Disclaimer: Yet again, I don't own Lord of the Flies.

Jack: That's cuz I do! I own everything! I RULE THE WORLD! *eye twitch* *pokes Simon with large pointy stick* Ha-ha. Hee-hee. Ha-ha.

Simon: Quit it!

Also! A Quick Note: I just want everyone to know that this story is NOT when it was originally supposed to be set. You will find out from the dialogue and from what Charlotte is wearing that this is NOT the '40s. So please, no reviews telling me what the '40s were like.

Chapter 2: Campfire Stories

Without warning, Jack picked up the girl named Charlotte and spun her around until he clumsily tripped and they both landed on their backs in the cooling sand. They lay there, grinning, for what seemed like hours, and talked about nothing and everything, all at once.

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When Charlotte and Jack returned to the rocky ledge, Ralph had gotten the fire started and was slowly roasting a scrawny pig over it.

"Oh, gross," Charlotte began, looking away. Jack looked down at her and smirked, hugging her with one arm

"Sorry, but that's all we've got to eat, Charlie."

"So who is she, you're girlfriend or something?" Roger asked, feeling defeated. Did dibs mean anything anymore?

"Roger, no; this is my sister."

Well, that argument was down the drain. No hot girl for Roger. Damn guy code. Did it still apply on the island? Yeah, probably. Sigh.

"Your sister?" Ralph asked, "your sister is the one you made swim for over an hour in the ocean?!"

"Hey! I didn't know it was her, okay!" Jack yelled defensively.

"Jack," Charlotte started, "It's okay. I'm fine," she said, looking up at him.

For the first time since that morning, Simon spoke: "Not to be rude but, where did you come from?" All eyes turned toward him. "I mean, you couldn't have dropped down from the sky," he said. "I'm Simon, by the way."

"Charlotte," she replied with a light smile

"Yeah, Charlie. How did you get here?" Jack asked. Just then, Piggy and the Littluns marched toward the group.

"Um, I'll tell you guys later…if that's okay," Charlotte started a little nervously. The boys nodded lightly and turned back to their conversations. Jack quickly introduced her to Maurice, Ralph and Roger. He also told her briefly of Piggy and introduced the Littluns as "The Littluns."

He led Charlotte to the top of the boulder that he had been sitting on that morning. The sky was dark and everything that could be seen was red with the reflection of the fire. Still, Charlotte had a pretty face.

Her skin was surprisingly pale after so many days in the sun, and her best friend used to tease her that she was a vampire. Her cheeks were covered in freckles that made a line across her nose. It was as if instead of color in the sun, she gained freckles. Her body was fairly toned from all the swimming she did. She barely resembled her brother at all, except that they had the same eyes; a gorgeous blue. Her hair had been cut in long bangs that framed her face, but the rest was long and spiraled into curls down her back. It was a bronze-gold color that shined in the sun. It was tangled and frizzy, though and she would kill for a comb. Her skin smelled of salt water that had become sickening to her. She desperately wished to bathe.

Charlotte was wearing a green dress. The straps were thick, but still sleeveless. The waistline came just below her bust like an empire waist. The rest of the dress flowed down to a few inches above her knee. She wore no shoes, because the flip-flops she was wearing fell off into the ocean days ago. She had already figured out that she was the only girl, but was happy enough to be with her brother.

The fact that she was the only girl bugged her, though. She hoped the Littluns wouldn't depend on her, or start calling her "mother". She really wasn't good with kids. Only the cute ones that she knew and loved; the neighbors and her friend's little siblings. And she wasn't about to sit around and take care of the little kids all day and cook food by night. So if that was what the guys wanted, they could forget it.

Finally, after a long pause for thought, Jack spoke.

"Charlie," he said softly, using her nickname, "I've missed you so much." Charlotte had been named for her grandpa Charlie, and so she was always called that by her close friends and her family.

"I missed you too," she replied. "Jack, I thought you were dead." Her eyes started sprouting tears. All Jack could do was wrap his arms around his sister and hold her close.

Sometime before the "tribe" had gathered for dinner, Charlotte stopped crying and wiped the tears from her eyes. She was silent through most of the meal and observed the people she was now stuck on an island with. She adored Simon. Quiet, and shy, yet he was sweet and honest and kind. She thought the twins, SamnEric, were absolutely hilarious, and they made her giggle every time they completed each other's sentence. She admired Roger, though she wasn't sure why. Did she take after her brother, and make friends with his friends? Or did she admire his courage and strength against the others? Or his rock-hard hot abs and lack of shirt? Yeah, abs were hot.

