A little girl feels the world slip past in slow-motion, her hand reaching out as the stone under her feet vanish. It's like she's flying and for a moment she isn't so scared anymore… but then she feels sun warmed water embrace her, drag her under and she screams, screams and reaches past the layers of liquid, her eyes are hurting, burning and the distorted figure standing frozen in shock horror… creamy skin, chocolate ringlets, the screech for help and her name called from their blood red lips, then their caramel orbs reaching out, her own eyes watching her from safety and screaming for a savior…. Is the last sight the nine year old sees… her sisters anguished face and just like always, it's like looking in a mirror…
Eleven Years Later –
"Excuse me, coming through!" a girl shouts while marching through the crowed airport, her hand latched and pulling another person along
A deep sigh comes from the girl being dragged around "April calm down, we have over an hour until boarding."
The two brunettes come to a stop and April looks back to her sister, her gaze seeming to zone off into the distance "precision gets perfection Alice!"
Alice squeezes her sisters hand and laughs "your insane… come on, take me to the food court, I'm starved!"
The girls walk with a slight giggle, April carefully guiding her sister around the airport, because being blind can be a problem like that!
They sit and Alice pops a fry in her mouth "come on Worm, just tell me…"
The clone like girl smiles and sighs "Mutt please I don't want to talk about it, the guy was a douche, end of story!"
The blind girl raises her hands in defeat "fine, be that way…I hope you kicked his ass before hitting the curb."
"Alice…" the brunette moans with a roll of her eyes
"April…" she mimics
The two sit laughing but at the sound of raised voices April turns to see a couple fighting, a short haired blonde screaming at a cute guy over the lack of seats and Alice says "that sounds like a car crash waiting to happen!"
"Already has by the looks of it! Shame, he's too cute for a bitch-ella…" April laughs, but then she sees her sister reaching for a drink, she quickly picks it up and carefully places it in her hands
Their touch lingers of a moment and Alice smiles, her wondering caramel orbs shining "thanks Worm!"
"You're welcome Mutt" she smiles and let go of her sister's hand, going back to her own food, waiting for their flight to be called, Oceanic 815…
As they bored the plane Alice smiles to her sister "why don't you take the window seat, not like I need it"
"You're so funny!" April fakes a laugh and slides into the window seat
The blind twin just shrugs and is guided into her seat by a crew member "thanks, one of the perks of not needing the window seat… leg room!"
The two girl's laugh, the attendant smiling while handing Alice the book she dropped. A while later and April smiles out the window, then looks to her sister, who is sitting bobbing her head with headphones in, her fingers running over the pages of her book effortlessly, she touches her sisters arm, who removes her headphones "you want something to drink?"
"A soda and some pretzels would be good!" she smiles and lets her moves to let her sister stand
She goes to retake her seat but someone knocks her "walk much?" she shouts after the rude person
She takes her seat and closes her eyes, swimming around the darkness as her sister slides back into place "here you go…"
Alice takes the stuff and lies back "thanks…"
"Hey, what's up?" April asks at her twin
She shakes her head and answers "nothing, just some people lack manners and… I keep hearing this clicking noise it's driving me crazy!"
"Well eat your pretzels, maybe your chewing will drown it out!" April jokes, earning her a smack on the arm form Alice
Suddenly the cabin starts to rock, the girls passing it for turbulence, but then it gets worse and panic erupts, Alice struggling with her seatbelt and calls out "April!"
Seeing her sisters struggle the brunette leans over and quickly helps her sister as she watches the tail end of the plane rip away and her sister screams at the forced wind, knowing nothing was right at this moment, then as the plane jerks forward April knocks her head and she passes out!
At her sisters silence Alice gets even more worried and reaches out, pulling her sisters unconscious body to her as the plane plummets through the sky "April! April, are you ok? April!"
That's the last thing she remembers, the frantic cries and screams, the harsh breeze rushing against her skin, her sister clutched tightly to her and then the darkness takes complete control of her senses.
Boone wakes with a groan, his head aching as he floods with memories of the crash, he looks beside him and sees the side of the plane has been ripped open, Shannon's seat empty and the belt ripped "Shannon!"
He shouts for her as he quickly gets up, but as he gets out of his seat he stumbles over something, looking back he sees it to be a body, a hand flying over his mouth as he looks around at the corpses, but at the sound of a pained grunt he runs over, seeing a pretty brunette, her breaths sharp as he shakes her lightly "hey, hey are you alright?"
