Hello there reading people. This chapter came much faster than I'd thought it would, because things magically started to come together for me. That and writing these characters was really fun to do.
So yes, here's the next chapter for all you lovely people out there.
Chapter 2 – Flames of Change
The fair haired boy stared at the huge burning mass only a few feet away from him. His mind had blanked for a few moments from the shock of how quickly everything had spiraled out of control, causing him to simply freeze in place as the flames burned through the old crackling wood and effortlessly melted away all of the surrounding snow.
It wasn't very long before the blasting heat became too much and he had to take a few more steps back. The actual warmth reminded the blond boy why he'd even decided to start the fire in the first place. He'd just been cold was all. So yes, while he was definitely warmer now, there was no denying that it had gotten just slightly out of hand.
"Damn it, you really messed up this time Ralph," the boy grumbled to himself, running his free hand down his face as he sighed. The other was still clutching a nearly empty box of matches by his side.
He hadn't meant for this to happen at all. When he'd found the damp little pack, he'd meticulously went through nearly all of them, most too wet to actually light. Finally though, one had, and he'd managed to light enough old hay to grow the tiny flicker of light into something bigger.
The hay hadn't been the only thing burning though, and thinking back on it now Ralph ran a hand through his hair in irritation. He hadn't thought this through at all. He'd just wanted to be warm though. He hadn't even been able to remember what being warm felt like, having nothing but old, torn up gloves with one of the thumbs missing to help cover him besides his worn out short sleeve shirt in a pathetic attempt to ward off the elements. At least his pants were long, held up by a single overall strap. He had no idea what happened to the other.
All that he had known when starting the blaze was that fire meant heat and warmth. Warmth was life. Fire was a good thing.
It hadn't quite clicked in his mind that the floor he'd started the fire on had been made of old, brittle wood, or that the flames would manage to spread enough to eventually engulf the entire building. By the time he'd realized just what was happening and attempted to put them out, it was already too late, and all he could really do was run outside before he got trapped and died.
So now here he was, just staring, basking in the heat of the flames that were currently consuming the small wooden barn he'd been calling home for the past… for the past… for however long, it didn't really matter.
Ralph jumped back when the flames that had been dancing across the rooftop caused the already weak boards to collapse in on themselves. Huge sprays of ashes and smoke flung high into the air, and the twelve year old had to increase the distance between himself and the building yet again as it started to get into his lungs, causing him to double over in a fit of coughs.
He still stayed close enough so that the flames offered him some warmth, figuring that if he was going to lose the barn he might as well enjoy the heat of the fire while it lasted.
Several hours later Ralph was sitting in the same spot, watching as the last tiny flicker of flames finally started to go out, leaving only the black seared remains of the outer walls left. He had an urge to try to keep it going, so that he could continue to ward off the cold, but anything he could have used as firewood had already been burned beyond recognition. The entire place smelt of smoke, but the blond had long gotten used to it. Carefully scanning what was left of his 'home' he couldn't help but slump slightly in defeat.
He couldn't stay here anymore. The roof had been one of the first things to collapse, and the walls that were left didn't look like they were very far behind. A strong wind coming through would topple the whole thing in a heartbeat. The snow was already starting to come down again, too. At the moment it was light, the flakes quickly melting away when they came in contact with his skin and clothes, a few leaving a soft dusting of white in his hair. That didn't mean it wouldn't pick up soon though, and he had no place to stay.
Slowly, the blond boy picked himself up off the ground, shaking the snow out of his hair as he did so. Turning away from the remains of the building, he stared off around him. A crumbling stone wall was a little ways off to the right, and beyond that a large rolling moor. He could just make out the edges of a dead forest on the other side.
To his other side there wasn't all that much to look at either. The remains of what might have been a house at one point that had crumpled long ago, and what Ralph knew to be a dirt path under the snow that ran alongside the wall. He didn't know how he knew that, since he couldn't right remember what this place looked like without the constant blanket of white. It was there though, he knew that much.
Unsure of what else to do, he started away from the burnt remains and towards where the path would be. He knew the way for quite a while pretty well, having explored his immediate surroundings numerous times.
It got pretty boring, being here all alone. But it had always been like that, at least for as long as he could remember it had anyway. So he just accepted it. There hadn't been any particular reason to try to find somewhere else either. He'd had shelter, and a small supply of food in the wild berries and roots that struggled through the cold to grow in the moor. So while it was boring, he hadn't minded it all that much. It was just the weather. The one thing he couldn't stand was freezing all the time.
Really though, that would have been better than losing his home for just those few short hours of heat. Now he was cold again, he didn't have a shelter and he had to leave his food supply in order to find one. This wasn't good. This just wasn't good at all.
It wasn't too long at all before the surrounding area started to grow unfamiliar to the boy. The crumbling wall had stopped and was left behind long ago, and the sun was starting to set as well. He had no clear way to know if he was actually staying on the path either. The only signs around him a few dead trees every now and then and the remains of buildings too broken and crumbling to be any shield from the outside at all.
