Disclaimer: I don't anything; all the characters belong to a famous writer, just writing for the sake of it and my own amusement.
Nothing else to say, first fanfic and chances are it will suck badly. Looks based on the 1990 version of the film, haven't seen the 1963 one yet. Normal POV. I do intend to continue it.
Life sucks, life hurts. Well atleast it does for a certain boy who used to keep telling himself there is always someone out there who has it worse than you. But now he currently didn't give a toss what others had experienced, being a teenager all he could currently feel was self pity as he looked down at his feet. Meet Ralph. Tears stream down his face as he looked around; the room was dimly lit and smelled strangely of his mothers best top, but remembering her brought up fresh weeping. All he could currently remember is the pain, the pain of being betrayed, hated, hunted and having to witness two of his friends losing their lives. Simon. Pigg- but that wasn't his real name, Ralph never knew the fat boys real name.
Ralph had only just been saved from the murderous onslaught of the other boys whom all had once respected and listened to his every word. That changed, no reason to go back to it now, and Ralph was chased to the beach where, the Holy Spirit has taken pity, a navy officer stood. Fully upright, with a menacing look at the sight of the forest fire. He had taken all the boys by fear and rowed them to the large trim cruiser only about a few kilometres from the shore. The boys were viciously scrubbed from head to foot, all of them given oversized navy uniforms in which the trim of the shirts reach down to their knee caps. The trim cruiser didn't have many compartments and the boys were forced into three boys per bed.
"Ralph, r-a-l-p-h, RALPH" the noise rocketed around the room and the caller was surprised no-one woke from their slumber. Ralph was finally broken of his thoughts when a dusty black bible zoomed from nowhere, and struck him on the head.
"Ow, you pr-p-p" but no words came out, Ralph coughed continuously before finishing what he had started. "What was that fo-"it was Jack, who had obviously been struggling to escape the navy officers.
"It's your entire fault, all of it." he spluttered betweens sobs. "The island, my island, you made me lose all of it! If you…you hadn't" he stopped, laid his head down and continued to weep out his "loss".
Ralph could do no more than to ignore him, he peeped to his sides to see the last boys to not leave him. Lying by him, one on each side. Ralph lifted up the bible and flicked through it before returning to page one, the words were faded but reasonably recognisable. Ralph started to read. A few words stood out among the rest, phrases like "do not commit murder" and "treat your neighbour as you would like to be treated yourself". Great, Ralph thought, even the bible is out to remind me of what had happened". Jack by now was dozing away next to Roger and a whimpering littlun.
Hours have passed and it was now late afternoon when Ralph heard a sound of a siren.
His heart froze as he felt the ship slowing, he looked out the port hole but was disappointed at the fact he couldn't see zilch. He gently nudged Samneric who, being light sleepers, opened their eyes and yawned. Seeing Ralph in between them they froze, followed by an everlasting awkward silence. Finally one found the courage to speak and the other followed.
"-Ralph, I... We are-"
"-Totally sorry for-"
"-What we did-"
"-But we couldn't do-"
"-Nothing."
Ralph looked into their open eyes and sighed at the sight of scratch marks on their bare chests.
"It's ok you two, you were being hurt by them right? I am sure I would have given in as well. I forgive you two, ok? You were the last ones no leave me, you stayed with me the longest (even though Ralph thought if Piggy was still alive then he would have never left him…). We are home now, it's over, all this madness is over. We get to go home, see our families and friends." It took a bit of time for Samneric, nine, and Ralph, twelve, to put on the oversized uniforms but they managed. They stepped out of the bed and silently walked over to the door, Ralph reached for it but the door swung open to reveal the same naval officer who found them on the island.
"Oh, you lads awake now? That's good to hear yer doing well. Guess what, we've arrived back in London and soon yer ma's and da's will soon come ta pick ya up."
Ralph nodded silently; it was almost three months since he had seen this mother. Along with the twins they went out into the deck leaving the grown-up to arouse the rest of the children.
"Oi, you three" it was a burly man in this later thirties who beckoned them to come over. "The captain has decided to place you in the centre building where you shall wait for your parents to collect you. Your parents are being contacted and should be arriving as soon as they can."
"Thanks"
"-Yeah, thank-"
"-You, sir"
They altered their course and entered the building, at the front were a desk and behind it purple cushioned chairs laid out in a semicircle shape, Ralph took a seat in what seemed the middle and Samneric sat down either side of him. There was a small wooden table in the middle; on it were piles of grubby books and old fashioned comics that were donated probably in a school fair. Soon more of the boys came in, starting with ones or twos ending with a cluster of nine including the main part of the remains of the pitiful choir. They each took their seat and gazed at either Ralph or Jack. Ralph could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, aware of how he was being seen at the present moment.
"Stop staring at me!" after this eyes wandered elsewhere. Ralph sighed, he didn't expect himself to burst out like that, and reached out to nab a magazine from the center table. Finding Waldo. It was the best thing he could get his hands on for now.