Alice hears a voice call out to her and her eyes open, everything is a mixed cloud, the darkness trying to pull her back in, but the light seems determined to fight and then she sees it… a pair of shimmering ice blue eyes gazing into her "am I dead?" she asks groggily
"Not quite, come on, we need to get you out of here!" he says while unbuckling her belt
Realization sets in and she looks around, but everything is so bright, blinding and her head snaps to the seat beside her, but it's not there anymore, no sign of her sister "oh god! April! Where's April?"
Her watered eyes meet the blue of Boones and he asks as he helps her up, the girl holding her hand in pain "April?"
"My sister, my sister she was right next to me! Oh god no, no this isn't happening!" she rants with quite sobs and he gently grabs her shoulders
Their eyes meet and he says "Hey, hey come on, I'm looking for my sister to, we'll find them together ok?"
She nods weakly and follows him to the back of the plane, the only safe looking way off the fuselage and he grabs her waist and helps her down as the two start shouting for their siblings, Alice is in some sort of trance because everything is so damn bright, she's drowning in light and it's all like a dream, she's scared, confused and freaking out "April!"
As they search Boone sees a woman on the ground "Wait we have to help her!"
Alice looks conflicted but nods and they rush to the woman's side, the girl looking around franticly as the blue eyed man works "April?"
She starts sobbing lightly as a man in a suit comes over and corrects him, when Boone makes a suggestion about something he'd probably seen on TV and gets a sarcastic remark and not realizing it, Alice says "hey he's just trying to help!"
The handsome young man seems to grasp what was said and stands "Come on…"
He pulls on Alice's good hand that she isn't cradling to her side "Shannon!"
The girl beside him sobs lightly, tears rolling down her cheek and the blue eyed man turns to her "hey, come on your going to be fine, we're going to find our sister's and everything is going to be fine!"
She nods lightly at his reassuring voice, but she still can't seem to comprehend what's happening here, they look and scream until they hear and see a girl screaming out for Boone, but she's just standing there, frozen! He quickly runs over and the two hug for a moment until pulling apart and she hits him on the chest "where were you?"
"I see you're ok?" he smiles to himself at her safety, despite her tears and angry tone
He then turns to Alice and goes to walk but Shannon grabs his arm "where are you going? You can't leave me!"
"Your fine Shannon, I promised I'd help her find her sister…" he sighs in annoyance
She looks slightly horrified and stomps "I'm your sister!"
However, just then a voice calls out "Alice!"
They look to see a dripping wet girl with a matching face, but a cut across her forehead, running up to her sister, the two holding each other in relief and joy "thank god you're ok, I was so scared! Oh Alice I'm sorry!"
"Shut up, you didn't crash the plane. I'm ok, we're ok!" she smiles holding her sister lovingly, scared to let go
When they do April looks into her sister's eyes and for the first time in eleven years sees her looking back, but she doesn't let herself believe it "Alice…"
"I can see you April, I can see the sun and the sky… I can see!" she whispers to her twin sister
April shakes her head and questions "that's… that's impossible! How, how could you…"
"I don't have a damn clue… I'm just kind of glad we're alive!" she smiles and pulls her sister into her arms, both utterly astonished and confused, but just happy to be in the other's arms, to feel their heartbeats racing against each other…
The two sisters sit in the sand, April holding her sisters face and examining her eyes "I'm fine, look can you let me go?"
"It's just impossible! I don't understand…" April sighs and shakes her head in confusion
Alice just sits, cradling her arm slightly and gazes out into the ocean "yeah and I do? Tell you know daddy is going to be thrilled! I can just hear him now… 'A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight'!"
April shakes her head and smiles "I can't believe you remember that!"
"How could I not, he doubled my bible classes after the accident!" she states and then stands
April reaches out and grabs her sisters hand "hey, where do you think you're going?"
Alice looks at her sister and shrugs "there's some guys over there trying to make a fire, figured I could lend a hand, want in?"
"Ha, no, I don't think so… Alice, think about this, we need to wait for the doctor guy to come back!" April tries to reason with her sister, having over heard the pregnant woman speak of the doctor
Alice takes her sisters hands and smiles "Worm, chill, we'll talk to the doc when he comes, until then I'm going to put my miracle to something useful!"
