Other Side (A Divergent/ Eric fan fiction)

11| Soul

11| Soul

I stared at my arm through the reflection of the mirror. The numerous black swirls started from my wrist and made it's way all the way up my shoulder. The skin around it was red. Trevor stood behind me, cleaning the needles. He looked over at me and smiled.

"Do you like it?'' He asks me.

''I love it, thank you.'' I replied, pulling my black jacket back over my arms. The skin stung a bit, but it was well worth the pain. I made my way back over to Brendon, Trevor and a few others who all sat together on the couches.

Music in the background continued to play and the room was filled with smoke. It was hard to see clearly but from what I can tell, Brendon and a candor transfer named Jessie, were getting real close. Jessie sat on Brendon's lap with a joint lit between her lips. The smell of alcohol was strong. Bottles of it were all over the ground.

The tattoo place that was owned by Trevor, also had a special hideout where there was a large supply of alcohol and various other drugs. A couple of initiates would go over just so they could escape reality and numb the pain that they were feeling. And that was exactly what I was doing- numbing the pain. It was only 2 days ago that I lost my mom.

I was no longer staying at Eric's place, and joined the other initiates in the dormitory. It was horrible sleeping without Amber near me, and Jacob has been giving me a hard time. No one can stick up for me. I also missed Eric's bed and how safe I felt in it. Things between us haven't been great. I can't stop thinking about the kiss and how disappointed I feel when I realized that the whole thing was just a distraction. I wanted to feel his lips against mine once more, even though a big part of me still hated Eric. He was just too confusing.

"Here," Trevor reaches his hand over towards me. I look down at his palm, at a small pink pill. I take it and examine it.

"What is it?" I ask, raising my eyebrow.

"Just a little something to ease your mind." Trevor replied and I notice he inched a bit closer to me. I give him a weak smile and pop the pill into my mouth. I swallow it down with a sip of vodka and my whole body is filled with warmth.

It is scary how fast my body that was at one point tense, is now relaxed in just a matter of seconds. I look over at Trevor who is basically smirking and I feel his hand trailing up my thigh. I feel lazy but I manage to pick myself up off the couch and I stumble out of the room, and out of the tattoo place.

>>>

The combination of the other initiates bodies swaying against me as we try to stand up straight, the train racing down the tracks and the mistakes from last night's drink and drug-fest were enough to make me feel even more shit beyond words.

Eric and Four stood in the middle of us all, each holding a long black sack. I accidentally made eye contact with Eric, who stared at me as if he could tell how much more despondent I was growing. I look away first.

"Alright, the games simple," Four began, staring over each and every one of us, "...it's like capture the flag." Four didn't scare us as much as Eric did. It was probably his eyes and how caring they looked.

Eric opened the sack that was on the ground and picked up a slightly long weapon. It looked a lot like a dart gun. He held it up. "Weapon of choice." He said loud and clear.

Rachelle, a big, bulky girl with short dark purple hair, scoffed loudly. "You call that a gun?" Rachelle immediately regretted her words when Eric, without hesitation or even looking at her, shot the weapon and a thick metal dart ejected out and into Rachelle's thigh.

I flinched as Rachelle let out a painful scream and fell back into the wall and sunk down to the ground. Eric walked over and pulled out the dart, making her gasp.

Eric was back to his usual ways. This was definitely not the same Eric I have seen lately. "Neurostim dart. It stimulates the pain of a real gun shot wound. Only lasts a couple of minutes." He holds it up for all of us to see. I swallow the lump in my throat. "Two teams, Four and I are the captains."

"You pick first." Four says to Eric.

"Okay, Jacob."

For some reason, I pray that Eric would pick me. Because versing Eric was much more terrifying than being his teammate.

"Softie." Four says and I unnoticeably curse under my breath.

Eric smiles, but not in the friendly way. "Picking the weak ones, I see?" Eric says and I shoot him a look.

>>>

A bunch of us run along the abandoned streets of what used to be a carnival, with Four leading the way. We finally stop, turning off our flashlights. Four pulls out a fluoro orange flag.

"Okay, what's the strategy?" Four asks as we all gather around closely.

Everyone begins to turn in some ideas, everyone but me. I stand back, trying to ignore the side effects I was encountering from last night. I must have zoned out for quite a long time, because before I know it, Four is nudging me to get moving. As soon as I snap back into reality, I realize that many of the team members are already gone their own separate ways. It has begun.

It doesn't take long for the sound of shots and screams to fill the cold, chilly night sky. I break into a sprint, keeping the gun close to my chest. I hear footsteps near, and quickly duck behind a pile of old crates.

I hold my breath as I listen carefully to the heavy footsteps fade away. I lean back against the crate and I sigh. I am not ready for this.

After a few more turns, I find myself along with several other teammates. They were all getting into the 'game', or so they call it. I didn't find this fun. I found this terrifying.

"Behind you!" Sarah yells from next to me, and I instinctively crouch. Sarah shoots the gun and a dart lands on one of the boys from the opposites team. He yelps and drops to the ground. I look at Sarah, and notice how much she resembles Amber, by her wavy blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Thanks." I pant.

"No worries." She says, giving me a small smile before turning back to the game.

I decide to run back to where I first hid, which was behind the crates. I make it there safely and sit slumped against them. Maybe I can sit this out?

Wrong, because before I know it I am looking up at the eyes of evil- Jacob. He has the gun pressed up right against my forehead. I can't help but wonder, is this even safe? Is Jacob really willing to kill me just to win?

"Tell me if this hurts." Jacob says and I close my eyes, preparing for my death. But for some reason, I'm not actually scared.

Suddenly, a dart lodges into Jacob's back and he drops to the ground, crying in agonizing pain. I look up at Eric, who stands a few feet away, behind him. I don't know if I should be grateful or not. I pull myself up and glare at him. I know this is just one of those things where he will act like he likes me, and then later on act like he hates me which is his usual demeanor.

"Isn't it against the rules to shoot your own teammate?"

"He was breaking the rules. You're not allowed to shoot anywhere above the shoulders." Eric says.

"Can you just make up your mind already!?" I find myself yelling, not caring about what this could do to me.

Eric just raises his pierced eyebrow. "What do you mean, Softie?"

Anger boils up in me. I can't believe how oblivious he is acting. I mean, what's the point in even trying to explain myself?

Before I can even stop myself, I aim the gun at his chest and his eyes widen. I shoot it twice, two darts landing on his torso. He falls to the ground, wrenching in pain and for the first time in a long time, I smile.