A/N: Hello readers! Thanks so much for your encouraging and excellent reviews. This was so hard to write, I had no idea what to say after last chapter. I hope that this is good. Sorry for the long wait, I just had writer's block and no time to write anyway. I think that I have overcome my block now though.
Annie was lying in the dry sand. She allowed herself to be in full sun, although she knew that she would have to move into shade soon, or else face the painful sunburn that she would have later. Simon came and sat beside her after a little while and he passed her some fruit, which she ate slowly because she wasn't very hungry.
"Have you seen Ralph and Jack?" She asked casually.
"Jack's getting food and Ralph's talking to Piggy."
"Oh… Simon?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you miss home a lot?" She asked quietly as Simon began to lie down beside her.
"I guess." He answered.
"I do too. We'll get home soon, I think," She said hopefully. But Simon was silent. "Where do you go at night?" She questioned in an almost whisper.
"Hey! Annie!" Someone hollered to her from the edge of the woods. She sat up and turned her head towards the noise. Ralph stood there looking at her.
"What?" She asked as she got up and he walked over to her.
"Some of us are going to explore the island, you wanna come?"
She looked back to where she had been, but Simon had disappeared. "Alright…" She said a little hesitantly. She wanted to go, but she wondered where Simon had gone so suddenly. "Who's coming?"
"Jack, Piggy, me, of course, and uh, Roger." He answered as he began walking further down towards the receding shoreline. A few moments later Jack and Roger walked coolly out of the woods and strode u to Ralph and Annie who were just skirting the water's edge. Piggy rushed out of the woods behind them, breathing heavily and already struggling to keep up.
"You better keep up, Piggy, because we're not slowing down." Roger said as they began to walk down the beach at a moderate pace. He sounded angry that Piggy was even coming along.
"Wouldn't it be nice if this wasn't really an island at all…" Annie mused as they walked along the beach. "If it were just the tip of a peninsula or something."
"That's stupid." Roger said.
"I know… I was just saying." She answered quietly.
"It could be a peninsula, you never know." Jack said light-heartedly.
"And wouldn't it be great if it was?" Ralph added enthusiastically.
"We could walk to a town and be home by morning." Piggy fantasized.
"I could wash my hair." Annie added.
"And I could eat all the sweets I want…" Piggy said excitedly. They all went on for a while like this, saying things that they could do, if only the island wasn't really an island.
They walked along the beach, not yet delving into the woods. Annie could feel herself burning a little, but there wasn't much that she could do about it so she decided to ignore it. They began to run out of things to say and eventually just walked on in silence. They had been walking for a long time and were now pretty far away from camp. This side of the island was completely unfamiliar to them. They had only gone around the other side to go to the graves so they were surprised to find a rocky part of the island that jutted out into the ocean.
"Let's check it out!" Roger said as he rushed to the edge where rock began. There was a narrow bridge of rock that led out to a more solid large base of larger rocks and solid rock ground. There was also what appeared to be a cave.
"Who's gonna go first?" Piggy asked, in a business-like tone.
"I will." Jack said as he began to forcefully step out onto the bridge.
"I don't think that we should…" Ralph said.
"What are you, scared?" Jack said, going a little further and raising one eyebrow.
"No." Ralph said. "I just don't think that we really need to check it out. It's already getting late, and we're not even very far from camp."
"It's not that late." Jack commented, as if challenging Ralph.
"Yeah… alright. But I want to go first." He said.
"I'm already out here." Jack argued.
"Fine." Ralph said bitterly. The rock bridge was narrow but Jack sidestepped his way across with ease. Once he was on the other side Roger crossed.
"Ladies first." Ralph said to Annie. "Unless you don't want to go yet."
"Uh, sure…" Annie said as she made her way out onto the bridge. It was very high up and she could just see herself plummeting onto the rocks below. A slight salty breeze ruffled her hair and she was half way across the bridge. She was aware that she was moving slower than the boys had, but she didn't care if it took her a year as long as she got across safely.