After a while, it started getting too dark to try to move anymore, and the blond made his way into what he assumed had once been the inside of the house. Only three walls were left standing now, but if he curled up in the one corner the wind blew the snow in such a way that it didn't hit him very much.
Blowing on his hands through the gloves, he attempted to rub some life back into them, quickly trying the same with his feet as well. His shoes were old. He didn't know how old, but they were also too big for him and let the snow seep into the sides as he walked. Eventually he managed to fall into a light sleep, shivering despite being used to the cold. Maybe it was because he didn't have a roof anymore, or the hay he used to cover himself with was long gone, having burned away into ashes and smoke.
When Ralph woke the next morning the snow had thankfully stopped for the moment. Rubbing his arms, he tried to warm up enough as he thought about what to do. A gnawing hunger ate at his stomach, and he considered heading back to the moor and looking for some food. That was so far back now, and without any clear markings of the path he didn't know if he would even be able to find his way.
Reluctantly standing up, the boy decided that the only real option was to keep moving forward until he eventually did find something. After all, it couldn't just be nothing forever, right? Surely he'd be able to find something…
After walking for a few more hours, he was seriously starting to think that might not be the case. He knew that he probably wasn't moving all that fast and the broken down buildings were slowly but surely growing in numbers, but the cold and the hunger weren't the most encouraging things in the world.
He figured it was probably a bit after midday when he'd started to happen upon a multitude of the broken remains, all close together. Most of them seemed to be made of stone, and many seemed to be in even better shape than his old little barn had been. Scrapping away at the snow with his foot, he saw that the grown had also changed, shifting from dirt to stone as well.
Ralph allowed for a small smile to worm its way onto his face. Sure, he didn't see anything that he could eat yet, but as soon as he did he could easily stay here instead. Inside of those buildings the stone probably blocked out the wind and helped them be even warmer than his barn ever had.
The fact that the whole area was empty, a deathly quiet over the entirety of the ruined town didn't faze him in the slightest as he quickly started continuing his way down the street. He was used to being along, so this was nothing new at all.
The joy of finding this potential new home started to dampen slightly as he continued to search and come up empty with any food. Maybe that's why there wasn't anyone here, because there wasn't anything to eat.
There might just not be anyone here because there just wasn't anyone though.
Giving up on scowering the streets for now, he decided to look through some of the old buildings instead. Looking around him, the most intact one was up at the nearest corner, and he decided on a whim to give it a chance.
Walking up to it, Ralph could tell that at one time, the front had large display windows, most of which were now blown out now, replayed with flimsy sheets of wood instead. Walking up to the entrance, he was a bit surprised to see that the door was still both intact and shut. Trying the knob, the old rusted metal didn't give nearly as much resistance as he would have though, and the blond boy slowly stepped inside.
It was pretty dark inside, the wood placed in the windows blocking most of the light. Just barely he was able to make out a long counter running parallel from one of the walls, empty shelves lining the others and a few tables in the center of the room.
Taking a few more tentative steps, Ralph decided to leave the door open, not about to shut himself in with no light. He just wanted to look around a bit for now. This looked like it could have been a store or something at one time. Maybe there was still some stuff left in the back. If they sold food, some of it might still be good enough to eat…
He was halfway across the room when something suddenly crashed in the silence behind him, causing a shock of terror to run through the boy as he quickly spun around to see what it was.
There was nothing behind him, and Ralph slowly took a few more steps back, eyes scanning every inch of the dimly lit room.
"What is it? What's there?" he asked the returning silence bravely. A sound of something shuffling rose up from behind the counter, which Ralph immediately turned towards, eyes locked as he waited for whatever it was to show itself.
"I-I should be the one a-asking you questions. Just who are you?" A boy around his age asked, poking his head fearfully and yet daringly out from under the counter. A frown was set onto his very round face, but his eyes were wide behind thick glasses.
Slowly Ralph let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, much of the tension and fear melting away. Whoever this kid was, he didn't look like much of a threat in the slightest.
"I'm Ralph," he said, feeling that those two words explained everything clearly enough and starting to glance about the room again as the other boy carefully made his way out from behind the counter. "Do you live here?" he asked, turning back towards the boy. The chubby child nodded, still eyeing Ralph with a bit of suspicion.
"Yes. Where did you come from? Ain't nobody ever come by here before," he said, and Ralph thought for a moment before pointing in was he was pretty sure was the right direction.
"I was living out that way, by a rock wall and a moor, but the place I was staying burned down and I had to leave," he explained, deceivingly leaving out the fact that he'd been the one to cause the fire in the first place. The other boy nodded once again, appearing to become much more at ease as they spoke.
The fat child looked like he was about to start talking once again, but Ralph cut him off with his own question.
"Do you have anything to eat?" the other boy's mouth quickly shut, turning into a frown at being interrupted like that. He quickly recovered though, nodding just slightly.
"I have a bit of food left. Not much at all really, but I suppose I could share it with you," he said hesitantly, starting towards the back room just as Ralph had been before he'd interrupted him. Once again a smile found its way onto the blonde's face as he followed the other boy. At least he'd have something to eat now.
