The Way of a Man with a Woman
By: Amee Eliza
Plot: A brief look into the relationship between Dr. Alpert and therapist Harper Stanhope. 1,049 words.
Dedicated to: Alyssa, because she truly is a meaningful thing in my life. To my Dad.
The night rolled in slowly and the crickets just began to stir as Harper headed through the jungle. The faction that surveyed the jungles were camping to the north of the Barracks and she knew with a heaviness that Alpert was there.
She felt both grieved and angry at herself. She had tried to warn Juliet about Ben's revenge plan, but she was not heeded. The woman, in her mind was an empty drum that could not afford to make herself not look indiscreet. When the affair began she felt a sting like a bee would give, but then it turned to regret. Why had she married him in the first place? To cast herself upon one unequal was not pleasing but then as she strode through foliage with the occasional water that dripped on her head from the trees above she recalled. Her sin was so grievous to herself that she almost tripped herself on a rock but then caught her balance as a man protruded from the trees.
"Which way do you go?" Ryan barked.
"It is me." Harper said lifting her neck higher.
The silence didn't last as the other men came to inspect the commotion. Richard sat by the fire unmoved. He held an apple and a knife in his hand and he carved it in tender round bites.
There were four tents set up and the rest of them slept on the ground. Harper avoided the sleeping men and kindled her appearance before him.
She did watch for a reaction but then threw herself down to sit.
The fire was not too hot but it suited her.
Ryan complained that she had not given them notice of her coming. Harper didn't waste her breath replying. Her face tightened a bit at the reproach and she inspected her boots.
Surprisingly they were not too filthy. Words unspoken now made her beckon to Alpert.
He looked at her and then touched her face.
Harper did not scratch but rather felt sad. She turned her face away now and asked to speak to him. Ryan petted a last beer in his stash and opened it. He did not seem to pay her much attention. Alpert nodded and lit a lantern as he made way to his quarters.
He sat down on a chair inside the tent and offered her a seat. She took it and rested her weary back.
They both seemed to pause for a while and consider all the years they had used. The lantern gave a strange light on the tent wall. A book or two lie on his cot. Alpert checked the time with complacence but Harper knew he was nervous.
Harper took the stance of speech and asked him how he was.
The dark haired man with searching eyes said back: "Fine. Everything seems out of ol' Widmore's control."
Harper frowned.
"You shouldn't leave here and put yourself in danger. I know you think you'll be fine but as time goes on I have a feeling we will need to stay here more often."
Richard looked at her with concern: "Don't worry about me. Every man who leaves island will come back and I think those who don't will eventually. But harm or violence what can I say? I am mere flesh. Like you" He ended by playing with the chain on his watch.
"I do remember why we are not together Richard and I don't blame you but all I wanted to say is after Goodwin's death I realized how my choice to marry him was to scorn you, and I am grieved by my actions." Harper's eyes bubbled up with teardrops.
Richard turned away confronted by such sentiments and recollection of the past.
Harper's navy blue hoodie made her look like a teenager but it was the first jacket she could find before she departed. That night before she had left in a hurry leaving her door unlocked and pushing a picture of herself and Goodwin down. She had cried a little too but not uncontrollably. She had found an old diary entry that reminded her of everything it was and how it was to be in love. Richard's signature had been taken as remembrance and pasted in the thin diary she had kept for the past few years.
"Time can't be undone." The words Richard uttered made her realize how true this was.
"I should of never come." The words came slowly but not accompanied by tears.
"I know you Harper and I know that five hundred years hasn't changed you or fifty but time has changed possibilities. You and I we-" He stopped.
Harper clenched her sweaty fist. The time was now ten. Fifteen minutes had gone by but it seemed short.
The moon outside became a crescent and wind did not touch the trees. The men slept on and Ryan drank the last morsel out of the Mexican beer bottle. His head spun with the day's activities and he reminded himself of his socks he had left out to dry on a nearby branch.
Inside the tent Harper made not option but to quit speaking.
Richard broke her wishes and spoke on. He told her that they still had work to do and that he knew that life would keep going on.
Harper shook her head in doubt with a sarcastic smile she said: "So, I've never changed. Is this the reason you left me?"
Richard was put back by the statement.
"I left you because I had to." The words were uttered out of the bottom of his heart.
Harper knew exactly what he meant: "So, Richard you say Jacob wouldn't allow it?"
Her tone softened because she wanted privacy.
"Nothing would." Richard shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His rear ached.
He had an inclination to run his hand through his hair but wanted to remain still.
"Long ago on a night like this you and I used to walk together."
Richard smiled upon hearing the memory.
"That was long time ago."
Harper looked at him for once squarely in the face: "Time? It is all but lost."
Richard nodded.
That night upon returning back she knew she would be bombarded with questions about where she had been and Harper devised in her mind she would say: "With a friend."