Chapter 7: Trust
The group gathered around the campfire, feasting on animal meat, which disgusted most of the members but they were all hungry and had no other option. They ate without much conversation, away from the adults that, too, decided to eat on logs. Evidently Scrauss was not one of them; he had not come out from the cabin to greet them yet.
Jesse was one of the members use to this food and ate jovially, while surveying the jungle surroundings. Jesse heard the sounds of animals and bugs, whether it was their call or their movement through the bushes and trees. By his second helping of meat, he was thinking about the mission, and wondering why they had such a distance to travel. Jesse looked at the rest of the members picking at their meat, looking solemn and some looking into the jungle with anxiety. Jesse figured he was the person that was least afraid of such a habitat, for he never had the fear of dying. The surroundings seemed more like adventurous fun to Jesse, than a fatal environment.
Jack was the one that was most afraid of the place, Jesse could see clearly. Jack's eyes were distant and he was crouched low to the ground, as if birds were flying ferociously over him and he was ducking in fear of getting hit. But he did not seem disgusted by the meal, like he had eaten food like this before...
"Can I take a walk?" Jake said aloud, that everyone jumped at the sudden speech. Jake gave a disarming smile.
"I would not usually recommend young adults to wander off for walks- but we all know you are not just young adults. You may, but do not walk far. I want you very nearby, so that we are all in sight. When we all start to go in, you are to rush here immediately." Jana said, wiping her hands on her shirt. "Five minutes. Let someone join you."
"I will," Buffy stood. "I'm done with this." she looked at the pile of meat on a large plate, and shivered as a light wind passed.
Jana nodded and the two set off. Jack finished his first slab, and watched the two go beyond some trees.
When Buffy and Jake were far enough, Buffy said, "Are we going to have to eat like that for the rest of the time?"
Jake smiled. "Probably. Then we could start eating bugs too."
They laughed together and their voices bounced off the trees into all directions.
"Well, I suppose I could get use to it," Buffy said, though with some doubt. "I just hope that this all gets over with soon. There's never a break in a Slayers life."
Jake looked at her. "I'm sorry... same with me. The Yeerks- they're gone but- it doesn't seem like it. I lost a lot during these times... a lot, a lot. But I'd rather go back home then stay in this world. I think."
Buffy frowned. "Who did you lose?"
"My cousin, Rachel." Jake said, with a hurtful vivid memory. "She was like me. She could morph also." Jake did not want to explain. "Did you lose anyone recently?"
Buffy looked at the dirt, remembering her last swordfight. "Yes."
Jake saw that she did not want to linger in this subject. "You sure you want to get home?"
"Did I ever say that I wanted to go home?" Buffy reminded him.
"Maybe it's a good thing, in a way, that we were taken away from our lives. We might not get a break from battle but... we get some kind of break."
Buffy nodded. "I will never forget my real life though. Every time I try to escape... it follows me. It always has, it always will. I will always be the slayer, I will always be- fighting."
"Can you picture life without being a slayer, without fighting and saving the world? Do you think that it would be all that good?"
Buffy smiled. "You're wise." she joked.
Jake grinned and turned his head over to the campfire, which was still visible. Jake heard movement all at once. "I think we'd better head back."
**
The four members left in the group got up and walked slowly into the hut. Harry walked alongside Matilda. Harry was about to say something, when someone shoved him to the right. Matilda, who was on his right, fell against a tree.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, and looked to see what the cause was. He only saw Jack sneer at him, while walking with Jesse. They walked ahead of Harry and Matilda and engaged it a low, somber conversation.
"That Jack is something," Matilda said, with glaring eyes. She rolled a rock the size of a light bulb in Jack's path and tripped him slightly. Harry and Matilda sniggered, and Jack walked into the hut sulkily.
"You got him before me," Harry said, holding his wand.
Matilda smiled and brushed herself off. "My skirt got some more dirt on it, I sure wish they'd give us more clothes to wear."
