Friday, January 31, 2020

Letter to Water_District Essay Example for Free

Letter to Water_District Essay Dear Todd Green,  It has come to my attention that I have been experiencing unintentional water loss over the past three months. During the months of December, January, and February, my water bill has been higher than usual, resulting in three bills totaling $134.32 each. Before December, each of my bills from June through November had only been $54.32, $80 lower. Upon checking the pipes and water systems in my house, a plumber called attention to three faulty flapper valves in my toilets. These have been replaced and will hopefully rectify the unintentional water loss problem. It is my hope that you will recognize that the loss of water and rise of my water bill was accidental and not purposeful, readjusting the bills from December through February and reimbursing me the $240 total for these three months. The Water District unintentional water loss policy allows for refunds in special situations, and I believe that my circumstances meet the criteria. Sincerely,

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Essay --

Spencer Hsu Ethics in Manufacturing in China. 12/9/13 We often hear in the news how badly factory workers are treated in China. With their low wages, constant overtime, and hazardous work environments (Luk, 2013), it's simple to think that the factory owners are ruthless pigs. Even though conditions are far from perfect, western media have been attacking foreign practices for decades. American companies have mostly been trying to hide from the spotlight blaming the poor outsourced conditions on the foreign companies. The HBR case (Eccles, 2011) shows the challenges Foxconn had faced ever since news broke out about the conditions within the factory. Nevertheless, I wanted to take on the challenge in explaining China’s factory situation. I want to take a different angle about this as I personally know factory workers in China and how crucial it is to have this kind of work in their communities. China is a booming country. With annual GDP growth of over 7.4%, this is a number western countries can only dream of. Every so often there is a news report that hits the wire talking about factory conditions in China. The one that gets focused the most is Foxconn (Hon Hai). Foxconn is the largest and most dominant factory group in the world assembling electronics for global companies including Apple, HP, Dell, and many more. They are publicized as the bad guy every so often and even though they are not perfect, they have made significant improvements once word got out what they were doing to their employees. I could've easily wrote a paper about Hon Hai’s business practices and that it isn't ethical for American companies to outsource to dirt cheap labor with harsh conditions, but that would all be from the naive American eye. Opinions great... ...f a tremendous opportunity this is to that community. Local city governments all over the world fight for companies to create jobs in their district. Because of this intense competition of jobs, they will do whatever it takes to get that factory work there. In the end, the losers aren't American companies or the Chinese people in the factories, it's the original western country factory workers that had lost their jobs and now their city has changed forever. When you have millions of people overseas competing with you for your job willing to work at less than 1/10th of your salary, you better be 10x better than that person. Welcome to the new global economy. Appendix 1) Lorraine Luk (2013). Foxconn Admits to Labor Violations at Factory, WSJ. 2) Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim, Beiting Cheng (2011). Foxconn Technology Group. HBR, Prod. #: 112002-PDF-ENG

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Appropriate Classroom Behavior Essay

Behavior is a choice, and a teacher’s role is to aid students when learning to make good choices. Inappropriate behavior is not acceptable. It should be followed by negative consequences and therefore be discouraged. When the teacher responds to different behaviors, either positive, or negative, it teaches the student something. School is a place where students are given the opportunity to learn and receive an education as well as socialize. Part of the learning process is interaction, however, it should only occur when the time is suitable. Being in the classroom should be considered a privilege. That privilege should only be given if a student’s behavior does not interfere with the ability of the teacher to teach effectively or the ability of other students to participate in classroom learning activities. Consequences should be given to individual students who choose to interrupt the teacher’s lesson or distract others. A whole class should not be punished but should be aware of how that behavior was not right. The behavior that took place last Friday was not acceptable and should not be tolerated.

