The only person in the world who didn't seem to think that there might be something wrong with Roger Conroy was Roger Conroy.
Ever since he was rather young, his parents worried about his behavior. As a toddler, he laughed when he saw someone trip and fall, when his big brother bonked his head, or when other kids cried in his preschool class. He had no interest in watching kids shows, and would usually find some other way to entertain himself. This included but was not limited to ripping the heads off his brother's action figures, wrecking his parents' furniture with permanent marker, or shoving his mother's favourite dresses into the unflushed toilet.
After he started kindergarten, it wasn't long before Rhonda and Gregory Conroy were called into the school to discuss their youngest son's behavior. The Conroy boys' elementary school had eldest brother Malcom five years ahead of Roger. It wasn't that Malcom Conroy was an overachieving, pleasant-to-be-around, goody goody, but he certainly looked like it standing next to his little brother. Malcom often got into trouble too, but for things like picking on underdogs, skipping class to wander the halls with his friends, and spitballing at teachers during their lessons. And he wasn't the only kid in the fourth grade who was behaving in such ways. His five year old brother, however, didn't learn his behavior from Malcom. Roger's delinquent antics included things like trying to pull little girls' skirts off, writing curse words in permanent marker on the walls, beating the water fountain with a baseball bat, throwing food at the lunchroom monitors' heads, and beating the spit out of other smaller kids just for the hell of it.
Compared to his little brother, Malcom Conroy was an angel. His brother's triumphant entrance into kindergarten made it much easier for Malcom to start getting away with far less detrimental acts of rebellion. While his parents were hyper focused on figuring out what was wrong with Roger, Malcom was able to fly under the radar. Suddenly, skipping ten minutes of class and calling girls names wasn't such a big deal to Rhonda and Gregory, or to West Brookhaven Elementary School.
Halfway through his kindergarten year, Roger was evaluated by a child psychologist at the request of both the school and his concerned parents. The psychologist determined that young Roger was exhibiting signs of emotional detachment, and l lacked the capacity for empathy in any form. The words 'psychopath' or 'sociopath' were not used based on the fact that underage children couldn't be diagnosed with such conditions, but Rhonda Conroy could tell that the psychologist was holding back. She knew that there was something much deeper going on with her youngest son, and her husband agreed. The worst part about it was that there was nothing more they could do than monitor his behavior. And as he continued to progress into first and then second and third grade, the school-known 'Roger problem' only got worse.
In the last few months of his third grade year, Roger's teacher and guidance counselor began the discussion around the need for Roger to attend a more rigorous school that was equipped to handle behavior like his. They worried that the Conroy parents wouldn't take the suggestion well, but to their surprise, Rhonda and Gregory were open to the idea. After months of research and discussion, the Conroy parents landed on military school. The staff at these schools wouldn't take any shit from a kid like Roger, and they'd be strict in their punishment and handling of his behavior. There probably wasn't anyone better prepared to deal with kids like Roger than trained military men. And just maybe, it'd be enough to scare him straight.
The first part of that statement turned out to be true, but the second part not so much. Roger started fourth grade at Bainbridge Military Academy. The rigorous military school had its share of experience dealing with kids like Roger, but it sure as shit didn't scare him straight. It took less than a day for Roger to wind up in the principal's office for tormenting his new roommate. Before he had the chance to sleep the night in a room with his assigned roommate, Roger was moved for the other boy's security and placed in isolation in an empty dorm room.
Roger was a loner, and a solo fire starter at Bainbridge Military Academy for his first semester and a half at the military school. Of course, the fires he started weren't literal fires, except for the one time it really was. That was the week the lighters and matches ban was written into the school policy.
It was early in the last few months of his fourth grade year when Roger was finally assigned a roommate. To his surprise, the boy starting in the middle of the second semester was reasonably respectable at first glance. But once the two really got to talking, it confirmed what Roger suspected all along; that Jack Merridew was enrolled in military school for the same reason Roger was. Roger continued to assure Jack that being tossed into military school wasn't just a write-off by their parents, but evidence that there wasn't an adult powerful to control them. Though, it took a bit of time before Jack really started to believe that.
Roger and Jack were trouble, and everyone knew it. The two boys quickly became best friends on account of their shared love of causing trouble and finding humor in cruelty. But the truth was, Roger knew that he and Jack were different. In what way, he didn't know until the following Christmas when Jack spent it at the Conroy house instead of his own. But early into the friendship, Roger became well aware of the fact that whatever made him twisted inside wasn't what made Jack twisted inside. Roger knew that he never had a chance of being anything else. He was born without the capacity for empathy or grace. Roger didn't feel human and never had, but he could sense that something or someone had beaten the humanity out of Jack. And as it turned out, quite literally beat it out of him. Whatever shred of humanity Jack was born with was long gone. And once Roger figured out that Jack's family had something to do with it, he realized just how different they really were.