When they reached the backroom, Ralph saw that he hadn't been lying when he said he didn't have much food left. For a few moments, his mind struggled unsuccessfully to bring forth just what it was that the small, brightly colored pieces were called.
"Just some candy. I used to have other food, but it all ran out. Been trying to find more, but…" the boy trailed off, and Ralph nodded in understanding. Even though he didn't really look like he needed any food at the moment, running out was certainly not a good thing at all. He'd probably started looking a while ago once he started to run low, and if he hadn't found any by now it wasn't very likely that Ralph would be able to either, at least not here. Unwrapping a red and white cane shaped treat, the blond stuck it in his mouth before speaking.
"Really can't stay here then, if there's no food," he said absently, the fat child nodding in agreement.
"Of course not, but I wouldn't know where else to go, and it's dangerous to go off alone," he said, a slightly expecting gleam in his eyes as he look at Ralph. The blond simply ignored it though, too wrapped up in the nearly overwhelming taste of the candy in his mouth to care. He could definitely understand how this boy had run out of food if it all tasted like this. He wouldn't have wanted to stop eating either.
"I went off by myself, and I was fine," he said after a moment, the chubby boy frowning once again.
"Well maybe you can but I can't, my…" he trailed off, brow furrowing in concentration as he searched for the next word. "I can't on account of my…" he tried to restart. Ralph quickly grew bored with waiting for the boy to finish his sentence, taking another candy and popping it in his mouth.
"You'll remember it if it's important," Ralph told him absently. The other boy seemed to reluctantly agree, starting to eat a bit of the candy himself as well. The two were quiet for a few moments, and Ralph had to restrain himself from eating as much as the sweet treats as he could. He doubted this boy would be too pleased if he was to do that, and if he left some now then that meant he could probably have more later.
"So, what's your name?" Ralph asked at last, getting a bit tired of calling him simply 'boy' in his head. A smile broke out onto the fat boy's face as he started to answer.
"Oh, I'm…" the smile instantly dropped as he faltered, moving his mouth, but no sound coming out. "I'm… my name is… my name…" the boy quickly started shaking his head furiously. "No, no, that's not it. They used to… someone used to call me that, but it's not my name," he insisted stubbornly, talking more to himself now instead of Ralph.
"You can't remember your name?" the blond ask, bringing his attention back to him.
"I… I suppose not. I haven't told anyone it in so long; it must have just slipped my mind. I'm sure it'll come back to me though. I'll remember soon as I'm not thinking about it, I will," he said, and Ralph nodded simply to agree.
"You said you remembered something people used to call you?" the blond asked, just looking for something to address him by now. Reluctantly he nodded, not looking at Ralph anymore as he answered.
"Yes, well, it wasn't really… I can't remember who'd called me it, but I don't think it was very-" he said, but Ralph cut him off once again.
"What was it?"
"Um, it was Piggy, I think" the round boy practically whispered. A large grin broke out on the blonde's face, and he started laughing at the name.
"Piggy! Piggy will work! I'll call you Piggy," he said happily in between bouts of laughter. The other boy was frowning still, but reluctantly gave in.
"A-alright, but just until I remember what my real name is, you hear? I'm sure to remember it soon!" he insisted, and Ralph nodded, far too pleased with the silly name and the lingering tastes of sweets in his mouth to do anything but. He didn't even know the last time he'd laughed like that.
The two had fallen into a silence once again after that, this one lasting a bit longer than before. Ralph busied himself by messing with the remaining candies, sorting them into little piles based on different criteria. Types, then colors, then shapes… Piggy simply watched him, taking off his glasses to clean them on his shirt as he did.
"So, it okay if I stay here tonight?" Ralph asked, relieved when Piggy immediately started to nod.
"Of course. It's gets boring by yourself, and it's not safe being all alone," he said, and Ralph nodded. He didn't really see how being by yourself was dangerous, that's all he'd ever been up until now after all, but it wasn't really important enough to argue about. As long as Piggy was letting him stay here, after all, it didn't really matter.
The chubby boy had started to talk once again, although Ralph really wasn't paying him much attention. It was warmer in here than it had been in the barn, although there was still a cool chill throughout the whole place. He tried to remember if either of them had shut the door, but couldn't. Well, one of them would go see eventually, and it wasn't like they had to worry about anyone else coming along. Piggy had said that no one ever comes here, after all.
Focusing back on the other boy, Ralph couldn't shake the inherent strangeness of not being alone anymore. He hadn't minded it, but it certainly wasn't a change for the worse. Piggy was definitely an odd one, but he didn't seem all that bad.
The change from what had been before, the similar days all blending together into one so that he couldn't recall how long or even truly what had happened had been so sudden. It seemed to have consumed his whole life, spreading and devouring just as fast that the fire that had destroyed his barn had.
And while fire was destructive and dangerous, it was also warmth and light and life. Fire was a good thing, so maybe this change would be too.
Ralph and Piggy, Ralph and Piggy! Piggy was surprisingly fun to write, I did not see that coming. Ralph and his little obsession with fire was fun to weave in too. I hope you all liked the chapter, and just how this is going so far.
Well, as always thanks for reading, and please review.