Chapter One: Arrival
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
~Carl Jung
Aunt Lydia thought it was weird that we needed to be unconscious in order to get to the Island. Looking back on; it my naivety led me to believe that it was normal procedure and that my aunt was being paranoid. In the end of course nothing happened.
I woke up to a moment of silence. With my mind coming slowly to consciousness I lay on the cot as my senses came back to me. I can tell the submarine is still moving and that people are talking outside the room I'm in. When I feel more or less like myself I sit up. In the cot across from me Lydia has just returned from unconsciousness and is struggling to gain her mind as quickly as possible, not letting it return normally as I did. I stand up and approach the bathroom attached to the room. I am disheveled; my hair is sticking out and I can see the sleepiness in my eyes.
"We will be reaching the surface in five minutes please gather your items and wait for further instructions," a garbled voice says over the intercom system aboard the sub. "Oh yeah sorry. Please alert someone if your companion has not regained consciousness." I glance outside the bathroom and see Lydia sitting up and holding her head.
"Hey, are you feeling okay?" I ask and she looks up at me.
"Yeah, Just groggy," she says smiling at me. I return the favor before retreating back in to the bathroom. Splashing water on my face I am finally able to feel awake. I quickly apply some black eyeliner, blush, and lip gloss before running my hands though my hair and achieving a presentable hair style. My bangs are falling perfectly straight against my forehead for once and the rest of my straight black hair is only a little past my shoulders. I exit the bathroom allowing Lydia the room and gather the small book bag that is my luggage into my arms followed by the book I am currently reading. A few moments later there was a slight knock on the door. Lydia quickly exited the bathroom and opened the door.
"Hello again. We have just reached the surface. Are you ready to see the Island?" Nestor asked. Nestor Castor had met us at the marina in Virginia Beach. He had explained the voyage procedure and the like when we and the other had arrived. There weren't very many people on the sub, as far as I could see when we had first got on the sub. A woman about Lydia's 45 years and her husband and a man about ten years older than my 15 were the only other people besides the crew of 3.
"Yes," Lydia says curtly and begins to walk to the exit of the sub. Nestor smiles at me before gesturing that I should go first. I smile back and follow Lydia. "What time is it?" Lydia asks from in front of me.
"Umm," I say looking at my watch but it isn't working.
"We surfaced at 8:46pm" I hear Nestor say from behind me. Lydia sighs and continues walking. We had left Virginia Beach at 7am and I knew my internal clock would take a while before it caught up.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," Captain Nemo says. His name is actually Brian Foster but as he prefers Nemo so I thought I would go with it. "The time is now 9pm on April 18th. Everyone ready to go up top?" he smiled as we nodded an affirmative answer. He climbed the ladder behind him and opened the door. The sky above us, as far as I could tell, was dark and I could see a blanket of stars before Captain Nemo blocked my view while he exited. I went last and I heard the door latch shut behind me.
Even in the evening light the place looked like something out of a book. The moon played over the green mountain and the tropical trees. I can't even explain how the Island looks. The only way I could explain it to you is if I asked you to imagine a tropical paradise and there would be the Island.
As I had stood atop the sub the other passengers had had already departed and were almost out of sight walking along the dock. Lydia was waiting for me and I quickly reached where she was. We were walking along on the dock now and I followed her along it. I soon realized however that we weren't alone on the dock.
"Welcome!" the person shaped figure in the middle of the dock said. "My name is Benjamin Linus and I am the leader here on the Island." The man speaking was about half a foot taller than me and wearing a dark blue button up shirt and khakis. "You must be Lydia Terran." After shaking hands with my aunt his eyes move over to me and lock with mine. I get caught up in the amazing blue of his eyes and almost miss him saying, "and Miss Kendrick I presume." He was holding out his hand to me. I snapped out of it and quickly took his hand to shake it.
"Yes Cassandra Kendrick," I said smiling. I felt the blush creep up my cheeks and as he let go of my hand I looked down at the dock. It was stupid really. I don't know what had come over me. I glanced up at him again and he was staring down at me with calculating eyes.
"From Greek mythology," he said when I looked up at him.
"Yes, the unheeded prophetess," I replied. He nodded and then turned back to my aunt.
"I hope the trip went well," he said moving on without giving us a chance to answer. Whether he saw that Lydia had indeed not had a good trip or because he was in a hurry I didn't know. "It is pretty late so I'll save the tour, introductions, and guidelines for tomorrow and I'll just show you were you'll be staying while on the Island." He began walking and we followed closely behind. Okay embarrassing start but I could quickly put it behind me. I just wasn't expecting… wasn't expecting… well someone like him.
"These are the barracks where most of the community lives. We have building all over the island though. This particular station is surrounded by pylons as a safety measure although they haven't been necessary in years," he said and as I glanced up at him I saw the corners of his mouth turn up in to a slight smile but it was gone a moment later.
"We haven't needed to make two trips with the sub for luggage before," he said conversationally to Lydia.
"Yes well that would be Cassandra's luggage," she replies. He turns to look at me and from his gaze I can tell he thinks I packed clothes and make up and shoes, which I did obviously but not in the staggering amounts he would have gathered from the boxes we had sent to the island last week. He looks me up and down taking in the black A line skirt and the deep red cotton lose fitting spaghetti strap shirt I am wearing. Inappropriate for a deserted island I know but I only wore it because we were meeting people for the first time at a marina and I hadn't thought ahead to the final destination.
"I didn't want to leave my books," I say keeping the bite out of it in respect to the leader. I glance over to him and he raises an eyebrow before turning to look ahead of us.
"And here is where you will be staying," he said as the back of a house appears. It was blue in color with white trim. We walked around to the front where a whole village of houses appears. He pointed to the house next door to our new house, "That is Juliet Burke's house. You will be helping her in her research Lydia. Well I will let you get settled in and be back in the morning. If you need anything please let Juliet know," he finished and I notice that he hasn't offered his services.
"Thank you Mr. Linus," Lydia said.
"You're welcome," he said before turning and walking across the courtyard. "Have a good night."
"You too," I said before he was out of ear shot. He turned around and gave me another of those calculating looks before turning back to his path. I turned and followed Lydia in to our new house.