A/N: My English class was writing the 24th Chapter to The Giver so I thought that I would post our work up here. THIS WAS A SCHOOL ASSIGNMENT PLEASE DO NOT PLAGERIZE AND USE THIS IF YOU ARE WRITHING IT TOO.

Disclaimer: The Giver does not belong to me but I do have my own copy.

CHAPTER 24 The Giver

Jonas awoke in a strange new place. The sun shone brightly in his eyes and it took him a moment for him to adjust. Sitting up and looking around him, he found that he was in an actual bed for the first time in weeks. Jonas was about to get up when a girl glided into the room.

"Oh, you're awake." She smiled.

"Where am I?" Jonas asked.

"You're in a safe place. We found you after your sled crashed." She answered setting a glass of water along with an apple on the bed side table.

"My sled crashed?" He tried recalling the memory but found nothing.

"Yes, we pulled you from the snow. You've been asleep for a while."

Jonas tried to sit up more but the girl pushed him back down, protesting.

"You shouldn't move. You're still sick. You were in the snow for a long time. When we found you, you had a bad case of hypothermia."

"Hypothermia? Am I getting better?"

"Yes," she sighed, "But much slower than we would like."

"Who's we?" Jonas was overwhelmed. He couldn't remember anything. "Where is my family? The Giver? Why am I so tired?"

"We will answer your questions later, Jonas. When you are ready." She said empathetically, heading for the door.

"How do you know my name?" But before she could answer someone outside called.

"Rosemary!"

She flew out of the room, leaving Jonas alone.

Jonas laid back his thoughts running back and forth in his mind. He knew nothing about this new place, how he got here, or the girl. Rosemary. But somehow, it all seemed familiar.

Jonas pondered this for a moment, but soon he felt tired, his head growing heavy, and fell back asleep. He dreamed of hazy figures and familiar voices, but all was forgotten when he awoke with a start.

A small boy stood at the foot of the bed, his eyes wide.

"I-I'm sorry." The boy stammered. He had the looks of a Five. "I dropped your tray."

But Jonas wasn't listening. He had noticed the boy's blonde hair, and now he remembered.

"Where's Gabriel!?" he asked frantically. "Where's Gabriel!?"

The boy ran from the room, and returned minutes later with Rosemary. She ran to the bed side and forced Jonas to calm down.

"Gabriel is happy and healthy; he has a life ahead of him, a good, full life."

"How do you know?" Jonas demanded.

Rosemary was silent for a moment, contemplating the answer to his question.

"I'll be right back." She said quietly. And with that she went from the room, into the corridor beyond.

Jonas was sitting up, breathing heavily, his heart pounding. He knew this had to be a bad dream. He was asleep somewhere, he knew it. He had to wake up- he had to get up and move, he had to get Gabriel to Elsewhere.

Then, Rosemary walked back in, and behind her was the person Jonas wanted to see most of all at that moment, besides Gabriel.

Behind Rosemary was the Giver, and Jonas didn't know what to say. And so the Giver started.

"Jonas. I didn't plan on seeing you this soon, but Rosemary convinced me it was the best way for you to understand." The Giver sighed, his old age showing in the lines on his face. Then continued. "You were Lost, Jonas."

Jonas was in shock. If he was Lost, then where was Gabriel? There was no way he was alive. They had been in the middle of nowhere.

"But, there is good news." Jonas stopped in the middle of his thoughts and returned his attention to his mentor, unbelieving. How could there be anything good at this point?

"Gabriel made it. The sled made it to Elsewhere, and Gabriel is well."

Coming from anyone else, this statement would have seemed impossible to Jonas, but he felt a weight lift, and knew what the Giver said was true.

He put his head back down on the pillow, full of emotion, some good and some bad. Sorrow, that he had left Gabriel behind, and Joy, that he had saved Gabriel. Then a thought occurred to him.

"Giver?" He asked. "Why are you here?"

"Because we succeeded, Jonas. We changed the way things were. And so they no longer needed a Receiver, and I was able to leave in peace."

"Oh." Jonas whispered. And with that, he fell back to sleep, knowing that all was right.