Sayid
I carried the girl, Isis, through the thick jungle. Her wrists were safely tied just in case she woke up. As I marched out onto the beach Jack and Sun, followed by Jin, rushed over. I told them that I had found her in the jungle in one of Rousseau's nets and although she had told me her name was Isis (and seemed to be telling the truth) she had refused to say where she came from. Jin carried her to a tent and laid her down, assigning Hurley to guard her. Meanwhile Jack and I were joined by Sawyer. "She's barely 16, I'd say," argued Jack. "Age is nothing, oftentimes children make the best soldiers," I argued back. Suddenly we heard shouting and turned around. A small figure fled into the jungle with Hurley lumbering after her. "I'm sorry!" he shouted after us as we gave chase, "I was just getting a drink…I didn't think…," he trailed off as we got deeper and deeper into the jungle. "This is ridiculous!" pestered Jack, "If we had just trusted her, and oh maybe, I don't know, NOT knocked her out we wouldn't even have this problem!" I was about to retort that he should remember last time I brought home a captive, I had been right not to trust him, when there was a scream in the bushes. We spun around to see Sawyer wresting the thrashing captive to the ground. I rushed over and tied her ankles as tight as I could. Jack hoisted her over his shoulder and we walked back to camp. I did not envy him on that walk, for the little spitfire was determined to curse us with every word she knew each word accompanied by a spit or thrash or kick. I had to restrain myself from joining Sawyer's relentless chuckle. When we got back to camp we set her down and tied her to a tree in the shade. When I was done I walked off into the growing crowd and made my way back to my tent. I ate some fruit and then tried to lie down and sleep, but every time I closed my eyes faces would swim before me. And this time there was a new face, the indignant glare of a young girl.
I opened my eyes, it was dark, I must have finally fallen into a restless sleep. I might have even been able to sleep all night, a rare occurrence these days, had it not been for the voice. It was Nadia's, whispering for me too awake. I lay remembering the sweet cadence of her voice as it tickled my ears. Finally, driven by a sudden restlessness I got up and made my way across camp to get a water bottle. I was on my way back to my tent when I heard the soft sound of muffled cries. I knew, before I turned, what I would see. I would see a sad pitiful lump, vulnerable and tear stricken, I would see a mirror of my insides. Before I knew what I was doing, I was walking toward her. I tried to tell myself that I was just taking advantage of her while she was vulnerable, trying to get answers, but in my heart I knew it was not true. I shook awake a sleeping Sawyer and told him to go to his tent; I was here to relieve him. He stumbled off, grateful to be relieved and return to his own tent. I walked toward her and she looked up at me, eyes full of hatred and defiance, still managing to look proud even as tears coursed softly down her face and she was tied like an animal. "What?" she hissed. "Hello," I say simply. "I am Sayid Jarrah." Those few words broke her down. "Who are you people," she sobbed. "I just want to go home," she said softly, her words muffled by tears. "And where exactly is your home?" I asked carefully. This really broke her down, "I can't…I can't remember," she said heartbrokenly. "Well, why don't you tell me what you can remember?" I suggested. "Will you untie me if I do?" she asked timidly. "If you are telling the truth, and are not going to hurt or betray me or my people, then yes, I will untie you," I responded. She took a deep breath and began to speak. "I remember being pregnant, and my mother was angry, she was going to make me kill it. One day some men came and told me they were taking me to a place where my baby would be safe from her, I went with them and I guess I fell asleep. When I woke up I was in a white room filled with machines, I don't remember what exactly happened in that room but I am scared of it. There were people, 2 men and a lot of doctors, and I was never left alone. One day I started hurting really bad, they told me I was having my baby. When the pain finally stopped I passed out, but the last thing I remember is a little baby being carried away. And when I woke up I'm in the middle of a jungle, so I start to run, trying to find my baby. The next thing I know I'm caught in a net, then you come along and knock me out, and here I am tied to a tree in the middle of god knows where," when she finished her story she was quiet. So I stood up to untie her, she whispered, more to herself than me, "They took my baby," and with that I took out my knife and sliced the ropes from her wrists and feet.
