Divergent: A Cimorelli FanFiction

18- Downhill For The Worst

I screamed and violently kicked my legs everywhere when I came back to reality, trying to get rid of the feel of those creatures on me. A sob escaped my mouth and I buried my face in my hands, unable to stop myself from shaking. Theo was going to hate me for this. I could not stand to look so weak in front of him.

"Lauren, calm down. It's okay, shh," Theo tried calming me down but it didn't work. It was as if the spiders were still there somehow, still crawling along my arm and my neck. How could a simulation feel so real?

Theo gently rubbed my back which slowly helped me to quieten down my sobs. I felt myself becoming more peaceful when he did that.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out.

"You should be. I don't know what you were thinking Lauren but you need to control yourself. I'm warning you. This can't happen again tomorrow."

"I d-didn't know how to get rid of the spiders the way a Dauntless would!" I cried helplessly.

"Then you need to work on that," Theo replied bluntly.

"How?!" I cried again. Why was Theo being so unhelpful?

"Do you want me to take you back to the dorms?" he asked, not answering my previous question.

"No!" I screamed. I stood up and held back the tears that were fighting to come out any second. I had already shown too much weakness in one day. I opened the door and bolted out of the room of torture. The strange stares from the people waiting for their turn in the hallway did not surprise me.

My shoes were the only sound in the surrounding silence as they connected with the floor, bringing me closer to the dorms. I did not want to face anyone right now. I wasn't in the mood for small talk and fake people.

The moment I welcomed myself onto my bed, I felt a strange new feeling of freedom. Being in that simulation that felt more like torturous punishment made me feel constrained and coming out of it gave me the feeling that I had finally escaped. My own disappointing thoughts of myself rushed through my mind, becoming worse and much more negative each time a new thought came up. One by one, the tears came out, marking my face with the sign of sorrow. Sorrow because of the fact that I let down myself and Theo. I was also disgusted because of the fact that Theo didn't even bother to offer me words of advice. Who was he anymore? I knew he wasn't the same person as he was yesterday.

Why was I such a mess?

*

"It was awful. I was being kidnapped by around three men. They each held me down at gunpoint and told me to give them my necklace. I couldn't move at all so I couldn't give them my necklace. I didn't know why they couldn't just take it off of me. Then they... they shot me and that's when I woke up," Ariana said shakily as she went through her fear simulation with Karina, Dani and I.

"In my one I was standing on a bridge very high up and some lady told me to jump. I told her that I couldn't jump and she told me that if I didn't, she would murder my family. I did the only thing I could think of doing at that moment; I pushed the lady over the bridge. Then from somewhere, someone told me I made a bad mistake and I got pushed over the bridge as well. That was when I woke up. I couldn't keep calm when I finally woke up. Apparently I was in the simulation for around fifteen minutes which is unbelieveable since it only felt like two minutes," Karina explained.

"You don't look the slightest bit shaken up. Looks like you had a good time in the simulation," Dani said to me.

"No, it was, uh... awful. There were spiders everywhere. What are you trying to say?" I asked.

"Is there a secret or something that you know so that you don't get the full effect of the fear simulation? Apparently you got out of the simulation at the fastest time which was like three minutes. I'm pretty sure no one normal can do that."

"No!" I cried out. Was Dani seriously turning against me now? "Just because I had the fastest time, doesn't mean I'm not normal. I just learned to, um, calm down quickly."

"Then why are you hesitating when you're talking? You're hiding a secret. Don't test us. I'm from Candor and I know when someone's hiding something," Karina pointed out.

"I wanted true friends here in Dauntless but what did I get instead? People who accuse me of keeping a secret!" I cried as I stormed out of the dorms. I couldn't go to anyone anymore. Theo was no one to me. My own "friends" and "sister" were no one to me.

Things were going downhill for the worst and I hated it as much as I hated all of my friends right now. As I was walking down the hallway to nowhere in particular, I bumped into the one and only Sebastian. Today was going to go down as the worst day in the history of my life.

"Well, look who it is. I just heard that your family back in Amity are going to get blown up soon for building these random pathways to each faction. Tsk tsk, tell your remaining family in Amity that they come up with the worst ideas. Oh wait, that's if they're still alive when you see them," Sebastian laughed. How did he know about this news?

"Who told you?" I questioned.

"Oh, it's all over the newspaper. Why don't you go and have a read yourself?"

I did not want to read the newspaper but I knew I had to. There was most likely a bunch of absurd information about what the Erudite would do to Amity. They, no matter how hard they tried, couldn't ever wipe away the faction of true peace and happiness. Amity was just as important as all of the other factions. They were all mostly equal (except for Erudite) yet so different and beautiful in the ways they worked. Abnegation kept their selflessness by helping others and never once looking at their own reflection. Candor kept their honesty by their openness and by always telling the truth, even if it hurt. Erudite lived for books and for the thirst of knowledge. Amity always avoided conflict and stayed peaceful and calm in even the most distressing situations. Dauntless... they were never cowards and their bravery was just remarkable.

Amity could not be destroyed in such a beautiful, perfect world. The Erudite were supposed to be smart. They wouldn't really ruin the faction system for just one small thing being the pathways now, would they? At least I hoped not.

But what knowledge did I really know about the Erudite? They were the powerful faction because of their intelligence. They were also the most demanding. They would do anything for more power, anything for more perfection. I didn't know the real Erudite. Only Lisa would know and I had to get to her before it was too late.

Or was it already too late?

No, it couldn't be too late.

I had to visit Lisa in Erudite tomorrow. It wouldn't be wise to go any time after tomorrow because every day is closer to the day that something bad is going to happen to Amity.

If you worked hard for something that meant so much to you, would you be rewarded with success?