She was inching closer and closer, all the while only looking forward at her destination. Suddenly the wind picked up. The sea breeze accelerated and became harder wind that blew the forest leaves about and harshly rippled the surface of the water. Annie began teetering back and forth on the narrow rock, struggling to keep her balance. She was just a nanosecond away from falling to her death.
Suddenly Annie felt a hand grab her arm and pull her back on balance. She gasped and began shaking. She looked back at her rescuer who was still holding her arm protectively. "It's ok." Ralph said as he held her arm and they began to move again. "I was only a few feet away the whole time." The made it to the other side. Annie was shaking and breathing rapidly.
"Thank you." She said while struggling to calm herself. "You saved my life." He put one arm around her comfortingly and huddled against him, resting her head against his shoulder.
"Good job, Ralph!" Jack said heartily. Making sure that any sign of bitterness that he had not been the hero stayed out of his voice.
"Thanks, Jack." Ralph replied. Annie had quieted her whispering.
She eventually calmed down and ended up separating herself from Ralph. "You ok?" Jack asked while coming up beside her and casually putting his arm around her. He squeezed her gently and then removed his arm.
"Yeah, I was just a little shaken, that's all." Annie told him.
"Hey, Piggy!" Roger called. "You coming?"
"No… I don't think so." He called back, his voice shaking a little with fright.
"Chicken!" Roger jeered.
"No… I just…" He protested.
"Come on, Piggy," Jack joined in. "Everybody else did it."
"I just don't want to." He whined.
"Don't be a baby!" Jack yelled.
"What's the matter, Piggy?" Roger said evilly. "Mommy's not here to hold your hand?"
"That's enough." Ralph said brusquely, but Jack looked like he wasn't going to say anything after that anyway. Piggy took his glasses off and wiped tears out of his eyes, and Ralph turned to Roger. "What's the matter with you?" He asked venomously. "You know his mother's not…"
"Not what?" Roger asked mockingly. "Alive."
Annie looked at Jack worriedly. As if silently begging him to break up the argument before they started fighting. His expressionless eyes locked on hers and without breaking eye contact he addressed the two boys on the brink of a fight. "What the hell are we waiting for?" Jack said while looking around at the rocks. "The whole purpose of getting over here was to explore it."
They looked around and Jack decided that the small rock isthmus would be a perfect fort. With sharp rocks and water all around, and only the narrow rock bridge to get out to the fort structure, it would be completely defendable. From the main land the rock group looked small but they soon saw that it was larger than it looked. There wasn't one, but three, good-sized caves.
"I don't like it out here." Annie said quietly as they entered one of the dim caves. "It's too dark and cut off from the rest of the island."
"What do you know?" Roger said bitterly while following directly behind her into the cave. "If you were going to be such a baby why didn't you stay back with Piggy?"
"I didn't say I was scared!" She answered angrily. "I just don't like it very much."
"It'd be great, Annie." Jack said. "We could live in the caves and not have to worry about rain, and it would be easily defendable."
'What would you defend it from?' Ralph thought darkly but did not voice.
They eventually finished their exploration and crossed the bridge, Jack and Ralph standing close to Annie to make sure she didn't fall. Piggy was gone, probably back to the shelters, and Jack and Roger began walking back also, thinking the Annie and Ralph were directly behind them.
The sun was already setting, painting the sky with a reddish pinkish glow and causing the sea to sparkle. They were both looking back on the sight, very close together. Their shoulders touched slightly and they looked at each other in surprise. "Thanks again for saving my life." Annie said softly. Not a second after she had finished getting the words out, she felt Ralph lips against her own.
A/N: Oh there is so much more to come, and the end isn't even in sight! I really hope you liked it. For everybody who was routing for Jack, don't give up (Jack won't)! And for everybody who was routing for Ralph, cheer away! Sorry for the wait once again, the next chapter will not take as long. Please review!
