When the plane crashed on the island, Lena had few expectations. However, a sword that burned everyone except her was definitely not one of them.
Yet there she was, practicing with it. She had only had the sword for a day, but she had gotten pretty good at it.
Just as she swung it into a tree, Jack, Michael, and Charlie came walking by, seemingly in a hurry.
"Hey guys." Lena greeted. "What's going on?"
"Honestly?" Jack replied. "I have no idea. Hurley's been working on some kind of project all day, and we're going to go see what it is."
"Want to come?" Charlie offered. "If anything bad happens, your freaky sword could come in handy."
"Sure." Lena said, unsticking the sword from the tree. She slid it into her sheath and continued along the path with the other three.
They reached the mountain, and saw Hurley standing on a plateau, looking very satisfied.
"Welcome." Hurley said, spreading his arms out wide. "To the first, and hopefully last, Island Open."
"What?"
"It's two holes for now." Hurley explained. "3 par, and no waiting."
"Hurley, you built a golf course?" Jack asked.
"All the stuff we've got to deal with man, and this is what you've been wasting your time on?" Michael added. But Lena thought it was a great idea. Everyone could use a distraction from the crazy stuff happening on the island.
"Dudes, listen." Hurley said. "Our lives suck. Everyone's nerves are stretched to the max. I mean, we're lost on an island, running from boars and monsters and freaking polar bears!"
"Polar bears?" Michael muttered.
"You didn't hear about the polar bear?" Charlie replied.
"Look, what I'm trying to say is, if we're stuck here, then just surviving isn't going to cut it." Hurley continued. "We need some kind of relief, you know. Some way that we can have fun. Or else, we're just going to go crazy waiting for the next bad thing to happen."
Lena glanced at Jack. It was really his call. She, personally, thought it would be good for all of them.
"Alright." Jack said. "Let's play golf."
…
Lena swung her golf club, and the ball went surprisingly far, landing ahead of Charlie's and just behind Hurley's.
"Ha!" Hurley exclaimed. "I'm still ahead!" Lena just rolled her eyes and jogged over to Charlie and Hurley, waiting for Michael and Jack to go.
"Heads up over there!" Jack yelled once he picked out his club.
"No chance!" Charlie shouted back. "You won't get anywhere near us!" Lena laughed. For the first time since the crash, Lena actually felt happy. She was having fun, something she thought was completely out the window once she got to the island.
Just as Jack was about to swing, a man came out of the jungle. It was another crash survivor, who had been constantly bothering Jack about some rash.
"Hey Doc?" The guy said. "Listen this rash of mine, it's starting to spread, like- wait, where are you guys doing? Are you playing golf?" Lena and Charlie glanced at each other nervously.
"Yeah." Jack sighed, not bothering to lie.
"Can- can I play?" The guy asked.
…
The golf course had attracted a large crowd. More than half of the survivors were there now, all watching or playing golf. Everyone was having fun, and Lena could tell that Hurley was very proud of himself.
"Ugh!" Charlie exclaimed as his drive fell short.
"Tough luck, dude." Hurley replied. "My turn now." He set up his ball and swung, completely missing it.
"Crap, do-over." He muttered.
"It's a mulligan." Charlie corrected. "It's a gentlemen's sport, you've got to get the words right. Mulligan."
"The words aren't going to matter if you two keep messing up." Lena commented.
"Well mine did go farther than yours!" Charlie replied just as Hurley swung again and landed it a little farther than Charlie's. Lena laughed at the irony of it all.
A few more turns came and went, until Charlie managed to get to the putting area in just two shots, and was currently stressing out.
"Guys please, I've never made par on a course before." Charlie said. He took a deep breath, made his put, and… missed.
"Dude, you were robbed." Hurley said. Charlie cursed under his breath and kicked the grass as Jack stepped up to put.
"Alright, Jack, it's up to you." Michael said. "If you sink this, you get to wear the blazer."
"No pressure." Kate, who had come recently, said.
"5 bucks says he sinks it." Hurley called out.
"Make it 10 and you're on." Boone called out.
"I don't have any cash - actually, I don't think any of us do - but I'll bet imaginary 5 dollars he misses." Lena said.
"Wow, Lena, I really thought we were friends." Jack joked. Lena was at first surprised that Jack actually made a joke, but then she just laughed.
"Two tubes on sunscreen and a flashlight says he chokes."
Everyone turned towards the sound of the voice to see Sawyer, standing a few feet away from the group.
"I'll take that." Kate said after a few minutes.
"Yeah, me too." Boone said. Shannon chided him about just betting on Jack, to which he replied that they needed the sunscreen.
