Meanwhile, Asher has told Jonas' parents about what happened, and his mother informs the Chief Elder. She contacts the Giver, who lies and says that Jonah hasn't been there. The elder suspects he's lying and sends security guards to his residence. Knowing they're on the way, the Giver hurriedly gives Jonas a bunch of memories of courage to strengthen him, then sends him on his way.
Jonas continues his training, gaining more and more memories, and realizes that he feels truly alive for the first time in his life. He also learns that there used to be other forms of life on earth- animals. The Giver tells him that, unlike people now, even those creatures knew who their actual parents were, and experienced joy and pain. Jonas has no concept of non-physical pain, so the Giver shares a memory of an elephant, which is then hunted down and killed by poachers. Jonas is horrified by such cruelty, and the memory of it keeps him awake that night. Then, hearing Gabe crying, he gets up and goes to comfort him, holding his hand and giving him the memory of the elephant, but only before it was killed. Later on, back in his own room, Jonas falls asleep and finds himself back in the memory of the wedding, only this time he's running with a girl- who has Fiona's face- through the woods and, stopping under a tree, presses his lips to hers. Confused, he describes this memory to the Giver, who laughs and says it was a dream, correctly deducing that Jonas hasn't been taking his injections. Thinking back over the entire memory, Jonas remarks that all of the people at the wedding seemed to have something... more... which he senses but can't name. The Giver says that it's something which they don't have any longer: love. Later on, meeting up with Fiona and remembering his dream, Jonas looks at her as if he's never seen her before, and for the first time in his life feels awkward with his friend. That evening, Jonas thoughtfully watches his father and Lilly playing with Gabe and then asks abruptly, "Father, do you love me?" As his father looks up, startled, his mother immediately chides him for not using precision of language. Lilly asks what "love" means, and their mother says that it is a word "so antiquated that it no longer has any application." Their father says that if Jonas is asking if they enjoy him and take pride in his accomplishments, the answer is yes. He asks if Jonas understands, and Jonas answers yes, he thinks that he finally does. That night, hearing Gabe crying, Jonas goes again to him, making faces to get the baby to laugh. Then, sobering, he whispers to Gabe that he loves him. The next day, Jonas arrives for his training and finds the Giver writhing on the floor, obviously gripped by some terrible memory. As Jonas rushes to his side, the Giver yells at him to get down and grabs his arm, which causes him to experience the memory, too. It is of war, and Jonas reels in horror as men all around him are shot and killed. As he comes back to himself, huddled on the floor, the Giver is desperately apologizing, saying he didn't mean to give Jonas those kinds of memories until several years had passed and he was more prepared. Jonas scrambles away from him, saying he can't do this- that he's not strong enough. As the Giver pleads with him to let him explain what he's seen, Jonas flees the building. Jonas walks through the park in a daze, not even noticing when Asher speaks to him. He wonders if the Elders weren't right after all, erasing such terrible things from their memories. Realizing something's wrong, Fiona chases after him and he asks her what she thinks would happen if she didn't take her morning injection. Confused, she says that an alarm would remind her. Jonas says no, what if she deliberately didn't take it and, concerned, Fiona again asks him what's wrong. He tells her that he's going to quit, that he can't be the Receiver. Upset, Fiona says that he can't quit- that he'll be sent to Elsewhere if he does. Returning to his original point, Jonas gives her an apple, and says that if she pricks her finger and puts a drop of blood on it, she can fool the injector into thinking she's taken her shot. Fiona tells him that it's impossible, but Jonas informs her that he's been doing it for months now without being caught. Fiona makes a deal with him: she'll try it if he promises not to quit his training. He agrees, and they arrange to meet the next day after work inside the triangular hedge in the park which gives a modicum of privacy from the ever-present and ever-watchful surveillance cameras. In the morning, Jonas reluctantly returns to the giver's dwelling and walks into a memory of the Giver sitting with a girl at the piano. He asks who she is, and the Giver tells him that her name was Rosemary, and that she was the one chosen ten years ago to be the Receiver. Jonas asks what happened, and the Giver says that he started out just giving her good, beautiful memories, but she was impatient and after only two months of training, demanded to be given bad memories as well. He reluctantly complied, giving her a memory of a mother losing her child. Unready for such sorrow, Rosemary fled and without discussing it with the Giver first, went to the Council of Elders and asked to be released from her training. Jonas says naively that, since she was released, she must live in Elsewhere now. The Giver stares at him grimly for a moment, then turns on his view screen and asks for the record of the latest release to be shown. A recording made at the Nurturing Center that morning starts playing, and Jonas watches with interest as his father and