DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything.
Chapter 24
She woke with a start. Her eyes felt tired and she had a headache. It felt like there was someone pounding on her temples with one of those make-believe objects, a hammer. She laid back down and fell asleep.
Usually during the morning telling of dreams Fiona didn't have much to share. She sometimes had fuzzy fragmented visuals, mostly about her work at the House of the Old, but nothing that she could put together enough to share. However, she had a very unusual dream the night before. It seemed… sad, which was unusual; people lay around a room, on the same little beds. These people were pale, and limp, their eyes were mostly shut but the few that were open looked dull. They looked, what's the word? Sick. It seemed like a negative dream and she had no idea where it had come from so she decided to keep it to herself. She didn't want make her family upset.
She waved at Asher as he rode toward his training center for his job as Assistant Director of Recreation, then made her way toward the bike rack for the House of the Old. Fiona wondered where Jonas was, they had promised to ride together for the next few days because their schedules matched. She parked her bike and made her way through the big doors, saying hello to another caretaker of the old. She slipped her apron over her tunic and walked over to the assignment list. Checking her name, Fiona realized with a start, that she was in release today, to work on her training. Other caretakers called her efficient for such a young trainee but for some reason she felt a sort of negative feeling towards it. She trudged towards the release papers and checked who was getting released today. Elizabeth was the name on the list, a kind old who had an exciting life as director of the Department of Justice.
Fiona watched the celebration. She listened to the retelling of Elizabeth's life and all her accomplishments. She clapped with many of the old and other caretakers. Benjamin, her main trainer, motioned her forward. She walked up onto the stage, taking Elizabeth by the arm. She led Elizabeth through the ceremonial release doors, while she was waving and calling goodbye with a huge smile on her face. Benjamin soon followed, he signaled for her to begin.
"Why are we in here?" Elizabeth asked glancing around at the non-descript room with a few cabinets and a bed.
"We need to give you a shot to make sure you stay healthy in Elsewhere," Fiona explained. She laid Elizabeth down on the bed. She opened a cabinet and pulled out a syringe and a bottle. "This might hurt a little but don't worry." Fiona poked the needle into the bottle and began filling the syringe with a clear liquid. With practiced hands, she inserted the liquid into the blue vein on the Old's arm. Elizabeth let out a groan and started shuddering like she was having a fit. She was then still. With the greatest respect, Fiona closed her eyes and wrapped her in a soft blanket. Benjamin muttered something like, 'Hurry up, I have other work to do,' but she ignored him. All of a sudden something came to her, the old looked like one of the unnatural people in her dream. That troubled her but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She waved Benjamin forward and they lifted Elizabeth into the wooden crate that had been covered by the blanket. She kissed the women's forehead and closed the carton shut as gently as possible.
That night at evening telling of feelings, something peculiar happened. During the evening telling of feelings, her younger brother was talking about how he felt embarrassed when a instructor critiqued him and he felt sorry but didn't give a apology for forgiveness. Fiona's parents were giving advice when they were interrupted by the speaker's voice crackling over intercom 'Jonas's family unit please come to the assembly hall.'Fiona thought that what the speaker just said was odd. Rarely had anyone been called specially to the hall before. Her parents showed similar looks of confusion.
She awoke again that night, having another vivid dream. This one was like that game that she used to play as a child, and sometimes still did, but it seemed harsher and more severe. Whenever she played Fiona had fun, yet as the people in this dream lay about the fields they looked actually injured. It didn't seem like a game.
Her parents talked in hushed tones as they walked down to breakfast and the morning telling of dreams.
"Did anyone dream anything unusual last night?" asked her mother.
"I had a quite peculiar-," Fiona's father was cut off by her younger brother Jacob.
"I had the most unusual dream," Jacob spoke frantically, "It made me sad and I didn't like it." Fiona felt bad, she vaguely remembered being an eight, and if Jacob's dreams were anything like hers, he must be afraid.
Fiona's mother and father shared a look. "What exactly happened in your dream Jacob?" her mother asked but before she could answer the urgent voice of a Speaker was heard, "All members of the community are to meet in the assembly hall. Everyone."
Her parents got up from the table and hurried out the door, with Fiona and Jacob at their heels. All around the community people were seen leaving their dwellings and heading towards the assembly hall. Fiona wondered what had made the Council of Elders call such an unusual meeting.
They filed into their seats by family unit and waited. Fiona pondered why the only person on the stage was The Receiver of Memory, Jonas's mentor. The rest of the council of elders was seated towards the back, facing away from the audience. Where was Jonas? She looked at the families surrounding her but she couldn't find Jonas's family unit. They usually sat just a row behind her. Fiona glanced back up at the stage, Jonas's family unit was seated with the elders!
The Receiver started to speak, "We have gathered today for many reasons. A terrible thing has befallen the community and we have to stand together to overcome it. Jonas has ran…"
One of the elders stood up, "Jonas has been released due to certain matters. He was not in trouble. However with that, the memories he had are going to come back to us, things we have never seen will be shown in our minds. We must stand together and fight. These memories are just dreams that we will need to forget. Everything is still the same.
Everyone in the audience started mumbling worries to each other.
The Receiver looked troubled. He went over to the Elders and whispered something to them. He then came back to the center of the stage and addressed us all, "I am going to tell you the truth," the Council of Elders gave worried looks to each other. "Jonas ran away. He ran because he knew you guys needed to experience the memories otherwise the community is going to fall apart. These are not made up dreams, these things happened to people a long time ago but could very well happen again. Not all of these memories are bad either. There are the good things like love and happiness, and even at certain times sadness and anger. You all will feel these emotions and the community will then be put back together. We will get rid of the sameness.
The crowd looked around in wonder, nobody had every heard of such things. Everybody started to mumble to one another. Like most, Fiona couldn't even comprehend the idea of these memories being real and people all not living the same. She wanted to know what the Receiver was talking about though. What did he mean by feelings? Fiona wanted to feel love and anger for real. She wanted to be different.
Fiona walked ahead of her family. They didn't understand what was going to happen. They didn't know that everything was going to change. But Fiona could feel it, she felt somewhere, deep down that change was going to happen. The community would no longer be the same and the people would be bonded together by the memories of the past that they share. Fiona was going to help The Giver change the way things are. She was going to change the community and the way people think. Fiona was going to change the sameness.