The sound of the waves moving along the beach did nothing to calm my anxiety as I sat beside a sleeping Sawyer, who laid with a bandaged arm on his airline bed. Jack had managed to stop the bleeding and stitch him up, although I doubted the man would be grateful for it. My brother had literally saved his life and the only thing he'd probably be thankful for is the four hour nap he was getting. For those four hours, all I'd manage to do was sit there and think about that letter. I even stole it out of his back pocket so I could read it again, so I guess I was thankful for his nap, too.
My hazel orbs stared down at the blonde Southerner who'd not only caused me trouble, but also become my friend since we'd crashed on the island. Looking at how innocent he looked while sleeping off the wound he'd gotten, you would never think he was capable of all the things he was claiming. The date my eyes found on the envelope helped my case as well.
"Look who's awake and lucky to be alive," I greeted Sawyer once his eyes finally opened.
"Where's Jack?" He questioned, looking around as he sat up with a wince.
"He's over at the caves to check up on Shannon." I told him. His bright eyes glanced down at the letter in my hand before his eyebrows furrowed. "Oh, I read it again. About eight times, actually."
About half a minute passed between us while I waited for a response or a snappy comment, but the man remained silent. It was almost like he was waiting for me to say something wrong. Lucky for him, that happened often.
"Then I noticed the date on the envelope," My slender finger moved to point to the stamp in the corner. "You would have been a kid when this was written."
"Lana—"
"It was you who wrote this letter." I finished. It was weird hearing him call me by my actual name, rather than some nickname. I was almost starting to think he didn't actually know my real name. "Your name's not Sawyer then. What is it?"
"Sawyer was his name. He was a confidence man. Romanced my mama to get to the money, wiped them out clean, and left a mess behind. So I wrote that letter. I wrote it knowing one day I'd find him." He told me, his light eyes looking dark. "But that ain't the sad part. When I was nineteen, I needed six grand to pay these guys off I was in trouble with. So I found a pretty lady with a dumb husband who had some money. And I got them to give it to me. How's that for a tragedy? I became the man I was hunting. I became Sawyer."
The angry bitterness in his tone did nothing to stop the tears from forming in my eyes as I listened to him speak. I couldn't imagine what that must have been like for him. To go through all of that a child and carry it with you for life really was a tragedy.
"Don't you feel sorry for me," the letter was ripped from my hands by him and my watery eyes looked up to meet his hard ones. "Get the hell out. Get out!"
With a shaky breath, I did what I was told and left his shelter. I wiped a fallen tear as I made my way to my own, sitting down on the warm sand as I soon as I got to it. Sawyer had spent his entire life hunting a man that ruined his family – his life. He had an excuse for becoming the messed up person he was. That was a tragedy. My own messed up problems seemed childish in comparison.
I spent the next few days in the caves a lot of the time, avoiding the sun and Sawyer – or, whatever his name actually was. It wasn't that I was scared of him, or pitied him (maybe a little)... it was mainly the fact that I didn't know what to say to him. His mood swings were incredible. He went from asking me to kiss him to screaming in my face. Some Sawyer-free time could only do me good.
So, when Hurley approached me about wanting to make a golf course, I couldn't exactly say no. If anything, I had to actually stop myself from jumping up and down.
"I've got to be honest here, I don't know much about golf." I told him as walked into the clearing he'd said would be perfect for it. I really wasn't sure if it was, but it was beautiful. As much as I hated this island, I couldn't ignore its perfection at times.
"That's alright, it's pretty easy to learn." He shrugged, setting the golf caddy he'd found on the ground.
"I'm also not a big sports fan." I threw a grin his way. He shook his head with a laugh.
"Just help me dig some holes in the ground and I'll handle everything else."
So I did. I actually took my time digging those holes, much to Hurley's annoyance. But it was nice to have a purpose doing something again, rather than cleaning clothes or helping to hand out food – or breaking up a fight or two.
While I didn't know anything about playing golf, I thought Hurley was a genius for doing this. Everyone on this island was bored. Rescue definitely wasn't coming for us and tensions were only getting higher. We may have found water and Locke might be an excellent hunter, but there really wasn't much to do to get spirits high around this place.
It only took a couple of hours for us to be finished and once Hurley gave me the thumbs up, I set off to tell everyone. I found Charlie after telling a few others about a surprise waiting for them and he told me he'd tell others too.
"Boone!" I shouted once I caught sight of him. His eyes met mine and a smile graced his lips. It was a better greeting than I got from some others.