"Yeah," Harry said, pulling on his baggy sweater. It was the first time he was aware at the baggy clothing he was wearing; all of it use to belong to his obese cousin, Dudley. Harry wished he had been wearing his Hogwarts uniform at the time of being called.
Matilda smiled pleasantly when Harry opened the door for her. She looked into the oil lamp lit hut. There was a small room with table and pillows on the floor. But the walls interested her more. They hung beautiful, artistic paintings and rug and quilt designs. The place smelled like wood and Jasmine, and Matilda noticed that there were a lot of Jasmine flowers in pots on the floor. The sounds of birds were heard somewhere and there were three hangings on the walls, which were used as doors into other rooms.
"We have limited space in hut," A man said, coming out of a brightly colored hanging of the sun. He was tall, thin, dark skinned, bald, and was using a wood cane. He smiled, which made his face enlarge, and showed few teeth. "Children will share room, but boys and girls will be separated by thick covering."
"He's leaving out a few words, isn't he?" Jesse whispered to Jack.
Jack was focused more on the man's appearance, especially his eyes. The large narrow green eyes looked familiar and natural in a wild habitat but unnatural on a human face...
"Your room," The man gestured to the hanging of the sun.
At that moment, Buffy and Jake burst in, and breathed heavier than normal; it was suggested that they had ran here.
The group squeezed into their small dark room. There were six thick blankets folded neatly in the corner of the cold, small room There was a covering hanging on the wall that split the room in two. The group figured it out.
"We have to sleep on the floor with only a bunch of blankets?" Jack said. "Where's the boat, I could sleep there."
"Sleep well, group." The man said, and touched a dream catcher made of bright feathers and brown string. The man slipped out.
Matilda jumped and let out a yelp at something on the floor and Harry quickly stomped his foot on the crawling bug. "Dead," Harry announced and looked at the group. Each held a disgusted face.
"I never thought that I would again sleep in a jungle." Jack said aloud.
"You slept in a jungle before?" Matilda asked. Jack looked at her, and did not deny it.
"How about before we sleep, we talk a bit. How we are going to go about this mission, and stuff. For a while. We do have to sleep."
"Fine," Buffy said and pushed the hanging out of the way so that everyone could see each other. The girls sat on one side and the boys sat on another side all with their blanket.
Jake cleared his throat. "There are some things that are absent in this mission. Maybe we will soon find out, maybe not. The important thing is that despite our differences and behaviors, we all have to be friends and work together."
"Doubtful," Jack said. "Look, I've been put in this position before. Sort off. And there's some things we need to do first."
"Like what?" Harry said, speaking for the rest of the group.
Jack licked his lip and took out a pocketknife and a thick stick. He started to rub the stick against the knife, sharpening it. He looked at the group. "We need a leader."
"What?" Buffy said, louder then anyone else. "That's stupid."
"Its not," Jack said, strands of bark falling into his lap. "It's obvious. We need some kind of judge, some kind of person to- to lead us, and say what's unreasonable or not."
"I thought Scrauss was our leader." Matilda said quietly.
"Yeah and you see him very often, don't you?" Jack said nastily. "A leader between us. Between us kids."
"That's stupid," Buffy repeated.
"I think what Buffy means is we are all natural leaders in our own worlds. It would be impossible to chose the greatest leader out of- great leaders." Jake said slowly.
"I'm not really a leader," Harry said hesitantly.
"Nor I," Jesse said.
"Not me." Matilda said.
"Well we all know you aren't a leader of anything." Jack said.
"You don't know about her life anymore then we know about yours!" Harry snapped.
"Sticking up for her, eh?" Jack said, smiling maliciously. "Sorry to have offended your girlfriend."
Matilda blushed and Buffy stepped in. "You guys, we don't have time for this. Lets just say Jack's idea is irrational and move on. What else were you going to say, Jake?"
Jack stated laughing, that it ringed throughout the small hut. "I bet you want Jake to be leader, don't you?"
Buffy looked at him. "I'm nobody's follower."
"Nor am I." Jack said. He grinned. "So I guess who I'm running against."