Roger Conroy didn't do poorly in school because he wasn't smart. Roger was smart, very smart actually. If he only cared enough to try, he would've done quite well for himself in school. But the thing was that Roger didn't care. He didn't see the value in education, or the point in slaving oneself studying to get good grades to get into a good college to slave himself studying for another four years just to land a job in which he'd have to slave himself til retirement. Roger was more of a live-in-the-moment kind of kid, and so he saw more value in enjoying his time at Bainbridge Military Academy instead of wasting it hovered over a different textbook every night.
In spite of his disinterest in education, Roger still did alright at the academy, academically speaking. He wasn't in the running for star student or anything like that, but his intellect carried him as far as he needed to go to get by. Military training wise, Roger tried much harder. His dad put a lot of pressure on him to succeed in one way or another. The way to his father's approval wouldn't be achieved through academics, Roger knew, so he busted his ass training so to prevent himself from being a complete disappointment. Roger didn't have the emotional capacity to care very much, but his parents made it very clear that if he didn't get into college or the military, he'd be out on the streets post graduation. Roger didn't care enough to study hard, so he trained hard instead and planned to join the military in some capacity straight out of high school.
Meanwhile, his older brother Malcom struggled in school for different reasons. He didn't exhibit the traits of psychopathy that his younger brother did, but Malcom was less intelligent than Roger. He struggled in school in spite of his best efforts, and wound up giving up on himself before he hit middle school. His parents worked to get him tested for potential learning disabilities, but by then Malcolm completely abandoned hope. He would later drop out of school at fifteen to work full time in an auto shop. He moved out at sixteen, when Roger was eleven and finishing his fifth grade year at the academy. Malcom moved in with two of his dropout buddies from high school, all of who also were working full time to contribute to the rent of the halfway house they were renting. Rhonda and Gregory begged their eldest to move back home and return to school, but the boy wasn't budging. He had no interest in school for different reasons than his younger brother, but the Conroy brothers' take on education wound up being pretty similar.
Rhonda and Gregory Conroy weren't bad parents per se, but after both kids struggled through their elementary years and stopped caring about their education altogether, they began to wonder where they went so wrong. Both parents had siblings who struggled through school and weren't so different from Malcom, but Roger's inability to form human connections and feel emotions on a normal level didn't seem to run in the family at all. He was the first in either of their bloodlines to exhibit behavior that was borderline psychotic. At least, that they knew of. The thing about psychopathy was that it wasn't genetic, but it was possible that one of them carried the genetic variants that made Roger prone to developing psychotic tendencies. Truthfully, if that were really the case, Gregory and Rhonda didn't want to know which one of them it was.
Roger's behavior couldn't be a product of his environment as his parents were rather attentive and supportive prior to his move to Bainbridge. Both Rhonda and Gregory came from overly alright backgrounds, and their parenting style was pretty typical. Their children both struggled in spite of this, not because of it. Malcom was pretty close with their father growing up, and the two spent lots of time playing sports and rough housing in the backyard when Malcolm was young. However, neither parent could connect to Roger very well. In spite of their best efforts, he was resistant. He seemed not to care very much about the state of his relationships with his parents or his brother. Although, Malcom did look out for his little brother for as long as they attended the same school. Roger wasn't warm or empathetic toward him, but he respected his brother for taking care of him, and the two boys had an overly good relationship even after Roger was sent to the academy and Malcom moved to the sketchier side of Brookhaven, Georgia.
The only other person Roger really connected with other than Malcom was Jack. In spite of his emotional detachment from him and everyone else, Roger grew to care for Jack. Not in an emotional way, but in a practical one. He spent most of his time everyday with Jack, and he was willing to stick his neck out to protect Jack if need be. And Jack wasn't as smart as Roger was, and it would usually be up to Roger to get them out of compromising situations. If it wasn't for Roger's ability to get them out of trouble before they got caught, they would've spent a lot more time in Head Officer Bailey's office than they ultimately did.
Roger didn't love Jack in the traditional sense, but he grew to be protective of the blond boy. It was clear to Roger that Jack was good at getting into trouble, but not very good at getting out of it. Roger stuck up for him, took the fall to protect Jack because he knew Jack would suffer harsher consequences than he would. Roger never cared enough to be fazed by whatever punishment Bainbridge Military Academy threw at him. Jack, however, was more vulnerable. Roger quickly learned that Jack was at risk, after seeing the bruising on the boy's body just after returning to the academy for the start of fifth grade. Roger realized that for Jack, his actions would warrant detrimental consequences. It wasn't that Roger got sad or mushy to see Jack hurt, but he still felt the need to protect him when he could. Roger might not have felt human, but he still was, and Jack was important to him whether he felt emotionally connected to the boy or not.
It was in Roger's sixth grade year that Ralph Langley moved in down the hall with little Simon Bennett. Jack was insistent on them going down there to introduce themselves, and Roger knew Jack just wanted to determine whether or not the new kid would be a threat to his pursuit to become colonel. Roger himself wasn't particularly fond of Ralph off the hop. The boy's annoyingly positive attitude got on Roger's nerves. The sound of his voice made Roger's eyes roll back into his head almost automatically. But that very night they first met Ralph, Roger could tell Jack didn't feel the same way. Roger noticed that Jack stared at the brunette boy as he tried to dress himself. Jack was clearly less interested in Simon than he was in Ralph, and that first interaction between the two sent some kind of alert signal to Roger's brain. He didn't know what it was between them, but there was something strange about the way Jack and Ralph interacted with one another. This was apparent to Roger in their first interaction, and every one that followed.
