The young boy that had been torn from his sisters arms by tall men with suits. A mother trying to convince the girl it was for the best. The girl that had following the kidnappers. That had remained hidden, dark anger accumulating inside of her. How dare you take my brother away from me! What are you protecting him from? She wanted to yell, but she bided her time. She jumped into the cargo hold of a plane filled with boys at the last moment. Somewhere inside, her brother was alone, without her. After a long ride she had begun to feel the fire and smell that horrible putrid smell. Then the feeling of falling at speeds a human should never fall at. The hatch opened at the perfect moment. The girl had jumped out of the hatch. The falling sensation intensified. The last things she remembered were a flash of blue sky, green trees, and then blackness.

I woke up with a start. That was the worst nightmare I had ever had. I lay breathing heavily. Only after I had convinced myself about eighty times that it was just a dream did I finally look up and pay attention to my surroundings. I almost started screaming.

I was laying on a tangle of leaves and vines and up above me the sky showed through a large hole in the canopy of trees. Surprising myself, I perfectly rationally thought that must be where I fell through. That's when I realized that I was probably still sleeping. In that case, this happened to be the most vivid dream I had ever had. I pinched myself and said out loud "Wake up Alicia. You have to make your brother breakfast."

When I didn't wake up I got worried. That's when I realized that this was not a dream and that I certainly was not sleeping. In an instant I jumped up.

"JOSH! JOSHUA ALEXANDER MORNINGTON!" I screamed for a while, and then collapsed upon the ground sobbing. My brother was dead. DEAD! He had perished in the plane crash, like all the others. I was alone. ALONE!

After some time, I pulled myself together and decided to look around, to see if there was a way out from where I was. Surely if I walked along the beach I would end up where the people were, and I could return to England, to my family. I decided to look around first and explore a bit. Maybe that would cause me to forget the pain of losing my brother. What doesn't kill you will make you stronger, my mother used to say. If she were here she would tell me that instead of losing my will to live and mourn Josh's death, I should rejoice and celebrate his happy life. That would be impossible for me but I could try. I got up and began to evaluate my surroundings.

On one side of me was a jungle. Though it was lush, green, and filled with fruit, it seemed to have an ominous feel to it. I could sense a dark presence moving around within. I could even almost imagine I could see it skulking between the trees and among the creepers. A shiver ran down my spine and with a shudder, I turned away towards the beach.

The beach was beautiful. It's silver and gold sand was speckled with pink and shone brightly in the sun, almost blinding me. The shoreline was dotted with shells of the greatest color and variety I had ever seen in my life. The still water was crystal clear, with a tinge of tropical blue. A coral reef stretched far into the ocean, numerous colorful fish, with shimmering scales flitting about in the water. I walked towards the water and sank in to its cool blue depths. Immediately I realized how tense I was. I relaxed my shoulders and floated along the waves in blissful silence.

The relaxing calm and quiet though, didn't last. A loud noise, similar to that of a trumpet, reverberated along the beach disturbing my deep musing. I ignored the noise because whoever had blown the trumpet was authority, and most authorities were adults, adults who would question me, and ask how I had gotten on the plane for boys. I wasn't ready to face those questions yet. So I waited. Then a noise, different from the last, finally caused me to stir. This was the splish splash of young feet as they waded through water. I looked up and a broad smile broke across my face.

"Josh!" I hollered, and with my remaining energy began to swim towards shore. Relief flowed down my body, untying the knot that had been constricting my throat. Hearing his name called, he turned towards me with an expression of curiosity. His mulberry marked face was unmistakable. He too smiled with relief upon seeing me.

"Alliki, who blowed the horn?" he asked.

"I don't know." I called back, beginning to laugh at the sound of my old nickname and his sweet, grammatically incorrect voice.

His young, six year old face lit up as he said "Let's find out!"

By then, I had reached the shore so he grabbed my hand in his small one and began tugging me towards where the sound of another trumpet was coming from. I laughed, following him as he plodded down the beach

Eventually, the two of us reached a place where three boys were already standing. All three were naked, but after I came over my initial shock and revulsion I realized that it was only fitting that people wouldn't want to wear clothes under this blazing heat. I would just have to get used to it. As I looked them over my eyes first came to rest on one boy. He was extremely pudgy with unhealthy looking pink skin and glasses. I was instinctively repulsed by him, but I told myself to get over how he looked because in his eyes, I saw intelligence beyond what I had seen in boys at the school where I went. He was speaking to a boy, a little younger than Josh. Turning back, the boy shouted, "Ralph, this one's called Johnny"

I looked up behind the fat boy and saw a boy standing on the platform above the others. My mother had told me to take no notice of how boys looked, and that it never mattered in the end but all her words of wisdom vanished in to thin air when I saw him. He was very handsome. The boy was tall, with blond hair and a good figure. In his hands was the largest and most beautiful shell I had ever seen. He was blowing into it, creating the sound I had first mistook for a trumpet. The young boy Johnny was staring at him with an awed expression. He looked like one of the old worshipers from church as they stared at the wooden carving of Jesus Christ on his cross. That carving had always repulsed me, with the painted blood dripping down his wrists and feet.