"You're running against no one because there's no position you're running for." Jake said. "And when have you ever been leader?"
"I'm not too proud of where I was most like a chief," Jack said slowly, sharpening his knife harder. He snuck a glance at Jesse, but no one else noticed. "I was once, stranded on an island with other British schoolboys. Hm. I do not like to recall that memory, but yet, it never seems to leave me. I did things...that I'm not proud of but."
The room waited for Jack to finish. Instead, he tucked away his pocketknife.
Buffy was the first to speak up. "There will be no leader. We will work together, and anyone who is most a leader will shine out and be the leader. Another thing is that... whatever's going on in our real lives... we don't need to share. I'm sure we all have disgusting pasts, that best not be mentioned. But we have to trust each other," Buffy's voice lowered. "We need to trust each other because there are no others in this world we can trust. Problems?"
"No," Harry said with agreement. He had no wish to share his ordeals to anyone in the group. Except, perhaps, Matilda.
"I'm still hanging on to the leader thing." Jack said.
"Well stop." Jake said.
"Dictatorship." Matilda murmured.
"Sleep. Now." Buffy told everyone and everyone lay on the hard, dirty wood flooring.
Jesse sighed, and wrapped the covers around him. He looked over at Jack, whom was staring at the ceiling, in deep thought. Jesse crouched near him. Jack looked at him, startled.
"Just because you're in a jungle environment, doesn't mean you'll turn into whatever you were when you were stuck on the island."
"I know, I know. But like I said... it never leaves me."
"And why do you think that?" Jesse said.
Jack closed his eyes and was silent. In a low whisper, that only Jesse could hear, he replied, "It's kind of like you and your fountain of youth. Once you get a taste of it, it changes you so much, that you don't remember what it was like before. With me- you wonder if it ever changed you at all."
****
Even though 'Lord of the Flies' is at some parts vulgar and confusing, it really is engrossing and a good book because it's spiritual (everything represents something) and the characters are vivid. If you read it, you will understand the parts with Jack and his jungle better.
The group gathered around the campfire, feasting on animal meat, which disgusted most of the members but they were all hungry and had no other option. They ate without much conversation, away from the adults that, too, decided to eat on logs. Evidently Scrauss was not one of them; he had not come out from the cabin to greet them yet.
Jesse was one of the members use to this food and ate jovially, while surveying the jungle surroundings. Jesse heard the sounds of animals and bugs, whether it was their call or their movement through the bushes and trees. By his second helping of meat, he was thinking about the mission, and wondering why they had such a distance to travel. Jesse looked at the rest of the members picking at their meat, looking solemn and some looking into the jungle with anxiety. Jesse figured he was the person that was least afraid of such a habitat, for he never had the fear of dying. The surroundings seemed more like adventurous fun to Jesse, than a fatal environment.
Jack was the one that was most afraid of the place, Jesse could see clearly. Jack's eyes were distant and he was crouched low to the ground, as if birds were flying ferociously over him and he was ducking in fear of getting hit. But he did not seem disgusted by the meal, like he had eaten food like this before...
"Can I take a walk?" Jake said aloud, that everyone jumped at the sudden speech. Jake gave a disarming smile.
"I would not usually recommend young adults to wander off for walks- but we all know you are not just young adults. You may, but do not walk far. I want you very nearby, so that we are all in sight. When we all start to go in, you are to rush here immediately." Jana said, wiping her hands on her shirt. "Five minutes. Let someone join you."
"I will," Buffy stood. "I'm done with this." she looked at the pile of meat on a large plate, and shivered as a light wind passed.
Jana nodded and the two set off. Jack finished his first slab, and watched the two go beyond some trees.
When Buffy and Jake were far enough, Buffy said, "Are we going to have to eat like that for the rest of the time?"
Jake smiled. "Probably. Then we could start eating bugs too."
They laughed together and their voices bounced off the trees into all directions.
"Well, I suppose I could get use to it," Buffy said, though with some doubt. "I just hope that this all gets over with soon. There's never a break in a Slayers life."
