"Sayid?" a female voice from behind him said.
"Kate, I've made up my mind, so—" Sayid broke off when he turned around and saw that it wasn't Kate who had spoken. It was a young woman that he only barely recognized. "Who are you?"
"I'm Madison. Maddy. I—I want to come with you," the young woman.
Sayid gave Maddy the once over. She was wearing long cargo pants, hiking boots, a cargo vest over a t-shirt and had a backpack slung over her shoulders. She certainly was dressed right, but that didn't mean she could come with him.
"No. Go back to the camp," Sayid said.
"Please, Sayid, please. I can't go back to the camp. It frightens me and I'm useless there. You're the only person I trust," Maddy said.
"You trust me? Why? You don't know me. Have we ever spoken?" Sayid said. He was mystified by this girl.
Maddy dropped her eyes, embarrassed by what she was about to say. "I've seen you. I've heard the things you've said. I don't think I've spoken to anyone since the crash and nobody has befriended me. I've heard what everyone else said and I'm frightened of the way they're thinking. They're not being sensible. Their thinking only goes as far as their next meal. You're the only person with a longer perspective. I can't stay with them. Please, let me come with you."
"No. Go back. Talk to Kate. She's level-headed. You are not being clear about what you're afraid of, but whatever it is, I'm sure she will protect you."
"Please," Maddy said, beginning to get desperate. "I'll do anything." She dropped to her knees in front of Sayid and reached for him. "Please."
Sayid stared at Maddy. "Get up and go back to the camp," he said in a hard voice.
"You don't understand!" Maddy yelled. "I used to be Shannon! I could still be Shannon! I'm not afraid of them, I'm afraid of me! If I stay with them, I will become like her again, spoiled and lazy. I need to go with you. I could be useful to you."
"Why couldn't you be useful in the camp? There is always work that needs to be done," Sayid said.
Maddy shook her head. "I'm not fit to do the physical labor that the men are. I can't haul water or chop wood. So what would you have me do, laundry? It's not that I'm too good for it, but it would break my spirit. I need to figure out who I am and doing laundry would not help."
"That's selfish," Sayid said. "We're stranded on a deserted island, not in a Buddhist retreat. You need to put your feelings aside. If laundry is what is needed to be done, you should be willing to pitch in and help. Maybe you do need some humbling before you can find your true self."
Maddy's eyes widened. "You don't know anything about me. Humbling. What do you know about being humble?"
"Maybe nothing. But you sound more like Shannon than perhaps you realize."
"Don't say that!" Maddy launched herself at Sayid intending to punch him, but he easily caught her wrists.
"You are behaving like a child," he said coldly. "Things are not going your way so you are having a temper tantrum. Go back and do laundry."
"No, if you don't let me come with you, I'll probably just stay here. Wander around by myself. Sort of like what you're doing," Maddy said.
"You can't take of yourself," Sayid said, caring despite himself. He didn't want her to do anything foolish.
"I was a Girl Scout. I can do it," she insisted.
Maddy didn't get up only sat back on her heels. She reached into one of the pockets in her vest, pulled something out, and held it up so Sayid could see it, but didn't give it to him. "This is the only other thing I have to offer. And if you refuse this, then maybe I was wrong in my assessment of you."
In Maddy's hand was a compass. Sayid stared at it. She was right—a compass would be extremely useful. But he couldn't allow her to come with him. He didn't want to have to look after her, and besides, he wanted the time to be alone and think—the very thing that he decried as selfish in Maddy. But it was different for him. He'd tortured someone; he couldn't imagine that was something Maddy had ever done.
Maybe he could get her to part with the compass and not come with him.
"Where did you find that?" he asked.
"It's mine," Maddy said. "I didn't find it anywhere. I always take a compass with me when I travel. Not that I ever needed it before. I mean, when I was in Sydney I had no trouble getting around. It's not like I was in the bush or anything. But I've carried it with me for years. It's like I was planning for this happening some day. And I'm not parting with it. Where it goes, I go."
Sayid looked down at Maddy, his lips tightening. He wanted that compass and it didn't look like he'd be able to persuade her to part with it—she was clearly being irrational about, well, everything. He didn't understand why she was frightened of the camp, but he did understand that this was a talisman for her.
It was funny, he noted, how she was dressed and ready for a trek, but she'd left her long blond hair loose instead of tying it up in a practical manner. It flew around her face in the breeze, making her seem even younger than he thought she was, making her seem vulnerable. She must have done that deliberately, Sayid thought, to arouse my sympathy. Maddy was clearly smart and calculating. She didn't seem shy or frightened. Suddenly he was suspicious of her.
But he still wanted the compass.
"All right, you can come with me," Sayid started.
A huge, relieved grin spread over Maddy's face. "Thank you," she said.
"Don't thank me yet. I have a test for you. I want you to go back to the beach and talk to Kate about your fears, then turn around and find me. I will keep on walking. If you can find me and relay to me what Kate said—and I believe me, I will know if what you are saying is real or made up—then you can come with me. If you cannot find me within two days, you must turn around and go back to the beach. Do we have a deal?" Sayid said.
He figured this would play out one of three ways—one, Kate would convince Maddy to stay on the beach, and while he wouldn't have the compass, he wouldn't have this girl with him either; two, she would look for him but would not be able to find him, which would have the same effect; or three, she would find him, and it would prove that at least she had some ability to take care of herself, and he would have the compass.
Maddy put the compass back in her pocket. Now her mouth was beginning to set into a hard line. "What's to stop me from simply following you?"
Sayid laughed. This was a poor strategy on her part, telling him that. "You have to sleep sometime. I will slip away from you in the night and you will not find me. You do not want to try to trick me. If you want to come with me you must earn my respect. So far you have done nothing to accomplish that."
Maddy stared out into the jungle for a moment, then stood up. "Yes, I understand that now. All right, I'll turn back now. But I will see you again in a few days. Count on it. Shake?"
She held out her hand, and Sayid took it. He noted that she had a firm handshake. It proved nothing, but did point to Maddy's having a reserve of strength.
"Good luck," Sayid said.
"You too," Maddy said, her smile returning and this time it was impish. "I'll see you later."
She turned and headed back in the direction of the beach. Sayid watched her with a furrowed brow. He didn't know quite what to think of Maddy, and he didn't know if she would return. He also was beginning to be confused as to whether he wanted her to return or not.