April bites her lip and watches her sister go with a worried sigh, something just wasn't right about all this, she didn't like it…
"Hey, can I help?" Alice smiles to the two men
They turn, the curly haired nodding and the blonde smiles back "yes, thank you, we need more wood for the fire."
She nods and rubs at her sore arm, the pain numbing slightly "sounds like a plan; I'm Alice by the way!"
"Sayid" the curly haired man says, shaking her good hand
The blonde walks up and smiles nervously "I'm Charlie…"
She shakes his hand and smiles, heading off into the woods, her sister's fearful gaze following her.
Alice and Charlie are picking up sticks and he smiles "I'm sorry by the way…"
She looks to him confused as he continues "on the plane, I bumped into you!"
She remembers and nods "oh, right, don't worry about it…"
The rest of their conversation is idle chit-chat and she humors the guy with a smile but she's more focused on her surroundings, the vibrant green, the gentle brown soothing blues and pink of the dusk, it was surreal and she thinks maybe she died on that plane, maybe they all did and this is heaven, a place to recreate themselves…
Later that evening they all sit around the fires, Alice looking up at the stars with a smile on her face, her head in her sisters lap, April running her fingers through her twins hair "did you talk to the doctor yet?"
"You know I haven't, chill out, we'll sort it tomorrow, just let me enjoy this before it goes to hell!" Alice begs her sister, who just nods with a sad smile
April sighs and stands "I'm going to stretch my legs, maybe see about getting some food from the big guy over there… Alice, just… wait here ok?"
The seated twin holds her hands up and smiles "I'm a statue!"
She watches as her sister walks away, but at the sound of familiar voices turns lightly and sees Boone getting yelled at by his own sister over a chocolate bar. She smiles over to him, her head resting against her knees, he smiles back, but seems to forget he's eating and a piece of chocolate falls out, she laughs as he wipes his chin, a chuckle of embarrassment on his lips.
Just then a small tray of food is tossed into her lap and she looks to her sister who hands her a fork "eat up Mutt."
Alice smiles and opens the foiled food, not noticing the glare April sends to the blue eyed man. Just then a large rumble echoes through the woods, the trees moving against the noise and Alice, along with many others stand, April calls after her sister, much like Shannon had Boone. As the noise dies the survivors share worried and fearful glances as a Manchester accent breaks the silence "terrific!"
That night is tense and stressed, many just staring out into the forest for the creature that shook them all to the core. When morning comes April looks around and sees her sister sitting looking out into the ocean bed, having left her to sleep and she gives a heavy sigh, she is worried and has a right to be! When she sees that doctor walking along with a brunette she quickly makes her way over "hey! …you're the doctor right?"
He gives her a glance and nods "Yeah, the names Jack!"
"April… listen I was wondering if I could talk to you a sec?" she asks nervously
Jack looks at her and nods "sure, Kate could you give us a minute?"
The older brunette smiles and walks away, leaving the two, jack folds his arm as he says "so what's the problem?"
"It's my sister Alice… something isn't right!" she answers with a bite of her lip and a look to her blissful twin
Jack glances to the girl, seeing her cradling her arm, but other than that she seems fine and he shrugs "I don't see much of a problem, from the looks of it her wrist might be sprained though!"
She takes a step closer and shakes her head "no, you don't understand… before the crash… Alice was blind!"
He gives her a confused look, then a bitter chuckle "look I'm not really in the mood for jokes…"
He goes to leave but her grip tightens "I'm serious! When we were kids she fell of a bridge, it was used as a dumping sight for the local factory's, toxins, medical waste, you name it, it was in that river… she's been blind ever since, until yesterday!"
He looks into her tear stained eyes, the fear and concern swirling around the caramel pools "your serious!"
He looks to Alice and then April and sighs "that's just… not possible!"
"Please… will you just look at her?" the scared girl begs
He bites his lip and nods "yeah, yeah of course but I first I need to go look for the cockpit, but I'd like to talk to her when I get back!"
She gives a worried nod and watches as he goes off, her gaze turning back to her sister who looks like she doesn't have a care in the world, while she's panicking and just freaking out…
After Jack leaves Boone in charge he looks over to the lone girl and stands, Shannon sending him a glare and asks "um, where are you going?"
