How the giver should've ended

Alternate ending

                I laid there awaking to Gabriel’s cry, I had not known where I was, but it was cozy. I had heard his cry again and I stood up. My bare feet were cold and I was dressed in nightclothes that were green. I continued down a hallway not too long but it felt long. The walls were blue with an orange border. There was pictures on each wall every one different with color and size. They were pictures of trees and flowers. A very peaceful picture. Not much later my trans was broken by Gabriel’s cry once more from a closed door behind me.

            As I enter the room it was dark with an illumination of stars on the walls. It felt strange but comforting to know that we were alive still but not knowing why. Later on as I ran my fingers along the wall I found the light switch and turned it on. I picked up Gabriel to comfort him and gave a memory of clouds then I heard a voice, a familiar one in fact.

“Jonas, you’re still alive?” the voice said.

“Giver thank you for saving us. We would’ve died out there in the snow.”

“I’ve been looking for you for a while now. I found you with Gabriel wrapped up in layers. I was in a plane when I saw the heat sensor go off. You were frozen for a while.”

“How long has it been since I was last awake?”

“It’s been a while Jonas.”

“How long? Giver what are you not telling me?”

“It’s been almost a year, about eight months.”

“Eight months? What’s today?”

“Today is August 5th of 2018. I found you in January.”

What about Gabriel was he frozen too?”

“No, but you almost died, I thought you did, you were comatose.”

“Gabriel has been healthy thanks to you, he was wrapped in clothing. When I found him he was barley and you didn’t have a pulse.”

“One more thing, where are we?”

“We’re in another place far from the community. Were in a place of freedom. No obligations, only laws, you live the way you want to.”

“You mean we can stop running?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.” I said as I started to cry. Gabriel wasn’t going to die we were free finally.

“Giv-“

“My real name is William Scott,”

“Thank you. Can we stay here with you? Gabriel and I?”

“Yes.”

I began to really cry. Tears of joy we had a family here.

            The next day William took Gabriel and me outside, Gabriel could walk now, he was two. William took us to a lake. There were children in different outfit’s different styles no one looked the same. Sixes had bikes and twelves weren’t training for work. William guided us over to two different groups of kids. One was a play pen for Gabriel I was afraid to let him go but he didn’t cry he laughed and walked over to the other children. William told me it would be ok. He took me over to thirteens and they had a circular plastic toy they threw back and forth. They invited me over to play, I ran over to them to join. As I was running over I tripped over the curb and hit my head on the sidewalk. I was out…

            I awoke to Gabriel crying and I was shivering. There was music playing in the distance I could hear it. I was shirtless in the snow and Gabriel had layers of clothing on. Everything I saw was a dream, but it seemed so real. It gave me strength to continue on. I left the sled and I started running through the snow. As it was hitting my face they were like one thousand needles hitting my body. I continued. I could hear the music louder and louder as I came closer. As I thought in my head, was this the place I dreamt of? Just thinking that gave me the strength to keep going. The snow started to thin out and I could see my knees again, I didn’t realize how high the snow was until now. Louder and louder the music got my vision began to blur I started to grow tears, my chest began to hurt, it was harder to breathe. My legs gave up and I fell over on my back.

            Half alive and hardly able to see I felt someone dragging me by my arms. I didn’t move until someone grabbed Gabriel, I tried to grab him until a familiar voice told me it would be ok.

“William?”

‘Yes Jonas Everything will be ok don’t worry.”

            The next day I awoke the same place as before. Listening to Gabriel’s cry. I didn’t stop to look at the picture I went straight to Gabriel’s room to comfort him. There was a baby monitor next to the crib Gabriel was in. After he calmed the giver had walked in he wrapped me in his arms and said he thought I was dead. I asked him if I was out for about eight months and he confirmed. He asked how I knew so I told him about the dream I had he was shocked because I was correct on the location, date, and how long I was in a coma for. A few days later I had a new family, friends and a new life. Gabriel hasn’t been happier. He had said his first word at daycare. His words were” color is nice.” I was entering high school at St. Antonio as a freshman in all honors due to William writing my school history.

About two years had passed since we escaped. William became our father and our mother was his wife, Michelle. As Gabriel grew and so did I he started school at age five and he was outstanding in it. No one knew our story on how we got to this community except William and me. I still don’t know if Gabriel remembers, im glad he doesn’t ask about it though. William and his wife had passed about 7 years later I was 20 and Gabriel was 11 so he stayed with me. Gabriel went to school and I went to work while he was at school. Gabriel had skipped a grade and was in 7th grade so he got out of school at 4 o’clock and I got off at 3:30 o’clock so I would pick him up every day from school.  He and I would play chess for hours and we would stay up telling jokes. One night he asked how we got here. I didn’t want to tell him but he was old enough now. So I told him where we came from and how we became brothers. He was in shock though finding out im not his real brother and that William and Michelle aren’t our real parents, but we were our own family now, a happy one, a good one.