Chapter 1: Lost in the Memories
Their eyes widened as they watched Claire emerge from the bushes. She was badly beaten. The clothes she wore were torn, bruises and cut marks covered her legs and arms, her hair hung loosely and it looked as though someone had been tugging on it. Her left eye was swollen, and her upper lip was bleeding. Locke and Boone knew that they had to get her back to camp so Jack could make sure she was OK. After all Claire was expected to have her baby any day now, and by the looks of her, the baby could have been affected.
The three weaved through the jungle until they finally reached the caves.
"Jack, Claire needs your help," Locke said exhausted from carrying the pregnant woman through the jungle.
"Claire what happened?" Jack asked. Claire just stood staring blankly at the fire's gleaming flames. She was speechless, and hadn't said a single word since Locke and Boone found her.
Automatically, Jack switched into doctor mode, dressing and cleaning Claire's wounds, asking her questions, and telling her that everything was going to be alright. Oddly enough, none of Claire's pain seems to be focused towards the baby; however, she does tell Jack that the stress from the attack triggered a false labor. Ethan, her attacker, watched her suffer during the contractions and made no attempt to help her, but why should he?
"You should rest," Jack states to the half dazed Claire, "you've been through a lot."
Claire nodded in agreement. The last week had been a living hell for her and it would feel great to shut her eyes knowing that she was safely back at the camp. Taking a nearby blanket, she made a make-shift pillow to rest her head. She shut her tired eyes and Jack laid a blanket over her injured body.
He walked away from the camp and on to the beach where the sun could be seen just over the horizon and the numerous campfires were ablaze. His hazel eyes searched the beach until they finally locked on Charlie and Kate sitting talking to Shannon.
"Hey..." Jack said casually.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Kate asked. Something in his tone seemed strange.
"Boone and Locke found Claire in the jungle, she's been badly beaten."
Charlie jumped to his feet. "Where is she?" he anxiously inquired.
"Charlie, she's resting. I'd let her sleep until tomorrow. She's had it rough..."
Reluctantly, Charlie plopped back into the sand. You could see the disappointment in his eyes. He cared for Claire and had wanted to see her for seven days now, but at least he knew he didn't have to worry anymore. She was going to be protected, there was no way the lunatic Ethan would ever get close to her again, but if he did Charlie would be ready.
"Well I guess I better get back to the caves," Jack stated, more to Kate than to Charlie.
"Okay, I'll see you in the morning," she replied. Her eyes sunk as she watched his figure slowly disappear into the bushes. Part of her wanted to chase after him and join him in the caves, and yet something was holding her back.
Charlie was the first one up at sunrise. He sprung to his feet and darted off into the caves. Claire was facing towards him still sleeping. Charlie hated Ethan for abusing her, but still her face looked pretty to him. She sensed his presence and slowly lifted her eyelids.
"Charlie, is that you?" she asked in a raspy voice.
He smiled and came to her side. "Claire I was so worried about you!" Her weak body struggled to move, but he helped her sit upright.
She looked into his eyes. "I think I'm alright now," she said smiling for the first time this week.
Charlie returned her smile, "I'm glad."
Meanwhile in the jungle, Sayid was startled by the sudden rustling of tree branches. The outline of the skinny blonde, Shannon, came into view and he relaxed.
"Did Boone see you leave?" Sayid questioned. Shannon and Sayid had been meeting behind her brother's back even since he told Sayid to stay away from her.
"No, I don't think so."
Sayid placed the maps, with the strange French woman's translations, on the soft dirt ground. Shannon knew some French and had been helping him with the translations. They had no idea what the map was showing, but they knew it was important. Shannon smoothed out her skirt and sat down next to Sayid. She was flirtatious and often fell for older men……and once again she failed to listen to Boone.
She looked over the French writing and couldn't make sense of most of it. She didn't want to decode the writing; she just wanted to be near him. He listened to her read the language and loved how beautiful the words sounded when they came from her mouth. He took her hand in his and gazed into her eyes.
"Sayid," she said, "I don't think we should do this anymore."
Back in the caves, Charlie, Jack, and Claire were sitting by the waterfall drinking water. Jack wondered why Ethan attacked them in the first place.
"I don't know, the guy was out of his mind," Charlie replied.
"Do you remember anything?" Jack asked.
"Yeah…..I do..." Charlie's mind went whirling back to the day of the attack. He started to tell the story from the beginning.
Charlie yelled at Ethan. "Go get Jack! Claire's going to have her baby!" They were in the jungle, and the tension put on Claire by the horrible nightmares had generated a false labor. Claire had stormed out of the caves after Jack suggested that she should take a mild sedative. Charlie chased after her, and they got lost in the never-ending trees.
After about a half an hour, Jack hadn't arrived yet, but Claire was feeling well enough to walk back to camp. On the way, they ran into Ethan. Claire's eyes grew wide with fear and Charlie wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him. Charlie couldn't remember much after forward, except that he and Claire had been knocked unconscious. He remembered that Ethan, a woman, and two other men were dragging them back to their camp. He tried to get away, but the woman had hit him on the head sending him to "La La" land yet again. Then in what seemed like minutes, he was on the ground staring up at Jack and Kate, gasping for breath.
"What about you Claire? Do you remember anything?" Jack questioned.
Claire shook her head. "No," she looked at Charlie and continued, "all I remember was waking up and running through the jungle towards the beach. That's when I ran into Boone and Locke."
Charlie gazed back at Claire. "I still can't figure out why Ethan would take you, it seems strange." Claire shrugged her shoulders; she too was asking herself the same question.
"Well I guess I'll leave the two of you alone," Jack said and walked back out to the beach.
Shannon and Sayid came out of the jungle and quickly found Locke and Boone sitting in the shade of a tree, having a small argument over something. They stopped fighting when they saw Shannon approaching them. Whatever it was they were talking about, they kept to themselves. What were they trying to hide from her?
"We finished translating the French woman's writing. It seems that the coordinates form a triangle with an X or something in the middle. Obviously it's important, we just don't know what it is right now," Shannon stated to the guys.
"Well I guess we're going to find out," Locke said. The idea of another adventure into the jungle, to solve one of the island's many mysteries, lit his face with excitement. Boone, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about the idea.
"I don't know," he stated in a melancholy tone, "maybe whatever's out there doesn't want to be found."
"Oh come on Boone, don't be such a lame ass," Shannon said in disgust. She was tired of the way her brother always prevented her from doing anything that could possibly be dangerous.
In the end Boone had given in to Shannon's temptations and the four decided that they would leave the following morning before anyone else woke up and asked where they were going.
Boone grabbed Sayid's chocolate colored arm and pulled him aside. Boone looked frustrated, and by the looks of it, he seemed like he was about to boil over any second now.
"Listen, I don't know how many times I have to tell you," Boone declared almost yelling in Sayid's face. "Just stay away from my sister; she doesn't need a guy like you in her life right now."
Sayid tore away from Boone and walked towards Locke who had started up a game of Backgammon with Hurley.
Jack joined Kate on the beach's warm sand yet again. The two of them watched the sky's baby blue and pink swirl together as the sun went down over the calm and steady ocean waves.
"It's so beautiful," Kate said to Jack. He turned his head and locked onto her eyes. The sun's luminous glow lit up her face, making her appear more gorgeous than he could possibly imagine.
She hung her head and covered her eyes, breaking into a soft whimper. "Jack," she started, "I have to tell you something." She slowly lifted her head and fastened her gaze on his hazel eyes.
Jack had no idea what she was going to say, but by the look of her tear-filled eyes, she was going to reveal something extremely valuable.