A crooked smile

Chapter Two

     Silent, salty tears trickle down my cheeks as the realization of my mothers death ran through my head. She was a Divergent and was innocently killed for being different. Now I'm Divergent and I could face the same fate as hers. What would my father do? Would he rejoice in my suffering? Would he mourn the loss of his only daughter? No. He wouldn't mourn. He doesn't care about me. 

     The sun shining through the blinds of my shabby blinds, my eyes burn. Today is the choosing ceremony, the day I have been waiting for, for so long. Pulling myself out of bed and change into my factions uniform. I meet my father in the kitchen, hoping he doesn't bring up my test results from last night. Looking up, his dark eyes meet mine and a shiver of fear shoots down my back. He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't need to, his eyes and body language says it all. I grab a stale muffin and walk out to the car.  Our drive there is completely silent and tense. The air was so thick, so dark, anyone who stepped into our car would suffocate. When the auditorium came into view, my heart started dancing. I would finally be able to escape from my father's wrath. He parks and locks the doors before I can jump out. 

"You will never be worth anything other than garbage. That scar I gave you will always be a constant reminder. Never forget that." He snaps. I flinch at his words and nod slowly. He never lets me forget. Ever. 

     We finally reach the entrance of the auditorium and a pair of seats somewhere in the crowd. Soon the ceremony begins and everyone slowly stops talking. Jeanine, the leader of Erudite, walks into view and starts talking about the different factions and why we need to choose carefully today. My blood runs cold at this statement. How can I choose carefully when I don't know what to choose? Before I can think of a faction to choose, names are called out. Names were called from all around: Amity going to Abnegation and Dauntless gong to Candor.

"Samantha Marsh." Jeanine calls out. Everything seems to go silent and I feel all eyes on me.  I look at my father who looks the other way. I don't know what he was going to do, give me some sort of sad goodbye? No, he's not like that. He would never do something like that. I walk down the steps to the five bowls and pick up the knife. that sits at the edge of the table. Glancing at all the five bowls, my results flash through my head. Cutting a slit into my hand, I hold the drop of blood between Erudite and Dauntless. Dauntless, I want to be free, I want to feel something. I want to take all my anger and use it. I want to be able to finally fight back.  With a deep breath I squeeze the drop of blood on the hot coals of Dauntless. Looking back at my father I see him with darker eyes than usual, and I flash a smile. He stands up from his chair and storms out of the auditorium. Stepping off the huge stage, I walk over to the loud crowd of Dauntless.  I stand next to a girl from Abnegation. She has blonde hair wrapped into a bun and her clothes are gray and drafty. She doesn't say anything at first, but soon her little voice rings in my ear. 

"I'm Beatrice, what's your name?" The girl asks. Her eyes are not meeting with mine, instead they're focused on my scar. I could tell her my name, but Samantha Marsh is no longer. She died when my mother died. There's only a girl with a scar left. 

"Scar." I reply simply. Her eyes are still glued to my scar and her eyes suddenly widen, as if she finally understood the meaning of my name. She back away and talks to another girl sitting next to her. Soon all the other names are called out and everyone in Dauntless starts to leave. A man who looks like he's already in Dauntless walks up beside me. 

"What happened to your face?" He asks, pointing to my scar. I roll my eyes and breathe out a huff of hot air. 

"I was involved in a farming accident."

"Sure looks like it,"  he pauses and shakes his head, "i'm glad we don't have equipment here, that must have hurt." He finishes. I nod, not knowing what to say back. He clears his throats and rubs his hands together. 

"Can you run fast, Amity?" He asks, pointing to all the people running ahead of us

"Ya, I can run fast, why?" I ask, suddenly exited to finally do something other than walk like sheep. 

"We have to run to catch the train, when I say jump, you jump. That's the only way to get onto the train."

"Got it." I whisper, nodding my head abruptly. The guy starts running ahead of me and I start running as well, catching up to him. 

"Darn, Amity you weren't kidding." He yells and a small smile spreads on my lips. I never kid. 

     The cold air blowing through my hair feels like something I've never felt before. I felt like I was finally running free, I felt like I was finally my own person. I'm pulled out of my thoughts when the blaring whistle screams into the sky. A gray train suddenly comes into view and speed past us. I'm jumping onto that?

"Jump, now!" He yells and I hesitate for a split second, but soon I jump into the train, landing on my butt. I land next to the girl Beatrice turned to in the auditorium. 

"I never want to do that again, that was painful." She sighs. I scoff and pull myself off the ground You have no idea what pain feels like.

"What's your name?" I ask, holding out my hand for her to grab. She grabs it immediately and I pull her off the ground. 

"Scar." I reply simply. She smiles and nods. 

"That's a pretty sick name, I like it." I smile back in return and I start to ask her something but I'm interrupted. 

"Get ready!!" A guy from Dauntless yells then jumps out... Again. 

"They're making us jump again. I thought we were done with jumping." 

"What?" Christina scoffs. She laughs one of those crazy laughs and throws her head back, "they really must want to kill us. I don't know how much more jumping I can do." I chuckle at her comment and grab her hand. 

"We'll jump together, that way if we die, we die together." She nods and tightens her grip on my hand. Watching all the other people jump makes it look so easy, but when our turn comes, my stomach tightens. Maybe Dauntless was a bad choice. When out time comes, we both look at each other before jumping onto a rooftop. Our hands separate when we land on the gravel. Some of the rocks cut into me, but I shake it off. I've been through worse. We both stand up and start laughing, that was quite the experience. 

"Welcome to Dauntless initiates, my name is Eric, I'm one of your leaders.  Glad to see you guys made it this far, the jumping was the easiest part. Behind me is the entrance into the Dauntless compound where you'll find that Dauntless is more than just jumping off trains," he pauses, scanning the crowd. His eyes land on me and his eyebrows furrow, then a smirk tugs at the ends of his lips. A silver eyebrow piercing is latched onto his left eyebrow and a black tattoo runs up his neck, "to enter, you must jump down." The crowd breaks out in whispers and gasps. I roll my eyes and fold my arms. More jumping, I think to myself. 

"So who's it gonna be? Who's gonna be the first jumper?" Eric yells. the people around me start whispering more and nudging their friends to go, but no one seems  to budging. 

"I'll go." I yell, surprising myself and apparently everyone else around me. Eric raises his eyebrows and eyes me. 

"Alright, Amity let's go." Eric yells into the crowd. Pushing myself through the people, I walk up to Eric. He points to the wall and I take in a deep breath before stepping up onto the wall. Looking down, I gulp when all I see is a black abyss. What if there's nothing down there? What is he's lying and just trying to kill all of us? 

"Then get up here, we don't have all day, I have places to be and things to do, I can't stand here and watch you stare into hole forever." He snaps. Turning back to him I roll my eyes. Turning back to the hole, I take in another deep breath and jump. The fall is thrilling, for a split second I feel like I'm falling, but everything stops when I land on a net. The net dips and I roll into a man's arms. His honey brown eyes stare into mine and his light brown hair sits perfectly on his head. 

"Whats your name?" He asks, puling me off the net. I steady myself and peer into his eyes again. 

"Scar." I reply strongly. A smile flashes across his face and he grabs my arm, pulling my to the small group of people facing the net. 

"First jumper, Scar!" He yells. The small group of yell and start cheering. Walking over to them, a smile spreads on my face and something happens. I feel happy, genuinely happy. My smile isn't fake like usual. My laugh is real and genuine. Maybe Dauntless was a good choice after all.