Jake looked at her. "I'm sorry... same with me. The Yeerks- they're gone but- it doesn't seem like it. I lost a lot during these times... a lot, a lot. But I'd rather go back home then stay in this world. I think."
Buffy frowned. "Who did you lose?"
"My cousin, Rachel." Jake said, with a hurtful vivid memory. "She was like me. She could morph also." Jake did not want to explain. "Did you lose anyone recently?"
Buffy looked at the dirt, remembering her last swordfight. "Yes."
Jake saw that she did not want to linger in this subject. "You sure you want to get home?"
"Did I ever say that I wanted to go home?" Buffy reminded him.
"Maybe it's a good thing, in a way, that we were taken away from our lives. We might not get a break from battle but... we get some kind of break."
Buffy nodded. "I will never forget my real life though. Every time I try to escape... it follows me. It always has, it always will. I will always be the slayer, I will always be- fighting."
"Can you picture life without being a slayer, without fighting and saving the world? Do you think that it would be all that good?"
Buffy smiled. "You're wise." she joked.
Jake grinned and turned his head over to the campfire, which was still visible. Jake heard movement all at once. "I think we'd better head back."
**
The four members left in the group got up and walked slowly into the hut. Harry walked alongside Matilda. Harry was about to say something, when someone shoved him to the right. Matilda, who was on his right, fell against a tree.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, and looked to see what the cause was. He only saw Jack sneer at him, while walking with Jesse. They walked ahead of Harry and Matilda and engaged it a low, somber conversation.
"That Jack is something," Matilda said, with glaring eyes. She rolled a rock the size of a light bulb in Jack's path and tripped him slightly. Harry and Matilda sniggered, and Jack walked into the hut sulkily.
"You got him before me," Harry said, holding his wand.
Matilda smiled and brushed herself off. "My skirt got some more dirt on it, I sure wish they'd give us more clothes to wear."
"Yeah," Harry said, pulling on his baggy sweater. It was the first time he was aware at the baggy clothing he was wearing; all of it use to belong to his obese cousin, Dudley. Harry wished he had been wearing his Hogwarts uniform at the time of being called.
Matilda smiled pleasantly when Harry opened the door for her. She looked into the oil lamp lit hut. There was a small room with table and pillows on the floor. But the walls interested her more. They hung beautiful, artistic paintings and rug and quilt designs. The place smelled like wood and Jasmine, and Matilda noticed that there were a lot of Jasmine flowers in pots on the floor. The sounds of birds were heard somewhere and there were three hangings on the walls, which were used as doors into other rooms.
"We have limited space in hut," A man said, coming out of a brightly colored hanging of the sun. He was tall, thin, dark skinned, bald, and was using a wood cane. He smiled, which made his face enlarge, and showed few teeth. "Children will share room, but boys and girls will be separated by thick covering."
"He's leaving out a few words, isn't he?" Jesse whispered to Jack.
Jack was focused more on the man's appearance, especially his eyes. The large narrow green eyes looked familiar and natural in a wild habitat but unnatural on a human face...
"Your room," The man gestured to the hanging of the sun.
At that moment, Buffy and Jake burst in, and breathed heavier than normal; it was suggested that they had ran here.
The group squeezed into their small dark room. There were six thick blankets folded neatly in the corner of the cold, small room There was a covering hanging on the wall that split the room in two. The group figured it out.
"We have to sleep on the floor with only a bunch of blankets?" Jack said. "Where's the boat, I could sleep there."
"Sleep well, group." The man said, and touched a dream catcher made of bright feathers and brown string. The man slipped out.
Matilda jumped and let out a yelp at something on the floor and Harry quickly stomped his foot on the crawling bug. "Dead," Harry announced and looked at the group. Each held a disgusted face.
"I never thought that I would again sleep in a jungle." Jack said aloud.
"You slept in a jungle before?" Matilda asked. Jack looked at her, and did not deny it.
"How about before we sleep, we talk a bit. How we are going to go about this mission, and stuff. For a while. We do have to sleep."
