Disclaimer: Characters, maps, and factions belong to Veronica Roth's "Divergent" trilogy. OCs and story created by me.

Chapter 1
"Des voix dans les obscurité"

TRIS

Darkness.

It's the first thing I see after… after... after what? I don't know exactly.

My entire surrounding has been clouded by darkness, and it's making me wonder where I am exactly, or what am I doing here. Some part of me is thinking that I'm most likely in an unlit room, while the other is telling me that this isn't real, it's all just a dream that I'll eventually forget about in the morning. There's the only reason why, of course. People experience empty dreams most of the time, and I'm sure that this is one of it.

Right?

I'm hoping it is, because whatever it is that lies beyond this place, I'm expecting it to be a light that'll guide me out and give me a good wake-up slap.

How long has it been since I was here?

How long has it been since I've been trying to get out?

I've been trying to say a single word for the past hour,—or so I think—a single whisper that'll hopefully echo throughout this dull place, but I can't hear anything. I can't say anything at all It feels like my mouth has been closed shut and stitched together to prevent me from uttering a word.

Nothing but empty whispers and silent screams floating around this endlessly vast place. It's making me head spin. For a dream, everything feels to vague, too realistic, much to my liking. But as long as I wake up, it won't matter because this is all a dream.

It must be.

I'm still probably in a house, in my room, sleeping like a baby who's been wrapped in a million blankets.

But do I even own a house?

I can't feel anything. No legs, no arms, no heartbeat. I don't know how I'm capable of thinking or having any form of consciousness at all. Since it's too dark I can't see myself. Or feel myself. I don't feel my fingers twitching, my feet touching the ground as I walk in this dark room, or even feel the wave of fear and uncertainty that's supposed to hit me.

I don't know what's going on. I don't like not knowing what's happening to me. But somehow I manage to stay calm despite me—

No. Wait.

I'm not calm. I can't feel it. I can't feel any comfort, certainty, and relief at all.

I feel… empty. Numb and frozen forever in a place that's starting to seem more and more of a nightmare as the seconds run by.

Am I even real?

Despite my inability to feel…anything, I start to walk. I tell myself to move, move, move until I find some sort of exit from this place. I'm just hoping that I'm actually walking. But more and more thoughts are starting to flood my mind. It's making me go insane.

I need to go insane.

I need to feel something.

Am I trapped here?

No, I'm not, I tell myself. I'm not trapped; I'm not going to let that happen. I'm going to keep on walking until I find light.

I'm walking… walking…

Running…

Escaping…

I'm not trapped.

I'm not trapped.

I'm not…

Everything comes crashing down on me, like arrows repeatedly piercing through my body as it tries and fails to aim for my heart. It's making me feel so heavy and weak that I could feel the life being drained out of my slowly.

I'm starting to lose focus of the present time, and my eyes see nothing but blurred images as a small white light begins to grow bigger and bigger. I can't hear anything but uneven beeping sounds, growing louder and louder as well. Moments before my entire body gives up and the light swallows me whole, I wonder if this is all real. I wonder if I'm not dreaming.

I wonder if I'm dead.

Beep…

I'm dead…

Beep…

I'm dead… I'm…

Beep… beep…

…not dead…

Not yet.

The moment I wake up from that horrible nightmare, my mind beginning to process what had happened, my entire body is already frozen with terror and uneasiness. What the hell was that?

I couldn't open my eyes yet, nor can I move my body entirely, but I can hear the sound of my own breath. I can feel my chest rising and falling rapidly as it's synced with the rate of my heartbeat. My hands are all too eager to start moving, but I can't even flex my fingers. I feel like I've been tied down to this bed and covered with blocks of cement. This is too frustrating.

Beep…beep…

It takes me a few seconds before I stop struggling all together due to exhaustion. It's no use; I'm trapped in a body that's in too much fatigue to even be lifting my own fingers, so instead, I take the rest of the following minutest trying to breathe in all of the senses I'm much too grateful to have again.

Beep…beep…

My ears focus on what's been disturbing the silence throughout this place. It's not a sound that means much to me, those beeps, but it's enough of a hint to tell me that it's a heart monitor.

Beep…beep…

I must be in a hospital, if that's the case.

But why? It's only making me more curious.

There's a dextrose that's placed on my right hand, and some sort of rubber covering clipped on my finger. Is it because I had to get an operation? Did I break my bones? Waves and waves of questions are running and clashing against each other as seemingly endless possibilities of what might've happened begin to fill my mind. There are too many questions that I know I can't answer, but there's one thing that's been standing out from the others right now.

It's making the air in my lungs leave and the blood in my veins run dry. I'm completely numb, lost and spinning, and it's making my head feel like it's being hammered until it's completely crumbled to dust. I wish it actually worked that way; I wish my mind would stop working right now.

Because right now there's one question that I don't know the answer to.

Who am I?

My thoughts are interrupted, thankfully, when I hear the door slam open with a force so strong that I could feel the walls shake. Or, at least, the walls inside my mind. It makes me flinch, but body doesn't exactly respond the same way.

"Please! Let me see her!" The voice is screaming, hoarse and tired as if it's all that this voice has been doing the entire time. It's unfamiliar to my ears, but I do recognize that it's a girl's voice. "She's my best friend! I need to see her!"

