(A/N) Well I read Lord of the Flies and I loved it. So I made a chapter 13, because I really didn't like the ending very much. The book doesn't belong to me, I wasn't alive during WW2 and I'm happy that I wasn't.
Chapter 13: A Talk under the Rain
A little rhythm came from the window as the rain poured from the blacken sky. Tapping my pencil on my notebook, I shifted my vision back to the teacher, before my attention shifted once again back to looking out the window. I was never one for school so I chose not to listen, pushing my glasses back up to the bridge of my nose, I laid my head on my folded arms on the desk and continued to gaze outside.
For as long as I could remember I have always found something so beautiful about the rain, from the fresh smell that comes after it or the soothing feeling that comes from walking in the rain as each drop is born in a cloud and falls to the ground to this death. A morbid thought but there are good things about the rain too.
The entire room was silent with everyone working on the newest assignment just given to us. It was all silly to me after all in only a few minutes the bell would ring and we'd all go home.
It was with that thought that my mind became bitter, there was no one waiting for me at home. I've already lost my father to the war and now my older brother is going to be drafted. Nope, there was no reason for me to walk out that door and go home just to watch my brother walk away and come back in a casket.
The sound of giggling caught my attention. Two girls, their faces slightly red stared at the new boy that had just recently joined a couple months ago our small class. I didn't know what to make of him and I haven't really gotten to talk to him before. He mostly keeps to himself, mumbling with his eyes always shifting back and forward like someone would just jump out and attack him.
There's a rumor going on that the kid's batty, I also remember hearing that he had a father in the Navy.
I rolled my eyes as I watched the girls continue what they believe discrete attempt at talking about the kid like he wasn't sitting right in front of them. They were whispering so loud that even I, all the way in the back row could hear them.
The kid seemed oblivious to the girls and stare blankly at his notes. He wasn't writing anything down just staring at the words written down in his notebook, maybe the rumors were true maybe the kid is batty.
The bell rang and everyone packed in a rush and tried to push through the door. It was so weird and it was times like these that I thought they all looked like animals trying to herd their way through, trying to escape from the predator.
Normally, I'd be one of the last ones to walk out and soon after the new kid would follow. Then we'd just sit down on the steps of the school and wait to be picked up. My mother works late in the factory so she's often late and I'm also picked up last.
I'd also watch as the new kid's father would come standing proudly waiting until his son approach him then they'd enter the car together, the image of their car slowly becoming smaller as I'd watch from the last step of the stairs.
The boy had a certain walk to him that I just didn't understand, it'd be slow with his shoulders slouched down as if he was carrying a heavy load on them. And his head would be down and not once would he look up at his father, no words were exchanged and they would enter the car in silence.
This was the normal routine that the two of us had, we'd wait on the steps and no conservation would start between us just us and the silence. Not once in the weeks that he's been here have I thought of talking to him, to me he was always just there.
Today it was raining, so I doubt that he be waiting on the steps but I continued walking and sat down the steps as the rain start to drench me.
Shockingly, I watched as the boy sat down a couple of steps on top nearer to me than usual.
"I like water" he mumbled answering the question in my head. That boy was weird that was for sure, this was the first time that I have ever heard his voice, not even the teachers bother to get him to talk.
He was wearing clothes too large for his size and his fair hair was now sticking to his skin, one of his misty grey eyes hidden behind his bang that seemed attached to his forehead. The tan skin that he had got when he first came here was gone and his skin was now a sickly pale white.
I felt rude staring at him so I turned to look away, the rain seems to have a hold on me like magic so it was without thinking that I broke our routine and asked a question.
"Why don't you talk in class?" It was a simple question but it was none of business so I looked away, I felt ashamed that I had broken the silent compromise that the two of us made months ago.
"Because I don't trust myself to speak" He answered looking at the road with intense eyes.
"You don't trust yourself to speak" I repeated the words through my head trying to replay, repeating it over and over trying to figure out the unsolved puzzle of his words. But it only resulted in me being confused.
"I don't understand what you just said" I blinked when the sound of laughter reached my ears. The boy was laughing at me, my face felt hot as I got to my feet with my both my hands balled into fist at my side. I was outrage, how dare this boy, this batty boy laugh at me.
Seeing me on my feet, he stopped laughing staring at my fist. He was scared of me now that was for sure.
"What makes you want to hit me?" I also fell over from his question. And it was a weird question to ask a person.
"What?" in complete confusion, I sat down next to the boy, my eyes questioning.
"You're in choir" He stated forgetting the topic at hand and brushing off my confusion. As I was looking ahead, I could feel his eyes on me, trying to bore into me.
"Yeah, but I don't really like it, skipping it today" With that said he nodded his head like my statement had made a big deal and tore his eyes away from me and back to the road. I felt the tension in my body lift as his eyes focused away from me. Feeling a bit braver, I asked him yet another question.
