I'm not sure how long this story is going to be because it's just a side project to the story I'm supposed to be working on, but I'm really enjoying it, so hopefully it'll go for a while. It's not my best writing, but it is fun. Please read and review, thank you! For anyone reading the other story I have on here, "Temptation", I will try to post the rest of it soon, but the documents are all saved on another computer. Please be patient, but I will get it up a.s.a.p. Thanks!

I do not own the characters in this story except Esme, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Lost". They were created by JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof and they belong to them, Touchstone, and ABC.

Chapter One

I woke up with trees all around me. I slowly sat up and looked down at my dirt-covered clothes. Both my jeans and light brown t-shirt were filthy...

In the back of my mind, I slowly began to remember what had happened... The plane was shaking, I heard the panicked screams start just when my head hit the seat in front of me and I blacked out.

I quickly stood, running through the tress, and hoped I was heading out and not further in.

And then I heard the screaming.

I passed through the edge of the forest and saw pieces of a plane--my plane, flight 815 from Sydney to L.A. I gradually walked closer as I took in my surroundings. It was obvious we were on an island as I walked across the beach.

"Move!" I heard someone yell.

I turned towards the sound and a man in a tattered suit, with short brown hair not much darker than mine, was running towards me, flailing his arms. "Move!" he repeated.

I looked up and saw one of the wings starting to sway. Before I had a chance to flinch, he shoved me out of the way and we both fell to the ground. My breathing was just as unsteady as his as the wing crashed onto the sand.

"Are you okay?" he urgently asked.

I nodded. "Y-yeah."

He helped me stand up with him, then quickly ran off towards someone who was screaming for help.

I continued to walk around, rubbing my wrists. It was a nice relief to have the handcuffs off, but there were still faint marks there. I had no idea how they'd even come off in the crash... I was just relieved.

I idly wondered what had happened to the Marshall escorting me to L.A. I didn't know if he was hurt, or even alive...

I continued to walk through the wreckage, without really paying attention to where I was going, when I accidently hit my foot against the boot of a man ruffling through a suitcase. He turned around to look at me. He had long blond hair and was dressed down, in a t-shirt and jeans. "Watch it, sweetheart." He spoke with a thick and husky southern accent, then turned back to the suitcase.

"Sorry," I murmured, then kept on walking.

I slowly began to realize I was heading away from the majority of people on the beach as I tripped over someone else's boot. I was about to apologize, when I recognized the man lying motionless on the ground... when I recognized he was dead.

I stared at him for much longer than necessary. I was free, for however short a time until rescue, but no one here had to know who I was... or what I'd done.

Sorrow filled me as I looked at him, knowing it was my fault he was dead, for it was my fault he was even on the plane. He was just doing his job... he probably had a wife and kids.

I sat down near him and crossed my legs.

I wasn't sure how long I was sitting there, staring at the dead body of the Marshall, until someone came up beside me. I realized it was much darker now. I lifted my head to see the man who had pushed me out of the way of the plane. I half-smiled.

"Did you know him?" he asked.

I paused cautiously before answering and looked back at the body. "He was sitting next to me," I explained.

I didn't look back up, but I could feel him watching me. "I'm Jack," he finally announced. He was extending his hand to me as leverage to help me up and I took hold of it.

"Esme," I replied once I was standing.

"Do you want to walk with me back to the beach?"

I nodded, and after taking once last glance at the man I'd inadvertently killed, began to head towards the direction we'd come from.

"Thank you," I said.

Jack looked at me with a confused look in his eyes for a moment.

"For saving my life," I explained with an impish grin.

He smiled back. "No problem."

We sat down by a fire on a broken tree trunk. "So, Jack," I began, "what do you do in the real world? When you're not saving everyone's lives out here, I mean."

He laughed. "I'm a doctor."

"Oh," I dragged out the word. "That explains it."

"Explains what?"

"The need to save everyone," I teased with another smile.

He chuckled. "I guess you're right."

A heavyset man with long, dark, and extremely curly hair came over, carrying food. He handed each of us one.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem, dude," he replied. "We might as well eat before the rescue comes."

I smiled. "I'm Esme." I offered him my hand.

