Summary Of Thoene's 'After Story Where Asher Gets Memories'

The Giver After Story Where Asher Gets Memories By Blake Thoene

Asher was stunned by the sight. First, the smell came, and the thick, ugly smoke hung, as if in fog. Then the cannons, bursting and crackling, painful to the ears, added all the more to the confusion and pain. The cries of the dying and the wounded, the field full of the groaning, screaming men looking as if tortured, were seen as far as the eyes could see. Horses lying on the ground screamed, raised their bloody heads, stabbed towards the smoke covered sky with their broken hooves. A crazed, wild horse, cut and bruised, its bridle slit and dangling, galloped around berserkly through the heaps of soldiers, whinnying and tossing its head in panic, tripped, then finally fell, never to rise
The boy covered in muck lay sprawled, his dark uniform sparkling with fresh blood. The boy again begged, “Water”. Blood spurted out, drenching him once more. Asher's arm, frozen from pain, tried his other arm, and it moved. Painfully slowly, ever so slowly, he reached for the small container of water, trickling water down to the pained boy's bloody mouth and dirty chin. The boy sighed, "It's a sham." His head fell back, eyes losing their color, dead. The noise continued all around: gunshots, cries for water, for family, and for death. In the distance, bombs continued to thud. Overwhelmed by pain, he fell, and stayed in the awful stench for hours, listening to the dying men and animals, learning what warfare meant. Asher realized why Jonas had reacted so strongly against the game of war, and was just then overwhelmed with a new surge of pain. Asher could not bear it! But then he could feel himself coming back, back to where he was, biking to the recreation center. “I know it's painful,” said the Giver, “but that’s what the memories bring.” “But why? How do I get started? How could you deal with this?” asked Asher, grimacing from the pain. “Some of the