Disclaimer: Sadly, I do NOT own the show "Lost". However, I do own my Original Character ( Kennedy White ), as well as her background, and her plot on the island.
Author's note: Kennedy White's character would have been played by Susan Coffey if she'd been a character in Lost because she was my inspiration for her. Rated M for some language, violence, and sexual content in later chapters. Mind you, there will be some events altered due to my OC being here. I know that this is a strange pairing, but I wanted to create something new. If you like, I'd appreciate a review. But if you don't like it, sorry guys. Hope you enjoy it!
I was going home. Finally, after all I'd been put through. I wasn't one for flying, hated it in fact, but it was a small price to pay to get back to the States. I'd have a fresh start, a new life. I boarded Oceanic flight 815, my legs felt weak and wobbly as I walked through the aisle. Some people were already seated, others I had to manuever around as they placed their bags or luggage into the overhead compartments. I felt completely out of place in the first-class section. My gray tank top and faded jeans stuck out hideously against the suits and ties, dresses, and fancy blazers. An ugly duckling among swans.
I'd planned on taking a seat in coach. But of course, all the coach seats had been filled up. The price of a first-class ticket set me back, I'd be lucky to afford a taxi cab when this plane landed. I'd have plenty of time to think about during the flight though.
When I came to my seat, I felt my stomach drop when realizing I had was next to the window. Great. Could this get any worse? Maybe the captain's closet had extra space, enough for me? I was jerked out of my thoughts as someone rudely bumped past me.
"Sorry." A man with long, dirty blonde hair muttered in a grumbling tone. He kept walking until he took a seat three rows in front of me. Obviously I'm not the only one having a shitty day.
The man couldn't be anymore insincere and it made me feel embarrassed. I looked to my feet, as my cheeks began to heat up. Looking to my feet when being overpowered by shyness or embarrassment was a silly quirk of mine since I was at least five. Fourteen years later, I hadn't been able to kick the awful habit.
I took a deep breath and sat down as well, not wanting to be in the way of anymore snobby assholes. I sat beside a middle-aged couple, tourists most likely. They greeted me with a smile and hello. I returned the simple greeting, only I had to force my smile.
The take off had me nervous, so did the turbulence. Needless to say, my bottom lip was pretty sore from me chewing it so much. The time seemed to go by too slowly. Seconds were dragging out twice as long as they should have. Once I calmed down (which took a good twenty minutes) I remembered my book that I was holding close to my stomach. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I had to read it in my English II class my sophomore year of high school. I'd liked the book enough to ask for a copy from my teacher at the time. It wasn't until recently that this book held more meaning to me than I ever thought possible.
I'd read the tiny novel at least four times in six months. I started out on page one, instantly imagining myself a few miles south of Soledad close to the Salinas River. My mind quickly indulged itself in the book, a good way to distract myself from thinking about things of too much heaviness and importance.
An hour or two might have passed, though I wouldn't have been surprised if it had actually been thirty minutes. I was too anxious to read anymore, mostly about going home. It had been almost a year since I'd been back in L.A. . I remembered just five months ago when I called my parents to inform them that the school in Newcastle was releasing me because I was no longer qualified to attend. The reason for this was due to my life's worst tragedy that had occurred less than a week earlier.
My mother (who was on the receiving end of my call for the biggest junk of the conversation) was overjoyed that I had been freed from my "burden" as she called it. It saddened me, how happy she was, while I was in a state of heart-break.
It was last year, September 13th. I was celebrating my 18th birthday with a group of my friends. There was alcohol involved and with my first drinking experience also came the experience of losing my virginity to a boyfriend of two months. It hadn't been planned, it was one of those cliché's where it just happened. Eight or nine weeks later, I realized the cause for my six-days-late menstrual cycle. Yes, I was pregnant. Me, Kennedy White: straight A student, track star of my junior year, the girl who desperately tried to crawl out of her big sister's shadow. My parents were just as torn up as I was, if not worse.
I could never exceed my older sister, Megan, not in their eyes. And this "burden" might as well have written that fact in stone. My family had gained a good reputation with countless country clubs. They could be considered model citizens. How would it look if their youngest daughter became pregnant? Oh no, their rep couldn't afford that attention. Utter panic wrecked their lives for a good week or so until they found a solution to this little crisis. An all girls' school in Newcastle, Australia was a savior from their point of view. I was shipped out a few days later. The feelings of being torn out of my own life was the most memorable. I'm not exactly sure what my parents told our neighbors and their country club pals. They probably said that I was attending a top-academic undergraduate college, or something along those lines. Anything to hide their shame.
Then, seven months later . . .
Stop it.
I sighed and cleared my mind of the whole affair. Thinking about it would bring the nightmares back. I kept my eyes on the rest of the plane, not once looking out the window. The woman beside me was taking a nap while her husband was reading a magazine.
What now? I couldn't help but ask myself this. What was going to come next?
I'd just turned nineteen, no high school diploma (thanks to that damn school and its stupid rules). What happened was not my fault, though that pang of guilt had never truly faded. My family might as well have disowned me.
My train of thought was interrupted for the second time when a man walked briskly through the aisle with a train of flight attendants following him. I couldn't help the flutter that it set into my stomach. But I didn't have enough time for the panic of that to settle into me. Moments later, the plane jolted as if it had caught a rough patch of turbulence. Several people gasped at the sudden motion, a few were unshaken.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the fasten-seat-belt sign. Please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts." A woman voiced over the could be nothing, but my heart was pounding madly.
The woman beside me woke up from the jolting of the plane, her husband informed her to put on her seat belt. I hadn't taken mine off since I'd boarded.
Again, the plane shuddered, but this time it didn't stop. The cabin rattled and my seat vibrated recklessly. I closed my eyes and prayed that it would be over soon. I felt the plane lean sideways, now setting panic into the rest of the passengers. The nervous chatter had ceased as if everyone was waiting anxiously for this episode of fear to end.
Suddenly, my stomach was defying gravity as it seemed to float up into my chest just like when a roller coaster makes a sudden drop. People flew up and hit it ceiling along with some pieces of small luggage, then they came crashing back down onto the other passengers. The woman beside me was one of them, she landed on her back between her seat and her husband.
I heard crying and screaming, strain against the plane engines, the buzzing of the plane's alarm. The yellow, air-things that come out of the top of the plane came down. I was tempted to reach out for mine, but my body had frozen. I was terrified to let go of the arm rests.
Don't look! God, don't look!
My eyes disobeyed me, and glanced out the window. We were falling so fast, everything outside was a mere blur. Then, I heard a horrible screech of metal and steel ripping apart. A powerful blast of wind took my breath, sucking me flat to my seat. Bodies were ripped from their seats, flying towards the back of the plane. Their screams were drowned out by the harsh wind.
The overhead compartments opened, sending more luggage flying out into the cabin. I was in the midst of my panic and acknowledgement that I was about to die when I was struck my head. I didn't even see what it was. Everything went black. Black and silent.