Okay, so this is a really big episode, so it'll either be posted today (Sunday) or tomorrow (Monday), but I promise it'll come quickly!! Enjoy Not in Portland!!
I sat on the floor with my knees curled up to my chest. Karl sat more calmly, his legs crossed in front of him as he picked at his fingernails. I looked down at my feet. I was going to be brainwashed. I understood now how it would be the last time I'd see Sawyer and Kate and Jack; if I did see them again, I either wouldn't remember them, or I wouldn't care about them. And even worse, I wouldn't see anyone from the beach ever again: Claire, Charlie, Aaron, Locke, Sayid, Desmond... suddenly, I felt all of the sadness and depression slip away from me, only to be replaced by blinding anger. I stood up and walked around, trying to think of something to do; something to get out of there.
"What are you doing?" Karl asked as I paced around. I looked around, thinking about ways to overcome the guard.
"Trying to think of a way out of this," I said. He sighed from behind me. I put my hand to my head, thinking, then realized the only decoy we had to distract the guard with: me. I looked down at my shirt and pulled the v-neck lower, pushing a sleeve off my shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Karl asked again, this time more out of curiosity about what I was doing to my shirt.
"I'm gonna distract the guard," I said, "get his gun, and then get out of here." I looked back at Karl, who looked confused and skeptical. "You have a better idea?" He shook his head. "You wanna help, stay back when he comes in. What's his name?"
"Uh… Aldo," He said. I looked back at him and frowned.
"Aldo?" I asked. He nodded. "What the hell kind of name is that?" He chuckled a little. I flipped my hair upside down, then back up again, making it more voluminous. I heard the big door to the building open. "He's coming," I said. I made sure I was showing a good amount of cleavage, then sat calmly near the door, with my legs crossed. The door slowly opened, and the man who brought me in the first time, Aldo, came in. He was holding a rope.
"Okay, Karl, you're first," he said, motioning to him. I stood up and walked to him.
"Why's he first?" I asked sweetly. I stood in front of him, and tried to look as flirty as possible.
"Because Ben…"
"Ben's not important… I wanted to talk about you," I said. He looked at me, somewhat confused and defensive. "What's your name again?"
"Uh… Aldo," He said. I smiled.
"Aldo… what is that, Greek?" I asked, batting my eyes.
"Um… it's uh, it's Italian," He said. I pressed close to him.
"Yeah… you do like kind of Italian," I said, putting my hand on his chest. "What does it mean?"
"Um… noble," He hesitated. I knew his defense was down.
"Noble," I repeated, touching my finger tips to his bare chest. I looked up into his eyes as he looked back into mine. "I like it," I said. He quickly blinked and licked his lips. Now. I slowly reached my arms down, heading for his back, as I reached up to his face, looking like I was going to kiss him. He closed his eyes, expecting the kiss. I reached my arms back behind him, and grabbed the handle of the gun in the back of his pants. I pulled the gun out before our lips met and backed up, aiming the gun at him. He was shocked and clueless as to what I did. "Don't move," I ordered. I looked back to Karl. "Do you know where we are?" I asked him.
"Yeah," He said, surprised at my tricks.
"You know how to get back to my camp?" I asked, looking back at him still. He hesitated.
"Yes," He answered. "Carmen!" He yelled, pointing behind me.
"Prisoner escape!" Aldo yelled into his walkie. I took the walkie from his hand and threw it down. I grabbed Karl's arm and pulled him out of the room.
"Which way?" I asked, pointing the gun back at the room, waiting for Aldo to walk out, although he never did.
"This way," He said, leading me down a long hall. We ran to the end, where we opened a large metal door and walked out. I saw the jungle, and I already felt more comfortable. We walked down the concrete steps and I looked around.
"Where to now?" I asked, holding the gun firmly in my hand.
"Uh… we, we need to get to the boat," He said.
"What?" I asked. "No, take me back to my side of the island…"
"We're not on your island," He said. I lowered my gun.
"What?"
"We're on a different one… a smaller one, a couple miles off the coast of yours," He said. I looked up at the sky in frustration. "I have a boat, though… I just don't know where Alex put it," He said.
"Alex?" I asked, remembering the girl who tried to save me. He nodded. "Your girlfriend?" I asked, remembering what she said about them killing her boyfriend. He nodded again. I nodded. "Well, let's head to the beach- that's a good place to start," I said. He nodded, then his eyes got big.
"Stop!" He yelled. I turned around to see someone grab me- the same man who Alex knocked out outside of my room. Someone else grabbed Karl, but only by his wrist.
