Driven to Addiction [A LOTF Reader Insert]

Chapter 3: Meeting

"We may stay here till we die."

With that word the heat seemed to increase till it became a threatening weight upon all your shoulders.

Ralph's eyes were narrowed, and his voice came out a whisper. "Get my clothes. Along there."

Even though Ralph's demand was directed at Piggy, you rushed over to his pile of clothes, picked them up, and heaved them over to Ralph, regardless of the volume of his voice. The boy flushed as you came running up to him. "Y-You didn't hafta..."

"I wanted to. I like being useful. Plus, I didn't want Piggy to do it himself."

"Well, it's a gentleman's responsibility to-"

"I don't care. I'm a fully independent woman."

Ralph shrugged his shoulders before putting his clothes back on. Piggy, on the other hand, still had more questions. "How many of us are there?"

Ralph came up to Piggy. "I don't know."

Letting them have their time, you let your curiosity take over and lead you across the seaside. You kicked up sand and water with each step childishly, giggling as you did so. The freedom of being able to do whatever you wanted took your breath away; was this how adults felt like? Or were they too kept behind bars like a caged bird aching to spread its wings?

You kept your pace, but you yelped in pain as your toe came in contact with something big and solid. You grabbed onto your foot instinctively, jumping around on your other while muttering curses. Putting your injured foot down, you scanned the object you had hit up and down. It resembled a shell; it was big and had a pink, creamy hue to it, along with some spikes here and there. You instantly recognized it as a conch. You severed the stem it was connected to carefully, making sure not to break it. Picking it up, you inspected it a bit more before yelling out to Ralph and Piggy. "Hey, guys, look at this!"

You waved the pink shell high in the air to gain their attention. The two boys dropped their conversation and headed over to you. Piggy stumbled over his feet, pleading for Ralph to slow down. Ralph did no such thing.

Resisting the urge to snatch the shell away from your hands, Ralph slowed down as he approached.

"Can I, uh-"

"Oh, sure...!"

You put the conch into his hands gently, shivering as your fingers came in contact with his. Ralph didn't seem to notice and began to look at the hole in the giant shell.

"It's a conch, if you're wondering."

Piggy gasped. "I remember seeing one of those on this one man's back wall! My mum-"

And so, Piggy began rambling once again. "-a conch, ever so expensive. I bet if you wanted to buy one, you'd have to pay pounds and pounds and pounds- he had it on his garden wall, my auntie-"

Ralph ignored Piggy's wild stories, whereas you paid attention with mild interest.

"-mooed like a cow. He had some white stones, too, an' a bird cage with a green parrot. He didn't blow the white stones, of course, an' he said-"

You chuckled as Piggy took in a deep intake of breath.

"Ralph!"