It was no surprise to Roger when his roommate befriended Ralph. Jack continued to insist that it was just his way of keeping an eye on the boy who might have the potential to challenge his position as future colonel. But Roger knew that it was a little more than that. Jack liked Ralph, in some way or another, for some reason or other. Jack spent a lot of time with the brunette boy down the hall, in spite of the fact that their social circles didn't mesh. Roger knew that Simon and the rest of Ralph's friends were afraid of him, and of Jack too. But for some reason, that didn't interfere with Jack and Ralph's friendship.
Roger wasn't jealous of Jack's relationship with Ralph because he wasn't capable of that emotion. But Roger kept an eye on the younger brunette because he was still protective of Jack. What Roger saw was that Ralph was a good kid, an annoyingly good one at that. Roger figured that Ralph was more likely to get hurt if the friendship were to fall apart simply because Ralph's intentions were pure as gold, whereas Jack's were partially selfish. The blond started the friendship in order to spy on Ralph to ensure he stayed behind Jack in the rankings. But none of that was revealed to unsuspecting Ralph. That is, until the ranking ceremony at the end of Roger's seventh grade year that proved exactly what Jack was worried about all along; Ralph earning the position as the squadron's colonel.
After almost everyone went home for the summer that evening, Roger confronted Jack about losing colonel to Ralph.
"I fucking had it, I swear I did!" Jack shouted in frustration, kicking the little plastic garbage bin out from beside the door of their dorm room.
"You did" Roger agreed calmly.
"And so what the fuck happened, huh?" Jack raised his voice, his face turning red with anger. "How the fuck did he beat me?"
"You took your eye off the prize, Merridew" Roger responded. Rather daringly, given that Jack was on the verge of really losing it. And that was never a good thing to be on the receiving end of.
"The fuck are you talking about?" Jack lowered his volume a little, turning around to look at Roger.
"You took your eyes off earning colonel so you could look at him" Roger boldly clarified.
"What?" Jack pressed, baffled and confused.
"Oh come on, man, you can't be that dense" Roger scoffed a little.
"Enough with the games, Rog" Jack warningly answered, taking a threatening step toward him.
"You got distracted... by him. By Ralph. You were so busy being his friend that you forgot he was your rival. And here we are" Roger flatly explained.
"That's bullshit" Jack scoffed dismissively. "He won cause he doesn't have a record, cause the only time he's ever been in Head Officer Bailey's office was to collect a fuckin' award. They picked 'im over me cause he's got integrity and shit. He's got parents who taught him all that respect mumbo jumbo."
"That's partly true" Roger agreed, "but you could've done it if you didn't let the friendship cloud your judgement. Believe me or don't, but whichever you choose won't make it any less true."
"Shut up" Jack scoffed again, rolling his eyes as if he were annoyed, but he was really just mad that Roger was probably right, at least to some degree.
Jack and Roger didn't talk very much over the course of that summer, but they didn't usually unless they were actually together anyway. Sometimes, Jack would spend a couple weeks with the Conroy family over the summer. But the summer between seventh and eighth grades, they only talked twice. The first time, they caught up and cleared the air between them. The second, Jack called from a payphone after his dad kicked him out at the beginning of August. It was then that Jack learned that Roger was on house arrest for vandalizing a storefront with some of his neighborhood friends. No visitors allowed.
Roger spend the bulk of August inside, sweating beads and watching TV. When his parents complained about how he rarely ever got off the couch, he turned it back on them by claiming that it was their choice to keep him inside. Even a measly two months out of the year was too long for the Conroy parents to manage their youngest son and his behavioural problems. They blessed the hearts of the staff at Bainbridge Military Academy for taking that battle on the other ten months. The academy was worth every penny, Rhonda and Gregory knew.
Roger and Jack reunited at the academy at the end of August, at the start of their eighth grade year. It would only be two weeks until they left Georgia and the U.S. for the two month international program at the Menwith Hill base in England. The two didn't even get the chance to finish unpacking before they were re-packing and loading everything on the bus.
Roger was sitting in the window seat, beside seventh grader Maurice on the plane. The two were friends, but not particularly close. So they talked a little, but not more than necessary. Roger wasn't an overly talkative person anyway, not even to his closest friends and family members. Maurice listened to music, and fell asleep with headphones over his ears. Roger drifted off to sleep in silence. When he awoke, his seat mate was awake but still lost in whatever song he was listening to.
The first moment the plane dropped a little, Roger and Maurice turned to one another. Maurice looked a little spooked, but if Roger was spooked, it didn't show. It wasn't until the plane dropped again, and then again, that panic really began to set in. On the outside, it wouldve been hard for one like Maurice to determine if Roger was panicking or not. But once the alarm started sounding, and boys' things started falling from their seats and the baggage compartments, Roger definitely was panicking on the inside.