"Wha's yer name?" A strange voice asked.

As I was staring and the blond boy – Ralph was it? –, the fat one had come and was addressing my brother. Before he could answer though, the fat boy looked at me and at first his face held a surprised expression. Then understanding seemed to dawn on him. The fat boy smiled and said, "It was very brave of you to follow your brother like that. It was my turn to be surprised. "How did you –" I asked.

"Saw how you was holdin' yer brother. An' that look in yer eyes. Yer willin' to risk everythin' to keep 'im safe.

Ralph chose that moment to look up, taking a break from blowing and saw me. His intense blue eyes met my green ones and I blushed. Curse you cheeks, I thought. How could looking at a guy have this sort of effect on me?

"You're a girl!" He exclaimed in a surprised tone. This slightly annoyed me. But only slightly. How could someone who looked like that be bad?

"Wow. I am so impressed with your fantastic observation skills. How could you have possibly managed to figure that one out?" I asked, my voice dripping with sarcasm. This sometimes worked for other girls at my school, for some reason guys liked girls who stood up to them. The little teenager in me hoped that this principle worked on the island as well. Sadly, Ralph ignored me.

"Piggy, that's a girl."

I was about to march up to him and tell him to stop acting all surprised, girls can get in situations too, until I noticed the mortified look on the fat boy – Piggy's? – face. He had turned a bright crimson color. He looked like he was about burst in to tears. He muttered in a tear stained, so softly I barely heard him, "I told ye not to call me Piggy."

My heart welled up with pity and sympathy for the boy not called Piggy and an intense anger at the one called Ralph. My opinion of Ralph immediately drastically reduced and I understood what my had meant when she told me not to judge a book my its cover. I looked him straight in the eyes (which no longer seemed as beautiful) and said in my most powerful tone, "How. Dare. You." My face and eyes must have looked very hard because even Ralph faltered under my glare.

"Um… What did I do?" he asked.

My eyes not leaving his, I replied, "You told this boy you wouldn't call him Piggy. Am I right? I said am I right?" I was nearly yelling now. "You dare cause him the humiliation that he had been hoping to avoid, specifically after he asked you not to. See that you don't slip again."

"Erm… no. I- I mean of course not." Then, as an afterthought he added "ma'am."

I was stunned. My words had never had that effect on anyone. Especially anyone like Ralph. I looked around and realized that everyone who had come during my short tirade was staring at me silently. I then turned my face and looked down at Piggy, – no, not Piggy – the boy who was not Piggy and saw that he was looking at me with an awed expression, almost reverently. I smiled at him kindly and asked in a soft voice, "What is your real name?"

"Charles. I'm Charles. Thanks fer standin' up to Ralph like tha'. I was ok. You didn't have to."

I looked at him and said "Of course I did. And I'm Alicia."

Charles smiled gratefully again, then lumbered on to ask more names, for new boys had accumulated, drawn forward by the sound of the shell. Joshua and I went to sit next to Johnny, with more and more young ones gathering around me. They were asking me questions, about when we would be rescued. At first I wondered why they were all around me, then with a warm feeling in my heart, realized that being the only female, I was now unofficially the mother of all the little ones. I reassured them that we would be taken home to England soon and eventually they all settled down around me, some falling asleep. Soon I too was resting, leaning against a tree with many four to six year olds on my lap, propped up against my shoulders and chest. I felt a sharp gaze on me and opened my eyes to see Ralph looking at me in a way that was completely new to me. He respected me. I felt a trill of excitement and surprise, wanting to laugh out loud. A few hours on an island and already I was respected by someone who before wouldn't even except me before the crash.

After about ten minutes, I heard the sound of many footsteps and opened my eyes and beheld a large group of boys wearing strange clothes. They wore black caps and black cloaks. I wondered how they could possibly be wearing that much in the heat. As I looked closer, I could see clearly how exhausted they all were, swaying under the enduring sun. My eyes were instantly drawn to the boy in the front. It was not the clothes he wore, nor his thin frame, visible under the thick cloak, nor his piercing pale blue eyes, and not even his fiery red hair under his cap. It was the expression on his face and an aura of darkness that shone from him. My arms instinctively tightened around the children closest to me. Paying me no mind, the boy looked around, squinting through the glare of the sun. He then called out, "Where's the man with the trumpet?"

