An Island of Mistakes

It was another hot, blistering day on this island. The ocean seemed to be an endless body of choppy waves. We were all gathered on the steep platform surrounding Ralph and Jack. We were having a debate, a debate on who should be chief. Ralph was very reasonable and a good leader, but at times I felt he just didn’t care about me and only wanted me for ideas. Jack on the other hand was brave, and he would do anything to survive. Sure he had a very big head and was very cocky, but he was a great leader in my opinion.

We had been on this island for what felt like years, and we were having another debate on who should be chief. Personally, I think Jack would be the better option, but I don’t think the others would like that. The other kids don’t really care about me because of my weight and height, along with my poor eyesight and asthma. They just use me for my specs, but I like to make myself think they are my friends.

But anyways, it was another hot day and we had ended up back at this platform, we had just found the “beast” which I don’t think is real. 

That’s actually the reason we are here now, that stupid beastie.

“Hands up,” Jack said strongly. “Who thinks I should be Chief?” Everyone sat uncomfortably in the silence. 

Finally, I blurt out, “Why can’t you and Ralph just both be chief?” I asked  

“No Piggy! I dont wanna help him! I’ll just leave, I don’t need to be a part of Ralph’s lot anyway! I won’t let you all tell me what I can and can’t do!” Jack shouts angrily. “You can catch your own pigs, Ralph! Anyone who wants to hunt with me can come too.” Jack slowly starts walking away from the triangle of boys surrounding Ralph and Jack. 

“Jack, wait!” Ralph yells. 

“No, Ralph!” Jack leaps down from the platform with tears forming in his eyes and hurriedly dives into the forest.

I look around and see everyone standing around, some looking worried, some angry, and some even happy! I can’t believe this, maybe I should go find Jack. I know that I'm no hunter, but I feel that I could be the voice of reason that Jack needs. 

“Hey, Piggy. I need your help. I think we ought to climb the mountain and find the beast,.” Ralph says.

  “What! That’s insane, you and those other two boys couldn’t do anything, what makes you think we should do that?” I shouted angrily. He is crazy, I’m starting to think going and finding Jack isn’t the worst idea possible. 

“What else do we have to do, Ppiggy?” Simon blurts out quietly. 

“Stay here, figure out what we do next,” I replied. I know we should probably build a fire, but I feel like it's wrong. I think I should go help Jack. I’m just worried about what the others will think. 

“What will we do Piggy?” Ralph finally says. “I don’t know, but we can’t climb that mountain, there is no point,” I replied.

 “What do you mean Piggy, you always know what to do!” Ralph shouts at me. 

Now I’m angry, I don’t want to be here. I never asked to be Ralph's assistant. Jack was right, Ralph is just a bossy person that only cares about escaping, which will probably never happen! 

“Well, you know what? I'm leaving! I am going to go join Jack, we will make a fire and we will hunt!” I shouted at Ralph angrily. Everyone stares at me with surprised expressions on their faces. 

“You are crazy, Piggy! Jack will never, ever let you join his group! He thinks you are just some fat kid that is only good for his specs!” Ralph yells. Ralph is obviously fuming, he is just angry because he knows that I don’t want anything to do with him. “Well, I think I can help him! You can’t make me stay here Ralph, I won't let you keep using me as an assistant. I want to go and help Jack! He was right about you being bossy.” I holler bitterly. Ralph scoffs. I straighten my specks and turn around. I start walking away. 

I did it, I finally did it! I finally got away from Ralph, no more being bossed around. 

After a little while of walking through the forest, I found Jack. I immediately hid behind a tree. I looked over and saw Jack surrounded by a small group of boys. He looks satisfied. 

“Hunting,” Jack began. “We are going to hunt! I shall be chief.” The small group of boys all nodded. Suddenly, a spider started crawling onto my hand. I instantly screamed and started shaking my hand. I took a step forward and tripped on a log, resulting in myself falling and rolling forward in front of the boys. Everyone turned and looked at me.

“What are you doing here? Are you trying to spy on us?” Jack exclaimed. “No, No! I want to join your group.” I yelped out, frightened. 

“I don’t believe you!” Yelled a small boy from Jack’s group. 

“Grab him!” Shouted Jack. “Wait! Please!” I shrieked. Suddenly, a group of boys grabbed me and pinned me to the tree.

They all started bombarding me with questions. “What are you doing here? Are you a spy?” They asked. “No, I want to join your group! I can't help Ralph anymore, he just uses me as an assistant, he just sees me as an annoyance!” I pleaded desperately. They all looked at me with surprised looks. “Fine, you can join our group. I am the chief. We are going to hunt, and you will not hold us back from doing it either. But if I find out you are a spy, I will have both you and Ralph’s heads.” Jack states sternly. “Okay, yes. Thank you, Jack!” I reply. The boys let go of me and we all gather around Jack again. “Alright, as I was saying. We will hunt, and we need fire. Piggy give me your specks.” Jack states firmly. “Alright,” I reply. I knew he would let me join his group. 

