He couldn't really think of a reason why, but for some reason, when Jack woke up the next morning, he felt...really different.
He woke up to the warm sun shining on him really intensely, and the boy moaned while stretching. He felt like he didn't get much sleep the night before, and he tiredly woke up and moved around the cave to wake up. It didn't really feel like it was early in the morning, but the boy could tell that it wasn't anywhere near the late afternoon. Perhaps mid-afternoon?
His stomach growled rather loudly, and the boy walked out of the cave to find to find Roger flicking a stick on some random lizard that was moving around. Did the boy really feel it necessary to harm everything that crawled and/or existed? Jack walked up to the boy and gave a slight smile.
"Hey." He said, and the boy looked back and raised an eyebrow.
"Um...hi?" Jack watched as his friend rolled his eyes and went back to hitting the lizard. Somebody was obviously in a cranky mood. Was he surprised that Roger was, though? Not really.
"Aw, somebody's in a bad mood." The boy squished his cheeks together and made a sarcastic face. The noirette looked back and stared at Jack for a while, with the most bizarre expression on his face. What was his problem? He looked like he had just eaten cockroaches. Jack laughed at placed his hands on his hips.
"What's the problem with you, Roger? Usually you're not this...well, you know...Roger."
The boy turned from a look of confusion to a look of anger as the boy stood up from where he was sitting and threw a finger at him.
"Fuck off, Ralph. Jack told me about what you told him yesterday."
Ralph? What the hell was the boy talking about? Jack, baffled and dumbfounded, just stared at the other boy, expressionless, before busting out into a round of laughter. Normally, Roger didn't really tell jokes to anyone, but now that he was telling one of the redhead? Jack was actually quite amused. His laughing session lasted for a little bit before the boy cleaned off the tears that went down his face and stood straight again. A smile still played on his face, however.
"I'm sorry, Roger, didn't realize today was opposite day. Who are you then, Piggy?"
Roger furiously shook his head and dropped his stick before walking away, clearly annoyed. Jack watched him leave and was confused as to why Roger wouldn't want to talk to him. I mean, if Roger really wanted to poke the lizard in peace, he could have just said so. Jack sighed before walking away in a different direction and heading off into the jungle to find something to eat.
The jungle was actually quiet today, surprisingly. Normally, it would be full of yelling from the littluns, or the constant squealing of the pigs, or even the annoying noise of the forest insects, but today it was tolerable. Jack watched the sun brightly shine through the tops of the trees and cause the ground below him to create paths besides the shadowy parts of the jungle, and the boy walked through the parts where the sun shone the brightest to see if there was anyone else awake. Ralph and Piggy were probably already awake, knowing them, and they were probably just trying to light the signal fire again. The boy snickered while picturing them light the fire up, even though they probably already knew that nobody was really going to pay it any attention except for them. Jack even wondered why they even really needed a fire, or at least why the fire was more important in Ralph's eyes than hunting and getting food for the entire lot of them, especially considering that fruit and nuts that the boys collected to eat started to get bland after eating them for a while.
"What a dumb way to run a tribe..." the boy muttered underneath his breath as he neared a small pool of water and dropped down to have a sip. He got down on all fours and sipped the water greedily, letting his dehydrated body get all the water it would need. He heard a noise rustle through the bushes, and the boy's eyes shot a quick glance at what was making the noise. It was a small figure walking through the trees over to the pool of water where Jack was, and the boy could only sigh as he realized who it was.
Simon smiled while following a monarch butterfly that flew around, and the poor boy couldn't look happier. His green eyes lit up with curiosity as the butterfly eventually flew over Jack and over the pool, and the boy smiled even wider when he realized who was drinking from the pool.
"Um...morning Ralph. Usually you're up a lot earlier than today, huh?" Simon happily sat next to Jack, and the boy cocked his head to the side in amusement.
Apparently, Roger had the idea to tell everyone about the prank, and now Simon was trying it on him. Unfortunately for the littler boy, Jack already knew what was going on.
