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The castle rock stood silent and still except for the light breeze rustling the trees. Jonah stood on guard in front of the tribe's base, occasionally glancing around when he saw any movement silently hoping it was Ralph yet knowing that could never be true. Jonah’s attention was directed by a sound of a voice that sounded oddly like Ralph. The boy checked around to make sure there were no other savages nearby and quietly called out a reply.
“Ralph-?”
Jonah saw a peak of familiar blonde hair and silently walked over as fast as his legs could let him
“Ralph! What are you doing here? You need to leave it isn’t safe-”
“I came to see you, Jonah. I had to see you.” The blonde's scratchy voice eased a little at the sight of the other, having been deprived of his company for the longest time since the two met. The two boys had bonded from their first few days on the island and had been the second closest pair other than the twins. Their friendship was far from expected but was a miracle for both boys.
Jonah teared up a bit looking at Ralph. He was so glad that Ralph was okay but terrified of what would happen the next day. Looking the blonde in the eyes, he decided to spill Jack's plan.
“Ralph, it’s not safe here anymore we- Jack’s planning to hunt you tomorrow. There's a place down there you can hide- It’s a deep enough hole to where you won’t be seen. You should be safe until the hunt is over.”
Jonah watched the look on Ralph's face shift from relief to fear, he questioned why the tribe would want to hunt him to which Jonah had no answer. Jonah explained the plan further and quietly mimicked the call they would make.
“When they find me what will they do?"
Jonah hesitated then whispered a short phrase.
“Roger sharpened a stick at both ends.”
Ralph was visibly confused by this, not knowing the meaning of that statement. Jonah could say the same himself, not knowing exactly what Rogers' action meant. Needless to say, both knew it wasn't good. Before Ralph had time to ask what he meant the boys thought they heard light footsteps approaching.
The brunette checked behind him, seeing nobody there and believing it was a false alarm. Jonah turned back around to Ralph -who had ducked down a bit- and pulled a bit of meat from the pocket of his ragged shorts and handed it to Ralph.
"You should really go now, Ralph. I'll make sure to keep you safe. I promise."
Jonah spoke reassuringly to the blonde before standing up and waving goodbye to Ralph who nodded at the boy and left quickly. Jonah went back to standing guard, thinking about how tomorrow would go. Ralph would be safe though, he would be sure of it. Jonah stood guard for almost another hour when he was finally off that duty. Heading inside the base, Jonah got some meat from the previous feast and wolfed it down before finding a place to sleep. Once Jonah was able to sleep, his last conscious thoughts were of Ralph.
Upon waking up, Jonah was filled with a sense of dread as the memories of yesterday came back to him. Jack was going to hunt Ralph. Jonah sat up from where he was laying, groaning and stretching. The voices of other savages who've woken up making him unable to sleep even if he tried. He guessed it was still early since most of the savages were slowly waking up. Hopefully, the hunt would end after that day, Ralph wouldn’t be able to live in that hole until they were rescued from this place.
Jonah hadn’t been paying attention to what Jack was saying when organizing where everyone would go, but he paid just enough attention to realize he lucked out and was near Ralph’s hiding spot and would be generally alone unless another savage wandered over.
Jonah and the savages headed down into the island and Jonah was immediately searching near Ralph and crouched down to the hiding spot, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness inside. Once he could see he saw a small movement and noticed a face in the dark. He recognized the sun-bleached blond hair of his best friend and smiled reassuringly, hoping Ralph would be able to see it. Once he stood up and continued searching he heard the voice of Jack.
"Have you seen any sign of him?"
Jonah turned to face the taller boy and looked him in the eye.
"I haven't seen a single sign of him yet."
Jack saw through the boy's lie and his posture became more agitated, repeating the question. Jonah didn’t crack though, sticking to his lie but quickly glancing down toward the hole. Jack started getting more hostile, eventually prodding Jonah with the sharp end of the spear yet still not getting an honest answer.
Jack got tired of this after the third time asking and checked himself. At first, Jonah wasn’t worried but Jack moved to check the hole where Ralph had been hiding. Jonah watched as the ginger bent down and while he was looking for movement, Jonah struck Jack in the middle of his back with his spear, immediately getting defensive when Jack yelped in pain and got up, turning to attack the shorter boy. Jack’s spear struck the side of Jonah’s ribs, the wood cutting him and leaving splinters in its path. Jonah winced but fought back and hit Jack’s upper arm. Jonah used Jack's pause to his advantage, trying to disarm him, but Jack moved to hit the shorter boy in the head, knocking Jonah to the side.
