Stumble Across the Fire (Divergent Eric fanfic)

Hangovers & Simulations

 The next morning brings jack hammers and wrecking balls into my head. I can't move or make a sound without my head screeching at me to remain motionless. My throat and mouth are also course and dry, making it feel like it's coated with sand. Before I know it, I'm running for the toilet, puking up what little I had in my stomach. I even continue to dry heave when there is nothing left in my stomach.

I sit with my knees pulled up to my chest, shaking on the tile floor of Eric's bathroom. All of last night comes flooding back to me, making me clutch my head in pain, embarrassment, and regret. No more drinking, ever.

I can't believe I was stupid enough to stay with him. Come on Arielle, you stupid, naïve little girl! If you think Eric would ever want you, you are so wrong!

I manage to pick myself up off the cold floor, and make my way down the hall to the kitchen. I chug a couple glasses of water, which take care of my throat and mouth, and partially my head. Why didn't I just strip instead of chugging the bottle? Oh wait, I was being a stubborn little brat and decided to prove myself to Eric. Idiot.

As I am working on my third glass of water, I wander into the living room to find Eric crashed on the couch. I decide not to wake him, so I get dressed in my clothes from yesterday, make his bed, and make my way back into the kitchen. I write him a short note basically thanking him for the bed and telling him I went down to breakfast.

Leaving Eric's apartment behind, I make my way down to the dorms, and change into charcoal tights and a black hoodie. I hurry down to breakfast, and sit with Tobias, Uriah, Zeke, and Lynn.

"Morning." I mutter, and get groans in response. I guess we all are feeling the hangover.

I nibble on a muffin, and Blake comes and sits beside me.

"Hey, where did you disappear to last night? Me, Sterling, and Cole were looking for you but never found you." Blake explains, rather loudly, making me wince.

"Shh, Blake. Hangover, party, last night." I mumble to her, and she smiles teasingly.

"Drinking's a bitch, isn't it?" Blake teases, which makes me flip her off. Tobias and Uriah chuckle.

"No, the hangover's the bitch. Drinking was fucking great, thanks for asking." I tell her irritably, and she laughs.

"You still didn't tell me where you were last night." Blake presses, making me sigh dramatically.

"Yes, share with everyone where you ended up spending your night last night." Tobias presses as well, making me scowl at him. But as I recall what they're asking, my face burns. Ugh, stupid emotions.

"Eric found me lost in the halls, so he took me back to his place." I tell them, and everyone gasps. Once they're over the initial shock, they begin laughing and teasing me.

"Ooh, looks like the player has found his new toy." Zeke chuckles. Nope, that was a week ago. Well, actually, he's fucked another girl since then. Yes, I managed to, yet again, pass the wrong hall at the wrong time. Horny fucking player.

"Screw you, Z. He just let me sleep in his bed so he could keep an eye on me. He didn't even wake up when I was puking this morning." I say angrily. One second he's caring, and the next he's the cold, selfish player everyone knows.

We finish breakfast, and all the initiates make their way to the fear landscape room. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it's day one of Stage 3. Yipee.

Tobias, Blake, and I arrive close to last, so there are limited spots. Blake goes to sit with Sterling and Cole, whereas I go to sit in between Zac and Connor. Meg is seated on Connor's other side.

"Hey, gang. Whose ready to shit their pants?" I ask, and the four of us laugh.

"Sterling." Tobias calls the first up, and the long list begins. I drape my legs across Zac's legs, and he doesn't mind.

I somehow doze off, because I wake up when I feel Zac shaking my legs. We're the last ones here.

"He called me, I'll see you at dinner." Zac says, and he disappears into the fear landscape room. Has it seriously been that long? Wow.

Time slowly skirts by, and I begin get antsy. The silence is deafening. I go over my fears, or the ones I know for certain. Spiders, the dark, and drowning. This stage will probably unearth some more, I'm just hoping it's not a lot.

Finally, Zac walks out, and he looks sick. He is tipsy, and his skin is super pale. He looks like he's seen a ghost.

"Arielle." Tobias says, and I follow him into the room. I sit in the chair, and Tobias presses the electrodes to my temples.

"The serum I'm about to give you will take effect in sixty seconds. You will face only one or two of your fears." Tobias states, and inserts the serum through a needle in my neck.

"How do I get out?" I ask.

"Calm your heart rate." Tobias says simply, and my vision begins to get groggy. "Be brave, Elle." Tobias says, and with that, I slip into my sim.

I open my eyes, but I see nothing. The world around me is black. Its pitch black. I begin hyperventilating, as I am deathly afraid of the dark.

"No, no, no." I whisper to myself. I begin hearing screams in the distance, which terrifies me even more. The screams echo all around me, but it remains pitch black.

"Arielle!" The screams begin to say. I cover my ears, and crouch, wishing for the screams to cease.

After a year of just screams, the silence takes over once more. But within moments, I hear footsteps walking towards me, so I run in the other direction. I run, and run, and run, until I fall. I scream, and continue to do so until I fall into a body of water, or what I'm assuming to be water. I cough and try to push the water out of my lungs, but the water drags me down. It's still black around me, making me even more terrified.

I scream underwater, and I thrash until I come in contact with something hard. I run my fingers over it, and I recognize it as glass. For some reason, this reminds me that everything about this isn't real. I'm not real, this isn't real, everything about this isn't real, it's all a sim.

"This isn't real." I whisper to myself. I tap the glass, once, twice, three times before the glass gives way. I am swept away with the water, and I enter a lit room where my family and friends await me.

I shoot up from my seat, gasping for air. I feel Tobias' hand on my shoulder, and I relax at his touch.

"How long do you think you were in there?" Tobias asks me quietly as my breathing stabilizes.

"Fifteen, twenty minutes?" I guess.

"Four minutes and eighteen seconds. Three times faster than any other initiate." Tobias says, and my eyes widen. Divergence. That's why this was so short, and that's why I magically broke the glass. Fuck, no!

"What were your test results?" Tobias asks me, and I look into his navy eyes. His eyes are sincere, brotherly, and understanding.

"Dauntless..." I trail off, and Tobias' look tells me he wants me to continue. He already knows, I'm just confirming his suspicions. "And Erudite." I whisper shamefully.

Tobias is silent for a few moments, and I know he's debating whether or not to turn me over. Faction before blood, no matter how close we are, he has to put Dauntless first.

"Don't be shameful, we are what we are. We just have to be good at hiding it." Tobias says, and I look at him like he's crazy.

"You're Divergent too?" I ask quietly, my head spinning from all this new information, plus the fact I just got out of one of the most terrifying things in my life.

"Yes. And I only had four fears in my sims. That's where Four came from." Tobias says seriously, avoiding my eyes. I nod in understanding, and he grabs my hand, pulling me out of the simulation chair, and towards the dining hall. "Let's head down to supper."