Monday, January 6, 2020

How A Successful Seo Agency - 1058 Words

How to Build a Successful SEO Agency Introduction As you might be aware, starting any type of business venture comes with plenty of challenges. SEO agency is no exception. In this jam-packed market, making your way through to the top can be such a daunting task. Just to mention, SEO is the current and probably the only next face of internet marketing. Therefore, any aspiring online marketer should make a prudent choice of including this efficient marketing strategy for his/her business. Coupled with the increasing usage and spread of internet, successful marketing requires more than just regular advertisements. Having said that, building a successful SEO agency that will ascertain the achievement of stellar success is undoubtedly†¦show more content†¦Whereas the above-mentioned methods can be a direct source of clients, and a better way of marketing your agency, the tactics can backfire, damaging your reputation. Therefore, this leaves credibility building as a shotgun to SEO agency success. How to establish credibility As mentioned prior, credibility score could be the only sure way of succeeding in this rather complicated market structure. According to most experts, various customers base their purchase decisions on two core credibility qualities. The qualities are: Expertise. This can be arrived at by providing important information to your potential customers. Trustworthiness. Developing trust with your customers provides higher scores in the credibility scale. This can be achieved by delivering on promises and following through on the commitments you make. Though credibility may take time to build, constant devotion, diligence and consistent effort are essential. But why is credibility of such importance? Importance of credibility There are endless claims from business persons who have been taken for a ride by several SEO companies. This has created negative preconceived notions against other similar SEO agencies. Actually, currently some brands are becoming keen to avoid any negative associations with SEO. Therefore, the conversation is moving from SEO towards the untarnished term, but rather with the same meaning, ‘inbound marketing.’ New SEO service providersShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Choosing The Best Search Engine Optimization Company768 Words   |  4 Pagesthe primary objectives of SEO as it is only by optimizing your internet-site that potential customers will find your page on the top pages of the likes of major search engines. The key to being sure that your business positions highly on search engines like Google is to retain the service of an SEO agency. However, with a large number of SEO agencies, its important that companies are cautious when selecting a search engine optimization professional. Below is a guide on how to choose the best searchRead MoreData And Facts Of Business1265 Words   |  6 PagesOrainti Data Facts Time In Business: 2012 Dashboard: No Contract Length: Undisclosed SEO Services: †¢ On Page SEO: Yes †¢ Content Marketing: Yes †¢ Social Media Management: No †¢ Video SEO: No †¢ Public Relations: No †¢ Pay Per Click (PPC) Campaigns: No Glassdoor Company Rating: None BBB: No file, no rating, http://www.bbb.org/search/?type=nameinput=oraintilocation=tobid=filter=businessradius=country=USA%2CCANlanguage=encodeType=YPPA Introduction Welcome to our Orainti review.Read MoreWhy We Need Expert Help1426 Words   |  6 Pagesconsultant or agency. However, most of the marketing agencies aren’t updated with the trends of the online marketing sphere. Even if they do offer SEO services, probably they are following the orthodox methodologies that are not in existence in today’s scenario. This means that businesses need to hire SEO services from an experience agency to help them in achieving their online goals. At the same time, it is not healthy for the business objectives to rely on multiple agencies for digital marketingRead MoreImportant Letters Serve As A Substitute For An Ip Address Essay701 Words   |  3 PagesUntil recently, URL structure was largely ignored from an SEO standpoint. Nowadays, however, SEOs are realizing the significant role URLs can play in rankings. These three important letters serve as a substitute for an IP address, informing users and search engines on what the page consists of. An ideal URL should be simple and straight to the point, without a series of confusing letters, numbers and symbols. 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Though, because SEO Company USA typically offers dissimilar pricing for dissimilar services along with lengths of terms, cost shopping can be complicated. The SEO services should be understandable about every fee along with the services incorporated with those costs, upfront. The majority will need some sort of initial fee, but will typically put together aRead MoreAnalysis Of Salt Lake City Seo Service-Search Engine Optimisation Business1012 Words   |  5 Pages (-- removed HTML --) Salt Lake City Seo Service - Search Engine Optimization Firms (-- removed HTML --) You also may ought to consider applying a internet search engine optimisation business to aid enhance your web page for search engine results. Ideally, an internet search engine optimization provider calls for a internet designer which might help to produce alterations for your website in order to improve search engine optimisation the moment the company has examined your websites current searchRead MoreDo You Know How Many Types Of Digital Marketing?932 Words   |  4 PagesDo you know how many types of digital marketing are used in business? Can you name the various examples of digital marketing available in 2017? Would you believe it if I tell you that there are more than five digital marketing tools available? Yes, there are more than five digital marketing tools that can be used in business to reach its customers locally and worldwide. The concept of digital marketing is broad and is the phrase most commonly used today. It brings together all forms of marketingRead MoreDigital Marketing : What Is It Important?1604 Words   |  7 Pageseverything else. Yes, you need to know your customers but that’s not enough. You need to make sure you know your customers better than anyone else in order for you to communicate with them more effectively. By communicating with them where, when and exactly how they want, they automatically become much more receptive to the message. In order to do that you need to almost consolidate a view or opinion of your customer’s preferences and expectations and in order to do this y ou need to gather information fromRead MoreSeo And Optimization Services For A Local Agency1486 Words   |  6 PagesSEO and Optimization Services Looking for a local agency to manage your SEO? Our SEO Services are designed with one purpose in mind: make your business the first hit on search engines for of local search results. It doesn’t matter if you sell a product through an online store or provide travel-based, in-home services to your clients, we will bump your site rating to the top of local search engine results. Our business is trictly white-hat SEO, meaning that your site’s search rank survives any changes

