Ordinary Acts of Bravery [A Divergent Fanfic]

Chapter 2 - A new faction

"We believe in ordinary acts of bravery and the courage that drives one person to stand up for another."

          My heart was racing, roaring so loudly that I feared the person next to me could hear it. A year had already passed. It had been another year of hiding my true self from my mother, but now it was my turn. It was finally my turn to choose. I cast a single glance over my shoulder at her, when leaving my seat, taking her in from the corner of my eyes, but also through lowered lashes because this was it. The final time I would have to look at her. We had been seated in the very first row, right next to the other more important Erudite members.

My name had finally been called. Now it was my turn to choose. My turn to face the choice that could potentially haunt me for the rest of my life, if I chose wrong. The white auditorium suddenly felt much larger than anticipated when I approached Janine. She was standing on the platform in front of the five white bowls, her hands gathered before her. She was even smiling at me, though her eyes remained as cold as they always were. The smile merely a façade to hide her true emotions.

When Janine held the knife out to me, the handle pointed at me, I carefully took it from her, resisting the dark urges that swelled within me when my fingers brushed against the cold metal of the handle. I shook them off and turned my attention towards the bowls now in front of me. Five white bowls, each evenly spaced out onto the table. They all carried their own symbol, one for each of the five factions.

I took the last step towards the table and halted, once able to see the contents of the bowls. My eyes shifted to each bowl in turn, taking it in. The bowl furthest on my left, was Amity, the symbol a tree and full of soil. Then Dauntless, a burning flame, full of sizzling coal. Erudite, an eye, directly in front of me, containing crystal clear water without any ripples. Candor, a scale, filled with clear glass and lastly Abnegation, furthest on my right, two hands, filled with grey stones.

Never once reconsidering the choice I had already made almost a year ago, I lifted the knife and my palm before turning the tip to the heel of my palm. Hesitantly I pressed the sharp blade to my skin and felt a slight stinging pain before blood emerged. The red drop slid into my palm as I held the hand out, palm facing up, not yet ready to let the droplet of blood fall into the desired bowl.

My hand hovered over the bowl of water for a second too long, and I noticed from the corner of my eye how Janine gave me a strange smirk before she then turned to my mother but the instant she did, my hand moved to the bowl second furthest on my left. I turned my palm down and the droplet fell into the sizzling coal below. The sound extremely loud in the otherwise silent room.

I heard the small gasp leave Janine before she collected herself and announced. "Dauntless." The single word leaving her lips, sounded strained and disappointed. When I turned around to face the wrath of my mother, already expecting a confrontation, there was none. All I could see on her expression was pure surprise and horror before I turned towards the faction seated furthest on my right. The one I had just chosen. They were all dressed in black, but there were some in wild colors as well that stood out in the crowd. Dauntless took up the entire section of chairs closest to the doors.