\Welcome To Elsewhere
The music grew louder as Jonas and the baby went down faster and faster. Jonas grasped Gabe tighter and tried steering the sled in the direction of the music. Louder and louder the music came to them but the source was nowhere in sight. The sled picked up speed as they went down the hill even faster. How much longer until Elsewhere Jonas thought. The voices of people singing came louder to the duo but they could not see them as the sled speed picked up and the snow flew in front of them. The snow suddenly accumulated in the air at a rapid pace. So much white Jonas thought as he squinted to find the music but his hands were growing number by the second and his vision was growing blurrier. Squeezing Gabe tighter to him, he had not felt something he had vaguely felt before, body warmth.
Eyes widening in shock Jonas looked down to see the little boy Jonas had considered a little brother; pale lifeless eyes looked up at him but stayed there. He was not moving. “Gabe?” Jonas’s voice came out coarse and weak. “Gabe, Gabe talk to me.” He started to shake the little boy but no response came. “Gabe,” He shook him harder “Gabe!” Jonas yelled. Gabe stayed perfectly still. “No,” Jonas whispered “Gabe wake up please.” Tears started falling down his face. He had just lost the last remaining most important part of his life. Gabe was gone. I am all alone Jonas thought to him. A tear slipped of his face and fell down onto Gabe.
Jonas looked up and realized he was still going down the hill. He could not see anything but white but he could feel the speed. What if, Jonas thought, What if he fell off? Would he end up where Gabe was? Where Rosemary rested? The speed picked up even quicker now. It is now or never Jonas thought. Letting go of the reins he slowly leaned to the left. Time seemed to slow down and Jonas could see everything snowflakes falling slowly to the ground. Each looking the same from a distance but each perfectly unique up close. That is somewhat how the community is Jonas thought, except it is not unique up close. That is the last thought Jonas had before the sled slipped out from under him and he plummeted to the ground seeing a white light in the distance.
Jonas’s world was blackness. He could see blackness, smell and feel nothing, and hear bits and pieces of conversation. Jonas was in nothingness. It felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted off his chest and now he was lying on cloud as light as a feather.
“Catch the ball!”
“What’s a car?”
Jonas tried to move but it was as if he did not have a body anymore, he was just a soul sitti— no not sitting just, just existing there. Existing there for hours, days, weeks.
“I never told a lie.”
“Caleb!”
Caleb, the named seemed familiar to Jonas, Caleb, where had he heard that name before? It was like a penny sitting under a big stone statue. Jonas knew it was there but there was no way to get to it. Jonas tried digging for it. He dug for it for a week.
“Is his preparation finished yet?
Jonas’s world of blackness changed a little. What he had known as complete blackness changed a bit. There were spots of light seeping into the dark sky and the darkness was absorbing it. Absorbing it to the point when the blackness anymore but rather a very bright desk lamp shining on his face.
“ROSEY! He is awake! He’s awake!” A little boy jumped out from behind the desk lamp and stood in front of Jonas. He was only a tyke. He seemed familiar. He vaguely remembered seeing him around the community before. “My name’s Caleb. I’m three,” He said holding up four fingers. Jonas laughed.
“Where am I?” Jonas asked Caleb while taking in his surroundings. He was on a twin-sized bed in a room painted blue. Looking to his right Jonas saw a window and what surprised him was not the window itself but what lay behind the glass. It was a luscious green meadow next to a sparkly blue river with blue birds soaring through the cotton ball like clouds. Definitely, the opposite of how Jonas remembered the weather was last time he was awake.
“ROSEY!” Caleb screamed startling Jonas. “Jonas! Look it’s Rosey!” Jonas looked over his shoulder to see a girl about his age entering the room. She had the same pale eyes as Gabe and himself.
“Is that a river out there?” Jonas asked her still in bewilderment of how much the weather changed from last time he was awake. However, before she could answer Caleb did for her.
“Yes! I drowned in a river, but this one is a nicer river!” Caleb answered. This kid has too much enthusiasm for his own good Jonas thought, and did he say he drowned in a river?
Turning back to Rosey he asked her, “Rosey, where am I?” She smiled and gestured with her hand to follow her out the door as she said,
“My name is Rosemary, and welcome to Elsewhere.”
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OKAY So that was just my extra credit English assignment. Leave a comment, vote :) Oh and does anyone remember Caleb from the beginning of the book?