Roger had a death grip on the arm rest of his seat as the plane continued descending toward the water. He could feel the sweat dripping down his waist from his underarms, and even in his hair. He kept pinching his eyes shut, trying to think about anything else, in hopes that next time he opened his eyes, he'd discover that this was all a bad dream.
But everytime he opened his eyes, it was still real.
The alarm seemed to be getting more aggressive and loud as the speed at which the plane was descending continued to increase. Roger remembered the very moment the plane hit the water. He remembered the horrificly loud bang sound that came when metal collided at high speed with the water. He remembered the view out the window; a window that went dark from the surge of water in a matter of seconds. Roger remembered unclasping his seatbelt, and how strangely hard it was to do so. He remembered helping Maurice with his, and insisting the younger boy follow him out the large opening that shouldn't have been there; the one that was allowing the plane to fill with water. By the time he and Maurice escaped, the water would've been above their heads had they still been in their seats. The entire fuselage was filling with water and fast. Roger remembered in his escape that some boys around him were trapped in their seats, some by seatbelts that wouldn't come undone, others by chunks of plane parts that blocked them in. He remembered some of the older boys trying to help the stuck cadets escape. Some got out in time, others didn't. Roger realized that some people around him died from the impact of the crash, others from being trapped in the plane as it filled and sunk. By the time the plane was completely underwater (which had taken only a few minutes that felt much longer), almost half of the squadron were either gone under with the plane or dead bodies floating around them.
Once the lifeboat was retrieved, Roger helped Jack and Ralph pull the other survivors into the boat. Rapper and Will took charge of rowing, and once they got close enough to land to touch the bottom, Roger and Jack were the firsts out to pull it the rest of the way in.
Roger didn't care enough about Ralph or anything the newly appointed leader had to say. He contributed to the building of the camp because everyone else was. He helped with the searching for food and exploring the island because everyone else did. Roger would've done whatever Jack told him to do not because he was scared of Jack, but because Jack cared about being heard. Roger was a go-with-the-flow sort of kid, whereas Jack was hell bent on determining the direction of the flow. Roger let Jack be in charge because he didn't care enough to be in charge himself. Roger was care-free but still had values like loyalty to Jack and cruelty towards others in the name of fun. And once Jack started goofing off and ignoring the system Ralph put in place for societal maintenance, it was all Roger needed to start abandoning the rules too.
Roger wasn't a good leader because he wasn't a leader at all. But Roger was a damn good follower, though not with good intentions. He was never the person starting the riot (that was always Jack), but he sure as shit was first to join it. The trouble Roger got into on his own was the quieter kind, the unprovoked, selfish kind that came strictly from a place of amusement. Whereas when Jack got into trouble, he was usually trying to make noise, to be heard, to make a statement of some kind to as many people as would listen. This is what made them such a remarkable duo; Jack's aggressive leadership and Roger's quiet cruelty. Together, they were the ultimate monster; one even the real monster on the island should've been afraid of.
Before everything really fell to shit between Jack and Ralph, Roger found ways to entertain himself. This usually included things like stepping on the castles made by little ones, throwing rocks at other boys, destroying shelters, and even shoving boys heads into the water until they nearly drowned. Roger never had any intention of killing them, but he loved seeing how close he could get before he saved them by an inch of their lives. Of course, Jack would usually participate in his cruel antics, but Jack never got close to really hurting or drowning anyone.
Given the fact that Roger witnessed and could vividly remember watching his fellow cadets drown in the plane crash, one would assume that he'd be traumatized by the mere idea of drowning. But that wasn't the case. In fact, the opposite was true. Roger was fascinated by drowning, almost turned on by it. When he held heads underwater, he got to feel and watch the life leave the bodies of his squad members as they fought until they lost their breath and stopped struggling. And until they did, Roger refused to bring their heads up for air.
Joining Jack's tribe when the camp was finally split into two wasn't a question for Roger. Not only did Jack represent what he wanted and believed, but he was his best friend. Roger too got a thrill out of hunting pigs; one as twisted and cruel as Jack's. But as usual, the two experienced the thrill for different reasons. Roger was simply fascinated and intrigued by death, and by being the one to end another life. Whereas Jack was thrilled by the experience, by the hunt itself, by the opportunity to provide and be worshipped for it. Jack had something to prove, and Roger couldn't have cared less whether or not the others thought he was capable. But what messed up thing both hunters had in common was that they both enjoyed the feeling of blood dripping between their fingers. They both enjoyed the act of capturing and slaying the pig. They both enjoyed the pride that came with finally capturing the sneaky animal. They were both insane, and that insanity wasn't about to fade from either one of their eyes.
