The Spark

The Sage

With a heavy sigh akin to the one of an old man, Ralph stood up. The chatter died down.

"I'm calling an assembly," he said, voice ringing with authority. "With the conch. I'm calling a meeting even if we have to go on in the dark. Down on the platform. When I blow it. Now." And with that, he walked down the mountain.

I watched him go, a sort of sadness in my heart. Yes, he was sixteen, but how long would he be able to lead a group of his peers before breaking? How long would he last in a role that was thrust upon him so prematurely?

I frowned slightly, and pulled at my shirt, which was starting to stick to my chest, and wiped my forehead, which was gleaming with sweat. How hot it was! At that moment I wanted a glass of lemonade so badly. I amused myself with an image of a tall glass with a tower of ice cubes, and a stream of the pale, yellow drink being poured into the glass, splashing down the sparkling ice cubes and filling the glass. It would be the perfect ratio of sugar to lemon juice and water and would spread a cool feeling from my stomach to the tips of my toes. How refreshing that sounded! In the meantime, though, coconut water would have to do until we got rescued, since that was the only way we kept ourselves from getting dehydrated.

I stood up and brushed some dirt off my skirt and started to walk down the mountain with the rest of the boys when I saw Jack sitting alone on one of the benches. His elbows were resting on his knees, his head drooped down. I pressed my lips together, thinking about how I had snubbed him a little bit. Maybe it would do both of us a world of good if I apologized.

"You coming?" Piggy asked, nudging me. I snapped out of my little trance and turned to look at him.

"What? Of course." I brushed off imaginary bits of dust from my uniform. When in the heck did the idea of apologizing to Jack Merridew-or just talking to him-get me so flustered? Maybe it was because Piggy was there and I didn't want to offend him by talking to Jack. Yes, that was probably it.

To be honest, it was blazing hot outside and I was getting a little tired and delirious from all the heat, so it was a little hard to pay attention to what everyone was saying. The only things I remembered were Percival crying and Maurice falling off a log to make everyone laugh, and the littluns bringing up the idea of a "beast" that was lurking on the island.

But it's funny, how sometimes you're just living and you don't even realize how something was about to change everything. Change your world, change your view, change everyone around you, change you.

Simon stood in front of me, holding the conch, which he was making tremble slightly.

"Maybe," he said nervously, "maybe there is a beast."

"You believe this?" Ralph said incredulously as the littluns around him erupted into loud cries.

"Let him talk, he has the conch!" I said, shooting a glare at Ralph. I looked back at Simon, who was clutching the conch so hard his knuckles were starting to turn white. "Go ahead, Simon."