Disclaimer: Lord of the Flies is rightfully owned by William Golding and The Berkley Publishing Group.

A/N: This is something that I had written part of before I started writing these stories and, honestly, I never thought that I'd put it on here. It's about Simon's trek up and down the mountain and it's written in sections that are each titled after the seven Christian virtues (hence the title). I got the idea for this one when I was talking to my friend several months ago about the names of the seven deadly sins and what they mean. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy!

Prudence

I tiptoed through the forest as cautiously as I could without stumbling. This proved to be a more difficult task than I had first imagined since two other boys had come with me on my previous trek. I did my best to avoid stepping on any insects. The creepers wrapped around my legs and I took great care to remove them. It took many stumbles and falling over logs and I think that I even tripped over my own feet a time or two.

After several minutes had passed I'd made it to my secret hiding spot. I carefully crawled into the mini-clearing covered by shrubs and bushes and sat for a while, thinking.

Squeal!

I jerked my head up to hear what had made the terrified noise. A sow stumbled into the larger clearing and I did my best to stay hidden, worried that I might be spotted. I had a feeling that she wasn't alone.

Justice

A rustling sounded from the undergrowth behind the sow and several savages came rushing out and surrounding her from all sides, stabbing at her with their sharpened spears. They ached for a touch of flesh, to spill blood. They seemed to feel righteous at this assault. A redhead, who I assumed was Jack, although it was difficult to tell from my position, tried to aim for her neck. He missed several times before the sow emitted a high-pitched scream which then fell silent. The savages collapsed on top of her and once they'd regained their balance, one of them exclaimed.

"Right up her ass!" he cried.

I couldn't tell whose voice it was. The others seemed to get excited over this as he removed his spear from her posterior. I felt as though I would vomit at the sheer sight of it all. Jack proceeded to unsheathe his knife and saw off her head. He spoke as he worked but I was too sick to hear anything. I could only speculate as he pulled out the sow's innards and placed her head on a sharpened stick at both ends. He placed one end within the earth and the severed head on the other.

Once they'd left all that I could do was stare at the head on a stick. I felt as though this would lead to something but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The dark deed had been dealt.

Temperance

I stared bleakly at the grotesque head on a stick. It had flies surrounding it and had already begun to decompose. It took all of my strength not to pass out from the mere sight of it. I felt a chill in the air and shuddered. I felt it talking to me, calling me names and laughing at me, but I couldn't speak to it. My tongue had swelled up and I was having a difficult time sitting up straight as it was.

It told me that they'd do me. I'm not sure why it did in the first place, since I already knew that they never really like me to begin with. They thought I was batty and I guess that I somewhat agreed with them, even though I denied it oftentimes.

I stared at the pig's mocking face, which continued to jeer at me. I wanted to flee from that place, but something inside of me told me to stay. It held me there, as though I was shackled to the earth.

I felt some sort of strange connection to the rotting hunk of flesh sitting before me, or maybe it was the lack of sustenance in my stomach that led me to further hallucinations. The last thing that I remember before meeting darkness was one final line from the pig's head.

"Do you. See?"

Courage

I awoke well after dark, raising a hand to my face and feeling something crusty trailing down my nose. I disregarded it as I sat up and glanced back at the pig's head, which remained silent. I shakily stood up and talked aloud to the area.

"What else is there to do?"

Realizing that there wasn't anybody else there to answer me, I crawled through the creepers and staggered to the mountaintop, where I found something blowing around in the wind.

At first, it frightened me and I hid. When I saw that it wasn't advancing I decided to creep toward it, which was more like a stagger. I saw the body of a dead man with a parachute attached to his back moving about. The corpse had flies hovering around it and I felt sad for the poor man. I undid the straps binding him to the earth and let him go free. I then proceeded as fast as I could to tell the others about my discovery at the base of the mountain.

Faith

I had to tell them. They needed to know before they went crazy. I knew even before I found the dead man that there wasn't a beast. The others invented it out of fear and were easily manipulated by it. The paranoia going around wasn't enough to satisfy them unless they got the chance to take it out for themselves. Even then the possibility of their fears dissipating was slim to none. They'd always find something to be terrified of, turning them into true savages.

Hope

I staggered through the forest in a jumble of thoughts. I wasn't really sure of my footing but I knew that I had a goal to fulfill. I could vaguely remember what the pig's head had said to me, but I didn't care to dwell on it too much. I tripped over a few tree trunks and creepers here and there.

Once I could make out the light coming from the base of the mountain, I followed it to where I assumed the others were. I leaned against a tree for a moment to catch my breath before setting off again. As long as I told them about my discovery then my goal will have been fulfilled.

I only hoped that they'd listen to me.

Charity

I made it to the base of the mountain and saw the others chanting and dancing around the large fire. I hesitated before drawing in a deep breath and pushing past the creepers. I stumbled out of the forest and felt my knees buckle beneath me. It took me a minute to realize that the others had surrounded me with no escape routes present. I tried to tell them that the beast that they were so afraid of was just a dead man on a hill.

It took me a minute to register the sharp pain in my leg and the warm substance flowing out of it. The pain repeated itself continuously throughout my body and in the midst of all of the shrieking I tried to make my voice heard. My throat felt raw after a while and I could see some of the crimson that had trickled out of my mouth and onto the sand.

The ritual subsided and I was left along the shoreline, staring blankly ahead. I'd somehow managed to crawl toward the ocean during the insane dancing. I supposed that I asked for it. Maybe I'd have had a better chance of getting across to them if I'd come out during daylight. I cried as I thought about them continuing to believe in the nonexistent beast. The physical pain that I'd experienced didn't hurt as bad as those thoughts did as well as the guilt of never getting to tell them. I remained that way until my vision blurred and I couldn't see anything anymore.