Author's Notes: Hello my lovely little hunters! I had this little idea while making a project summing up the novel "Lord of the Flies." I will say that I actually fell in love with the story and message of the book as well as the well-established characters and long-winded description. I will admit this now for all those other lovers of the book, I love Jack but this story is about Ralph and an OC. Basically the whole concept of this story is that the Beast or Beastie is real but it's not a real Beast. You'll figure this out later in the story. I'm trying to describe as much as I can but it gets a little boring if most of the text is description...
Anyway, I loved the actual book and I loved writing this story and I promise I will add more soon!
I own nothing...(except "The Beast", but I think you guys will like her.)
Ralph looked across the shining blue of the sea in the early rising sun and felt the sun on the top of his golden, sun-kissed hair. His hair was longer than when they first landed on the beach, almost reaching to the middle of his back. He tries to keep it clean and out of his face but he finds that it gets harder and harder with each passing day. The fire is roaring beside him and the heat almost burns his tanned skin. He had tended to the fire all night and all night he slumped against the orange and red flames, hiding from the black, inky darkness that rested just outside the circle of light.
"Morning Ralph," it was Sam and Eric, "we got you some breakfast..."
They handed him the minor breakfast of fruits and some fish, which he ate slowly. The fish was tough and dry and the fruit was bitter, but it was an excellent breakfast. Ralph looked around and saw Piggy walking along the beach with his arm in the clothe sling. The sling was dirty and ripped but it held the broken wrist that Piggy received from Jack. It healed once, but without it being properly set in plaster, it breaks often; Piggy's been reduced to light cleaning and taking care of some of the younger kids.
Jack was finally tired of Piggy's constant complaining and he pushed Piggy down the cliff at Castle Rock. Piggy was lucky to get a broken wrist instead of a broken neck; Jack's tribe saw the violence and the tribe had some mixed reactions. Some whooped and hollered with savage joy, but when Jack nearly pushed Ralph after Piggy, three or four pushed him towards Castle Rock, pulled Ralph up, and walked away from Jack's screaming commands.
That was almost four years ago. Ralph and Jack decided to meet, chief to chief, man to man, a year after Jack attacked him and Piggy. Jack's tribe walked with painted faces, long dirty hair and spears sharper than knives while Ralph walked alone. His tribe, his family would not fight them.
They agreed that as long as Jack would stay away, ask for the things they needed, and left Ralph and his 'tribe' alone, Ralph wouldn't go near Castle Rock. They parted and they haven't met since.
Sometimes in the forest, Ralph runs into one of the other tribe members; the members do different things, one tried stabbing Ralph with his spear, another walked away with his kill, but one young hunter, face painted and dirty blonde hair hanging in his face, looked behind him, set down his spear, and threw Ralph almost half of the kill.
As the blonde hunter walked away, Ralph shouted after him as loud as his voice could carry. "Thank you!"
The hunter looked back and for a moment, Ralph thought he saw a smile creep into the painted face, but the kid picked up his meat and run towards Castle Rock. It was the last time Ralph ever saw that kid.
"Ralph, hey Ralph!" Piggy came running from the shoreline and handed Ralph a piece of paper. Ralph didn't need to read it to know that Jack needed or wanted something.
"It's from him." Piggy's acidic tone betrayed his placid face, which through the years had gotten thinner and tanner. Piggy was no longer the Piggy that landed on the island all those years ago; he was thinner and had built some muscle on his arms and legs. His round body was gone and he went shirtless most of the day.
Without saying another word, Piggy turned and walked back to the beach, most likely to check on the younger kids or clean one of the shelters. Ralph dismissed Sam and Eric, and with bated breath, read the note.
Chief Ralph, meet me at the mountain top at sunset. I need to talk to you. Chief Jack
Ralph folded the note and threw it into the fire. He reached for the blanched, bone-white conch shell and called a meeting. When all of his tribe had arrived, he said only five words, "Meeting Jack, tend the fire."
He had learned that, sometimes, it was better not to explain what he was doing. He dismissed the meeting and he pulled his shirt over his head. He would meet them a civil man, not a dirty boy.
