Chapter 7: Prayers Answered, Day 21-23
The tide had come in fast again, sending our suitcases and belongings crashing into the ocean. The other survivors and I raced into the water, grabbing whatever we could and dragging it back to the beach. Everyone raced around, except Charlie. Charlie stayed in his spot by the airplane engine staring out at the water.
"Charlie?" I asked softly as I walked up him. "Charlie, are you all right?" His gaze stayed fixed on the ocean waves. "Charlie, if you decide you want to talk, I moved up the beach. I'm right over there." I pointed towards the tree branches that would soon be my tent. "I'll bring you some water later…" my voice trailed off and I walked away. I wasn't sure what to say, if saying anything really would help. Sometimes, people just wanted to be left alone.
I dragged my suitcase up to the set of trees I had pointed out to Charlie. Using some vines out of the jungle, I tied the tarp to the trees like Locke did for me during our first week. A couple guys, Paulo and Scott I think, helped me drag some bamboo stalks over and I tied the tarp to it like my old place. At least now, I had one solid-like wall to cower against if need be.
It didn't take long to set up the seat cushions and make the bed. I changed out of my wet things and into a clean pair jeans and a tank. Sitting in the hut, I stared out across the water. Now would be a good time to go talk to him. He was alone in his shelter, looking over papers he had taken from that French woman. I debated for a few minutes, and then stood up without further thought on the subject. If I were going to sit here and think, I'd be here all day.
I stood off to the side, watching him, debating internally about going to speak to him. What if he didn't want anything to do with me? Shaking my head, I took a deep breath and walked up to the tent where he was looking over the papers and looking confused.
"Sayid, do you have a minute?" I looked down at the mess of papers in his hand and then back up to his warm, brown face.
He looked up and met my eyes with a smile. "Yes," he said shuffling the papers into a pile. "What can I help you with, Kalie?"
I sat down across from him, my heart pounding from nervousness or fear I wasn't sure. It could have been both for all I knew. How do I bring this up? Hi, so before we crashed I researched my family… I'm adopted by the way… and I'm supposed to have a brother name Sayid Jarrah. Think that might be you? But I chickened out. "How's your leg?"
"It's healing. Now what did you real need to speak with me about?" He put his pen down and folded his arms across his chest, leaning back slightly.
Well Kay, you might as well go for it. "Why were you surprised by my name that first day here?"
"It is not a very common name outside the Muslim world," he paused. "I did not expect to encounter someone with that name on our plane. Why do you ask?"
"You're from Iraq, yes?" I knew I didn't answer his question, but I had my own to ask. I had information I needed to find out and now was the time.
"Yes," he eyed me curiously. "Again, why do you ask?"
I took a deep breath and shifted my gaze to the sand. "My birth parents are from Iraq. I…I was adopted when I was an infant." I looked up and met his eyes that were so like my own. "I hired a Private Investigator a few months ago to find my family. I got their names just before leaving for Australia."
"Why are you telling me this?" He asked, his voice soft and low. "I do not think I understand what this has to do with me."
My heart pounded against my chest and tears filled my eyes. "Apparently, my mum died giving birth to me and my father either couldn't or didn't want to raise me on his own." I took another breath and kept my gaze with his, trying to see if there was any recognition. "I have two brothers too, older by many years. Do you have any idea what their surname is?" My voice broke and tears began streaming down my cheeks landing in patches on my jeans.
"No," he said softly, not quite meeting my eyes. "What was their surname?"
"Jarrah," I said simply. "My mum's name was Ameera and my father's Hassan. Does that sound familiar?"
He didn't speak for several minutes, but I kept my eyes on his face. Was he going to tell me I was crazy? Or perhaps that my father had given me up and never wanted to hear from me again? Maybe Sayid never wanted to hear from me again. I watched as he took in a deep breath. "My mother had a daughter, when I was seventeen, just as I was getting ready to go off to University. There were complications; she died in childbirth but not before naming the little girl after her mother.