Ralph squinted into the sun as well trying to make out features of the boy's silhouette. "There is no man with a trumpet. Only me." The boy didn't seem to believe him.

"Isn't there a ship then," he asked "or a man here?"

"No," came Ralph's reply. "But we are having a meeting. Come join us." The invitation made all the exhausted boys to sit down in the shade wearily.

"Choir! Stand still!" This order caused the members of the choir stand up and return to their previous formation. Some the boys complained in barely audible mutters "Merridew, please…" I was horrified that he should force his charges to stand under the heat of the unyielding sun. As a leader, Merridew should be concerned about the choir's welfare. I would have stood up to argue, but something about his expression stopped me. I realized that he would sooner attack me than listen to me tell me how to use his dominance over the others.

Without warning, one of the choir boys fainted. The others rushed forward to help him onto one of the fallen logs in the shade. I was relieved. I hoped that this would help Merridew realize what he was making the boys under his command endure as he stood negotiating with Ralph in the protective shade of the trees. To my relief he looked annoyed and embarrassed and said "All right then. Sit down. Let him alone. He's always throwing a faint. He did in Gib.; and Addis; and at the matins over the precentor." None of these words meant anything to me but I felt a stab of pity for the boy. He was clearly not as strong as the others but I was angry that Merridew would force him to stand in the blaring sun, knowing perfectly well that he couldn't tolerate it. Merridew turned back to Ralph, who was obviously an authoritative figure. "Aren't there any grownups?"

"No."

"Then we'll have to look after ourselves." Merridew sat down and joined the circle of children.

"See, that's why Ralph made a meeting. To pick wha' to do. I heard names. There, tha's, Johnny, Joshua, them twins sittin' there are Sam 'n Eric." Charles had spoken up. I looked at him in surprise. He looked scared out of his wits but he was still talking. I smiled at him in encouragement. "That's Alicia," he finished.

Merridew burst out laughing. "Alicia? Alicia's a girl name."

I got really mad. Another Ralph. Another disbelieving, anti-women, idiotic, chauvinistic Ralph. No, this one is worse than Ralph. I spoke up. "Alicia is a girl name. I'm Alicia." Merridew looked at me in utter surprise and seemed at a loss for words. He looked between me, Ralph, and Charles. "How did… how… but…" He trailed off. He then shook his head as if to clear it and said, still looking at me, "Those are kid's names. I'm a man and a leader. Why should I be called Jack? My name's Merridew. Not Jack, Merridew." At the word Jack, he screwed up his nose in disgust. He then looked at me and smiled. It was different from any smile I had ever received before. It was cold and hungry, devoid of most emotion. Frightened, I looked away.

Without my notice, or anyone else's for that matter, Charles had continued speaking. "Then, that boy over there, he's –"

"Shut up Fatty!" Jack yelled. This earned a laugh from most boys sitting around the circle. In unison, Ralph and I exclaimed,

"His name's not Fatty! It's Piggy!"

"His name's not Fatty! It's Charles!"

I looked at Ralph murderously and everyone around me began to laugh. Some were clutching their stomachs and rolling around the platform, saying "Piggy, Oh, Piggy" in between chuckles and snorts. I looked over at Charles. His face was red and again, almost about to explode with tears. I marched purposefully up to Ralph and socked him. This was the first time I had ever considered hurting anyone intentionally, let alone acting upon it. Just as my fist made contact with Ralph's face, a gasp rippled through the crowd. The world went silent at once as all the talking and laughing ceased to a halt at once.

"What –" Ralph spluttered, confused.

I narrowed my eyes to slits, "You know exactly what." I turned on my heel and began to walk to where the children were sitting. But, as I was returning to my original seat, I met the eyes of the boy in the choir who had fainted. I nearly passed out myself. His eyes were black, and looked like ceaseless voids, and I felt that all the answers to the world were hidden within those depths. That period of time during which I stared into them stretched into eternity. He looked away and the spell was broken. As Charles was finding the names of the rest of the choir members, I tried in vain to catch his eye again. When Charles finally reached that boy, he smiled weakly and revealed that his name was Simon. I felt my heart contract for no apparent reason. And I had this bizarre urge to run to him comfort him the way I was comforting the little ones. I resisted this urge for two reasons. One reason, the clearest, is that doing that would make me look silly and that may lose the respect that I had gained. The second is that doing so would force me to step onto or over the children, which I had no wish of doing.

Jack spoke up, breaking my reverie. "We've got to decide about being rescued." He seemed to be looking at me again. He smiled that disgusting, hungry smile that made my stomach churn. One of the young boys, Henry said softly, "I want to go home." Ralph and I spoke again in unison.

"Shut up."

"Oh, hush child, sleep, and all will be well when you wake up in the morn."

