I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea:
But we loved with a love that was more than love —
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me —
Yes! — that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
- Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
--
Do you believe in Destiny?
Chapter 12, More than Love
--
"He's dead isn't he? Owen… you killed him! He's dead! He's dead… oh Lord he's dead!"
"Calm down!" Owen shouted at Claret, but Claret was shaking. Her eyes were wide and she started to scream. Owen slapped her. "Shut up Claret!"
"Is… is he dead?" she asked. Owen tied up the knots around her arms and legs. She didn't answer but just tied up the knots with serious determination. "He's… he's not moving is he?"
Owen looked Claret directly into her eyes. "Now listen to me. You have been tortured Claret. You are hurt, you are bleeding. We need to get you back to the camp all right?"
"Sayid… he's…"
Owen turned Claret's face towards hers. ""Listen! I am going to get you back to the camp. You are injured. But first I need you to be silent, I have just escaped and I wouldn't be too kind on getting kidnapped again! So you need to be silent."
Owen stood up and Claret looked at her hands. They were red with blood. Owen's hands too. Claret gazed over at Owen. She had taken Sayid's legs and started to drag him.
"What… what are you…?"
"I need to hide the body," Owen told her. "Otherwise they will really start to think you are one of them. You stay here!"
"I…"
"Stay okay? I will be back, don't go running off like a maniac!"
Claret looked down at her hands again. She tried to dry them off against her shirt and then she stood up. She swayed on the spot, her head was dizzy. She stumbled over to Owen and put a hand on her shoulder. Owen looked up. Claret's eyes were full of fear, but also of something else.
"Thank you."
Claret helped her drag him further into the jungle.
--
Kay hadn't realized what she had done before Rousseau fell to the ground. The blood spread itself wide on her chest before she hit the ground. Kate had screamed, Dom had stared. But they got it together quickly. Their time of running had put them in many serious situations; they could deal with it later.
They didn't have the tools to dig a grave, so they put her body underneath a nearby, sort of nice looking tree and covered her with branches. It was sick. She had been breathing, she had been living – they just covered her up with dirt from the ground. Not a proper goodbye, not a proper rest.
Kay told herself she was going to return and bury the body correctly. Save it from the fate of becoming rotten flesh, her corpse food to the animals. But she knew it wasn't going to happen.
They left the dead body in silence. Kate and Dom walked on each side of her but none of them touched her, said anything. What was there to say? That it was self-defense? Because it wasn't.
--
"Margo, you all right?"
"Yeah, of course I'm fine," Margo said between clenched teeth. She walked past Zidler and made her way between the survivors.
"Hey, are you all right?"
Margo glared at Bonnie who looked away. She stumbled into the jungle, just as far away as she knew they weren't going to see her. Then, she fell down on her knees and leaned her back against a tree. She was breathing heavily; she knew her eyes were red and her skin pale and sweaty. She tried to breath slower, but the panic built up inside of her. She whimpered.
She had been fine, she really had, she had been able to trek across the jungle, climb mountains, laugh, run. She hadn't been forced to worry, not one bit. And then she had woken up with a heavy pressure on her chest she couldn't get rid of.
She tried to breathe in through her nose, slowly it got better. She just needed to calm down. The only reason this was happening was because she had run out of inhalers, she was fine for now.
She pulled herself up when she heard something snap behind her. She swung around, freaked.
"Hey Mary," Owen greeted her, she held a frantic Claret by the arm. Claret's hands were dirty with blood and Owen's knuckles too. They both looked like they had been in a fight. "Missed me?"
----
Useless.
She always felt like that these days. Her life was an eternity of the same things, getting up, going to school, going home, eat, go to sleep. Day after day after day, nothing special happened. She didn't do something extraordinary. She just did the same thing all the time.
Her sister had an exciting life, she had done well in school, she was going to do great things her mother and father always said. She was going to do great. About her they didn't say much, what was there to say? Well our Margo she's… she's… uh, err, she knows… well, she's pretty.
But Natalie was beautiful. Her hair was dark brown, her eyes were also grey, but full of life. She didn't have a single freckle on her smooth skin. And it was easy to pale next to a sister like hers.
Margo loved Natalie, she really did. She just never knew where she belonged, while Natalie belonged everywhere.
Then she found it, something she was passionate about. Somewhere she belonged.
Margaret loved it, the feeling of the people around her, of the placards with the words Save the Environment written on it, the fact that everyone here amongst all the people thought and felt exactly like her, they were her real friends - that middle-aged old guy with the white mustache and the red-haired girl with fake fangs. Everyone, old or young, black or white, religion or no religion – it didn't matter.
Of course, she didn't like the sober feeling of getting locked up in a cold, hard prison cell. And being forced to hear everyone's taunting words and seeing her sister's disappointed face when she picked Margo up wasn't a party either.
