Clever alibis
Lord of the Flies
Hit 'em right between the eyes
Hit 'em right between the eyes
When you walk away, nothing more to say
See the lightning in your eyes
See 'em running for their lives
My stomach twisted and turned as we marched towards Castle Rock, all armed with spears. I had no idea what was going to happen. I wiped my sweaty palms on my tattered, grey tank top and nervously gulped. Jack was capable of so many things. Anything could happen.
We reached Castle Rock sooner than I hoped and continued forwards. I stared up at the familiar cliffs and searched for my former tribe mates.
"Halt! Who goes there?"
Ralph and I looked up and saw Roger's dark face at the top.
"You can see who we are! Now where is Jack?" Ralph demanded.
Some of the other savages heard the commotion and started to appear one by one. They stared down at us intimidatingly from behind paint and dirt.
"He's out hunting," one of them said.
"I've come for Piggy's specs. And Angel has some matters of her own." Ralph replied as calmly as possible.
The savages turned their heads toward me as if they hadn't noticed me before. They each glared at me with squinting, evil eyes.
"Traitor!" The savages shouted and hissed. One of them threw a small rock at me that hit me square in the stomach.
I winced and stared back at a loss for words. I opened my mouth, but closed it afraid to say anything. Instead, I ran my hand through my wavy hair and began chewing my nails again. Why did I have such bad habits?
"What are you guys doing here?" A smooth, silky voice rang out from behind us.
Ralph, Piggy, the twins, and I turned around recognizing the voice instantly. Jack, along with Maurice and Bill, were advancing from the jungle. I dumbly blinked and stared at Jack, confusion running through my head. I so badly wanted to run into his arms and pretend like nothing was wrong, but I knew what he did could not be forgiven. I thought once I saw Jack, I'd let him have a piece of my mind. But now that he was actually here, I was at a complete loss for words.
"Well, well, well... Look who went running back to Ralphie." Jack taunted smugly.
I shot him a dirty look and bit my tongue to remain quiet. I didn't want to anger Jack; he was a complete wildcard.
"Why would you go to Ralph? He's not a real man like I am." Jack said with a confident smirk. "Why don't you go and put some paint back on? You and I can do some hunting later. Maybe even a little something else too while we're out alone."
He smirked confidently as the savages began laughing in unison.
What happened to him? Was the island really affecting him this much? He wasn't like this before. Human nature was a scary thing.
This time, I couldn't keep quiet.
"Because Ralph was there for me when you and your bloody tribe killed my brother!" I angrily spat. I was sure to put emphasis on the word killed for dramatic effect. It didn't work.
Jack rolled his eyes.
"Not my fault he was wandering around the jungle in the middle of the night." He snorted.
Jack's words triggered a memory of my brother from earlier.
"What exactly are you doing in here in the middle of the night?" I asked Simon curiously.
He stared off into the distance somewhere and took a breath. "I come here every night to think and be alone."
I tore my eyes away from Jack's and fixed them on the ground, fighting back tears. I had to stay strong.
"It's completely your fault." I muttered, looking up at him. I stared into his almost unrecognizable face. It was so covered with paint, dirt, and blood that I couldn't even tell he was the same handsome, sweet boy I'd first seen on the airplane.
Jack's icy blue eyes flashed with anger. He charged forward and grabbed my arm. I dropped my spear in complete shock. It clattered to the ground somewhere close to me and stayed there ignored.
"Is not! Your strange, weird-ass brother had no right being out in the jungle during the middle of the night like that! Especially during a tribal ritual!" Jack yelled.
His grip on my arm tightened. I cried out in pain and tried to free myself, but it was no use; Jack was far stronger than I was. Ralph reacted immediately.
"You let go of her this instant!" Ralph yelled raising his spear.
Jack rolled his eyes again.
"And just what are you going to do about it?" He asked with a bored tone. I continued to hopelessly struggle in his grip.
Ralph narrowed his eyes and charged Jack. Jack dropped my wrist and charged Ralph too, defending himself. I scattered away on release and ran over to pick up my spear. Maurice kicked it out of the way and held up his own spear, as if challenging me to retrieve mine. I rushed over to Samneric and stood in between them as we held onto each other in terror, watching Ralph and Jack fight.
They met with a jolt as Jack swung and hit Ralph in the ear. Ralph reacted by swinging a fist into Jack's stomach, causing him to grunt. A few more fists were thrown before they pulled apart and faced each other, both panting and glaring. The savages were shrilly cheering behind them, urging them to resume fighting.
Piggy interrupting by crying out.
"Let me speak!"
As Piggy ran out from the side, the savages' cheering changed into booing. Piggy tried to shout over it.
"I got the conch!"
He held it in the air as proof for all to see.
"See? I got it! Now let me speak."
He squinted at everyone, trying to gage their reactions. The tribe fell silent, curious to hear what he had to say. Roger, from up above, threw a few small stones while one hand still rested on a lever that was wedged underneath a gigantic boulder.
Piggy flinched at the stones and continued on.