The day grew long. The awkward silence never ending. The clouds drifting pass when all else is BEEP! The front doors swung open and there stood a tall, pale woman in her early thirties with red hair down to her shoulder blades.
"Where is my Jack?" upon spotting him she lunged herself forward knocking the air out of him. "Oh darling, you have no idea what you meant to us".
"Mother! I've been away for only a month! Let go"
The officer at a nearby counter spoke up "Madam, please bring your boy here to check him out. We need to confirm a few things, if that's alright with ya.
"Sure, but be quick please. Oh heavens on the schoolwork he has missed".
Ralph could do no more than snigger, heard only by him and Jack. Who turned around to give him a look which said quite plainly "I am not done with you". And so this went on till only a Ralph, Roger, the twins and a couple of littuns were remaining. The telephone went off and Ralph turned his head.
"Oh, what shall I say? You don't just go up to growing lad and …" the other end had placed down the phone. The officer sighed, bit his lip and walked closer to the semicircle laid seats.
"Now you two don't be alarmed and stay clam. Sam Charter and Eric Charter, oh err, your parents have been, erm, I mean it was nobody's fault but. Im afraid your parents were killed in a recent bomb raid, please try and stay clam we are trying to…"
"-WHAT!-"
"-YOU'RE LYING-"
Tears started welling up in their identical eyes and Ralph instantly put his arms around them both. Their bodies sagged and started to sob.
"-It's all –"
"-Not true."
The officer muttered something to himself, rubbed the back of his neck and walked away back to the counter. He reached for the phone and dialled some numbers. Moments later the automatic doors swung open to reveal a fairly plump woman with strands of white hair, glasses which made her look like a dragonfly and a large homemade handbag. Piggy's aunt.
Ralph immediately looked towards Roger, the twins didn't seem to care and Ralph couldn't blame them. Roger lifted up his head and didn't seem to know who this was, it certainly wasn't his mother and that was all that mattered.
"Im terribly sorry officer, but my boy does not seem to be here and I am very sure I recognise some of these faces when I saw them before they took that flight in the first place, is there a boy in the loo?"
Ralph pitied the women, she seemed to look at everything positively and her feeble heart will break when she hears that –
"Im sorry madam, please follow me and let me explain" The two grown ups strolled down a narrow corridor only visible. Roger was now twiddling his thumbs and only looking down at his shoes he borrowed, Ralph out of deep spite found only one thing he could say.
"Your in deep shit, you deserve to die like … pi- Piggy" Roger heard the whisper and looked up from his interesting shoes/thumbs. He grabbed the nearest book on the table and hurled in the direction of Ralph's head. The book landed several feet away and the hurler snarled.
"Shut yer, yer mouth. You bastard, always bossing everyone else around!" Ralph smirked to himself at making Roger tick, having this moment of fun he looked back to the corridor where Piggy's aunt had walked down just minutes before. A different officer than the first came out and sat down in the desk seat, sighed and started to read a newspaper. Poor Piggy's aunt. Ralph now wondered when his own parents have received the call, and then it hit him that his own parents might not be alive. Time stood still as he pondered this when the door to the building swished open.
"Mo…Mother!" Ralph was up and into her arms in a flash. She looked down into her son's teary eyes, lifted her hand up to stroke his hair and planted a kiss on his left cheek before smiling.
"Son, Ralph. You've scared me and your father so much, do you have any idea how many calls we made to the police station?" She took a gasp of air before finishing "But your back, that's all that matters now my boy. Now tell me what happened to you, everything. The truth, dear. The whole truth." This time she sounded so Ralph led her to a seat and spilled out his misery to a person who cared.
"Yes mother, he really did try and do that to me." Ralph finished.
"Right dear, wait here while I talk to that officer over there, I promise love I won't be long." Giving another quick peck to the cheek she hurried off to the man. After she had gone Ralph wondered if it was a really good idea to reveal the whole truth to his mum, it was certainly gonna raise awkward questions from this father and his mother might talk to Jack's parents. That embarrassment would never be forgotten. His self-pity started to evaporate. Eyes turned towards the twins, who had now stopped crying and were deep into depression. Ralph felt a pang of guilt, because of him these two boys were tortured, maimed, punished just to know stuff about him. He wanted to help them out somehow…
"Ok dear, we can leave now. We haven't touched your room since you left it dear."
"Erm mother, can we perhaps take in the twins?" Silence.
"Darling, Im not sure if we can do that…"
"Can we not afford them?"
"Well, not exactly that…"
"Then? Mother please, they were the only ones who-"
"Yes, yes dear boy. You've told me. But I'll have to contact you father and a lot of officials dear. Ralph, they have their own parents. We can't just take them from their family, their not dogs in a pet shop." Ralph sighed and revealed what had happened. His mother took a deep sigh, frowned and dialled her husband from the telephone at the counter. Three hours later, when all the procedures into adoption were made and dusted, Ralph found himself in the back of the family car with two sleeping twins on either side of him. Ralph smiled to himself and prodded Sam's upper arm. Sam however stayed asleep but Eric happened to wake up.