"Why can't you stay out of trouble Margo?" Natalie complained when they were sitting in Natalie's opinion of a car, which in Margo's opinion was a dead carcass on wheels.
"You know why," Margo sighed and tried to make herself comfortable in the backseat, she was so tired.
"This is the last time you know," Natalie suddenly said out of the blue, just when Margo had started to fall asleep.
"What?"
"I can't bail you out anymore little sis, okay, I just can't. You'll have to call Mom or Dad –"
"Why? Why can't you? I thought you were my best friend – my sister, I will pay you back when I get a job you just have to be here for me!" Margo didn't know why she got so hysterical, but somehow Natalie never questioned helping her sister – until now, "and I can never call Mom or Dad!"
"Then you can stay in jail forever I guess," Natalie's voice was cold.
"Who… who are you?" Margo shouted angry "Are you having a bad day or something? All right I'm so sorry I got into the slammer, but if I'll stay in school all will be okay right?" she muttered the last sarcastically.
"You have to stay in school… and Margo you know that I want to help you but now I'm…"
"What? What are you Nat? A bitch? A betrayer, you know what? Pull over here, I'll go home!"
"JUST LISTEN TO ME!" Natalie turned around to face her sister "I don't have the-"
The last thing Natalie saw was her sister's terrified face when the truck hit them, the door window shattered and glass pierced her back and when the flames burst up, her bloody back was a shield.
Natalie did what she always did, she protected her sister.
----
Owen had changed. Not so much in personality. But more in the way she looked. Her hair that before had had purple streaks in it was now her natural hair color, she was wearing different clothes than when she left and there was something about her eyes ,(of course they were in different colors), but there was a look, if she had been condescending before she looked even more sure of herself now.
"I can't believe you guys didn't find us!" she whined and took another banana. The survivors were gathered around her and it was obvious she enjoyed the attention. She took a bite. "I mean, it's not like we were on another island or something!"
"Uh… yeah, we're all really sorry about that. Mind telling us what the hell happened to you?"
The sympathy the survivors felt for the kidnapped artist had disappeared as soon as they saw her again.
"Funny story," Owen smirked. "I was stalking after a pregnant girl and then Ethan popped up."
"Yeah?"
"That's pretty much all I remember from that part," Owen took another bite.
Bonnie frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I was drugged. They gave me these pills or something… I don't remember much than that I one day decided to not swallow them. So I stopped. Next thing I knew I woke up in the middle of nowhere next to a teddy bear.
"Teddy bear?"
"Yup," said Owen.
The survivors stared at her in disbelief. Owen just acted like she didn't notice it.
"What... uh… what?" Brian asked.
"All right, I'll tell you every little detail! The kept me in a room, they gave me drugs. All black, I saw Claire once I think, she looked… pregnant. I remember a face…" she bit her lip, "it was Ethan I think who gave me the drugs. One day, stopped taking drugs and the rest you know…"
The survivors were stunned.
"I'll take another one…" Owen grabbed a mango. "I'm starving! So what have you been up to this whole time?"
"Do you know where Claire is?" Boone asked.
Owen frowned. "Didn't you listen? I stopped taking drugs and woke up in the jungle! I have no idea where she is, though I might remember the teddy bear's location."
Jack looked like he might explode with anger. Lorraine's face was expressionless and Wendy just stared with disbelieving eyes at Owen. The fact that she was so… all right, not hurt, just her usual self. She had returned, and it hadn't changed a bit.
"Hey, there's beard face!" she yelled and waved at Henry Gale who was tied up.
With afterthought, maybe it had.
--
Florence and Sean sat by the 'kitchen', they were both looking at Owen who was for a change arguing with Charlie, they both seemed to have missed it. Flor smiled faintly.
"That's so crazy."
"Pretty much totally insane."
"Yep."
Flor turned to the table and started to cleanse the fish.
"So you guys are leaving soon?" Sean asked and pretended to be interested in what she was doing.
"On the raft? Yeah." Flor looked up and smiled. "Tomorrow I think."
Sean made a grimace that was supposed to look like a smile. "That's great!"
"Yeah it really is, Sayid even managed to finish that sensor thingy before he… uh, went nuts."
"Everyone's nuts these days," Sean said. He gazed over at Jack who was sitting with Claret at the outskirts of the camp.
"How could he do that?" Florence said and cut the fish with unnecessary force. "Torture her… it's not something you do to someone. I never could've guessed he was… like that. Then just run off like a coward. Do, do you think he was a murderer?" she looked up.
Sean sighed. "I don't know. He used to be in the military…"
"So are you," Flor smiled and got back to her fish.
"Yeah."