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Personal Statement Family Medicine - 768 Words

There’s my father, two paternal uncles, two maternal uncles, five cousins, and two cousin’s husbands. I really meant it when I say I come from a family of physicians. Not to mention myself, three other cousins who are in medical school and my sister who started premed recently at FSU. However, I am proud to say that my choice of wanting to be a family medicine physician was based on my own experiences and did not actually occur to me until my last year of medical school. One of my Med school buddies nonchalantly mentioned to me during a casual conversation that family medicine was â€Å"the best† field and this is how I remember my interest in family medicine having started. Moving forward, as I considered the implications of a career in family medicine, I began to take into consideration the vast array of illnesses around me that I was naà ¯ve of before becoming a medical student. There is my father recently starting losartan for hypertension, my mother and sis ter’s migraines, my younger brother having eczema on his arms in connection to his asthma, my uncle’s rheumatoid arthritis, my aunt’s recent hepatitis infection, another brother’s Vitiligo of the foot, an aunt who recently had bilateral knee replacements due to osteoarthritis, and a younger cousin in Pakistan, where I hail from originally, who has a limp due to undiagnosed hip dysplasia. Then there is Pakistan’s polio vaccination deficiency, and my uncle who has polio of one leg, recently starting to use a wheelchair.Show MoreRelatedPersonal Statement : Family Medicine920 Words   |  4 PagesFamily Physician At first, the career that I currently want to pursue used to surprise me, because I have been rebelling in taking interest in any medical career throughout my middle school and high school years due to my parents’ constant recommendations of the pediatrician occupation. 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My grandmother suffered from Parkinson’s disease for most of her life and required constant care. Helping my grandmother with simple tasks like eating breakfast, or helping her up the stairs was a humbling experience. This experience drove my curiosity about the human anatomy, specifically the brain and how it is treated, which led to the realisation that, for me, a satisfying career would involve helping others. A careerRead MoreApplying A Graduate School Is Looking Into What Interest You At Each School925 Words   |  4 Pagesyou in each school. This report discusses three different graduate programs in different graduate schools that offer with admission requirements that include, but not limited to, grade points average (GPA), graduate record examinations (GRE), Personal Statement, and transcripts. Moreover, it also provides information in regards of the intangibles of each program such as costs, location, and fundin g like assistanceships and scholarships. The first graduate program that interests me is a master of scienceRead MorePatient Narratives1708 Words   |  5 Pagespeople to express themselves in ways that promote personal growth and enhance physical well-being. Even in the simplest of contexts, narratives are a core factor in the advancement of the humanity/society and all of its facets. An illustration of this can be seen in the transfer of a family s lineage, history, and values from generation to generation. This allows for the recipient of this information to have a greater knowledge of his/her own family and the history surrounding it. Oral narrativesRead MorePersonal Statement : My First Pregnancy1298 Words   |  6 PagesPersonal Statement It s 2:30 in the morning, and the only thing that surrounds me are the continuous sounds of dry heaves and vomit, spewing into the toilet in front of me. This is my third pregnancy. Hyperemesis Gravidarum - the diagnosis I have now heard three times. But this time, the circumstances were a bit different. Just a few short months ago, my husband and I made the decision to have my tubal ligation reversed. We had previously talked about the possibility of having more children andRead MoreThe Most Important Event Or Non Academic Activity Essay1499 Words   |  6 Pagesthe single MOST important event or non-academic activity in your life and explain why it’s significant. (250) While being recruited to play basketball, I was asked if I would rather dissect a body or a defense. Though I chose to pursue a career in medicine, basketball has shaped me into the person I am today. As a young child living in the inner city of Newark, basketball was a sanctuary for me because it allowed me to escape the harsh realities that surrounded me. I began to play organized basketballRead MoreProfessional Presence1392 Words   |  6 Pagesother people around them (Dossey). Mind-body medicine uses the power of thoughts and emotions to influence physical health (University of Maryland Medical Center). While I agree that mindset has to be positive for a body to heal faster, the body with proper care and medicine will heal on its own, no matter what the thought process in within the patience’s mind. If the injury or illness the body is inflicted with is treatable with physical aids and medicine, it will heal. When a patient that is suicidalRead MoreEssay On Effectiveness Of Medical Education1360 Words   |  6 Pagesthe many poison control centers across the country because a young child getting into medicine. Out of these phones calls, about 60,000 children a year will be rushed into an emergency department. Sites such as MedlinePlus and Safe Kids have tried to get information out to parents and families across the country about how these incidents can be completely avoid with proper measures. While MedlinePlus’s ‘Medicine safety and children’ does do an effective job of the information out, the Safe Kids’ infographicRead MoreThe Economics Of Pediatric Head Injury861 Words   |  4 PagesPERSONAL STATEMENT Sonia Singh, United Kingdom, Health Economics The Economics of Pediatric Head Injury Growing up in India I was told that as a girl, education would make me a suitable bride. With a passion for learning and desire to be independent, rebelling against the tradition of marriage after high school, I applied for entrance to medical school instead. Acceptance in to one of the best medical schools in India, the Armed Forces Medical College, changed my life by exposing me to strong women

