… Downward, downward, faster and faster. Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting too, for the baby. For the first time he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing.
Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.
Then it all went dark and he fall asleep, dreaming of his dwelling. But it wasn't the same that when he had left it. The furnishing was different and colorfull, instead of the plane gray he was so used to. We wasn't vold anymore, and he realized that there was a fireplace in front of him, and next to it a big Christamas tree.
"Oh!!!, you finally awoke Jonas, come join us for the present exchange please"said a man with white beard, who looked somehow like the Giver, holding a big box wrapped in bright paper.
And then he head it again... music...no, it wasn't exactly music, it was more...singing, he remembered the word. He turned around and found Lily, singing a Christmas carol to Gabe, who giggled at her.
And in a flash it wasn't Christmas anymore, and he was riding his bicycle next to Fiona, her red hair floating in the wind. They were crossing a bright green field, full of flowers, and the sun was shinig bright up in the sky. Then he saw them: airplanes, looking for him and flashing with the sun, blinding Jonas. He couldn't open his eyes, and when he finally manage to do so, he woke up from his dream, breathing heavily and confused.
He looked around trying to recognize where we was. The last thing he remembered was sliding down the hill, with Gabe in his arms.
"Gabe" he said to himself, and quickly stepped out of the bed. He was in a big room, full of beds, all empty and with white covers. Some had a curtain that separated them form the other beds. "Gabe!" he shouted this time and rushed out of the room, into a large hall.
"You shouldn't be out of bed young man" an old lady said to him. She was sitting behing a big desk, ordering some papers. "Did you hear me?, please go back to your bed! This time, the lady stood up and reached for Jonas's arm. "Gabriel, where is him?! Jonas asked the lady, who was still gripping his arm. "You mean, the baby? Jonas nodded, "We took him to the pediatry guard, he'll be fine. Now, please return to your bed" she insisted, dragging him again into the room.
Jonas manged to scape from the old lady's grip and ran out of the hall, into a set of stairs. He hesitated on which direction to go, and was caught again by a pair of stronger arms. He turned around and was faced by a big man who had dark-coloured skin. "Come with me little man", "But I need to find Gabriel!" Jonas shouted, trying to escape again, but the man was far too strong for him, so he started walking with the man, whispering the baby's name once in a while.
He was taken into a smaller room, which had two brown sofas and a small table at the center. "Wait here," the big man said. "I'll be aoutside in case you want to run away again, so don't even think about doing so." And he colsed the door.
Jonas felt strange and confused. He didn't knew where we was and who where those people outside the room. His mind kept on going into that last memory of him and Gabriel going down the hill. Then, the door opened again, and a person came in. It was a woman, and strangely, Jonas felt safe at her prescence. "Please calm down son," she said, and her tone sounded different from all he had head before; the only person who called him son were Mother and Father, but they never used that tone of voice with him. "Sit and we'll talk about a few things" and motionig towards the bigger sofa they both sat down.
"Where am I?, What is this place?, Where is Gabriel?!" Jonas had many questions in his head, but those were the only ones he made to the lady. She was looking at him with a strange look in hes eyes that made him trust her. "First of all, Merry Christmas to you my boy," and she patted his back. "You are in Fairwiew's comunity hospital, we found you and your little brother in the outsides of the city, you two had crashed into a tree and fell inconscious. As for the bay, he is also in this hospital, and thankfully he is all right." Jonas, who was very concerned about the baby calmed a bit after the lady told him he was fine and safe.
"Now, please tell me, who are you and where is your family?", she asked him. "My name is Jonas and my family..." he hesitated, "I don't have a family, we left our comunity to look for something." But he really didn't knew excactly what he had been looking for.
"Well being that the case, we don't have another alternative than to wait for you to recover from the accident, and then we'll have the police look for your records in the nearby cities," the lady said standing up, "You must be tired, go back to your bed and i'll be back tomorrow to visit you again Jonas" and she left the room. Jonas sat still for a while, thinking of all that had happened to him. He dind'nt knew excactly what a hospital was, but it dind't bothered him anymore. The lady ashured him that Gabriel was fine and that was all that mattered to him, so he left the small room, and found the big man, who led him into the room with beds, where he fall asleep, and tis time, he didn't dreamed at all.
During the week, the lady came back each day, and Jonas told her all about his comunity, his assignment and his escape. At first she didn't beleive what he had said, and it was until the city lawyer came to talk to Jonas. The lawyer was a very old man, who hadn't had any family, but yet respected by all. He became interested in Jonas's history after he overheard the woman talking to other people, and decided to pay a visit to Jonas.
When he arrived to the hospital, Jonas was playing with Gabriel on his bed, tickling his stomach to make the baby laugh. "Helo Jonas," the old man said to him "So, please tell me, why did you ran away from the comunity?". Jonas, without lifting his head to see the man, responded "I was given a very difficult task, and I couldn't do it", and he kept on playing with Gabe. "Oh, I see... the Receiver, isn't it?" Jonas stood up abruptly and stared at the old man, not knowing exactly what to say next.
"I...I... how do you know that?, Jonas asked, feeling disturbed. "Oh, that's because, I come from the same place you do" the man said, sitting on the bed and caressing Gabe's head. " If you are from the comunity, then how did you manage to escape? The boy asked. "Well, it's a long story. I was assigned to be an instructor for sixes, and did my job as every people did, never braking a rule. One day, we had to go to another comunity so the sixes could meet other children there. When it was time to return, the bus left me, so I decided to follow it walking, but it was so fast for me that I got lost. I though that if I kept on walking I'll somehow find the way to the comunity. But then the field started to change... the grass wasn't neatly cut as in the comunity, and there were clouds in the sky. Of course I didn't knew what all those things were, so I became frightened and started running. Finally, I became exhausted and collapsed unconcious into the ground. When I woke up, I was here, in this room, lying on a soft white bed".
Jonas couldn't believe that other person had left the comunity since he had never heard a story like that before. "After some time here, I realized everything was different than in the comunity. There wasn't many rules, nor obligations like dream or feeling telling each day, couples demosntrated their affection, and dressed very different than what I was used to. Each day I found that new place fascinating, learning every day what was given to you. I started to forget the comunity, their rules and assignments, and before I kenw it, I became interested in this new kind of rules and became a Lawyer." The old man finished his story and looked at Jonas, who listened mouth-open.
" I also want to stay here, with Gabe, and learn all that was forbidden in the comunity as you did" Jonas finally said, very quietly, as if talking to himself. "And you will Jonas, feel free to love, to learn, to be yourself," the old man said this last thing as if it was the more important thing in the world for him, "You both will stay with me, and I'll teach you how to live..., but..., there is one thing I was never learned, so I can't teach you" the man said, carrying Gabe in his arms, the bay started playing with his beard", "What is it?" Jonas asked, " I still don't know what color is".
"Color...color is..." and the 3 of the exited the room, into a new life.