𝓜𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓛𝓮𝓰𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓼 - ꜰᴏᴜʀ / ᴛᴏʙɪᴀꜱ ᴇᴀᴛᴏɴ

Chapter Four

I wake up to see everything is still dark. I am about to fall back asleep when I hear a tap on my small window. I look outside to see Tobias Eaton. My best friend for as long as I can remember. I quickly grab the first aid kit I hid under my bed and sneaked downstairs and outside into the cool air. I turn to where I saw Tobias to see he's still standing below my window. I see the strain in his step and how he is trying to not show his pain. I approach him and sling one of his arms over my shoulder. 

We quickly shuffle over to the nearest abandoned building and I quickly sit him down as soon as I could. He slowly grunts, trying to contain his pain, but I know exactly what happened. He passes out from the pain as soon as I start to clean out the first wound. 

This wasn't the first time this situation has happened. Mabey that's why I had slightly more muscle on me than most Abnegation my age. 

I quickly clean out the wounds and start to wrap up his back and chest when he finally wakes up.

"Am?" He manages to groan out as he feels the bandages around his chest. 

"I'm here," I tell him and he tried to move at my voice but soon stops at the pain.

"Am, promise me something," he says trying to look at me.

"Depends on what it is," I reply, moving to place myself in his vision.

"Don't think about your family when you're choosing tomorrow. You deserve to be happy."

"I can't promise that but I will promise you that I'll try to be safe where ever I decide to go."

"If we don't choose the same faction which is more than likely. You're more Amity in personality and I've already set my sights on Dauntless" he tells me, slightly delirious from the pain. 

"Why?"

"I need an escape from Marcus," he states, hastily. "Speaking of Marcus. He's going to be mad if he sees I'm not at home in the morning."

Tobias tries to stand up but I quickly push him back down as I see the struggle he has with standing up.

"How about you just wait until you have a little more strength before going back." I reason with him and he sinks back down, knowing he wasn't going to win this fight. 

"Am?" he asks and I turn to him. "Thanks for sticking with me and not abandoning me after you knew everything"

"I could never abandon you Tobias"

***

The bus we take to the Choosing Ceremony is crowded with Abnegation in grey shirts and grey slacks. A pale circle of sunshine burns into the clouds like the end of a lit cigarette. A crowd of Candor smokes them in front of the building when we get off the bus.

I have to tilt my head back to see the top of the Hub, and even then, part of it disappears into the clouds. It is the tallest building in the city. I can see the lights on the two prongs on its roof from my bedroom window.

I follow my parents off the bus. Everyone seems calm, but so would I, if I knew what I was going to do. Instead, I get the distinct impression that my heart will burst out of my chest any minute now, and I grab his arm to steady myself as I walk up the front steps. My chest tightens and I try to breathe through it as I continue following my parents. My vision starts to get blurry but I manage to steady it before it got too bad. I feel someone rubbing circles on my hand and look to see my mother smiling at me, knowing the pressure today holds.

The elevator is crowded, so my father volunteers to give a cluster of Amity our place, upholding the image of Abnegation. We climb the stairs instead. Because my father is a council we set an example for our fellow faction members, and soon the three of us are engulfed in the mass of gray fabric ascending cement stairs in the half-light. I settle into their pace. The uniform pounding of feet in my ears and the homogeneity of the people around me makes me believe that I could choose this. I could be subsumed into Abnegation's hive mind, projecting always outward. I shake that idea out of my head. I look around for my one friend but don't see him anywhere.