Charlie came over to them. He looked irritated.
"Is Owen getting on your nerves?" Flor asked and Sean turned to him.
"No, it's the fact that she apparently doesn't remember where Claire is. Isn't that bloody convenient?"
Sean frowned. "What do you mean?"
"We are searching for an impostor, and who do we turn to first? Yeah, the panicking sweet girl! We should look after those who might have done something, who aren't that nice."
"If we are going to point fingers at mean people half this camp is full of infiltrators," Flor explained.
"Dudes!" Hurley rushed up to them, he was panting.
"What's the matter Hurley?" Flor asked worriedly.
"Do… do you guys know where the flight's manifest is?"
Charlie looked confused. "Uh… not really…"
"Oh, then do you guys know where there are inhalers? Margo… has kind of gotten an attack…"
--
"Where's Jack?" Zidler spat at Hurley.
"He's kind of taking care of Claret, but Lori's here!"
"LORI? Lori's no doctor! She's blind!"
"Thank you Zidler," Lori said calmly and knelt beside Margo. "Are you all right?" she asked.
"She's not all right! She can't breathe!"
Margo took the little strength she had and hit Zidler on the arm. He shut up.
"Margo, try to breathe slowly through your nose. You are just scared that the inhalers have run out. You don't have to be. Just breathe slowly… slowly…"
"I can't!" Margo sobbed and Zidler took a harder grip around her hand. It sounded awful, like her throat was all choked up.
"Breathe…" said Lori. "Breathe…"
----
Natalie's pale face almost blended in with the white sheets of the hospital bed, her eyes were nearly black and she almost looked like a spider, in a tangled web of tubes. But at least she didn't look as horrible as the person sitting beside her, clutching her hand.
Margo's nose had been broken and brutally displaced on her face, her earrings she wore in the car crash had in the shock wave ripped up both of her ears and they were scarred. But inside, Margo's organs and bones were whole. It just was that – she wasn't really.
"I'm… so sorry Natalie," Margo swallowed back her tears, stroking her sister's hand "I… I never meant to… I love you…"
Natalie pressed her lips together and stared up in the roof.
"Please… say something…" Margo whispered.
Natalie didn't answer.
Her mother and father came in with another pillow. Margo thought her mother had some idea that with enough pillows their star of a daughter would be all right. But Margo saw it, the way Natalie looked, she wasn't okay. It was not just the fact that her body was broken – she was broken in her heart too.
And it was her fault.
----
"I told you so," Rosalie said, her voice wasn't cheerful, she wasn't gloating. She had a frown on her face and her lips were drawn down. There was nothing good about it.
"Just because Sayid turned out to be Dexter doesn't mean she's innocent –"
Rosalie's eyes flared and she scowled at him. "Sawyer, don't!"
Sawyer saw how furious she was and for once he shut up. It wasn't like he approved of what Sayid had done. It was horrible. But that didn't mean Claret was out of the woods just yet, even though the other survivors seemed to think so.
He sighed and leaned back against the tree; enjoying the fact that Henry had a gun pressed against his head.
"Is that really necessary?" Rosalie asked him.
"No, not really." Sawyer continued to point the gun at the man. Rosalie rolled her eyes.
"I want to go talk to Shannon, help me get over there!" She put an arm around him.
"Do I have to?"
"You have to!"
--
"We're back!"
"Why's everyone back? Why does everyone go?" Scott or Steve whined. Kate rolled her eyes.
"Kay!" Something small attacked Kaylee.
"Easy there, don't want to choke her!" Dom said and Flor let go of Kaylee. She frowned when she saw how awful she looked.
"You look horrible!"
Dom and Kate had been nice enough not to tell her that. They thought Kaylee might burst into tears. Which she now did.
"Oh, Kay… I'm…"
Kate put an arm around Kaylee and she gave Flor an excusing look before she led Kay away from them. Dom looked after them and then he turned to Flor.
"She has been through a lot," he explained. "And when I say a lot, I really mean a lot."
Flor bit her lip and she was just about to say something when a frantic Hurley came up to them. He pushed Florence aside and mumbled something about already had asked her and turned to Dom.
"Dom, dude do you got inhalers?"
"Not really…"
Hurley swore and Dom and Flor stared at him with wide eyes.
"Margo had an asthma attack, Flor didn't tell you?"
"No she didn't!" Dom glared at Flor and he and Hurley rushed off.
"Why's everyone hating at me all the suddenly?" she complained.
--
"Margo, are you all right?"
"When did 'not breathing' become all right? No she's not!"
Dom sat down beside Margo. She was sweating and she looked most of all, scared. Zidler freaking out, Lori's swearwords and Hurley running around didn't help either. She looked at him and tried to breathe.
