ENGLISH DRAFT- CHAPTER NINE: HOMESICK
Simon awoke in a bath of cold sweat and fast breath. There was a particular numbness to his limbs. It was a lot like waking from the deep sleeps he’d have in hospital. Anaesthetic his Mum would call it. He hated the stuff. She said they’d always inject it after one of his episodes to make sure he’d always come back to her. He flinched at the thought. Feeling like such a high-maintenance weight took its toll on his dignity. Simon rolled onto his side and weakly hoisted himself up. Heaving in sharply, Simon’s nose was thickly clotted from his previous faint. Always he thought it always happens in the middle of something important. The Lord of the Flies still lingered in his head like an ice-cream headache, it came in waves that faded between reality and hallucination. We shall do you Simon thought what a strange thing to say. Simon frowned at the small clearing before him. The jungle’s damp mat of leaves now bled a scar of black ooze from the sow’s lacerated head. It gazed upon Simon with pitiful eyes. All of those babies. Simon wouldn’t dare look into its eyes. The innocent eyes that were filled with so much terror. You’re not a beast. Simon winced. You’re just a mother. The unnatural movement of shrubs interrupted Simon’s thoughts. Out the corner of his eye, Simon caught movement behind a twisting mass of creepers. He glimpsed upon a face concealed under the canopy’s foliage. It was sodden with ashes and smears of jungle waste. Barely the age of six. A mulberry-coloured birth mark upon two dark blue eyes that glimmered with curiosity. “Hey…What’s your name, bud?” Simon directed his attention toward the mysterious littlun. Suddenly the little kid erupted into a fury of panic kicking up dirt and darting toward the thick undergrowth. He was a game bird, weaving in and out of the shrubbery to shake his watcher’s attention. Simon jumped towards the thick of the jungle in pursuit.
“Wait up, I don’t...