Jonah stumbled and tried to focus his eyes on Jack, who had a wolfish grin on his face. The brunette swung his spear at Jack, not seeing what he hit, but the cry of pain from the other told him enough. The two boys were bloody and panting, but Jonah was quickly becoming overpowered by Jack. Jonah called out to Ralph, telling him to run. He saw a flash of blond hair crawl out of the hole and run before Jack knocked him to the ground. He wheezed on the forest floor, winded from the fall. His gaze went to Jack, who was standing above the boy with his spear pointed at his neck and eyes reflecting triumph over him. Jack glared at him but reluctantly moved his spear away from his throat, confusing Jonah. Jack glanced away and muttered something under his breath Jonah couldn’t hear. Jack walked away, leaving the boy on the ground to catch his breath. Jonah sat up and coughed, regaining his breath and ignoring how dizzy he felt. Jonah felt around for his spear and clutched it. After a couple of minutes, he had the strength to stand up, using his spear as a brace, and squinted his eyes, trying to see where Jack went.
The smell of smoke distracted him and his eyes darted around, trying to see where the smell was coming from. Jonah wandered in the general direction of where Jack went, guessing Ralph went the same way. The smell of smoke got stronger and he saw a couple of trees catching fire. Jonah observed the fire, trying to understand why they lit it and adding it up to trying to find Ralph. He picked up his pace and his eyes were searching for the long blond hair of his friend. The boy instead saw a flash of red hair leaning down, knowing exactly who it was. Jonah stopped in his tracks and started to move almost silently, slowly approaching the tall savage from behind. Jonah made himself smaller and crept up closer trying to get a view of what Jack was doing. Jonah was a short distance behind Jack when he stepped on a twig, snapping it. The sound alerted the taller boy of his presence.
Jack whipped around and glared at Jonah but before he could get a word out, Jonah ran forward with his spear held high above his head, aiming to hit Jack on the side of the head with the pole. He hoped to knock Jack out or at least daze him to give Jonah enough time to find Ralph first. Jonah shut his eyes as he felt his foot catch on something and tripped on a root, falling face forward, and not paying attention to his spear. Jonah moved his arms forward in an effort to catch himself. Jonah felt his spear make contact with something solid and didn't think much of it, mainly focused on keeping his arms under his body to prevent himself from landing face-first on the ground. Jonah's face was hovering a few inches above the ground below. He stayed in that position on the forest floor, scared of what Jack was about to do to him, but faltered when he heard Jack choke, a small amount of a warm liquid hitting Jonah's multicolored hair. Jonah opened his eyes, shutting them once more when more of the red substance fell onto his head, wetting his hair even more.
Jonah moved so that he was sitting up and scooted back before tilting his head upwards, squinting his eyes, and seeing Jack with a shocked look on his face, choking on his blood. Jonah's gaze shifted to his spear which he followed until the end, seeing the sharpened end of the stick buried deeply into Jack’s stomach. Jonah's eyes widened as he stood up and backed away, his legs shaking as he did. Jack’s eyes flicked up at him, blood still leaking slowly past the spear. The sight left a nauseous feeling in the bottom of Jonah's stomach which he ignored, trying to prevent himself from throwing up his previous meal. Jack staggered forwards, trying to approach Jonah and opening his mouth to say something, more blood fell from his lips instead and his legs gave out beneath him. Jack fell forwards, the spear lodging itself as deeply as it could into his stomach. More blood spurted out of the wound at this, Jonah closing his eyes, now feeling lightheaded and unsteady on his legs as hot bile crawled its way up his throat before being swallowed back down, leaving a burning feeling in his already sore throat. His thoughts seemed to leave him except for a single one. The phrase repeated itself in his head as he felt his surroundings seem to close in on him.
'What have I done?'
The thought continued to repeat in his head as he tried to shift his gaze away unsuccessfully. His eyes were glued to Jack's body in front of him. Jonah closed his eyes, leaning his back against a tree slightly to the right behind him and taking deep breaths, the hitches in his breath decreasing in numbers as he collected himself and wiped his eyes of the tears he hadn't realized had fallen. Jonah looked down at his red hands and sighed. Jonah’s tanned skin, now stained with crimson blood other than his own, made no movement as he stood frozen in place. He took a second to wipe the blood that dripped from his hair onto his face with his hand, smearing more of the color over himself. Jonah pushed himself off of the tree and saw a small movement in the vibrant plants in front of him and tensed. Jonah moved his eyes away from the gory scene he had just witnessed to focus fully on the bushes in view. A pale hand moved the brush away a bit, revealing the familiar sun-bleached blonde hair of Ralph who looked just as stunned and sick as Jonah felt. Jonah glanced back down at the body in front of him then shifted his attention back to his friend.