"We need to get you to Jack okay?" he said and put an arm around her.
"We can't move her!"
"Is Jack coming here?"
"No but -"
Dom pulled Margo up on her feet, she leaned against him and he shuddered every time she tried to breathe. It sounded awful. She looked even worse. He half-dragged her, not with the help from anyone else he noted, to Jack's tent, he was attending to Claret and had an irritated look on his face.
"Jack!" Dom shouted, Jack didn't look up. "Margo needs help!"
"Sun can help her –"
"No she needs help from you!" He helped Margo sit down and Jack finally looked up, he blinked when he saw Margo.
Jack was angry. "You told me she had a little trouble breathing!" he yelled at Hurley.
----
Natalie had refused to talk with Margo for five months, never answered her pleads or responded her voice mails and Margo had in agony decided to just wait, wait for her sister to forgive her.
And when the phone rang, and it was Natalie's voice at the end – Margo just stood there fallen from the skies of the happy bubbly voice of her sister's.
"I… I can walk! The doctor said it was a miracle… oh, Margo I'm going to be fine!"
Margo clutched the phone and tears streamed down her face and she smiled, she smiled and laughed like she never had before.
"Oh Natalie," she said and her sister continued to talk, happiness in her voice. It made Margo happy too. She had her sister back, sort of.
"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you before… but now I'm coming home! We can see each other again!"
Margo nodded, and then realized Natalie couldn't see it. "Yes, yes."
"But…" Natalie's happiness faded a little, "Mom and Dad told me you moved out to Aunt Riley."
"Yes… I did."
"What happened? Did you have some kind of a fight?"
Margo was glad her sister wanted to listen to her problems, but Natalie was happy. She didn't want to ruin that.
"We can talk all about it as soon as we see each other."
"Yes, yes we can."
----
They were without a guard.
Fox looked to the left, Rosalie was sitting with Shannon and Sawyer was flirting with Bonnie. No one seemed to care about the fact that the two others weren't under watch.
He swallowed and walked with a fast pace over to his apparent good old friend. He looked up at him; he wasn't able to say a word because of the tape. Fox pulled it off and stared at the man.
"Well hello Fox."
Fox refused to look away. "What is this pla - plan?"
"What?"
"Plan!" Ben… Ben always ha – has a plan!"
The man's smirk came off. "Why would I tell that to you kid? You haven't reported in weeks! The only reason you're still breathing is because Ben has some sick idea that you might still be useful. But let me tell you, once he realizes you're not – we will get you. Ethan is just waiting to blow your brains out."
Fox refused to show weakness. But his fear was clear. He swallowed again. "Not if I blow his brains out fi- first."
"Is that so?"
Fox nodded. He looked down at the man's hands; there was something grey in them -
The man slashed with the knife across Fox's arm. He fell. The ropes fell to the ground and the man was now above him, knife in his hand. Fox had a hand over his wound and felt the blood pour. He whimpered. The man raised his knife.
Then there were two shots and Fox's world went black.
--
Brian had been talking to Locke and Boone; they had decided to open the hatch when the night came. But they should all have known that the universe somehow always tried to push it forward, at this pace the hatch was never going to be open. Still they made plans to open it at night.
Then he saw Fox, talking to the man Henry. They looked serious, like they were actually having a discussion. Nobody had managed that with him. He had also noticed that Fox was unarmed, and since Sawyer was busy looking at Bonnie he had taken the gun.
A few seconds later, Henry was on the ground, dead.
Or as dead as you could be on the freaking island.
"This is turning into a medical station!"Jack exclaimed when they brought Fox over to him. After an unnecessary long argument Fox won the 'who is hurt most' contest and Margo and Claret had to wait for treatment. Lori tried to help and had calmed Margo down with some of her, well, as Zidler said "freaky voodoo magic".
Brian stayed for one whole minute, which he thought was really brave of him considering the fact that it looked like Fox was doing a recreation of Carrie. Margo was freaking out and Claret just mumbled to herself while looking out at nothing.
"Brian," Jack said. "I need you to take Claret away from here, she's in shock and this is the last thing she needs! Take her somewhere safe."
Brian obeyed and dragged Claret along with him, she looked more and more like a zombie.
Somewhere safe. Like he could find a safe place on this damn island.
He gazed over the beach and saw Allen. He shouted and Allen looked up and saw him and Claret. Brian knew he and Claret were good friends. And as Claret fell into Al's arms, he thought that maybe there was one safe place, at least for her.
--
Zidler looked annoyed. Bonnie knew that there were many factors leading to that. Margo was in trouble and it was Dom who was sitting by her side right now and not him for a start. But they had to find inhalers.
