Experiment Erudite (A Divergent Story)

Chapter 7- Sudden Death

I come out of my room. Today Jeanine does not sit on one of the long stools that lines the counter. She doesn't leave a note either.

The apartment is eerily quiet in the morning without her. The light that shines through the giant living room panels on my right, baths me in warmth, which makes it feel empty, even when it's not. I head down Jeanine's hallway. Her room door is shut. Jeanine is secretive; her door is usually this way. I don't hesitate to knock, but when I do, there is no response. Yet ever so faintly I can hear the shuffling of bed sheets coming from her room.

I open the door and it cleanly flies without a creak. My future faction leader lays in her deep blue bedsheets with her head covered, and with her body positioned so that it faces away from me. Just like never seeing her angry, I have never seen her in this state.

"What happened?" I ask cautiously.

"He died." I hear in a whisper. Jeanine turns to face me and sits up.

"Who?"

"Norton. The doctors confirmed him dying of a heart attack," Jeanine says.

"Last night? How?" I nosily question.

She nods, "Apparently because dinner ended sooner than planned, Norton decided to head to his laboratory to try the serum that we created on one more factionless divergent. But the divergent had planned an attack, and he found a way to escape the restraints, and stabbed Norton with the serum. Norton couldn't handle the simulation and got a heart attack." As emotional as Jeanine is right now, she recites this event without any sensitivity to what she is saying.

"Won't we have to choose a new leader now?" I ask.

Jeanine nods again. "That might be me. I did have the highest Intelligence Quotient out of all of the initiates in my year." A barely noticeable smile slowly spreads on Jeanine's face. She's still upset, but there's some light in her situation now.

Jeanine suddenly leaps from her bed sheets with a determined expression. "I have to continue what Norton failed to finish. Not only will that Divergent pay the price, but so will the rest." She busies herself while talking. "It is clear that they are a dangerous subgroup that will threaten our city unless we do something about it." So this is what happened to Jeanine that made her so evil. Or maybe my presence just changed the arrangements of future events. Norton would've died anyway, it just had to be this way. Would I have affected that?