LOTF: Before and After

Phase 3: Chapter 19

The last few months of the school year were slow, and in Ralph's opinion, uneventful. Normally, uneventful is undeniably negative but after everything that happened this school year, Ralph was more than happy with uneventful.

Sam and Eric came over to Ralph's house a few times over the last few months of the semester. His parents had become good friends with the twins' parents, which really solidified the friendship the three formed after the rescue back in January.

What Jeffery and Laurie really appreciated about their connection to the Brooks parents was having other parents to talk to whose children had gone through the same tragedy their own son had. They talked about all the unusual, weird, and unexpected things the boys had done since being rescued. Kelly Brooks explained to the Langleys that Eric too couldn't sleep on his old bed and convinced his parents to buy him a new mattress that felt to Kelly like sleeping on wood. Sam only ate at very strange times of the day, and became a freakishly picky eater. Both twins woke their parents up shuddering from island-related nightmares at least once a week. Eric always wanted to be outside, even when it was cold, and Sam never wanted to leave the house at all.

What Ralph and the twins had in common was that none of them were open about their experiences on the island with anyone who hadn't been there. The two sets of parents both felt better about their children's unwillingness to share what they'd been through, knowing that the rest of the survivors' parents were likely going through it too.

Ralph was an open book with his mom and dad prior to the island. He hated withholding the truth from them now; the real reason none of the boys were willing to talk. If the grownups knew what had really happened on the island, they would never be able to look their children in the eyes again.

As for Ralph and Jack, the two had very little contact between Jack's departure following his two week stay at Langley house until mid-April, and now: the end of June. Ralph was sure he'd spent more time thinking about Jack at this point than he ever did with Jack. Of course, the island was excluded from that data. In fact, the island was excluded from most data. It didn't seem right to count it as part of everything else. Because it wasn't, it was separate from the rest of Ralph's life. There was before and after the island; where things were predictable and everything you'd ever need was right there in front of you. Then there was the in between; a chaotic, otherworldly place where the word "fair" lost all meaning, time was only darkness and light, and nothing had to make sense because what difference did it make?

And despite everything, he still was thinking about Jack Merridew. Life on the island may not have made sense, but his connection to Jack somehow did. Ralph didn't understand how or why, just that it did. Nothing had ever come as naturally to him as being in Jack's presence. Ralph worked for almost everything he ever had; his grades, his athletic ability, his position as colonel, the respect and admiration of the cadets, his recovery. But he didn't have to work at building his connection with Jack, it was just there, even when it shouldn't have been. It was easy to like Jack, and for once in Ralph's tired life, he wanted just one thing to be easy.

So when the phone rang at the end of the semester, and Ralph was greeted by Jack's accented, pubescent voice, he was relieved.

"Ralph? That you?" Jack spoke on the other end of the line; his voice static through transmission.

"It's me" the brunette confirmed. "How are you?"

"Did you see it?" a determined Jack ignored the question.

"See what?" Ralph wondered curiously.

"The article" Jack went on, expecting a click in Ralph's brain that never came.

"What article?"

"The latest one. About us; about the island" Jack elaborated.

Ralph's pulse spiked at his mention of the island. It'd been five months since they were rescued; ten since the plane crash. Why couldn't the media just leave them to recover in peace?