Disclaimor: I do not own Lord of the Flies. That is owned by Sir William Golding.
SIMON'S POV
I had an expiration date. It was a commonly known fact that a person could survive only three days without water, if they were lucky. The odds were worse for a person in the heat, sweating out what little water supplies their body had left. I, unfortunately, not only lacked water but was right in the path of the blazing sun.
The walls were slowly closing in on me and it was truly terrifying. Claustrophobia set in, which was absolutely ridiculous since I was surrounded by vast ocean as far as the eye could see. Maybe it was the water itself. There was no solid ground for me to walk on, so I was trapped to that small, cramped raft.
"Simon…. Sweetheart, please stop crying. Please," Jack's voice pleaded. I hadn't even realized I was crying, so when I opened my eyes and the world was blurring it was quite a surprise. It had only been an hour since Jack told me the news that we had no water and I was already a wreck.
Jack untangled his arms from around me and gently wiped a tear off my face. His shoulders were relaxed and he showed no signs of fear at all. In fact, he seemed extremely calm.
"Look, I know you are really upset right now, but Ralph wants us so…." Jack trailed off unsurely.
"No, it's fine. Let's get this over with," I replied with a sigh.
JACK'S POV
That stupid blonde idiot was looking at Simon in a way that made me want to knock his lights out. He held himself like he thought he had power, his hands folded neatly in front of him and his back straight, as he was poised at the edge of his raft. It was ridiculous that the twit thought he was anything other than a sad little kid pretending to be some great leader, but it wasn't that that was bugging me. No, it was the look of fire in his eyes. He wanted to pick a fight, he wanted to start trouble, and he wanted to start it with Simon.
Once we were in front of the raft, Ralph's eyes went straight to Simon and his lips pulled back in a smirk like he was about to attack. I clenched my fists.
"Simon," said Ralph. I do not like that, him saying my Simon's name. Who does he think he- wait. My Simon? Where the hell did that come from? Uh, focus Jack, focus! I thought.
"Ralph. What do you want?" asked Simon.
"So…. Last night I had some trouble getting to sleep, and while I was sitting up, staring at the stars minding my own business, I happened to overhear a conversation. A very interesting conversation…." Ralph said. Simon's face lost all its color and I was worried he would have another fainting spell. Ralph smiled.
"That's right. I know everything," now Ralph turned to me "I never really thought you would be one to like boys, Jack."
"I never thought that about you either, Ralph," I snapped back. Ralph's face flushed and he adverted his eyes nervously for a second before regaining his calm composure.
"That was just a stage. And I got over it," Ralph spat. I rolled my eyes.
"Please, I don't want to hear all about your inner problems. Do you need us for anything? Or can we go?" I said. Ralph laughed suddenly, sounding completely crackers, and shook his head from side to side in mock disappointment. Simon and I shared a glance.
"That's exactly what you can do! Both of you! Because, guess what? As chief, I'm exiling you from the group. Get your raft and leave!" Ralph yelled.
"What!" yelled Simon and I at the same time. I shook my head in disbelief. Exile? He had to be joking…..
"You heard me," said Ralph threateningly. I took a step towards him.
"I'm not leaving and neither is Simon. I don't care if you have that stupid pink shell, you are not chief and I don't take commands from you!" I yelled. Ralph leaned down, his face so close to mine I could feel his breathing.
"Yes, you do. Because if you don't leave, I'm going to tell the whole group all about you and Simon," said Ralph. Behind me, I heard Simon inhale sharply. I turned around and my eyes locked with Simon's green ones reassuringly. After a brief pause, I turned back around to face Ralph.
"Go ahead. I could care less," I replied. If I was going to be with Simon, I didn't see much of a point of hiding it. It wasn't that I felt like it would be wrong to hide it, actually it would probably make our lives easier in the long run ,but I just supposed that once I admitted it to myself that I loved him, I was also admitting it to the whole world.
Ralph rolled his eyes.
"I was pretty sure you would say that. How about this, you leave with your raft or your not even going to have a raft," said Ralph calmly. Simon's eyelids fluttered in confusion.
"What are you talking about?" he asked. Ralph reached around and picked something up out of his raft, not once taking his eyes off us.
"This," he said, holding something small in the light. It was a round, shiny disk about the size of a quarter, marked with our school emblem in blue. Just seeing the symbol made me feel sick to my stomach as I remembered life before the crash, but that wasn't the only thing wrong with that tiny piece of metal. No, it was the sharp pin on the back of it that was the problem.
