The Return Of Rosemary
3rd's POV
Jonas and Gabriel finally slid all the way to the bottom. Jonas gleefully jumped off the sled so quick that Gabe stirred but thankfully stayed sleeping. The music had gotten louder and he could hear others singing to it.
Was this Elsewhere? Jonas thought to himself. He was afraid to move. He didn't know this community and it was certainly different from his. He had never heard music, but he could understand, now, why the Giver loved it.
He started across the snowy field to a nearby house. Hopefully they are nice and will feed Gabe and I, Jonas thought. He didn't know what to expect, he saw lights from lamps or something hanging upside down from houses. He shivered as a gust of wind blew directly at him.
He was almost there, and Gabe had stirred again. This time though, he had awoken and whimpered. Jonas hugged Gabriel to him tighter and tried to zip up his sweater more. Almost there...
At last, he reached the door and hesitantly knocked. As he waited, he looked around and suddenly the word came to him. Porch. He was standing porch and the light above him was a porch light. He saw a stack of papers on the right side of the door and he knew that it was a newspaper. There was a date on the front that read, December 23rd. The ceremonies have passed, he thought.
But then, the door opened and a kind-faced lady much older than him stood there. Jonas was surprised, the lady was wearing a green long-sleeved t-shirts with some black pants. You weren't allowed to wear long-sleeved t-shirts in your dwelling. And the shirt was green...the clothing had color. Jonas was amazed. He had never seen colored clothing before. Well, except in memories.
"May I help you?" The lady asked in a kind, gentle voice. Gabriel shifted in his arms and Jonas unzipped his sweater a little to let Gabe breathe.
"I'm not from around here." Jonas admitted to the lady's kind pale eyes much like his own. The woman ushered them in the home.
"Are you a runaway?" She asked after wrapping Jonas into a blanket.
"What's that?" Jonas asked.
"When you run away from your home to live somewhere else on your own." The lady explained. Jonas thought about it for a minute. It did seem to fit the description of what he'd basically done.
"Yes, something like that." He said finally.
"Alright, well we're going to have to call your parents. They can pick you up in the morning." She said standing up from her position on the couch next to Jonas. Jonas quickly unzipped Gabriel, put him on the blanket and jumped up to stop the woman. He couldn't go back to his community. Everyone would be furious with him.
"You don't understand." He pleaded, following her. "I come from a community where everything is in Sameness. No one can see colors, they kill the Old and newborns and I can't go back. I-" Jonas stopped abruptly, realizing that he had said too much. He looked up at the woman.
She had her mouth open in an O shape, and her eyes were wide. "You mean..-" She trailed off then seemed to be thinking about something. After a moment she looked away...almost painfully.
"Miss? Are you alright?" Jonas asked. What if he had frightened her?
"I know..." The woman said in a daze-like voice. I know of the place that you are talking about." She said.
Jonas gasped. How did she know of his community? Does everyone here know? He decided to ask out loud.
"How do you know?" Jonas asked her out loud, then he thought of something and added, "May I ask, what is your name?"
"Rosemary." She said without hesitation. "My name is Rosemary."
"But... but how?" Jonas sputtered. "You got released. You're dead..." He instantly understood how she knew of his community. She had lived there, with the Giver.
"That is what I thought also." She said, sitting down with a troubled expression.
"Then tell me, how are you here?" He asked anxiously.
"I remember it like it was yesterday." She said now in a dreamy state. "I had signed up for release, and they took me to a room in the Nurturing Center. They took out the syringe and for a minute, I regretted my decision, but I couldn't go back."
"I told them that I would like to inject it myself and I did. Although, I didn't use it all and I didn't use a vein. I guess that wasn't enough to kill me because I had woken up and I wasn't in the community. I didn't know where I was but only one thing was on my mind.
"Freedom, from the community..." As she finished her story, she had a smile on her face.
"But surely, you must have gotten here somehow. Wait, but how... I mean, wouldn't they have noticed if the needle still had the liquid inside? How did you manage to fool them?"
"When I had asked to do it myself, they left me there in the room. I didn't know how much time I had so I quickly but, very quietly, jumped out of the bed and went toward the bottle, when I got it, I put the liquid back in and left just a tiny bit in the syringe. Then as I laid back down on the bed, I thought of my father-"
"The Giver." Jonas interjected with a smile.
"Yes," She smiled too. "I thought of him and whispered, 'I love you,' and then I plunged the needle into my right arm. For a minute, I felt drowsy and then I was unconscious.
"When I woke up, I was in a box somewhere. It was like a grassy field and there were other boxes. Many boxes, must've been hundreds..." Jonas felt tears come to his eyes and when he looked at Rosemary, he saw them in hers too.
Before he could anything, Gabriel let out a cry and Jonas rushed to him. "It's okay Gabe," Jonas cooed, picking him up and rocking him gently.
"Is he a newborn?" Rosemary asked.
"No. He is nearly two. He was scheduled for release so I took him with me." Jonas explained. "Please, continue." Jonas added.
"Okay. Well, I sat in the box for a while, thinking, and looking around at all of the boxes. I called the place Elsewhere just so it would have a name and finally I had the courage to get up and walk. I didn't know where I was going, but I was still near the community. I had to go so I did. For a long time, I ran through trees and I fell a bunch of times. I ate berries and other various items to survive. It was very tough. I was so close to just giving up but something told me to keep going so I did and a few hours later, I was here. Some people helped me out until I was capable of being on my own, and now look at where I'm at."
Jonas looked up at her in awe. His journey was hard but Rosemary's was difficult, tough, and very challenging. At least he started of with food and warmth and he had had company. Someone to talk to, someone he had to stick with. But Rosemary had nothing and no one.
Jonas's stomach grumbled noisily while he was thinking and no doubt Rosemary heard it.
"Would you like something to eat?" Rosemary offered.
"Of course." Jonas said a little too hungrily.
"Alright, follow me." She said and then walked off to a hallway, she walked into another room in which Jonas realized was a kitchen.
Rosemary took out bread and two jars of something. One jar was purple and another was brown. Wow, food that had color.
"Rosemary?" Jonas said suddenly while she was making the fourth one for him and Gabe.
"Yes?" She hummed a little.
"I've just realized that I haven't told you my name yet. It is Jonas. And I have an idea. One that will make both of us happy, plus Gabe."
"What?" She asked, very interested.
"I want to go back to the community...and get the Giver. I want him to experience this."
Rosemary didn't say anything at first, but when she was finished making the sandwiches, she glanced at Jonas and said, "I would love that."
They both smiled.
A/N: Okay, so first Fanfic for this archive. This was an English assignment. We read the book and we had to write a chapter 24. My teacher LOVED my idea, and everyone was really surprised that I brought Rosemary back. I mean, at first they were all like, 'She died! You can't bring her back!' And I was like, 'You don't know that! All the Giver said that they showed him the tape and that he turned away when she suggested to inject herself.' So yeah, they wanted to prove me wrong. But they really liked my idea in the end and no one else had thought of it. So yeah.
Uh, so I only ended it here because my teacher said to write a chapter 24 not chapters 24 and 25. So should I continue this as a story? Or leave it like this?
Review, please :)
