Flower Child

Chapter One

"Mor!"
"Morgana," a stressed voice calls out, "where are you!"
   A girl with golden hair paces through the trees below me, searching high and low. Her eyes bright blue and full of worry bounce back and forth, not finding me there, hiding in the branches above her.
I smirk down at her, Celeste, my closest friend from childhood. Practically my sister in all ways besides blood.
   Slowly, and quietly, I begin to climb down, my bare feet finding solid branches till I'm just above her.
"Mor! God damnit, where are you," she groaned, her hand coming up to run through her hair.
I jump to the ground behind her, "boo!"
She screams, jumping away from me, "why do you always do that!"
I giggle loudly, "you never watch your own back, perfect way to teach you."
"No, not a perfect way to teach me," she grumbles throwing air quotes around the word, "a perfect way to give me a heart attack more like it!"
"Don't be over dramatic," I say, a smile firmly on my lips, "you're fine."
"Im fine?! Oh you're such a," she sighs through her nose, taking a few deep breaths, trying to control her anger, "you know what, I don't know why I bother. Where have you been, your mother is beside herself."
It's my turn to sigh, "I needed to get out for a bit. Taylor has been nonstop talking about the aptitude test tomorrow. He's overly excited for it."
   The test is deciding factor in every sixteen year old's life. The bane of my existence currently.
Cel nods, she understands, she feels it to, "do you think we'll get Amity?"
"You? Definitely, your practically the definition of it, except when you're mad at me but that's not the point," I laugh humorlessly, "and me? I don't even know."
Cel tilts her head, "you could be Erudite, with how obsessed you are with reading, but then again, you always read adventure stories, maybe Dauntless."
   That was the lease helpful thing she could say at the moment.
My unease grows, "maybe you could be Erudite, you're the most observant person I know."
She laughs, "no way, Erudite's are so rude."
"Right, Amity for sure," I smirk.
She laughs, "shut up. Where have you been hiding, it's been three hours."
I glance down at my watch, "really? I guess I got lost in the story."
"Of course you did," she smiles.
"What's that supposed to mean," I ask.
She smiles even wider, "nothing."
I shake my head, I knew exactly what she meant. Being out in the apple trees, reading, I was lost to a world of my own. It was the most peaceful thing, the sounds of birds chirping, the smell of wet soil, it was relaxing. I needed it, especially with what was about to happen tomorrow, the Aptitude Test. The test would determine where we belonged. It would prepare us for the day after that, The Choosing Ceremony. Every sixteen year old would choose the faction they would spend the rest of their lives in. Seems like to big of a choice for sixteen.
Where did I belong? I don't know. Amity? The place I had lived my whole life in, maybe. I loved being kind, and I loved this place with my whole heart, my family was here, could I really leave them? Abnegation? I want to help people, but could I really forget myself, no. Candor? Telling the truth is important, but, if to spare someone pain, I would lie. Erudite? I loved to read and write, sure, I loved learning, yes. I could see myself there, but being trapped in a building all day? Not as appealing. And Dauntless, the freedom it promised excites me. My adventurous soul yearns for the adrenaline, yearns to feel the wind in my hair as I run. It seemed like the best choice, but could I survive there, could I follow orders, could I potentially kill?
"Mor?" Cel asks, "are you ok?"
   She stares at me with knowing eyes, we've had this conversation before. She always reassured me with soft and kind words, telling me to trust the test and I'd find where I belong. Trust the test, that's what they told us everyday as we prepared for it, I don't think I can hear those words again.
I nod my head, "I'm fine. Race you home?"
"You can talk to me," she starts like she always does, but her eyes snap open wide as she registers my words, "Wait, what!"
It's to late. I'm sprinting through the trees, my bare feet flying across the soil. My bright, red curls wave in the wind, flowing behind me like a river. I fly like the wind, light on my feet.
"Mor!"
I had already left Cel in the dust, her yelling becoming faint. I had been running all my life, my brother, Taylor, and I always racing and competing with each other. We were probably the fastest kids in Amity, and we were proud of it too. Despite the fact that no one wanted to race us anymore
I jump over a few people who are bent down, picking up the fallen apples, "Sorry!"
   When I pass, I can hear their laughs. The joy is contagious around here.
"That girl," they say, "wilder than a mustang."
I am, I am wild, which is why I don't think Amity can contain me anymore. Why there is one place, one place I long to be, where I can be wild, can run and yell all I want. Where I can finally and truly belong.
I jump towards the sky, grabbing the lowest hanging branch of a tree. The momentum I have built up, swings me upwards, were I launch myself to the next branch. I pull myself up, climbing, higher and higher. I'm at the top of the tree, looking out over the city, towards each faction. Each one calling me in a different way. Then, a whistle, the train. There, I can hardly see it, but I o, the small silver dot in my vision. The loudest call resides there, that whistle beckons me. Dauntless, freedom, wildness. The call beckons me, towards that promise, towards that future.
"Mor!" I look down, where my mother stands. "There you are, I've been worried about you."
There resides another call, my mother. Amity, happiness, family, home. How could I leave here, how could I leave her, Taylor, and Cel. I look back up, just in time to see the train disappear into the city, the whistle, the call, fading.
"Morgana! Are you listening?" my mom, Rosalynn, asks, her voice gentle.
"Sorry mama, what were you saying," I apologize, slowly making my way down the tree.
   Each step down feels like I'm falling away from a future I might never know.
"I said, your brother is cooking dinner, and you need to come home and help me set the table, the Thompson's are coming over for dinner," she repeats, "Celeste was supposed to bring you home."
I sigh, jumping down to the ground, landing silently in a crouch. I straighten up and look at my mother, who is a few inches shorter than I am.
"Where have you been," she asks, the worry Cel had told me about showing in her voice.
   How could I leave her? I hate to make her worry, and if I left her here, would she ever stop worrying about me? I don't think she would.
I hang my head, "thinking. About tomorrow."
Understanding lights in her eyes, "ah, the test."
I nod, "I'm nervous, mama."
She smiles warmly at me, looping her arm through mine, pulling me to walk, "I was nervous too. I remember the night before, clear as day. I could hardly sleep, tossing and turning all night, until I gave up and walked the fields. To say I looked like a mess that morning was an understatement. I was a wreak, and when I went into the room, I was almost sick."
"Really," I ask her, my nerves burning hotter.
"Yes," she laughs, "but the woman I had gotten as my tester, an Abnegation woman, soothed all my worries. She held my hand till I was under the simulation. I went through it, and I swear to you, when I woke up I was certain I had gotten Amity, but I didn't."
"What," I shout a little, my mother, the kindest woman I had ever met in my life, even living in Amity all my life, had not gotten it as her aptitude.
"I know, shocking, I had not gotten Amity, my home faction, but Erudite," she explains calmly.
It didn't shock me as much as I thought it would, she may be the kindest person, but she was also the wisest, "and you chose to stay here?"
"Yes," she smiled, "I chose to go against my aptitude and stay here. Because I knew, even though I hold the strongest aptitude of Erudite, that this was were I truly belong. Here, in these fields, with these people."
She stops, letting go of my arm to place her hands on my cheeks, "and you my darling girl, will know where you belong. It may be here, and it may be somewhere else, but know this, you will always be my heart and soul, you and your brother will always be the greatest part of my life. Do you understand that?"
   Of course she would still love me if I left, I know that, does that make this any easier? No, it doesn't.
Tears well in my eyes, "yes mama, I do."
She wipes a stray tear from my eye, "all will be well Morgana, I promise."