A/N: Some of you guys pointed out that Roger's descend to savagery went on a little too fast. Well, I did make Chapter 9 to make it up for that mistake. I'm really sorry. Hmm, so... This is the assembly, another round of quarreling between Ralph and Jack.
The rest of the boys muffled their complaints and plodded back to the platform. We never had an assembly this late before, with the clouds so dark and inaudible thunders, a storm might occur that could worsen the tension.
"Listen up, we have this meeting not to just talk," Ralph began, "But to straighten up things."
The rest of us were silent, and dreadfully looked bored. Ralph pushed back the long bangs of his hair out of his eyes in frustration and spoke, "This is not just for fun, not just for laughing, not just for falling out off the log. We need to settle things."
"I've been out all by myself, thinking," he continued, "Just thinking and we need this assembly. We love gathering around, talking, deciding things. But we never got the tasks done. So I need to tell you what is going wrong, and first of all, I am speaking."
Then he turned and shot a dreadful look at the littl'uns who weren't seem to be paying attention. This caused them to be silent, before Ralph carried on.
"We were supposed to have water from the stream brought in coconut shells and having it placed under the fresh leaves. Or so it was, for a few days. Now we don't have water, people drink from the river," he said, and this caused a murmur among the group.
"Secondly, there are the shelters," Ralph pointed at the three huts at the beach, "Tonight, except for the twins who will watch over the fire, everyone has to sleep in those shelters. No one's helping to build it."
This caused uproar of denial from the rest, but Ralph interrupted them, "Who built all three? Everyone built the first one, then the five of us built the second one and only Simon and I built the last one. That's why it's so tottery and when a storm comes, it'll collapse. And that's when we need shelters."
"There's another bunch of things. We chose the rocks right along beyond the bathing pool as a lavatory, and the tide cleans it up. But now, some people don't even know how to use the bathroom," he paused, looking at the littl'uns that were sniggering in mischief.
"We need to use those rocks again. This place is getting dirty!" Ralph barked, slightly fiercer in his tone now.
Piggy held his hands out for the conch, but Ralph shook his head. This time, he was prepared for his speech, point by point. Although Ralph couldn't think straight sometimes, he knew what to do now.
"And one more thing, it's about the fire," Ralph continued, which caused another uproar among the group.
I noticed Jack, who was chipping his spear with his knife, whispered something to Robert and looked away. Although I had no knowledge of their secret conversation, I knew that nobody wanted to discuss this. Everyone seemed cheerful about the feast, no one wished to ruin their mood by this assembly. Jack stared at Ralph with detestment, knowing that he was responsible for initiating the hunt.
"The fire's the most important thing, and we can only push our luck to have ships passing by to get rescued. Is it so hard to watch a fire?" Ralph questioned, tugging the long fringes of his blonde hair.
He flung out his arms and raised his voice, "I mean, look at us! There's so many of us and we couldn't even keep the fire going!"
The hunters smirked and snarled, Ralph responded to them, "You hunters! You can laugh, but I'm warning you, fire's more important than the pigs."
"We have two options. We can make the smoke up there, or we die," he added and this stopped the hunter's mocking laughter.
"And another thing," Ralph carried on.
"Too many things," Jack called out, shaking his head.
"Now you listen and listen good. We almost set this island in flames with our small cooking fire and we're wasting time. Now I'm going to make a rule cause I'm chief and follow it," he hissed, calm but harsh, "We're not going to have fire except on that mountain. Only, that mountain."
Hearing his words, a few of them stood up and protested.
"Nuts!-"
"Absurd!-"
"No way!-"
"Shut up!" Ralph shouted back.
"Ralph, you're out of your bloody mind!" Jack yelled.
"Everyone shut up!" Ralph fought back. The noise was intimidating to my mind, the solution was so simple.
I raised my hand and Ralph gave me the permission to speak, with the conch, I asked, "I don't get what are you boys fussing about. Ever thought of taking your food up the mountain and cooking it?" This time, I sided Ralph. No more squabbles, I was already getting worn out of it.
"That's right," Ralph took the shell, which had its colour faded by now, "Jolly well go up the mountain to roast your food. Now you voted me as chief and you better do as I say."
"So remember. The water, shelters, keeping the fire and take your food up the mountain," Ralph coaxed.
Jack stood up, impatient for this ill-omented talk and scowled.
"I'm not finished yet," Ralph barked, "There's another thing. Everything was going well, we were happy but things started breaking up. I don't know why, people started talking about this beast."
This created another uproar of mumbling and whispers, especially with the littl'uns. A sudden flash of images dash through my mind. The fire. The burning. The littlun with the mulberry birthmark who talks about snakes.
"Although I'm frightened sometimes, we have to discuss about this fear and conclude that the beast doesn't exist, it's just nonsense. Then, we patch things up and start over again," Ralph explained, ending his speech.
Almost immediately, Jack stood up and snatched the conch from Ralph's hands, sharing his opinions about the fear, "I'll tell you what. You littl'uns! It's your fault for starting this crap about some beasts. Of course, we're terrified at times but we pick our courage up. Even Ralph said you scream at night. It only means that this beast only exists in your imbecilic dreams and juvenile nightmares. Anyway, you don't hunt, or do anything. You littluns are just a bunch of useless crybabies and sissies. And as for the fear, just learn how to suck it up like the rest of us."
He was being harsh with the youngest boys. Ralph looked at him with his mouth wide opened, astonished, but Jack didn't notice.
He continued, "Fear can't hurt you more than just dreams. Even now my hunters are talking about it in their sleep. Now I'm telling you this, there's no animal or beasts in this island except pigs. Only in huge habitations like in Africa or in the Zoo. Be a coward, if you must. But if you're a hunter like me, you should be fearless. I've been all over this island, by myself. And I can assure you that there's no beast."
