LOTF: Before and After

Phase 2: Chapter 10

Jack was the first to pile into the helicopter they were assigned to. Roger followed in behind him, followed by Rapper and then Larry and finally Ralph. Ralph felt uncomfortable, claustrophobic. The pilot closed the helicopter door behind Ralph. He looked out the window and watched as the other boys lined up in front of the remaining helicopters, climbing inside in a controlled manner.

The pilot climbed in the front door and closed and locked it behind him. He turned around in his seat and pointed to a bag of sound-proof headphones on the ground in front of them. "You're going to want to wear these for take off. You'll be able to connect and hear each other through them if you want to communicate at all. Otherwise, the sound of the blades will be too loud without them. Mine can connect too, so if you boys need anything during the flight, feel free to press the blue 'request' button on the side of the headphones and I'll turn mine on."

Jack dove for the bag and pulled out the first pair of headphones, passed the bag to Roger, who then passed it to Rapper. Rapper took his pair and handed it off to Larry. Once Larry grabbed one out, he hesitantly and awkwardly held the bag out to Ralph. The older, brunette boy reached in and took a pair before Larry dropped the bag with the extra pair in it onto the floor of the aircraft.

Even with the headphones on, the loudness of the helicopter blades starting to spin above them startled Ralph. He was beginning to wonder if he was the only one who had been feeling an overwhelming surge of emotion over the past couple hours since the Marines arrived. All the pain, loneliness, fear, trauma, grief, guilt and despair he'd been bottling up for lord knows how long started bubbling to the surface of his mind. He felt like crying, and had for the last two hours, but the tears had stopped flowing after the Marines took control of the situation. Ralph turned to catch a glimpse of Larry's face as he sat right beside him, pressed between him and Rapper. Larry too looked stricken, traumatized, afraid of what was to come.

About 10 minutes after the helicopter blades started whirring, the aircraft began to lift slowly off the ground. Ralph looked out the window and one of the other helicopters was already flying several hundred feet above them. The other two had yet to take off. Ralph watched out the window as they got higher above the ground. He glanced down at the island, watching as it got smaller and smaller. He still couldn't believe that they were really getting off the island for good. He hadn't fully comprehended that this rescue was real. He felt like he was going to wake up from this dream on the island any minute now, only to find himself waiting in horror for Jack to make his next barbaric move.

But the island continued to get smaller and further away. As unreal as it felt, it didn't change the fact that the island was no longer their home away from home. Ralph turned his head to look over at Jack in the other window seat of the helicopter. He too was staring out the window, a stunned look on his face as the island shrunk from his view. It wasn't long before they were high enough up in the air for the island to turn into nothing but a mere spec before it disappeared from their view completely.

"Ralph?" someone spoke into the headset; the headset that all five of them could hear on.

Ralph practically jumped out of his skin at the unexpected sound of his name. He turned his head to see who had spoken. Roger, Rapper and Jack were intensely staring at Larry, but Larry wasn't looking at them; he was looking at Ralph. Of course the voice had belonged to him. As he took a second to think about it, Ralph realized it was too young and high pitched to belong to any of the others.

"Yeah?" Ralph found the courage to respond.

"What's flag state jurisdiction mean?" the 5th grader asked the older boy who used to mentor him back at the academy. Looking at him now, the blood, dirt and charcoal fading from his face, Ralph saw a little glimpse of the boy he used recognize.