Author's Note: I dedicate this story to you, my readers. On the 24th of October 2009 I made my own account here on FF. Now, two years later, you all gave me more than a hundred reviews, 7510 hits and can my stories be found on 117 different favorite-lists all over the site. I don't know how to thank you all enough, so to thank you, this story is for you. I hope you all will enjoy it and look out to new stories in the future. I love you all.
Oh, and Happy Halloween everybody! (starts rocking along with 'This Is Halloween')
Off With Your Head!
Hello Jack, remember me?
"No..no, not you.."
Oh yes, it is I, my dear boy. I'm sure you remember me, you know me too well to forget me.
"No…not again...I don't want to dream about you!"
Why, you don't want to? And here I thought that you liked me so much!
"Please, just- stay away from me! Go away!"
Go away? Oh no, I will never go away. I can't. You were the one who made sure I ended up the way I am now, so how else can I pay my debt to you than staying by your side forever? But since you, very rudely, decided that you don't want to remember me anymore, I shall tell you about how the two of us met:
You killed me Jack.
Oh yes, you did. You hunted me down, closed me in and stabbed me with your spears. You were the one who sliced my throat, and the blood that first pumped through my veins colored your hands deep red. Yet that apparently wasn't enough; you wanted more of me. So you and your men got your 'swords' to cut my head off (it wasn't easy, but what do you want with swords that resemble chopsticks). After that, you put it on a stick, held it high and called that "this is an offer to you, mighty Beast! Leave me and my men in peace and destroy those who defy you!"
Those were some well chosen words my boy. Alas, I am, was, a fair animal. I heard your question, listened to your words and I did as you ask.
I started easy by killing Simon. All you boys were in such frenzy, such in a wild ecstasy, that I barely had to do anything. The boy was already scared madly by your argument with Ralph and you killing me. That did marvelous things to his mind. I just had to give his imagination a little push and when he saw the body of the 'beast', he tumbled right over the edge.
Right in your waiting hands, holding spears and hungry for blood.
(And you dare to call me a pig: that boy died within minutes, even more gruesome than I did, and that's saying something).
Next came that other boy…Roger was it? Ah Roger, that lovely boy that ever so kindly stabbed a stick in my rectum while I was still alive, but barley breathing. At first hold back by his ideas of rules and society and parents - but once he let those go, he became a first class killer. Talk about good influence Jack.
So who of us it was that helped Roger push that rock off the cliff; it won't matter. Not in the end. You killed me for your Beast. You asked the Beast to kill anyone who didn't believe in him. So the Beast killed Simon. And Piggy. And almost Ralph.
So, are you beginning to understand me Jack? It had all been your own wish, how much you are trying to tell yourself otherwise. Those other boys dared to doubt at least; you denied everything. Even when you were away from the island and were asked by some marine man if you had anything to do with it.
"With what?" you asked.
The officer sighed and gave you a stern look. "From what the other boys told us, a lot of things have happened on that island. And not all of that was very pretty."
You bluffed and tried to hide your nervousness, "Sir, you must have talked to the little ones. They got scared of all kinds of things, you know how they are."
"I know son, but what I heard did not only come from them. Every boy spoke of a", the officer searched for the right words, "Beast that lived on that island."
A shiver runs down your spine at those words. "Now tell me: what do you know about that Beast?"
"What, you really believe that story sir?" you said with a fake laugh. "That's just a lot of-"
"Don't play games with me boy!" The officer shouted and slammed his fist on the table. "That island was deserted and empty! You were stranded all right, but you could survive, there was fruit and fresh water and all that. So if you know anything, tell me how two of you boys ended up dead!"
Dead. Finally someone who stated the obvious. That wasn't nice to hear, was it Jack? Your game wasn't suddenly a game anymore; even you couldn't deny that now.
You still refused to tell that officer anything (out of pride or shame?), but since everyone else had said 'Beast' and 'Jack' in one sentence, it was you who ended up in a mental hospital. Which was a big mistake of them, because you weren't the mental one. You had been the only boy who had kept his head cool through it all, and in return had been the only one who hadn't lost it on the island.
But I am the one who made you lose it here.
Oh yes I did. In the nights I am the howl in the wind that beats the branches of the trees against your window. At day I hide in the shadows of the sun that burns on your head and make you remember the palm trees and swimming in the pools ("No, we have to build a-!" "Shut up Ralph."). Even in your dreams you aren't safe from me because they are filled with my chopped-off head, the wild dance of your hunters and Piggy's voice asking for his glasses.
I heard you screaming for hours. I saw you crying and tearing your hair out. You fell on your knees and prayed to an empty sky, begging: "Stop this! It wasn't my fault!" and "It wasn't me back there, it was the beast! The beast! Please, leave me alone!"
Well, it is too late for that boy! You made your wish, you said the words that decided your fate and now you have to deal with the consequences: the destruction of the boy who was once the oh-so-brave-leader Jack Merridew, the one, the only protector against the mighty and terrifying Beast!
So I let you do what you wanted to do Jack. I let you stab me with your wooden sticks. I didn't protest when you cut my throat. I allowed you to give my head to your so-called Beast. I didn't mind.
Because in the end, your head ismine!