Alexandra Harris
November 3, 2008
Chapter 13: Goodbye Island
The naval officer probed the significantly smaller group of English boys no further and led them to the edge of the shore. The silence was so eerie; neither tribe knew what to say. They followed behind the only adult they had seen in almost a year as the slow moving boat came towards them. Jack didn't take his eyes off of Ralph. He was thinking about what he could have done if the naval officer hadn’t come. Ralph, along with most of the boys, felt strangely safe with the naval officer around. It was probably because he was a responsible adult. Responsibility and order were the two traits the boys lacked. They were also the two traits most adults had.
When the boat finally made it close enough, the kids--who no longer looked like kids, but like savages--filed on. Ralph never looked at Jack's face, knowing what his expression would be. If he looked at it, he knew it would show that he wished the naval officer hadn't come. It would also show his savagery and his want and need to kill. All Ralph could think about was seeing his loving, kind mother again, after he was cleaned up, of course.
Ralph went to take a bath in the bathing room after a few other boys had gone, and then came back to the group of boys wrapped in oddly colored blankets. For the first time in a long time, he noticed that he and every other boy was really tan, now that every boy had washed off his war paint.
Meanwhile, Jack was wishing he could have had five more minutes before they got rescued. For him, it wasn't really about being rescued all along. He still wanted Ralph to be dead. He was the only one who hadn't washed off his war paint yet, and it made the other boys fear him. “He should have let me be the leader all along,” Jack thought to himself, “at least we were finally rescued, but does it really matter anymore? I wanted to be rescued when we landed on the island, but towards the end, life was perfect. Everyone was on my tribe except for Ralph. I was finally the leader, and then right when I almost killed Ralph, we finally got rescued.” He also thought about how he had a lot of fun hunting, and how it was nice without adults. Jack stared at Ralph's barely moving eyes, unable to move his own. Jack still wished Ralph was dead. “All I needed was five more minutes alone with just me, my loyal tribe, the bare island, and the helpless Ralph,” he thought without feeling.
Jack eventually realized he wouldn't get any more time to kill Ralph once they got back onto land, and he knew his only chance would be when they were on the ship, with the naval officer present as well. He started to come up with a plan. First, he would get closer to Ralph. Then he would strike. The naval officer hadn't thought to take the spears away yet, thinking that the few little kids would be good little British boys. No one was talking, so Jack would have to do it quietly. He slowly made his way towards Ralph.
Ralph saw Jack out of the corner of his eye, and knew immediately what Jack was trying to do. Jack was still staring at him, and now he was getting closer and closer. All of the boys still felt the safeness of the adult, but Jack still had his war paint on. Savagery was about to occur, and the naval officer was no where in sight; he had gone to the upper deck If Jack did try to kill Ralph, the officer, who told us his name was William, wouldn't be able to stop him.
All of a sudden, Jack sprang at Ralph, his spear in hand. Ralph dodged him quickly, knowing what Jack was doing all along. He smashed into the wall, and William came down, and brought Jack up to the top deck.
He stopped on his was out to ask," Will you kids be alright for a few minutes?"
Ralph was the only one who nodded as a response. As long as Jack wasn't there, they would be all right.
After that day, Ralph and Jack never saw each other again, except for when they got off the boat. Jack had finally taken his war paint off. Ralph was shocked to see Jack’s clean face (which he had forgotten all about because it was always covered with makeshift paint). Ralph almost wished he could have seen Jack a few years later, just to see how he was doing. But then he remembered the horrible memories of Jack almost killing him in the forest. Jack tried to kill him, and had already killed two of his best friends. Those memories stuck with him for the rest of his life.
Ralph, Samneric, and the littluns who had survived hugged their mothers as tight as they could after they ran to their waiting family. Both Ralph and Jack's lives changed from then on, but in some ways, it was also the same as before.
