‘How did it ever come to this?’ Ralph asked himself. He stared at himself in the small mirror on the wall. He had grown much taller since coming off the island, the island Ralph trembled as he remembered the island, it could have turned out differently if Piggy and Simon were still alive and if only they had been rescued sooner he thought.
His blond hair had become a messing mane just above his shoulders, before it had been a golden blond colour, like intense flames of a fire. Thinking of this reminded Ralph of the signal fire on the mountaintop of the island, that fire was all he had left once Piggy had passed away, his only hope of being rescued, he shuddered.
He looked older than he really was; his face was tired and worn with lines, his eyes had heavy bags under them showing the signs of sleep deprivation that Ralph had often suffered from. It was due to the awful nightmares that Ralph had, dreams of being back on the island ensnarled in a trap like a poor rabbit, with Jack and his tribe closing in on him. Or he had pictured Piggy’s death over and over, why had he not done something, stopped them before it had been too late? He had often wondered what would have happened if he had not been rescued on that fateful day, he doubted he would still be alive, he would have been captured and murdered by Jack and the others, he was sure of it just like his friends Simon and Piggy.
Ralph snapped back to reality as he watched the cell door open with the prison warden bringing in another person who Ralph presumed was his cellmate, he was right. ‘This is your new cellmate Ralph, say hello to Jack.’ Murmured the prison warden, Ralph suddenly found himself quivering at the mention of that name and remained silent.
For an unknown reason the warden seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden and looked around the room. ‘Well I guess I’ll leave you two to get to know each other.’ Said the prison warden, with a shrug of his shoulders, wondering why Ralph had not replied and with that he slammed the cell door shut, Ralph heard the key click into place as the door was locked.
Then he turned to look at his cellmate, Jack stood in the middle of cell, and discarded his things onto the floor. He was slightly taller than Ralph with broad shoulders and dark eyes that seemed to hide a mysterious past. Ralph searched his face and realised he had seen Jack before, where exactly he was unsure of but he was certain they had met before he knew that much. Then Jack spoke, something which Ralph did not expect.
‘So…Ralph how did you end up in prison? You don’t me asking do you?’
‘No I don’t mind.’ Said Ralph, ‘Well, when I was younger I was in hospital after a terrible incident in my life, I was suffering from physiological problems. Another boy who was also involved in the awful incident had killed two of my friends. Then one night while I was still in hospital blinded by anger, and desperate to seek my revenge on this boy who murdered my friends, I accidentally was under the impression the boy in the bed next to mine was my friends’ killer and so that same night I killed the boy in that bed next to me. Of course it was the wrong boy.’
All this time while Ralph had been speaking, Jack had remained silent, sitting on the floor in the corner but then he suddenly interrupted Ralph while he was speaking. ‘I’m sorry, forgive me for interrupting you but why did they convict you if the doctors knew you had mental health problems?’
‘I recovered from those problems through special medical treatment, and so the courts saw it fit to convict me when I turned eighteen.’
‘I see, please continue I assure you Ralph I’m still listening.’ Ralph paused for a moment before deciding to continue his story. ‘That really is it, and now here I am stuck in here for the next three years!’ Ralph said with a slightly sarcastic tone.
‘Do you regret what you did?’ Asked Jack quietly, Ralph remained silent for a fraction of a second before nodding his head. ‘Yes, that boy did not deserve to die, if it wasn’t for me he would still be alive today, and I wouldn’t be in prison.’
Neither of them said anything for quite some time. ‘Do you mind me asking why you’re here in the prison?’ Ralph asked Jack. ‘No I can understand why you’d want to know that. I’m going to be in prison longer than you because I didn’t kill one person, I killed two. I don’t regret it either, they were meant to die.
As Jack said this something unusual gleamed in his eyes, something evil that made Ralph uncomfortable at first, then all at once it struck him, Ralph remembered where he had seen Jack; he was the same person who had killed Piggy, he had recognised that shine in his eyes, he had looked exactly the same when Piggy had fallen to his death off the cliff of the island. Slowly a cold feeling swept over his body, a chilling fear; fear of Jack discovering his real identity. He was going have to be careful, stay out of Jack’s path, but he knew it would not be easy, Jack was his cellmate. ‘Are you alright?’ Ralph jumped as he realised Jack was speaking to him; he quickly nodded ‘I’m just tired that’s all.’ He walked over to his part of the bunk and lay down turning his back on Jack, pretending to be sleeping.
He was going to have to do something about the situation Ralph thought to himself, and how
soon was it before Jack remembered who he was? Then all of a sudden he knew what he had to do, he had to kill Jack, but the question was how?