Saturday, December 21, 2019

In The Highly Analyzed Short Story “The Birth-Mark,” Author

In the highly analyzed short story â€Å"The Birth-mark,† author Nathanial Hawthorne’s writing is shown to be an allegory with much of the allegorical themes represented through the idea of perfection in society. Hawthorne’s symbolism and themes display his belief that life consists of imperfection and the loss of imperfection results in the loss of life. In his writing he shows the readers â€Å"the power of both science and arrogance† that man is comprised of and uses the story of â€Å"the Birth-mark† as a depiction of humans transcending limits and destroying themselves to achieve perfection (Bunge, 27). Through the use of his allegorical theme of society’s need for perfection, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbols such as the birthmark on the†¦show more content†¦Hawthorne later went on to attend Bowdoin College during the 1820’s with the aid of his wealthy uncles, where he received a solid education in English composition. Du ring these years, he grew a strong desire to be with his family, leading him to return to Salem after graduation and impose a twelve-year self-seclusion in his mother’s home. As a result, Hawthorne was able to begin creating tales with a purpose and find his ‘voice’ in the art of writing. As his years in seclusion came to a conclusion, he married his Salem neighbor Sophia Peabody in 1842 and settled in Concord, Massachusetts with their three children. Nathaniel Hawthorne continued to produce novels throughout his life while also traveling across Europe with his family. He later passed away in the year 1864, leaving a great legacy of a unique style of writing to be analyzed and researched by literary scholars for years to come. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a prominent American literary author that was known for a writing manner that was developed through a style of romantic fiction with the representation of his own Puritan beliefs. Having been born during the Antebell um period of American history, Hawthorne’s work was known to have a relation to the aspects of antebellum social and economic life. This was a time period in which various social movements arouse in order to push the reformation and modernization of American society. For example, many of the most notable during this time were abolition, moralShow MoreRelatedMens Rea The Writing Style and Feminism of Lakambini Sitoy7010 Words   |  29 PagesSummary of Findings, Conclusion, and Recommendation Summary of Findings 24 Conclusion 25 Recommendations 26 Further Recommendations for Future Researchers 26 WORKS CITED APPENDICES Appendix A – Synopsis of the Short Story, Mens Rea Appendix B – Biography of Lakambini Sitoy CURRICULUM VITAE OF THE LITERARY RESEARCHER ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The researcher wishes to acknowledge the following people who inspired her to see this endeavor throughRead MoreSeminar: Literary Theory Applied to H.P. Lovecraft-Notably â€Å"the Beast in the Cave†6821 Words   |  28 Pageshas been called â€Å"one of the best, worst authors of our century.† In the following paper, I will explore his earliest work, â€Å"The Beast in the Cave,† a story written when he was around fifteen years old. I will explore its meanings and context through the lenses of reader response, deconstructionism, new historicism, and psychoanalytic analysis. Through these lenses of literary theory I hope to derive further meaning and understanding of this favored story as well as dismiss some criticism thatRead MoreTranslation of Newspapers. Problems of British-American Press Headlines Translation15808 Words   |  64 Pageswhich comes from the process of artistically thinking through and molding the sentences; they cannot be reconstituted by piecemeal imitation. The problem of translation is to retreat to a tenor of ones own style and creatively adjust this to ones author.