"Let go of him!" I yelled, hoping he would get me and take me to the beach. Karl looked to the man holding his wrist, and that man grabbed something out of his pocket: a syringe. When Karl saw it, he tried to fight, but the man jabbed it into his skin, and Karl soon went limp. I thrashed around, eventually dropping my gun. "Karl!" I yelled as the man picked him up under his arms. "Let go of him! Karl, wake up, damn it!" I yelled. The man took him inside as I thrashed around. The man holding me dropped me, and as I tried to get up and run, he shocked me, and I fell back to the ground. I didn't pass out this time, but I couldn't move. He picked me up and held me like a child. He carried me into the building. I saw us passing Aldo. The man handed Aldo his rifle and took his pistol.
"Next time, don't let your guard down for a girl," He said. Aldo looked embarrassed as we passed him. The man dropped me in the same room I was in, which had a number '24' on the door. He tied my hands in front of me, then left the room.
Again… I was alone.
I was pacing around the room, my hands tied and the door locked. I felt the urge and will to fight my fate, but I didn't know if it was worth it. I heard the large door open at the end of the hall, and I thought that they might be coming for me. I stood next to the door, deciding to hide behind it when it opened. Then I would hit whoever came in, try to take their gun, and shoot anyone I saw. I heard a female voice say something, so I wondered who would come in. I heard the door unlock as someone tried to open it from the outside. I folded my hands together, getting ready to hit the guard. The door opened quickly, and I stepped forward quietly, then threw my fists at someone. However, they caught my hands. I looked and saw… Sawyer. I lowered my hands.
"Sawyer?" I asked, my eyes big, pitiful, and full of wonder at his presence. He pulled me to him and held me.
"You okay?" He asked. I nodded as I nuzzled into him. I backed up as he untied my hands. I realized the door across the hall was open, and loud techno-type music flooded out of the room.
"How are you here?" I asked, needing answers.
"Jack-o is threatening to kill Ben if we don't get back to our camp safely," He said.
"Sawyer, we're on a different island," I told him.
"I know," He said. He threw the ropes down and pulled me across the hall to the open door. We walked in, holding our ears to see a screen with flashing images. Doll faces flashed up on the screen, and they evolved to womens' faces, and drawings of womens' faces. Sawyer and I stared at the screen in fear and wonder. This is what they were going to show me. It showed an eclipsing moon, then more pictures flashed behind the words "we are the causes of our own suffering." More images flashed up, and I felt overwhelmed at the images. Another sentence flashed up, saying "God loves you as he loved Jacob." I frowned in confusion, then looked down to where Karl was seated in a chair. I ran to help Alex, who was taking things off of him. I saw he had what looked like 3-D glasses on, and I couldn't imagine how overwhelmed he felt. I reached to the helmet he was wearing and took it off slowly, trying to avoid over-stimulating him. I moved out of the way as Sawyer threw him over his shoulder and we walked out, closing the door to the crazy room behind us.
"Look, we got your boyfriend back, now where's your damn boat?" Sawyer demanded. I ran to Alex's side.
"Let's go," She said, running past Sawyer. I followed, and Sawyer followed me, with Kate in the back of the line. We ran through the jungle silently. I occasionally looked back to make sure Sawyer was okay with Karl. Karl just hung over his shoulder, limp. I was worried about him, but thought that if we could get Karl back to our camp with Alex, they'd both be okay.
"How much further…" Sawyer began to ask.
"Here!" Alex called back. I looked ahead to see a long kayak, big enough to hold all five of us a little uncomfortably. Sawyer handed Karl to Kate and ran to the boat's side.
"Nice ride," Sawyer said.
"Help me," Alex demanded.
I pushed with Alex on her side, and Sawyer pushed on the other side, and we got the boat down to the water. Sawyer and Alex started mounting the mast in the middle of the boat.
"So," Sawyer started, "you're the boss's daughter." Alex looked up at him, seemingly ashamed of her father. "Never saw that comin.'" He ran back to Kate and grabbed Karl. "Let's go, Cheech," He said, bringing Karl to the boat.
"Bring him to this end, we can prop his head up on the end of the boat," I said, motioning to the end closest to the water.
"We're goin' for a little ride," Sawyer told Karl.
"Careful," Alex warned Sawyer. Sawyer groaned as he picked up Karl and placed him in the boat.
"No, Sawyer," Sawyer said to Karl. I got closer to hear, leaning in to hear him.