"I fought with my father over the little girl. I said we should keep her, that mother would have wanted us to. But after five days, he signed the paperwork and she was adopted. I was forbidden to speak of her again and soon I pushed her out of my mind." He finally turned his gaze to meet my eyes. I saw tears fill in their brown depths. "I am sorry Kalila."
"Did you ever try to find me? Did you ever think about me?" I wiped my tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand.
Sayid shook his head. "Every now and then, I would meet a young woman about your age and I would think about you. But I did not know where to look. Father forbade me from speaking of the little girl. I was not sure if the adopted family kept the name my mother had given or not. Mother named you Kalila Ameera. She always wanted a daughter," he added softly.
"My parents… my adoptive parents changed my middle name to Marie." I paused, not sure how to continue. "I understand if… if you don't want to speak with me. If you don't want…" I trailed off, unsure of what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I was terrified he wanted nothing to do with me, that I had just bared my soul only to have it thrown back in my face.
"Now why would I want that?" He smiled and the tears in his eyes twinkled. "You have found me; this was meant to be."
I wiped my eyes again and smiled. "What are the odds of being on the same plane that crashed?" I laughed and shook my head.
"This was not a coincidence; I do not believe in them." He placed the papers back on the table and moved around to where I was sitting. I laughed and cried as his arms wrapped around me and he held me to his chest.
"I am sorry Kalila," he whispered in my hair as he hugged me. "But do not worry; we have plenty of time to get to know each other now." I felt his lips gently kiss the top of my head.
We sat for a few minutes, his arms wrapped around me as we let the tears run down our cheeks. "So what are you doing? You have a lot of papers and such," I asked, pulling myself away from him and wiping away the tears. There was no sense sitting here when things needed to be done.
"You don't by any chance know how to read French do you?" He stood up in the sand and reached out a hand to help me up.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "I learned Spanish in secondary school. Though I can't even remember most of it now."
He nodded and began looking through the papers once more. "Then I believe there is only one person that can help me. Would you care to join me? Or stay here?"
"Where are you going?"
"Shannon is the only one on this island that can speak French." His eyes traveled along the sand out to a blanket where Shannon was sunbathing, now topless.
I laughed and shook my head. There was no way I was speaking to her again. "No, thank you. I think I'll go sit with Charlie. Shannon hates me."
He raised one eyebrow and looked at me curiously, a smile playing on his lips. "What have you done to make her hate you?"
"I've been talking to Boone and apparently that's not allowed. Well I'll come by later, or something. Well, bye." I smiled and waved a small wave before walked away, down the beach to where Charlie still sat.
As I walked up to him, I pulled a full water bottle from my back. I placed it next to him and sat down. I wasn't going to bother him. If he wanted to sit quietly, I would sit quietly. "You're sitting in the same place. It does have a new view," I attempted a joke, thinking I might get a commiserating smile or even a nod of acknowledgement.
"Rose made me do something," he said softly. I barely heard his voice over the crashing of the waves.
"What?" I asked, turning around to face him. His voice was so soft, I wasn't sure if he really had spoken.
"Rose. She made me help her move stuff. So I'm not sitting in the exact same place." He spoke softly, but at least he was speaking. It was a start. "She says I need to ask help. Who would help me?"
I shrugged and offered a smile. "I'd help, if I knew what you needed help with."
"Thanks," he said softly, glancing at me out of the corner of his eyes.
"Anything you need Charlie," I said as I turned towards him. "Anything you need, I'll help. I can try and do anything." I reached my arm around and hugged him tightly. "Do you want anything? Fruit? Fish?"
He shook his head. "No, thank you. I think I'm going to go up and sit with Rose for a while." Standing up, he nodded once down at me then walked up the beach. I stayed in the sand for a short while, staring out across the ocean. I prayed for a ship or a plane, something or someone we could signal for help.
