The amazing trip

Today I was thinking about everything The Giver told me, and how much I want all those things. At dinner, my father told me he was going to release Gabriel. I tried not to get angry, and stay calm. But inside, I was furious, I didn't want Gabriel to die! I left the community, and took Gabriel with me. He was sitting at the back of the bike, asleep. When he woke, he was very happy. I gave him and my self some food. We went on with journey, to who knows where. After a long bike ride across miles and miles of field. We had traveled a lot of night already, I had lost count how many. My legs were aching, my muscles were exhausted. I rested for a while, my energy built up and I was ready for another few hours of biking. Planes were flighing above us, they were very loud. Gabriel, still sitting at the back of the bike, shouted out, "PLANE, PLANE." Everytime a plane flew above us.The number of planes narrowed down after while. I biked and biked through the same landscape, when all of a sudden it changed. The road got thinner and it was bumpy. As the bike wobbled over the sticks and stones, it was hard to keep balance. One night I fell off my bike, I twisted my ankle, scraped my knee and there was blood dripping from my legs. It wasn't a pleasant moment but I was happy Gabriel was okay. He was still tied tightly to the back of the bike. I got scared every time a plane came flying over us, maybe they went to search for us? We didn't eat for a long time, there was no food, anywhere. We were both extremely hungry. We both cried, because we didn't have any food and we were very, very weak. I also cried because Gabriel's face drowning. :( We went on for another couple of days when finally we reached the place where there was snow. The cold wind blew across our faces, with one streak of sunlight shining on the soft and fluffy snow. I hugged Gabriel tightly. For the first time, I heard music, I thought it was music, i'm not sure though. It's quite amazing how just one little thing can change you're life completely.

Memories

Today I was given the memory of snow. The giver (the receiver told me to call that) told me to lay on the bed face down. He placed his hands on my back, I fell asleep. The room was absolutly quite, there wasn't any sound, at all! I felt really weird, with someone else's hands on my bare back, when I didn't even know him. His hand suddenly started to get colder, i felt awkward. While I was breathing, my breath started cooling down aswell. I licked my lips, and felt the cool air. I was feeling cold, my entire body was freezing! My eyes were still closed, I couldn't feel the Giver's hands anymore. I stuck out my tongue again, I felt cold on only one particular spot on my tongue,like a dot of cold fell on my tongue. The coldness disappeared faster than one second. Suddenly, more and more of those dots fell on my tongue. It was a very pleasant feeling.I knew I was still laying in the Annex room, but another part of me also knew I was sitting on a sled in the snow.The snow looked like cold fur, it looked very soft. The sled went downwards, along the hill, I was still sitting on the sled. As the sled went quickly through the snow, beside the sled snow was swooshing smoothly along the sled. I smiled of happiness. When I opened my eyes, I was still in the exact same position, laying on the bed. I had the old man looking at me, he asked, "how do you feel?" I didn't reply very quickly but I told him I was surprised, which was true.He said he doesn't have that memory anymore now. I could go on a sled again he told me! I was so exited because it was so much fun. I wish we had those sleds and hills and snow in the Community, the I could do that every day. The giver told me snow, hills and sleds didn't exist anymore because of climate control.We both wanted all those things to still exist.

First day as a 'Reciever of memory'

Today was the first day with a new, different life. I went to The Annex, to see the old receiver. The building's door was very big and bulky with a large and heavy handle. I pressed on the buzzer beside the door. I heard someone say, "yes." I replied, saying it was me, Jonas. I didn't say it very smoothly, but i couldn't help it, I was extremely nervous. The door opened, the door lead to a very small lobby with only a desk and one person sitting at it. The person sitting at the desk was a female, she stood when i came in, i was surprised and I felt special, no one ever had stood up just to welcome me. I did feel uncomfortable, not knowing where to go. The lady told me nothing was dangerous, which slowed down my heart beat just a little. Then she told me that he doesn't like to be kept waiting, that made me nervous so I ran to the door to get to the receiver as fast as possible. When I opened the door, I walked into a spacious room, it looked like a living room, not like mine at home but it was something like it. I looked around for a while, I didn't know what to expect. I saw a man sitting beside the table, watching me. It scared me a little, I thought I was alone. I walked towards him and said, "I'm Jonas." The man said he knew, and he welcomed me as the receiver of memory. The man was very old, he looked very friendly. You could see he was a receiver for a very very long time. I am not aloud to tell anyone what I do being a receiver, but I still am going to say it here. He told me our community wasn't the only one, that got me confused. I thought, we were the only ones, there was nothing else just us. But I was wrong. He told me something about 'snow,' I had no idea what he was talking about. He seemed surprised when I said I didn't know what he meant. "Move to the bed, and lie face down." He demanded. I did as told. There were these speakers on the wall, the old man reached and turned it 'off.' I didn't know anyone had the power to do such a thing. He lay his hands on my back and told me I he was going to give me back the memory of snow. He did, it was very unusual.

The ceremony of Twelve.

Today I went to the ceremony of the twelve, I was very exited. It was held in a Auditorium, it was very spacious. All of the elevens were arranged by their number, the one we got when we were born, my number was 19. My friend called Asher, was Four. Asher sat in a row ahead of me. The chief elder held this ceremony, she started speaking, everyone went silent. The chief elder called up number One to come up to the stage. It was a female, her name was Madeline. She was told that her Assignment was; Fish Hatchery Attendant. Everyone applauded, I smiled at her in congratulation, even though I was very happy i didn't get that Assignment. Then came up number Two, Three, Four then Five. And so on, then finally The Chief elder called up number Eighteen, I was so exited and also nervous. Eighteen finally sat down, and I was ready to get up on stage and get my Assignment, when the Chief called said,"Twenty." I was shocked, I didn't know what to do, I think the whole crowd realized, He skipped me! I just hope she would correct her mistake and call me up on stage. But now, she just kept on going. When the Ceremony was suppose to be finished, The Chief said; "I know, that you are all concerned and feel as if I made a mistake." The Chief told us she caused us anxiety, which was very true. She told me she was sorry, I accepted her apology, but I still didn't know where she was getting to. She said, "Jonas has not been Assigned." I nodded at her, "Jonas has been selected." With the emphasis on the last word. I didn't nod to that, I had no idea what she was talking about. I felt weird, since everyone's mind was thinking about me, and everything was about me for a while. I felt different from everyone else. She told me I was going to be their next receiver of memory! When the chief told the audience, there was a loud gasp noise in the room. I waa so happy, I felt as if I was on top of the earth! "JONAS, JONAS, JONAS!" the crowed shouted out, it was amazing.