiles.
I see Four standing by the chasm, a group of people around him. He laughs so hard he has to grab the railing for balance. Judging by the bottle in his hand and the brightness of his face, he’s drunk, or on his way there. I had begun to think of Four as the scary instructer, and forgot that he’s also eighteen.
“Uh-oh,” says Will. “Instructor alert.”
“At least it’s not Eric,” I say probably make us play chicken or something.”
“Sure, but Four is scary. Remember when he put the gun up to Peter’s head? I think Peter wet himself.”
“Peter deserved it,” Tris says.
“Tris!” Four calls out. That takes me by suprise. Four pulls away from the railing and walks up to Tris. Al and I stop running, and I slide to the ground. There are four of us, and Four is only talking to Tris.
“You look different.” His words, normally crisp, are now sluggish.
“So do you,” She says. And he does—he looks more relaxed, younger. “What are you doing?”
“Flirting with death,” he replies with a laugh. “Drinking near the chasm. Probably not a good idea.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Didn’t know you had a tattoo,” he says, looking at her collarbone. He sips the bottle.
“Right. The crows,” he says. He glances over his shoulder at his friends, who are carrying on without him. He adds, “I’d ask you to hang out with us, but you’re not supposed to see me t his way.”
“What way?” She asks. “Drunk?”
“Yeah…well, no.” His voice softens. “Real, I guess.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t.”
He then leans into Tris, and whispers in his her ear somethingthat I can not hear, but judging by Wills expression he obviously heard. Tris laughs.
“Do me a favor and stay away from the chasm, okay?”
“Of course.” He winks at her. Will clears his throat, Four walks back to his friends. Then Al rushes at Tris like a rolling boulder and throws her over his shoulder. She shrieks, her face hot.
“Come on, little girl,” he says, “I’m taking you to dinner. I thought I would rescue you,” Al says as we walk away. He Puts her down. “What was that all about?”
He is trying to sound lighthearted, but he asks the question almost sadly.
“Yeah, I think we’d all like to know the answer to that question,” I say,. “What did he say to you?”
“Nothing.” She shakes her head. “He was drunk. He didn’t even know what he was saying.” She clears her throat. “That’s why I was grinning. It’s…funny to see him that way.”
“Right,” says Will. “Couldn’t possibly be because—” She elbows Will hard the ribs before he can finish his sentence. He was close enough to hear what Four said to her, I have to now what he said.