Jack was bored.

Two whole weeks they'd been stuck on that God forsaken island and still there was no help in sight. You could say it was his own fault; he was responsible for letting the fire go out and letting that boat pass without seeing them. But still…

He tore along the forest, sick of being constantly surrounded by trees and bushes. The only part of the island that didn't make you feel claustrophobic was the beach. A good place to go when you wanted to get away from the littleun's bickering. He felt the sun hit his slightly tanned skin immediately as he walked onto the sandy front. The heat made him yawn and he hurled a rock into the water just out of sheer boredom. He was just about to throw another when he heard the sound of rustling nearby. He jumped a little; all the boys were cautious now, ever since the "beast" had attacked. You never knew what was going to leap out at you on this island. It was rotten luck that he'd left his spear back at the cave.

But it was only Ralph, the shy twelve-year-old boy who he'd been courting for sometime, quietly building shelters. He didn't notice Jack at first, and it was only when the taller boy walked up behind him that he turned around.

"Oh, it's you." He said, as if he wasn't the least bit surprised and turned to go back to his work. He was prevented however, as Jack wound both his arms around his waist and ran his lips up his neck.

"Not now Jack, I have to work."

"You're always working." Jack started planting kisses against the younger boy's collarbone, making him giggle.

"Stop it." He playfully pushed Jack away, "Maybe later."

He continued attempting to hold the leaves in place but every so often they'd fall apart, forcing him to start again. In the end, he sighed and flopped down onto the sand, leaning back against a rock.

"I'll never get it done." He muttered, "I've been working on it for days now…and look."

Jack glanced at the pile of leaves and twigs which lay in a heap around him. Indeed, it didn't look very homely. He sighed and sat next to Ralph on the sand, playing with the tip of his knife. There were a few moments of silence before Jack turned over and gently nestled his head into Ralph's neck, like a dog looking for attention. Ralph was used to this and rested his cheek against Jack's hair.

"I'm bored." The older boy mumbled and started to plant kisses up Ralph's neck again

"Jack, I told you. I'm not in the mood."

Jack let out an exasperated sigh, "You're never in the mood."

"Can you blame me? You never help me with the shelters. It's not easy doing it all on my own."

Jack groaned in annoyance, "How many times Ralph? I haven't got time to help you stick leaves together. We need meat."

"We need shelters."

Jack suddenly lifted his head, glaring down at the younger boy, "Are you accusing me-?"

"All I'm saying is, I've worked really hard, that's all."

Jack thought for a second then rested his head back onto Ralph's neck. The blonde haired boy felt the warmth of Jack's body beside him and asked a question he'd been dying to ask for days.

"Don't you want to be rescued?"

Jack frowned at him, "What's that supposed to-?"

"I'm doing everything I can to get us out of here; I get all the hard work. And all you can ever talk about is pig, pig, pig."

"I work too!"

"But you like your work. You enjoy yourself hunting!"

"I've had enough" Jack pulled himself away from Ralph and got to his feet, "If you want to stay here and build shelters, then fine! I don't need you! In fact, I wouldn't care if you dropped down dead this second!"

"Jack! That's a horrible thing to say!"

"I mean it. If you were to fall and die right this minute, I wouldn't give a toss!" and he turned and started storming down the beach.

"Jack!"

Ralph got onto his feet and called after the older boy but he was already pushing his way back into the forest. Ralph sat back down again and put his head in his knees. He hated it when Jack was horrible to him. All the red-head could ever think about was how many kisses he could give Ralph a day or how far he could poke his tongue down his throat. Why couldn't he focus on more important things like building shelters or lighting the fire or another way of getting home? Then Ralph realised – because Jack loved him so much, he didn't care if they never got rescued…

He sobbed aloud in his frustration, wishing and wishing he hadn't been such a thoughtless idiot. No wonder Jack was going off him; this island had made him so vile and foul tempered. A sound overhead drowned out his sobs. The sound of an engine. Ralph looked up through teary eyes and saw a small black dot in the sky. Something hovering above him…

A plane!

He gasped, ready to call out to Piggy and the others to get them to light the fire. It was getting lower so there was a great chance that they'd be spotted.

In fact, it was getting very low…very low indeed.

Ralph frowned; surely the plane wasn't landing. An island was hardly a good runway and the rest was just water.

Then he saw it.

The smoke rising from the tail of the aircraft. It got so close; the entire island seemed to be shaking under the sudden pressure. From the other end of the forest, Jack heard it too and squinted upwards as the black object seemed to block out the sun.

Ralph turned and started scrambling behind the rocks as the plane plummeted towards the island and hit the sand headfirst. The collision almost knocked Jack backwards and he coughed as dust swept through the trees like a sandstorm. He choked, trying to get some air into his lungs as he screamed.

"RALPH!"