"Fine," Buffy said and pushed the hanging out of the way so that everyone could see each other. The girls sat on one side and the boys sat on another side all with their blanket.
Jake cleared his throat. "There are some things that are absent in this mission. Maybe we will soon find out, maybe not. The important thing is that despite our differences and behaviors, we all have to be friends and work together."
"Doubtful," Jack said. "Look, I've been put in this position before. Sort off. And there's some things we need to do first."
"Like what?" Harry said, speaking for the rest of the group.
Jack licked his lip and took out a pocketknife and a thick stick. He started to rub the stick against the knife, sharpening it. He looked at the group. "We need a leader."
"What?" Buffy said, louder then anyone else. "That's stupid."
"Its not," Jack said, strands of bark falling into his lap. "It's obvious. We need some kind of judge, some kind of person to- to lead us, and say what's unreasonable or not."
"I thought Scrauss was our leader." Matilda said quietly.
"Yeah and you see him very often, don't you?" Jack said nastily. "A leader between us. Between us kids."
"That's stupid," Buffy repeated.
"I think what Buffy means is we are all natural leaders in our own worlds. It would be impossible to chose the greatest leader out of- great leaders." Jake said slowly.
"I'm not really a leader," Harry said hesitantly.
"Nor I," Jesse said.
"Not me." Matilda said.
"Well we all know you aren't a leader of anything." Jack said.
"You don't know about her life anymore then we know about yours!" Harry snapped.
"Sticking up for her, eh?" Jack said, smiling maliciously. "Sorry to have offended your girlfriend."
Matilda blushed and Buffy stepped in. "You guys, we don't have time for this. Lets just say Jack's idea is irrational and move on. What else were you going to say, Jake?"
Jack stated laughing, that it ringed throughout the small hut. "I bet you want Jake to be leader, don't you?"
Buffy looked at him. "I'm nobody's follower."
"Nor am I." Jack said. He grinned. "So I guess who I'm running against."
"You're running against no one because there's no position you're running for." Jake said. "And when have you ever been leader?"
"I'm not too proud of where I was most like a chief," Jack said slowly, sharpening his knife harder. He snuck a glance at Jesse, but no one else noticed. "I was once, stranded on an island with other British schoolboys. Hm. I do not like to recall that memory, but yet, it never seems to leave me. I did things...that I'm not proud of but."
The room waited for Jack to finish. Instead, he tucked away his pocketknife.
Buffy was the first to speak up. "There will be no leader. We will work together, and anyone who is most a leader will shine out and be the leader. Another thing is that... whatever's going on in our real lives... we don't need to share. I'm sure we all have disgusting pasts, that best not be mentioned. But we have to trust each other," Buffy's voice lowered. "We need to trust each other because there are no others in this world we can trust. Problems?"
"No," Harry said with agreement. He had no wish to share his ordeals to anyone in the group. Except, perhaps, Matilda.
"I'm still hanging on to the leader thing." Jack said.
"Well stop." Jake said.
"Dictatorship." Matilda murmured.
"Sleep. Now." Buffy told everyone and everyone lay on the hard, dirty wood flooring.
Jesse sighed, and wrapped the covers around him. He looked over at Jack, whom was staring at the ceiling, in deep thought. Jesse crouched near him. Jack looked at him, startled.
"Just because you're in a jungle environment, doesn't mean you'll turn into whatever you were when you were stuck on the island."
"I know, I know. But like I said... it never leaves me."
"And why do you think that?" Jesse said.
Jack closed his eyes and was silent. In a low whisper, that only Jesse could hear, he replied, "It's kind of like you and your fountain of youth. Once you get a taste of it, it changes you so much, that you don't remember what it was like before. With me- you wonder if it ever changed you at all."
****
Even though 'Lord of the Flies' is at some parts vulgar and confusing, it really is engrossing and a good book because it's spiritual (everything represents something) and the characters are vivid. If you read it, you will understand the parts with Jack and his jungle better.