Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Flies, and I wouldn't want to…I'd be too afraid I'd screw up the 3rd greatest book ever. THAT'S WHY GODDARWINGODDARWINGODDARWIN SOMEONE INVENTED FANFICTION!

Chapter One: The Swimmer

Finally, a perfect day for hunting. Finally, the hot air was cooled by a breeze. Finally you could hear the pigs squealing and track them down easily. Finally everyone was here and on task.

And finally they had to stay back to tend to the fire.

"God dammit!" Jack yelled out to no one in particular. "Who does Ralph think he is, anyway? Always telling me what to do! Always telling us all what to do! And then he eats the meat that he yelled at us, not 40 minutes earlier, about hunting in the first place! Why, if I were chief…"

Jack continued grumbling to himself. The rest of the boys up there had gotten used to it. They stoked the fire and ignored Jack's rants. Finally, Roger stood up. "Jack? Take it easy man, it's just one day, I mean you volunteered for the fire in the first place so…" Roger faded out as he saw the expression Jack wore.

Jack went back to grumbling among the rock he was perched on, a ledge about 3 feet higher than the rest of the boys.

"Jack! Jack!" All five boys on the mountain by the fire heard the identical voices of Sam n' Eric echoing as they climbed up the mountain. "guys, don't…" Simon started, but the twins dashed past on either side of him, panting they huffed out a very unclear message.

"Jack—"

"—we saw—"

"—in the water—"

"What did I tell you about this beast nonsense? I'm not in the mood for your dumb-ass games!" Jack roared

"Not a beast—"

"—a person—"

"—in the water—"

"What? That's impossible," Jack said dismissively. The twins were now breathing slow enough to speak in full sentances.

"It's true, we saw it, all of us!"

"Who's all?" Simon pondered aloud, anything to calm the twins down so as not to disturbed Ralph.

"All of us! Down at the beach by the huts," one of the twins answered.

"Jack, look! You can see from here," the other one yelled, brushing past Jack and peering over the tall rock. Out of mere curiosity, Jack glanced over, too.

"Huh, so you can. Now go run along and tell Ralph."

"Ralph can't…"

"Swim." The twins said meekly; Jack, Roger and Maurice chuckled.

"Oh, I get it. So when I want to swim or hunt or bring food to the group, I get to stay behind and supervise the fire, here. But, oh no, just when I was starting to enjoy this, poor Ralph is running to me to help. Well let me tell you something," Jack hopped off the ledge and pinned the twins, one with each arm, to the rock, "you want me to help? You can go tell Ralph that he can come up here and beg for help himself."

After a frightening glare, Jack released the squealing children and sent them tripping and tumbling down the rock and stumbling through the woods all the way to the beach. At this time, Roger had taken a spot at Ralph's side, peering over the rock toward the weak looking, but apparently very strong swimmer, struggling in the ocean. "Hey Jack," Roger began, "I think that's a girl…and a I think she's kinda hot. Dibs."

"Hah, watch it be a guy." Maurice chuckled from by Simon and the fire. Roger chucked a stone at his head, but instead it landed on the ground on the other side of Simon.

"Nice aim," Jack snorted.

"Jack." The voice came from the edge of the huge platform that the fire and Jack's perch were nested on.

Jack sighed. "Ralph."

"Jack, someone is down there. Don't you want to go home? Don't you want to help someone who needs help? How can you sit up here and be so selfish?!"

"Always the martyr, Ralph, but no the wisest one around. If we were going home then who ever that is would not be swimming. They would be on a boat. Or a plane. Or some other form of non-land-based transportation. Plus, I think you would've learned by now that no, I don't want to risk my life to help that person I've never met!"

"Don't be so self-centered!"

"I'm not! I'm thinking of all of you! This island couldn't function without me and you all know it!"

"Yes we could!"

"Fine, then you can go save that girl."

Lost for words, Ralph lamely muttered the first thing that popped into his head. Anything to change the subject even slightly. "How do you know it's a girl?"

"We don't," Jack replied, startled by the question and its randomness. "Roger thought it looked like a girl. But we don't know."

"She'd have to be a pretty good swimmer," Simon spoke for the first time, encouraging the subject to take the pacifist route. Everyone looked at the silent boy on the log by the fire. "Well she—or he, or whatever—has been swimming for over an hour straight in the ocean. "

"Jack, please?" Ralph begged, "go help her." So the gender-non-specific swimmer was a girl now?

"Jack was enjoying the begging. "Why?" He asked, "why do you care so much about someone you've never met?" Jack was truly, honestly curious; something quite rare for him.

"Because I'm sick of all of you! The dirty, painted faces marked with the island. You can't change it! No one can! We've all lost hope! All I want is to look into someone's eyes and not see that same tired, helpless expression that I have! Is that so much to ask?!" Ralph finished, panting.

