earth. || lord of the flies. one - shot.

earth.

trigger warnings - schizophrenia
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    ralph felt a soft touch on his bare back, and quickly retreated down to the floor. he turned around hastily, only to find nothing. his breathing spiked, heart pounding, faster and faster. he was covered head to toe in water, considering he just left the bath. yet, the droplets in the place where the hand seemed to be felt much thicker. he reached back and felt the droplets, only to realize they're quite the normality. he cursed under his breath, before rolling his eyes at himself. 'how silly.' he thought. 'if there was some man or woman touching my back, they would be so weird. why would anyone choose me to creep on?' or so he thought. he brushed off the thought, and reached down into the warm water of the tub to touch the drainage clog, and pulled it hard. the clog released, letting all of the deep blue water drain out, letting the fizzles of a bath bomb slowly die. ralph rogert over, blowing out all fifteen candles he lit. he scratched the back of his head before realizing he needs to get dressed. he was going to prom at eleven, but right now it's around seven. he grabs a towel from the countertop, drying himself off. he went into his closet, putting on a t-shirt and red shorts, deciding not to put on his suit yet because he was about to get his hair done. he grabbed a wrinkled duffel bag from the floor, and stuffed his black suit in it. he then grabbed his yellow tie from the rack, and rolled it up. he threw it into his bag, along with his sleek, black shoes he got off the shelf. he bent over and zipped his duffel bag up, and trotted out of the closet- then the bathroom- then his bedroom. he leapt down the stairs, making an impact on the floor when he landed. he grabbed his keys off the coffee table, and sprinted towards the door. ralph's mom noticed his soon-to-be absence, and walked over to stop him.
    "you going to prom?"
    "yeah. need to get my hair done first. have my clothes in the duffel bag."
    "who's your date?"
    "mallie winston. she's been my girlfriend for three years, mama."
    "isn't she a sophomore? you're a senior, right? isn't that just a bit weird?"
    "nah. it's not weird. it was a little when we first started dating, but people got used to it."
    "well, you do you boo."
    "thanks mama."
    "alright sweetie, i'll see you monday night."
    "wait, you're actually letting me go to the after party, the after after party, etc.?"
    "yeah i am! you're a senior now. you should be able to handle yourself."
    "nice!"
    ralph's mom ruffled ralph's silky blonde hair, and smiled at him. she let go, walking off back to the kitchen while ralph unlocked and opened the door. as he was about to leave, ralph's mom called out to ralph.
    "have fun!"
    "i will! bye!"
    "bye!"
    ralph closed the door behind him, hauling his duffel bag to his car. it was quite an old car, being a decrepit. it was renovated, but never truly fixed. he unlocked his car, sitting himself inside. he placed his duffel bag to the seat next him, starting the vehicle. he slowly drove out of the driveway, turning around to see if he was backing into anything. he saw a freckled, tall, ginger man in the back seat. he didn't look real. a knot built up in ralph's stomach, just staring at the man. the man plunged forward, trying to grab ralph's neck in indulgence, while ralph shook.
    juliette, ralph's cousin, who goes to the same high school, texted ralph. she was supposed to meet him at p.f. chang's at eight-forty-five with mallie, roger, and sam, and was just checking to see if he's still up for it.
    "you still good for p.f. chang's?"
    five minutes later.
    "i think so."
    "wdym?"
    "not feeling well."
    "wait, does that mean there's a possibility you're not going to prom?"
    "i mean, some dude who doesn't exist who tries to choke you to death kinda makes you shook, yah?"
    "wth??"
    "i'm a schizophrenic."
    "you are? you do know that roger is a bit of a, you know, maniac? he thinks people with mental disorders should be in an insane asylum."
    "i know. don't tell him."
    "i won't. i swear."
    "thanks. i'm heading to my hair appointment. gtg."        
       "okay. gtg."
    ralph put away his phone, and looked behind him. no one was there. he felt those soft fingers trace along his back once again, he shook. he brushed it off, trying to tell himself it's not real. he continued to back out of his driveway, and eventually made it out onto the road. the streets were quite quiet, being the night. he was surprised that the workers at the hair salon decided to keep it open, just for ralph. once he was on the main road, he passed by chick-fil-a, and started to crave. he thought about grabbing an eight count nugget entree with a medium lemonade, and looked into his rear-view mirror. there was the man. ralph jerked hard, looking behind him. he was gone. ralph didn't realize he swerved, and barely missed the car to the left of him. ralph let out a sigh of relief, before continuing to drive. he thought to himself. 'damn, i'm insane.' he kept on driving. he eventually made it to the hair salon, and opened the front door. there was a slight 'ding,' notifying the stylist there is a customer here. there was a moment of silence before ralph heard a woman's scream, and ralph went dead silent.
       "what's wrong?"
       "nothing. i gotta go."
       "what about your haircut?"
        ralph rushed out of the building. he knew what he heard wasn't real, why did he leave? he couldn't go back now. he stepped into his vehicle, and sat himself down tiredly. he looked at his hair in the mirror, and thought, 'maybe this would be good enough.' before he could think something else, he felt a cold finger touch the back of his ear, and whisper,
         "hello."
         ralph shrieked, before slamming the gas. he didn't dare look behind him, and hastily speed out of the parking lot. he didn't care if he was speeding, he was fearful for his life. he made it to school, which was twenty minutes away without the bugging of street cops. once he parked, he looked at himself through the blurry reflection of the windshield, and took deep breaths. he grabbed his duffel bag, and opened it slowly. he took off his shirt and shorts and changed in the car, not caring much of anyone looked. once he got to his tie, he was quite confused. he took out his phone, which was a galaxy s8, and looked up 'how to tie a tie.' he went onto a wikihow article for guidance, and eventually managed to tie his tie correctly. ralph sighed, turning off his phone. he put it in his back pocket before exiting the vehicle. he entered through the large, front doors of the school, and went down the hallway of lockers. it was quite messy, obviously the student council didn't put enough effort in to clean the place. ralph couldn't criticize, the place would get quite messy even if it was cleaned. right when ralph took a left to enter the gym, it occurred to him it was only 8:23 and prom doesn't start till 11. plus, he needed to go to p.f. chang's and get a corsage for mallie. he mentally slapped himself, before running out of the building. he got into his vehicle, and started the ignition. it took him a bit to get it in, considering how confused he is about everything. he backed out of the parking lot. he got distracted when he heard a small voice invade his ear, 'why do you try?' ralph was scared, and kept on backing up, staring at his feet. noises of cars beeping and the noise of bushes moving out of the way didn't phase ralph, as he heard a voice counting down from ten over and over again. the countdown began. suddenly, ralph swerved to the right and crashed into another vehicle, totaling his vehicle and badly injuring ralph.
         "help! help!"
         "no."