Fahrenheit 451 Alternate Ending: She's Back(Limited Edition)

She's Back

Starting on page 144 in 60th Anniversary Edition

"I want you to meet Jonathan Swift, the author of that evil political book, Gulliver's Travels! And this other fellow is Charles Darwin, and this one is Schopenhauer, and this one is Einstein, and this one here at my elbow is Mr. Albert a very kind philosopher indeed. Here we all are, Montag. Aristophanes and Mahatma Gandhi and Gautama Buddha and Confucius and Thomas Love Peacock and Thomas Jefferson and Mr. Lincoln, if you please. We are also Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John."

Everyone laughed quietly. Montag noticed that he had mentioned all of them but one.

"Hello Montag" Clarisse whispered. Clarisse looked scruffy and tired, as if she had been through a natural disaster, but her hair still looked gossamer like silk. She seemed different. He could see it in her eyes; she was not the same.

Montag was happy about her being alive. Clarisse was the only person he loved, so Montag felt overwhelmingly happy to see her, but Montag could tell that she wasn't quite as happy to see him. Montag didn't feel like asking what she had been doing while everyone had thought she was dead. He felt like she would get mad somehow.

"Clarisse! I thought you... you were dead!" Montag pointed with a scattered voice.

"I thought that too until I woke up in a self driving hospital bed. Did you know they used to call those gurneys and they didn't have the self driving or the auto-heal features? Anyway, after I crashed in the car incident, they quickly managed to get me to the hospital, and when I woke up, they told my family that I was dead. I was then used in government run tests and strange experiments without notifying anyone I might know."

It was her! There was no doubt. She wasn't going to be mad, it's Clarisse. She was still looking like she had been homeless for her life, but it was her. Montag echoed the words Clarisse said 'did you know' over and over in his head with elation. Without listening to what Clarisse was telling him, he started getting excited while everyone else was looking sad for her.

"Did you hear what I said?" Clarisse asked harshly, while Montag was still caught up in joy.

Montag thought back to what she was talking about and had a sudden wave of sadness run through him when he realized. Montag was having weird emotions running through him. He could not tell if he was happy or scared for what they did to Clarisse. He was confused.

"Did they hurt you?" Montag asked.

"They tried." persisted Clarisse.

"Well, can you be any more specific?"

"I don't think I can, I really don't have much memory of it all."

Montag was getting more curious, he wanted to know what the government was really doing behind their mask. He wanted to understand the things that they can't let the public know. Montag was thinking about philosophy and the investigation of knowledge. He just wanted to know, but he was also glad Clarisse was okay.

"As long as you're okay, I guess it doesn't matter" Montag prompted. Montag could tell he had made her uncomfortable by caring about her too much.

"I think we should prepare for the bombs dropping soon, we don't know if it will affect us or not" Granger interrupted Montag's thoughts.

The group of men and one girl looked at the city and stared as they saw airplanes flying over the city. They got ready to prepare for the impact of the bombs that were about to annihilate the city. Montag reminisced about his past life and Mildred, and he realized, he didn't care. Now that he had Clarisse, he didn't want his appalling old life, he wanted everything to disappear. And just like that with a big boom, the city and all of Montag's worries were gone.

The flash burned everyone's eyes and rang in everyone's ears for the next ten minutes, but it was over at least. Montag tried remembering all of the good times he had in the city, but realized there were not many memories that made him feel good. Clarisse and Faber were the only people he respected. Montag did not know if Faber was okay, though Faber said he was leaving, Montag could not know for sure.

Everybody was in shock from the recent attack, but Granger decided for them that they should go to the city, spread information, and help the hurt if there are any. Clarisse agreed with him and Montag decided that Clarisse was right and people were dying out there.

"Aren't those stars amazing. It was hard to see in the city because of the lights, but now... now I can see them crystal clear." Clarisse mentioned.

Montag examined the water in the nearby river and saw the stars swimming in the ripples of the flowing reflection.