† This quote by American poet and critic Paul Goodman thoroughly expresses not only the essential meaning but also the main problem of the translating process. Translation is the process in which a written communication or a text in one languageRead MoreAmerican Literature11652 Words   |  47 Pages national mission and American character democratic utopia use of reason history is an act of individual and national self-assertion Genre/Style: ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · political pamphlets travel writing highly ornate writing style fiction employs generic plots and characters fiction often tells the story of how an innocent young woman is tested by a seductive male Effect: ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · patriotism grows instills pride creates common agreement about issues shows differences between Americans and Europeans Read MoreParental Grief Essay14598 Words   |  59 Pageseventually is an intense and persistent one for grieving parents. The child who died is considered a gift to the parents and family, and they are forced to give up that gift. Yet, as parents, they also strive to let their childs life, no matter how short, be seen as a gift to others. These parents seek to find ways to continue to love, honor, and value the lives of their children and continue to make the childs presence known and felt in the lives of family and friends. Bereaved parents often tryRead MoreNegotiation and Culture: Case Study24152 Words   |  97 Pages4. 5. 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 6. 7. 8. INTRODUCTION METHOD WHY JAPAN? DEFINITION OF CULTURE AND VALUES HOFSTEDE’S VALUE DIMENSIONS POWER DISTANCE UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE COLLECTIVISM VERSUS INDIVIDUALISM FEMININITY VERSUS MASCULINITY LONG-TERM VERSUS SHORT-TERM ORIENTATION CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON HOFSTEDE EDWARD HALL CULTURAL DIMENSIONS 4 6 7 9 11 12 13 13 14 15 15 16 19 20 21 23 25 26 28 30 40 43 47 59 61 64 65 8.1 CONFUCIANISM 8.2 IE 8.3 THE WA-CONCEPT 8.4 ISOLATION 8.5 UNIQUENESS 8.6 WESTERNRead MorePeanut Butter in Germany9794 Words   |  40 Pagespenetrating the German peanut butter market will be very much dependent on the marketing/advertising program that is associated with it. Part 4: Customer Analysis Identification and 360-degree profile of customer segments. Segments of food consumption analyzed: young families with children, young families without children, seniors, young singles, restaurants, and hotels. A 360-Degree Profile was then performed for these segments with regard to Demographics, Psychographics, and Product Usage. Demographics: Read MoreArt as an Embodied Imagination22095 Words   |  89 Pagesied ImJournal of Consumer Research, Inc. Speaking of Art as Embodied Imagination: A Multisensory Approach to Understanding Aesthetic Experience Author(s): Annamma  Joy and John  F.  Sherry, Jr. Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 30, No. 2 (September 2003), pp. 259-282 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/376802 . Accessed: 22/10/2012 06:18 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms ConditionsRead MoreArt as an Embodied Imagination22095 Words   |  89 Pagesied ImJournal of Consumer Research, Inc. Speaking of Art as Embodied Imagination: A Multisensory Approach to Understanding Aesthetic Experience Author(s): Annamma  Joy and John  F.  Sherry, Jr. Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 30, No. 2 (September 2003), pp. 259-282 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/376802 . Accessed: 22/10/2012 06:18 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms ConditionsRead MoreMetz Film Language a Semiotics of the Cinema PDF100902 Words   |  316 Pagespreviously published articles. The disparity between ten and twelve is caused by the fact that Chapter 5 was condensed out of three separate articles. As the title indicates, the articles included in this volume have been selected exclusively from the author s writings on cinematographic problems.* Since this is, therefore, a collection, I have not tried to eliminate or disguise the few inevitable repetitions. Similarly, I have not allowed myself to excise or replace passages that, as a result of the