The sky grew darker and I moved up to sit outside my tent. I watched the people set up their new camps and talk amongst each other. I was alone again. Charlie sat with Rose and Claire was still missing. I had started to move to sit with Sayid, but Shannon beat me too it. I watched her sit next to him, wrapped in her pink shawl. She was talking and he listened… Yet again, I was jealous of the tall, blonde popular girl… only this time it was for different reasons.
"Hey." Boone stood in front of me, looking down on me and shaking me from my thoughts. "I see you've moved."
"Hi," I said, shifting over on my cushion to give him room to sit. "I had no choice. My house was being washed away by the water. I personally don't want to live underwater. I can't breathe down there."
He sat down and my heart jumped as his arm brushed mine. We didn't speak, I wrote in my journal while he watched whatever he was watching.
"Why is Sayid so popular?" Boone asked, his voice holding a slight bitter tone. "First you, now Shannon. What's so special about that guy?"
I turned to look at him, my jaw slightly open. "You're not jealous, are you?" He shot me a glare out of the corner of his eye. "You are!" As awful as it was, I couldn't hold back my laughter. "But the question is which are you jealous of? Sayid spending time with me… or Shannon?"
He didn't speak and I almost regretted my question. "Boone, I can't speak for Shannon. Last I knew he was going to have her help him with some French translations. As for me… Boone, Sayid is my brother."
Boone turned and stared at me, our previous conversations lost. "He's your what?"
"My brother. I was adopted when I was an infant. My father… biological father… in Iraq didn't want me after my mother died giving birth to me, so he put me up for adoption. He already had two sons and didn't really want a daughter that killed her mother. I hired a PI to research my family and I found out." I offered a smile. "I didn't know he was on the plane, it's just a strange occurrence."
"So, how did you…?" He and stared at me, completely confused.
I took a deep breath and decided to start near the beginning. "And so, the PI had found pictures of my brother, from when he was in the Iraqi Army and put them in the file along with the names of my parents and some relatives. How many people do you think are in the world with the name Sayid Jarrah and were in the Iraqi Army? And just happen to look exactly like him? I talked to him about it earlier, it's him."
Not waiting for a response, I tossed the journal to the side of the tent and lay back on the cushions. I pulled the blanket up over me and shut my eyes. "You're not seriously going to sleep on that note?"
"What else do you want me to say? That's it." I sat back up and met his eyes. "Why do you care?"
"I don't," he said defensively. "I just…" He shook his head and looked back out towards Sayid and Shannon.
"Boone, if you're that worried about it, why don't you talk to him? Why don't you talk to her?"
His eyes narrowed and he turned to look at me. "She's my sister; I'm supposed to protect her. I have to protect her."
I held up my hands in surrender and laughed nervously. "You don't have to argue with me about it. Fine, go protect her. I don't know why you're sitting here with me. Or, why you've been spending the past few evenings here instead of over there by her."
"I'm sorry," he said with a sigh. He turned his gaze back out across the beach. "This isn't your matter."
There was a pause, a long dead silence. I lay back on the cushions and closed my eyes again, assuming the conversation was over. The silence filled the tent for a few more minutes, then I heard the sand shift and when I opened my eyes again, Boone was bending over me. My eyes stared up into his bright blue ones. "I've been spending evenings with you because you're always so talkative you keep my mind off other matters. I've been spending evenings with you because you don't have anyone on this island, or so I thought. I've been spending evenings with you because…" he paused and leaned down closer to me.
"Because I'd really like to get to know you a lot better than I do." He leaned down further and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead.
I felt my heart stop, literally stop in my chest. It took a second for the blood to start pumping again and for me to take in another breath. "Now you go to sleep, don't worry about anything." He kissed my forehead again and I shut my eyes.
Boone lay down next to me, his arm draped over my waist. Not long after, I heard a sweet voice singing down the beach. And that was the last thing I heard before drifting off, Boone's arm wrapped around my waist.
AN: Edited (5/13/09) to include information about Omer Jarrah (Sayid's brother as shown in "He's Our You.")