"You're all acting like kids! Having rules is better than hunting and killing!"
The savages began booing in disagreement again. Samneric and I stepped forward to side with Piggy. Before we could get far, we were cut off by Jack.
"Get back!" Jack yelled.
We all looked at each other and refused to move. Jack glanced at the tribe behind him.
"Grab them!"
We immediately scattered in different directions. The painted group moved round Samneric as I sprinted towards Ralph and ran into his arms, shaking with absolute terror. I turned to see if they had gotten away too. Unfortunately, they hadn't been as lucky as me. I watched with sorrow as the painted savages formed a circle around them and tied them up. I remained still as Ralph's arms tightened around me for security. Jack looked at us as if he was expecting a rescue attempt, but Ralph and I remained rooted to the ground, too afraid to make a move. Piggy, however, did not intend on staying silent. He stepped forward and angrily squinted at Jack and the tribe.
"Stop acting childish! It is better to have civilization than to be a painted pack of Indians!" Piggy ranted. He raised the cream coloured shell to emphasize his point.
High overhead, Roger, deciding he'd heard enough from Piggy, leaned all of his weight onto the lever. Ralph and I heard the rock before it we saw it.
"Piggy! Watch out!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
It was no use. The great rock came rolling off the top of the cliff and hit a squinting Piggy right between the eyes. The conch exploded into pieces and scattered everywhere. Piggy traveled through the air with the rock then landed forty feet on his back across the rock in the sea. His head busted open and red mush oozed out. His arms and legs were twitching in the same way as the pig I had so carelessly slaughtered. Ralph and I stood, mouth open, and stared in a state of shock and horror. I looked up at Roger and saw him chuckling darkly, clearly enjoying his kill with a sick, sadistic enthusiasm. I cried miserably as I watched Piggy's mangled body get sucked into the sea, never to be seen again. Within moments, it was gone from sight. No one, not the tribe, nor Ralph, nor me, dared to make a sound. The tenderness of the moment was far too intense for noise. After what seemed like a painful eternity, Jack bounded into sight.
"See?" He yelled wildly, his icy eyes flashing madly. "That's what you get! No more tribe for you!"
Jack hurled his spear at Ralph and caught the flesh in his ribs. Ralph winced in pain and silently cursed under his breath. He quickly grabbed my hand and led me away. We both tore away from the murderous group and began desperately running for safety. At this point, I didn't believe there was a single safe place left on this island. It was one cruel, unforgiving hell. Ralph and I kept running for our side of the island as the wind smacked us in the face harshly. I glanced over my shoulder to see if Jack or the tribe were following. Luckily for us, they weren't. We reached our destination quickly and panted for breath. I desperately sucked in dry air and tried to catch my ragged breath. To my left, Ralph was doing the exact same thing. Our eyes met with the same emotion gleaming in them: terror.
"Are... you... okay?" I managed to gasp out, still panting from exhaustion.
Ralph looked down at his chest. The wounds from Jack were still fresh. His flesh was bruised over his right ribs with a swollen, bleeding cut where the spear had hit him. Noticing his blood, I grabbed a handful of my tank top in my hand and ripped half of it off at the end. I took the tattered fabric and began dabbing at Ralph's open wounds, attempting to stop the blood flow. He winced when I made contact, but relaxed shortly after. I continued to clean the blood off as Ralph crookedly smiled at me. His face shined with gratefulness. My strip of fabric quickly absorbed the blood and forced me to rip off another chunk of my shirt. I ripped from the bottom again and went straight back to wiping. By now, the tank top was now a half shirt. I blushed in embarrassment and tried to quickly shake it off. It did feel much better with this extreme heat though. I gently removed the blood from Ralph's chest and bit my lip. Ralph's chest was extremely toned and felt incredibly muscular beneath my small hands. I tried to focus on the wounds, but my eyes kept wandering. I bit into my lip so hard that I drew blood.
"Oww!" I cried out in pain. My bottom lip was softly oozing out a small amount crimson blood.
Ralph jumped at the suddenness of my voice. "What happened?"
I tried licking away the blood before he noticed, but it kept coming back.
"I accidentally bit down too hard on my lip," I admitted sheepishly.
Ralph cooly reached down to my shirt and pulled off a small piece.
"Now it's my turn to help you." He said coolly.
He raised the grey fabric to my lips and began dabbing at them like I had with him. I shivered at the contact on my lips. Ralph calmly ran the fabric across them, not missing a single drop of blood. Our eyes met and we silently stared at each other. My stomach began knotting up with a sudden nervousness. I felt my throat go dry and my face go pale. I lowered my eyes to the ground sheepishly, but Ralph gently raised my chin up to meet his gaze. I quickly licked my lips and realized the blood has stopped flowing. With a slight relief, I softly sighed. Ralph leaned in and our lips met ever so softly. My arms instantly wrapped around his neck, and his around my waist, as we continued to gently kiss. I smiled into his lips and just for that moment, I finally felt safe. I savoured the feeling of saftey knowing that it wouldn't last much longer.