A/N Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! This chapter goes out to my reviewers. I hope you enjoy this chapter. There will be more of an A/N at the end.

Warning: I'm not British! I'm a Canadian, so if this doesn't sound very British, sorry!

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Flies, but I did get a 98% on my analysis today ;)

I was sitting in a booth, waiting. Waiting for the worst part of my past to return. I sighed. Since I made the call in the morning, I'd asked myself the same question over and over and over again. Why am I putting myself through this? But I already knew the answer - I didn't want to live my life the way I had been for all these years, and there may be a chance that Jack could help me out of this deep hole of despair. There was a bigger chance he would help me dig it further, but I tried to ignore that possibility and just focus on how to make sound come out of my mouth.

I shut my eyes for a second and tried to focus. Jack would be here soon, and I had no idea what would happen. We spoke very quickly and very briefly on the phone, so I didn't know what was supposed to occur tonight. I was just hoping there may ba an apology sometime tonight. Maybe that would lift a weight of my shoulders.

Apology? Really? From Jack? Piggy's voice rang in my ears. Maybe, I thought back. It was possible. I'm different than I was on the island, so he must be, too. I hoped. Because… if he was the same…

"Ralph," I swallowed deeply and turned my head upwards. I saw a young adult with the same fiery red hair and icy, cold blue eyes as the Jack from the island.

"Jack. Please sit," I choked out while motioning to the seat across from me. He took a seat, and we were silent for a moment, inspecting each other. He wasn't painted. That was good. And there weren't any other boys from the island here. Another good thing. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what to say. I didn't know where to start. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from bursting into tears.

"So," Jack finally spoke, "I'd ask you how you've been, but I'll assume it's the same as I've been."

"And how has that been, Jack?" It sounded more bitter than I had expected. It just kind of slipped out. I bit the inside of my cheek again to try and keep my stupid comments on the inside.

"Not well, not well at all. My life's been very hard after leaving the island. I suppose it's easier that most adults in the world don't know what happened on the island, considering we all made that pact, but I've found it very hard to slip back into normal life. It's been especially hard trying to contain the beast that's inside of me. You know that's what Simon was trying to tell us that one time, right?" It had occurred to me that Simon thought the beast was something inside every man.

Jack continued to speak, and I agreed with mostly everything he had said so far, "Anyway, it's defiantly been hard trying to get out of that savage state I was contained in. I have felt so many emotions I'd never thought possible in such a short period of time. The worst of it was the grief. I promise you, Ralph, every day since I got off that island, I have been overwhelmed in grief. All of it was much fault. All of it," Jack got choked up. His voice faltered and I didn't know what to do. I had only every seen Jack cry once, and that was when we got off the island. I had always thought those tears to be fake – just an act for the naval officer. But he had nothing to lose here. He could've said whatever he wanted and he knew there was nothing I could do about it. These tears were real.

I tried to keep my own tears from flowing and tried to speak, "I feel the same," my voice came out in a whisper. I cleared my throat and tried to speak again.

"For once, I can actually relate to you," my voice came out much clearer this time, "I understand about falling back into to normal life. And about the grief. Especially about the grief. That's the worst part. I know I could've protected both of them better. And y-" I was about to say something about Jack's savagery and how he should've controlled himself, but I stopped myself. I didn't want to open that door – I didn't really know what kind of situation Jack was in.

"S- so, how did you deal with the grieving?" He asked me through tears.

"Therapy – lots of it. I still see a counselor. I'm really not the best person to talk to about dealing with grief. I'm still not over it – not at all. Every day is hell for me. I don't know if I'll ever get over what happened on the island. To be honest, that's the only reason I agreed to talk to you," something crumbled inside of me. Most likely all the walls I had created to keep the memories away. For some reason, I felt like I wanted to open up to Jack. I wanted him to know what I'd been through, because maybe, just maybe, he'd been through the same thing. Maybe I wouldn't have to feel so alone anymore.

"I've had many therapists, too. I still have one. I don't know how much it helps. It sometimes makes me feel a little better, sometimes a little worse. Do you ever feel like that?

I thought about my answer before responding, "Yes. I feel like that all the time. I'm just surprised to hear that you feel the same. All these years, I had been thinking you would still be that savage beast you were on the island, but you really aren't. You'r-"

"Just trying to cope with what the savage beast inside me did. I'm sorry Ralph. And I would apologize to Simon and Piggy if I could. I want to apologize to all three of you for being the one to ruin your lives. I'm the reason those two died, and I'm the reason for ruining your life. So, I'm sorry," Jack said those sentences with all the sincerity in the world. A quality I didn't know Jack Merridew was capable of. Funny how your opinion of a person can change in a half an hour. I know my opinion of Jack changed immensely in the moments we had been talking.

Jack and I talked for another half an hour. We talked about the island – something we'd both been trying to forget for ten years. We talked about the dark paths our lives had traveled down. Though Jack didn't have a good life – not at all – at least he was able to pull out from that awful savagery.

After talking for about an hour, we both decided it would be good to leave it at that. He had apologized, and he really did mean it. He had spent his life since the island trying to make up for what he did. And, I couldn't believe it. I didn't know if it was possible. But, I think I forgave him. And, even if it was Jack Merridew I was forgiving, he deserved it if he was really sorry, right?

We promised to keep in touch and keep updated about what's happening and our progress. We parted with some goodbyes, and I didn't really know how to feel. I felt, well, good. For the first time in a long while, I actually felt good. I felt like some part of me had healed – like maybe what was really preventing my recovery was that I had always thought Jack didn't care about what he did on the island. Now I knew he felt like me, I felt like maybe I could change my life to something more based on what I wanted.

I got home and lay down on my couch. I closed my eyes and smiled. I knew that I could become myself again and that everything would be okay.

A/N So the story comes to a potential close. I can't believe I wrote this today! The first chapter took me over a week! That felt a little slashy for me, which is why I cut the second half of their conversation off. I don't like slash :( Anyway, I love feedback, so please review! When you review, please tell me if you would like to see more chapters, or if I should end it here. Tell me what you thought of my character portrayal and anything else you want to mention!

Thanks for reading,

RRM