Isis
When the man they called Sayid walked over to me in the middle of the night I was scared. But oddly when he began to talk, I felt comforted. His voice was still cold and emotionless but in the light of the stars I could see the pain in his eyes, he too had lost someone. So I told him all I could remember and as I talked I pictured it in my mind. I could see my mother's rage as if she were right in front of me; I could see my bulging belly as if it were a shadow on my tummy. When I pictured the white room my heart beat faster and faster. When I spoke of giving birth my tiny, perfect baby danced before my eyes, always infuriatingly out of reach. I was still caught up in this apparition when I heard a slicing noise and my feet were free, then my wrists. I sighed and collapsed in the sand, rubbing my wrists in ankles in relief. Only when I stood up and stretched did I realize it was nearly morning. I paled and turned to Sayid. "Where will I go?" I asked, frightened. I cannot stay in the jungle, I just can't. He looked at me calmly, 'Don't worry," he said, "you can stay here, I will explain our misunderstanding to the rest. Suddenly I remembered, "Wait," I said. "You never told me who you were," "A few of us are the survivors of flight 815, we crashed here and, most of us, survived here for around 40 days. A few of us got off the island, but we were told we had to come back. So we boarded another plane, some unintentionally others deliberately, and that plane crashed on the same island and here we are," he said, quickly and without emotion. I gaped, this was an extreme story but I believed him, just as he had believed me. "Come," he said and turned and walked away. I followed him wordlessly, trusting him to take care of me. We walked toward a cluster of tents and entered the first one we approached. I nervously looked down to see tattoo guy, the man I had given a bloody nose. I stood back and crouched in a shadowy corner as Sayid shook Jack awake. He awoke quickly, almost immediately alert, and narrowed his eyes when he saw me crouched in the corner, I shrunk back further at his anger, but Sayid waved attention away from me and told jack what I had told him. When he got to the part about me being pregnant he shot me a confused glance and I knew he was trying to guess my age. That was another thing I remembered, though I preferred the questioning glance to the stare of disapproval. "I'm 16," I said without looking at him. There was a pause in their conversation and they looked at me and then began talking again, I tuned them out, they would tell me what they'd decided. I looked up and realized they'd stopped talking. Sayid beckoned me to come closer, and I did. I looked up at Jack and said softly, "I'm sorry about, you know," gesturing to his nose. He laughed softly, "Its okay, I've suffered worse. I looked down embarrassedly. Sayid said goodbye to Jack and we left the tent. When we got outside the sun was nearly up. Sayid led me over to another tent and told me to get some sleep; too exhausted to do otherwise I fell into a deep slumber.
I awoke and rubbed eyes to find myself alone in the small tent. I could hear voices outside. I crawled out to see what was going on. I spotted a group of people. I walked up and stood away from the crowd. "She is no harm to us," said a voice I recognized as jacks. "Then why'd you tie her up in the first place said a voice I did not recognize. "Dudes, she's like 14," argued another. I realized they were talking about me. "She is not a threat to us unless we make her into one, that's why we're NOT tying her up again," argued Jack again. "Who made you boss?" argued a Hispanic looking woman. There were allot of murmurings in the crowd. And then another voice spoke up, "Well how'd she get here?" it asked. Jack was about to respond but Sayid cut him off, "Why don't you ask her yourself," he said, gesturing to me. Everyone turned and stared, I wished I could shrink into the ground or become invisible but their stares pinned me to my spot. For a second I thought they were going to turn on me and tie me up again but they slowly dispersed, muttering to their friends the entire time. Even after everyone had left I stood rooted to my spot. I saw Sayid walking into the jungle and anxious not to be left alone I ran after him. "Where are you going," I asked. "I'm going to the stream to refill the water bottles, he said. "Here, lemme help," I said and took one of the packs from his hands. We walked in silence but it was not awkward, just neither of us felt like talking. We got to a stream and carefully filled each bottle to the rim and then packed it back into the bag. "Thank you," I said. "For what?" he replied sounding surprised. I looked him in the eyes and simply said, "For believing me," before getting up and walking back to camp. When we got back the camp was busy with activity. I looked around in wonder, seeing people fishing, building, counting, and cooking. People stopped what they were doing everywhere I went and stared at me. I followed Sayid over to a cooler like area and started unloading the water bottles. The man called Sawyer strode over. "You let her fetch the water?" he asked incredulously, "I'm Not drinking that, she could have poisoned it." I went pale and stammered, "I wouldn't…I…I couldn't…," but Sayid stopped me as Sawyer strode away. "Don't worry about it," he said "Sawyer just likes to cause trouble." We were walking away when a large man with curly hair came over. "Hey," he said pleasantly, "I'm Hurley, what's your name again?" I immediately liked this guy, "Isis," I said with a smile. "Nice to meet you," he said and turned to Sayid, "Hey man, Frank like found a radio in some wreckage piles and wanted to know if it could like, you know, be fixed," Sayid smiled, "Of course Hurley, I will go take a look at it," When he walked off I made as if to follow him but Hurley stopped me, "come on," he said "I'll introduce you to everybody," I nervously shook my head and said it was fine but he ignored me. We walked over to the ocean where an Asian man stood fishing. "Hey Jin," Hurley smiled, "This is Isis, Isis this is Jin," Jin nodded at me with a smile, "Hello," he said haltingly with a strong accent. I smiled back at him and then we left. We walked toward an Asian woman folding clothes and Hurley smiled, "Isis this is Jin's wife Sun, Sun this is Isis," he said. "Hello Isis," she said in very good English, "What do you think of our camp?" "It's pretty cool," I answered, "Where is your husband from?" Sun smiled, "Jin and I are both from Seoul, Korea," Hurley was about to pull me away and introduce to me to the Hispanic woman who was so against me when Sun saved me. "Hurley, would you mind leaving Isis here with me? I need some help with the laundry," taking my cue I immediately kneeled down and started folding clothes. Hurley faltered but willingly said goodbye. I turned to Sun, "Thanks," I said. She smiled at me, "No problem."