Jeanine Matthews- An Unlikely Love Story

Ch 15- Remembrance (Winter's POV)

Mature Themes (Check out the song above, and afterwards, press the speaker to the right when you start reading! -Lily's Theme Extended- ->)

I awoke with a start in my apartment and then a crying spell took over. It was one of those crying spells where I had no reason to cry at all, although, I did not quite remember my dream. Tiny fragments came to me, but I was unable to make sense of it all. I tried to calm myself by breathing evenly, but it failed me. There was only one thing that could help me; liquor.

I got out of my bed and searched underneath it to find the cool surface of a glass bottle. I spent some time moving my hand around without looking and decided it would be smarter to just lift up the edge of the covers and look underneath. I found it shoved all the way to the wall, and sighed as I crawled underneath to receive it. I backed my way out, slowly, and let out a happy sigh for my accomplishment.

I shivered as I opened the bottle of wine and poured myself a glass. The apartment was unusually cold this afternoon, even though the air conditioner in my dwelling wasn't on. Jeanine must have set something up so now she controlled the temperature everywhere in Erudite. It was a minor thing, honestly, but she always found some sort of way to control everything; it must have been on full blast the entire morning.

I decided to sit down in one of the rocking chairs by the television; they always helped me calm down. I sat down slowly, trying not to spill my drink, and began rocking softly. I could imagine being in someone's arms as they rocked me slowly, and in a soothing voice, telling me everything would be alright. Tears dripped from my cheeks as I remembered I was alone.

Just then, there was banging on my door, hard and unforgiving banging; someone was angry and it was most likely my fault.

I shuffled over to it, glass still in hand, and opened it cautiously. I jumped as Jeanine started shouting suddenly.

"You kissed her!" Her voice was hard and cold. I got shivers from the first syllable she spoke.

"Excuse me?" I asked in a soft voice. Jeanine turned to me and I drew back. Her eyes were a stormy gray and all that I could see in them was my mistakes and her anger.

"You know exactly who I mean," She spat coming up to me. She slapped the drink from my hand and it shattered onto the floor; it looked a whole lot like blood.

"I'm afraid I don't," I lied cooly. That only fed her fury. Before I could even react, she slapped me, hard, on my left cheek. I look at her, stunned, as I felt the area beginning to warm.

"Sage! You kissed her, you pathetic excuse for an Erudite!" Another slap. "You fucking bitch," Then I received a punch square in the face. I cried out as I heard, and felt, my nose break. I fell backwards, losing my balance, and ended up putting one of my hands into the broken glass. Jeanine towered over me and then began kicking my side.

"Stop, please!" I begged, and began sobbing. But she was ruthless. She kicked and beat me until her anger was satisfied and left the room in silence.

~

I awoke with tear stains and dried blood near my nose on a metal table in a eerily dark room with only a spotlight on the table. Jeanine stood beside me as I tried to comprehend where the hell I was. Then it hit me; I was in one of the testing labs. They were testing me.

Jeanine looked down at me, bored, with a tablet in hand, and typed on it furiously. She furrowed her brow and every so often looked at me. I gave her a glare and the next time she looked down at me, she sighed. She stopped typing and put the tablet down to her side.

"Your results are average. I expected more from you. Perhaps I was wrong about your Divergence," She spoke in a flat tone and shook her head.

"You honestly think I could be Divergent after all those years working with you, side by side? I'm not that good of a hider," I responded, propping myself up on my elbows.