𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖎𝖛𝖆𝖇𝖑𝖊 - [LORD OF THE FLIES]

3

They were already at the base of the mountain within a few short minutes. Ralph stopped and looked in the direction of piggy's loud breathing and complaining. "We'll need piggy's specs to light the fire"
Simon, Stevie, and Maurice watched as Ralph gave up on account of Piggys slow pace and continued up the mountain.

When he arrived at the place the fire had been it was only a sad pile of ashes. Ralph was working toward a fit of hysteria, shouting things like "Oh God!" and "Come Back" as the ship slowly disappeared on the horizon. The others finally arrived, sweating and panting as they watched Ralph.
"They let the fucking fire go out" Stevie muttered in disbelief, and they all felt the dread slowly pull at them.

"Kill the pig, Cut her throat, Spill her blood."
They glanced down the mountain and an arrangement of boys were marching toward them, chanting and stabbing the air with their sharp spears. Samneric, the twins, were carrying a stick with a bundle between them and as they began climbing the steep mountain the chanting died down.
Jack was the first to appear, half-naked, with clay smeared across his face and upper body. The group began shouting excitedly, and it was hard to pick out what was being said.

"Look! We've killed a pig!'' The girl heard Jack shout, and she glanced at the black bundle the twins had been carrying. The boys began dancing around the dead pig, delighted by their triumph, and even the proud Jack gave a spin or two, a wide grin spread across his face.

Stevie glanced at Simon who was standing just a few inches away from her. He looked defeated, almost on the verge of tears and she wrapped an arm around the smaller boy, doing her best to comfort her friend "It'll be alright, hun, there will be another ship" Though she wasn't fully convinced of this herself. She looked back to Jack who was now staring at her, wiping his hands on his ripped shorts. Simon hid his face in her shoulder, earning a glare from the blonde boy. Ralph finally spoke.
"You let the fire go out"

Stevie watched as he brushed this off, many of the hunters not even taking notice of Ralph.
"We can light the fire again. Ralph, you should've been with us, we had a smashing time! The twins-" The group of boys started up again, all shouting at once about their journey and giggling madly. "I cut the pig's throat. '' Jack shouted over the talking proudly, glancing at Stevie once more to see if she was impressed at all. Instead, she was quite disturbed by the mental image of Jack slicing the poor pig's throat. She shuddered and held Simon closer.
They continued to shout and dance and laugh and Jack kneeled over by the dead pig.

"You let the fire go out"

The celebration died down and all eyes were on Ralph, except for the stubborn Jack who was preoccupied with the dismantling of the small pig.
" 's only been out for an hour or two, we'll light it up again"
He looked at the boy once again, the smile returned to his face "You should've seen the blood!"

Ralph pointed at the horizon, shouting in a tone that unnerved Jack and his group of hunters. "There was a ship"
Jack continued to slice open the pig, pretending to shake off what Ralph had said.
"There was a ship. Out there. You said you'd keep the fire going and you let it out" he was now speaking directly at Jack and his voice began to shake. He walked closer until he was nearly towering over him and Jack finally looked at him. "They might have seen us. We might have gone home-" Ralph was beginning to stutter over his words, tears flooding his eyes.

Realization spread through the crowd of previously distracted boys, and with that brought dread. Piggy's voice came from outside of the small circle they had formed around the two boys and he wailed "You and your blood Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We might've gone home-"
Ralph cut him off "I was chief. And you..."

Stevie's attention was diverted from the argument to one of the younger hunters that had clung to her right side. She let go of Simon and hoisted the boy up, resting him on her hip, and she held the boy close, muttering similar things to what she had told Simon about how it was 'all going to be alright' and 'there will be other ships'.
She looked back to the boys in time to see Jack pushing poor Piggy to the ground.

Jack took a step forward screaming at him viciously "You would, would you? Fatty!" he smacked Piggy's head, causing his glasses to fall to the ground.

"Hey! HEY! What the fuck is wrong with you?" Stevie set the younger boy down and stepped between Jack and Piggy, shoving the taller boy back a bit. He was taken aback by her sudden outburst and stared as she took another step forward, standing chest to chest with him. "Yeah, Jack you fucked up alright? There's nothing we can do about it now and fighting like this isn't going to help us get rescued any sooner."

Once she was sure he heard her she stepped back and looked around. "You need to stop acting like fucking children and get it together" Everyone was silent, they were used to the playful side of Stevie and wouldn't expect her to yell at Jack of all people.
She glanced at Piggy and saw Simon returning his broken glasses.

Piggy was a mess, crying and mumbling about only being able to see out of one eye. She crouched next to him and rubbed his shoulder sympathetically "It'll be alright Piggy, he's just an asshole" she heard Jack mumbling behind her as she pulled the crying boy into a hug.

"That was a dirty trick" Ralph mumbled, crossing his arms. Jack looked around at the group of boys surrounding them. "All right, all right... Im sorry, about the fire I mean. I-" Stevie let go of Piggy, who had now stopped crying and had resorted to sniffling, to face Jack and hear what he had to say.
"I apologize"
The silence was interrupted by the hunters giving their leader encouragemants of praise.

Ralph finally spoke, almost too quiet for them to even hear, but he still maintained the tone of disproval.
"All right, Light the fire."