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The gentle sound of the waves crashing against the sand couldn't silence the chant of the hunters, much like how the decisions made during the assemblies couldn't overpower the children's desire to enjoy their newly found freedom from obligations. Working under the relentless tropical sun, Ralph glanced at the conch and thought about trying to tell them about rescue, fire and shelters again; however he quickly brushed that idea aside when he realized the other boys only recognized the magic of the conch when it let their voices be heard.
"Hey, take this"
Ralph was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the voice of Simon and saw a pair of big, brown eyes staring up at him. "The only boy that helps me is this batty one that faints from time to time..." he thought and grabbed the leaf Simon was trying to give him. But when he tried to place it inside a crack on the roof of the hut, the thing went from half livable to just a pile of leaves and twigs within seconds.
Ralph stepped back looking completely done with everything. Why were things going like this? He thought they all wanted to go home without harm. Were the others too blind to see that they had to do more than talking to achieve that? All they knew was how to cry and complain! Even Piggy wasn't there, and what for? His "ass-mar"? Sucks to his ass-mar! It can't be preventing him from lifting a twig or two! It took him a while to break through the haze of exhaustion and frustration in his mind and notice that Simon was crouched beside the destroyed hut, seemingly looking for something in the mess.
"What are you doing?"
"Looking for Miss Sunny..." Simon murmured.
He kept searching until his hands touched a yellowish green creature. He then pulled the small reptile out and showed it to Ralph, whose confusion levels rivaled Simon's happiness.
"This is Miss Sunny! I know it's a Miss because back home I saw in an encyclopedia that females have..."
Simon rambled on about reptiles for a small while, an unusually high number of words leaving the mouth of the normally quiet boy. But all Ralph could feel was anger. Anger towards Simon for being so weird, anger towards the other boys for their hypocrisy and anger towards God for crashing that bloody plane. Suddenly, without the involvement of his critical thinking skills, he interrupted Simon's enthusiastic talk with his shouting.
"Bloody hell, Simon! We are trying to do something important here and you play with stupid animals? That must be why we can never build anything that doesn't collapse within a few minutes! Can't you at least act normal? Everything would be better if- if.."
As Simon flinched and got smaller at his words, Ralph's voice grew weaker and weaker until he was completely silent and regretful. He realized all the time he had wanted Jack or literally any other "strong" bigun to be here, instead of eccentric, quiet and thoughtful little Simon; thinking they would be more useful. But would they? While Ralph was trying to find the answer, Simon spoke up, his eyes on the ground and his hands holding "Miss Sunny" tightly.
"I know it would be better if Jack was helping you. Or Maurice. Or Robert. Or Samneric. They are stronger and they know how to be...normal. But...but they are not helping. Are they?"
Ralph stared at Simon; noticed how he was fidgeting with his shorts, how his head was down. As if he was struggling with the weight of the memories that found their way out of wherever they were buried, Ralph's words digging too deep and cracking the coffin they were all stuffed into.
Ralph sighed and tried to run a hand through his long, blond hair but this action was interrupted by multiple knots.
"No...they are not helping."
Simon smiled at him; not the genuine smile he had a few moments ago, but rather the kind of smile he used to force on his face as a little kid trying to convince his mother that the other kids in the choir were his friends and didn't make fun of him at all.
"I will leave Miss Sunny in the forest and never take her here when we are building. I promise!"
"You...you really don't have to."
Ralph avoided Simon's eyes like they were the plague and kicked some pebbles, trying to distract himself from the guilt he was feeling.
"I mean...the shelter didn't collapse because of your pet lizard. It collapsed because none of the other boys on this bloody island are doing anything useful. I'm sorry for lashing out like that. It's just..."
Ralph groaned and gestured around himself. It was like each day spent on this island was making irrepairable damage to his self expression abilities. He looked at the smaller boy, desperate for him to understand. Simon nodded and spoke softly, Miss Sunny now resting on his shoulder:
"The island's making us all more irritable isn't it? It must be quite tiring to feel responsible for it all, too."
The blond nodded eagerly, relieved that Simon was getting him. That was the thing about Simon, he always understood. Ralph smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You know, I think we worked enough for today...I would actually love to learn about lizards."
Simon's face immediately lit up at the thought of talking about his little pet reptile. His eyes widened and light danced in them joyfully.
"Really?"
"Yeah, you were talking about how to differentiate between males and females," Ralph said, "sounds interesting."
Later, after the voices of the hunters had died down, two kid with heads of long and tangled hair could still be seen sitting on some logs. The dark-haired one was grinning and talking, while the blond one was just sitting and watching a tiny yellowish green creature in the other's hands intently.