LOTF: Before and After

Phase 3: Chapter 10

It felt weird to be back at Bainbridge Military Academy, wearing the uniform that had once felt comfortable and familiar around the creases and edges of Ralph's body. As he stared in the bathroom mirror on the student dorm floor he used to call home, he noticed how the uniform that once fit him to a T was now a little loose around his arms, waist, and legs. He'd never realized that he had lost weight on the island. Naturally, it made sense. They'd had rather nutritional and balanced diets at the academy, and finding food at all had been a struggle on the island. Especially towards the end, Ralph had gone days without eating a damn thing.

As he pushed the bathroom door open to leave after getting changed into the uniform, he found himself face to face with Simon's old friend, Dylan Mirren.

"Ralph" the younger boy said in a simple and gentle yet surprised tone.

"Hi Dylan. How—are.. are you doing alright?" Ralph struggled to phrase the question.

"I think so, given the circumstances" Dylan responded softly. Ralph wondered how much Dylan knew, and if he might possibly blame Ralph even a little for what happened to his friend. "How have you been? You know, since you been home?"

"I'm getting by, or at least trying to" Ralph admitted honestly. "Some days are better than others."

"Yeah, of course" Dylan agreed. "I can't imagine what you guys went through. You look good though" he added as he scanned Ralph up and down.

"Thanks" Ralph smiled weakly. "I still have a lot of strength to regain. Physically, I mean."

"I talked to the twins. It looked like they were going through that too a little. I guess there probably wasn't loads to eat out there" Dylan assumed curiously.

"It was easier at the beginning. I didn't have a lot of resources towards the end. It's not like I'm not eating now or anything like that" Ralph worried about what Dylan was thinking of him. Ralph began to comprehend that he and Piggy had practically been starved out towards the end, and it worsened for Ralph after Piggy was gone. Ralph hadn't really realized it before now, but he was probably bone thin looking compared to what he was when Dylan last saw him the night they left for England.

"I wasn't thinking that" Dylan assured him.

Ralph gave the boy another weak smile before he moved to step around him and go find his parents.

"Ralph?"

Ralph turned around to meet Dylan's eyes again.

"Were you there? When Simon died?" Dylan found himself asking.

"I was" Ralph turned back around to face him, but kept the distance between them.

"Is it true that they went after him? The other boys? I heard they thought he was someone else or something... I just need to know the truth" Dylan struggled painfully through the words.

Ralph sighed a heavy sigh as he felt the sweat begin to swell in his palms. "It was really dark. They thought he was an animal or a beast of some sort. They didn't know. They didn't mean to hurt 'im."

Dylan nodded silently. "Simon was really smart. Like an old soul. But sometimes, his sense of spacial awareness would run away from him, y'know? When he was really determined, he'd lose sight of the factors that might get in his way. Like one time back in Grade 3, he wanted to show me that he could hang upside down from the monkey bars. It was a cloudy day, rained the night before. When he climbed up there, hanging upside down by the bend in his knees, he slipped right off the second he let his hands go. Got a concussion and dislocated his shoulder. He was in a sling for weeks. He was so determined, y'know, he forgot to realize that the bars would be wet. And it costed him" Dylan finished.