"You okay?" He asked me once I reached him, my breath a little frantic from rushing around.
"You know how everything's really boring and gloomy here and no one really knows what to do with themselves?" I asked, determined that this will be my last speech of the day.
"Uh – yeah?" One of his dark eyebrows raised.
"Great news!" I realised then that I'd been sounding like an infomercial to everyone. I'd have to work on that in the future. "Hurley and I built a golf course. Well, technically he did basically everything but I was there!"
"A golf course?" A shocked laugh left his lips and I nodded enthusiastically. "Why?"
"Because of this," I pointed a finger at his curved lips and he let out another laugh. "Everything's boring! We deserve fun. Charlie said he'd tell Jack so they're probably already up there."
"Right, I want to see this. Let's tell Shannon and go."
We set off to find Shannon who was never that hard to find. You just had to look for the pretty blonde that was always sunbathing or complaining.
"You're never going to believe this," Boone said once we reached her. She threw a glance at him, not expecting to be impressed by whatever he was going to say.
"You finally learned how to tie your own shoes?" Shannon sneered, which resulted in a laugh from me. His eyes narrowed at her and he gave me a side glace, almost looking embarrassed. Oops.
"Funny," he deadpanned. "Someone at the caves built a golf course."
"Hurley," I quickly corrected, though it fell on deaf ears while Shannon laughed.
"Are you high?" She asked.
"Seriously, a golf course. Apparently, Jack's playing with them right now."
"Jack?" Kate's voice would've made me jump, but I knew whenever Jack was mentioned, she appeared like a dog looking for a bone. It would be cute if it wasn't my brother. "Is golfing?"
"Yep." I glanced over at her and wished that I hadn't. Sawyer was only a few feet away, sat on the ground with his bright blue eyes staring straight at me. I would have gulped if my mouth didn't immediately go dry.
"I don't know about you guys, but we're going to go check this out." He started walking away, giving me a gentle nudge with his shoulder as he passed. I shook off Sawyer's soul sucking vibes and let myself follow him with a smile.
"Wait for me, bonehead." Shannon called behind us.
It didn't take us long to reach the golf course, and I could see that a few people had come to play. Hurley gave me a wave when he caught sight of me and I returned it with a grin. There were no faces riddled with doom and gloom around us. It was a nice change. Even while I watched with absolutely no knowledge of the sport, I felt better than I did sitting around moping.
"When are you gonna take a swing then?" Boone raised an eyebrow at me. We'd been watching for a while now, stood together in the crowd.
"Oh dear, I hope you haven't been waiting for that to happen. You'll only see that in your dreams." I told him with a serious tone, though I couldn't help my smile at the end. "Or if I was drunk."
"That would be interesting." He snorted.
"Guys, please." Charlie begged, wanting people to stop laughing after he ripped some grass out of his way. "I've never made par on a course before."
We all watched with baited breath while he took his shot and I winced at him missing.
" Dude, you were robbed!" Hurley shouted.
"Bollocks. See that?" Charlie muttered, walking away with a shake of his head.
"Okay, Jack. It's up to you." Michael said to my brother. "Sink this, you get to wear the blazer."
"No pressure." Kate smiled.
"Yeah, no pressure." Charlie agreed.
"5 bucks says he sinks it." Hurley bets.
"Hey, you're betting against me?" Charlie asked, shocked.
"Sorry, dude, but you're a duffer like me." Hurley shrugged in response.
" Make it 10 and you're on." Boone said from beside me and I looked at him with a grin.
"I've got two tubes of sunscreen and a flashlight says he chokes." My heart stopped once I heard Sawyer come towards us. Everyone else stared at him with me, though I think they were just surprised to see him being sociable.
"I'll take that action." Kate said and I could've jumped at the break in silence.
"Yeah, me too." Boone agreed with her with a nod.
" You just bet on Jack, dumb-ass." Shannon rolled her eyes.
" We need the sunscreen, Princess." He retorted with a sneer.
Everyone's eyes left Sawyer once Jack went to take his shot, but my own were too stubborn and stayed locked on the man. I couldn't help but notice that he stood close to Kate and she even smiled at him. I knew they spoke from time to time, but smiling at him wasn't something people usually did. I forced my eyes back to the game and berated my mind for even thinking about them.
What did I care? The man could spend time with whoever he wanted to. And it didn't seem like that was me.
A bit of a filler chapter but it got me over my writers block, so hey ho.
Let me know if you have any ideas for this story, I'm open to hearing them!