Roger didn't hesitate in the face of the potential real monster at the feast. It wasn't that he was afraid of monsters, because he wasn't, but he wasn't exactly sure if he believed in them. And even if he did, he knew that whatever monster was out there on the island should've been more afraid of him than he would ever be of it. He was at the front of the pack that charged at Simon that night, and took several fatal jabs that cost the boy his life. The realization that it wasn't actually any monster, but one of them, hit Roger a little. He was taken back, but still just as intrigued as he was surprised. He took a moment to catch his breath and process what he did, but he still didn't experience any form of guilt or even regret. What happened happened, and Roger hadn't known any better. None of them did. If he did know it was Simon, that would've been a different story. But it was just that; a story, a fictional, theoretical one. What was real was what they did in ending the young boy's life. Roger didn't regret it because he knew that he did what he thought he had to do at the time. How could they have possibly known? Roger knew that dwelling on it wouldn't change anything, so why bother?
By the time Simon was gone, Roger stopped believing in the possibility of rescue. He completely surrendered to the realization that they'd likely be spending what was left of their lives on the island. He agreed with Jack's thought that there needn't be any rules, that there was no point in trying to recreate a civilized society when there was no cause for one. All that mattered was survival. They were no better than cave people, really. But Roger didn't care. There was no punishment for any crime, not even murder. And by the time Simon was dead for a month, Roger wasn't the only one who believed that the boy's death would go unpunished.
The realization that rescue wasn't coming didn't do Roger's conscience any good, assuming he had one at all. So when Ralph's camp was almost completely abolished, and the opportunity presented itself for Roger to take one of the last two out, he didn't hesitate. There were no consequences out on the island, only rewards. The reward here was a permanent solution to a temporary problem; Piggy's big mouth. The boy never knew when to shut the fuck up. He couldn't take a hint, lacked any form of social awareness, and didn't seem to notice that nobody ever listened when he spoke. That is, except for stupid Ralph.
Part of Roger's decision to kill Piggy came from the fact that he knew how Jack felt about him. Right away, Roger picked up on the fact that Jack was jealous of the attention and praise Piggy received from Ralph. Naturally, Jack felt ignored and replaced by Ralph. After it played a role in the demise of the original camp, and of Jack and Ralph's friendship, Roger saw killing Piggy as an opportunity to make things right. It was only a bonus that Roger would get to experience a thrill he'd been wondering about since the plane crash months earlier; the thrill of taking a human life. It was especially easy because it was Piggy, and not only did Jack hate him, but Roger found him annoying too. And when that bolder hit his pudgy head, leaving behind a pair of hollow eyes and pools of blood, Roger felt anything but regret. He felt virtually nothing, at least after the initial adrenaline rush wore off.
If Roger believed in rescue, he might've been a little more worried about what might come of what he did to Piggy. But nobody would ever know. At least, not anyone who could do a damn thing about it. So Roger simply wiped his mind clean of the incident and went on with his life. It seemed clear to him that Jack was doing the same, and naturally many of the other boys followed suit.
Ralph was the only one left on the other side. In Roger's eyes, Ralph was just unfinished business. He knew that at some point in time, Jack crossed a line in his severed friendship with Ralph that he could never come back from. At least, not on the island. At some point, Jack's affection for his former friend faded and was replaced by an affection for power and control. The only way they would ever achieve total domination of the island was if Ralph was dead too. It was kill or be killed, as Roger knew. Jack had to know it too, but he still hesitated. Jack was much closer to human than Roger was, but it surprised Roger that the chief was still reluctant about ending Ralph's life. Roger was prepared for the possibility that he might have to be the one to actually kill Ralph. Jack just might not have the heart to do it, even if he did have every other quality of a sociopathic killer.
Not much in life surprised Roger Conroy. This was in part due to the fact that he simply didn't care enough about anyone or anything to experience shock. But what did shock the shit out of Roger was the plane going down, and then also the marine officer showing up to rescue them after all that time. Roger stopped believing in rescue what felt like a long time ago. Like Jack, he completely lost sight of the possibility of facing consequences for his actions. But unlike Jack, there was once a point in time in which Roger really believed they might be rescued. Of course, he never told Jack that.
Roger had enough to worry about with Simon's and Piggy's deaths on his back, and in the memories of the other boys. What he didn't need was for stupid Ralph to live to tell about the attempt on his life. If that damned Marine officer would've given them just another five minutes, they just might've been able to pull it off. But instead, they were stuck with the painful fact that Ralph lived to tell his tale. And tell, he most certainly would.
What Roger never anticipated was love after death. His incapacity to feel human emotions made it impossible for him to predict that Ralph just might love Jack enough to cover for him. All Roger could see was that Jack did bad things to Ralph, and therefore Ralph would be and stay angry. He was smart, but he wasn't human enough to grasp the love that Jack and Ralph once had for each other. He was smart enough to know it existed, but he wasn't capable of understanding how it worked. He certainly couldn't have predicted that it would somehow survive the island by a mere inch in time, just like Ralph did.
Roger's reunion with his family at the airport was almost painful. His mother was an emotional basketcase, and even his father was being extra sappy and sensitive. Malcom too was relieved to see his brother alive, but he was more respectful of Roger's space and the distance he needed.
