Randomness With Smosh_Fanfics

Fanfic Bootcamp Entry #7

The other kids in the bus were visibly nervous. They bit their lips, clasped and unclasped their hands in front of grey slacks, had panic in their eyes. I probably looked like a perfect picture compared to them; the perfect Abnegation girl, hands folded on my waist, looking calmly out the window.

It's a cloudy day, which is fitting. The sun peaks through just above the Hub, but besides that, it is grey for as far as I can see. If I could fly, my clothes would make me blend in perfectly among the sky.

"Are you nervous?" my sister, Beatrice, asked from her spot beside me. Well, more like adopted sister. We weren't biologically related; her parents had found me on the streets with nothing but a blanket with my name sewn on it, Katniss,  and took me in two years before she and her brother were born. But, as far as the government was aware, I was related to her, and our parents weren't going to change that anytime soon.

Not that I cared. I had never been very close to my parents anyway. The regulations of Abnegation, and the ways parents were expected to treat their children, had never been very caring. Without the biological attachment that Beatrice and Caleb had towards them, they were nothing but normal Abnegations in my eyes; stiff, boring, bland, and strict.

"No," I replied, not looking away from the window. My reflection, distorted by the dirt on the window, stared back at me.

I understood why all of the other kids my age were anxious; it was the Choosing Ceremony, after all. The biggest event of our lives. The event that would decide our entire future. But I already knew what I was going to choose. I had for months, and all the Aptitude Test had done was confirm that for me.

Beatrice didn't have a follow-up question, which I was thankful for. I hadn't talked to anyone in my family about it, and I wasn't going to. Besides, I was sure she had figured it out for herself.

Growing up, I had always been... different than the other Abnegation kids. While they had always been perfect rule followers, the golden idea of a Stiff, I had been rebellious, at least for Abnegation standards. I hung out with Dauntless kids, made noise in class, and loved athletics. If it weren't for my grey clothes, no one would've pegged me as an Abnegation.

It didn't take very long for us to arrive at The Hub. Beatrice and I follow our parents and brother out of the bus, our postures perfect. Our father expects us to represent our faction well, and I didn't see a reason to disappoint him.

The building is already extremely crowded by the time we arrive. Instead of pushing our way into the elevator, we veer off to take the stairs, like any good Abnegation should. The rest of our people follow us, and then there is a flock of grey walking up the stairs. In that second, I almost feel like I belong here, that I could choose this life, but it quickly passes.

There are twenty flights of stairs between us and our destination. By the time we reach it, my legs burn, and Caleb is out of breath. Another Abnegation beat my father to holding the door open, so we trek into the room.

The room is organized into circles. The first, highest circle is where us sixteen-year-olds will stand in alphabetical order according to our last names, waiting until it's our turn to cut our hands and drip our blood into a bowl of rocks or glass or coals or whatever. At least half of the kids are already standing in their spots, waiting.

Below us will be our families, sitting in rows of chairs organized by fraction. Only a small portion of the population of each fraction actually comes to the Choosing Ceremony, but the room is small enough to make the crowd look huge. It almost looks like they're colour-coded as they sit in their fifths of blue, grey, black, red and yellow, and black and white.

Underneath them, making up the ground floor, is a circle. Resting on top of the circle are the bowls, all big enough that I could bathe in them. There are five of them, filled with the substances--water, hot coals, dirt, stones, and glass--for each faction.

I say goodbye to my family and make my way to join my peers. Unbeknownst to them, it is the last time they will ever speak to me. 

It's easy to find my spot, nestled between two Abnegation boys I'd seen on the bus and a few times in the neighbourhood. I stand patiently as I wait.

Amity is hosting the Ceremony this year. They don't have a leader, I remember learning in school. Only a mouthpiece. This year, their mouthpiece was a woman with a wicked scar running across her face. She looks rather scary for an Amity.

As I wait, I think of my Aptitude Test. Of the tattooed woman who administered it to me. Of the choices I made. It had felt like second nature to take that knife and kill the dog. I hadn't even hesitated. Self-defence had always been my go-to move. To me, there was no flee in my fight-or-flee instincts. When the woman had announced my score, I hadn't been the least bit surprised.

Dauntless.

I glanced over at their section of the room. They were a sea of black clothes, talking loudly and roughly touching each other. I imagined myself among them, and could picture it as clearly as day. Changing these grey clothes to black ones, forgetting my past life. It shouldn't feel as easy as it did.

A few minutes later, everyone has arrived. The Amity woman clears her throat into the microphone and waits for the room to quiet down.

She starts her speech, about how the factions were formed and how important the Choosing Ceremony was. I glazed over her words. I'd been here once before, to attend the Choosing Ceremony of one of my father's friends. I'd heard the entire thing before.

I only listened when she brought up Dauntless, and how they blamed cowardice as the main fault of humanity. It was the only part of the speech I agreed with. Because those were afraid to fight, to protect their loved ones or beliefs; they were the problem. For they could've done so much more than they did.

Finally, she finishes her speech, and starts calling names. I watch as the line gets smaller and smaller, and the bowls fill with blood. My heart beats a little faster, and I wonder if the nervousness of the kids surrounding me has started to wear off on me.

"Katniss Prior," the woman announces after the boy in front of me picks Abnegation. I straighten out my clothes and walk up to her.

She hands me a knife, clean and shiny. I bring it to my hand and cut into my skin quickly, perhaps a bit too deep. I barely feel the pain. The blood pools in my hand as I walk up to the bowls.

For a second, I glance at the Abnegation bowl and thought about my family. I didn't feel particularly close to my mother or father, or Caleb even, but I did feel a bond with Beatrice. Leaving her was going to be the most painful thing I'd ever do. But I knew that if I stayed, I would never be happy again.

Quickly, I swing my hand over the Dauntless bowl and open my fingers. My blood falls and sizzles as it hits the hot coals.

Murmurs erupt around the room. Abnegation and Dauntless are as far apart on the spectrum as possible. People rarely switch between them. As I go to stand with the Dauntless initiates, I feel everyone's eyes on me.

Then the woman is calling the next person's name, and I am momentarily forgotten. But one person's eyes refuse to leave me, and I turn to meet her gaze.

Beatrice and I make eye-contact. Our father looks angry as our mother speaks calming words to him. Caleb looks shocked as he stares at the floor. As we stare at each other, she smiles, and its all the confirmation I need.

She knows me. She knows that this was the choice I needed to make. Hopefully, someday, the rest of our family will too.

As I watch the rest of the kids choose, I think of my future, and what it will hold. As the last kid chooses Erudite, and the rest of the Dauntless make their way to the door, Beatrice and I make eye contact one last time, and nod.

Goodbye, Beatrice. Maybe, someday, I'll see you again.

Then we're at the stairs, and everyone starts running, and I follow. As the wind whistles against my ears, I think of what I just left behind, and smile.