𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝟎𝟎𝟏

"𝙐𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣, 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙪𝙡𝙡 
𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡
𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙄 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙
𝙊𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙖𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙."

𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭 - 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 

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{ 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 }

"(Y/N), c'mon! We're gonna miss it!"

June huffed with the wave of her arm. She was waiting impatiently up ahead for you to catch up to her long strides, fists buried in her linen work dress. It was dark outside, save for a few lingering slivers of pink sunlight that slipped over the treeline to the west.

It was the eve of the June Solstice; a lesser-known holiday to anyone other than Amity-folk. The solstice marked the first official day of summer—a period of change in Chicago. It represented the start of the initiation period—the three months dedicated to weening new members of society into their new factions. 

But that was all tomorrow because tonight was the Choosing Ceremony.

"June," you whined, tired and sore from a long day's work. Your mother had used her kinship with Johanna to secure you work away from the fields, but it was still a tiring task trailing close behind the Amity children all day, scooping them out of the mud and back into their classes. All you wanted to do after supper was clean up and change into your nightgown, but your friend had other plans, as she most often does.

"Shh," she whispered, pressing her index finger between her lips. The sunset dipped low between the trees and you could no longer make out the angular detail of her face. The only light left in the dark meadow was pooling up from the shallow valley below.

It wasn't a valley by definition, but it was the name that all Amity referred to it as. The valley was where the choosing ceremony took place every five years.

Amity took pride in the ceremony, stringing the valley with lights and arranging wooden seats in neat rows for all of the families. Refreshments were served, though rarely eaten, and a dance was held in the cafeteria long after everyone else had been bussed home. It was a night of new beginnings, a night of endings, and a night of difficult choices.

You wanted no part in it.

Not now, at least. Not on the cusp of your fifteenth year. But June was persuasive. She convinced you that you needed to take one last look at all of your older friends who would be leaving Amity that night. Just one quick look from the very back of the rolling green amphitheater. 

Together you crawled on your hands and knees until you were perched on the tallest hill overlooking the ceremony below. A few choosers had already gone; Dauntless to Erudite, Candor to Abnegation. There were strings of polite claps and the occasional whoops and hollers from the column of seats set aside for Dauntless.

Hours came and hours went. You laid with your chest to the grass, just out of the reach of lamplight as Johanna listed the names of the choosers. But no one defected from Amity that year. Not a single soul.

It was the first and last time that you had known so many Candor to go silent all at once. It was an unspoken truth that Candor disapproved of Amity beliefs the most out of any other faction. They believed that passiveness was the worst trait a human could inhabit, while Amity believed it to be confrontation.