Hurley had asked every survivor, and now they were both looking through everyone's things. Sawyer's too, Sawyer had a lot of stuff still. He had "accidentally" shown Bonnie his secret stash of stolen stuff in the jungle.
"There's nothing here." Zidler threw down the manifest (they had forgotten Hurley wanted it) and stood up.
"We'll go back to the camp and look more," Bonnie said but it didn't calm him down. He looked more frustrated and he turned his back to her and started to make his way back to the beach. Bonnie wished they could have the very irritating, but funny and happy Zidler back. But she had a suspicion that without Margo, and Margo without Zidler, was like the sun and the moon; they couldn't function without the other.
--
Wendy stared down at the body.
The body of Henry Gale.
The body of an other.
An other like Karl.
She gulped and she looked away, she wondered when someone would take care of it. She saw Karl sitting, still tied-up. He had a hard time keeping his gaze away from the corpse. She walked over to him and he looked at her instead.
They stared at each other for a while. Then Wendy knelt down beside him and started to tie up the knots.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Are you going to tell us more?"
"What?"
Wendy looked into his eyes. "Are you going to tell us any more information?"
Karl sighed. "No."
"Then there's no use keeping you around. She let him free but he still stayed on the spot.
"What are you waiting for?" she asked. "Run, go, skip away if you must."
"Why?"
"Because the only option for you if you stay is to end up like Henry." It was the truth.
"Thank you," he whispered. He looked around to see if anyone was watching them.
"You can still visit," Wendy joked when he hurried away into the jungle.
--
Kay had finally stopped crying and had fallen asleep in Kate's arms. She put Kay gently down on the ground and covered her with a blanket. She wanted to take Kay to Jack, but he was busy patching Fox up and saving Margo. He had said something about giving her water and beside them were several water bottles Dom had brought.
"How's Margo?" Kate whispered while she looked over the sleeping Kaylee.
Dom sighed. "Horrible."
"Isn't it weird? She was able to climb up a mountain –"
"Yeah, yeah I know."
Kay mumbled something incoherent in her sleep.
"Who do you think it was? That Kay shot."
"One of them."
Kate nodded in agreement and they both went silent. Dom sighed again and stood up, "got to get back to Margo now." He turned around and started to walk, and then he suddenly halted.
"What's the matter?" Kate asked. She let go of Kay's hand and walked up to him. Then she looked at the place where the others had been tied up.
"He's gone!" Dom said and rushed off. Kate trailed after him and they saw the ropes, free on the ground. Dom swore.
--
"They are helping, breathe… breathe…"
Margo wanted to scream at her. She was soaked in sweat and tears. Fear dashed through her every time she let herself stop focusing on one supposedly easy thing, breathe, breathe, breathe. They helped those eucalyptuses or something. But was she supposed to do this every time she got an attack? What if she couldn't get them?
Her heart raced faster and she felt herself choke up. Lori tried to calm her down. Margo watched from afar how the survivors seemed to run around, worried over something. They were shouting at each other.
She wanted to ask what was going on. She wanted someone to tell her.
"Jack," Lori stopped the doctor.
"Is it better?" he asked and looked at Margo.
"Sun's eucalyptus thing helped, but she's still freaking out."
Margo glared and tried to breathe. It was like someone had emptied the world around her with air. Jack put a hand on her shoulder, she shrugged it off.
"Look, you will be fine. You're just panicking."
Just panicking?
"You need to calm down."
Was he crazy? Of course he was. He had treated Claret like –
"Doc!"
Jack looked up, Sawyer hurried towards them, inhalers in his hand. Margo could have kissed him with joy, or not really. Bonnie would kill her. But she was grateful. She relaxed and the tension left her. The panic that had been inside her had moved on to those around her, it was better now, okay even.
She wondered where Dom and Zidler were.
----
The family reunion was at least… happy… from Natalie's part.
"Margo!" Natalie cheered with joy and pulled her sister into a hug. Margo saw over her shoulder both of her parents glaring at her. She swallowed but smiled when Natalie looked at her.
"Another piercing in the ear?" Natalie said. "Little sister you're soon going to be all rings."
Natalie turned around and smiled at their parents. "You let her do that?" she joked.
"No we did not," their mother said between clenched teeth. Nat's smile faded.
An awkward silence formed and Natalie cleared her throat.
"So where are we going to celebrate?"
"At our home," their father said and smiled at Natalie. She walked slowly to their parents car, Margo stayed on the spot. Natalie opened the car door and then she frowned and turned to Margo.
"Aren't you coming?"
Margo didn't say anything and their mother coughed.
"No she is not coming with us."
"Why?"
Their father sighed. "She is not welcome in our home anymore."
Margo looked down at her feet and blinked away the tears.
"Why not?"
"She had misbehaved."
"Misbehaved? Are you serious? She didn't move did she – you threw her out!"
