24
The music grew louder as Jonas and Gabe approached the top of the hill. They laid the sled down on the snow and prepared to sled down the next hill. Jonas heard crunching in the snow, and turned around to see that Gabe was making footprints in the snow.
“Come on Gabe,” Jonas said soothingly, “let’s go and see who’s making the pretty music.”
Gabe giggled and sat on the sled. Jonas sat right behind him holding him in between his legs. He gave a huge heave and they slid down the snowy hill. The icy cold chill crept on Jonas’s face as Gabe was laughing loudly. The bottom of the hill came and they slowly lost speed and stopped.
Together, they walked to a village of identical houses. Each house was wooden and had a narrow room that rose vertically. Jonas recognized it as a fireplace (from one of the Giver’s memories).
“Let’s go and see who’s there,” Jonas told the fidgeting Gabe. He wasn’t about to relax after the thrilling ride down the hill.
Jonas opened the door of a nearby house and peeked inside. It was empty. He searched the next house; it too was empty.
Not until they reached a big building, they found someone.
Jonas grabbed the doorknob and yanked it open. People, or perhaps ghosts of people, surrounded him. They were all singing as a group in tune. Each voice had it’s own unique sound, and putting them together made it a beautiful sound.
A smile also lit up each face making each ghost glow. But something about each one was different. Jonas noticed that everybody’s body was glowing more and more pale. The ghostly transparent bodies were becoming solid and human like.
“These ghosts must be coming back to life,” Jonas thought to himself. “They are getting my memories. Our plan is working!”
“Sun, Sun,” Gabe said waving his hand at the ceiling.
“Those are candles Gabe, they help you see,” Jonas told him.
At the end of the day, Jonas and Gabe found a place to sleep; they dug some snow from the ground to make a snow bed, and stuffed some needles from a tree for a pillow.
That night Jonas had a terrible dream. He dreamt that all the citizens from where he lived came back to him. They all went crazy and had guns like they do in armies. Some had torches, and Jonas remembered from a memory that they aren’t pretty. The Giver was amongst the crowd, bearing dignity. He now can only see in shades of brown. The Giver came to Jonas and demanded all the memories back.
“No,” Jonas said to him, “Remember our plan?”
“Jonny,” Gabe said, waking up that morning. He had made up a nickname for Jonas.
“Yes Gabe, are you hungry?”
Gabe nodded and pointed to his mouth. Jonas had to think of something for food or else they will both starve. He finally decided to go hunting for rabbits or any small creature that will be easy to catch.
He set Gabe on the ground and walked to a forest. It was covered in snow, but Jonas was sure that some animals were there. He quickly spotted a rabbit darting behind some white bushes and edged closer. With a large stone in his hand, he took aim and promptly threw the stone at the creature. It became limp and fell to the ground. Jonas came up close to the rabbit and cut it open with the edge of a sharp rock. The blood trickled down the rabbit’s body and turned the soft white snow, into a daring red color.
Jonas and Gabe feasted on the Rabbit savoring the taste. It was a long time since they have had a good and filling meal.
After their meal, they took a stroll into the big building. As Jonas expected, the ghostly figures were still there singing. Most of them now were halfway done with their transformation. One of them, amongst the others, was almost completely transformed. His head and body became completely solid and alive. Just his legs and arms were left. As Jonas looked closely, he noticed that that person was sad. His face wasn’t blank like the others; he had a worried expression that expressed shock.
Jonas knew this was what happened to the people when Rosemarry got released. The Giver said that everyone was shocked for a couple of days because they have all seen the memories. Now it was about to happen to them. The community in which Jonas knew all his life would become whole and complete. Jonas knew that he couldn’t go back, but there was always a chance that someone would go Elsewhere and join him.
The ghost now became whole. He stopped singing and fell to the floor. He turned to Jonas and whispered, “What is all of this cruelty?”
“It is called life,” Jonas explained. “Life can be fun, but it can also be sad and scary.”
“Get me out of this!” he croaked.
Jonas, with all of his might tried to comfort him. It didn’t work.
