The Misunderstood Genius

Ralph and I talked after the raid. I was angry. Without my specs, I could barely see anything, it was all just blurs. I decided to go up to that filthy Jack and tell him. Ralph agreed with me, and said that if I'd like to go and give it a try, he'd go with me. Samneric, after some debating, decided to come along too.  We walked along the island, and found the large mountain that Jack's tribe now inhabited. I was scared now, realizing what territory we were approaching. Roger called out from atop the mountain, asking who we were. He told us he had orders to forbid our entry. Ralph asked for Jack, and suddenly a voice behind us spoke, almost making me jump. "What do you want?" Jack asked, with an edge to his voice. Ralph told Jack to give back my specs, but without his power and authority, his words were useless. Ralph began to resort to the only other thing that could speak, violence. As they began to fight I foresaw something, something bad happening. I whisper...

Simon had died. Last night in the feast. Now it wasn't really Simon's specific death that worried me, but it was the fact that someone had died. I hoped it was the only one that would occur on this island. It laid the reality so suddenly that I tried to avoid it. Ralph continuously brought it up, rocking, on his knees. I was worried for him and I tried to explain why we did it. We didn't really do it...we were on the outside...they made us. Suddenly a rustling noise came from outside as we were trying to sleep. I heard a stifled yell from Eric. Was it the beast? Had the beast come for us? Suddenly, a few metres away from the shelter where we were in, a sticked cracked, loudly. Something brushed against my shoulder, fumbled around, and then my asthma kicked in. I rolled around, gasping for breath. We fought shadows we could not see, and after a brief tussle the attackers flitted away. It was Jack and his stupid boys, coming to bother us again. What was his point? Why was h...

We could hear the party long before we could see it. Without regulation the savages were free to do whatever. However, as we arrived, all singing and dancing fell silent, one by one, until all eyes were trained on us. I did not know what to say, but there was nothing more to say. Suddenly, the two tending the pig ran towards us. They bumped into me with the pig, I don't know if it was an accident or purposeful, and I was scorched. I yelled, and so did they, but they did riotously, and once again I was a laughingstock, the whole island united over the mocking of me. I felt a bit embarrassed, but that combined with the nervousness I had felt earlier facing the silence created an indescribable emotion of humbleness. Jack, for all his evil deeds, told the two to give us a hunk of meat. I watched, entranced, as they ripped off a piece of meat and handed it to me. I wolfed it down, and my hunger called for another. Jack then made his move. "Who's going to join my tribe?" ...

I had thought that Jack would leave us alone. The storm in the background, Jack stealing fire, everyone leaving for the tribe, and chaos reigning gave me a headache. There was too much to think about; but logic was not an accepted facet to deal with problems on this island. I stepped down into the water, looking up at the clouds. I washed my glasses, bringing my head up to a squirt of water by Ralph. He laughed and shot another jet at me. Normally I would bear this with a sort of patience, but I felt as if something turned on inside me, and I didn't take it peacefully. I beat the water into Ralph's face, shouting a bit. Ralph sputtered, surprised, and stopped. I wouldn't stand for more annoyances like that. I noticed yet another drop in population - it seemed as if Ralph and I were the only remaining boys there. I expected that the rest of the boys were already making their way to Jack's party, where they undoubtedly where having a blast, with meat. Meat. I uneasily f...

I took it on me to have a celebration of sorts. With Jack gone, and his hunters no longer here either, I hoped that we would be left alone. Yes! I thought that we would be able to be rescued. This kind of hope had not come in a while, and I decided to have a small celebration for it. I called Samneric and us three went into the forest, gathering the choicest fruits. When we returned Ralph was staring into the fire, looking haggard and exhausted. When he saw what we had brought him, our chief's eyes lit up with gratuity. He thanked us, then thanked us again, more enthusiastically. We happily munched down on the fruit. After a while, we began to realize the real effect of the sudden fall in population when the large log burned out. How would we keep the fire going? Ralph began to talk to me. He was exasperated at the little priority that the boys gave the fire, how they were blind to the fact that it was their only chance to get off the island. He then added that sometimes he himse...

Ralph, Jack and the hunters are still off doing their thing in the forest. After a while, Simon returned, with a little trickle of red along his forehead. I was oddly grateful for the return of someone. "They'll be back after dark," Simon said to me, and immediately left afterward. I only now wonder where he has gone, for he walked right back into the mysterious forest. Did he not care about the beast? Then I did not think much of it. I hoped that they actually would be back by dark; if not, I would be very worried of spending the night alone with only a pack of littluns. They did come back by dark. Very dark, that is. When they came back, I sensed something had happened Ralph was somber and frowning as ever, and broke a dreadful news to me. I couldn't believe it. The beast was real. I still felt a shred of doubt, but now with so many pairs of eyes, so many witnesses, I had to abandon that doubt. Jack, however, was not scared of the beast. "What about my hunter...