Friday, December 13, 2019

The Return Midnight Chapter 40 Free Essays

But after an endless time in the soft, kind darkness, something was forcing Elena back up into light. Real light. Not the terrible green half-light of the Tree. We will write a custom essay sample on The Return: Midnight Chapter 40 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Even through shut eyelids she could see it, feel its heat. A yel ow sun. Where was she? She couldn’t remember. And she didn’t care. Something was saying inside her that the gentle darkness was better. But then she remembered a name. Stefan. Stefan was†¦? Stefan was the one who†¦the one she loved. But he’d never understood that love was not singular. He’d never understood that she could be in love with Damon and that it would never change an atom’s worth of her love for him. Or that his lack of understanding had been so wrenching and painful that she had felt torn into two different people at times. But now, even before she opened her eyes, she realized that she was drinking. She was drinking the blood of a vampire, and that vampire wasn’t Stefan. There was something unique in this blood. It was deeper and spicier and more heavy, al at once. She couldn’t help opening her eyes. For some reason she didn’t understand, they flew open and she tried immediately to focus on the scent and feeling and color of whoever was bending over her, holding her. She couldn’t understand, either, her sense of letdown when she slowly realized that it was Sage leaning over her, holding her gently but securely to his neck, with his bronze chest bare and warm from the sunlight. But she was lying down flat, on grass, from what her hands could feel†¦and for some reason her head was cold. Very cold. Cold and wet. She stopped drinking and tried to sit up. The light grip became firmer. She heard Sage’s voice say, and felt the rumbling in his chest as he said it, â€Å"Ma pauvre petite, you must drink more in a moment or so. And your hair has Stillsome of the ashes in it.† Ashes? Ashes? Didn’t you put ashes on your head for†¦now what had she been thinking about? It was as if there was a block in her mind, keeping her from getting close to†¦ something. But she wasn’t going to be told what to do. Elena sat up. She was in – yes, she was very sure – the kitsune paradise, and until a moment ago her body had been arched back, so that her hair had been in the clear little stream that she had seen earlier. Stefan and Bonnie had been washing something pitch-black out of her hair. They both were smudged with black as well: Stefan had a big swath across one cheekbone, and Bonnie had faint gray streaks below her eyes. Crying. Bonnie had been crying. She was Stillcrying, in little sobs that she was trying to suppress. And now that Elena looked harder she could see that Stefan’s eyelids were swol en and that he had been crying too. Elena’s lips were numb. She fel back onto the grass, looking up at Sage, who was wiping his eyes furtively. Her throat ached, not just inside, where sobbing and gasping might make it hurt, but outside, too. She had a picture of herself slashing at her own neck with a knife. Through her numb lips, she whispered, â€Å"Am I a vampire?† â€Å"Pas encore,†Sage said unsteadily. â€Å"Not yet. But Stefan and I, we both had to give you massive amounts of blood. You must be very careful in the next days. You are right on the brink.† That explained how she felt. Probably Damon was hoping that she would become one, wicked boy. Instinctively, she held out her hand to Stefan. Maybe she could help him. â€Å"We just won’t do anything for a little while,†she said. â€Å"You don’t have to be sad.