"Do you have anyone in your family fighting in the war?" I asked before I felt like beating myself with sticks, that wasn't a question you ask someone you don't even know.
"My father" He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair, combing the unruly hair with his fingers.
"Oh, my father died in the war" I replied simply with no remorse in my voice. An awkward silence covered us, nothing but the sound of water hitting the ground. I didn't understand why I felt the need to tell the boy this, I've never really talked about it, my friends knew this and knew not to bring it up. Bringing up the war was taboo among people and it's rarely brought up in conversation but just like that I had brought it up suddenly without warning. I shifted uneasy on the step, feeling tense that I might have upset him. I didn't want to make an enemy.
Across the street, I trailed his line of vision to a mother and her young son walking hand in hand in the rain, rushing slightly to get home but you could see a warm smile on the child's face as he looked up to his mother.
"I wonder sometimes" the drench boy beside me whispered, regret and remorse in his voice, his voice hoarse.
"Hmm what was that?" I asked wanting to know what he meant.
"Nothing important, Sorry bout your father and all" he said. Annoyed that he was ignoring my questions, I chose to not talk to him for the remaining few minutes until he leaves or my mother gets here. The two of us were silent until I realized that I couldn't remain silent, I wanted to talk to him, this boy that held my interest, with a mysterious air around him, the boy that never interacted with any of the other kids in class.
"So where did you come from, heard you came from another school and came here" I causally said pushing away the thought that I had broken the promise that I wouldn't talk to him. I saw him wince slightly before he laughed once again. It sounded like an empty laugh.
"I was away for a while" He answered after he was finished laughing, this time, I felt no rage towards him nothing but pity for reason I didn't understand.
"During the evacuation, right, I got into a plane with a few student I didn't know but by the end, we all became good friends, how about you? Did you get to make friends while you were being evacuated?" I smiled in memory of the time, I spent on that plane meeting some good friends and the humor and fear that we all shared, escaping.
"I made a few close friends" he said so quietly that I barely heard him over the rain.
"Oh that's good, you still talking to them?" I asked feeling happy that our talking was getting some where.
"Nope, two of them are very sick at least that's what the grownups told me" He sighed once again
"Really what are they sick with?"
"I don't know, they said they were sick in the head"
"So they're batty" My eyes widen as the information sunk in
"I don't think so" He answered my statement before going back to completely silence but I was thirsty for the knowledge, for the mystery that surrounded him. I wanted to know more.
"Why do you think that?"
"Because they act like just like everyone else"
"They can't act like normal people then they wouldn't be batty"
"Then I guess we're all batty then" Hugging his knees to his chest, he sighed and tilted his head towards me. His eyes looked tired and he looked sleepy like he hadn't had a good night rest in ages but there was no darkening under eyes as evidence.
"I know I'm not and I don't think you are either, I mean you don't act batty" I pointed out as I started to shiver in the cold breeze.
"He was in the choir too, you know, he could sing a C sharp" He said with a bit of pride in his voice. I didn't feel like I should ruin the moment so I merely nodded my head in agreement.
"And I never really thought much of Roger, expect he was just there, we never really talked" He continued to talk as if he was talking to me but his voice told me another thing, he wasn't talking to me, he was revisiting his memories and I was just a witness to it.
"SamnEric were good friends but after we left, we never did talk as we were on the cruiser" I watched a sad smile form, it was small and barely noticeable.
"And Piggy…" He cried before that buried his head in his knees, his face hidden behind his arms. It was awkward after that, I was uneasy not one able to comfort someone when they really needed it. When the letter had arrived that my father was dead, I wasn't able to comfort my mother, I just stood there watching as my brother led her to her room. This moment was no different, I was afraid to be someone that was crying but just like that, a moment later he stopped and looked up again at me.
"I never knew his name, the entire I knew him, not once did I ask him, his name." I stand there still unsure of what to say to him.
"What happened?"
"I won a small meaningless victory against the devil but I have no chance of ever winning the war" He lifted his head towards his father's car that had silently arrived without our notice. At the same time, I turned to look at my mother standing underneath her umbrella, waiting so we could walk home together.
I stood up as my new friend started to make his way towards his father.
"I don't understand" I whined as I caught up to him. He smiled and nodded his head towards his father who entered the car before him.
"There are two wars going on, the other has been going on since before you or even your great grandfather was found. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose." He turned to enter the car but I grabbed his shirt, one question still in my mind.
"What's your name?"
"Ralph" And with that I let go and watched as the car became smaller and smaller before it disappeared. I didn't even think as I walked beside my mother, both of us walking home. I relived our conversation again and again, as I became more confused at all the things that he had said.
"Who was that boy you were talking to, David, he seems like a nice child"
"Forget about him mom, he was batty"
(A/N)I can't take full credit for it because this was inspired by different things, reviews will be appreciated…….Shik is banded from leaving a review, you shall obey! Ralph is mine, Jack will have to fight me for him. Fight me! If you haven't figured it out yet, I, too am batty.