Jack took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and made his shot. It teetered a bit on the edge of the hole before falling in.
Everyone cheered, no matter what they bet on. It was a fun moment, a break from the stress and chaos of the island.
"Hurley, here is five imaginary dollars." Lena said, pretending to hand him money. "I'll pay you when we get back to civilization."
…
The next day, everything had gone back to normal. Well, normal for the island.
Claire, who had been having nightmares, has apparently been attacked in the middle of the night.
Lena had gone up to the caves to see if she could help out. She figure if someone attacked, a sword that only she could touch would probably be useful.
While at the caves, Hurley approached her, holding a notepad and pencil.
"Hey Lena." He said. "I'm making a list of everyone on the island, so… what's your full name?"
"Lena Hale Ashford." She answered.
"Dude, that's an awesome name." Hurley commented.
"Uh, thanks." Lena replied, laughing a little. "Any other questions?"
"Yeah, a few. What is your place of residence."
"Currently?" Lena asked. Hurley nodded. "Los Angeles."
"Last thing: Why were you in Australia?"
"I was visiting my sister." Lena said. And we got in a fight, and now I might never see her again, she added silently.
"Thanks!" Hurley said brightly. "I got the manifest, but I figured that you're here, so I might as well." Hurley then walked of to another part of the cave and started comparing his list to the manifest.
Suddenly, Sayid limped into the cave, bloody and exhausted. Lena made it over to him just as he collapsed. Jack and Kate had gotten there too, and the three of them managed to prop him up on one of the rock formations.
"Sayid?" Lena asked. "Are you okay? What-"
"Listen to me." He said hoarsely. "I found her, the French woman." He found her? The woman who had the transmission playing for 16 years?
"Kate, get some water." Jack ordered, then he turned back to Sayid. "What happened?"
"The woman, on the island." He rasped. "I had to come back. We're not alone, Jack. I had to-"
"Jack!" Hurley shouted, sprinting as fast as he could. "We have a problem. The manifest, Jack, the census, the names of everyone who survived, all 46 of us. I interviewed everyone. Here, at the beach, got their names. One them, one of them isn't… One of them isn't in the manifest. He wasn't on the plane."
"What?" Lena exclaimed. "Who wasn't on the plane?"
"Ethan." Hurley gasped. "The Canadian guy, he's not on the passenger manifest." If he wasn't on the plane, then how did he get to the island? Why was he on the island? It didn't make any sense. Well, nothing on this island made sense, but that was among the most confusing.
"Well, where the hell is he?" Jack demanded.
"I don't know." Hurley replied worriedly. "I saw him yesterday, but now…"
"Has anyone seen Ethan?!" Jack shouted, but no one in the caves seemed to know where the mysterious man went.
"I think he went to get some wood." Michael said, proving Lena's previous thoughts wrong. "He took off on the beach path. Why, what's going on?"
"Where's Charlie?" Jack continued. "Where is he?"
"He went after Claire." Locke answered from the cave entrance. Jack immediately sprinted out of the caves, with Locke running just behind him.
"Jack, wait!" Kate yelled as she started to stand up.
"Don't." Lena said, placing a hand on Kate's arm. "He knows what he's doing."
…
Locke came back to the caves about an hour later, with the news that Jack had gone off on his own. Kate was furious.
"You let him go by himself?!" She demanded.
"Don't worry, I'll catch up." Locke replied. "What's the word from the beach."
"Nothing." Lena said. "No one has seen Ethan."
"I'm coming with you." Kate said as Locke started to leave. That was kind of her catch phrase at that point. Locke also seemed to assume that she would go, because he handed her a knife.
"I'll go too." Lena offered.
"No, we need someone here that can take care of everyone else." Locke said. "You're our best defender if he comes back." Lena reluctantly sat down and let the two of them go, along with Boone who had volunteered.
Lena walked over to Sayid, who had been resting. He had a pretty serious leg injury, and Jack did a pretty hasty job of fixing it.
"How're you doing?" She asked, sitting down next to him.
"Alright, considering the circumstances." Sayid replied.
"So." Lena said tentatively. "What was she like? The French woman, I mean." She didn't know if it was rude to ask that, but she went for it anyways.
"She was… odd." Sayid said. "She's been on this island for sixteen years. It would make anyone lose their mind a little."
"Yeah." Lena shrugged. "From what you said, she doesn't sound very pleasant."
"No." Sayid agreed. "She was not."
…
Jack and Kate had found Charlie and brought him back, but Claire was still missing. Ethan and his people had her.
The island had just gotten a whole lot weirder.