And to Charlotte, Piggy was the most annoying, useless lump that ever walked the face of the Earth. End of story. Then again, impressions can change.

And then there was Ralph. She thought she despised Ralph, but she wasn't quite sure. That was her first impression; that he was bossy and arrogant and hadn't the least idea of how to be a leader. But every time someone asked him a question, she found that every answer he'd given was what she would've said herself. So she told herself not to judge, but as the night wore on, the harder it got.

She observed the boys eating the scrawny pig, and shuddered away; it was not a pretty sight. She ate her piece, only because her stomach was grumbling to the point that she thought she might pass out. Everyone was just about finished with the "meal," and she sighed with relief. Soon, though, the Littluns were all running up to Ralph, chattering and telling the tales of their wild imaginations and mostly complaining about fear of the dark. Finally, the noise of the high-pitched whining got to her, and she buried her ahead against her brother's shoulder, groaning.

"What wrong?" Jack asked.

"If I hear one more freakin' complaint from these cranky little children, I'm going to freak out."

Jack sighed, and then stood up. "Alright, to bed all you kids."

"Jack!" The kids moaned in unison.

"GO!" He roared. As if the last school bell of the week rang, the Littluns scrambled up and zoomed down the cliff, sprinting to their huts. Ralph sighed in relief and threw an appreciative look toward Jack. The area was silent for awhile. Only the breaths of Jack, Ralph, Piggy, Roger, Simon, Sam, Eric, Maurice, and Charlotte could be heard, mixing with the wind. Charlotte was wide awake and had no intention of going to bed anytime soon. Her eyes, though, had other ideas. They were slowly drifting shut, despite her best efforts. Yet again, Simon broke the silence.

"Charlotte, are you going to tell us how you got here, now?" He asked. Startled by the sudden break of silence, and the call of her name, Charlotte's eyes burst open and her head snapped up.

"Huh? Oh, yeah…sure. Um, I don't really know where to start." Here goes. She told herself.

"Well, when Mom and Dad and I heard about the plane crash…everything fell apart. Mom was sobbing all the time. And Dad…he seemed like he wasn't even there sometimes. I don't know. And then we heard about this little boat expedition. They were taking all the families of the kids on the plane along the same route they went, only by boat. You know, to see if we could find any…thing. So Mom and Dad jumped at the opportunity, it gave them hope. Dad had a little spark back in his eye, and Mom started cooking and stuff again. We had only been on the boat a couple days. We were right by where you guys crashed and…"

A tear ran from her eye, but she reminded herself not to cry, wiped away the tear, and continued. "It was at night. We started to hear noises. Airplanes and loud noises; and then lots of shouts and screams. We all ran on the deck, and we saw a bunch of airplanes overhead, dropping small bombs. They hit the boat, twice…"

She continued the story of how the boat exploded, sparing the boys all the gory details, and how she couldn't find anyone, and the current was strong, and how the ocean forced her to get away from the scene. The boy's eyes grew wider and wider throughout the whole tale, and she finished that part with "but it was hardly over."

"I didn't know where to go or what to do. I swam with the ocean for awhile, and then I got really tired, and I thought it would just be easier to give up. After all, what did I have to lose? My mom and dad and Jack were all gone. I wouldn't see my friends anyway, I would never get home. What was the point?" Jack stiffened beside her.

"But I knew only one thing: I had an option. I could live, or I could die out there. I guess it's pretty obvious which one I chose. So I swam, and I just kept swimming. I was on the swim team back home, but I wasn't that good. I swam for two days, plus this morning until Jack dragged my sorry ass out of the water. I must've swum the English Channel twice! My dream, and no one will ever know…"

She trailed off into her own dark memories, ignoring the still wider-eyes of the boys around her. Finally, Ralph interrupted, irritating her out of her recollection. "That's impossible, you'd need food and water and you'd have to be a damn good swimmer!"

"People can go weeks without food, it rained the second day, and I swam real slow."

"But that—" Ralph began, but Jack cut him off.

"Enough. It's late; we should all get to bed. Who's watching the fire?"

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About half an hour later, everyone was in bed, except for Piggy, watching the fire, and Jack and Charlotte, discussing the evening's tales. Actually, Jack was doing most of the talking. And lots of the pacing back and forth.

"Charlie, you're…I mean, you're only kidding right? You didn't swim that whole way. I'm so sorry I—"

"Jack! Enough; for the billionth time it is not your fault!"

