Hello people. I wanted to write something cute and fluffy, but I don't remember how to write happy things so it turned out kind of depressing. What a surprise, right?
Sleeping in the Flowers
Ralph muttered curses to himself as he made his way through the jungle. At one time, a time that seemed so long ago now, it had been fun, an adventure to explore the dense undergrowth, but now it was just a hassle. He hadn't been paying much attention as he'd come down from the mountain though, and ended up taking a wrong turn.
Thus, the fair haired boy was currently lost, tripping over himself in the undergrowth as he looked for a way back to the beaches or just somewhere familiar.
Ralph felt his feet get torn out from underneath him by one of the long vines spread on the ground, causing him to tumble forward into a swatch of creepers. The boy cursed under his breath, quickly starting to push himself up off of the ground.
Before he'd managed to stand up however, something curled up in the undergrowth in front of him caught his eye. For a split second he froze, thinking it one of the pigs hiding away. It quickly because apparent that it wasn't however, instead one of the boys, it seemed, and he eased up considerably. Eyes adjusting to the dim splotches of light filtering in through the leaves, he was able to easily identify the sleeping child.
"Simon?" he asked quietly, clearly confused as to why the strange boy was sleeping out here of all places. Simon didn't make any move to show that he'd heard him though, the only real sign that he was even still alive the soft rise and fall of his side.
Ralph considered for a moment to simply leave him to his nap (but why in the middle of the forest? They made shelters after all, he could sleep there if he wanted to), but an idea quickly came to him. Simon probably knew the way back to the beach, if he had come out here by himself.
Pushing himself up farther, so that he was on his knees, he crawled a bit father into the natural covering. He ended up crushing a few flowers growing as he moved, although he didn't really pay them any mind. Simon was probably sleeping on a bunch of them after all, and there were still plenty more all around them.
"Psst, hey, Simon?" he said, shaking the younger boy's shoulder as he did. Simon's eyes quickly fluttered open, a severe look of confusion on his sleepy face as they focused on Ralph.
"I- huh?" he mumbled, quickly pushing himself up so that he was sitting as well. "Ralph? What are you doing here?" he asked, sounding completely befuddled.
"I got lost coming down from the mountain and found you sleeping here. What are you doing?" he asked back. A nervous smile made its way across Simon's face, and he shrugged slightly, turning away from him to inspect one of the small flowers. It was a soft white color, tiny hints of yellow at the tips of each petal.
Ralph couldn't tell if the flower was supposed to have the yellow, or if it was just starting to dry up and die.
"Just sleeping," he said simply. Ralph raised an eyebrow, not quite finding that a very detailed answer at all. Yeah, it was clear he was sleeping; he didn't need to be told that.
"Well, I could see that, I meant why. You could take a nap back at the shelters if you wanted, I doubt anyone would bother you," he said, although really he wasn't too sure about that. The littluns were always tagging around Simon and asking him to do stuff for them, seeing as he was pretty much the only one who would actually listen to them. Ralph didn't feel guilty about not bothering with the littluns though, as long as they got food and sleep they seemed happy enough.
That was probably the reason though, thinking about it. He just wanted to get away from all those kids for a while, it made sense. Maybe this was where he was always disappearing off to. It probably was.
"I know, but it's nice out here. I… I like the flowers," he said, mumbling the last part slightly. Ralph looked confused once again, not expecting that answer. The flowers? Why would he care about flowers?
"That's a silly reason. I mean, it's not even like you can see them if you're asleep," he said, and once again Simon just shrugged.
"I guess," the black haired boy said quietly, sounding rather uncertain with himself. Ralph quickly flashed him a smile, figuring it best to change the subject now. If Simon wanted to take a nap in a bunch of flowers in the middle of the forest, it wasn't really hurting anybody.
"I think you really just want to get away from all those littluns always bothering you," he said, a bit of a teasing tone to his voice. Simon quickly started shaking his head, but before he could voice his objection Ralph continued, "But anyway, do you think you could show me the way back to the beach?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah sure," Simon said, the two crawling out of the nest of creepers and flowers.
Ralph couldn't take his eyes off all the flowers. There were just so many of them, all pure white. They weren't like the ones from the island though. Those had been small and yellowing on the tips and had a softness to them, these were an almost blinding white the whole way through, and they were large and even though they were real they didn't seem natural. Man made and altered and just horrible.
