• Ten Years Later…
    Jonas awoke from a deep dreamless sleep to the sound of Gabriel writing. With a sigh Jonas got up and walked over to the desk. The candle light was soft and produced just enough light to see by.
    “What are you doing Gabe?” Jonas asked placing a hand on the back of the chair.
    “Oh, it’s just you Jonas.” Gabriel said relieved.”I had a strange dream was all.”
    “Tell me about it.” Jonas commanded watching Gabriel’s face.
    “Well it was strange. You were there, as well as one male and two females. The one female was young with dark hair and eyes. The other female was older with the same dark hair and eyes and yet the two looked nothing alike. The male was older and just like the females had the dark hair and eyes. It made me think of the family units we have here, but I realized that they couldn’t be a family unit because none of them looked alike other than the dark hair and eyes. Plus you were there and you, unlike them, have light hair and eyes.” Gabriel paused and frowned when he saw the look on Jonas’s face. “What is wrong?”He asked.
    “That wasn’t a dream Gabe. That was a memory.” Jonas said in a worried tone.
    “But I’ve never seen those people before.” Gabe countered.
    “Yes you have Gabe. It’s a long story and very hard to explain but,” Jonas paused. “Maybe I can show you.” He said trailing off.
    “How?” Gabriel asked.
    “Pack a bag Gabe. Make sure to pack plenty of clothes and supplies. Don’t worry about food. I’ll take care of that.”Jonas said. “And pack quickly. We leave at sunrise.”
    Jonas and Gabriel left just after the sun had begun to rise. As they walked along Gabriel asked many questions. Jonas answered the ones that he could. Gabriel asked about the people he had dreamed about and what they were like. If they had cared for him and why he had to leave them. In his dream Gabriel thought they had looked so caring and kind. Before they knew it the sun was setting and it was time to set up camp.
    The two worked quietly enjoying the sound of the birds as they sang their final songs and the transition to crickets. Soon their tents were up and they had a small and well controlled fire. Jonas stared into the fire as memories flooded back from when Jonas had lived in the community. Gabriel too stared into the fire but his mind was racing with thoughts of his past and what was to come.
    “Jonas, what was it like? You never have really explained.”Gabe said.
    “Well I don’t know what it’s like now, but when we left things were very…controlled. Your family was picked for you as well as your job and basically anything you did or thought about doing was picked for you. I mean you still had choices, but they were minute in comparison with where we have been living for the past ten years. Some of the choices you did have were things like what kind of fruit you wanted for snack and what you did with your volunteer hours.”Jonas said. “Does that help any?”
    “Yes Jonas. Thank you. Goodnight.”Gabriel said as he crawled into his tent and under his covers.
    “Goodnight.” Jonas replied as he put out the fire and went to bed as well.
    Jonas and Gabe woke early the next morning. After they had packed up their tents and had a small breakfast they began their journey once again. The day was nice and the sky was clear. The worst that could happen to the pair would be a sudden storm such as a tornado or flash flood.
    For the next week Jonas and Gabriel continued their journey in the same routine as the first week. They would wake up early and take down the tents. Then they would eat a cold breakfast if possible. After cleaning up the breakfast mess and washing in the nearby stream they continued walking until the sun was high above their heads and they were quite warm. When the sun was at its highest point Jonas and Gabriel would sit down and eat their noon meal together. If they could they avoided starting a fire until night when the weather was cooler, warm food was needed to settle them, and the light was mostly gone.
    Than one day, seemingly out of the blue, the once small and well distanced communities began to grow larger. Jonas knew that by nightfall they would be back in the community from which they had fled ten years before. Jonas at the time had been only thirteen and Gabe barely a year old.
    When Jonas and Gabe reached the outskirts of town they were met by two tall men dressed in dark suits. The men wore sunglasses and had things in their ears that resembled the ear buds from Jonas and Gabe’s current community.
    “How may we help you?” The taller of the two men asked.
    “My name is Jonas and this is Gabe. We would like to speak to the current Giver.” Jonas said politely.
    “Why do you need to talk to the Giver?” The other man asked.
    “Trust me. It is of a very important nature.” Jonas replied mysteriously.
    “Were not supposed to let strangers in…” The tall man was interrupted by a very old man.
    “What seems to be the hold up? Wait,” The old man said interrupting the response. “Jonas, is that really you?”
    “Yes, Giver, I am Jonas and this is Gabriel the newchild that I took with me.”Jonas said with tears in his eyes.
    “Come come, make haste. There is much to discuss.”
    Jonas and Gabriel followed the Giver in complete silence. Gabriel looked around at the community in awe. Taking in all the differences between the community he had been raised in and the one Jonas said they used to live. Jonas to looked around in pure amazement. Things had changed, but he couldn’t tell whether it was for the better or worse. Soon they reached a building that vaguely resembled the building Jonas had known as the Apex. He knew that although it wasn’t the same in structure it was still the Apex.
    The Giver lead them in through the main doors and off down a hall and through yet another set of doors. The room was furnished much like the one that Jonas had been trained in when he had still lived there. The Giver motioned for Jonas and Gabriel to sit down. They sat down and looked at the Giver unsure as to who should start.
    “It has been ten years since you and Gabriel left the Community. Many things have changed, some for the better and others for the worse. I am sure you have many questions but allow to explain some of the major events that have happened and what they have brought about.” The Giver said in a weary voice.
    And so the Giver went into the tale of what had happened. When Jonas left all the memories he had retained returned to the people. Unlike the first time this happened the Giver was prepared to help. Not as well as he would have liked, but better than when Rosemary had left. Jonas had absorbed many tough and difficult memories and they all returned to the people. They had struggled with these most of all. More importantly though it had opened the people eyes to how they were living and gave them some ideas on how to better themselves.
    The Council of Elders used this to create immediate rule changes that they thought would be important to the people. One of them was a rule to tell the people that many of the memories about release and death were not real. They were simply tales that had been passed down and so they were just myths. This gave a great relief to those who carried out the releases. Another was that if twins were born one would not be released. Because of the rarity of twins the Council decided that an extra child every now and then would not stretch the community’s abilities too much. Instead of being raised like everyone else though the twins would be raised differently so that they did everything like they were one person instead of two. They were also to be guinea pigs for the community if a change was being studied.
    Jonas thought these new rules were not an improvement. In truth Jonas felt that they were worse. Gabriel still could not comprehend how a government could control an entire population so easily and with little if any question to their authority.
    “Giver, these new rules do not sound good. Is there anything to we can do to change it?” Jonas asked hurriedly.
    “No, Jonas, we cannot. Because of the memories that returned things have been stricter than ever. I am no longer allowed to turn off the speaker in here. Also the new Receiver is completely separated from everyone else. She must live either with me or in her own room which is not far from here. Everything has changed.” The Giver replied sadly.
    “So we can’t do anything?” Gabriel asked.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “So Giver what should we do?” Jonas asked.
    “The only thing we can do. Leave things as they are.”
    “So they’ll never change?”Gabe asked sadly.
    “After what happened ten years ago, if things change it won’t be for the better.”
    “Than I guess we should leave.”Jonas said.
    “That’s the thing. You can’t.”The Giver said.
    Just than the windows shut and bars appeared covering the windows. Jonas and Gabe turned to the door only to see that it had lock and a thick steel door that locked from the outside had come down. Jonas and Gabe had to face the penalty for breaking a major rule.