Chapter 21: Soap Opera Island, Day 52-53

Day fifty-two started off without any major problems. Charlie was gone when I woke up, off to somewhere unknown and the island was quiet. I stretched and crawled out of the tent, dragging my small backpack with me. Today would be a good day to sit and write.

"Hey Sawyer," I called as I walked up to where he was resting. "How are you feeling?"

He cracked a smile and opened his eyes, looking up at me. "I feel as good as a guy can after having an infected bullet wound. How about you Tinkerbelle?"

"I'm doing all right." I leaned back, a sad smile on my face. "Is there anything I can get you?"

"Thanks but I'm good right here." He leaned back in the seat, stretching his hands behind his head. "Especially now with Freckles here."

I turned and saw Kate had appeared behind me. "Well," I said with a smile. "I'll leave you two alone." Kate moved over to Sawyer as I backed away. Shaking my head, I turned and walked down the beach to where Sayid was seated.

Today he wasn't sulking or sitting sullenly while staring out over the ocean. He was still sitting alone, but he looked comfortable. Not content, not distraught, but comfortable. "Hey big brother," I said softly, walking up to him.

Sayid looked up, his bloodshot eyes not as red. "Hello Kalie. How are you this morning?"

"I'm well." I sat down next to him, leaning my head against his shoulder.

"Charlie stayed with you last night?" It wasn't quite a question, but I felt I had to give an explanation.

'He had a fight with Claire," I paused. "And I don't like staying alone. "

Sayid nodded, "which is one reason Boone stayed with you."

"Yes," I whispered.

"You miss him?" Another statement disguised as a question.

I nodded, not trusting my voice. "Every day," I managed to whisper.

"That is how I feel about Shannon…" Sayid picked up a stick from the sand and began breaking it into tiny pieces.

I nodded again, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry," I said softly. I knew how I felt, but I still didn't know my brother very well. Who knows what he was feeling and if it was anything like what I was.

"It's fine. This is not something I share quite often." Sayid fell into silence and I followed. "I have done many things in my life I am not proud of, and I know I will do a great many more."

I cocked my head sideways and turned to look at him, but his eyes never left the water. What was he talking about? I shook my head and looked back out over the water. "Do you need anything? Water? Fruit?"

"No, thank you Kalila."

"Okay, well I'm going to go see if I can find Charlie. I'll stop by later." Standing up, I placed a soft kiss on the top of his head and lightly squeezed his shoulder.

Taking off my shoes, I walked barefoot through the sand. Growing up, I always wanted to go to the beach, but Daddy didn't like the sand. Now I understand why; it's gritty and gets everywhere.

I walked slowly to the hatch after checking the camp for Charlie. Sun said Hurley had come up here, maybe Charlie had as well. He was.

"Have you been hiding out here all day?" I asked, sitting on the armrest of Charlie's chair.

"Nearly. Hey, have you ever heard of Geronimo Jackson?" Charlie asked, pointing to the record sleeve on the bookshelf.

I glanced over at the sleeve, looking at the bright picture on the front. "No, looks like something from the 1970's though, with those clothes." The music from the record player flowed through the living room.

"Think Claire's missed me yet?" Charlie asked, looking up at Hurley.

"Dude, it's been a day." Hurley responded as I struggled to hold back a smile. It wasn't very nice of me to make fun of Charlie's pain, but I had to agree with Hurley. It had only been a day.

Standing up, I walked over and sat in one of the chairs in a far corner with a book from the shelf. The three of us sat in relative silence; the only sound being the music from the record player.

"This music is quite depressing." I turned and looked up at my brother. He had changed into grey pants and a brown tank. I wasn't sure what to make of him anymore. He loved a woman, but became involved with Shannon? What awful things had he done in the past?

Hurley sat forward, "we can change it dude. Did you ever hear of Geronimo Jackson?"

"I'm afraid not. Where are Jack and Locke?" Sayid's hands were in his pockets and his voice low, but he wasn't crying anymore.

"Oh, they went after Michael."

"Michael?" I closed the book and leaned forward. "Where did Michael go?"

"Yeah," Charlie started. "He ran off after Walt again. Everyone's gone after him."

I left a short while later. Sayid disappeared, leaving Charlie and Hurley to continue their conversation about girls. As much fun as that topic of conversation was, I didn't need to hear it. Besides, Charlie was pining over Claire and it was starting to get irritating.

I brushed leaves aside on the path back to our beach camp. Grinning, I knelt next to Claire in the sand and watched her with baby Aaron.

"Did you want to hold him?" Claire asked, holding Aaron up.

I leaned back nervously. "No… no thanks. I don't do well with babies. My father swears I dropped my little brother when he was a baby."

Claire chuckled but continued to hand the baby to me. "Here, sit here," she said, gesturing to a log by the cradle. I sat and she handed Aaron over. I gently cradled his head and smiled down at him. He was a cute baby, I had to admit that. "See, not that bad, is it?"

