Forever 10♥ {Book 1}

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

As soon Tobias dismissed the initiates, I left to go find Al. Tobias followed behind me, but didn't come any closer. He knew I wanted to deal with this by myself. I had no idea where Al was, so I just started to look throughout the whole compound. I eventually found him at the Chasm. He was leaning against the railing.

"Al," I said. I was about ten feet away from him. The gap was easy to close, but with his lumbering speed, I could easily get away.

"Tris," he said. He didn't walk towards me. He just turned his body. "We need to talk."

"Yeah, we do." I said angrily.

"We just don't work anymore Tris," he began. "You changed after you were attacked by Peter. I know it's not your fault that Four brainwashed you into thinking that you two are married. I just can't be with a woman who thinks she's in love with another man. I'm only sorry that I won't be able to be in our child's life."

I waited patiently for him to finish. Even though I wanted to cut in after every word. "Al," I started, trying to contain my anger. "When are you going to get it through your thick head that we are not, and never have been, in a relationship? I am married to Four and this baby is his. I remembered everything after the attack. Your little charade is getting old."

"Whatever you say Tris," he replied. His voice was monotone. He said no more and turned back to the chasm.

That only made me angrier, but Tobias' hand on my shoulder stopped me from advancing. I turned to him, my anger immediately vanishing. He engulfed me in a hug. His embrace always made me feel better.

Behind me, I heard some noise. I couldn't quite figure out what it was. I didn't want to look because that meant I would have to leave Tobias' arms. He, though, looked up at the spot of the noise.

"Tris," he whispered. I slowly turned around. Al was standing on the railing. The look on his face was tranquil. Slowly, he leaned forward, throwing himself into the Chasm.

I was frozen with shock. Al had just jumped into the Chasm.

Slowly, I made my way over to the railing. At the bottom of the Chasm was Al. Water rushed past his unmoving body, trying to carry it along. Try as it might, Al's body would never get very far. His body was curled around an assortment of rocks. You could see the growing red stains on his dark grey shirt. I couldn't quite grasp the thought of Al killing himself. He told me that he had thought about it during initiation. But I never thought it would actually happen.

"Tris!" exclaimed and excited voice. "Guess what!"

I didn't respond. I didn't turn around. I just stood still, continuing to stare at the body.

"Tris," said the voice again. It sounded like Will. "What's wrong?" He was then standing next to me, also looking down into the Chasm. "Is that Al?" he asked, not quite masking the shock in his voice.

I nodded. The memory of seeing Al standing on the railing was still fresh in my mind. His face looked so peaceful, like he had no regrets. It was odd. I think he knew he was going to do this for a while.

"He just jumped," I managed to get out. "I watched him."

"Why did he do it?" whispered Will.

"Because he knew he would never be happy." Answered Tobias. "He knew that if he didn't have Tris, his life would never be complete." His comment just made me feel worse. The blame was on my shoulders. I knew it before he said it, but him saying it just made it truer.

I forced myself to take my eyes off of Al's body. I folded myself into Tobias' arms, trying to hide from the world. "What's your news Will?" asked Tobias.

"Yeah, my news," he began. We both already knew what it would be. I thought it would be nice to just go along with it. "Well, earlier today, Max came to my apartment. He said he needed to talk to me. I went out in the hallway, thinking this would be about Eric. But it wasn't! He wants me to be a leader!"

"Good for you Will," I said, my voice muffled by Tobias' shirt. I turned around and faced him. Tobias wrapped his arms around my stomach.

"I thought he would've asked one of you two. You guys were both ranked first." He told us.

"He must've known we would've turned it down. We have been declining for a long time. He probably knew it was hopeless." I said. I just made that up, considering that he did come to us before Will.

"Yeah," Will looked lost in thought.

"Congratulations man," Tobias said sincerely. "Since you're now a leader, you're going to have to inform the others about this."

Will snapped out of his daze. "What? Oh, yeah. See you guys later. And can you please tell Christina about Al? Thanks."

*Page Break*

Telling Christina what happened wasn't very fun. I didn't want to relive that. At least she didn't seem to blame me. Well, as far as I could tell she didn't.

It was only around noon, and I already had enough stress to be set for at least a week. At this point, my stress level would get so high I'd have to be hospitalized. Tobias wasn't very good with words so he knew to not say much. Just him being there helped, and he knew that.

After we got some lunch, we went back to the apartment. Unfortunately, we had to pass by the Chasm. They were currently fishing Al's body out of it. I just kept my head down as I walked past.

As much as Al was getting on my last nerve, I never wanted him dead. Let alone watch him kill himself. It hit me hard and I couldn't explain why. Part of me always wanted to be angry with him, especially now. But a little shred of me wished we could have our old friendship back. Life would've been so much easier.

But when has my life ever been easy?