Like the rest of the boys, Roger went in for the Flag State investigation interview about a week after being rescued. Unlike the rest of the boys, Roger wasn't anxious in his interview. He too lied about several things to cover his ass, just like some of the others did, but he didn't feel guilty or even worried about getting caught. Roger knew he was capable of beating a lie detector test because he lacked the nervousness that the test relied on as a tell. He simply wasn't worried because he planned to just deny, deny, deny that he intentionally did anything wrong. He would deny his pursuit to end Piggy's and Ralph's lives. He saw no reason to lie about Simon's because he truly didn't believe he did anything wrong. Unlike the others, he saw nothing unethical or even problematic about what happened to the shy, quiet boy down the hall.
A couple weeks after the interviews, Rhonda Conroy received an urgent call pertaining to Roger's interview. After careful evaluation, the investigators flagged his interview and called in a child psychologist to review it, and the things said about his behavior in other kids' interviews. It was then that the authorities labelled him as an urgent and concerning case, and it wasn't long before a psych evaluation was ordered. This didn't come as much of a surprise to either of the Conroy parents given what they knew about their son. What they were worried about was what Roger might've done out on the island; the possibility that it was something he couldn't ever come back from.
Roger was hospitalized for seventy-two hours while the psych evaluation was completed. Once it was, he was deemed to be a risk to the safety of others and a form of mental illness was suspected but not diagnosed. Due to the fact that he was still a minor, he couldn't be labelled as or even evaluated for psychotic disorders or behavior. So instead, he was placed under psych watch twenty-four hours a day for a period of six months. His parents were required to monitor him at all times and they were also required to fill out weekly reports on his behavior and submit them to their doctor. Roger wasn't allowed to be left unattended without adult supervision, except for when he was bathing, in the washroom, or sleeping.
Roger should've been more fazed by the conditions of the psych watch than he really was. The purpose of it was to determine if he was mentally stable enough to be allowed into the general population unsupervised. The authorities were worried that he may be at risk of harming others, or even himself (though this was less likely). Roger spent most of the last summer before the island under his mother's house arrest anyway, so being under constant watch didn't bother him so much. He was allowed to call Jack and his friends, but his calls were required to be monitored by a parent or supervising adult.
Once the six months were up, Roger was released from psych watch. His behavior was on the brink but not quite enough to be established as a real risk. At least, not here. The island was a bizarre extenuating circumstance that awarded most of the boys, Roger included, a lot of leeway. They were deemed to be traumatized and healing from a uniquely horrific experience. A lot was given a pass on in the initial stages of the post-island investigation.
Roger flew under the radar for the bulk of the first year after the rescue. He didn't see Jack very often, but they talked frequently on the phone. It was nice that Roger wasn't being monitored twenty-four seven anymore. Jack didn't tell the boy about his relationship with Ralph until after Roger was released from psych watch. As insane as Roger thought Jack was, he really didn't care much about who his friend loved. It wasn't that Roger didn't want to see Ralph Langley dead (because he really, really did) but he was simply able to separate his own feelings from Jack's. He had always known that there was something strangely different about Ralph and Jack's relationship, and so this whole romance thing made more sense than it should've. The only part of it that really baffled Roger was that it happened post- instead of pre-island. Roger wasn't emotionally in-tune enough to understand how the living hell their relationship managed to survive that, regardless of whether it was a platonic or romantic one.
While Roger might not have been on psych watch anymore, his parents didn't seem to believe that he shouldn't be. Every time he went to leave the house or spend time with a friend, either or both of his parents were rather invasive about it. It was as if they turned into helicopter parents overnight. Ever since they found out that his role out on the island raised red flags, they hardly ever let Roger out of their sight.
Roger was one of the few boys who didn't return to school at all that school year. He completely flunked grade eight and would be forced to redo at least part of the year, the part that couldn't be written off on account of the island. His mother started homeschooling him in June, and he spent the bulk of his first summer home after the island hunched over textbooks. Roger was about a semester and a course or two behind his classmates once the following school year began in August. He wanted to return to the academy, but his parents weren't on board. They were afraid of what would happen if they weren't around to monitor him. They never admitted it to Roger, but they were afraid of him. They promised Roger that if he caught up in school and stayed on track behavior wise, they could revisit his return to the academy the next school year. But by the time his sophomore year was coming up, his behavior hadn't improved as much as the Conroys were hoping it would. Roger managed to cause trouble at home, and on the few occasions in which he was granted permission to leave the house. One time he was even brought home via police escort. He was busted with a buddy of his trying to break into a store after it was closed for the evening. The officer insisted that he was damn lucky they were caught and reported by a passerby before they actually did anything stupid.
In spite of Roger's less than stellar track record after the island, things settled in the Conroy house. Roger did alright in his homeschool studies when he really focused, and outside of the police escort incident, he didn't get into any more serious trouble. At least, not the kind that the authorities needed to get involved in. Things were manageable for Rhonda and Gregory. That was, until that dreaded late-August day when a police officer showed up at their front door.
At first, Rhonda assumed Roger must've snuck out in the night and got busted doing something illegal on security cameras he didn't notice. Again. But that fear inside her gut spiked when she was asked if she was the legal guardian of Roger Conroy, and then was handed a large, orangey paper envelope. Her eyes went wide with horror when the officer said "you've been served" before he left.
