Chapter 18- Island, days later

The atmosphere on the island was bleak. The search for Claire had dwindled. Locke and Boone were busy hunting boar, Michael had a crazy yet possible plan to build a raft, and the rest of the survivors kept busy with their normal routines. Anything and everything to keep their minds off Claire, Elle thought to herself. After her tussle with Sawyer a couple of days ago, she kept to her normal routine, sans searching for Claire. She had a sickening feeling that all was lost and there wasn't anything more she could do. Wish I had a magic eight ball to find the answers, she scoffed. Child's play; that's all that wishing was.

She waded in the ocean, rinsing out her clothes, getting lost in the ebb and flow of the tides. She put her laundry into a carryall she managed to find when they crashed and headed back to her tent. She hung her clothes over a wire she secured from the branches of a tree adjacent to her tent. Better than nothing, she thought, as she crawled into her tent and laid down. She was hoping to get some rest, but Sawyer interrupted her.

"Interested in a trade, Brownie Bits?" he asked.

Knowing she didn't have much to barter with, besides wit, she replied,

"Your sales pitch lacks something to be desired."

Crouching by the entrance of her tent, he held out his hands. In them he had some hotel sized shampoos and a bar of soap.

"What?" she asked him, "You want me to wash your hair?"

Pulling a few strands to his face, he gave them a whiff, and shrugged.

"I've gone longer, but hey, if you're offerin'."

Rolling her eyes, she sat up, and said,

"What do you really want, Saywer?"

"Just figured you could use some," he pointed to her clothesline, "for your laundry."

"Hell, maybe you could wash your hair and mine." he teased.

"Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

He knows very well, I haven't, she thought to herself. Tousling his hair, she pushed him over in the sand, scooped up the fallen items, and pocketed them. Thanking him for his kind gesture, even though he implied she was a mess, she challenged him.

"Catch me if you can, James."

Running off towards the jungle, she headed towards the abandoned spring she found while searching for Claire. As she was sprinting, she noticed that Sawyer was nowhere in sight. Probably stopped for a cigarette, she chuckled. She heard a rustling in the leaves a few feet ahead of her. Wondering if he had actually gotten ahead of her, she called out.

"Sawyer, is that you?"

With no answer, except for the crunch of the brush ahead, she moved on. She thought she caught a glimpse of something. What is that, she wondered.

Following the rustling, she stumbled upon something unforeseen. With her back turned to Elle, a little girl stood there, motionless. Her golden hair, hung in curls. Elle stood there, frozen, not with fear, but with anticipation. It couldn't be, she thought to herself. When she turned to face Elle, her eyes screamed royal blue.

"Lily?" Elle whispered.

The little girl giggled, ran up to Elle, tapped her tiny hand onto her arm, and ran off into the jungle. As if saying, tag, you're it, Elle ran after her, shouting her name. She saw Lily dot past a tree, the same tree she found Charlie hanging from. When she ran towards the tree, she saw that the little girl dropped something. Peering down, Elle squatted and picked up a small beaded bracelet. This is Lily's, she thought to herself, I would know it anywhere.

"Lily! Lily!" she shouted, "Where did you go?"

Turning the bracelet over in her hand, Elle screamed. Instead of Lily's name, there was a word, such a horrible word.

"Karma!" Elle choked.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?"

She heard whispering coming from the four directions and amongst it, she heard Lily giggle. What she saw next didn't startle her at all. Lily reappeared around the corner and motioned for Elle to meet her. The little girl spoke.

"I've missed you, big sis." Lily hugged her tiny arms around Elle's waist.

Elle was speechless. She felt so warm, so real, how could it be?

"I'm dreaming," Elle said without knowing.

"No, silly goose, you're eyes are wide open."

"I don't understand," Elle stammered, "how is this possible?"

Lily hugged her tighter and told Elle something she'd never thought she'd hear.

"You saved me from him, you know. That's what a big sister does."

She continued as Elle squatted down to face her, stroking the little girl's cheeks.

"Not all Karma is bad, silly. Just like you're not bad."

"What do you know about Karma, you're only five."

"I know a lot of things," she whispered.

Elle began crying, oh God how she hated to cry. Somehow, these tears tasted sweet.

Lily kissed Elle on the forehead and began to skip into the jungle. As Elle watched her go, Lily could be heard singing,

"She'll come back to you."

Elle ran after her little sister, the bracelet clutched in her fist. She ran towards something, someone, that wasn't even there. She wasn't even looking where she was going, when she ran smack into Sawyer.

"Where's the fire, sweetness?"

"Did you see her!" Elle didn't ask.

"Who? Claire?"

Sawyer didn't know what was going on. Elle panicked, as if she had just lost something, and her life depended on it.

Elle stopped short. Remembering what Lily said to her when she skipped away, she turned and faced Sawyer.

"Claire's back."

"Yeah, darlin', yeah, I know. That's why I was running here as fast as I could."

Sawyer began to calm Elle down. He told her that after she had run into the jungle, he was about to chase after her, when there was a commotion on the beach. He stopped Jin, Lord knows why, he didn't speak much English, but he understood one distinct word-Claire. He said Jin was shouting it repeatedly and pointing Sawyer toward the caves.

"The end, you know. I came running here for you."

"Who were you runnin' after?" he questioned her.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

With that, she began walking towards the caves. Sawyer took three steps and was in stride with her. Elle took his hand in hers and slipped him something. She didn't say a word. Sawyer opened his hand and in it, he saw a bracelet too small to be Elle's.

"Karma?"

Elle just nodded and once again took his hand in hers.