Someone was calling his name, but his eyes were fixed on the forest in front of him. Something had come out of there last night. It had been scary—that monster disguised as Simon had been scary.
"Sam…"
He knew it was Jack now. None of the other boys tried quite so hard to make their voices sound more manly. He closed his eyes and turned to face the cliff where the boulder was. When he opened them, the boulder was gone.
Where had it gone?
"Sam…"
Oh, yes. He remembered now. They had been hunting a little Piggy. Roger pushed the boulder onto their prey and then they celebrated…or something like that. That's when the monster disguised as Simon came out of the forest. It had been scary—that monster had been scary.
"Sam! Listen to your leader!"
Jack. He'd almost forgotten that Jack was calling for him. He closed his amber eyes again and plastered on a smile.
"Yessir!"
"Where's your brother?" Jack asked.
His fiery hair was all in his face now. When they first met, it was neatly combed back. Sam found himself wondering what he looked like, but it wasn't really something that required wondering. He and Eric were perfect reflections of each other… always. But Eric. That's what Jack wanted to know.
Yes, where was Eric?
"Mmmmm," Sam sighed, turning to face the cold breeze. "He's back at the camp, I think."
"Well," his chief asked, "what are you two doing apart?"
"Simonster—"
"Nevermind!" Jack snapped, turning away. "Get to work! Get your brother to work! We have work to do! I'm going to hunt!"
Jack plunged into the thick underbrush and Sam was alone again. It was such a strange feeling to be alone. Maybe if he could find the conch, they would let him talk about it—about the monster. But where was the conch?
He sat on the ground and pulled his knees to his chest. For a while he played in the dirt. There were pretty bugs in the dirt. He wondered if their mama would let him keep one if he brought it home. That's when Eric joined him, assuming the same position.
"Roger poked me with his stick," the younger twin said softly and they stared into the woods together.
Sam put his hand on top of Eric's. They both understood that nothing needed to be said, but being young, they felt that all silence needed to be filled with something.
"The blood is still on the rocks," Eric said again. "Simonster floated away and Airmonster flew away."
Sam's hand began to shake, but their gaze never shifted from the swaying boughs of the trees. To look at each other would be to acknowledge that they were crying. If they couldn't see the tears, then they didn't exist… even if they could feel them. Jack would yell at them if they were weak.
"We're safe on the island now, Eric," the older twin said. He was the stronger of the two, after all. It was his job to keep the other safe. He was biting his lip hard, trying to keep the sobs silent because he was supposed to be exactly like Eric, who didn't sound sad at all. "I want to visit Ralph."
"Ralph reminds me of daddy," Eric said, sniffing a little. He was biting his lip hard, trying to keep the sobs silent because he was supposed to be exactly like Sam, who didn't sound sad at all. "Do you remember… when he asked us why we were together? Remember… remember what we said?"
"'We were born together,'" they said together in unison, just as they had answered Ralph. "'It would be rather silly to be apart now, don't you think?'"
They giggled a little at those memories, and the breeze felt nice and warm again.
"And, and Maurice called us all one name," Sam said through his laughter. "That was funny, right, Eric?"
"I liked not being the youngest anymore! We got to order the littluns around!"
"Piggy was such a dolt, don't you think, Eric?" Sam asked. "Remember, Jack taught us that word before he got painted."
At the mention of Piggy and the tribe's war paint, they turned their eyes back to the forest—the breeze was cold and made Eric shiver.
"Roger poked me with his stick," he said as Sam placed his hand back on top of his. "The blood is still on the rocks."