The Spark

The Fire-Reprise

NOW PLAYING

 Woodkid - Run Boy Run

0:14 ─〇───── 3:33

↻ ⊲ Ⅱ ⊳ ↺

Volume: ▁▂▃▄▅▆▇ 100%

Run boy run! This world is not made for you

Run boy run! They're trying to catch you

I opened my eyes and blinked. The sunlight streamed through the leaves in blinding slivers. My back ached from trying to sleep on a tree branch, and there was an awful crick in my neck.

A primal instinct kicked in and I jerked myself up, nearly smashing my head on the branch above me.

"Ralph! Ralph!" I reached over and shook his sleeping form. "Ralph, Ralph, get up! We should get moving, we shouldn't have slept here!"

"Huhhhhnnnnggghhhh?" He groaned and rubbed his eyes. "What?"

"We need to move, now!" I hissed. "We need to move because if we don't, Jack and his tribe are going to catch up to us and-" A twig snapped below us. Instinctively, I jumped and looked in the direction of the noise. Jack's painted face grinned up at me.

"No!" I gasped, hand going to my spear. A terrible thought flashed through me: if I killed him to protect myself, would I be any better than anyone on this island?

"Y/n, it's good to see you," he said in a mocking lilt of a voice. "I was starting to think you hated me, so I had to come see you."

"Make a run for it," I whispered as quietly as I could in Ralph's direction. "I'll buy you some time and I'll meet you at the beaches with the huts, okay?"

"Y/n, my love, won't you come down and join me?" Jack's voice was a terrible and persuasive croon. "We could be so much together. Do so much together. No one to tell us what to do. It'd practically be paradise, wouldn't it?"

"You've got a twisted idea of paradise there, Jack," I snarled. "And you need to leave me alone." I turned to Ralph, who sat frozen in the tree, watching with fear. Lowering my voice, I hissed as quietly as I could, "Go! Go! I'll be fine! They can't chase us both at once!"

"I told you that night on the beach, Y/n, that once you find a spark, a light in the dark, it gives you a reason to hang on," Jack continued. "You'll do anything you can to keep it going. Fight for it. Kill for it. Anything."

"I can't leave you!" Ralph hissed back. "Look, I'm sticking with you, all right?"

"No!" I shook my head. "I promised Simon I'd protect you-"

"And you!" Ralph shook his head. "Please don't break that promise now!"

"And when I said anything, I meant anything." I peered down and saw with horror that Jack was starting to climb the tree. No.

"Go go go!" I hissed, trying to wave Ralph out of the tree.

"I would do almost anything to keep you, Y/n." Jack had finally reached the spot where Ralph and I were hiding. His gaze shifted from me to Ralph, smile turning into a snarl. "Even if it means having to go against everything I was ever taught as a child." His hand went to his belt and grabbed his knife. A flash of panic shot through me.

"NO, JACK!" I grabbed Ralph's arm and tugged him away. The result ended in him falling out of the tree, with me following and clutching his arm.

"Ouch!" Ralph groaned once we hit the ground. "Good gosh, Y/n, you can't go shoving people out of trees!"

"Oh sorry, should I have left you to get slaughtered by Jack? Come on!" I tugged him to his feet, grabbing my spear, and started to run, pulling him behind me. Adrenaline shot through my veins, making me shake, which only made me run faster. A shrill ululation pierced the air, starting me and making me run even faster.