Paige stumbled forward blindly. She was looking for somebody or something but for the moment she couldn't remember what. Then it came to her. "Chloe!" she shouted, her voice mingling with dozens of other voices. Other survivors of the flight. Had the plane crashed? Was this a dream? Was this possible? Paige continued moving, not headed in any particular direction, just away from the chaotic scene of the crash.
"Paige!" a voice called from behind her. Paige spun around, relieved to see her older cousin Chloe standing a few feet behind her.
They moved forward together, arms resting on each others' shoulders, making awkward, clumsy movements. Neither could process the events that had occurred. People were running in all directions. There was blood. And neither of the girls knew how to react. They wanted to help but neither knew how, so they watched helplessly as people climbed out of the wreckage. Nobody saw them or paid attention to them. People moved past them without noticing them. They were invisible.
It stayed like that for the first couple days on the island. Chloe and Paige sat together on the beach, silent, dumbstruck by how quickly their lives had changed. At one point somebody came by and offered them some food, which they accepted. He asked them about their parents, if they were on the plane, and they looked at him dumbly and shook their heads. Neither of the teenagers had the energy to speak, and even if they could, there was nothing they could say.
Then, out of nowhere, Chloe started laughing. "What?" Paige asked, staring at her.
After a few minutes of Chloe was able to stop laughing and she mumbled, "Charlie Pace."
"What?"
"Charlie Pace," Chloe repeated, and then she started laughing again. Paige stared blankly. "Bassist from Driveshaft. Half the girls from school were in love with him."
"What about him?"
"He's here."
"What are you talking about?"
"I just saw him."
"Chloe…" Paige said uncertainly. "Are you okay?"
"I guess he was on the plane or something, I don't know, but he's here. I just saw him. Doing drugs, actually. At least that's what it looked like."
"Chloe…"
"I swear it was him."