"Save the act, Simon. I already know about the trick, and it's safe to say that I know you're trying to somehow persuade me that I am actually Ralph." The green eyed boy looked confusingly at the older boy and bit his lip in misunderstanding.
"What..act, Ralph? I don't understand."
Jack laughed loudly at the boy's statement and playfully rolled his eyes before taking another long sip from the pool. The boy then wiped his arm on his wet mouth to remove the remaining drips of water before looking at Simon straight in the eyes.
"Well, to save you from any further looks of embarrassment, since I am always right, I will just say that it was really sweet of you to keep trying to play this prank on me, and I have to admit, Roger had gotten me kinda good at first, but I have yet to fall for it, so I think you should stop now that you have gotten to this point."
Simon looked at his friend with a confused smile, and simply shook his head in bafflement. The boy never thought of Ralph as being batty, but something must have gotten in his head or something, because he certainly was acting that way. Simon sighed before an intriguing idea came to his mind. His smile grew wider as his eyes squinted to show humor.
"Okay, okay, you got me. But before I step down to my knees in utter defeat, you should know that there is actually something on your corner of your eye. I can't explain it, it might be grass but..."
The little boy watched as the other boy took his arm and rubbed his eyes to remove whatever it was there, but when he was through and looked at Simon for approval, the other boy shook his head and pointed to the pool.
"You might want to look and see for yourself. It would be easier than just guessing where it was."
Jack gave the other boy doubtfully, since he knew it might be another joke, but the boy laughed and shook his head as he leaned down again to see his reflection in the water. However, he regretted it soon afterwards.
"Oh...my...fucking...God."
Ralph was pretty sure that there was never a time before this morning where he could run faster.
The boy sprinted quickly through the mazes of trees and vines and brambles while trying to process everything he had just seen. Him, being Jack? How is this possible? Was this some kind of huge, messed up trick that God decided to play on him? The thoughts that went through the boy's mind were a mess altogether, and the only thing that the boy could think of was why, why, why? His breath, coming out in short pants, caused the boy to have a dizzy mind, and to have his eyes blurry. The colors of the jungle made the boy even more frantic, and right now, all the boy wanted was to wake up from the nightmare and go back to being his blonde, shorter self. He grabbed his head and tried to catch his breath before leaning against a nearby tree and looking up into the sky, trying not to blind himself with the sun's strong light.
'I just don't understand...how could this happen?' He thought, looking back at the trails of orange freckles that covered his arms and letting his fingers touch his bony structured face.
His stomach growled, and the boy grasped his stomach as if to make his hunger subside for the time being. However, there was no point to stop something such as hunger. If Ralph wanted to make anything right, he knew he would have to confront Jack, first. He knew that if he had taken the appearance of Jack, surely Jack would have his appearance, right? Just picturing Jack being in Ralph's body made the boy want to run away and throw himself off a cliff in disgust, but there was nothing he could do at the moment but just accept it and try to find it. Who knows, maybe the other boy knew the reason as to why and how this could have happened?
Ralph finished catching his breath before running his hands through his new red hair, and let his icy blue eyes explore the area he was in. By his judgement, he figured he was somewhere in the middle of the jungle area, so the boy leaned off the tree and started sprinting again to find Jack and get everything situated.
Simon watched as he saw his friend look in the pool for what seemed like forever, and stared as the boy put his fingers on his face, questioningly.
"What...the hell is going on...? And why the hell do I look like Ralph?!" Jack screamed, picking himself off of the ground and nearing the littler boy with a growl imprinted on his face.
Simon shivered and backed away defensively as Jack had him pinned up against the tree and wanted clearly wanted answers that the other boy could not give him. Scared and not understanding anything that was going on, Simon just shook his head in a completely clueless manner and watched as the taller boy grabbed his arm angrily. It was obvious that, whatever Ralph had done to himself, it was making him very hysterical.
