After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 113

November 9, 1993. 9:39 AM.

The pants of Ralph Langley's suit were riding up, the shoulder pads slipping off just enough to irritate him, his shoes were too tight around the toes, and one sock was halfway off inside his pinching shoe.

Ralph shifted with discomfort as his eyes wandered from Jeremy Reynolds, a face of forced comfort, to the rest of the gallery of Courtroom 4. Their faces were harder to read, their expressions seemingly blank. Ralph swallowed a little too hard. His throat hurt for a quick second. He looked back to Jeremy Reynolds. The man's eyebrows were raised, his fingers woven together at his abdomen. Ralph stared at him. He stared back. It was silent. Why was it silent?

"Ralph?" Jeremy finally spoke. "Would you like me to repeat the question?" he asked gently.

Say something!

"Oh, um" Ralph forced the jumbled words out, "yes please... sorry."

"I asked you how old you were when you started at Bainbridge Military Academy" Jeremy reiterated.

"I was ten" Ralph answered. "It was the start of my fifth grade year."

"And what led to your transfer to military school from public school?" Reynolds asked. "Why did you and your parents decide to pull you from the elementary school up the road to enroll you in a strict, prestigious military school several hours from home?" he elaborated.

"I was really involved in sports and being active and stuff. My elementary school wasn't really challenging me enough in those areas. I trained really hard for no reason other than I liked doing it, and I was top of my class in most academic subjects. My dad's mentor who's one of his best friends came to visit when I was in grade four and he asked if we ever considered it. Military school, I mean. After that, my dad asked me if I wanted to go to a school like that; one that would challenge me more academically but especially physically. And I did, so we did some research and after talking with the guidance counselor, we made the decision as a family and sent in the application. Then I finished grade four in East Point, took the summer to train and prepare, and started at the academy in August that year" Ralph explained. Though he was sure his words came out just fine, his chest was shaking anxiously and his palms felt sweaty as he spoke.

Jeremy Reynolds proceeded to ask Ralph about his first couple years at the academy, the friends he made, the classes he had, the leadership roles he took on, and his timely journey up the ranks to earning his position as colonel of Unit 8. On paper, Ralph was a star. Top ten percent among his class the school year before the island, medals and awards for outstanding achievements and leadership, and the shiny position as colonel. His discipline record was blank, not so much as a minor complaint had been filed against him in his few years at Bainbridge Military Academy. Reynolds did his darnest to highlight all that with the goal of making Ralph look too perfect to have been involved in something as gruesome as bloody murder.

Though truly innocent of that charge, Ralph knew that perfection wasn't the reason why.

Reynolds then began to ask Ralph about his friendship with Simon Bennett, and that's really when he started to feel especially uncomfortable. Ralph felt his eyes welling with tears as Reynolds asked him to talk about how he and Simon got along in their years as roommates. Ralph thought back to earlier this morning when they first arrived at the courthouse. In the deliberation room with his parents and Zoey, Ralph had the second most severe anxiety attack he'd ever had. He broke down crying with stress to the point that he couldn't breathe. It was a good thing Zoey opted to have them meet a half hour earlier than usual. It was just enough time for Ralph to calm down and get into the courtroom on time without tears pouring out of his eyes. Though if one looked closely enough, they'd be able to see the dark bags around his bloodshot eyes, evidence he'd spent half the morning sobbing like an infant.