"Away from you!" he simply says and makes his way to the curly long haired brunette
"Hey!" he smiles while taking a seat beside her
Alice looks to him with a toothy grin "hi, no chocolate?"
They laugh and he shakes his head "yeah, not right now… I didn't get your name?"
"Alice Hobbs" she says happily
He nods and leans back "nice to meet you Alice, I'm Boone Carlyle!"
He sees a pair of brown eyes scowling at him "I don't think your sister likes me…"
"April doesn't like anyone! She's overprotective, has been since we were kids. Your sister seems like a peach!" she says the last part soaked with sarcasm
He laughs and shakes his head "yeah… Shannon is kind of a handful, hell it's her fault we're even here!"
She frowns lightly and asks "really?"
"She called me to come get her, I came, she bitched, now we're on an island! What about you, what were you doing in Sydney?" he says in a slightly annoyed tone
Alice smiles with a raised brow "well I guess you could say we were on business!"
They share a look and she explains "when I was a kid there was an accident, I got hurt, after that my sister decided it was her job to take care of me! Aprils studying environmental law and there's this company in Sydney that's been air polluting…"
"I heard about that, big scandal!" he says in remembrance
She nods and continues "well April was one of the junior attorney's and she wanted to finish the job!"
He leans forward, playing with some sand and asks "so why were you there?"
Alice sends a smile over to her sister and shrugs "support! It was her first big case, besides she likes being able to keep an eye on me; I have this bad habit for bumping into trouble!"
They laugh and he nods in agreement "yeah, I can see that!"
She pushes him lightly and the two giggle happily both their sisters sending glares their way.
Suddenly the rain comes from nowhere and Boone darts off to his sister, guiding them to shelter, April runs to Alice's side "Come on, quick!"
However as the girl stands she laughs, grabbing her sisters face and smiles "it's the rain Worm, can't you feel it? Don't you remember?"
Alice starts dancing happily, earning some stares but April smiles at her sister's shenanigans and mutters "god is in the rain!" as her sister pulls her into her dancing
The two seeming crazy, but it was like reliving a memory, the two little girls in their backyard, not caring about ruining their church clothes or getting sick as the droplets dance with them, that was the last time Alice had danced in the rain and April wood be dammed before she was going to take that away from her. She the two identical girls twirl around, an older man smiling in empathy, a blonde shaking her head in bored petulance, the blue eyes of her brother twinkling with a side swept smile.
When the rain stops the two girls stand giggling, the sun beaming down on them as April smiles "we should find some dry clothes…"
Alice nods in agreement, looking down to her soaked body and smiles "might be an idea!"
They walk over to where some of the people are rummaging through the luggage, Alice twisting the rain out of her hair as she sees Boone walking over to the other scavengers with a disgruntled expression "hey grumpy, what's up?"
He runs a hand through his hair and sighs' "my lazy ass sister! You looked like you were having fun."
She shrugs and answers "you only live once right?"
They stand for a moment in blissful silence, but then Boone is jerked by someone bumping into him, they turn and find Aprils smile "sorry about that, I'm April, Alice's sister."
He nods and smiles back "I'm Boone, nice to meet you!"
She eyeballs him with a sly smile before walking over to the suitcases. Alice looks to her sister with a frowned brow "sorry about that, she's… well she's kind of crazy, but she's my sister!"
He laughs and holds up his hand "hey, no explanation needed, I mean have you met my sister?"
Alice looks over to the sun bathing blonde and groans "I don't think I want to!" they share another smile and head over to look through the surviving baggage.
A short while later everyone looks up at the sound of a fight breaking out, Alice goes to see what's happening but her arm is in a vice grip, she looks back and sees her own face looking back "don't get involved Alice…"
Boone watches as April basically orders her sister around with moist eyes and gentle smiles, the scene seeming far too familiar, however they make their way over at seeing Jack and the others returning. When the blonde southern guy takes a pop at the big guy who Alice had seen handing out the food and done nothing but be a decent human being "hey asshole why don't you look in the mirror before pointing or picking on anyone, because last I checked you fit the bill of an inbred, racist, sexist, homophobic hick who pushes his opinions on the general public!"
He laughs and towers over her "listen up little lady why don't you go back to your toys and let the grownups talk this out!"
