The Thrill of the Chaos

Quarrels of a Hunter

Sage:

"We should appoint a chief," we all turn to Mary, "you know, to keep things organized."

 "Yeah a chief!"

"A chief!"

The littluns start chanting, "Chief! Chief! Chief! Che-"

"Ok ok," Jack cuts in, "we get it, we need a chief like at school. Well I think I should be chief - I can sing C sharp."

That entitled son of a bitch.

I curl my lip, "Oh yeah Merridew? How the fuck is the ability to sing C sharp gonna help you be a leader?" 

"Well, darling," he glares, "I'm the leader of the choir boys, which makes me the most responsible." 

"Oy, Jack, Sage, quit it." Ralph interrupts us, "and I agree with Mary, we should appoint a chief."

Mary and Ralph share a look, wait - is there like something going on between those two? Honestly, they are kind of compatible. They called the assembly together and they're leading it together as well. The littluns and some of the biguns exclaim how Ralph should be chief, after all he's got the conch.

"We should have a vote," that Shane Dawson boy, Roger I think, speaks up. 

Jack juts out his chin, "Everyone who thinks I should be chief, raise their hand!" 

All the choir boys hands go up, some more reluctantly than the others. I keep both my hands firmly crossed on my chest. Ralph counts the number, its not even half the boys, definitely not enough to win the vote. A victorious smirk planted on my face as I turn to face Jack, he knows he lost and he's furious. 

"Who votes for Ralph as chief?" 

An animated and almost unanimous vote declares Ralph the chief, but I wasn't done with this yet. 

"Well I think Mary should be the chief." All heads turn to look at me. "Well why not," I shrug, "she was with Ralph when he blew the conch and she's leading this meeting with him."

Some of the boys nod their agreement. 

"Well Mary can't be the chief, she's a girl!"

Mary and I make eye contact and I know that together we could totally run this island together and keep d, down to the smallest littlun civilized. But I sigh cause boys like Roger here won't let that happen. 

"God, Roger, you're so misogynistic. Just because Mary's a girl she can't be the chief? Huh, well think again, just because she's a girl she could run this island better than any other chief we appoint."

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Jack nodding along to what I'm saying, that's kind of shocking but I'll give him this - at least he's not misogynistic. Ralph, Mary and Simon express their agreement, but my argument goes straight over the other boys' heads and Ralph ends up chief. He isn't half bad though, Mary seems to like him so he's probably fine. 

We decide that it would be best to start a fire at the top of the mountain to have a way to get rescued. And to make it up to Jack, Ralph lets him keep his authoritarian position by appointing him leader of the hunters, who are just the choir boys. 

The meeting ends and everyone's running up the mountain to try to start the fire, I see Simon talking to Mary and make a mental note to ask him how he's doing since he's the one who fainted earlier. I jog up to Jack, trying to think of a way to join his hunters. Don't get me wrong, I'm nice at times and I love kids but there being only two girls on an island with boys like Roger who are misogynistic really gets on my nerves. So the way I'll get back at them is by getting a job on the island that wouldn't be 'proper for ladies' as my teachers back at school used to call it. But earlier, when I was arguing with Roger about the whole chief thing, I saw Jack agreeing with me so I don't think it would be too much of a hassle to get him to let me be a part of his hunters.

"Hey, Jay."

He doesn't even spare me a look while he's picking up sticks to start a fire, "Don't call me Jay, I liked Merridew better." 

I scoff, "Like I give a damn what you like. Anyways... make me a part of your hunters."

Now he looks at me, actually, he looks at me up and down like he's checking me out, "Ask nicely and just maybe I will." 

I'm too shocked to respond right away, stumbling a little over my own feet. He chuckles and goes back to scrounging for sticks.

"Now look here Merridew, I know for a fact that asking nicely won't do anything but make you feel more powerful and I am not here for that. And I know your definitely not misogynistic." I say this last part sarcastically, with a few bats of my eyes. Now I have his full attention and I use this to my advantage as I step closer, our faces barely a hairs length apart - our lips almost touching, "You only have two options, either you make me a part of your hunters and have a higher chance of catching something, or I'll go off on my own and make another group of hunters and be able to get more meat than you. Your choice." I back away and shrug nonchalantly, I can see his muscles through his shirt, still tense from how close I was standing to him. 

He relaxes his jaw before he speaks, mimicking my sarcastic tone, "Darling, of course I'm not misogynistic." That insufferable smirk planted on his face again, "But if you want to be a part of my hunters so bad, well, who am I to turn down an old beggar." 

"Oh piss off Merridew, and for your information - I'm the same age as you!" I turn around and walk off, a bit proud of myself for being able to join the hunters but more angry than anything. I am not old and I am definitely not a beggar. Before I do anything I'd regret, I spot Simon standing by himself talking to a bunch of littluns. 

When some of the littluns see me walking over they scatter, am I really that intimidating? I love little kids, I don't want them to be scared of me but maybe its for the best if I'm to be a hunter. I give a reassuring smile to the kids that stayed and that seemed to take a little pressure off of them. 

"Hey Simon, I'm Sage." I say as I smile a little and put my hand out for a shake. 

He takes my hand, his hands soft to the touch. There a mildness and innocence about him that makes me want to protect him from any harm. He smiles back, "Hi." 

"So I saw you were passed out over there, you doing ok?"

He seemed kinda confused as to why I was asking, but then I realized that he was a part of Jack's choir and recalled the way they treated him when he fell. 

"Hey," he looks back up at me again, "those boys are jerks, if they make any more smart comments about you passing out just come to me, ok? I'll put them back in their place. Anyways, how are you holding up?"

His voice is soft as well, "Good, um, I throw a fit a lot so Jack says not to worry about it anymore."

This enrages me, Goddamn it Jack how could you be so careless? What if one of these days Simon passes out and its actually serious?! Nevertheless I keep a reassuring smile on my face, "Well Simon, they may not care but I do. If anything serious is going on I want you to let me know, ok? You can trust me." 

He nods, a smiling growing on his face. We hear shouts coming from the top of the mountain and run up to see what its about.