After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 89

July 28, 1993. 3:58 PM.

Jack Merridew knew that he couldn't be mad, but he also couldn't help but be mad anyway. The other boys' Flag State interviews continued to reveal information that Jack never hoped would come out. Without even realizing it, the little ones were far too honest about what happened on the island. Jack knew that it must've been the initial shock and their childishly low IQ's, but he was still mad at them for incriminating him, purposely or not.

Sam and Eric were among the boys who spoke somewhat freely and honestly about what occurred on the island. They and the little ones talked about the fight Jack and Ralph got into that caused the divide between the two camps. Sam admitted that it was Jack who stood up and declared that he was taking whoever agreed with him to the other side of the island. Eric was a little less forthcoming in his interview.

The only thing that none of the tapes revealed in the slightest is what happened at the very end. Not one of the boys talked about what happened after Piggy was killed; specifically, the plot to end Ralph's life. Nobody admitted that if the Marines had shown up a few minutes later, they would've been looking at four dead bodies instead of three. Nobody talked about why they were chasing Ralph out onto the beachfront, or why he was the only one who didn't have possession of a hunting stick. They said nothing about turning on him to become hunters, or being active bystanders to Piggy's death. Not even Ralph confessed to being hunted like an animal, or even that his and Jack's separation led to anything more than a few unruly physical fights.

Andrew Murray was able to establish with confidence that Jack and Ralph became leaders of two opposing sides on the island, a war that indirectly led to the deaths of Simon and Piggy. The jury seemed to have a reasonable understanding of the boys' roles on the island by the end of Murray's two and a half days in the spotlight.

That Wednesday afternoon, Barnes regained hold of the floor and reintroduced a couple Marine officers who spent a significant amount of time supervising the boys before they were airlifted off the island. These officers spoke of the behavior they noticed that pointed to group affiliation; Jack and Roger speaking primarily to each other, and Rapper attempting to join in on their private conversations. Ralph intentionally separated himself from the others, which indicated a level of fear of Jack and Roger. The little ones didn't speak to the adults without first looking to Jack to make sure they had his approval to answer any questions they were asked on the beachfront that hazy morning. Many of the boys crawled over to Jack and Roger and asked them questions they should've just asked the Marines. None of them got close enough to Ralph to talk to him, which an officer noted was odd because Ralph was the colonel when the plane crashed, and Jack was merely second in command.

Barnes concluded the day with the shift into the genre of witness that knew Jack post-island. The witness in question was the teacher Jack had when he first returned to high school in Dalton for the last few months of the eighth grade.

"Mrs. Cutler" Barnes began, "what day did Jack Merridew start in your eighth grade class?"

"February 11th 1991" she informed the court.

"Did you notice anything unusual about him?"

"Yes, of course" the teacher insisted, "it had only been just a day over two weeks since he was rescued from the island he lived on for nearly half a year. Of course he acted unusually, compared to my other students. He had a hard time at first, was extremely resistant to the rules of my classroom, and of the school in general. I've had students come through my classroom before who've experienced trauma, but nothing like this. My principal informed me that I would be getting a new student only the Thursday before. When he told me that Jack was one of the survivors rescued from the island that was all over the news, I was nervous. Not because I was afraid of the student, but because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to support him the way he needed. When I met him, he had this hollow look in his eyes. It didn't really look like sadness or fear, but something else entirely. He didn't want to wear shoes indoors or even outdoors, and that was a big battle between he and I for the first couple weeks. He would get up in the middle of my lesson without asking, and snapped when I tried to remind him that he had to actually sit down and learn for more than ten minutes at a time. I tried to imagine what he must've been through out there, and how different a middle school classroom was from the world he was just pulled out of. I gave him as much grace as I could, but he struggled. He wasn't violent, but he did get short with the other kids quite often. I feared a time or two that he would hit someone else, but he never did. I didn't see much improvement until the end of the month when he started dating a female student in our class, who I will refrain from naming, of course. She helped Jack a lot with schoolwork, offered to work with him to help get him caught up. She was probably the only student who wasn't afraid to talk to him. She was one of my brightest and kindest kids that year. I was glad to have the both her and Jack in my class together. They were good together, for as long as they stayed together" Julia Cutler explained in detail for Barnes and everyone else in the courtroom.

"But they didn't stay together, did they?" Barnes prompted her to clarify.

"No, they separated sometime in the first month of ninth grade, I believe it was. They weren't in my class anymore, but their homeroom teacher for freshman year told me about it in the staff room. Apparently, it was what a lot of the kids were talking about."

"Did Jack's behavior stay consistent throughout the year that you had him in your class, while he was dating this other student?" Barnes asked.

"Sometimes" Mrs. Cutler answered, "he still had bad days, whether the girl was in class that day or not. I don't attribute his improvements to her completely. Jack did a lot of the work on his own."

"But he did still have bad days, as you said. All the way til the end of the school year?" Barnes prompted.

"Yes, I suppose" she confirmed.

"What did that look like for him? What were some of the things you noticed even months after he was rescued from the island?" Barnes questioned.

"He got angry with other students over little things sometimes. He threatened them and even me at times with violence, but he never acted on it" she nervously explained. It was clear to Jack that she was on his side, or at least trying to be.

"Did the other students give into his demands or whatever he wanted when he made those threats?"

"Usually, yes" the teacher answered.

"Then how do you know he wouldn't have acted on his violent threats if they hadn't given in?" Barnes suggestively asked.

"I never saw him lay a hand on anyone that year" she insisted, "I worried less the more time that went by. And so did the other students."

"Did you receive Jack's student record from Bainbridge Military Academy when he started in your class?" Barnes redirected her.

"Yes, we did, as well as those from the elementary school he attended in Dalton prior to that" the teacher confirmed.

"So you were aware that he had a heinously long track record of being violent towards others even before he was stranded on the island?" Barnes sought to confirm.

"Yes, I was. But I try not to judge my students based on their files. I read them only so I can be prepared for potential behaviors, but I didn't let that impact how I treated Jack. I didn't want him to know off the hop that I obviously read his file and made up my mind about him. Files aren't handed over to new teachers as guides for how to treat students, they're just supposed to be informative, just in case."

"So you never worried about Jack, in spite of his tendency to make violent threats to your other students and his previous record of such behavior?" Barnes asked doubtfully.

"Objection! Asked and answered" Reynolds jumped in to declare. And luckily for both Jack and Mrs. Cutler, Judge Eldeson sustained the objection.

"I just have one more question for you, Mrs. Cutler" Barnes claimed, "did Jack's aggression mellow out as the year went on? Did it ever stop?"

"Not completely no, but I saw improvements in him as he adjusted to being back in civilization."

"Do you mean improvements in how he treated and perceived others around him, or just that he adjusted to physically being in the classroom?" Barnes attempted to clarify.

"More so the second one, I'd have to say" she sighed.

"Thank you for your insights, Mrs. Cutler. I have nothing further for this witness."