The Beggining of the End

So.. I finished the book. It was Christmas eve and the best thing happened, there were people caroling outside of the house and Miranda and her family were so excited to see other people that they put on several layers of clothes and they joined them, plus the four of them had a really big dinner. The next day they all exchanged presents they had gotten for each other. Miranda gave them all things that she had found when she was taking things from Mrs. Nesbitt's house and Jonny and Matt did the same thing. Their mom had asked Peter to buy them stuff from the hospital gift store before it closed. They were all so happy to be together, alive and healthy! A few days later, it was New Year, and Matt made a resolution to learn how to ski and teach Miranda and Jonny in case of an emergency  so that they had a way to go to the hospital or to escape.

One evening, a strange thing happened. One of their neighbors knocked on their door, almost crying while he begged for some medicine for his sick wife. He said that she had fever and that she was almost unconscious. Their mom was only able to give him a couple of aspirins because of course, they had to save some for themselves in case they might need them. Miranda couldn't stop thinking about him for the rest of the day. Five days after this event, Miranda's mom and Jonny got sick too. It all started in the morning, when mom wasn't able to get up from the mattress and Jonny was delirious. Matt was going to go to the hospital to find Peter but before he could go through the front door he fainted and fell in his mattress. It was all on Miranda now. She took the skis and she went as fast as she could to the hospital. It surprised her when she saw that the lights were off and there was

no one guarding the entrance, but she heard some voices and she followed them to find help. When she tracked the source of the voices, she found two nurses chatting and asked for Dr. Elliot (Peter). "He died on Saturday, didn't he, Maggie?"said one of the nurses (Pfeffer, 296). It was hard for Miranda to digest what she had just heard. The nurses explained that more than a half of the city had the flu and they all went to the hospital so most of the staff and the patients died during the first days. They recommended that Miranda just comforted and fed her family, but with no much hope of them surviving, because not so many had. She just went back to her house still in shock, trying not to be scared of finding her family dead when she arrived. Fortunately, that didn't happen but they were all pretty weak. She gave them aspirin, coughing medicine and everything that she though that could save them. t was like Miranda had some sort of immunity against the flu.

After around one week, mom and Jonny started to regain strength and consciousness, but Matt was really weak. As her mom began to get better, she began questioning why Peter hadn't come to help Miranda when they were sick and eventually the poor girl had to tell her mom the sad truth about Dr. Elliott's death. It hit her worse than it had Miranda back in the hospital. After some time, things began to look and feel better for Mom, Jonny and Matt. They started to get electricity again, although only for limited amounts of time. Miranda checked the pantry and she realized that food was running out. She was becoming extremely weak for taking care of all the others. So she decided to go to town to see if there were any letters from dad. She knew she wasn't going to make it back to her house from town but at least she wanted to die in peace knowing if her dad was okay. She said goodbye while she fought back tears and she left. It was extremely hard to get to town, but when she arrived, the post office was closed and all hope seemed lost, but she found a yellow paper in the ground. It had an address and it said from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. What could she lose? When she got to the address, there where actual people, including the town's mayor. They offered her food that the state was giving away to citizens and they returned her back home. I seemed like a miracle had happened. They were all so happy to see her and so much food. Hope had returned. They were weak, but they could now regain strength. The book ended with Miranda's birthday. She turned 17 in March and they were all strong and healthy. Life as they knew it was gone, but at least they had hope, and a future to look forward to.

"We are a family. We love each other. We've been scared together and brave together. If this is how it ends, so be it . Only, please, don't let me be be the last one to die." (Pfeffer, 299)
I found it incredible how much strength and courage Miranda had. She wasn't afraid of dying at all. She just knew that if the time came, she had to be ready.  I don't know if I would be this calm about something so serious as dying.  She felt fear, but not of death itself, but of loneliness instead. I think that in my case I would be scared of both things. I would definitely prefer to die before any of my family members do. I guess it is way more painful for those who stay alive than those who die.

"The worst is over. You made it this far, you'll make it all the way." (Pfeffer, 335)
I found these words relieving. If you think about it, no matter how big your problems are, or how hopeless things may be, there is always a way out, sometimes hard and sometimes easy. Even if an asteroid hits the moon. I kept thinking of all those people who didn't even get a chance to survive the first day like the ones in New York or Florida that died with the first Tsunamis. I kept thinking how grateful Miranda and her family might be for being so lucky. But it wasn't just luck, it was also the sacrifices that they made like not eating so much to save food that made them last. Because of all their suffering, they became stronger and more able to survive for a long time.

I really enjoyed reading this novel. Of course, the ending was just as I feared it was going to be, but it was still okay because Miranda got to survive with her mom, Jonny and Matt. What I didn't like about the ending is that it happened too abruptly. Miranda was literally dying and in less than half a page she was already receiving four bags of food for her family and she was taken home in a snow mobile. More than anything, I enjoyed the little messages that the author transmitted through the thoughts of Miranda. I have to admit that at some points I had to look a word in the dictionary to understand the meaning,  but I still read it very quickly, probably because I couldn't put it down. I totally recommend this to anyone who wants a good book. It is simple, interesting, amazing and you can read it in less than three days. I am including the link to buy the book at the end of this post in case you would like to read it. I hope you enjoyed my posts in Scriptum Interpretations!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0152061541?keywords=life%20as%20we%20knew%20it&qid=1445836593&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1