"Roger!" she yelled through the house as she closed the front door. She was too afraid to open the letter. What could he possibly have done now?
"What?" Roger shouted back from where he sat a couple rooms over on the couch, lounging in front of the latest WWE fight on TV. He knew his mom's angry voice well, and he knew he was in for it. Whatever 'it' was this time, it wouldn't be good. There were a plethora of things he could've been busted for. But Roger knew better than to offer up information without knowing exactly how much his mother already knew.
"What the hell is this?" she stepped into the room, holding the folder in her shaky hand, her voice shaking too, with anger and worry.
"How should I know?" Roger shrugged.
"Because an officer of the law just came to the door and handed it to me, after asking if I was your parent. Is there anything you'd like to tell me, Roger?" she asked in a frenzy.
"I don't know what's in it, if that's what you're asking" Roger flatly and confidently insisted. And he wasn't lying, he really had no idea what it was.
He watched boredly as his mother nervously opened the strangely large, orangey folder/envelope thing in front of him. He stared at her as she read it, watching her expression for the inevitable change that would occur once she discovered which of the illegal things he got busted for this time.
But to Roger's surprise, that angered expression never came. And then she spoke.
"It's about the island" she finally declared, her eyes stuck on the page in front of her.
"What about it?" Roger asked as he stood from the couch. If he was worried, it didn't show.
"It's a subpoena" she said slowly, having yet to take her eyes off it.
"A what?" Roger questioned as he moved to stand beside her so he could see.
"You've been subpoenaed to testify in court" she finally glanced up to meet her son's empty gaze. "They're trying you for the deaths of the kids who died out on that island. Did you know about this? Were you aware this was going to happen?"
Roger noticed the way her volume increased as did the panic in her voice as she questioned him.
"No, how could I have known?" Roger defended.
"Why do they seem to think that you're responsible for those kids' deaths?" she pressed him, somewhat aggressively, he noted.
"I don't know, the interviews with the Flag State, probably. They never said anything about going to court though, I swear" Roger insisted, in a voice much calmer than his mother's.
"My word" she sighed in a shaky, panicked but quiet voice as she stared back down to finish reading the document in her hand. "It looks like you're not the only one. The names of the other boys you were rescued with are on here too... it's almost been two years, why is this coming up now?"
"I know as much as you do" Roger pointed out as he grew annoyed by the way his mother seemed to think he had all the answers to her questions.
Later that night, Roger heard his parents discussing the subpoena with each other after his dad got home from work. Roger was in his room with the door cracked just enough to un-muffle their voices. He could tell they were trying to be quiet so he wouldn't hear, but they were doing a poor job of it. They talked about the trial date (about four months from now), and about what Roger might not be telling them about the island. Which was pretty much everything, Roger knew. He heard his parents questioning the possibility that their son might really have had something to do with the deaths. His mother panicked at the prospect of being called as a witness herself, and whether or not she could lie and say that Roger wasn't capable of senseless violence. Because he was, and they all knew it.
Roger waited for Jack to call and tell him that he got his subpoena too, but the call never came. Jack's name was on the document along with everyone else's, so his receiving of a subpoena was inevitable. But the commemoration ceremony rolled around before that happened. Roger decided against informing Jack in advance. He didn't receive a call from Jack before the two year commemoration, but he did get one from Rapper. Surely enough, he received one too. They all would eventually. Perhaps, Jack did get one and wasn't allowed to call Roger. Or maybe, Evan just killed him before he could. That, Roger knew, was a very real possibility.
Roger always knew about the abuse Jack suffered at the hands of his father. He learned that it was what made Jack so twisted inside, or at the very least largely contributed to it. Roger cared for Jack, and he certainly had the will to kill Evan Merridew himself. But he stayed out of it because he knew that Jack wanted him to. He knew his best friend, and he came to learn that the boy's feelings about the abuse he suffered was complicated, and not always negative. Roger figured that it was none of his damn business, and so he stayed out of it. He knew that Jack could take care of himself, so he didn't exactly worry about him when he was home in Dalton. Roger was more than happy not to talk to Jack about it, and not to take action on his knowledge of it either.
When the plane crash's two year anniversary and the commemoration rolled around, Roger attended the ceremony with his parents. Malcom didn't come because he was too busy and frankly, wasn't interested in listening to the people of Bainbridge Military Academy drone on about a two-year-old tragedy. It was after the ceremony that Roger discovered that Jack didn't get a subpoena yet, and neither did Ralph or the twins. Tony hadn't gotten one either, but Rapper told Roger that already. It didn't matter who got theirs when, just that they all surely would before the trial date in December.
Before Ralph and the twins interrupted, Roger met with Jack, Tony, and Rapper in Tony's dorm room. They talked about the Flag State interviews, and it was then that Roger realized that he, Rapper, and Tony were the only ones in that room who knew about the trial. His assumption that Jack wasn't allowed to talk about it had been wrong. The boy really didn't know, and therefore neither did Ralph.
