After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 53

Jack Merridew had been thinking a lot more than he usually did now that the trial was shifting focus from Captain Benson's death to Simon's. It was easy with Captain Benson simply because it was the only death Jack wasn't being charged in connection with. Now that Dana Barnes was making the case for what happened to Simon, Jack would soon become the most prominent face of the trial. That is, if the other boys admitted that Jack was the one who ordered the hit on him.

And he had no idea how to feel about it, because he had no idea how to control it.

"You're not going to be in there long, are you?" Jack questioned aloud as he watched his elder sister approach the only bathroom in their hotel room, a plethora of toiletries and beauty products in both her hands.

"Define long" Paige stopped to respond, turning her head just enough to catch a glimpse of him.

"Ten minutes?" Jack answered, but he was clearly questioning whether or not it was the right answer. There probably wasn't one considering that whatever length of time he guessed, his sister would undoubtedly take much longer.

Paige simply laughed at the ridiculousness of his guess and closed the bathroom door behind her without providing a straight answer.

Jack sighed calmly before letting his head fall back in the direction of the TV, where an old retun of ALF was playing. The show reminded Jack of another time, a time in which he wasn't innocent but certainly closer to it than he was now. He watched the rest of the program all while pretending life was still simple until he couldn't hold his bladder any longer. Of course, Paige was only through a fraction of her bedtime routine and going down to Evan's floor to use his bathroom was only an offer the man extended to his oldest child, so Jack was forced to trek down the hallway to the fifth floor's communal washroom. There were no showers like the bathrooms at the academy had, just a few measly stalls and sinks. It would have to do.

Jack retreated from the corner stall shortly thereafter, and was surprised by the familiar face he locked eyes with in the mirror.

"Larry" Jack found his footing again as he spoke, coming up beside the younger boy to wash his hands. Larry Evans had a pair of button-down striped pyjamas on, and a toothbrush in his mouth.

Jack watched the boy swiftly swish the fluid around in his mouth before spitting into the sink. "Jack" he finally answered before rinsing off the brush.

"You holdin' up alright?" Jack asked out of curiosity. It was hard not to wonder what all went through Larry's head during the testimony against him and him alone over the last several weeks.

"I guess" Larry shrugged as he shoved his toothbrush into a little zip-up travel case on the counter beside him. Jack watched him retrieve a little bottle of mouthwash from the case. "Are you?"

"I think so" Jack honestly responded. One of the lights in the bathroom was out, so the room was only half as light as it should've been. It was easier to be honest with a boy he barely knew, one he hadn't spoken to in years, who had no idea what Jack's life looked like before or after the island, here in the semi-darkness at night. He studied Larry more intently than he normally would have. Barnes turned him into a spectacle, a zoo exhibit. Jack knew Larry had to hate it, but he couldn't help but stare.

Larry looked apparently older than he did when Jack last saw him before the trial; on the day they were rescued. The younger boy had grown quite a few inches, but he was still notably shorter than Jack. His hair was growing rather long. It was obvious he hadn't cut it since the island. His facial features had much more maturity to them now. He didn't look like just another little one anymore, Jack realized. He was old enough to hangout with, mature enough to carry the weight of heavier things, like the trial. Larry was now the same age Jack was when they were on the island together. It was haunting how much time changed them both, Jack considered.