"Ma'am, would you like anything to drink?"

I look up from my copy of People Magazine to see a bubbly woman with a New York accent smiling at me.

"A coffee would be fine, thank you."

"Of course." She looks at the middle seat, and sees that a black haired girl is fast asleep. "And you, sir?"

I turn to my right to give a quick glance to the man who is sitting in the window seat. He has shaggy blonde hair, and blue eyes. "I'll take what she's having, thank you."

The woman shuffles away, and I look back at my magazine. I'm not exactly the magazine type of person, but what else is there to do on an hour-long plane ride?

"So, are you visiting someone special", asks the man, lifting an eyebrow curiously.

"No offense Mister, but I have a bit of a headache so I'd rather not talk right now."

He smiles playfully. "Oh, a runaway."

"Listen, I don't know who you are, but it's none of your damn-"

The airplane began to shake a little. I look at the man, who starts tapping on the black haired girl's head. "Kate."

"James-Sawyer, what's going on?!"

"It's probably just a bit of turbulence, we'll be fine", I offer.

Kate laughs warily. "Probably."

Bam! My head flies face forward against the seat in front of me.

A hand is immediately placed on me. It's Kate. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah. What the hell is going on?"

A little girl is screaming. "MOMMY THE WIFI SHE GAVE ME WONT WORK. I TRIED THE CODE."

"Maybe you forgot the fifteen, honey."

"NO, I DIDNT. ITS 4 8 15 16 23 42 BUT ITS NOT WORKING. MOMMY WHAT'S GOING ON IM SC-"

Sawyer and Kate exchanged another glance, this time with fear all over their faces. "Kate, you don't think..."

Over the loudspeaker, a voice says, "If I may have your attention, please remain in your seats with your seat belts securely fastened. It appears that we're hitting a bit of turbulence, there's nothing to worry about. Just-"

BANG! The luggage falls out of the compartment above us, and I look at Kate and Sawyer. Their faces are grim, as if they know it is the end for us. And yet. they don't seem scared. I, however, am not as strong as they are. I shoot them a fearful glance, and begin to weep. I am not supposed to die. It wasn't supposed to end like this.

Kate squeezes my hand. "We're going to be okay."

As the airplane began to shake, and screams echoed throughout the airplane, I look at her doubtfully. "How can you be so sure?"

"Trust me. I've... We've survived this before. In fact, 90 percent of people survive plane crashes. I read it somewhere."

"Wh-What if we're one of the unlucky ten percent?"

Sawyer laughs, a sound I never thought I'd hear again. "What makes you think that not surviving makes us unlucky?"

"I don't know... It's just; my cousin was on that Oceanic flight that crashed and-" Thump. That is all I remember.

The next thing I remember, white light clouds my vision. "I can't believe we're back."

"Freckles, we ain't back. Not without our friends. They're all dead. The island we once called our home is dead. This ain't our island, this is the beginning of the end."

"I'm not in the mood to play plane crash part three, James. I'm too old for this. I can't try and explain to people that nobody is going to come and save them."

"So don't, Kate."

"What?"

"We'll go survive on our own, we've done it before. We can find shelter; maybe build a life for ourselves, just me an' you. No doctor or crazy ass smoke monsters to slow us down."

"But what about the girl? We can't leave her."

I slowly fade into reality, and see chaos all around me. A little girl was screaming, begging for her mother and father. "Mummy! Daddy!"

I looked above me, to see Kate and Sawyer peering over me. Kate bends down, and feel my head. "Hey, you okay?"

"I'm... I'm fine." I stand up, and look around me. Parachutes and people are all everywhere, but there is not an airplane in sight. "I... I don't remember jumping."

"That's because you didn't. You passed out on the plane."

"Did everyone make it off?"

"Wasn't enough time. There's only around thirty of us that managed to make our way off the airplane before it crashed somewhere on the island."

Nausea falls over me. I look back at the little girl, was is now in the lap of a fifty something year old man who's telling her it'll be all right. We are on a beach. It's beautiful. I've never seen anything like it. And yet, I couldn't think of anyplace I'd like to be any less. I am about to speak, when I hear a dog barking.