More and more people were starting to awaken from their ghostly bodies. More and more fell to the ground and Jonas tried to help them. Gabe came trotting at Jonas side holding onto Jonas’s legs. He was no doubt scared and wanted to go back to a normal life.
“Help me Gabe!” Jonas cried.
Gabe responded by crying loudly. Jonas had no choice but to flee. He ran out of the building and up the snowy hill. He took his sled with him and had Gabe at his side. Like they came, Jonas peddled his bike to some other place. When they reached a place that was sunny (rather than snowy) he stopped. After settling for a few hours, Jonas heard footsteps. There were many of them, and they were all in tune, like a march.
Jonas was now scared. He turned around and saw the ghost-people form a riot. He quickly peddled back into the snowy place, nonstop. Soon, he again, reached a place that was sunny. He settled there.
Gabe was crying like usual starving for food. Jonas was forced to take a break to go hunting. This time, he was determined to find something that would keep him and Gabe filled for a long time. He settled on frog meat.
Where Jonas parked his bike, was a small pond. It had green wiry grass shooting in the air and had a damp feeling. Jonas crept near the edge of the pond and spotted a frog. He stalked the prey and gave a big leap into the water. The frog jumped to the side and was safe, but not Jonas.
Jonas fell into the icy water and felt his lungs longing for air. His ribs were clinging to his skin and were cracking, which painfully hurt him. He rasped for breath, only to allow water into his nose. The cold water felt like ice, going into his lungs giving him a queasy feeling. He felt light-headed and rolled his eyes.
He could hear the terrified Gabe shouting to Jonas looking for him. Jonas knew that he would never see Gabe again. He knew that he was about to die.
25
Somehow, a miracle happened. Jonas was rescued. Jonas knew that he fainted and that was pretty much it. He found a thick branch near Gabe that was wet, and could only infer that Gabe saved him.
Gabe was a hero, saving him from one of the most painful deaths you could ever imagine.
Jonas could now hear chanting in the background as he hugged Gabe. He almost forgot about the riot that was formed. He stared at them in disbelief that they found him. But still desperate for life, Jonas grabbed Gabe in a second attempt to escape. It was the impossible. Each face had the same expression of fear and panic.
Looking closer at the faces, he recognized them to be people in his very town! He could see a face that was Fiona and next to her was Asher. Asher still had his familiar grin etched across his face that brightened Jonas up a little up.
“Jonas,” a shout came over the hill.
Jonas recognized the voice to be Asher’s. Jonas looked near the hill in disbelief. Surely this couldn’t be true. The Giver told him about what would happen if Jonas left, and this wasn’t suppose to happen. Obviously there was some mistake. Asher couldn’t possibly be back.
“Who are you?” Jonas asked the so-called Asher, protecting Gabe from the riot of people now enclosing.
“I am Asher. I am your friend. Do you remember me?” he replied to Jonas. When Jonas still looked unconvinced, he gave an empty look.
“Remember the day you told me about the flower? Well now I know what you meant. It is color,” Asher said to Jonas. His words had struck Jonas. His memories had been released, and Asher knew some of them.
“Help me Asher!” Jonas screamed to Asher. The riot people were drawing closer and closer.
Swiftly, Asher took some stones from the ground and threw them to each person’s head. It landed with a thud and the person fell down. It was like bowling, and Jonas and Gabe kept on cheering on Asher.
“What’s happening in out town?” Jonas asked Asher as they lay down on the damp grass.
“Everyone is going crazy. When you left, we all had the ceremony, but Fiona and I suspected something else. We knew that you were Elsewhere. Fiona decided to stay back. It took me a while to recover those feelings, but when I did, I came here.”
“How did you find me?”
“Oh, that part was easy. I just followed all the footprints in the snow.”
Jonas was so glad to have Asher back; he embraced him, crying with joy.
“What do you think will happen to the town now? Will they ever recover?”
“Beats me, but I know we’ll be fine,” Asher said to Jonas and Gabe smiling.
“Till the very end,” Jonas agreed.