She then punches his square in the jaw; he stumbles but then goes to retaliate only for Boone to take a step in front of her, Sayid following his lead "back off man"
Sawyer wipes a thumb over his, finding a droplet of blood and smiles past the two to the brunette "already training the troops huh honey?"
They watch as he walks away, Boone turns to her and asks "you ok?"
Smile smiles and nods "always!"
Hurly smiles and puts a hand on her shoulder "hey, thanks."
"That was very brave of you." Sayid states
Alice shrugs and says "guys an ass!" the others laugh and go off, she turns to follow Boone back, but is met by her sister's angry glare
April grabs her hand and starts to pull her away "what are you doing?"
"Taking you to see the doctor" The pushy twin says, pulling her along
Alice retches from her grip and says "we can do that later, let's just go find our stuff!"
"No! Alice how can you be so calm? This isn't something you can put off and pretend it isn't there! I'm scared Alice, I'm freaking out in a major way and your acting like everything's normal! Why do I have to be the grown up and you get to rap yourself in a bubble? Please Alice, just talk to the doctor, please!" the tearstained twin begs
Alice pulls her into her arms "oh, Worm I'm sorry… come on, lead me to the doctor!"
She wipes her sister's tears with a smile and lets her walk her across the beach. They walk over to the tent, seeing Jack and hurly come out they jog over "hey Mr. Doctor!"
He turns and looks to the twins "hey… you're the girl from earlier!"
April smiles and nods "yeah and this is my sister Alice!"
He nods and looks the girl over "So… your sister tells me you were blind when you boarded the plane?"
"Yeah, do you um, know what could have happened?" she asks nervously
He gently takes her face and moves it into the light, examining her eyes and sighs "look I don't see anything wrong with your eyes, they seem fine to me!"
"But how does someone just wake up and not be blind anymore?" April asks in frustration
Jack rubs a hand over his face "look whatever this is you seem fine, but I'd be careful of your arm, slight sprain, but nothing serious!"
He walks away and April goes to chase after him, but realizing her twin has walked in the other direction and goes after her instead "Alice, wait!"
"Why can't you just be happy for me April, I can see, everything is so beautiful and your trying to taint it! just stop it!" she says and storms off, needing to put some distance between the two
She walks over seeing Boone yelling at Shannon with Kate and Charlie as witness "hey, what's going on?"
"My sister trying to make a point because she's an idiot!" he shouts at the blonde
Shannon folds her arms and says "I'm going and you can't stop me!"
She storms off behind Kate, followed by Charlie, the brunette look to the handsome man beside her "so what just happened?"
"Me having to go on a hike to make sure she doesn't trip and drown herself in a muddy puddle!" he crosses his arms
She nods and starts walking with him, seeing her sister and asks "want some company? The sun is killing me…"
He smiles and nods "please, I could use the company!"
April looks far less than pleased as she watches her sister walk off into the jungle with this man, this stranger and her blood boils… this wasn't right!
As they walk into the jungle Alice smiles to the blonde girl, Sayid and Sawyer fighting "hey, your Shannon right, Boones sister?"
She nods and says "unfortunately!"
"He's not that bad!" the brunette shrugs
A bitter laugh comes from the other girl "yeah, look if you want to bang my brother just do it, but don't be surprised if it doesn't last!"
She walks off and Alice stands there for a moment then matches past to her friend "hey, yeah your sisters a bitch!"
He laughs and nods "told you!"
Suddenly a harsh noise comes from the trees, its coming closer and they quickly take off in the other direction, Boone grabbing his sister's hand and making a dash for it, but as the brunette duplicate runs her vision blurs, she doesn't see the tree root and meets the ground. No longer hearing following footsteps Boone looks back, seeing the girl on the floor and the rustling trees "Alice!"
He runs back, sliding against the mood and quickly lifting her up, despite his sister's protests. They start running, but everything's a cloud of color, Boone pulling both girls along but then turning back at the sound of shots being fired.
What they see shocks them all, a polar bear! They all stand around debating a creature that belongs in the winter frost out in the jungle sun, but Alice sees a cloud, just a mix of color.
She lets out a pained groan, hand shooting to her head in distress; Boone turns at the sound and sees something is wrong "Alice?"
Her head shoots up, a sharp ache following, her steps swaying "my head…" but then she sees nothing, the blackness pulling her back in as she plummets to the ground