Jack realized he was right, and yet Jack was Jack, and Jack doesn't give up without a fight.

"You have to watch the fire for the next three days."

"Done." The answer was almost immediate. The two shook hands.

With a deep sigh, Jack leapt down from the rocks and began to trotted through the forest to the beach.

As he jogged, Jack thought about the swimmer and immediately felt very selfish. How could he let someone swim in Deep Ocean for over an hour? And, probably more than that since there was no land in sight from any direction at any point from the island. He or she must've swam longer than he could ever imagine swimming.

Secretly, Jack hoped the swimmer was a girl, though he would never tell anyone. Really, it wasn't to flirt or call dibs or have the only girl on the island like Roger wanted. No, Jack just wanted a new face. Someone different, like Ralph had said. Someone with more personality than the lifeless toad-children that inhabited the island.

The green blurs at the sides of his eyes were filling suddenly with light, as the forest ended and the beach neared.

Jack thought about what girl could possibly swim like that. A few of his friends back home could swim, but he doubted they could swim that long in such awful conditions.

Finally, Jack reached the beach. He kicked of his old ratty sneakers by the huts, and felt the warm sand in his toes. He left his stained muddy shirt by his shoes and let the sun beat down on his toned back and chest.

Dodging the waves in the warm Caribbean-like crystal clear water, Jack dove into the water, followed closely by the eyes of the littluns on the beach and the older boys' eyes from the rocky ledge above.

Jack noticed that the littluns were not playing in the water when he got there. The tide must've been stronger, lovely.

When he was up to his waist in water, Jack stopped and glared into the sunlight, searching the water for the figure. Then, stroke by stroke, Jack pulled his way out to the swimmer on the horizon. Every step felt like he was going no where, and many times he considered giving up. But then he thought of how much further than him the swimmer has gone, and he pressed on.

Finally, when Jack was hanging by a thread, desperate for land and to quench is hunger and thirst, Jack saw the figure again, not too far away. With the last energy he had, he reached the swimmer.

There was no time for talking; the tide was pulling them further and further out. The swimmer, he could now tell, was a girl. She had long dark blonde hair, tangled and matted by the waves, and her eyes were squinted against the sun, so Jack had no idea what color they were. Wrapping one arm around her waist, Jack towed her back to shore, the both of them coughing and spluttering the long journey back.

About 25 minutes later, Jack and the girl reached the shore. Walking only far enough back so that they wouldn't be pulled in by the tide, the two collapsed on the beach, greeted by Ralph, Simon, and Roger. Piggy and Maurice were somewhere on the other end of the beach with the littluns, but nobody really missed them. The mysterious girl was given water, which she chugged down, and immediately fell asleep on the warm sand.

Jack never fell asleep, he wasn't tired enough, he just lay out on the shore next to the girl, staring up at the blue cloudless sky. Something was haunting him; the girl looked so very familiar. So familiar he thought it was screaming the answer at him, but he had no idea what it could possibly be. He wished she would open her eyes. He felt sure that he would know who it was then, or if he even knew the girl at all.

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The girl woke up juts as the sun was setting, remembering very little. She knew she was swimming in the ocean, and she knew why. She remembered someone pulling her to the island she had been trying to reach all day, but she didn't remember who it was. She couldn't see a face. She almost fell asleep swimming to the shore. She remembered crawling up the beach, and falling asleep. Which brings us back to now.

Jack was already gone, no longer laying by the girl's side. He was back at his rocky ledge, watching Ralph struggle to light a fire and cook the pig that his hunters caught after his deal with Ralph that day.

The girl sat alone on the beach, observing the small leaf-made tents that were sprawled around. A half-empty water bottle sat by her side, and she took a long gulp. More than anything, the girl wanted to watch the sunset, but she knew that if she was to find the boy who dragged her to the island, she had to do it with light. And she knew she couldn't wait until morning. Sighing at the beginning of a promising Caribbean sunset, she walked aimlessly down the beach, calling out, "Hello. Anyone? Where are you? Where'd you all go?"

As she got closer and closer to the rocks, the boys began to hear her. "Stay there," Ralph called. He stood up and began to climb down the ledge when Jack cut in.

"Nuh-uh. You still have a fire to light. And you better do it before dark," he smirked. Grumbling, Ralph headed back toward the fire, and Jack climbed down the same way, followed by Simon's watchful eyes.

"Where—where are you?" The voice asked softly. Jack hopped down lightly from the rocks behind of her.

"Right here," Jack whispered.

"Oh! You scared me," the sun was almost set and she could barely see a thing. But she thought she recognized the sweet face studying hers the same way.

"Wait, Jack?"

"…yeah—you're not, I mean…Charlotte?"

"Yeah," she whispered, tears gathering in both of their eyes, "that's me."