As Ralph made his slow ascent up the mountain, he picked some fruit and nibbled on the ripe flesh. He could hear rustling and figured that Jack's tribe was watching him as he journeyed up the mountain. The noises up the mountain no longer fazed Ralph into a crippling fear as it would have done all those years ago. Ralph took a short break at the rock where he and Roger once stopped at, before he became a savage.
He remembers the long hair and tired eyes, and he remembers the fear of the beast, a mere, silly fear that crippled the boys to their knees. The beast was nothing then a silly fear, something inspired by the little boys and their imagination.
Usually Jack came with two more hunters but this time, he came alone.
Must be serious, if Jack's alone...
"Chief Ralph, welcome."
Jack stepped forward and tapped his chest with his fist. Ralph nodded in welcome but advanced no further. Jack stepped back and pushed the fringe of hair out of his eyes.
"My tribe has killed more than we can eat, and we are having a feast...I invite you and your tribe for the feast..." Jack kept looking behind him and Ralph began to grow tired of his vague and out-of-character generosity. The forest was still and silent, as though it knew that two powerful leaders were meeting; the forest did not want to interrupt.
"Why are you being so nice? What's going on Jack?"
"...can't explain here...later at the feast, I promise..." Jack took off toward Castle Rock without another word and Ralph was left standing in the circle of ashes that had once been the place of their signal fire. Something has Jack worried, Ralph was sure of it.
Unknown to him, a creature he had never seen before was watching him and following him silently through the trees; the only noise it made was the gentle rustling of the branches and creepers. The Unknown followed him back to the beach when the tree branches stopped. It watched the boy go to the large platform and pick up this white shell.
A loud blast of sound hit the Unknown and nearly unbalanced it from the tree branches. It watched with cold eyes as many others joined the leader on the platform. The once round one in the sling began to yell at the one holding the shell. His face, red with anger and frustration, yelled and screamed at the leader as he gestured to the forest; the Unknown stopped breathing, thinking it had finally been discovered when the boy with the shell dropped the shell and put his hands up.
The talking silenced and they listened to their leader speak. After what had seemed like forever, most of the boys nodded their heads in agreement. The ones who did not went back to what they were doing and the ones who did, including the leader, began to walk toward the forest, picking up their spears as they went. The Unknown moved back into the forest and waited for the attack, but none came. They just walked past it without looking for it; it thought they were waiting for it to attack but instead of jumping the small group of boys, it followed the leader once more in the trees, toward the savage place on its island.
The feast was loud and warm, but yet it was tense and stressful for the two tribes together in the same place. Jack's tribe sat far away from Ralph's tribe and glared at the enemy. Ralph's tribe watched the enemy with worried eyes, fearful of what they would do. Ralph and Jack sat together on the mat that marked them as leaders; they ate slowly and silently until Ralph whispered to Jack.
"What were you talking about on the mountain top, Jack?"
Jack didn't answer for the longest time, but when he did he looked at Ralph's eyes. For a moment Ralph saw the scared Jack Merridew behind the painted face of a savage.
"The Beast is real, Ralph, it attacked one of my members, it nearly killed him...I'm afraid that it'll come back here and jump us."
"What does it look like?"
Jack shook his head, as though to shake out the memory of the beast's appearance, "I'm not sure, he was attacked in the dark on the mountain. He says the Beast has long arms, large teeth and big green eyes."
"Sounds like a wolf..."
"That's what I thought. He said it wasn't covered in fur and it had feathers on it."
Ralph frowned at the description and began to puzzle about what the Beast could be when someone from Jack's tribe spoke up.
"I know who the Beast is!" The boy was short and little but he was as painted as some of the older boys.
"The Beast is you!" He pointed to Ralph and his tribe, shocked to be accused of something so ridiculous.
"Johnny, think before you accuse! They are our guests tonight, our friends..." someone began to say. Johnny glared at one of the older hunters in anger.
"Friends?! They are not friends! Do you remember what they did to our chief? To Simon and to us?!"