"Whatever that stupid ass of a blonde did to me, he's going to pay!" Jack threatened. His eyes seemed to go through Simon's body like a sharp knife, and the smaller boy began to stutter in fear.
"P-please, Ralph, I don't know what's wrong, but please let me go. You're scaring me."
Jack looked at the eyes of a trembling choir boy and sighed impatiently. He knew from experience with the boy when and how the fainter could lose his marbles, and it was obvious now that if he didn't cut the boy some slack, Simon would probably faint. Permanently.
Jack ran his hands through his hair and paced back and forth, once letting Simon go, and started muttering different things to himself. First of all, the boy considering this being a dream of some sorts, since these types of things clearly do not exist in real life. Afterwards, there was the idea that Ralph was in his body, somewhere on the island, and that Jack needed to find him to talk things through. However, knowing that Ralph was in someone else's body entirely, it would make things complicated in case he tried to converse with one of his friends and act out of character, especially with Roger, or even Maurice.
It was very uncomfortable for the other boy to take a breather and consider everything that had been going on. There was that whole issue with hunting, and now this? What was ever going to become of him, and he knew that the only way he could ever maintain this situation without completely giving into insanity first was to speak with Ralph and hopefully get some answers.
Jack glanced back at Simon, who was still quivering and was sitting on the ground with a terrified look on his face, and merely sighed before giving an apologetic look. He knew that Ralph and Simon were decent friends, so for the sake of one of his choir members, he decided to let his feelings for the blonde remain.
"Um, sorry Simon. I guess...the island weather has just been getting to me, is all. Uh, go find Piggy and...look after the littleuns' or something."
Simon slowly started to nod before starting to stand in a scared manner, and then Jack's new dark blue eyes widened in rememberance of something.
"Oh yeah, have you, perhaps, seen Ral-, uh, I mean, Jack anywhere?" The boy felt clumsy at his mistake, but he knew that it would take some adjusting to get used to this...unfortunate circumstance.
Luckily, Simon nodded again and pointed in the direction of the eastern side of the island. Jack nodded appreciatively before running in that direction to find the blonde, or rather, the redhead.
Sweat was now dripping from the tall boy's forehead as he finally reached a point to stop for a while of constant running through the jungle. Ralph couldn't find the other boy anywhere, and he practically looked all through the jungle to find him! The boy noticed a berry bush near where he stopped, and he fell on his knees once coming close to the bush before he decided to devour the berries, not really caring whether or not they were poisonous. The delicious scent and taste of the berries completely created pleasure for the redhead as his gave in to his own gluttony, watching as the crushed berries from his hand melted slightly from being in the sunlight, and the juice dripped from his palm onto the ground. It seemed as though the boy had never been that hungry. He watched as the sun, who was pretty high in the sky a couple of hours ago, start to look as though it was slowly dropping, but Ralph wasn't through for that day. He knew that, besides trying to find Jack for what seemed like forever, that he hadn't really done anything that day besides explore, so he knew he didn't really contribute to the ways of the tribe, especially with the fire-watching or with keeping track of the littluns.
'If only this didn't happen. I would have probably gotten to have a good bathing right now and some food would have already been in my stomach,' the boy thought to himself as he helped himself to more of the berries. He was so occupied with eating the berries that he didn't notice a figure running up close to him and completely colliding with him, causing both the boys to fall to the ground, and the berries that Ralph held to roll out of his hand. Ralph glanced up, startled, to find that a boy who looked very much like him was on top of him, and his anger that had been bottled up from earlier was about to be let out, like an animal in a cage. Ralph crawled out from underneath him and growled challenginly as Jack stepped up and grabbed his head.
"You. It's about bloody time I found you!" Ralph yelled as the boy appeared dizzy and confused.
"Oh, my fucking head...why is everything such a blur..."
Ralph grabbed Jack by his shoulders and shook his former self before the boy finally came to, and glared at Ralph with the same fiery gaze.