"Yes it—"

"Jack!" She gave him a warning look.

"Fine, fine. I'll shut up, but this isn't over," Jack noticed his sister yawn, and that her eyelids were fluttering shut. "You tired?"

"Yeah, a little," she sighed, and then looked up at her brother. "Jack, where am I going to sleep?" She pondered.

"Hmm, I was kind of wondering the same thing. Let's see…you hate whining kids, you hate Piggy and Ralph…" Charlotte blushed; she didn't mean to be picky, she didn't even tell him any of that. Amazing how quickly he picked things up. "You could sleep with me, I guess…" She raised her eyebrows. "and Roger and Simon, I mean," he finished quickly, and then mumbled "and Ralph…"

Charlotte sighed, "All right, fine."

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Back at the tent, the boys were surprised to find Charlotte stroll through the door to the hut, followed closely by her brother.

"Hey what's she—" Roger started.

"Rog, shut up. Where's she supposed to sleep?"

"Don't know. Don't care."

"Then it's in here."

"What's wrong scared of a girl?" Charlotte joked teasingly.

"Whatever. I don't even care just shut up and let me sleep." And that was the end of that. With a loud huff, Roger rolled over and was snoring before Jack and Charlotte could move. Jack led his sister over to an abandoned corner and then lay down near the other side of the hut, where a dent in the ground marked his spot like everyone else's did.

The sky was dark, the ground was hard, and the island was scary as hell. The flapping of bat wings echoed through the woods. The wind howled at the night and snapped the twigs. And whatever beautiful, fun and exciting things lived in the forest by day were whole different stories by night. Every time she closed her eyes there was something to snap them open again. Charlotte would never sleep. But she was exhausted!

She'd been lying on the cold ground for over three hours by now. Charlotte was hoping to just get so tired that she would pass out, but she couldn't even wait that long. Finally, she got up and silently climbed over the boys to the other side of the tent.

"Jack," She whispered. No response: "Jack!" She said louder. She covered his mouth with one hand, and dug her overgrown nails into his arm with the other.

"OW!" Jack yelled. Her hand did little to keep him quiet. The tent stirred, but no one seemed to wake up. Realizing who it was, Jack said harshly: "What do you want?"

"I couldn't sleep," she replied lightly.

"And you felt the need to wake me up because…?"

"Because I'm tired," Charlotte replied with a tone that was obvious in a sarcastic way.

"Then sleep!"

Charlotte was becoming very frustrated. "Jack," she whined.

"What are you, six? Let me sleep," Jack rolled over. Charlotte sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging them to her chest, and sat by Jack. It hadn't even been five minutes when Jack rolled back over to face her and said, "Alright, come here."

Charlotte lay down next to her brother, with her back toward him. He was resting one arm over her stomach just above her hip. She would sleep well if she knew her brother would protect her from any danger. She was on the edge of sleep when Jack spoke again, making her eyelids flutter open.

"Charlie, you asleep?"

"I wish," she replied groggily. She knew her brother had something to say, so she rolled over to face him, a faint smile playing on her lips. "What is it, Jack?"

"Well, you said Mom and Dad were on the boat, right?"

"Yeah…"Charlotte replied cautiously. She didn't like where the conversation was heading.

"And that it didn't look like anyone beside you…made it?" He choked up at the end.

"Jack…" She couldn't look at his face, so she buried her head in his chest. Jack wanted answers though, and sorrow was turning to fury all too quick. He yanked her hair, making her look at him. "Tell me!" Charlotte was taken by surprise, she had never seen her brother really, seriously mad at her. And her head hurt from where he yanked it. She hesitated, and then answered after awhile.

"Yes, Jack. That's what I said," she paused sympathetically, "They're gone." He already knew, though. From the minute she hesitated, he already knew. A single tear fell down his cheek. Jack hugged her tight, surprising her again. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

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So, what did you think? Please Review! I try to respond to all of my reviews and I want to make this story as good as possible!

Also, I know Charlotte is a bit of a bitch toward Piggy, but I hate him and I didn't want to make her flawless; she judges quickly and she doesn't like little kids.

Lastly, I want to thank Charlotte G. for letting me borrow her name. She is a cute little girl I know who was, indeed, named for her Grandpa Charlie. She is in no way what the Story!Charlotte is based off of, though. Except maybe the blue eyes, but Story!Charlotte has Jack's eyes so that's excusable.

Well, without further ado LA END! REVIEW PLEASE!