Jeanine Matthews- An Unlikely Love Story

Ch 5- Fell or Pushed?

The group that had finished waited for the escort to come and take us back to our dormitory. I looked down at my feet the entire time until someone finally came. I walked behind everyone else miserably.

I couldn't believe how inconsiderate I had been when I left my new friends in a heartbeat (well maybe it was a little longer than that, but you get the picture), and had never even considered what might occur in doing so.

An epiphany hit me hard as we continued walking through the busy hall: They weren't going to pass the emotional part of the exam if they kept this up, and from what I heard before getting into Erudite, it was a somewhat large portion of the "grade ." I bit my lip as I realized I was going to become as cold as the rest of Erudite in a few weeks, whether or not I got into the faction.

I shuddered slightly at the thought of being completely inhuman. Perhaps Erudite was not the place for Amity.

I resumed walking with the group, jogging slightly to catch up. I looked at Kathryn who was diagonal from me in the traveling group; she had a grim look on her face as she walked. I turned my head back in the direction we were walking and didn't look back at her for the rest of the day.

After we made it to the dorms, I collapsed onto my bed. For some reason I had just felt like sleeping; probably to try to escape the world and the terrible things that were yet to come.

I felt a tap on my shoulder a few minutes after planting myself onto my bed. I looked up slowly to see Drake smiling mournfully at me; I didn't smile back.

I got up groggily, as if I had been sleeping, and looked blankly at him.

"The next test is going to be in the library, and it's almost 5:30, so I thought I'd wake you up," He said, not being his usual perky self.

"5:30? Are you kidding? It's only..." I trailed off as I noticed the clock read 5:16. I had slept, and missed lunch! At the thought of missing lunch, my stomach grumbled slightly and I let out an annoyed sigh.

"Sorry I didn't wake you for lunch, you seemed to be in a deep sleep. I figured if I did wake you up, you'd have murdered me or somethin.'" He said pursing his lips.

"You know I wouldn't do that," I said feeling a little hurt. Ugh, the Amity in me.

"Yeah, whatever I guess. Anyways we better g-" Drake was interrupted by a blood curdling scream that emitted from somewhere just outside the dormitory.

I was wide awake then, and rushed over with Drake to see what was going on. A crowd of curious and horrified Erudite had formed in a circle around someone, though I was unable to see. I stood on my toes and even pushed through some of the Erudite to get a clearer view of whoever it was that cried out. Was it someone I knew? Were they severely injured? How did they get hurt?

I was finally able to cut through the crowd and saw what laid in the center of the circle.

It was Jeanine.

Out of instinct, I quickly rushed over to help her. She looked at me with wide eyes and licked her lips nervously. I wasn't even thinking as I helped edge her to her feet; everything seemed more like a blur, faces weren't depicted and my body motions felt predetermined for me.

She leaned on me heavily and out of some unknown strength, I was able to support her considering I wasn't as tall as her and she couldn't have been over 5'7.

The Erudite made a path, thankfully, as we made our way to the hospital sector; I had seen it briefly when I entered Erudite, which seemed like years ago. I was surprised no one offered to help, I suppose it wasn't Abnegation, but still, it was their faction leader.

"What happened, J- Ms. Matthews?" I asked, breathing heavily slightly.

"The-the b-balcony. I have n-no idea what j-just happened," I heard her let out a little sound of pain as she tried to speak. Judging from her condition, I figured she must've fallen from the fifth floor or so.

Doctors immediately rushed out from the hospital area and helped Jeanine onto a gurney. I watched helplessly from the entrance as they wheeled her away.

"How long do you reckon it'll take?" I asked a stray nurse.

"Her injuries don't appear to be very severe, but there could be broken bones. We won't know for a few more hours," She said, almost frightened then added, "Why would you want to know? You're only an initiate."

"I-I care about the well being of my possible future faction leader," I said with a pathetic smile. The nurse looked at me skeptically then decided it was better to just leave at that and turned without another word.

When I got back to the dorms, I looked up at the floors above and noticed on the fourth floor, there was a wall missing from the railing sequence, and on the ones that appeared next to it had red stains on them. Blood. I shuddered as I wondered what really happened and if someone else was behind it.