"Hurley." He shook my hand as he spoke.

"I'm Jack." He smiled too.

Hurley nodded. "Enjoy the food, guys," he said before walking off to deliver more.

"So, Esme," Jack said, "what do you do in the real world?"

I shrugged, looking at my food. It looked like a mix of airplane crackers and an oddly shaped sandwich. "I'm in between occupations." That was the closest to the truth I could manage.

He nodded and took a bite of his food. An unpleasant look crossed his face. "That's disgusting."

I laughed. "Not exactly gourmet."

"I think my TV dinners are better."

I laughed again and he smiled in response.

A loud screeching noise passed over the camp and everyone's heads jerked towards the jungle. Jack and I both stood and walked closer. The noise happened again, but further off to the side. We looked in that direction.

Suddenly, some of the trees came down in an order like dominoes. Like something was knocking them down...

When everything was still again, chatter broke out over the camp.

"What was that?" I asked in a breathless voice.

Jack shook his head. "I don't know."

Night slowly closed over the camp and I was finally able to fall asleep, despite the extremely uncomfortable wool blanket from the cabin.

I awoke feeling like I'd only slept a few hours. The sun was just beginning to rise, and Jack was already awake, dropping off more fire wood in the pile that had been started the night before.

I tied my hair back with the hair scrunchies I kept around my wrist, then got up to help him. I divided the load he was carrying towards the pile and we both dropped them off.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem."

He began to head back towards the forest. I followed.

"What are you doing up anyways?" I inquired.

"Getting wood." I picked up on his stressed tone.

"Why?" I asked.

We entered the edge of the trees and began to pick up pieces of broken wood.

"I couldn't sleep," he replied. His tone was still strained.

"Jack," I said, "we're going to get rescued."

He nodded, not seeming convinced.

"Jack," I said again in a stern tone as I placed my hand on his chest to stop him from working. "We're going to get rescued."

We stared into each other's eyes and finally he slowly nodded. "I just want to make everyone feels safe until that comes."

I dropped my hand from his chest and sighed. The hold on our eyes didn't break until I bent down and continued to pick up wood. He did the same after a few moments.

We walked back to the beach and dropped another pile of wood down. "So what do you think it is?" I asked Jack.

He looked down at me. "What do I think what is?"

"The thing in the jungle that knocks down trees."

He almost smiled.

"I'm going to find the fusel lodge today," he announced, changing the subject. "There's probably a transceiver in there and we can call for help."

"I'm coming with you."

"Okay," he agreed, nodding. "We should wait until the others are up, see if anyone has seen anything out there to help us find it."

Jack and I continued collecting fire wood until the entire camp seemed to be awake. I took half the camp to ask about the fusel lodge, Jack took the other.

It took me quite a while to get through the people on my half. I was about to go back to Jack, to report that no one knew anything, when I realized I missed someone. It was the man I'd accidently tripped over the day before. He was sitting on the sand, leaning against a broken piece of the plane, and reading a book.

I walked over and stood in front of him. "Excuse me," I said.

He looked me up and smiled. "Well, hello, there chica. What can I do ya' for?"

"I'm heading out to the fusel lodge with Jack today, but we're not sure where it is. Have you seen any smoke out there?" I nodded pointedly towards the woods.

He shook his head. "Jack's the doctor, right?"

I nodded.

"Figures."

"What?" I asked.

He grinned. "The finest girl on the island already got her eyes on the doc."

I didn't have time to respond. Jack came over by me and had someone with him. He was a little shorter than Jack and had shaggy brown hair with a lot of blond highlights. "Charlie saw some smoke out in the forest yesterday, he's going to help lead us to it."

"Alright, let's get going." We all began to walk off.

"Hey!" The man with the accent yelled from behind me. I turned to face him. "What's your name, chica?"

I sighed. "Esme."

"I'm Sawyer." His voice was deeper than usual.

I kept looking at him for a moment, trying to place the reason for the change, but Jack interrupted my thought process. "You ready?"

I reluctantly looked away. "Yeah. Let's go."

We all headed back into the forest.

"What was going on with Sawyer?" Jack casually asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Nothing, I was just asking him if he'd seen anything."