"Danny," Karl said, looking behind Sawyer. I looked up to see Danny, aiming a gun at Sawyer. I went around the boat and held Sawyer's shoulder.
"Danny," I whispered. He got angry and prepared to fire.
"No!" Kate yelled, running in front of Sawyer.
"Danny!" Someone yelled from the jungle. All of a sudden, Danny had three bullets in his chest. I found that my face was buried in Sawyer's arm, and I looked to where Danny was to see Juliet. Kate held Sawyer, as if to catch him if he fell. Juliet approached us, holding her gun carefully. She looked down at Danny, then back up at us. "Go," She told us, putting the gun in the back of her jeans. "Get outta here."
"You heard the lady," Sawyer said, pulling Kate and I towards the boat.
"Let's go," Alex said as we started to pull the boat back down to the water.
"Not you, Alex," Juliet said. The boat stopped as we all looked up. "You're staying."
"Why?" Alex asked, wanting to cry.
"We both know your father. And the only way he'll let Karl live is if you're here when he wakes up," She said. I looked to Alex, who looked tortured. "I'm sorry, Alex." Alex walked down and knelt next to Karl.
"Hey, Alex," He said, still out of it.
"Hey," She said, trying to choke down the tears. I walked closer.
"I missed you," He said, holding her wrist tightly.
"I know," She said, "I missed you, too. You have to go away now. But I'll see you real soon, 'kay?" She said.
"I love you," Karl sighed out. Alex reached down and kissed him. "I have to go to sleep now," He said. Alex laughed at his delusional state. After another moment of running her fingers through his hair, I knelt down next to Karl on the other side.
"I'm sorry," I told her. She looked up at me, then back down at Karl.
"Will you take care of him?" She asked, staring into Karl's eyes. She looked back up at me when I hesitated.
"Of course," I said. She stood up and backed away from the boat. I stood and looked back at Juliet, then to Sawyer.
"Why don't you get in the boat… sit his head on your lap," He ordered. I sat Karl up, then sat down behind him. When his body weight came down on me, his shoulders rested on my hips. Sawyer and Kate started to push the boat forward into the water, but they stopped at Juliet's words.
"Wait," she ordered. We looked back to see her holding a walkie-talkie out towards us. I looked to Sawyer and Kate, unsure of what she wanted us to do with it. Juliet walked forward and reached the walkie over to Kate. She hesitated, then talked into it.
"Jack, are you there?" She asked. I suddenly remembered Jack. Where was he? What was going on? After a moment, he answered.
"Yeah, I'm here Kate. You okay?" He asked. "You got Carmen?" Kate looked to me.
"Yeah, I… we've got a boat. They're letting us go," She said into the walkie.
"Who's letting you go?" Jack asked. Kate looked up at Juliet.
"The blond woman," She answered.
"So you're safe? You, Carmen and Sawyer?" He asked.
"Yes, yeah," Kate answered quickly.
"Tell me," Jack said on the other end.
"Tell you?" Kate asked, almost angry.
"The first day on the beach, the day of the crash, the story that I told you. If you're safe, tell me," Jack replied. I guessed this was his way of making sure we were really safe. She hesitated a little.
"You… were doin' surgery on a girl… and you messed up," She said, looking nervously around herself. "You made a mistake. You tore somethin', on her back, and all the nerves came loose. And you said you were so afraid," Kate said, verging on tears. I looked to Sawyer, who I could tell knew that Kate wouldn't want to leave. "And you said the fear was so… real… and you didn't know what to do. So you counted to five… and then you weren't afraid anymore… and then it was just gone… and you fixed her," Kate cried. "You saved her." After a moment, Jack replied.
"I need you to make me a promise, Kate," Jack said on the other side.
"Jack," Kate cried.
"Promise me that you'll never come back here for me," Jack ordered. I felt my stomach turn at his words. "Don't come back, Kate."
"Jack, where are you?" Kate asked. "Jack? Jack, please, where are you?" I heard the other end of the walkie turn off, and Kate cried, panicked at losing Jack. Sawyer looked disappointed, but upset about something else. He took the walkie from her hand.
"The trades are comin'," He said. Kate looked up at him, not wanting to leave. "We've gotta go." He handed the walkie to Juliet. "Let's go." Kate pulled her hair back while she struggled to maintain calm and push forward. They pushed the boat into the water and climbed in, starting to paddle home. I ran my fingers through Karl's hair as a tear dropped onto his forehead.
And we're going home!!! Talk to you tomorrow! I'm going to see the Wake/Xavier game!!