"Get your hands off of me!" Jack hissed before completely smacking Ralph's hands off of his shoulder and walking up to him, chest to chest. Even Jack was now shorter than Ralph, he looked up in the same way that he always looked at Ralph, and the other boy could now clearly tell that boy was pissed off.
"What the hell did you do to me, Ralph? I know this is your fault!"
"Me? What do you mean, me? If this is anyone's fault, it's completely yours!"
"Oh, ho, okay I see. Try to blame the person who didn't even lay a single damn finger on you. Well, its not going to work this time, because you have no single inkling of proof that would prove that I would do something this batty!"
Both boys glared at each other, as if looks could kill, and Ralph sighed before turning away and placing his face on his head and trying to keep calm. He knew that out of any other boy on the island, Jack was the most ill-tempered, so getting on his bad side was extremely catastrophic to his own health. The boy who now had the appearance of Ralph glared sharply at the other boy, who was starting to pace back and forth, as though to get ideas.
"We have to think of a way to get back to normal, considering that if I have to stay in this body for even...for even more than another hour, I am seriously.."
"And what, do you say, is so wrong about my body, you bloody excuse for a chief?" Jack hissed, gritting his teeth, obviously past his breaking point for his anger. Ralph looked back, letting his icy blue eyes show a sarcastic sense of humor.
"Nothing, maybe except for the fact that it's completely not my own damn body." Ralph replied, watching as a challenging scowl appeared as the other boy's face. It wasn't that hard for Ralph to really piss off the other boy, something they both knew.
"I mean, at least my body's hygienic anyway.." Ralph started before Jack's face turned completely savage.
"What did you say?!"
"Nothing. Let's just calm down and think about what to do. Have you talked to anybody since this has happened?" Jack let his anger lighten up slightly and looked at the other boy a little more calmly, yet his face still looked like it was going to explode.
"Only Roger and Simon. They thought I was batty before I realized what was actually going on."
Ralph's expression turned from apprehension to complete shock.
"You talked to Simon? What did you say to him, you didn't make him frightened, did you?"
Jack sighed before rolling his eyes.
"What's it to you? It's not like it's any of your business, anyways."
"Jack!"
"What? Only saying the truth. Besides, I have known Simon way longer than you, so I should know, regardless of whether I am in your body or not, what makes the boy tick."
Ralph sighed before pacing faster and faster. Jack looked at the boy while biting his lower lip.
"So? What about yourself? Please don't tell me you talked to Roger or anything..."
"I didn't. I just talked to Piggy, and he thought of me batty, too."
The blonde laughed before placing his hands on his hips, as though trying to contain himself from laughter. "He probably thought you were stupid trying to talk to him, considering you're in my body now and everything. I really do hate him."
"Well, you shouldn't, because now I really doubt he'll believe me if I try to explain this to him.."
Ralph watched as the expression on Jack's face changed completely as the boy said this.
"Whoa, whoa, what are you talking about, with this explaining shit? Oh no, no, we're not going to tell anybody about this. Do you realize it would be like a suicide attempt of making fun if we tried? Imagine their faces, we'd never be let down!"
Ralph stared at the other boy with a look of frustration. Why did the boy always have to thing so complicated?
"Well, if we managed to convince someone what happened, they could help try to reverse this thing that happened to us, and we could be turned back to normal again!" Ralph smiled as the thought of returning to his body came to his mind, instead of being trapped with this tall, pale, ginger boy prison. The other boy simply sighed and shook his head before sitting on a nearby rock and placing his head within his hands, as though deep in thought. Ralph smirked before looking off into the horizon and finding that the sun was slowly starting to sink, little by little.
"So, it's decided. Tomorrow morning, we will host a meeting and have explain this to everyone, so that everything can be understood by everyone." Ralph said.
Jack rolled his eyes before looking up and down his new tan arms and trying to count how many small pebbles laid on the ground.
The two boys had nothing else to say for the rest of that day, so as the night came upon them, a new day awaited them, and so did many rather...interesting circumstances.