“We are going to hunt for a pig. We will use its body for meat and offer its head to the beast as a peace offering.” Jack yells. Everyone nodded their heads, looking up at Jack like he was some sort of god. 

“Wait, do we really think this beast is real?” I begin. “I mean how do we even know it’s even a real thing!” I say, trying to convince Jack it wasn’t very smart. Well, that was certainly a bad idea because apparently, Jack thought it was extremely stupid.

 “What! Are you trying to undermine me? Do you want to stay here piggy?” Jack screams. He jumps down from the rock he was previously standing on and he gets in my face. He is obviously very angry. “Well yes, I want to be here. If I didn’t I would have stayed with Ralph.” I explain, trying to keep my cool. Suddenly I am met with a hard slap to my right cheek. “Ow!” I shriek in pain. Suddenly I fall back into a small patch of flowers. “That’s what you get! You are lucky you are somewhat smart and have those specs, or I would have just killed you!” Jack and his small group of boys all laugh as I slowly get up off of the ground.

Maybe this was a mistake…

“We are going to go to Castle Rock later. But first, I want to get some Biguns away from the conch. We’ll kill a pig, invite them to have a huge feast! That’ll get the rest of those Biguns away from that stupid Ralph.” Jack announces confidently. I have to say, that is a pretty good idea. Jack is definitely a better hunter than Ralph, Ralph is too much of a sissy to do it. 

I looked around at the crowd of painted faces holding their spears high above their heads, and it made me think that this might actually work. Ralph’s lot can’t hunt like us, so when we get this pig, we’ll be able to easily get enough food to persuade anyone on Ralph's side.

“Piggy, why don’t you stay in the back and make sure nothing sneaks up on us,” Jack said. Even though I was in his tribe he clearly favored me the least. I nodded and walked to the back, holding tight to my spear. Jack moved forward, leading the others into the forest to a pig.

Jack looked back at us hushing us. He had found a pig. The others slowly surrounded the pig, yet all I could do was stand still and stare. Suddenly I heard a war cry coming from Jack. I lunged forward at the pig, and that’s when I noticed the piglets surrounding the mother. I immediately backed away. Jack and the others just kept going though. The piglets scattered and ran into the forest while the mother pig screamed. Jack plunged his spear into the pig, causing it to drop on the ground. 

“I’ve got it!” He yelled triumphantly. I looked at the spear as it sat in the pig's gullet. Blood slowly moved out of the wound. Jack took the spear out of the pig, causing the blood from the pig to spill out onto the fresh grass. It made me sick. 

“What are we going to do with it?” I asked.

“We’re going to take the head and leave it on a stick for the beast, after that we’ll turn the rest into a feast.”

“What about the piglets?” I asked worriedly.

“They can run for all I care.” Jack spat, then he took a knife out and held it up to the pig's throat. 

Jack sawed back and forth with his knife, slowly cutting deeper and deeper into the pig's throat. Blood started pouring out faster and faster, moving up to my toes. I felt sick but I couldn’t look away as Jack held the head of the pig up. Blood dripped from the head of the pig, its eyes were rolled back, and its mouth agape.

There was so much blood, you would think the pig's body was drained of the crimson liquid. The pig's blood stained the entirety of the surrounding grass. Whenever I made even one move, I could hear the squirt of blood under my feet. 

I slowly started to think it would have been better to stay with Ralph. Jack’s tribe just murdered a mother pig and left the babies.

Maybe this was a mistake…

“Roger, sharpen a stick at both ends.” Says Jack.“Alright.” Roger replies. As Roger picked up the stick and sharpened it, Jack picked up the sow's head, dripping in blood. “Jam it into the ground.” Jack orders. “It’s all rock,” Roger says. “Just jam in into that crack then,” Jack demands. Once the stick was jammed into the ground, Jack takes the sow's head and shoves it onto the stick. The sow's head is still dripping blood, so much blood. 

The crimson-colored, almost syrup-like liquid was trickling down the stick. Flies started to surround it. I wanted to puke. I was disgusted. I need to leave, I have to go back to Ralph.

“Roger, Maurice. Take your spears and carry the body. Piggy, we will use your glasses to make a fire.” Jack declares. “A-alright,” I reply. 

“What’s wrong Piggy, all the blood freak you out?” Maurice asks while chuckling.

“No!” I reply angrily. “That was wrong, we should have killed another pig! That was a sow, she had children!” I scream furiously.

“Fatty, shut up! Stop being such a sissy! You should just go back to Ralph’s tribe.” Roger replied. 

After Roger said that to me, I just shut my mouth. I wasn’t trying to be a sissy, it’s just not right to kill a mother and leave her babies to die.

We had all made it back to our camp, Roger and Maurice were setting up to cook the pig, whilst the other boys got fruits for the feast.

