Chapter 11: Lost and Found
Morgan awoke early the next morning to the sound of sea gulls squawking in the distance and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. She turned over and saw Jack still sound asleep beside her. She smiled and placed a light kiss on his cheek. She sat up and stretched her stiff muscles and saw Heidi laying next to the 'lounge' just like she was last night. She was wide awake and strangely, not crying.
"Good morning, baby." Morgan said as she reached over and pulled Heidi into her arms, "You hungry this morning?"
After feeding Heidi, Morgan wrapped her in a thin blanket and stepped outside. She saw nearly everyone was up and busy. She inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh tropical air. She walked across the beach to the kitchen and saw Sun, Charlie, and Hurley working on fixing breakfast. Sun was almost constantly fussing at them for not doing something right or cutting something wrong.
"Hey, hey, what'd I do? What'd I do?" Charlie asked as Sun slapped his hand away from cutting up a piece of pineapple.
Morgan giggled and smiled, finding this quite amusing.
"Men." Sun said as she looked up to Morgan and rolled her eyes.
Morgan looked over to Charlie, who was sucking on his finger where he had cut it with the knife.
"I take it you don't have many culinary skills?" she said.
"No, not really." Charlie answered, clearly not amused.
"Is Claire up yet?" Morgan asked, still trying to contain her laughter.
"Yeah, she's over there." Charlie answered, pointing over to where Claire sat outside her tent with Aaron.
"Good morning." Morgan said as she walked over to her.
"Morning?" Claire said, "What's all the ruckus over in the kitchen?"
"Sun is trying to teach Charlie and Hurley how to cook." Morgan answered.
"Well, good luck with that." Claire said sarcastically.
They talked for several more minutes until they heard Sun call out that breakfast was finally ready. Before they sat down to eat, Morgan layed Heidi down in hers and Jack's tent so she could sleep. They had a delicious breakfast of pineapple, boar, and papaya.
"Oh, I don't think I could eat another bite." Morgan said when she finished her breakfast.
"Well, there is plenty more for later." Sun said as she stood up.
Sun, Kate, and Claire put the left-over food away and Morgan walked leisurely over to her and Jack's tent to check on Heidi. The other Survivors were sitting around talking and such when they heard a scream echo through the air. The scream seemed to come from Jack's tent. Jack was the first one up and he reached the tent first. When he enter the tent, he saw Morgan on her knees crying and screaming.
"Morgan! What's wrong?" he asked as he rushed over to her.
"My baby! They stole my baby!" Morgan cried, clutching Heidi's empty blanket in her hands.
Jack knew immediately who Morgan was talking about. They had probably stolen Heidi as vengeance for Morgan escaping.
"Don't worry, we'll find her." Jack said as he helped Morgan stand up.
He wrapped one arm around her shaking shoulders and lead her across the beach to where most of the other Survivors sat anxiously, wondering what was happening.
"What's going on, dude?" Hurley asked.
"Everyone, we have to organize a search party; Morgan's baby has just been stolen by the Others." Jack explained, "I want all who are going to meet me by my tent in five minutes and I want you to be armed in some way."
The whole camp was active in seconds; everyone wanting to help. Claire walked over to Morgan, who was still crying in Jack's arms.
"Would you like to come sit with me and Aaron?" she asked, laying a hand on Morgan's shoulder.
Morgan nodded and let Claire lead her over to her tent.
"We'll find her, Morgan." Jack said confidently as he walked off.
In a matter of minutes, a large search party was organized and they set off into the woods with Jack and Locke leading the way. Morgan and Claire sat in front of Claire's tent and Morgan was still crying.
"It'll be okay." Claire said, trying to comfort her, "They know what they're doing."
Morgan didn't say anything for several more seconds.
"She was so little. She was just over a week old." Morgan said after a long pause.
"I'm sure she'll be okay. I mean, even those Others couldn't be so heartless as to kill a baby." Claire said.
"I should be out there with them. She's my baby and I should be helping to look for her." Morgan said.
"Now, there's no sense in yo going out there and getting hurt. The men will find her." Claire said.
Morgan sighed and walked back over to hers and Jack tent; she needed some time alone. It was about an hour later that Claire walked over to the tent to check on her. She entered the tent and saw no sign of Morgan. She walked over to the 'lounge' and saw a piece of paper with a note written on it. She picked up the note and read, 'Gone to find my baby.' The ink was smeared a little with Morgan's tears and Clare also noticed that Morgan's 9mm was missing from her backpack.
"Oh, my God. I was afraid she'd do this." Claire said, folding the note and putting it in her pocket.
--
Morgan walked through the woods with a determined look on her face; she was going to find her baby if it was the last thing she did. She had picked up a few tracking skills from Locke and now was a good time to put them to use. She followed what looked like a trail that the Others had left, alert to anything that might give her a clue as to where they went. She searched and search for hours and hours, not caring if she stayed out there forever. As it neared dusk, she was about to collapse from exhaustion, but she suddenly heard something ahead. It sounded like four or five men talking. She took out her 9mm and approached the voices cautiously. She neared them and peeped around a tree and saw five men sitting around a small campfire. She also saw her precious baby laying on the ground beside one of them. Morgan slipped over behind a bush and squatted down. She cocked her gun and fired it up in the air as a distraction for te men. The men immediately jumped up and ran off into the woods, looking for who fire the shot, leaving poor Heidi alone. Morgan breathed a sigh of relief and sneaked into the clearing and gently picked up Heidi.
"It's okay. Mommy's here now." Morgan said to her baby, checking to make sure she wasn't hurt.
Heidi didn't appear to be hurt, so Morgan ran off into the woods, knowing the Others would be back soon. She hadn't gone but a few feet when she heard shouting voices in the distance. She knew it was the Others so she broke into a run, a million thoughts racing through her mind: What would happen if they caught her? Would they kill her? What would happen to Heidi? Morgan clutched Heidi tighter to her chest and ran faster, as fast as she could. As she ran, she suddenly ran head on with someone else. After regaining her stance, Morgan got a good look at the person in front of her. The person in front of her was a woman. She was about in her mid-40's. Her long, brown hair looked like it had not been brushed in a long time. She was wearing a green tank top and torn blue jeans. Both her arms and part of her chest was heavily tattooed.
"You!" Morgan gasped, recognizing the woman immediately.
"Morgan?" the woman asked in disbelief.
Speechless, Morgan found herself looking into the deranged face of her mother...