Chapter 67 - Day One
Day One
"They can't be serious." The girl's once best friend, Christina says after meeting with Tobias and his dog in one of the thousands of hallways inside of the Dauntless Compound. She has not seen the girl since before she went into the Mentally Impaired Unit for the first time almost seven months ago.
She misses her.
"They want answers. No, I don't agree with it at all, but it's been almost seven months since she's returned to Chicago, Christina. I feel hopeless. There's nothing I can do to stop this. They're going to do what they want, even though they don't know what they want." Tobias says as the two of them stroll through the hallways, the dog feet ahead of them.
"Can I see her?"
"I don't know if I'm even allowed to see her right now. They're considering her a fugitive, and it makes no sense."
"I can't believe this." Christina mumbles.
+ + +
"Josh. I feel hopeless." Four sits down across from Josh at his desk in his office. The dog lies down beside him, resting his head on his paws and sighing.
"As do I."
The two are silent for a little bit, neither knowing what to say.
"I really wish I could say something, do something, anything to help you out, Four. It's just, I've played all my cards, and I don't have anything left."
"Why does it seem that West has authority over the other leaders? Like, how can you not shut him down, or Mark, or anyone?"
"West, being the leader of Candor, is in charge of who to and not to put under trial. If he sees someone as a threat, he has the right to put them under trial, whenever he may desire to."
Four expresses a confused attitude, furrowing his eyebrows to where there is several creases on his forehead.
"To put it in perspective, I choose wether or not we set up defense and or attack in an area. Other leaders from other factions cannot stop me from doing that, because it is the members of my faction being used."
"But Tris isn't a member of his faction."
"He has her, along with everyone that returned to the city from the building labeled as refugees until put under trial, proven innocent to working with an opposing force, and then sign papers to become a member of the faction of their choice if they already passed the initiation, or else they must participate in the initiation if they switch factions. Considering she is considered to not have a faction right now, she is a refugee, or basically no longer part of the society we have here in Chicago."
"That's absurd!" Four becomes outraged. "She passed initiation first in Dauntless, then basically becomes kidnapped, only to return and say that she's not a member of Chicago?!"
"I don't know, Four."
+ + +
As the sun comes through the cracks in the blinds that are suppose to cover the windows, they shine across the slick, white tile of the hospital room.
The girl blinks, not yet being awake from the anesthetics and anesthesia she was given during surgery.
Moaning lightly, she moves her eyes around, realizing that it wasn't a dream, and her eyesight has returned.
She can hear her stomach growl, and for once since her return to the city she once knew so well, she actually wants to eat food.
If the investigation had continued, maybe the people of the IB group would have discovered that the drug David had given her not only affected her eyesight, but her ability to stomach food, and balance on her own two feet.
Instead, the investigation fell through, and they will think that she was blinded from the light when leaving the building, that she simply isn't hungry, and that she just isn't strong enough to balance yet.
A soft tap on the door is enough to make her heart leap out of her chest as she jumps up.
The door opens and in walk her doctor, Dr. Scott and her nurse since she arrived in the hospital, Julie.
"Hey there, darling. How are you feeling?" She says, her voice in a medium tone as she smiles lightly, walking over to the right side of the hospital bed.
The girl opens her mouth to speak, but then closes it.
Too many bad things have come out of speaking for her. So many to the point where she's decided to not speak at all.
"Are you in pain?" The doctor asks.
"No." She says quietly, partially lying because of the discomfort she currently has in her leg that was operated on.
The pain is just something she has grown use to; nothing out of the ordinary.
The doctor sits down in the chair next to her bed, not wanting to upset the girl by hovering over her lying in the hospital bed.
"Do you remember anything before you were knocked out?"
The friendly dog; running her hands calmingly through his fur, then the wheelchair.
"T-The wheelchair." She says very quietly.
"Tell me, Tris. What about the wheelchair upset you?"
The girl shakes her head no.
"You can tell me, it's okay. There's no one here that's trying to hurt you. I want to make you as comfortable as possible, so I want to know how I can do that."
The truth is, the girl doesn't remember why she fears the wheelchairs. She just knows they've led her to bad things in the past.
"I don't remember." She says quietly.
"That's okay." Dr. Scott says, rubbing the side of the girl's shoulder with her hand.
"The dog." The girl says.
"What about the dog?"
"He was so nice, comforting, soft." The girl's mind drifts.
"I scared him." Her mind comes back as the memory is vivid in her mind. "And he scared me back. I feel bad."
Her mind drifts again and she looks off into space.
"Do you ever want to see the dog again?" The doctor asks.
"Yes." She says, her eyesight not moving from its space on the wall across the room.
"Maybe if I wasn't insane I wouldn't have scared him, and maybe then I would be able to see him again."
"What makes you say that?"
"They don't allow dogs in the Mentally Impaired Unit."
"You're not going back to the MIU, Beatrice."
"But I belong there. You all have said it. I'm insane. It's not like I'm even a member of this city anymore, and I'm just falling apart at the seems. It's only a matter of time before that Candor guy throws me out of the city like Marcus Eaton was."
Both are quiet, not knowing what to say.
"You always were listening, weren't you." Dr. Scott meets her gaze.
The girl's mind drifts to all the horrible things that have happened when she talked this much.
"Beatrice?"
The girl doesn't reply, fearful for the beating she will surely receive for all this talking later.
"Can I get you anything? Are you hungry? Thirsty?"
The girl's stomach growled still, but she remained silent.
"I'll check in on you later. If you need anything, press that button on the wall or yell."
The girl doesn't reply.
She still doesn't know that there's only six days left until her living hell.
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