A small sigh escaped cracked lips, the only sound echoing in an otherwise silent hallway. China-blue eyes scanned their surroundings; dull, grey, and metal. Jack knelt down slowly, and as he reached for the dropped book, something peculiar occured.
For just an instant, he was no longer in the dreary schoolhouse. He was back where he belonged, back in charge. Back on his island. He was again dark-skinned and bare-backed, crouching over a slight hoofprint. Mud, sweat, and dried blood stained the intricate mask of clay over his body. Everything was still, silent, and dripping with heat. When he reached for the book, his hand clamped around a worn wooden pole, sharpened at both ends. Flies droned in the background.
The boy closed his eyes to block out the brilliant sunlight flickering through the dense foliage overhead, and opened them back in the dark hallway. Qiuckly, he stood up and put the book under his arm with the others. A bell rang, but his clouded mind failed to notice. Jack was somewhere else entirely, somewhere more familiar to him than this orderly world had ever been.
Merridew watched in horror through eyes once his own as blood-stained boys thrust sticks at one of their own, whooping and dancing like animals. The victim cringed and doubled over, shrieking bloody murder, but his cries were not heard over their lusty chanting. Louder and louder and...
A rough shove on the shoulder startled him so badly that Jack yelled the incantation aloud.
"Kill the beast! Slit its throat! Spill its blood!"
He immediately clapped his hand over his mouth, coming face-to-face with a pleasantly surprised Roger. The black haired boy smiled sadistically, and Jack could remember with vivid clarity how furtive that smile had looked only months ago. He shivered with fear and delight.
"Remembering, eh chief?" he taunted.
"Quiet, boy. Or we''ll have your head on a stake tonight"
To anyone not in on the joke, it probably seemed like oddly grotesque but still playful banter. To the boys, though, it struck a primitive chord burned into their minds and the smiles disappeared from their profiles. It wasn't that long since "heads on stakes" was a real threat that, truly, had not seemed at all out of place. Jack sighed again. Would he never be able to just... let it go?
It was odd how some things simply wouldn't go away.
