Ashfall Prompt 1

AJ Pendharkar

Ms. Morrell

English IV Honors

October 8, 2012

iRead Journal Prompt #1 for Ashfall

            There was a very important event that changed Alex’s life forever.  Alex had awoke very early one morning, in the gym in Worthington.  “Darla still slept.” (Mullen, 231) Instead of lying quietly on the cot next to Darla, he stood up, got ready, went outside, put on his skis, and started to ski out of the town by himself.  He had snuck out of the gym without saying goodbye to Darla.  He did not wake her up.  Alex had made a planned logical decision to leave Darla at the gym.  He felt responsible for her mother’s death.  Even though Alex did not know that Target would go to Darla’s farm, he thought Target had followed him there.  He was stunned that Darla’s farm ended up burning down in flames.  Darla would probably never go back to live there because of the horrible experience they had when they fought back with Target.  Alex thought she would be safer and would survive with her friends in Worthington.  She probably wouldn’t survive if she traveled with Alex to his family in Illinois.  These are reasons he felt comfortable justifying why he made the decision to leave her.  Yet the author writes, “It felt wrong, somehow, to leave her there.  I knew I missed her terribly.” (Mullen, 232)  Alex’s heart spoke his true feelings for Darla.  He tried to ignore the feelings by skiing away.

            The event continues to unfold when Alex is skiing and the author writes, “I looked backward.” (Mullen, 233)  Why would he look backward?  Why did Alex hesitate and lose focus of his determined journey out of town?  Usually when you leave a place, a person will look back over their shoulders when they are leaving someone they miss. 

            “I flopped sideways, sitting in the ash to wait.” (Mullen, 233)  The author wrote this when Alex turned around, and saw “another puff of ash there.” (Mullen, 233)  There was a tiny figure on skis heading toward him.  I believe Alex waited to see who it was, because he sensed it was Darla.  He was hoping it was Darla.  The feelings in his heart for Darla were showing, and overruled the logical decision to leave her.  This moment was a turning point for Alex.  If he never looked behind and kept a fast pace on his skis, Darla would have never caught up to him.  He would have journeyed alone to his uncle’s farm and might have not made it.  When Alex was waiting for Darla, he gave encouragement to Darla to catch up to him.

“I thought about the problem for a minute.  I could easily outdistance her, leaving her in the dust.  She had no food, water, or bedding.” (Mullen, 234)  In that moment, Alex didn’t move and knew Darla would be with him on his journey.  They were a team.  That was the final outcome of this very important event in Alex’s life.

Works Cited

Mullen, Mike.  Ashfall.  Terre Haute: Tanglewood Pub, 2011.  Print.