Only Annie | Eric Coulter

4 - One Number Away*

Luke Combs

* * *

"We don't have to talk,

I just want to hear your voice."

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|| A N N I E

We fought today.

The wound on his side has been acting up again, and he's feeling more pain than ever. I have told him to stay at home for a day's rest, but he lashed out and left the flat in a fit of rage.

There isn't much to do in the daycare since most of Dauntless preferred to be hands on with their children. We had a mindset, children grew better with the guidance of their parents.

Sleep is knocked out of me when Four comes barging in, breathing heavily. I stand up, alert and attentive, and walk over to him with a pinch of anxiety within me.

"What is it, Four?"

"It's Eric," His name makes me freeze in my spot, "He collapsed."

...  

I come running out of the daycare, not caring if Four is behind me. My heart is threatening to leap out of my chest at the rate it's beating. A frantic heartbeat equalled to a thousand feelings of worry.

I turn a sharp corner, pushing at the training room's doors. My legs fall into a brisk walk towards where a small group of people are, hunched shoulders and dipped heads blocking what I want to see--what I need  to see.

Determined, I squeeze my way through the hoards of people in Dauntless black, bumping shoulders and hitting arms in the process. I hear Eric before I see him, and when I do, cold sweat covers my forehead. 

"Eric," I kneel down beside him, my trembling hands meeting his, "I'm here. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The guilt is eating me alive. If I hadn't shouted at him, maybe he wouldn't be in this state.

He can only manage a grunt, but I feel light movement on his hands, like he's trying so hard to squeeze mine in a comforting manner. It takes all my will not to look at the dark red spot on his shirt.

The people around me are quiet, as helpless as I am. We can't do anything but wait until the Erudites arrived.

...  

"We need to transfer him."

I purse my lips at the man's declaration. My eyes squint at his clothes; too bright, too blue for monotonous Dauntless. But, no matter how much I try to busy myself with his eye-catching clothing, the fact that Eric has to go to Erudite for three days--a week, if they wanted better precautions--still scares me.

It has been a while since I last slept alone. Without Eric, I'll probably fall apart--like I always do when he's not around.

"Can I go with him?" Erudite rarely grant visitations and accompaniments. They're a secretive bunch; the less outsiders, the better.

The apologetic look in his eyes is enough to answer my question. I sigh, the flicker of hope inside me vanishing as quickly as it came.

"The head only allowed one person to accompany Sir Coulter. I'm sorry, miss."

"Who's going with him?" I immediately ask, eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

The man clears his throat, and shuffles through the papers in his hands, "I believe his name is Four?"