"We had to."
"Oh you had to, well then…" Natalie made her way over to Margo and put an arm around her sister. "I'm not coming with you either."
They had to take the bus. They sat next to each other on the worn out seats, staring out the dirty windows. They didn't say anything. None of them needed to. They were sisters. Natalie squeezed Margo's hand. They didn't have to say anything to understand each other.
----
"I do not have the strength to go on a search party again!" Frogurt, or Neil which was apparently his name whined. Some of the survivors muttered in agreement.
Sean sighed. "Fine, we won't go after him then."
Brian glared, it was clear that he disagreed with the decision. He wasn't the only one.
Owen frowned with her eyebrows. "What about Claire?" she asked.
"You said you didn't know where she was," Bonnie said.
"I know where the teddy bear is!"
An argument between Charlie, Bonnie and Owen erupted and the survivors watched with wry eyes. Finally Sean ended it.
"We can discuss the Claire matter in the morning, is that fine with everyone?"
Boone opened his mouth to protest, but was drowned in the painful cries from Claret. The survivors scattered as everyone tried to ignore the fact that Claret had been tortured and that Fox had been cut up. The night had come, but the clouds on the dark blue sky covered the stars and the moon. The fires gave them some light, but almost none slept.
Jack went back to Fox, he was sleeping. You could get tired after you had been attacked. Margo was better; she had calmed down when they had found more inhalers and Allen was taking care of Claret.
A quiet and tired Kate had taken Kay to him, while he examined her Kate had given him angry glances, she was still mad at him. After Dom had walked away with Kay, Jack turned to Kate.
"What happened to her?"
Kate gave him a mean look. "We're still trying to figure that out." She stood up and stormed off, he saw how she relaxed from her anger when she reached up to Dom and Kay. How easily she went from mad to comfortable. He didn't know why he had kept quiet about the mug shot. Maybe it was because he wanted to trust Kate.
"You're checking her out?"
Jack looked up and saw Lori behind him, she sat down beside him.
"You were a great help today," Jack said after a while.
"Yeah I got the talent, no - actually, I got a nurse's degree."
Jack stared at her surprised. "You have?"
"Always the shock."
"No… I know you could do it. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Why would I? We don't know each other Jack. Not a bit. I didn't know you would point a gun at an innocent woman. You don't know me."
"We could try to get to know each other," Jack said honestly.
Lorraine bit her lip. "I don't think you want to know me."
Jack gazed at her with wonderment. "Why?"
"Because I'm not really a likeable person."
Jack nodded. Lori couldn't see it but she knew he was smiling,
"Hey, you're supposed to say 'I like you' now, that's the point!"
Jack chuckled. Lori hit him friendly on the arm. Fox made a gurgling sound and by a second Jack was at his side.
"How are you, how are you feeling?"
"You – you ca – can laugh!" Fox told him.
--
"Here's the mojo-jojo thing Sayid made before he went, uh, nuts."
Michael took it from Flor. "Great, so you are ready to leave tomorrow?"
Flor nodded, Sun translated and Jin nodded also.
"Me too!" Walt chirped in, he was playing backgammon with Rosalie, she was losing. Actually, she owed him several thousands of dollars. Sawyer and Bonnie were sitting nearby; Sawyer was shining in the glory over that he saved Margo. Zidler and Dom were both glaring at him because of that.
Brian and Boone were discussing soccer, or football, or baseball. To Shannon's ears it all sounded the same. Maybe they had a conspiracy to bore her to death. She leaned back.
"Why don't you two just get a room?" she blurted to Brian and Boone, Brian chuckled but Boone looked offended. He was just about to say something when they saw Locke rushing towards them; he had an angry look on his face. Shannon thought he looked like a teacher who found that the children had been drawing ugly sketches of him.
"Boone, Brian," said Locke and stared at them. They both went silent and then a light went on in their eyes as if they remembered something.
"Oh right," Boone excused.
Shannon sighed. "If you forgot your date with your boyfriend you say you're sorry."
"Why can't you just go and do something Shannon," Boone snapped, "but sitting here and be useless."
"Right because you and Brian were so busy saving lives!"
"You're always so –"
Brian cleared his throat awkwardly and Boone shut his mouth. He glared at Shannon who glared just as angrily back when they walked across the sand to the jungle. Shannon pulled herself up and looked over the beach; she saw Rosalie and started to make her way to her.
Then the sky decided it would be fun to drown them.
--
The rain poured down. The water droplets hit the ground like hammers and the survivors hurried to find some shelter.
"So," Zidler screamed over the rain to Wendy, who sat beside him underneath the kitchen 'table', "why so sad-looking?"
"I'm not sad!" Wendy screamed back.
