Author's note: I'm so sorry! I have a legit reason I swear! That will be at the end. (I did remember shoutouts though!)

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Okay, story time!

Jack couldn't remember how long he'd been in New York. He could tell it had been a while because all the snow that covered the ground when he'd arrived had long since melted away. He also knew it couldn't have been more than a few months because he still had a few weeks left of school before summer vacation. He just kept losing track of time. He hadn't expected to see Ralph when he'd arrived. Even now, it shocked Jack just seeing Ralph around school. Partially because he'd never really gotten over the initial shock and partially because Ralph avoided him like the plague, so running into each other was a rare occasion. Oddly enough for Jack, he found himself looking forward to those rare occasions.

He didn't really know why. Ralph never acknowledged him when Jack smiled to him if they passed each other. For a time, Jack had come to diagnosis that he liked because it annoyed Ralph, which had always given him some pleasure on the island, but he later came to a much more startling conclusion: Jack honest to goodness wanted to be Ralph's friend. He hadn't realized how close he'd come to rely on the other boys on the island when he'd been there, even the ones he'd tried to kill. Although there was still a part of Jack that new he'd come to the wrong answer about the handsome, blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy that was Ralph, but Jack was used to continuously telling that part of himself to shut up, so he had didn't have too much trouble ignoring that voice.

To appease his subconscious, Jack was going to the annual end-of-the-year bonfire that, apparently, most of the school went to because he knew there'd be a pretty good chance of Ralph being there. He wasn't quite sure though. It was a bonfire. Fire had always been what Ralph thought would save the boys on the island and, sure enough, it had. But the fire that had saved them had originally had a very different purpose: to kill Ralph. Jack wasn't sure Ralph would ever want to go near fire again (he knew he sure didn't, he was just going to see Ralph).

In his few months at school, Jack had mostly kept to himself. He ate alone at lunch, didn't talk to people outside of class, and certainly didn't try to do anything outside of school. After school, Jack just walked home, alone, to the large apartment he and his dad shared. The only reason he even knew about the end of school bonfire was from some girls who insisted on talking to him. Jack wasn't sure if he would call them beautiful, or even pretty, but he guesses they were kind of cute. They were the type of rich popular girls that everyone seemed to pretend to like but hated behind their backs. According to them, they thought Jack's accent was "super-hot."

When Ralph had seen him arrive, he'd out of sight so that he wouldn't be bothered. He knew Jack was trying. He'd seen every friendly smile directed at him, even though he'd ignored every single one. He knew Jack didn't fit in. Ralph had never once seen Jack talk to anyone at school or even be in the company of people outside of class. Ralph had seen the regret and depression painted on Jack's face as he walked home alone every day. In all honesty, Ralph pitied the kid, because that's what he was: a kid. He was just a kid on the island as well. A kid who didn't know what else to do but survive anyway he could. When he realized that, Ralph knew that, whether or not he'd wanted to, he'd forgiven Jack Merridew. That didn't mean he wanted to be friends with him though.

When he got the empty lot where the bonfire was being held, Jack could see the flames peaking above all the heads that danced around it as music played from a few people's cars. Taking a deep breath, Jack moved toward the crowd. Unwilling to get any closer than he had to, Jack decided to stay on the outskirts of the crowd while trying to find Ralph. As Jack circled the perimeter, the sway of the people, and the music they danced to, began pulling Jack closer and closer to the fire until he was standing right in front of it. Jack watched as flames rose and fell before him and blurred everything around him until he was back on the Island hunting for pig, beating an innocent Simon to death. The cheers of the crowd warp into savage cries as Jack sees the blood and death.

He saw Jack look around the crowd for a minute before getting close to it. Ralph saw the hesitation to go anywhere near the fire in Jack's eyes. As Jack walked around the crowd, it seemed liked he got sucked into the chaos because, just for a moment, Ralph couldn't even see his bright red hair. Ralph looked towards the flame and saw the red head again. For a moment, he just watched Jack stare at the flame. At first, he looked interested in the fire and the way it moved. As seconds passed, Jack's face contorted into a look of focus before it morphed to horror and regret. Ralph didn't look away as Jack slowly backed away from the flame until there were a few people between it and him before turning and practically running away from the hot, crackling fire.

Ralph knew what it was like. It had taken him a few months to work up the nerve to look at the fire for the stove. It took even longer to be near a fire in a chimney. Honestly, he still wasn't very comfortable at the bonfire. When Ralph saw Jack sink down behind a car, he knew that, no matter what their problems were, he needed to go help him

The only reason Jack knew was running was because of how fast the music was getting louder. Jack hurriedly weaved his way through the crowd until he was behind one of the cars blasting the latest pop hits through its speakers. As he sank to the ground hugging his knees, Jack was vaguely aware of the noise and the heat and the burning smell and the heat. He wanted –needed- to get out of there, but he couldn't move. All he could do was cower behind a car trying not to see the flames take over everything.

Ralph was walking normally until he saw Jack start rocking himself on the ground. That's when Ralph broke into a jog, then a run, then he was sprinting to the boy who he knew was having a panic attack just like the ones he used to have.

What Jack couldn't hear was the footsteps that had gotten faster and faster and were closing in on him.

Jack didn't look at Ralph until he was crouched next to him on the ground.

Jack couldn't see him until he was crouching in front of him. Ralph.

Author's Note: Okay, so my super good reason is that I joined my school's First Robotics Competition team this year in January and was busy juggling that and school until after Champs which was mid-April, but at that point I'd messed up some of my grades pretty badly, so I had to fix that, then I had exams in late May (I had another robotics thing during exam week too, so I had to reschedule a bunch of stuff), so I've been extremely busy. This is the beginning of my third week of summer right now, so I have a bit more time, but I still have to do a chapter of APUSH over the summer along with travel and more robotics, so I'm not sure when another update will happen and I'm not gonna make promises I can't keep. Anyway, I'll try to start writing a new chapter for this but I do have some one-shots as well if y'all go check out my stories. Hope y'all liked this chapter!

XOXO - the Beauty of Nightmares