Charlie laughed. "I would be surprised if he was honest," he said, speaking with an accent that sounded like a variation of British, "he's been stocking up on everything he can find... Seems pretty suspicious if you ask me."

It started to rain after about twenty more minutes of hiking. I looked up at the clouds and smiled. I saw Jack eyeing me with a grin on his face. "What are you doing?"

"I love the rain," I explained, still smiling, but looking at Jack now.

He chuckled.

"Do you see that?" Charlie said, pointing ahead. We both looked forward. After a few more steps through the trees, we came upon the front of the plane. It was up at a slant, the very front higher than the rest of it, resting on some trees.

"You ready?" Jack asked us both.

I nodded and we all headed forward. We got to the lowermost part of the plane, where it had broken off from the cabin. I took a deep breath and we started to climb in.

We all had to exert the most physical energy possible to reach the top. Jack and I were both stopped, breathing heavy, and Charlie was close behind.

Jack climbed up a little higher, closer to the captain's door and extended his hand to me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. He opened the door and two bodies fell out, tumbling down the plane. I gasped and Charlie moved off to the side.

"You okay?" Jack asked me.

I slowly nodded. "You?"

He nodded back.

"I'm fine too," Charlie added in sarcastically. "Charlie's fine, in case anyone cares to notice."

I laughed once, then proceeded to climb into the very front of the plane. I rested my back on the wall once I got in and worked on catching my breath. Jack didn't waste time resting, he immediately began digging around.

I got up and reached over the pilot, checking on his side.

Suddenly, he took a deep breath and I stumbled back, falling into Jack. He caught and steadied me, then headed over to the pilot. "How are you feeling?" he asked, examining his eyes.

"I'm fine... just a little headache."

"You probably have a concussion," Jack said. "Try to stay still."

"How many," he was breathless, "survived?"

"About forty of us."

"How long has it been?"

"Sixteen hours."

"Sixteen hours," he repeated in a hopeless voice. It was hard to catch everything he said because of how breathless he was. "A few hours into the flight, we lost radio contact. We turned around to land in Fiji when we hit turbulence... By that time, we were over a thousand miles off course. They're looking for us in the wrong place."

Jack and I exchanged a panicked look. "The transceiver," he said, "where is it?"

The pilot reached around for it, despite Jack's orders to stay still. He got it and proceeded to press a few buttons on it and mess with the dial. "It's not working," he announced, shaking his head.

The screeching sound from the night before was suddenly sounding extremely close and both Jack and I stared at each other, eyes wide. "What is that?" the pilot asked.

"It's right outside," I whispered, terror shocked.

"What is it?" the pilot said again.

"Shhh," Jack quieted him and walked over to the window, trying to wipe off some of the condensation. I tried to look out another, and the pilot went over to a broken one, set the transceiver down on the seat, and stuck his head out to look.

He was ripped up while another screech was let out and blood splattered all over the windows. I screamed.

The plane began to shake and the front part dropped, the whole plane was level now. I ran over to Jack and we both turned to quickly leave. He quickly grabbed the transceiver as Charlie quickly came out of the bathroom, and we all ran out.

I was ahead, Jack was right behind me, and Charlie right behind him.

I realized I was alone very soon and stopped right in front of a clearing of trees. It was close to me, I could hear it. "Jack!" I yelled. "JACK!" I started to hypervenalate when someone grabbed me from behind. "Jack?" I turned around. It was Charlie. "Where's Jack?!" I asked.

"I-I don't know. I fell, and he came to help me... It was right behind us. That thing, it was right behind us!"

I started running back towards where we'd been.

"Where are you going?" Charlie yelled.

"To find Jack."

"But, that thing! Did you not hear what I said?!" Hysteria bubbled up in his voice.

I saw something shine in the mud as the sun began to come back out. I bent down to pick it up. It was a pilot's badge.

"What is that?" Charlie asked.

"It's the pilot," I heard Jack's voice say from behind.

I jumped up and turned around, walking towards him. I smiled up at him, but his face was stern.

"Guys," Charlie said and I turned back around. "How does something like that happen?" He pointed up and the pilot's body was covered in blood, massacred, lying on the branches of the tree above us.