Author's Note:
Hello, oh readers! This is chapter four of Fires. Before you read it, I am going to thank my reviewers for chapter three.

Charlie'sPunkDrugAngel

Jillybean

Evermore

CharlieLOVER

Esmarelda Gamgee

Read on! Enjoy.

Fires

Chapter Four: Whispers

Jack looked around him. The sun had set a few hours ago, about the same time he had started looking for Charlie. He had wanted to apologize for spilling on the drug problem, but apologizing to someone is a lot harder when you can't find the person you want to apologize to.

Jack raised his voice so everyone could hear him. "Has anyone seen Charlie?" he asked. The people around him exchanged questioning glances before responding.

"No, not recently…" or "I haven't seen him all day…" or "Now that you mention it, no…"

Jack sighed. "I think he's missing."

"Of course he is," Boone spoke up. "I know Charlie started that fire, and he knew we were on to him. So he left." There were murmurs of agreement.

"You selfish bastard," someone spat. "You just want other people's attention. Charlie didn't start those fires." Claire glared at Boone with hate in her eyes, and Boone glared right back.

"I think Claire is right about Charlie," Locke broke in. "But whether he set those fires or not doesn't matter right now. He's missing, and we have to find him. However, it's definitely not safe to run around in the woods while it's dark, so we'll have to wait until morning."

"What are you talking about?" Claire interrupted. "We have to find him now! Who knows what danger he might be in!"

"Locke's right," Kate stated. "Even if we travel in groups, it would be too dangerous. We'll look for him as soon as it's light, if he hasn't already returned."

-

Charlie was lost and scared. He wished to no end that he had run back to camp instead of away from it. He could have put up with people hating him. Suddenly, he froze. He heard rustling all around him. His heart throbbing in his chest, he took off, zigzagging through the trees, hoping to loose whatever was stalking him.

-

12-year old Charlie hurried to keep up with his brother, 17-year-old Liam. They were weaving around couples and families gathering in the lobby of their church after the mass.

"Liam," Charlie said, trying desperately to get his attention. "Mum and Dad told us to stay over there!" He motioned with his head toward a bench along the wall.

"Just follow me," Liam said dismissively. He proceeded to sneak back into the sanctuary. Once inside, he moved quickly toward the confession booth, where he opened the door.

"What are you doing?"

"Shut up, Charlie. Look!"

"Bloody hell…" Charlie looked at the contraption Liam had assembled inside the confession booth. There was a string tied across the bottom that led up to the top and was attached to a piece of cardboard hanging from the roof. Sitting on the piece of cardboard, were three round water-balloons.

"See, the water balloons on the cardboard are attached to the string. When someone comes to confess, they trip the string and get soaked!"

"You are gonna get in soooooo much trouble for this," Charlie stated, staring in awe at the display before him.

"No one's gonna know I did it," Liam explained, a look of pure confidence on his face. He reached forward and shut the booth door.

"Liam, you're the only one in this church with the guts to do something like this! Everyone's gonna know you did it!" Liam grabbed Charlie's jacket and pulled him off to the side.

"Shhhhh! Someone's coming!" Charlie put his head in his hands.

-

The next morning, as everyone was getting ready to look for Charlie, Sawyer strolled into the caves, scanning the area for Jack. He didn't have to look much farther though, because the doctor and his girl were coming toward him anyway.

"What do you want, Sawyer?" Kate asked harshly.

"Easy, Freckles. I came to tell you something."

"Get it over with."

"There was another fire at the beach." Sawyer's glare darkened. "In my stuff!"

"Another one!" Jack sighed and looked around anxiously. "Did you see anyone, hear anything?"

"No. I just woke up and everything was on fire. That's all there was to it." Jack glanced over at Kate and she nodded her head slightly. Charlie was gone, and another fire had been lit. He could put two and two together.

-

Charlie heard rustling again, this time to his right. Naturally, he turned left to begin running again, when he saw that the path was directly in front of him. Sighing in relief, he dashed off toward the caves.

-

The review button is calling... Thank you for reading. Chapter five will be up shortly.

- Setszuki

In the next chapter of 'Fires':

"Damn," said a deep voice, obviously male. Charlie saw an occasional spark coming from where he suspected the figure's hand was. A small flame appeared, illuminating the man's face.