The Spark

The Paint

(no media this time; I couldn't find anything ://)

Ralph and Simon wanted to swim a little more, and Piggy was happy to continue lying in the sun, so I took the opportunity to wash my clothing. The sun beat down, quickly drying my back as I washed my clothes in the ocean. Then I stretched them out on a rock bathed in sunlight. As I waited for them to dry, I watched Percival and Johnny happily build sand castles for a bit while I sat in the sun.

Yup, we were definitely going to make it home. By hook or by crook, we were making it off the island. All we had to do was trust each other and keep the fire going and there was really no reason why we shouldn't get rescued. Sure, we might be stuck here for a while, but one day an unsuspecting ship would go by and see our signal fire. And before we'd know it, we'd be sleeping in our own beds, dressed in a fresh, clean outfit, and...

My stomach groaned and I instinctively punched it, something my mother did to make it stop.

We would also have a lot of food.

"Hey!!" Percival cried. I turned around and saw Roger and Maurice kicking over the sand castles that the littluns had carefully curated. "My castle! And you kicked sand in my eye!" He began to whimper as he knuckled the sand out of his eyes. Maurice looked uncomfortably at him and ran to the water, muttering something incoherent. Roger, on the other hand, wandered into the forest alone.

"Y/n!" Percival ran up to me, crying his eyes out. "Y/n, Roger and Maurice kicked over my castle!" Uneasily, I put my uniform back on, which was still slightly damp and smelled of saltwater.

"I know, I saw," I said. "I'm going to go talk to Roger right now, okay?" I patted his head.

"Okay," Percival sniffled, scrubbing away his tears. I walked into the forest and saw Roger sitting among the bushes, collecting small stones from the sand. It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea how to chastise someone, even though Percival had looked to me the way he'd probably look to his mother. Nonetheless, I cleared my throat and gave it my best shot.

"Um, Roger?" You could stand to sound a little more firm, you know. "You know, you really hurt Percival back there. You and Maurice both."

"So what?" Roger tossed a rock in midair and caught it. "I can do what I want."

"Well, actually you can't, I think you should stop-"

"I should stop?" Roger tossed the rock into the water. "And who's going to make me?"

"It's not proper, Roger." I sat down on a nearby rock. "And maybe I can't make you, but if Percival told Ralph, I bet he'd make you stop." Roger pelted more rocks into the water, nearly missing Henry, another one of Percival's tent mates.

"Okay, stop," I said, trying to sound a little firmer. "You're going to hurt him-"

"I'm not trying to," Roger said with a small grin that sent a chill up my spine. "And you can't make me."

"I'm older than you," I said quickly, not sure if that was even true.

"How old are you, then?" I crossed my arms.

"I'm fifteen," I said, lifting my chin. Roger snorted.

"Hah," he said. "I'm sixteen, same as Jack. And you're not my mom." He picked up a rock and threw it at me. It bounced off my forehead.

"Roger!" I said defensively. "That's not very nice, you know."

"Says who?" Roger picked up another rock and threw that one at me too. I backed into a tree, shielding myself as Roger continued to pelt rocks at me.