LOTF: Before and After

Phase 3: Chapter 13

It didn't take long for Ralph to get in the swing of his online classes. He was enrolled in an online school called Georgia Cyber Academy, or GCA. He felt safe and comfortable working from the comfort of his home. And best of all, everyday was pyjama day.

By the second last week of March, Ralph had finally fallen back into a sense of routine. He wasn't feeling as out of place in civilization as he once had. Although it was clear to his parents that he was still struggling, even two months after the rescue. He was still sleeping on the floor. He was still only willing to eat meat and fruit, and claimed that soda and juice made his mouth burn. He still woke up in the middle of every night. Sometimes, Jeffery and Laurie would wake up to find him asleep on their bedroom floor instead of his own. He was still closed off about the island, and had very vague answers to any questions they asked about it.

"Do you think he should see somebody?" Laurie wondered aloud after Ralph had gone to bed one late-March night.

"It's not a terrible idea. But if he isn't willing to talk to us about it, what makes you think he's going to want to talk to a stranger?" her husband wondered.

"It's unbiased input and a confidential outlet to share things he might be too embarrassed or afraid to talk to us about. We're his parents. I'm sure there are some things he and his friends did on that island to survive that he isn't exactly proud of" Ralph's mother considered.

"We could see how he feels about it then. But we can't force him to go" Jeffery responded.

"I agree, but I worry about what bottling this up is doing to him."

"I don't know that he's really bottling it up" the boy's father observed.

"What makes you say that?"

"I heard him talking on the phone the other night while you were at work. Sounded like he was talking to one of the other kids from the island..."

"Is that what they we're talking about? The island?" Laurie questioned.

"I could only hear Ralph's end of the conversation but that's what it sounded like" Jeffery claimed.

"Well, I still think he should see a therapist. Even if he is talking with his friends about it, which is better than nothing. But I think a professional could really help him. He's a lot more closed off to us than he used to be."

"There are a lot of things about him that aren't what they used to be, Laur. It might be awhile before he starts confiding in us again. He's here, he's okay, he's in school. I think we should talk to him about therapy but we shouldn't expect anything of him" Ralph's father considered.

Laurie and Jeffery didn't always see eye to eye on everything. They'd been butting heads a little more than they did before, specifically when it came to Ralph and his recovery. But at the end of the night, they always agreed on one thing; they both wanted what was best for their son, and for their family.

"No, no, no!" the youngest member of the Langley family shook his head vigorously. "I'm not doing that, I don't wanna talk about it."

"Okay, that's okay, honey" Laurie attempted to calm her son. "You don't have to, it's just a suggestion. We thought it might be good for you to start working through some of the things that happened out there. But if you're not ready, we aren't going to force you."

"I-I'm not ready, I'm sorry" Ralph said from the love seat adjacent to the couch his parents sat on.

"You don't have to be sorry, kiddo. We just wanted to give you the option" his dad explained.

"Can I go back to my homework?"

"Of course you can, baby" his mom agreed as Ralph slipped out of the room.

Laurie turned to look at her husband and sighed heavily. With everything she was doing to try and make Ralph's recovery as painless as possible, it never felt like enough.

Two nights later, Ralph was sitting on the living room floor in front of the TV, playing on his Super Nintendo. He was immersed in the high speed racing game that filled the screen with complex race cars and brightly coloured courses. Jeffery was home for the night, sitting at the kitchen table reading a novel his wife had been begging him to try for months. Laurie sat on the couch, a cup of tea in hand, a novel she'd just started in the other.

It was just after 9 o'clock at night, or 2100 as Ralph would say, on a Thursday, when there was a knock at the door. It was pitch black outside, and the Langleys weren't expecting anyone. Nobody ever came to their door after dark. Laurie and Jeffery immediately turned to meet the other's eyes at the sound, a silent hope that the other knew something they didn't. They hadn't even realized that Ralph had paused his game and was looking back and forth from one parent to the other.

Jeffery stood up from the table, abandoning the tea his wife had made for him, to go answer the door. Laurie set her tea down on the little coffee table beside the couch. Ralph stood up with her, abandoning his controller on the floor. Laurie stood behind Ralph and wrapped her arm around the front of his chest, holding him close as if the slightest shift from normality could whisk him away again.

Jeffery Langley opened the front door just a crack, and then all the way a moment later.

"I couldn't think of anywhere else I could take him."

Ralph couldn't really see who was at the door on account of his father standing in the way, but he recognized the voice of the female who spoke, from somewhere. But where?

Jeffery turned around to look at his family; his wife's arm across her son's chest tightly as if to protect him from harm's way. As Ralph's father stepped out of his view, the boy was surprised to see Paige and Jack Merridew standing at his front door.