"That's right," Ralph piped up, his mahogany brown eyes looking at my direction, "She murmurs about it at night too. Look Victoria, you don't have to be afraid, I'm here."
"I did?" I lied, so that people wouldn't view me as weak or a "crybaby" as Jack would label it.
Actually, I wasn't all terrified about the beast, I didn't believe its existence. However, I had been having nightmares about images of horrifying animals, even the reoccurring scenes of killing pigs and hearing the mulberry littlun's voice screaming about snakes. I didn't know why, but I did. Maybe it was just trauma building up gradually due to hunting and being marooned on this island, but I was unsure.
"How would you know?" Jack questioned, cobalt blue eyes darting at the fair boy.
Ralph answered, hesitantly, "Sometimes, when I'm having insomnia, I watch her sleep. Just to ensure that she's fine."
"You did what now?" Jack took impactful steps towards Ralph, rage burning all around him. He grabbed his collar and growled.
"Hey! Since when are you going to stop picking fights?" Piggy cried out and the rest jeered at him, but he didn't care, "Can I have the conch? Can I speak now?"
With no words remaining in the both of their throats, Ralph allowed him to have the conch.
"I do agree with Jack to a certain extent, of course there isn't a beast lurking in the forest. If there is, where would it hide? What does it eat?" Piggy explained.
"Pigs-!"
"No, Piggy!-"
The boys erupted into a hearty laughter when someone came up with this joke.
"I got the conch!" he shrieked, "You all ought to shut up and hear me speak, don't they Ralph?"
After calming down, he continued, "Life, is scientific. Beasts only live in imaginations derived from stories and legends. And so is fear, it doesn't exist."
"Unless," he halted, "Unless we get afraid of people."
This earned a discouraging mix of booing and mocking laughter. Piggy wanted to argue, but he waited for them to be quiet instead.
"So let us hear it from a littlun, shall we?" Jack began and the bunch of young boys fiddled with each other until they finally pushed Phil in the middle of the platform. Confidently, he was ready to speak.
"Last night, I was sleeping and dreaming about the beast," he said, "Then I woke up and saw it among the trees."
"You were having a nightmare," Ralph convinced. The younger boy shook his head violently, his eyes now welled up with tears.
"You were asleep," Ralph repeated as he ruffled Phil's hair, "No one walks in the forest in the dark. Was there anyone?"
There was a long halt and the boys were grinning at the thought of someone going to the forest in the dark. Then, Simon stood up, admitting himself. Everyone was astonished, except for me as I knew that he goes to his secret place.
"You! What are you doing all alone walking in the forest in the middle of the night? Must be doing some stuff you don't want us to know." Jack said, sarcastic in his tone. The rest laughed and Simon hung his head low, ashamed. How I wish I could defend him, but then I couldn't do it without breaking my promise.
"I was just going to a place, in the jungle," Simon explained.
"What place?" Ralph questioned.
Simon shook his head and said, "Nothing, just a place I know."
"Well, don't do it ever again. I don't want to hear the littluns talk about beasts when they see you gliding about in the forest," Ralph said sternly and all Simon did was to nod.
There was another round of laughter, Simon opened his mouth to defend himself but Ralph had the conch. So he backed away to his seat.
"There's another one, him," Piggy said and pushed a littlun forward. He looked like the mulberry littlun and Ralph flinched at the similarity.
"What's your name?" Piggy bent down and asked.
This littlun was different, he looked like he was being trapped helplessly in a cage, surrounded by the biguns that tormented him.
"What's your name? What's your name?" the assembly broke into a chant to disturb the young boy more.
"Shut up!" Ralph yelled.
"Percival Wemys Madison. The Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony Hants. Telephone, telephone, tele-tele-" his inability to recall his old life caused him an emotional breakdown.
"Shut up, you!" Jack spat, but Percival Wemys Madison couldn't shut up. Soon, the rest of the littluns broke into their high-pitched cries.
"Stop! Look at me!" Maurice announced and he pretend to fall over, his bum landing on the grass and he groaned in pain. The younger ones noticed and laughed in their sniffles.
Strangely, Percival started to yawn and Jack shook him, asking, "Where does the beast live?"
Percival whispered his answer before falling onto the long grass to succumb to exhaustion and rest in deep slumber.
"He says it comes out from the sea," Jack said and the rest looked amused, some were uncertain. If it did comes out from the sea, which no one was sure that something hides there, could it be true then? Probably not. What are the chances?
"My dad says that not all animals in the sea had been discovered," Maurice spoke, "I heard him talk about this thing that makes ink called squids that are humongous and eats whales whole. Piggy claims that life is scientific. Of course I don't believe in beasts but really, this could be real too."
"You're crazy! Squids are supposed to be small!" I reasoned out. They are not huge, are they? That's what my father had told me at least.
The assembly continued to be filled with noisy arguments and gesticulations, only to be interrupted by the blaring sound of the conch. Ralph gave it to Simon, who had the urging intention to speak, even if talking in front of everyone was terrible for him.
With his lips trembling, he started, "Maybe there is a beast," he was shaking, but still went on, "Maybe it's just us."
A/N: Well, everyone's getting scared of the beast. It's a reminder that the character of LOTF are still teens/children and therefore, their beliefs maybe different and illogical at times. Fear can sometimes cause a person to stop thinking rationally. So, like I said, please review! Thank you for all the support and would gladly appreciate it. Like I said, once this hits the reviews I want, I'll make a chapter that is Ralph's POV. See ya soon!