Just like everything else. He was off the island now, so everything was supposed to be better and normal again, but it wasn't. Everything just seemed so awful and filthy and he couldn't stand any of it. He couldn't stand nature because it reminded him too much of that place and he couldn't stand man-made because there was just something wicked and crooked about everything now.
A shuddering sob ran through his body, and he was able to close his eyes and not stare at those piles and piles of flowers. He could still see them though, burned like an after image in his mind.
He didn't pay any mind to the few people who stood by him, offering pitying glances. There were so many people here, it didn't seem right either. He highly doubted many of these people had known Simon at all. Simon hadn't been the type to really know a lot of people. He liked to keep to himself. And most of the people were adults, although there were some other children here as well.
A few of the others from the island were even here. Not Roger though, and not Jack either, thankfully. He didn't know for sure what had happened to either of them, although he'd heard rumors, but many of them were rather farfetched.
Roger had been hidden away by his parents, or had been sent to an asylum, or had even been thrown in jail on account of murder. And as far as Jack went, all he knew was that his parents had taken him and up and moved, but the location always changed. The next town over, to France, to Sweden, to the United States, he didn't know. And as long as it was far away and he didn't have to see either of them again, he didn't care.
There was a priest talking at the front of the church, loudly as to be heard over the sound of crying. Ralph knew he wasn't the only one, figuring a woman he'd seen quite hysterical early as probably Simon's mother.
He forced his eyes open again, trying to calm himself slightly, although he didn't quite know why. He didn't care if these people saw him crying. He'd been sobbing just as hard the other week at Pigg- at Nathanial's funeral.
Briefly, he tried to image that Simon really was inside of the small casket set up in the front, nearly drowned in the artificially white flowers. Like he was sleeping. Simon had said he liked to sleep in the flowers.
He knew that wasn't true though, and another sob racked his body. Both of his friend's bodies had been lost. They hadn't even had a casket at the other funeral, so he hadn't even been able to try to pretend. He had no idea why it would be better if there were bodies though.
If- if he could see what… what they both looked like now… with how they died. The positively brutal ways they had died.
The people around him were starting to whisper now.
Whose child is that?
I don't think he should be here.
Children shouldn't be subjected to these sorts of tragedies.
Someone should take the poor boy outside.
Just where are his parents?
Ralph ignored all of them. He didn't care what they thought at all. What did it matter if he was crying? This was something to cry about. In his opinion, they were the strange ones for not crying. If they didn't care about Simon enough to cry, then they shouldn't even be here.
Who was he to talk though? After all he'd been- he'd been one of the ones to… to…
Someone seemed to have finally taken some initiative for what they were all whisper about. A man, although Ralph frankly couldn't tell who, everyone looked the same dressed up in all black like this, quickly started over to him. He whispered what sounded like comforting words to the blonde, although he wasn't able to decipher what before gently forcing him to stand and leading his out towards the front of the church.
Ralph didn't have enough energy to try to fight him, instead just slumping down to sit on the steps once he let go of his shoulder.
Just barely he managed to notice that the man was asking him a question. Asking where his parents were. If they were inside, he would go find them. Ralph weakly shook his head before attempting to speak.
"N-no. They… they're gonna pick me up in an hour. I'll just… I'll wait out here..." he managed to say between tears. They were lies. His father had died while he'd been on the island, and he'd been sent to live with some old relative, a great aunt or something, he didn't really know her. She didn't even know he was here, he'd come on his own. He could get back himself too, just as soon as he calmed down slightly.
The man didn't know any of this, and instantly believed him, nodding just slightly before turning around and heading back inside of the church.
Ralph took notice of something soft and velvety brushing up against his arm. There were more flowers out here too. Just like the ones inside. He wondered if Simon would have actually liked them.
These were all dead though. They didn't look dead, just perfectly white and stiff, but they were all cut off to make bouquets, so they would end up withering and dying soon, no matter how much water you put them in.
It wasn't like it mattered though. Simon couldn't and wouldn't ever be able to see them. He wasn't waking up because he wasn't asleep. He was just dead. Dead somewhere in the ocean, surrounded by water and sand and fish but probably no flowers for as far as you could see.
Ralph eventually passed out from the exhaustion, the tears and sobs not stopping until he was finally unconscious.
He ended up curled on a few of the bouquets, crushing the flowers slightly in his sleep as the petals started to yellow on the tips, their pure white fading with death.
I swear I forgot what happy was guys. This was supposed to be happy. I don't think it worked. But yeah, I do hope you all liked it, because either way it was very fun to write (should be doing other things should be doing other things).
Well, as always thanks for reading, and please review.