Once everyone was informed, including Ralph and the twins, Rapper and Tony were quick to return to their earlier conversation in which they assigned the blame to Ralph. The Flag State interviews were all the investigators had to go on. At least, that's what the boys thought. Ralph was the likely culprit; the one who watched his friends die at the hands of the hunters. He had no reason to protect any of them. Roger knew that his and Jack's relationship started well after the Flag State interviews. He didn't even consider the possibility that Ralph might've lied for Jack even before they got together, knowing how angry he would've been on Simon's and Piggy's behalves, and even on his own behalf.
Jack, of course, defended Ralph as best he could. He snapped at Rapper and Tony when they took shots at the brunette boy, both before and after Ralph was brought into the conversation. Roger wasn't surprised by Jack's behavior given that he knew about their romantic relationship. He knew better than to provoke Jack by saying dreadful things about Ralph. At first, Roger tried to get Jack to see that Ralph had no reason to not throw any of them under the bus in the Flag State interviews. It was before the relationship began, but Jack still seemed adamant about the fact that Ralph didn't incriminate him.
When Roger nearly outed Jack and Ralph to the rest of the boys, Jack quickly cut him off to take control of the narrative. What Jack didn't know was that Roger was never going to out them. Yes, he and Jack were talking about the possibility of Jack telling the others about him and Ralph, but that was before Jack knew about the trial. Roger was simply going to say that Jack and Ralph aren't friends in the eyes of the court. But Jack was quick to react, or even overreact at times. He felt threatened by the way Roger said it, and made the dumb decision to out himself and Ralph on his own. Stupid, Roger thought. He couldn't believe Jack thought he was disloyal or dumb enough to publicize the relationship without Jack's permission.
After Jack was forced to return to the Langleys, and the conversation about the trial ended, Roger and the others disbanded to find their own families. They didn't come up with a clear cut plan on what to do about the trial just yet, but it was good that they were all on the same page. Before they went separate ways, Tony said he'd get his best friend, Andy, in on the story they'd later decide on. The more bodies they had sticking to one, non-incriminating story, the better.
A few days after the ceremony, Jack was finally back home in Dalton. Jack called Roger as soon as he was home so he could give him shit for forcing him to come clean about the nature of his relationship with Ralph. Roger was more than happy to inform his friend that he was never going to out them at all.
"What?" Jack nearly shouted into the receiver. "You're fucking lying, you're trying to save your ass here, I'm not stupid" he concluded.
"I'm not, I honestly don't care enough to lie. You know that. Besides, why would I do that to you? What reason would I have to tell the others about you and Ralph? Do you really think I'd screw you like that, Jack? Honestly?" he forced the other to consider.
"I didn't until now" Jack confirmed.
"That's because I wouldn't, idiot. All I was going to tell them was that you and Ralph weren't friends in the eyes of the court, which is why they likely wouldn't question Ralph's story if we were to get him on board. That's it. I was never going to tell Tony and those guys about you. Like I'd ever do that. Come on, Merridew, you know me."
"Shit, you're serious?" Jack replied after giving it a moment of thought.
"Dead serious" Roger confirmed without hesitation.
"I am an idiot" Jack finally agreed. Roger couldn't see the way he threw his head back in defeat. "Well, I jumped the gun on that one, didn't I?"
"You are, and you did" Roger agreed. "Doesn't matter now. They're not gonna say shit. What I wanted to tell you was that we can use this thing with you and Ralph to our advantage in the trial."
"How?" Jack questioned.
"If anyone can keep him from ruining us on the stand, it's you. You gotta convince him to protect you, and the rest of us too. We'll all figure out what to say, and all you gotta do is convince him to go along with it" Roger began to explain.
"I don't know, Rog" Jack hesitated.
"Come on, man, are you saying you don't have like any power over him?" Roger provoked. He knew Jack, and he knew his weaknesses. Looking like he wasn't in charge was at the top of that list.
"Course I do" Jack scoffed as if it were obvious. "I can get 'im on board, all I'm saying is that it's gonna be a lot easier to convince him to protect me than it'll be to get him to protect the rest of you."
"You saying you can't do it?" Roger challenged.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Jack continued to take the bait. His authority was his baby, and Roger wasn't above using that to his advantage.
"Good then" Roger nodded to himself. "Talk to him, and call me once he's solid."
"I will" Jack agreed before hanging up.
Roger was smart enough to know that it wouldn't be a cake walk trying to get Ralph to lie on the stand. The boy had ethics, and lived by them. The island was proof of that. He was willing to lose his life before joining the hunters. And though Roger had no experience with love, he knew it was a powerful force in the lives of those who did experience it. He was hoping, bargaining his fate on the chance that Ralph's love for Jack would outweigh his need to act out of honesty and decency. Only time could tell, Roger knew, and that wasn't such a bad thing given that all Roger had was time. If things didn't work out, the time between now and the trial would be all Roger had left. And he wasn't about to spend it worrying his head about Ralph Langley. So he waited for the all-good from Jack, and in the meantime, Roger did what he does best; find other compromising ways to spend his time. If the trial wound up taking the rest of his life away, Roger had no intention of going out with any regrets.