"We did nothing to Simon!" Eric shouted to him.
"We pushed Jack off Ralph because he was going to kill Ralph!" Sam ended.
Things quickly became heated between the two groups of boys until Jack stood. Everyone was silent as Jack spoke, "The death of Simon is on all of us. All of our hands are covered in his blood. And Ralph's tribe did what they thought was right, regardless to what happened. We must bury the spear to each other. We both have a common enemy."
Silence.
"The Beast," there was a chill in the wind that made half of the boys shiver.
"Jack's right," Ralph said quietly. He stood up slowly and eyed all of the boys. They were two different species of men; one was partly civil and tried their best to be clean while the other was wild and dirty. Ralph wondered which one was happier.
"Jack's right," Ralph repeated, this time stronger, "The Beast attacked someone recently. It's getting more daring; soon it will wonder into our camps and..."
There was no need to finish, "Chief Jack, what do we have to do?"
A small boy in a painted mask stood up and fidgeted with his dirty shirt as he waited for his answer. Jack walked towards the small child and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Johnny, we need to work together with Ralph and his tribe."
This was not a simple answer but a command to both tribes. Jack's tribe nodded and glared at Ralph's tribe with fire in their eyes. Ralph's tribe felt even more uncomfortable with this decision. Why didn't Ralph tell them to do something that didn't involve the other tribe?
Jack waited as the visiting tribe went out the exit of Castle Rock before he stopped Ralph once more. His hands were clammy and sticky from sweat and he wiped them on his shorts before he continued. Ralph spoke before Jack finished wiping his hands.
"They were really good, even when they accused us of murder..."
"Yeah...listen Ralph, I...I'm sorry...for everything..." Ralph couldn't believe that Jack, the leader of the savages and top hunter on the island was admitting he was wrong. Before Ralph could really question Jack, he ran back into Castle Rock and closed the door with a resounding THUMP.
"Ralph..." he looked behind and saw all of his tribe standing on the bridge between Castle Rock and the other side of the island. "What do we do?"
Ralph saw the littluns yawning and rubbing their eyes. He smiled at their childish behavior and picked one of the smaller littluns up. Percy nestled his head into Ralph's chest and was very close to falling asleep to Ralph's beating heart. Ralph woke him up and handed him off to Sam. He told everyone to go back to the beach and tell Piggy what happened while Ralph went for a bath and a drink of water.
High above the tribe was The Unknown sitting on a tree branch. The boys were talking and the leader lifted a small one up to his chest. The small child looked so peaceful, the look of unknowing bliss painted on his small tan face. The leader, whom everyone called 'Ralph', handed the child back and told them something.
The group then divided into two, with everyone going back to the beach and Ralph going off alone. The choice was easy to follow Ralph to the water hole. Ralph looked around and knelt down to drink the clean, sweet water. The Unknown looked down and saw it's own reflection above Ralph's.
The water moved and softened The Unknown's features and made it come closer when Ralph jerked up from his drinking. The Unknown backed up into the tree and watched the frightened boy look around in the trees for it. The Unknown backed up and found a broken twig; it snapped it and the boy stood up and ran as fast as he could toward the large pink rock castle.
"Jack! Jack! The Beast is here!"
The doors opened and the boy went inside. The Unknown couldn't follow him but it could hear Ralph's panicked words.
"The Beast was right above me! At the water hole! It was watching me drink water when I noticed this big, wild face in the water."
"What did it look like?" The leader of the savages stepped forward and placed his hand on Ralph. The Unknown remembered how much it disliked the savage. It remembered how troublesome the savage was and how much drama he caused. He had no right to touch Ralph when he was scared!
The Unknown was going to step into the castle when it remembered with a sinking feeling deep in its heart that the reason Ralph was scared was because of its reflection. The Unknown slipped away into the night to return to the water hole. It stayed on the ground and stared at the reflection facing back. The reflection wasn't as scary as Ralph thought; the long tendrils of coarse black hair covered it's back and most of its face. The eyes were a soft green like the candle buds that covered the island in the sunlight and in the dark that soft green turned hard, cracked, and wild.