"Miss—"

"Oh my God," she whispered. "Is she okay? Tell me she's okay. This can't be—"

"Please, miss, we need you to calm down first. She's unconscious, but she's alive." Another person says, softer and gentler than the first one. But there's also a sense of authority and knowingness in her that makes me guess that she's either a nurse or the girl's family. Probably the earlier. "She's still sleeping, catching up with her much-needed rest."

I'm not sleeping! I want to tell her. I'm awake, but I can't move, and I need someone to release me from whatever's holding me down. Please help me.

But nothing comes out, and nothing is heard from me. The world must hate me so much that it wouldn't even want to listen to what I have to say.

I can't hear what the girl or the nurse says afterwards either, but there's a short, whispered exchange between them that's too muffled for me to understand. There's an abrupt silence that fills the room, before the girl speaks again.

"How did they find her?"

"The group of men who brought her here didn't know anything about it," the other replied. "They discovered her lying unconscious on the side of the highway, not a few miles away from here. She must have been brought and left there, or was able to walk all the way until her body had collapsed from blood loss." It makes me uneasy how they're talking about me, especially since I don't remember any of this happening. But I listen anyway, seeing as I have no choice.

"What happened?" The girl croaks, the small crack in her voice hinting that she's already on the verge of tears. "Will she be okay? Is her family—"

"Police were investigating a car crash incident that happened a few blocks near the place she was found, so they're assuming that this must've been the same car she was in. They're still trying to look for solid evidences that could prove it. They couldn't find any IDs or electronic devices or an address. The license plate was also gone, and it could possibly mean that whatever hit them wasn't an accident." I could feel the nurse's eyes on me as she cleared her throat.

"Your friend, if she was in that car, was the only survivor as of yet. But tests are still being made, so hopefully she's not alone." There's a hint of sympathy laced in her voice, and I don't like the sound of it. It makes me feel weak and helpless. "She was already close to dying when she was brought here, but she's definitely okay now. Many of her bones were fractured, her ribs most of all, but everything's already taken care of and all she needs now is some proper healing time."

The girl releases a sigh of relief. "Thank you, nurse."

"No problem, sweetie." The lady's tone changes again, softer and comforting, when she says, "Give her two weeks to rest—three at the most—and then we'll see if she can be released soon."

I hear the door click open. "I'll be coming back in a few hours for some tests and a medical sheet that we need you to fill up for her. We couldn't find her records on the computer."

"She's not from here."

"Oh," The lady says slowly. "I see. If we have any information on the police findings, or if you need more details prior to her current condition, we'll make sure to tell immediately. At least the police have decided to leave her alone until she's well-rested."

There's a long pause that makes me wonder if the nurse already left, but then I hear her say, "Don't tire yourself out, Christina. Tris has always been such a strong and brave girl for you; she won't let you down, just like you never have." She leaves those last words in the air before she is finally out of the room.

Tris has always been such a strong and brave girl for you…

Unless they were talking about someone else, then I must be the Tris and the other girl must be Christina. I try to take a step back from where my mind is now and think about who this Christina girl is, or if I'm really this Tris girl. Nothing comes into my head, though, and quick flash of disappointment passes through me.

It wasn't until I felt my hand being touched that I returned from my state and realized that Christina's holding my hand. It's a firm grip that doesn't kill my hand, but it's tight enough to wonder if she's trying to hold me because she doesn't to lose me—or because she doesn't want to lose herself, clinging on to me like I was the rope that could stop her from falling off a cliff.

…she won't let you down, just like you never have…

And maybe it's because I knew what it felt like to release everything that clung onto my shoulder, or because the old me has probably never seen her at her weakest point yet, but I can't help but feel the relief and sadness that came through me when she cried. She's been keeping this in, I think, and it's probably because she wants to show that she's brave.

But I believe that crying doesn't make a person weak, nor does it define who they are. It's an act of bravery, an act of humanity, because it means that you're capable of feeling things and you accept them. The world may be selfish, but it doesn't judge those who grieve.

Her tears are falling and landing on my skin, like stars falling from the sky, and I wish that I could have enough strength to lift my hand and wipe her tears away. I feel her arms rest on top of my stomach, her entire body slowly crumbling afterwards as I feel her head rest there too. Sobs are rocking her body and there is nothing I can do but feel sorry for the memories that I've misplaced, for the girl who lost someone who must've been so important that she was deserving of her best friend's tears. I feel sorry for not remembering who I was, or who I am to her.

Because I don't know if I'm the same person as I was before, and I don't know if I can ever be that same person again.

"Des voix dans les obscurité" = "Voices In The Dark"

A/n: Whew. I think this is a good starting chapter, yeah? I always get writer's block whenever I try to write a start-up sentence, or the first chapter in general. Thank you so much for the support you guys have given me on the prologue, and I hope that I'll be able to do my best until the end

Inspiration song: "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men and "The End!" by My Chemical Romance (... I never said it was related to the story.)

Comments, corrections, questions, or some suggestions? Writing them down and posting them on the reviews page will gain my appreciation. Thanks!