"Ralph?" Ralph turned round.
"Ah, awake now."
"Where are we?"
"We'll soon be at my house, if you are tired then go back to sleep".
"No, I'll be fine being awake." With that Eric laid his head on Ralph's shoulders and stared out the window, Ralph smiled to himself and thought of where Jack was. He had once thought of Jack as a great friend and companion, yes, when they had first landed on that island he saw Jack as a leader, a figure admired by others. Ralph's heart did a cartwheel; he was going home to 32 gradale road. Jack lived only 12 streets away, far too close for comfort, and yet Ralph felt another feeling. He was jealous of Jack because he seemed so carefree and got what he wanted. Sigh. Life just wasn't fair for him, and the remaining goodness. After a boring fifteen minutes of scenery the car slowed down and Ralph woke Sam. The four human beings slid out of the vehicle and walked up the front steps to their old/new home.
"Ralph, be a dear and take your friends to your room please, I'll get something for you three to eat and then some sleeping gear."
"Samneric, come with me". The three boys trudged up the stairs. Ralph looked round and couldn't remember which room was his; he tried the first door to his right. Nope toilet, nope bathroom, nope parent's room. At last Ralph found his own room and entered, it looked so dull and peaceful. The only thing left in the room was a bed, cupboard, table and a few chairs. It had been completely stripped of all his old posters, comic books, medals and trophies. There was an awkward silence, again, and the boys sat down on the bed looking at each other.
"Hey Ralph, what is going-"
"-To happen tomorrow?"
"I don't know, we've just come back."
"What happened-"
"-To the others?"
"SHUT IT, I am trying to think! Stop asking all these questions I don't know the answer to." The twins fell silent and looked at each other. Ralph was thinking of Jack, now that the savage twat wasn't armed with a spear, a dozen other boys or anything sharp. Ralph was deciding on ways to harm/humiliate/hurt in anyway possible, a few minutes of this natural behaviour followed until he giggled out loud.
"What is –"
"-it?"
"Nothing, I'm just wondering what Jack is suffering now".
"You know what is-"
"-happening to Jack?" Ralph was saved answering this as his mother came into the room with two sleeping bags and his father carrying a large plate of sandwiches.
"Boys, it's pretty late. Have a quick snack and then go to bed" after saying this, the adults left the room and went downstairs. Samneric and Ralph gorged themselves full on the sandwiches without speaking. Sam took off the borrowed clothing and entered his sleeping bag and his brother followed suit, Ralph put on his pyjamas and hopped in bed. It felt so stiff and unfamiliar. Outside the house the wind blew, the clouds gathered, and the streetlight next to Ralph's new home flattered and went out. A translucent figure crossed the front yard and flew to the window. It was then joined by a second familiar figure, both ghosts flew through the wall into Ralph's room.
Ralph was having a dream. Jack was on the tip of the cliff and everyone else was behind him pointing spears at him, throwing stones and yelling insults. Jack as tipping, he lost his footing and …
"Ralph, I ask you to wake." Ralph's flicked open as his dream ended. His mouth dropped; in front of him were the ghosts of the two boys he knew so well. He reached out his left arm and turned on the lamp. He rubbed his eyes but the figures of Simon and Piggy remained where they were, staring at him with emotionless eyes.
"Ralph calm down. We want to speak; we can't rest not knowing what has happened since we… since we left the island." Ralph gathered more of his blanket around him and backed to the wall. This time Piggy spoke.
"I see your back home, I was so close to returning to mine. Who killed me?"
"Err… I'm sure it was"
"Oh, I suspected that you know that the others…" Simon cut across him.
"Sorry to freak you out, but we had to speak to you one time or the other so… We, me and Piggy, will visit you a bit more often. You'll get used to us popping up around the place." Samneric moaned softly and gave Simon a shock. "Oh, the twins moved in with you now?" Ralph nodded.
"Well we can't stay for much longer, sorry for waking you in your sleep. Good bye Ralph, meet again soon". With that the two ghosts flew up through the ceiling and left the house. Ralph shuddered and felt that he had wet himself at the first sight of his friends. He groaned and stepped out of the bed. He plucked off his boxers and dimly tried to get to the cupboard at the other side of the room, on his journey there he stepped on something soft which gave a startled yip before bolting across the room to switch on the light. Click. Crap.
"Wait!! Eric turn that effing light off!"
"Ralph? What are you doing up so late? Oh…" Eric switched off the light blushing and Ralph continued fumbling around before he found a new pair in the darkness of his own room and put them on.
"Eric, go back to sleep. I just had a nightmare". Eric frowned.
"Doesn't explain why you walked over me in the nude Ralph".
"Never you mind, go back to sleep and DON'T TELL SAM".
Eric sighed and went back to sleep. Ralph still blushing red once again entered his warm domain and shifted over to one side. Tomorrow was going to be troublesome, he remembered his parents talking about sending him to a private school so he can catch up all the things he has missed. Life sucks and Ralph was sure of that.