"You're going to sink us?" gasped Simon, tears welling up in his green eyes. He angrily pushed them away and bit his lip in defiance. Ralph closed his eyes and shrugged as if to say "I don't care", and tossed the pin between his hands.
"I'm surprised neither of you knew I had this. Found it on my blazer the fourth day, some award I got from art club, but that's no matter. How do you think I continued to be leader? From that dumb conch shell? Please. So I would suggest you both get going. You have until sunset to leave," Ralph said. Ralph gave one more arrogant smile before turning around and jumping back into his raft. It took all of my energy not to reach over there and smack him across the face.
It took even more restraint when I saw tears run down Simon's face as he walked towards our precious raft.
SIMON'S POV
Another deadline. Sunset.
Once we got to our raft, neither of us hesitated to detach the ropes and pull out the paddles. We rowed away in silence, ignoring the confused looks from the other boys and the hot sun on our backs. It wasn't a big procession and Ralph didn't even sit up to watch his enemies leave. One minute we were there, the next we were gone. No one even noticed.
The group became smaller and smaller, until they disappeared completely from the horizon. It was sunset by the time we stopped.
The water where we stopped was a darker blue and too deep to attach the raft to anything. Jack and I hadn't talked all day, but my mouth was so dry from thirst I wasn't sure I could talk if I wanted too. I put down my paddle and slowly leaned over the side of the raft. The water danced in front of my face, navy blue tinged with sunset gold, teasing me, taunting me. I looked closer and saw my reflection. Red, cracked lips, tired, dark eyes…. All surrounded by water. Water. Sweet, cool, refreshing, perfect water…..
I reached down cautiously, piercing the flawlessly smooth swells with my finger. Cool water lapped against it and tiny droplets jumped up to my wrist. I plunged my whole hand in. The texture of the water running against my skin made me even more thirsty. Maybe just having something cool in my mouth would work. I won't drink the salt water, so it won't dehydrate me… I thought. Impulsively, I cupped my hand and pulled some of the water up to my mouth.
"Simon!" I spit it out. Salt was burning in my mouth, but I ignored it and whipped around to face Jack.
"What are you doing? Are you crackers?" he yelled. I scraped my tongue with my front teeth, trying to rid it off the horrible salty taste. Jack crawled up to me.
"I'm so sorry… I just thought…." I stopped as a lump formed in the back of my throat. Salty tears stung at my eyes now matching my stinging mouth. Jack sighed painfully and wrapped his arms around me.
"Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink. Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner," Jack said. I pulled back and swallowed the lump in my throat.
"Things are not looking good," I said. Jack let out a sudden, crazy laugh.
"You can say that again!" he said. I frowned and Jack stopped.
"Look, Si, do you remember what I said during the storm?" he asked. I shook my head.
"I told you there is no way we are going down without a fight. So what if those bloody idiots threw us out? Maybe it's a good thing," Jack said, sitting up a little taller and using more power in his voice. The sun cast a dramatic glow to his face, lighting up his hair to a deeper red and making his tan skin glow orange.
"You're joking right?" I replied. Jack smiled.
"Hardly. We can't just sit around waiting anymore, we have to go looking for rescue ourselves!" Jack said.
I thought about Jack's words. Part of me wanted to believe him, hope that there still was a chance, that together we could do it. But the other half of me? I was worn out, just a kid who had been through more than he could handle. Of course I didn't want to die, but I wasn't superman, I couldn't do the impossible. But then again…..
I looked at Jack again. Only one week ago, we had been enemies for life and suddenly, he had become the person I cared about the most. Now that was impossible. If I could make that work, who was to say I couldn't make this work?
"So what do you say?" asked Jack, his eyes burning with fight still left in them. I pulled myself off the ground and looked him straight in the eyes.
"Bring it on."
Author's Note: Alright, so I've officially figured that after this there will only be two chapters left. This story took waaaaay longer than I expected! The feedback has been amazing though, so thank you all so much for the reviews and messages, its so super duper ah-mazing!
Jack: Thank goodness this stories almost over! I'm thirsty!
Simon: Aww, Jack don't say that! I don't want this story to end...
Jack: And why not?
Paris: Because, the next story is going to be a Ralph/Jack slash. Simon's not even going to be in it.
Simon: I will miss you Jackie-kins!
Jack:... Jackie-kins?
Paris: I think it's cute.
Jack:...
Paris: I have a whole list of names for you. Jackie-kins, Jackilynn, Jackolantern, Jackie-bear-
Jack: WHAT?
Simon: See, doesn't the raft seem a hell of a lot better now?
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