"Woah", exclaims Kate, her eyes widening. "It couldn't be... could it?"

"Guess there's only one way to find out."

I exchange glances with Sawyer and Kate, and the three of us run into the forest together, leaving behind the other survivors. We run and run through the never ending bushes, weeds, and trees, until we find a golden retriever that's wagging it's tail happily. "I didn't know there was such a thing as wild golden retrievers."

"There ain't."

I hear an elderly man's voice call, "Vincent? Vincent?! C'mere boy."

"No fricken way."

A balding man wearing a flannel shirt scrambles through the leaves, repeating the name. And then, he freezes. "I can't believe my eyes. Kate? Sawyer? What are you doing here?"

"You didn't see?" asks Kate

"See what?"

"Our plane crashed, Gramps", said says, breathing through his nose impatiently.

"Again? Wow, the luck you two have... Here, come with me, you must need some water."

We follow him further out into the jungle, as Kate begins to speak. "You know, you never told me your name?"

"Ummm... Cadence. Cadence Blake."

"You sure about that? Because it took you time to think about it."

I sigh. "What gave it away?"

"One, try not to hesitate. Oh, and, use a less our of the ordinary name."

"Ever do something bad, Kate", I ask, narrowing my eyes.

"Once or twice. Why?"

"I did..." I look at Sawyer, who is pretending not to be listening, and I say,"My name is Samara. Samara Littleton. Please don't-"

"Littleton?" Kate asks, her eyes widening with disbelief. "Any relation to Claire Littleton?"

"She was my cousin", I say gently. "Wait, how the hell do you know my cousin? I never mentioned her, I wouldn't have. Never mentioned the crash-"

"You don't know, do you..."

"Know what?"

A grin spreads across Sawyer's face. "Well I'll be it."

"Know what, Sawyer", I demand. This isn't a joke to me.

"She's still alive."

A tear falls down my face, and I look into the distance, remembering a time that seems so far away yet so close.

"Samara Littleton?"

"Here!"

"No, we aren't calling attendance, dear. Your mother wants to see you, she's in the office. Please take your things"

"Yes Mrs. Goodman." I picked up my velvet backpack and skipped over to the office. A blonde woman awaited me. "Mummy!" I shouted happily.

I noticed that she doesn't look happy, not one bit. In fact, her face is tear stained. "What's wrong?"

"Samara, baby, there's been an accident. Claire... she was heading to American to... do something for her baby, and her plane... it crashed."

That was the very moment where my world came crumbling down.

"She's dead?"

"We don't know for sure."

I sniffled. It wasn't fair. I had already lost my aunt, who was in a coma, and my dad to cancer... and now my cousin, the girl who would watch me every time my mom had to stay an extra shift at work? It didn't seem real. Claire was just too radiant and beautiful to be dead. And then there was her baby, who would never get to grow up. Never get to celebrate her first birthday. Never get to play tag with me, or go to school.

I wanted to cry, I wanted to break down in tears, kick the wall, and scream as loud as my lungs would allow, but I didn't. I turned to my mom and said calmly, "How do we know that she's really dead?"

"They lost contact with the plane, Sam. There's no way that-"

Her phone rang. "Hold on. Hello, it's Lindsey"

She walked towards the other end of the room, and I wandered over towards the phone. I pressed the phone, and, unaware of what I was doing, typed in unfamiliar numbers.

4. 8. 15. 16. 23. 42. The phone clicked. "Who- Who's there?"

"Claire, is that you?!"

"No, my name is Jacob. I want you to listen to me very carefully, Samara. Your cousin, she's alive. In fact, she's here with me."

"Can you put her on the phone?"

"I can't do that."

"Then what can you do, mister?"

"You can't see her. Not yet. It isn't time. But in five years time, you will. All you need to do is listen to every word I say."

"Mummy told me not to listen to strangers."

"Your mommy can't know what's going on. You can't trust her. You can't trust anyone. The only person you can trust is yourself."

"Okay. What do I need to do?"

"You need to-"

"Samara, darling, who are you talking to?"

I quickly hung up the phone, and mumbled, "Nobody, mummy. Just a ghost."