“Piggy, give me your specs. Now.” Jack demands. “Alright,” I reply defeated.

I hand him my glasses and he snatches them from my hands. 

“Roger, Maurice! Have you got the pig ready?” Jack yells. 

“Yes, chief!” They both shout.

Wow, that was new. They had just referred to Jack as chief. I don’t think he deserves that title. I should've stayed with Ralph. He would have never done this. 

Jack uses my specs to light the fire. A small reflection from the sun shines onto the wood, immediately heating it up. After about a minute, the wood erupts into a small flame. Then Jack slowly adds more wood to it. Now the fire is a pretty decent size, perfect for cooking.

“Alright put the pig right there,” Jack says. Roger and Maurice take the two spears holding the pig and jam them into the ground, hovering the pig over the fire.

Then, Jack hands me my specs back without saying a word to me, and I’m assuming he didn’t even look at me. But I'm not sure, since ya know I'm blind and everything.

“This is perfect!” Jack exclaims. “We are going to get so many biguns to join us with this feast!” Roger says confidently.

The small group of boys erupts into cheers and laughter. It’s a shame we dont realize how wrong this was. It was wrong to kill the sow, wrong to leave her piglets, and wrong to have it on display like this.

The boys were all talking among themselves for a while until finally the pig was done.

I have to admit, it looked really good. I hadn’t had real food like this in what felt like years. The skin on the pig was crispy, and the meat looked juicy,  which was pretty surprising considering how it was made. 

Jack ordered all of the boys to set up the feast. We found some leaves and layered them around to create a sort of blanket, and set the fruit out. Then finally, we took the pig and displayed it on a bed of sticks right in the middle of everything.

It looked very nice, there was loads of food. The rest of the biguns that were still with Ralph are definitely going to join us.

Which definitely isn’t good. Once Jack has all of us, who knows what he is gonna do? 

Probably kill Ralph.

Jack takes Roger, Maurice, and I to go find Ralph and his group. I was quite surprised he even took me. He probably thinks I can convince Ralph to go.

Once we found Ralph and his group, Sam’n’Eric immediately stopped and pointed their spears at us.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” They both say in sync.

“We want to invite you to our feast,” Jack responds calmly.

It was kind of disturbing how calm he was even with spears just inches away from his chest.

“No strings attached, just a feast. We just got a pig and cooked it. It looks delicious, right boys?” Jack states.

“Yes, very delicious,” Roger said. “Very.” Maurice and I say.

“Why should we trust you?” Ralph asked suspiciously.

“You dont have to trust us, you and your group dont have to eat,” Jack says. 

“Fine we will go, but only Sam, Eric, and I,” Ralph responds.

Ralph's group burst put into a fit of groans and sighs.

“We will have the feast just before dusk, meet us at the platform about 10 minutes east of here,” Jack says.

As we were walking away, I overheard Ralph telling his group that they were only going to scope us out and make sure nothing happens. I debated telling Jack, but I decided not to. I don't really know why, I just didn’t.

It was dawn now, and Ralph and Sam’n’Eric had just arrived. “Welcome!” Jack yells. “Let’s eat!”

He exclaims.

We all sat down, and of course, I ended up beside Ralph. He was giving me the death stare. “So, the real reason I brought you here was to invite you to my group.

“What!” Ralph yells. “Why would we do that?” Sam’n’Eric question. 

“Because, I’ve got food, protection, and shelter. We are going to Castle Rock in the morning, and I want you to come with us.” Jack explains.

“No! I'm not doing that! That is so-” Suddenly ralph was interrupted.

Simon had burst out of the forest, shouting something.

“There is no beast! There is no beast!” he cried. 

Jack and the other painted faces lunged at him. I tried to pull them off of Simon, but I couldn’t do anything but just watch as pieces of Simon flew around the camp. A part of what I assumed was his shoulder flew into the fire, causing it to become larger. I looked over at Ralph who was watching with horror as the others ripped Simon to pieces. Drops of Simon's blood splattered on me as he screamed one last time before there was only silence. 

Everyone backed up from Simon's battered and dead body. Part of his legs, arms, torso, and face was missing. On almost every painted person's hands, there was Simon's blood dripping. I felt surges of fear as Jack's fiery glare went around the camp. I cowered back as Jack instructed the painted faces to bring Simon's body over to the ocean. I watched as Simon's blood stained the water, as he floated out into the breathing sea, and as I looked at his blue eyes for the last time.

As the sun started setting, a gleaming orange-yellow beam shoneshined. As I looked around at the painted faces surrounding me, I realized I had made the wrong decision. I was watching these boys turn into savages. We had all been so innocent when we first arrived on this island, now we were monsters. I wanted to stop them, Simon was a good kid, he was smart. Just like me. But I couldn't, I was frozen, I hated this. I looked around at the blood on the ground, at the blood on the painted face's hands. I saw the remnants of Simon’s body and I had finally, finally realized.

I made the wrong decision.