Ralph turned towards me with a guilty expression. I had a late reaction due to my surprise that the sound of my voice was much like that of my mother's. I proceeded to stare at Ralph, hostility in my eyes, as Henry began to snore softly into my shoulder. Turning his attention away from me, Ralph said "It seemed we need a chief to decide things." At the word 'chief' the ears of the children, including little Henry, perked up and began to voice their agreement. "A chief, a chief' I smiled then nodded. I would want a council, but to ears of boys, the word chief comes before the word council.

Jack smiled proudly and said, "I ought to be chief – I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp." I began to wish that he would stop looking at me. That sadistic smile never failed to make me nauseous.

I looked around at all the boys wondering which would make a good chief. My eyes jumped instantly to Simon, then silently chiding myself, I moved on. I knew that no one would vote for me as chief, as I was a girl. That thought slightly angered me, but there was nothing I could do to help it. I realized that Charles was possibly the smartest boy on the island and Jack was clearly a born leader. But, I could not bring myself to accept him as chief of the island. But, the way most of the children were looking at Ralph blew the former two out of the water.

One of the choir boys (Robert was it? No that's not right) spoke up, ignoring a glare from Jack. "Let's have a vote!" I grinned happily as I thought I like this kid. The vote went just as I had predicted. The entire choir, still obedient to their old leader voted for Jack. I did notice some of the boys hesitating. After Ralph won the election (everyone outside the choir members voted for him), he did something, I would never have expected of him. "Jack, you can continue to have leadership of your choir. They can be the army or –"

"They will be the hunters. Take off your togs." And so it was decided. Jack would be the leader of the hunters. I was surprised to see this goodness in Ralph. He truly cared about the dignity and self-esteem of Jack. The choir – hunters now – stood up and began to take off their long black capes and chatted amongst themselves.

With a wave of the conch though, everyone fell silent and Ralph commenced to speak. "Listen everybody. I've got to have time to think things out. If this isn't an island then we'll get home right away. But, if it is, it may take a while. I'm taking two people on an expedition to the top of that mountain, so we can look around and see. Now, I'm taking Jack, and… I'm taking… uh…" Jack grinned and decided to make an offer. "I'm going. We can also take Alicia. She could prove useful. 'Sides, she's a girl, might know stuff we don't." I was absolutely repulsed at the idea of going anywhere with Jack, even if we weren't alone. All the excuses I could think of were either mean or lame. "I can't go." I eventually said. Jack's smile disintegrated and suspicion colored his tone.

"How come?"

"Well, you see, I er…"

"Well?" His eyes were now narrowed.

I looked around, floundering. A my eyes came to rest upon the children, I knew what to say. "Just like you said. I'm a girl, the only girl here for that matter. I ought to stay with the youngest children, like a sort of substitute mother, until we get rescued. They might need one." Jack knew what he was defeated. As his face showed it I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Ralph looked around and chose the third person for the trip. "Simon." Jack raised his eyebrows. Now that his skin was no longer white from the faint, he looked rather handsome, with straight black hair that hid his eyes, those eyes. When Ralph said his name, the boys sitting near him giggled and as Simon was standing up, he grinned as well. "I'll go." He joined Jack and Ralph on the platform. "Me too," a new voice proclaimed. Charles looked over at Ralph and repeated himself. "I wanna go too." Ralph looked at him. "You're no good for a job like this." Then with a glance at me and a considerably large effort to be nice added, "'Sides, Alicia will need your help taking care of the kids. It's impossible to look after that many people at the same time alone." "All the same –" "We don't want you," Jack interrupted. "Come on." With that, the three jumped off the platform and began to walk away. Ralph stopped suddenly, and turned around. "Look, you can't come." But with another glimpse of my angry face he added, "Uh… sorry." Charles didn't reply. With an awkward expression Ralph turned to leave.

"You told 'em. After what me and Alicia said. You jus' wen' ahead 'an told 'em anyway." I could see him coming closer and closer to tears. Ralph didn't know what to say. He looked at me for guidance. I just glared at him and mouthed, You're the chief. Why do you need help? He looked back at Charles, confused then shot me a least pleading glance. I glared at him harder than I had ever glared at anyone and mouthed the word Piggy. After a second of incomprehension, understanding dawned on his face. I watched as he faltered, then said "Better Piggy than Fatty. Now, uh, finish taking names. And, uh, so long." I watched as he turned then ran to catch up with the other two. I watched Charles stare at the three boys receding into the distance. I watched a single tear drop run down his plump cheek, and I finally moved. I put my hand on his shoulder and led him back to the platform. For the next few hours, we worked together, helping the children reach fruit, and other little things. Our friendship grew and bonded us together like brother and sister. Despite this newfound friendship, Charles remained closed up and unusually quiet for most of the day.