"Yes you are!" Zidler shouted.
Wendy tried to dry away the water droplets from her face. "Well I'm not!"
They sat in silence. Well not really silence as there was a war in the sky between lightning bolts and thunder.
"I'm sorry!" Zidler yelled after a while.
"Of what?"
"At the way I screamed at you before!"
"Oh," Wendy whispered, but it was drowned by the sound of the smattering rain. "It's okay!" she shouted. Zidler gave her a thumb up.
"How's Margo?" Wendy shouted.
Zidler's eyes grew wide. He put his head outside and shouted after Margo. Then he came back in, he looked like a drained cat. "Better!" he yelled. Wendy took of her jacket and put it over both of them. Zidler was shaking with the sudden cold.
She saw something out of the corner of her eye and she looked at the side. Peering in stood Margo, her hair was as always pulled back in a ponytail and she looked like a ghost out in the rain. She had a look Wendy couldn't put her finger on and she was just about to call her in when Margo rushed off. Zidler hadn't noticed a thing.
----
"You are so grown up!" Natalie pulled her sister into bone-crushing hug.
"I'm just leaving for school –"
"In another country!" Natalie yelled.
They were at the airport. People rushed by them in haste, people accidentally walked into them all the time and people shouted and tried to drown their words. But nothing was going to stop them from saying goodbye to each other.
"See, school was good for you," Natalie said, still holding her sister.
"Yeah sort of," Margo grinned and pulled away. Before she knew it they were in each other's arms again, crying.
"I'll miss you!" Natalie sobbed loudly.
"I'll miss you too!" Margo cried and made a weird sound hat was something between a yell and a sob and several people gave them suspicious glances.
"You have to go now, take care sis, good luck, don't do drugs, don't sacrifice your life for a tree and don't even think about ending up pregnant until you're back!"
"Until I'm back?"
"I love you sis."
"I love you more than love," Margo answered.
They hugged again and then Margo left, waving goodbye to her sister. She didn't feel bitter that it was only her sister that said goodbye to her, wished her good luck. She was happy.
The plane went up in the air, she leaned back in her seat. Closed her eyes. This was it, her beginning.
She was going to do great things.
----
Rosalie and Shannon were sitting in Sawyer's tent. They looked out at the poor people still running around with a faint interest.
Rosalie opened her bag and Shannon smiled. She was still proud over to have found one as she said respectable piece in a plane crash. Rosalie pulled out the book.
"What's that?" Shannon asked, Rosalie smiled and opened it.
It was a photo album. It was filled with pictures of Rosalie, Sawyer, a dark woman with almost black eyes and a little girl with the most beautiful smile Shannon had ever seen.
"Is that… is that your wife?" Shannon asked and pointed at the woman, Rosalie nodded. "And…" Shannon pointed at the girl, "that's your daughter right?"
Rosalie nodded. If she said something she might burst into tears. Shannon took the album and stared at the pictures in wonderment. She felt a lump in her throat when she remembered that the woman and the little girl were both dead.
"Well if it isn't Sticks." Sawyer came in and pushed Shannon aside, she glared at him while Sawyer threw a smile at her. She put the book in the bag and Sawyer struck up a conversation with Rosalie. She didn't like being ignored.
"Wait," Sawyer interrupted, he stood up and took out an arm outside the tent and dragged Bonnie in. She was soaking wet.
"I like the rain," Bonnie said and took Sawyer's place next to Rosalie.
"Me too, when I'm inside!" he answered. Bonnie giggled, Shannon raised her eyebrow and she and Rosalie exchanged an understanding glance.
"I bet one week," Shannon said.
Rosalie smirked. "I bet three days."
Bonnie and Sawyer had no idea what they were talking about.
--
Kaylee closed her eyes. The rain crashed down and Dom looked down at her, she had a light frown on her face as she tried to sleep. Dom didn't understand how she could even try over the thunder. He looked out through the ten's opening; he saw Locke, Boone and Brian arguing in the rain. They were shouting at each other. He wondered again how Brian had just… healed. He watched as Brian and Boone walked away from Locke, probably to take cover. Locke himself stayed out in the rain.
He heard a sob. Kay was awake. Tears fell down her freckled face. Dom opened his mouth to say something, he didn't know what. He just took her in his arms and tried to comfort her that way. She wept against his shoulder.
"I killed her!" she cried. "I… I killed her…"
Dom held her closer. "It was self-defense Kay," he told her. "You did what you had to do."
"No… no…" she pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. "I killed her Dom. I am a really bad person. I have done really bad things. I killed her."
Dom gazed into her eyes, green with just a tint of brown, tears welling up, they were red.
"You are not a bad person Kaylee Evans," he said.
