The Damaged

Chapter Nineteen

"Wow" Mia walks into the apartment first, holding a duffel bag under one arm.

"This place is a shit hole" Tara groans, following Mia's lead.

I walk into the cramped apartment behind them. Light shines through a window onto the pavement floor, a small living space with a three seater couch and a chair facing a wall. Across the room is the kitchen with a scratched table; two mismatched chairs. Three doors on one side, two on the other.

It's not much, but it's ours.

Today is moving day. When all the initiates take their belongings and move into their apartments to begin their lives as Dauntless members. I would've picked an apartment by myself-like how Four did-, but my friends were too insistent that I lived with them. It's hard to say no to Mia's big, brown eyes.

"It's not terrible" Mia rolls her eyes, opening a random door. Tara and I look over her head to see a single bedded bedroom, a small nightstand and dresser lines the wall.

"We need decorations, I can't stand these rock walls" Tara opens the door next to that room, another bedroom. Almost the same except all the furniture sits in the opposite direction.

"Nothing too extravagant, I lived in nothing but grey for sixteen years" I share a grin.

"We'll start with something simple," Tara drops her bag and faces me, "like a rug, for example."

"Which room do you want, Mal?" Mia asks with a smile. "I think it's only right for number three to choose first."

I roll my eyes. "It's just a ranking, Mia. It shouldn't be benefiting me at all, especially in the first dibs of a bedroom."

"Are you kidding me? All the heads of the departments are going to want you to sign up for positions. People at the stores will probably let you cut in the lines and probably save you all the good muffins we always miss" Tara smirks, crossing her arms over her chest.

A groan releases through me. "Fine." I walk across the small living space to the two untouched doors. The first door to open is another room with a larger bed in the middle, a desk along one of the walls.

Turning my body to face them, I throw my small sack onto the bed with my eyes narrowing. "Happy?"

"Very" they say in unison. We each enter our own rooms.

With a pull of a chain, a single light turns on in the middle of the ceiling; only a few feet above my head. The bed has sheets and a blanket folded on top, dust lines all the tops of the furniture. There's a faint smell of earth lingering through the air.

"Home sweet home" I mumble. The only things I have in my sack are the few items of clothes I've gathered in the last month, but I'm sure Mia and Tara will insist on something to brighten the space up.

I take the clothes and refold everything. On the bottom is my Abnegation dress and underclothes; it's hard to believe how much I've changed since the last time I've worn them. Carefully I set them on the bottom drawer of the dresser, placing the two shirts and two pants I've gathered into the others. A dress on its own. My jackets hang on a hook behind the door. What a waste of furniture, I think.

The bed doesn't take long to make. I quickly pull the sheet over the mattress and watch the blanket fall slowly on top. It takes me a moment to realise I've made my bed the Abnegation way; tight corners. No creases. Will I ever leave my habits?

"Hey, no fair. Your bed's bigger" Tara walks into the room. Looking around to see what else the apartment had to offer.

"You can have it if you want" I sit down at the end of the bed, my hands on my lap.