By Trevor Phillips

Ralph sat alone at the side of the ship. It had been 3 days since he, the twins, Maurice, and about a third of the littluns had left the island, but he still couldn’t stop remembering the horrific events that had happened there.

Jack and most of his pack had elected to remain on the island, and Ralph was glad they had. When the ship had left, he had seen them melt into the forest with savage grins on their faces.

As he stood up to go to the room in the hull that had been set aside for the boys who were on the ship, he saw the dark forms on the horizon that could only mean an approaching storm.

“There’s a storm on the horizon,” he shouted to the crew of the ship.

“You best get inside or you could get swept off the deck,” the first mate responded.

As he looked closer at the cloud line, Ralph came to the startling conclusion that it would overwhelm the small cruiser in a matter of minutes. Realizing that it was too late to retreat to the hull, he resolved to tie himself to a post in the center of the ship and try and wait out the storm.

As the storm collided at its full power with the puny and insignificant vessel they were on, there was a sickening jolt, and Ralph emptied his stomach onto the slick planks of the boat.

As the waves swept over the side of the ship, they hurled Ralph past the rail until he was hanging over the surging ocean.

After what seemed like forever, but must have been only seconds, he was lifted back onto the deck by Sam and Eric. Ralph tried to follow them below deck, but as he dashed towards the door, the rope that he had tied to his waist yanked him with such ferocity that he was sent sprawling in the center of the deck.

His life may been saved by this act, because immediately after he was sent sprawling, the boat tilted at an unnatural angle, and he watched as some of the sailors were thrown from the ship. What he also saw was the sea rise up to form a wave of titanic proportions that engulfed the entire ship in one fell swoop.

As the ship was swamped with water, the vessel turned suddenly as if the captain had lost all control of the craft.  It started to turn towards the center of the storm, and what had appeared to be only the tumultuous waves of the typhoon now revealed the twisting maw of an immeasurable whirlpool. The bow of the ship crashed through the waves on its collision course with the gaping pit at the center of the maelstrom.

The ship tilted at an almost forty-five-degree angle as the powerful currents created by the whirlpool threatened to capsize it. In a moment of panic, Ralph cut the rope that had saved him from the depths of the sea and grabbed onto the pole with his hands, hoping against all odds that the boat would return to its original position.

Unfortunately for Ralph, the currents remained stalwart in their attempts to capsize the ship, and after one final attempt to right itself, the ship capsized completely.

Ralph was launched into the water and was immediately enveloped by the waves. He was battered and tossed around by the sheer force of the waves, but he managed to grab onto a floating piece of wood with the last vestige of his strength. As he faded into and out of consciousness, he saw glimpses of his fellows on some of the life rafts, but he saw no trace of any of the sailors.

He awoke to find himself on the sandy beach of what appeared to be an island, surrounded by Jack and the boys who had decided to stay behind. In a tone that invoked an almost supernatural aura, Jack said “No one escapes the Lord of the Flies.”