Stay Away | Eric Coulter [1]

forty-one

NESSA

I was seated beside Uriah in a seat of Dauntless initiates waiting their turn. We were all a mess of sweaty palms and a bundle of nerves as we watched initiate after initiate get ushered out of the rooms on unsteady legs after having their deepest fears broadcasted on a large screen for everyone's perusal.

Uriah must sense my unease as he reaches over and squeezes my hand, "We'll be fine." He assures with a forced smile.

Though he's trying to comfort me, I get the feeling he needed to hear those words too.

"Yeah, we will," I say back to him.

"Noah!" My head snaps up at the next name they call and I frown. They'd just skipped my name.

I turn to look at Uriah, who was wearing an equally as confused expression as mine.

"Maybe they're not necessarily going by alphabetical order after all." Uriah shrugs.

I nod, even though I didn't think it made a lot of sense. Everyone else was called on in alphabetical order, which is why Marlene and Lynn already had their turn.

Leaning back in my chair, I try to calm my nerves as I waited for my turn.

One by one, the other initiates disappear through the door of the waiting room.

When it's finally Uriah's turn, he seems reluctant to leave me to my own devices, not even bothering to hide his concern any longer.

"Be careful," He says softly before he heads out the door.

Dread settles in my stomach as the remaining initiates are called, leaving me alone in the room.

Something was obviously up, and at this point in time, I was seriously considering if I should make a run for it.

My mind races and just when I've almost convinced myself that I should do exactly that, the door swings open and Eric steps inside.

He shuts the door behind him, staring at me with uncaring eyes and his hands tucked behind his back.

"Jeanine wants your test to be recorded," He says curtly, stepping closer to me until we're standing toe-to-toe. "Don't fuck it up."

Fear clogs my throat at the piece of information he'd just revealed to me, but I swallow it down and narrow my eyes at him, "Is that your way of apologising? Because it sucks."

"This isn't a joke, Nessa." Eric grits, a sliver of worry flashing through his eyes.

"I know, I wasn't joking."

"There are things that are going on that you don't understand!" He snaps, "I am protecting you!"

"I get that you think you are. But we're in this together, Eric. You don't get to just make decisions regarding us both without me. I get a say in things, too!" I retort.

Just then, the door swings open once again and a Dauntless member I don't recognise steps in.

"Nessa," He says, eyes darting between me and Eric curiously.

"I got this one," Eric seizes my arm in a grip that looks tighter than it is and begins to drag me out of the room behind him.

He leads me to the testing area downstairs and eyes fall on us as we enter.

Eric shoves me forward as Jeanine greets me with a smile that looks more sinister than friendly.

"Vanessa-"

"It's Nessa," I cut her off, feeling less than pleasant today.

Jeanine's smile slips a little and Eric nudges me a little from behind me as if to ask me to shut up.

"Nessa," Jeanine corrects, pasting her wide smile back on. "Are you ready for your test?"

I shrug, "Even if I wasn't, I'm still going to have to take it, aren't I?"

"We're already running behind schedule," Eric quickly interjects, "Why don't we get down to it, huh?"

"Of course," Jeanine agrees, "Why don't you take a seat and we'll get started."

I do as I'm told, settling into the intimidating-looking metal chair in the middle of the room.

My gaze wanders, taking in the large number of eyes on me, feeling like some sort of circus attraction.

Eric's face comes into my field of vision and I feel his hand slip into mine reassuringly, lingering for just a second before he releases it.

Wordlessly, he raises the syringe and I feel a small pinch in my neck as he plunges it in.

"Be brave, initiate." Eric's voice sounds muffled as my vision starts to blur.

As he turns, looking like he's ready to leave, I find myself feeling an irrational fear bubbling up in my chest as I watch him walk away from me.

Don't leave me. The words sound in my head as I will him to stay with me...or maybe it wasn't quite in my head at all, but at least, I thought it was.

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to shake the sleepiness from it. But the next thing I know, I'm standing in the living room of our home back in Abnegation, feeling my heart threatening to beat out of my chest as I stand off against my father.