†But she herself Stillfelt very wrong. She hadn’t felt this wrong since she’d seen Stefan in prison and had thought that he would die at any moment. No†¦it was worse†¦because with Stefan there had been hope and Elena had the feeling that now hope was gone. Everything was gone. She was hol ow: a girl who looked solid, but whose insides were missing. â€Å"I’m dying,†she whispered. â€Å"I know it†¦Are you al going to say good-bye now?† And with that Sage – Sage! – choked up and began to sob. Stefan, Stilllooking so oddly mussed, with those traces of soot on his face and arms and his hair and clothes soaking wet, said, â€Å"Elena, you’re not going to die. Not unless you choose to.† She had never seen Stefan look like this before. Not even in prison. His flame, his inner fire that he showed to almost no one but Elena, had gone out. â€Å"Sage saved us,†he said, slowly careful y, as if it cost him great effort to speak. â€Å"The ash that was fal ing – you and Bonnie would have died if you’d had to breathe any more of it. But Sage put a door back to the Gatehouse right in front of us. I could barely see it; my eyes were so ful of ashfal , and it’s only getting worse on that moon.† â€Å"Ashfal ,†Elena whispered. There was something at the bottom of her mind, but once again her memory failed her. It was almost as if she’d been Influenced to not remember. But that was ridiculous. â€Å"Why were ashes fal ing?†she asked, realizing that her voice was husky, hoarse – as if she’d cheered too long at a footbal game. â€Å"You used Wings of Destruction,†Stefan said steadily, looking at her with his swol en eyes. â€Å"You saved our lives. But you kil ed the Tree – and the star bal disintegrated.† Wings of Destruction. She must have lost her temper. And she’d kil ed a world. She was a murderer. And now the star bal was lost. Fel ‘s Church. Oh, God. What would Damon say to her? Elena had done everything – everything wrong. Bonnie was sobbing now, her face turned away. â€Å"I’m sorry,†Elena said, knowing how inadequate this was. For the first time she looked around miserably. â€Å"Damon?†she whispered. â€Å"He won’t speak to me? Because of what I did?† Sage and Stefan looked at each other. Ice went down Elena’s spine. She started to get up, but her legs weren’t the legs she remembered. They wanted to unlock at the knees. She was staring down at herself, at her own wet and smudged clothes – and then something like mud came down her forehead. Mud or congealing blood. Bonnie made a sound. She was Stillsobbing, but she was speaking, too, in a new husky voice that made her sound much older. â€Å"Elena – we didn’t get the ashes out of the top of your hair. Sage had to give you an emergency transfusion.† â€Å"I’l get the ashes out,†Elena said flatly. She let her knees bend. She fel onto them, jarring her body. Then, twisting, she leaned down to the little brook and let her head fal forward. Through the icy shock she could dimly hear exclamations from the people above water, and Stefan’s sharp, Elena, are you All right? in her head. No, she thought back. But I’m not drowning, either. I’m washing out my hair. Maybe Damon will at least see me if I’m presentable. Maybe he’ll come with us and fight for Fell’s Church. Let me help you up, Stefan sent quietly. Elena had come to the end of her air. She pul ed her heavy head out of the water and flipped it, soaking but clean, so that it fel down her back. She stared at Stefan. â€Å"Why?†she said – and then, with a sudden panic – â€Å"Has he left already? Was he angry†¦with me?† â€Å"Stefan.†It was Sage, speaking tiredly. Stefan, who was staring out of his green eyes like a hunted animal, made some faint sound. â€Å"The Influence, it is not working,†Sage said. â€Å"She will remember on her own.† How to cite The Return: Midnight Chapter 40, Essay examples