The Unknown now understood why Ralph was scared. It was scary; it understood why it was The Beast to the boys.
The Beast watched the reflection waver and move with the water and it suddenly became very angry at the reflection. The Beast struck the water and waited for the ugliness to disappear but it came back, mocking it by looking back at it.
"I think I heard it over here!"
The Beast jumped onto its four legs and climbed back up a tree, its heart pounding and red blood coursing through its body. As it managed to hide itself among the leaves and branches, the savages and Ralph came running with spears and rocks. They looked around and began looking through the leaves, trees, and bushes looking for it.
The Beast climbed to the top of the trees to make sure it wasn't spotted. They continued the search until they decided that the Beast was gone.
"There's nothing here, Ralph..."
"But...but I saw it...that face..."
The Beast climbed down silently and listened to the pleading tone of Ralph's voice. It almost broke its heart hearing Ralph getting frustrated about what had happened only a few minutes ago.
"Ralph, do you want someone to stay with you? I can have Roger or Robert..."
"No Jack, just leave me a spear...I'll be fine..."
Jack once again patted Ralph's shoulder and left him with a sharpened spear. Ralph waited for the tribe to get back to Castle Rock and he slowly began to drink the cool water. The Beast looked out to the water and watched Ralph wash his face. The Beast's face once again appeared in the water but this time instead of looking away, both Ralph and the Beast were entranced by those eyes.
Ralph had never seen such beautiful eyes before. They soft like grass and almost glowing like the fire at his beach. The fire that burned deep in those eyes was smoldering like embers and the bright green color of the iris reminded Ralph of a time before the island.
The memories were foggy and distant, as though the memories were from dreams instead of reality.
How long before these memories fade away?
Ralph blinked and the wonder in her eyes faded and he noticed that she was watching him. He looked slowly up and saw a girl about his age staring at him. Her long black hair was pulled back by a small creeper and her mouth was opened slightly in shock and nervous vice. Ralph closed his own mouth (when had he opened it?) and smiled shyly.
The girl backed up, closing her mouth and almost disappeared into the branches. She would have left if Ralph had not pleaded for her to stay.
"Come back," he whispered, "I won't hurt ya."
She stopped and looked back to Ralph. His face was calm and pleading like his voice and he held his hand out for her. She didn't want to take it because she knew he would hurt her if she did.
"Please come down...I wanna talk to ya." The girl reappeared and scowled at Ralph. She didn't want to go down there.
"No!" She stuck her head back into the branches and hoped he would give up and leave. A small part of her knew he wouldn't.
"If you won't come down, I'm coming up." Ralph grabbed the trunk of the tree when he heard a small splash. The girl resurfaced and swam to the edge of the water where Ralph was waiting. She climbed up to land and sat with her long legs out in front of her. She noted how tiny she was compared to Ralph and how far away he was sitting.
If he wants to talk, why is he sitting so far away?
"So...you're the Beast?" The girl looked at him and saw that he was watching the rings on the water expand. He was tense, watching her out of the corner of his eye, just to make sure that she wouldn't run off before he could get some answers. The girl shivered and looked off into the distance. The trees yielded no correct answer, no one was there to help her speak, not anymore. The girl looked at Ralph, steeled her nerves, and answered Ralph in the best that she could.
"Yes...I...Beast..."
Author's Notes: Told ya. :)
I love her, you either love her already or will learn to love her. So just to clear up some confusion; Jack and his tribe consists of himself, Roger, most of the older kids, and one or two littluns. Ralph's tribe is himself, Piggy (still alive), Sam and Eric, one or two older kids (who may be named), and all the other littluns. Piggy survived but has a broken/hurt wrist so he doesn't do much; the boys have aged four years so Ralph and Jack are about sixteen/seventeen, and finally Jack's somewhat civil attitude comes from growing up (I try.)
If you guys have anymore questions or if you guys like the story already, leave me a review and ask your question and tell me what's up!
Until next time, my lovely little hunters!