--
Sean had woken up early, he was surprised that the rain had stopped falling and had been replaced by the upcoming sun.
He walked over to the body of Henry. No one had moved it yet. He swallowed. The bullet wounds and the rain hadn't exactly done him good.
He grabbed the man by his feet and dragged him away from the camp, behind the rocks and trees. He supposed he should burn the body. But it didn't feel right. He went back and grabbed a shovel and came back and dug the man's grave. It was sloppy, not that deep. But it was enough. He pushed the body down and started to cover up the hole again.
The sun raised more and more on the sky and when Sean was done the whole camp was up. The raft was finished and excitement hanged in the air despite the day before turmoil's.
He saw Flor packing the final things into her bag and he walked up to her. She looked up and gave him a big smile.
"Hey!" she chirped.
"You look happy," said Sean.
"I'm leaving to get rescued!" Flor looked incredibly cheerful, happier than he had ever seen her before. It was like she had taken down the sun and put it in her eyes. "I'm really leaving this island!"
Sean's smile faltered. "Yeah."
Flor didn't notice and she zipped the bag up. She then looked at him. "Can you believe we might finally be rescued?"
Sean gazed into her eyes. She still had the smile on her face.
"No I can't," he said, she looked curious at his words. And then he bent down and kissed her. It was quick, lips brushed against each other and then he pulled away. She had just stood there. Arms at her sides and she gaped at him.
"Goodbye," said Sean and left her staring after him.
--
The raft was leaving.
Sun gave Jin one last kiss, put the notebook with English words in his hand. Charlie collected the last pieces of letters to the families back home, Walt hugged Owen goodbye. Zidler looked over at everyone giving their farewells and pretended to say goodbye to Wendy, full with fake tears.
Michael, Jin, Walt and Flor waved goodbye as the raft crashed into the water. They put up the sail and the survivors cheered.
Lori, who never let the fact that she couldn't see get in her way, knew that Jack stood beside her.
"Goodbye," she said with a sad, but hopeful voice.
Jack who had been waving farewell looked at her. "What?"
Lori rushed into the water, half-swimming, felt her way to the raft's side. Somehow managed to grab it and pull herself up.
"Lori?" Flor yelled shocked.
"Didn't think you could leave without me did you?" she said.
--
The raft disappeared into the horizon.
Behind them, up in the clouds smoke found its way up to the air.
"What's that?" Zidler asked and pointed, the survivors turned around.
The smoke was thick and black, like a signal.
"It's them!" Sean looked at Owen, she walked up before them. And Sean saw something, how she stood, how she talked, she was used to be the centre of attention of course. But this was different, she was determined, confident.
Like a leader.
"It means they're coming."
--
"I want to come," Margo declared.
From arguing the survivors had finally decided to go to the black smoke. Mainly because if they could find the others they would maybe find Claire, and also because Owen said they were coming.
"No you aren't going," Sean told her pretty harshly. He put on the backpack.
"Why not?"
Sean sighed. "Because you aren't."
Margo bit her lip. Kate gave Jack some water bottles and even Allen was drinking out of one. She looked at her side; Zidler and Wendy were laughing and talking by the fruit stand.
"I want to come! Please, I can be helpful."
"Right, it's not like you have asthma or anything," Sean muttered.
Margo glared. "I have inhalers, I can come with you –"
"No."
Margo swung around. She hadn't noticed that Zidler had walked up to them. He was staring at her. In a way he had never looked at her before. Like he was angry at her.
"You are not going."
They left, without her. Zidler left too, without a word.
She felt frustrated, the tears she didn't want to come up in her eyes. The weakness she didn't want anyone to see. She could get angry, try to fight it off. But years of desperate emotions had taught her that if she now even blinked the tears would start to drop. Crying of frustration, nobody comforted that. She would be the child, the child that stomped her feet in the ground and the grownups raised their eyebrows over. But just like a child she thought that no one understood her, didn't get why she had to come with them.
But life wouldn't let Margo be a child for too long, it was time to grow up. It was time for life to be cruel in ways she couldn't understand. For some it would be a blessing, for others their worst nightmare. But in the end, little Margo never had a choice.
Life would come and life would be taken.
--
Author's Notes: I love you guys. Thank you for telling me what you think and giving me such awesome reviews. I cannot get enough. I have a main outline for the story, but I still love getting suggestions and inspiration from your thoughts, they influence the story! AND MORE THAN 100 REVIEWS! WOW! THIS MADE MY LIFE. This means... I might reconsider killing... well, no, it has to happen. THANK YOU!
Thank you, and please review more!
Since NaNoWriMo is coming up (the national writing month), I will might have to abandon this story for a month. But do not fear! I will write a long, long chapter that will probably take a month to read for you guys!
The season finale is getting close…
Namaste.