Jack
It had been easy. Simple, really, getting registered for school. In fact, the nurses had been delighted when I told them and even Mrs. Baker had given me an approving nod, muttering that maybe I would turn out to be a halfway decent citizen after all. I didn't have to buy a uniform because the school was run by the Asylum, so our hospital gowns counted as uniform; the grey knee length stiff cotton tunics and the polyester trousers were what we boys were supposed to wear. Girls, although there were few in the Asylum, fared slightly better with the same tunic and a cotton skirt that fell a few inches below the knee.
The uniforms were like the ones we had in my old choir, the Troubadours. They made me reminiscent of the good times I had shared with my fellow choirboys; the fact that our love of music brought us together, and not because of skill or social status was what I missed about it the most. Here, the only thing that bonded all us 'disturbed children' in this Asylum was our nondescript uniforms and the comforting fact that we were all insane. Very encouraging, but it was all we had and it was all we would receive.
My musical musings were cut short once I rounded a corner on the outside corridor a few staircases and a hallway away from my private cell, and set my eyes on the Educational Unit Center, or more commonly known as the EUC. (They were still keeping tabs on me by the way. I was allowed to wander alone, but I had to keep a large, clunky anklet on me that automatically tracked my position). The EUC was situated in a rather large red brick, three storeys building in the East Wing of the Asylum, just outside the main building. There were dormitories for the regular kids who went there in another building somewhere: not that it mattered. I wouldn't be seeing them anyway. I wouldn't make friend with anyone. I was here to seek out Ralph Henrys.
"Pass, please?"
I looked up. A middle aged woman with obviously dyed platinum blonde hair was sitting behind an office counter marked "Reception" on my right, tapping her long red nails on the table and staring at me.
"I- I don't have a pass."
The lady clicked her teeth disapprovingly. "Well, we'll have to register you in for a liberal session at lunch, then, wouldn't we?"
I had no clue what she was talking about. I hadn't met any of the boys from my choir for over three months, not since the island, and I hadn't had the chance to talk to any of them about such trivial things like school, in any case. What the hell was a liberal session, anyway?
"Hello?" She said rudely, waving her fingers in my face. "If you don't mind, it's already ten minutes before your Assembly. Either you have a pass or you don't."
An assembly.
"I-I-" I stammered out, backing away. My heart hammered inside my chest, and suddenly it was hard to breathe. Assembly Assembly Assembly. One step back, and then another. Run. Run run run. Kill. Away from the Assembly and the group. I was Chief. Run. I was the Chief and I was going to find the animal and kill it. Ralph. Chief. Kill.
No.
"Merridew?" a brisk voice called out from the direction which I had come, snapping me out of my blind panic attack. Stolid Mrs. Baker, endearing in her familiar nurse uniform was carrying a big armful of documents and worksheets, walking towards us. I don't think I could've been happier to see her.
"Merridew?" she repeated, completely oblivious to my relief, and, thankfully, to my inner turmoil. "What on earth are you doing here? You should already be in your lessons, you foolish boy!"
"This student's lost his pass, Pomona! You know how we can't let in students who don't have permission passes; it's part of the new school policy!" the reception woman was arguing. slammed her stack of filed documents on the counter and took out a folded paper from her apron pocket.
"This," she said stonily, prodding me in the back, "Is Jack Merridew. Merridew's a new addition to our current Year Nine class, he's been held back a year due to unfortunate circumstances- it's all on his medical form here-"
"Medical form?" the reception woman repeated、her eyes wide. "Oh- I didn't know he was, um, from the medical wing-"
"The psych wing." Mrs. Baker corrected.
I wanted to strangle her.
The woman slowly ran her eyes over the form, her eyes widening even more as she no doubt read of my island experience. I hated the fact that this rude, tacky woman who I'd only met a few minutes ago was having complete, absolute access to everything I'd done on that goddamned island. Goddamn it. I closed my eyes for what seemed like an eternity until she spoke again.
"Jack Merridew, you're to go straight to your class, 9A. Someone will be sent to show you around tomorrow; for now all we want you to do is to take some assessment tests for us to get a firm grip on your academic level. Um…your class is the second door from the left on that corridor, you'll find it soon enough. You should hurry if you want to resume a normal schedule tomorrow."
I thanked her stiffly, and moved on.
"Who was that?" a curious female voice whispered from the back of the office, and the secretary whispered, "One of the island boys."
My fingers involuntarily curled into fists at my sides. It was always like this; the staff always called us the island boys. Always the same phrase in the same hushed tone of voice. I hated it, hated it.
I wondered if any of the other boys that had crashed on the island with me still remembered. I mean, they had to, didn't they? Nobody who had experienced those horrors we had faced would've dared to forget. They couldn't have.
All the same, if they'd been released from constant confinement weeks before I had...
Shut up, Merridew, I chided myself inside my head. They had to remember everything, didn't they? Surely they did. Surely...
I repeated this in my head over and over, not entirely sure whether I believed myself or not, or what the consequences would be if I didn't.
Edit: sorry this is so late! I've been so busy with finals and the new school year and all that I simply haven't had the time lately to type it all out. Big kisses to everybody who reviewed and faved this story (can't believe I got so many faved story alerts; you guys rock!) And I will be updating more soon x
P.S. For those of you who didn't get it, I was alluding the 'Real or not real?' line that Ralph questions in Chapter 7 to Peeta and Katniss' game in The Hunger Games. I saw the movie, by the way, and I loved it!
