Chapter 33
The thing about Lost... you have to go back to go forward. Let me know what you think.
12 days earlier...
"Kate, you seen Walt? We were looking at the stars..."
"He went with Mike and Jack for fire wood... a while ago actually..."
"That's what I thought... where do you think they've got to, it's getting dark."
Kate looked at Rose, seeing the nervousness on her face. "I'll grab Sayid and we'll have a look for them." She turned, walking further down the beach. But Sayid wasn't there. "Hurley, you seen Sayid?"
"He went looking for food. Why...?
"Nothing. Just... Jack, Mike and Walt went looking for fire wood... they haven't come back. I was going to ask Sayid to help me look for them..."
"I'll come. But I'm sure they're all fine."
They walked into the trees. Hurley was talking about something that Kate wasn't listening to. She was worried. She needed to find them. She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice they had come to a small clearing in the trees. Until she fell.
"Kate! Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I fell over..." She looked to her left, while lying on the ground, seeing a sleeping bag. "What is this... so far in the trees?"
"I don't..." But Kate wasn't listening, she put her hand in the sleeping bag, pulling out a piece of paper. Sawyer's letter.
"Sawyer..."
"What?"
"This... this is Sawyer's stuff. Where... where is he?"
"Does it matter?"
"Of course it matters. This is his stuff. He wouldn't leave it. Where... where is he... Sawyer!?" Hurley jumped at her shout.
"Kate... come on. What are you doing?" But he was ignored.
"Sawyer! It's Kate... Sawyer!" She looked around, "Where is he?"
"Who knows. We're looking for Sayid. And Jack, and Walt and Mike."
"But he should be..."
"We need to look for them. Sawyer'll be fine."
4 days later...
"Any luck?"
"No. They've been gone four days Rose. Four. They went for fire wood... and they're gone. And Sayid... and Sawyer." Kate saw Rose roll her eyes, as they always did, "He's missing Rose. He is. He would have come back by now. He wouldn't just leave like that..."
"Yes... he would. After what happened..."
"He didn't mean it..."
"They never do. Besides... you were the one who told him to leave..."
"But he would've come back... he wouldn't've just left..."
"Yes... he would..."
5 days later...
"Leave that alone!" Kate ran up from the water, focussing on the group of people ransacking Sawyer's tent. "Leave his stuff alone..."
"He left. It's fair game."
"No, it isn't," she grabbed the sleeping bag that had been thrown to the side. She had put it back in – letter tucked inside – after finding it in the trees. "And he didn't leave... something happened to him. But you all just don't care." She stormed off, folding the sleeping bag as she went.
"Kate..." John jogged up behind her, "They were just..."
"I don't care John. I don't. Jack, Mike and Walt are gone. Sayid... is gone. Sawyer... he's gone. The only difference is that no one cares about him. No one. They all think he left... but he wouldn't..." She looked into the trees, "Something happened to him, just like the others. But no one cares."
"What makes you so sure?"
"I just know he wouldn't leave like that."
"But you told him to."
3 days later...
The siren was going off again. Kate was sitting by herself at the table. She didn't want to talk to anyone. The siren stopped, John had obviously pressed the button. But she didn't care. Rose and Hurley were in the storage cupboard. But she didn't care. There was a storm coming, everyone had left the beach and were in the caves. Kate sat at the table, all she could think about was the way she had talked to Sawyer the last time she saw him. It wasn't that she didn't care about Jack, Mike, Walt and Sayid, but everyone was worried about them. Sawyer had no one.
"After the storm, we will get back out to look for them. The four of them have been missing for twelve days..."
"Five." Hurley stopped talking when Kate spoke. He and Rose looked at her.
"Kate, Sawyer isn't missing. He left."
"Keep telling yourself that. I'm going out to look for them. ALL of them." She stood up to leave, tying up her hair as she went.
"Kate stop. A storm is coming..."
"Kate come back..." But she was gone.
She started walking through the trees, seeing the sky becoming dark. She wanted as much distance between herself and everyone else as possible. She heard someone behind her.
"Kate! Stop, it's about to rain!"
"Leave me alone Hurley."
"Kate! Stop... a storm it coming... you need to stop!"
"They're here! We have to find them!"
She turned around, they were face to face. She began to say something else, when the silence around them was shattered.
"Kate! Kate! We're here!"
She whipped around towards the sound, trying to see where it had come from. She couldn't see him, but she knew who it was.
"Jack?!"