"No," I said softly, looking down at the small baby in my arms. "So what's going on with you and Charlie?" I asked after a moment's pause. I didn't want to intrude, but I wanted to hear her side of the story.

Claire shook her head and fiddled with the blankets in Aaron's crib. "It's a long story, that I'm sure he's already told you." She spoke curtly, not meeting my eyes.

"Yes, he did. But I wanted to hear your side. I consider both of you my friends…" I trailed off, jiggling Aaron.

"As much as I appreciate it, I don't think I should talk about this with you. Charlie's your friend as much as I am and I don't want you to get in the middle of this. We'll be fine and if not… then it wasn't meant to be."

I nodded, smiling down at the baby in my arms. This was beginning to be like the soap operas my girlfriends watched. Drama, romance… our island had it all!

*~*~*

Day fifty-three. I'm almost ready to stop counting. There's no hope that we're going to be rescued, everyone has basically forgotten. No, that's not true. Many people hold hope, but not many actually believe it. Charlie was gone again, possibly long before I had even awoken.

I changed clothes, ate a mango, drank some water and pulled out my journal. I wrote about the new people, our Tail survivors. After flipping back a few pages, I realized I never went into any detail on their appearance or behavior. So far, I liked Libby the best. She was nice and she seemed ready to help with whatever we needed. Libby was quite the opposite of Ana, who was stand-offish and stayed by herself. Eko had become attached to Locke and depending on how you looked at it, Charlie. Bernard seemed like he'd been here the whole time. He fit in so well with Rose I had to consciously think that he wasn't with us the whole time.

I was at an impasse. I was tired, had a sunburn, and sick of eating fruit. It was November 13th, and I should be taking midterm exams and preparing for my performance jury. I should be worrying about Music History, World Music and my method classes. I should be worrying about going home for the Thanksgiving and winter holidays. I should not be worrying about whether or not I would have enough food or whether we would survive long enough to get rescued.

Shaking my head, I tossed the journal into a corner and crawled out of the tent. The sun was high in the sky and I couldn't figure out what time it was. Sometime around noon I figured.

As I walked down the beach, I waved at people I passed. Jin was fishing off-shore and Sun was watching, Libby and Hurley were fixing her tent, Steve was reading with Tracey and Nikki was fighting with Paulo. I shook my head as I walked passed. Everyone had something to do, someone to be with.

I crawled into my tent and lay back on my cushions. Charlie hadn't returned yet and I couldn't help but wonder where he had gone off to. Hopefully, he hadn't gone to talk to Claire.

My eyes slowly closed and I focused on listening to the waves lightly crash against the shoreline. I fell asleep.

"Kalie?" My eyes opened and I reached up to rub the sleepiness from my eyes. Charlie was kneeling over me, a smile on his face. "Wake up Kalie."

I sat up and blinked at him. "Yes? What's going on?"

"Jack and the rest are back. And Sayid was looking for you." Charlie leaned back on his heels and looked down at me. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I had a strange dream is all." I forced a smile that I hope was realistic and laughed. "I just need to wash my face. I'm fine, Charlie." I repeated, seeing the look on his face.

"Long as you say so. I'm heading to see what Hurley's up too. Maybe we can play a round of golf." Charlie crawled out of the tent, leaving me to stare after him.

I had had a strange dream. James grinned at me while Boone stood behind him, my favorite smile on his face. "There's something I want you to have," Boone said. "You'll see it when you wake up."

"I love you Kalie," James whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, I did try. Love you sis."

They faded away once Charlie woke up me up and here I was, looking around to figure out what Boone wanted me to have. I shook my head and ran my fingers through my hair. What I wouldn't give for a hairbrush right now! My hair kept growing, but thankfully the curls had started to diminish and were just heavy waves.

After rubbing my face quickly with my hands, I slowly crawled out of the tent. "What the…?" I asked, stopping mid-crawl. Something had fallen off my stomach when I sat up. I picked up the object and gasped. It was the necklace Boone always wore. The last time I saw it, someone had draped it over the cross above his grave. And now, here it was.

I placed it around my neck and crawled out of the tent. "Charlie!" I called, stumbling as I tried to run before I had fully stood. "Charlie!"

He turned and cocked his head sideways. "What are you yelling for?"

"Did you put this in my tent?" I held up the necklace. "This was on Boone's cross. Did you put it there?"

"No. Why do you think I would do that? I'm cruel Kalie." He turned and walked away. What? If Charlie didn't, then who did?

I don't believe in ghosts, spirits maybe but definitely not ghosts. Could Boone have put it there? I shivered in the warm sun and put it around my neck again. I would bring it back to the cemetery later.

AN: Rather short chapter. Not too happy with it but let me know what you think!

On a side note... did you see the finale?! OMG I screamed at my tv! Anyway, I've already planned out (and written) the Season 5 section. I can't wait to post it and let you all read it! I love it!

Thanks for reading and please leave a quick review on your way out!