another nurturer weigh a set of twins. As they check the babies' weights, one is slightly heavier than the other, and Jonas' father is relieved, saying he was afraid that they'd weigh the same. As the other nurturer takes the heavier baby back to the nursery, his father carries the other into another room and as Jonas watches in disbelief and growing horror, injects the baby with poison, talking cheerfully to him until he stops moving and dies. The Giver tells the sickened Jonas that his father doesn't know what he's doing, but Jonas finds that hard to accept as he watches him unfeelingly put the baby's body in a box and drop it down the garbage chute. He states flatly that his father killed the child, but the Giver says that he doesn't really know what it means... that the young and the old are both killed, and soon his friend Fiona will be trained to do it, too. Revolted, Jonas says that Fiona would never do that, not if she understood... the Giver cuts him off and says that they're the only ones who truly see it for what it is. Jonas says, then it's their fault for not doing something to stop it, to make people feel and understand, but the Giver asks him what he thinks they could do. Jonas has no answer. Later that day, Jonas strides through the park, his face set, his eyes hard, his innocence gone. Reaching the triangle, he enters it and finds Fiona sitting on the ground, beset by emotions she doesn't know how to handle. Jonas takes her hand and asks her what she feels. Unsure and scared, she starts backing away, saying she needs to go to work; she has the night shift. Jonas leans forward and gently kisses her, and tells her that there is so much more than what they have. Awash in new and unaccustomed thoughts and emotions, Fiona dazedly leaves for work. Jonas remembers that when he was younger, he had dreamed of Fiona and told his parents, who said it was the Stirrings, which were nothing to worry about: everyone got them around that age, and they were controlled with medication. Jonas returns home to find his family sitting down to dinner. Immediately noticing that the baby isn't there, he asks where Gabe is. His mother says coolly that "Uncertain" has been returned to the Nurturing Center, and his father says matter-of-factly that Gabe failed his maturity test, so will have to be released to Elsewhere. Jonas says, "But he's family" and his cold fish of a mother starts harping about precision of language again. His father tells Jonas to sit down and eat, but Jonas says he's tired and goes to his room. Once there, he packs a bag and, once everyone is settled in for the night, sneaks out of the house and quietly rides away on his bike. Unfortunately, Asher sees him leaving and intercepts him, telling Jonas that it's against the rules for him to leave his dwelling after curfew. Jonas tries to reason with him, saying that he has to do something that's right, though it's sort of against the rules but Asher counters that, if it was the right thing to do, it wouldn't be against the rules. Jonas tells Asher to get out of his way, and when he won't the two boys struggle and Jonas ends up punching his friend so he can get away. Jonas goes directly to the Giver's residence and tells him that Gabe is in danger, and that he's going to rescue him and leave the community. He's going to attempt to cross the Boundary of Memory, hoping that it actually will release the memories back to everyone and make them aware of all they've lost. He wants the Giver to come with him, but the Giver says that if Jonas succeeds, there will be much chaos and confusion, and the community will need him to guide them through the trauma. Meanwhile, Asher has told Jonas' parents about what happened, and his mother informs the Chief Elder. She contacts the Giver, who lies and says that Jonah hasn't been there. The elder suspects he's lying and sends security guards to his residence. Knowing they're on the way, the Giver hurriedly gives Jonas a bunch of memories of courage to strengthen him, then sends him on his way. Jonas makes it to the Nurturing Center where, fortunately, Fiona is working the night shift. He tells her that he's taking Gabe and leaving the community. He asks her to come with him, as security forces start to sweep through the center. Fiona says that she can't leave the children, so Jonas tells her that, once he gets to the boundary, she'll understand and that he'll come back for her. She kisses him and then distracts the guards so that he and Gabe can escape. She is then taken into custody. Jonas is able to get away by stealing one of the security guard's motorcycles, using it to jump from the cliff by the Giver's residence and enter the forbidden region. Meanwhile, the Chief Elder has been watching the surveillance tapes and realizes what Jonas is trying to do. She arrives at the Giver's residence with a security force and finds him sitting in his chair. He he apologizes for failing, but the Elder says that she doesn't think he did fail. She thinks that he's been planning this ever since Rosemary was released. One of the men tasers the Giver and he, too is taken into custody, ending up in a cell next to Fiona, who has been forcibly given her injection. The Chief Elder tell the people of the community that Jonas has been "lost to the edge" and they have a ceremony of release for him. Lilly asks how they know he's gone, and her mother tells her that they must never mention Jonas' name again. Lilly stubbornly says that she will continue to do so, and she is told to hush. (To be continued...)
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