“Ralph I-”
Jonah started, not knowing how to explain what he had just done. Ralph stayed silent, simply staring at the corpse of the now ex-chief on the ground. Ralph opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it. Taking a breath in before approaching Jonah, who took a step back as if he were going to run and embraced him, tears started to fall from his eyes as he leaned into the brunette's shoulder. Jonah froze when Ralph made contact with him and stared straight ahead, surprised by the action. The boy realized what Ralph was doing and hugged back, feeling himself start to cry and the two stood there, crying into each other's shoulders for a second. Jonah wished he could stay in that moment forever, the relief and moment of calmness feeling foreign to him. Ralph moved back from the hug first, wiping the tears.
The brown-eyed boy stared back, about to say something to his friend but the two froze when they heard movement to their left, and both looked over, seeing a small savage who made the call for the other savages. Ralph started running in the direction of the beach grabbing the wrist of Jonah who was still shaky and struggling to keep up. They could hear the ululations of the savages, their voices only urging the two to keep running. Jonah could feel Ralph tugging on his wrist to keep him going, his breath unsteady and the pain in his feet aching as he ran. The two could smell the salty air from the ocean over the smoke from the fire as they ran through the trees, onto the beach. The two boys stumbled over the dips in the sand as the two continued running, not even seeing where they were going at this point.
Jonah's thoughts wandered as he tried to focus on running ‘I can’t believe I just killed someone. Why is Ralph still running with me? I should be the last person he should trust after that.’ Jonah shook his head, trying to ignore the thoughts. His lungs were on fire and he felt like passing out right there, but he had to hold on. If he stopped now he would die, and Ralph would be alone on an island full of savages with no chance of rescue. The two burst out of the trees and onto the warm sand, stumbling over their feet as they continued running, their breathing audible. Jonah took a step but got pulled back by Ralph's grip on his wrist and looked up, seeing a uniform and as his gaze continued upwards, he saw the face of the naval officer. Jonah thought he was hallucinating at first, looking over to see if Ralph was seeing the same thing. Ralph was staring upwards at the man, Jonah was unable to read his expression but he guessed Ralph was just as surprised. Jonah's attention went back to the naval officer when he heard a deep voice start speaking to the pair.
“Hullo.”
Ralph’s voice came out as a whisper.
“..Hullo”
The officer nodded at them as if Ralph had answered a question.
“Are there any adults- any grownups with you?”
The two boys shook their heads dumbly, they turned their heads to look behind them and saw a semicircle of small boys- covered in clay and face paint holding sharpened sticks, making no noise at all.
“Fun and games.”
Jonah looked miffed at this, how did this look like fun and games? The island was on fire and the boys were dirty and injured beyond what ‘fun and games' would do. The fire grew towards the coconut palms and swallowed them loudly, the sky resembling coal more than the sky all the boys had grown used to.
The officer grinned cheerfully at the boys.
“We saw your smoke. What have you been doing? Having a war or something?”
Ralph nodded.
The officer inspected the boys in front of him. The kids needed baths, a haircut, and a trip to a hospital.
“Nobody killed I hope? Any dead bodies?”
Jonah froze at the question, only looking to Ralph for him to answer.
“Only three. Two have gone.”
The officer leaned down and looked closely at the boys.
“Three? Killed?”
Ralph nodded again, behind them the island shuddered with the flames. The officer whistled softly.
Other boys were appearing now, some were smaller than others, covered in dirt or clay. A boy with bleach blond hair came close to the officer and looked up at him.
“I’m, I’m-”
But there was no more to come from the boy. Percival Wemys Madison searched his head for a phrase that had long since melted away. The officer turned back to Ralph and Jonah.
“We’ll take you off. How many of you are there?”
They shook their heads. The officer looked at the semi-circle of painted boys.
“Who’s boss here?”
Jonah tensed, looking again at Ralph, unsure how to answer.
“I am,” Ralph spoke loudly.
“We saw your smoke. And you don’t know how many of you there are?”
“No, sir.”
“I should have thought.,” the officer envisioned the search before him, ”I should have thought that a pack of British boys- you are all British aren’t you?--would have been able to put up a better show than that- I mean-”
Jonah started, “It was like that at first,” he spoke, "before things-”
He stopped, losing the courage to speak.
Ralph stepped up.
“We were together then-”
The officer nodded.
“I know. Jolly good show. Like the Coral Island.”
The two boys looked at him dumbly. The boys had a moment to think about the strange glamour that once was the island. The trees now scorched up into dead wood. Simon was dead, and Jack.. the tears began to flow from the two boys, leaning into each other as sobs shook them.
They gave up on holding themselves together as they spasmed in grief, holding each other in their arms, heads leaned into the other's shoulder. The other boys were influenced by the emotions, beginning to sob and shake as well. In the middle of them, two boys stood, leaning into each other with matted hair and unwiped noses. Jonah wept for the loss of innocence, Ralph for the darkness of man's heart, and both of them for the loss of a true, wise friend named Piggy.