Aberrant

Thirty-One: Dex

"Good luck," is all I hear Amar say as I begin to lose consciousness. 

When I next open my eyes, I'm standing in the city. Surrounded by people. The setting is so familiar, having had to go into the city every day of school, that it takes me a while to work out what's wrong.

 And then it clicks: everyone is wearing purple clothes. No one is divided into factions. And there are no individualism. Everyone is wearing the exact same pattern-long-sleeved shirts, jeans, long socks which go up into their jeans and trainers. 

As I glance at the mass of purple around me, I blink and see that even the hair of the people around is purple and even in the same style-short and straight. I glance down at my own clothes and see that I am dressed in the same purple. Panicking I clutch as my hair, and find that it's been shortened to the point where I can no longer feel it on the back on my neck. 

I'm exactly the same as all these people. I feel anger pulse through me, and I grab my purple shirt, which is tucked into my jeans and un-tuck it. 

There's a gust of wind, and suddenly the shirt begins to tuck itself back in on it's own. I grimace and roll my sleeves up. Again, there's a gust of wind and they roll back down. I scream in frustration and grab the edge of my sleeve to rip it but I'm not strong enough. 

I glare at the sleeve angrily, and as I do, I get a strong feeling that something's not right. If I concentrate, I can almost feel my arms balanced on something. As if I was sitting in a chair...

And then all at once I remember that I'm in a simulation. I am strong enough to rip this fabric. I grab the corner of my sleeve, grit my teeth and imagine it tearing in half. It rips right in my hands and I throw it disgusted on the floor. 

There's a gust of wind again, and I feel the sleeve growing back, trying to fix itself. I imagine that there's no wind, and, to my delight, I feel that the sleeve stays as it is.

 I feel a smile spreading on my face. I'm different from these people. A ripped sleeve is a small change, but now I know that I'm in a simulation, I can do more. 

I grin, feeling more relaxed and at ease now, and raise my hands to change my entire outfit, but suddenly there's a whirling sensation and I'm back in the chair in the simulation room. 

 As I catch my breath and look around the room in a daze, I see Amar with his head in his hands.

"Oh wonderful," he groans, "Another one." He looks up and catches me staring at him, "My first year as Initiation Instructor and there's a whole bunch of you. I thought we were supposed to be rare."

"What are you talking about?" I ask him blankly.  He doesn't respond and I simply stare at him. He sighs and stands up with his arms folded. I hear the seconds tick by from the clock on the wall as he figures out what to say.

"I've had a bad day. I was happy when I came across the first person like you, but now I've got too many to deal with." He puts a his palm on his forehead and he sighs again, "Look, I know your every instinct will be screaming for you to lie to me but I could really do with a straight answer right now," he says.

"People like me?" I interrupt him, "What are you talking about? There's only one person like me and that's April Dexter Meadows." 

He raises an eyebrow, and I say defensively, "Yes, my first name's April. Get over it."

He shakes his head and says, "No I wasn't-" There's a pause as he takes a deep breath before continuing, "Tell me Dex. You didn't just get Dauntless in your Aptitude Test did you?"