DISCLAIMER

I don't own Lord of the flies or any of the characters. Except for Jidda, And her stupid name.

1

Mayday

Jidda stared at her reflection in the cracked and dirty mirror, she'd cropped her hair short, like a boys, and wore cut off jeans and a tartan shirt, with a dark brown trench coat to top it all off. The only item she hadn't stolen were a pair of Mexican boots, with brightly coloured beads and 4 inch long fringing. Her mother had given her these boots right before she'd stabbed herself with a kitchen knife.

Satisfied, Jidda grabbed her hessian rucksack off her nightstand and crept through the house. The stairs moaned when she put weight on them, Jidda's heart stopped. She could hear the dog barking and her father crying in his sleep; uncertainly she lurched forward again and unlocked the front door, then fled into the night.

When she reached the airport she was tired, hungry and thoroughly annoyed. Slowly, disdainfully she eased herself up the stairs and into the reception area.

The lady at the counter did a double take, and then in a quite startled and uncertain voice said:

"May I help you sir?"

"Yes", Jidda replied making her voice low and husky "I need to get on the 1:20 plane to America".

"Oh, I err", the lady stuttered "you would be from the military academy then sir?"

Now it was Jidda's turn to be uncertain, and looking down she replied, "Yes, which terminal do I wait in?"

"Ah, the fifth", the woman stammered, sounding quite flustered,

Jidda, confused with her tone, looked up, to find that the lady had gone an odd shade of red and was batting her eyelids at her so fast it looked like she was having a seizure.

"Thanks" Jidda said simply, and turned away, a confused look plastered on her face.

The terminal turned out to be a collection of non-matching chairs with a bakelite radio in one corner. Seated on the chairs were approximately 10 men, all tanned, with a hard expression on each of their faces that chilled Jidda to the bone. She hesitated, then seated herself in a plump green armchair, wondering if she should make a run for it.

After a while of awkward silence, a fair-haired boy of about her age turned to her with a curious expression and asked the inevitable,

"Who are you then?" the others murmured in agreement.

"We en't seen you before", another boy added.

They didn't sound too nasty, so she said in an indifferent tone,

"M' names Jed"

"I'm Jack", the fair-haired boy replied putting out his hand for her to shake, and she took it absentmindedly,

"Ralph", said the boy who had called out before, pointing to himself and adding, "you goin tah war then?" Jidda, unsure of what to do, remembered the bag of nails along with a saw and a hammer she'd packed in, and answered "Uh no, I'm a carpenter"

"Another boy whistled through his teeth, pointed at her boots and said "Where the hell didja get them?"

"Ma mother gave 'em to me" she said twirling one of her surviving curls and added "she was a real good sewer, used to make all our clothes"

"What happened to her?" asked the same boy who had pointed at her boots,

"Stabbed 'erself", Jidda sighed, this was dangerous territory,

"Oh", replied the boy, and everyone turned away, except for Jack, who stared at her with an interest she found unnerving.

The radio crackled to life, breaking the slightly awkward silence

"Flight 104 ready to board, please exit the terminal through the hallway on the left.". Jidda got up quickly, grabbed her bag and half ran through the hallway.

She glanced at her ticket, F1; it was the very back seat in a very small plane. She sat down and stared out the window in dismay, the wings blocked out her line of vision, all she could see was dirty white metal. Out of the corner of her eye she saw jack saunter down the isle towards her, he stopped at the row of seats she was seated in and plopped down beside her.

"G'day Jed", he said, attempting to break the ice "So why are you goin tah America anyway?"

"To get a job"

"There's jobs in England"

"Not as many"

He was quiet for a while, probably trying to think up a comeback; finally he sighed and said in a defeated tone "Geez. You're a funny bloke Jed". Jidda laughed, which obviously wasn't the reaction he was looking for, and she quickly disguised her giggling as coughing. He rolled his eyes and turned away, not fooled.

They took off a while later, seconds stretched into minutes, minutes stretched into hours; eventually she dozed off, and woke to find herself leaning on Jack's shoulder. She blushed a scarlet red and mumbled an apology; he just grinned and shook his head. Jidda fell asleep again.

Someone was shaking her, and an annoying beeping sound filled her ears. Groggily she opened her eyes; Jack was right in her face, bathed in red light.

"What?" She asked him, still sleepy

"Put your seatbelt on!" His voice was high with panic, she did what she was told,

"Why-"Jidda was cut off by a hideous ripping sound, for a second everything was silent, then everyone was screaming.

"What? Jack? What's happening?" She yelled over the noise He didn't answer, His face was a deathly pale.

"Jack! What-" she choked He pointed to the window

There was no more dirty white for her to sigh about, The wing was gone.