forever and always, merridew ~ lord of the flies (1990)

i wanna be with you everywhere

the next day i woke up feeling a bit unwell, i don't know what happened but ralph insisted that i didn't do anything and just rested all day. i wanted to refuse but i got too sick to respond so that's what i did. the boys were going out to hunt for some pigs so maybe it was for the best. the little 'uns wanted to go hunting with the older ones too but i told simon to take them somewhere else because i didn't want them getting traumatised by witnessing a potential pigs death. i hadn't talked to jack since i saw him yesterday throwing the rocks at us and i didn't plan to unless he apologised. i just decided to get some more sleep and hope that i feel better when i woke up.

JACKS POV

today was the day that i gotta be leader. ralph didn't know how to properly hunt and stayed back at camp so he gave the leader role to me for today which i was more than thrilled about. i hadn't talked to riley since yesterday and i really wanted to see her but i know that she dosent feel well so i decided to give her some space. it bothers me that she's with ralph where i can't see what's going on. all the older boys followed me until we got to a secluded part of the forest where i wanted to sharpen my spear at. i started working, making sure to get it just right. i had to give the boys a pep talk since most of them were new to hunting.

"they're mean and they move fast. they ain't gonna be easy to kill" i say "you gotta get 'em first time, in the heart"

"i guess the spears gotta be real sharp"
"we have to have a strategy. you know trick 'em" one of the boys says
"oh sure but how are we supposed to do that?"
"you just smoke 'em out" i say, getting a good swipe of the stick "you crawl up and light a little fire"

simon comes up to us and stands with his chameleon in his hands "we have to practice on stuff that moves"
he then knocks the chameleon out of simons hands and shoves it on the floor and kills it. i look in disbelief.

"ew"
"jesus christ"

"when do we do it?" the same kid from before asks me
"i mean like what kind of day"
"maybe you can catch 'em asleep"

just then i hear a grunting sound, i immediately rush into the mound of plants only to see captain benson lying down looking like a lunatic.

"SIMON"

RILEYS POV

i got woken up by all the little 'uns shaking me.

"oh riley please come outside we have a surprise for you"
"please miss riley"
"pretty please"

"ok, i'll come" i say as they shout yay, gripping my hands. i notice that the hunters are back and they all turn to look at where the loud commotion from the little 'uns is coming from. they guide me to the fire where everyone is gathered around.

they are so excited that i find it so cute and just forget about not feeling good. they then ask me to close my eyes so i do so. i hear little giggles from around me and some little bodies surrounding me "ok open them"

i open my eyes to see a beautiful bunch of flowers in my hands. the little 'uns must have picked them when they were out today "they're for you riley. we know you didn't feel very well today so we wanted to give you a present" little percival says to me "and the flowers are just as pretty as you too" peter says with a cute blush on his cheeks.

"oh thank you so much boys, these are so beautiful. you've really made me feel so happy now" i smile at them all and open my arms for a hug. they all climb into my arms and hug me. the older ones are smiling too at the cute gesture, even jack.

once we'd spent some time around the fire, i put the little 'uns to bed. i think i speak for all the boys in saying even tho they didn't want to admit it, they liked having a mother figure like me around, making sure to keep them in check and call them out on things.

i saw the remaining older ones huddled in a circle so i went to check out what they were talking about.

"simon can't stay with him every single second"
"shh"
"and he's scared of everyone else. i'm scared of him, he's crazy, we've gotta do something"
ralph speaks up "maybe we should tie him down"
then jack makes his point "that or get rid of him"
"come on. he's hurt bad and he has a fever, we've gotta take care of him"
"why bother, he ain't gonna make it" roger says with a rude tone.
"we've gotta take care of ourselves" jack says
"exactly"

they all dispersed and walked to go get some sleep but i just stayed by the fire. jack then came over to me.

"hey, how're you feeling?" he asks taking a seat beside me.
"alright i guess, the little 'uns brought up my mood a lot, them giving me the flowers was so cute you have to admit"
"no it was, it was real cute" he says giving a cute grin towards me "you know, you'll make a great mom someday"
this makes me look at him with longing eyes "you think?" "yeah i do, you're so good with the little 'uns, i just scare any kids i meet away" he says looking down. i scoot closer to him and lean my head on his shoulder. he then wraps his arm around my waist and we just have a comfortable silence for a few minutes, listening to the soothing sounds of the ocean.

"do you ever think about what's gonna happen if we do leave this island?" i quietly say to jack, he sighs and just continues staring " i don't know, but all i want to be close to you when we get out. i wanna be with you anywhere you go" he replies. i look up at him and he looks down at me. my heart is pounding hard in my chest and my cheeks are flushed pink. jack gets a piece of my hair and tucks it behind my ear. he slowly leans in, as do i, and i then feel his soft lips on mine. i can't describe how magical it felt, how perfect we moved in sync with each other. it was like we were made for each other.

we then pulled away and just looked at one another with massive grins on our faces, we probably looked dumb but we didn't care because all that mattered at that moment was that we had each other.

"come on princess. let's go to bed"

𝟷𝟷𝟻𝟻 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜

𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜! 𝚒'𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚘 𝚐 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚙𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚒'𝚖 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚢 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚘 𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚜𝚘 𝚒'𝚖 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢. 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚔𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍! 𝚒 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚢'𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎 🫶🏻