Chapter One: A Nightmare
Claire... he took her away... she's hurt... he's hurt her!
"Charlie!" her voice cried.
Claire?
"Charlie, wake up, you're having a nightmare!" the voice called.
Claire! Where are you? Where are you? Where...
"Charlie!"
Charlie opened his eyes. Kate's perfectly pretty face hovered over him. Not Claire. "Wha–What?" he muttered blearily. Kate looked worried, but gave him a wan smile.
"You were having a nightmare, Charlie. You were tossing and turning a lot. Are you alright?" Kate asked, kneeling beside him. Charlie rubbed his eyes and yawned.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay now. I guess I'm just stressed out or something," he replied, sitting up. Kate nodded.
"I know this thing with Claire has been... difficult for you. But it'll pass. We'll find her, Charlie," Kate reassured him.
"I hope so."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Where is everybody? Am I the last to wake up this morning?" Charlie asked.
Kate seemed to be preoccupied with staring at the walls of the cave, as though lost in thought, but she replied slowly, "Yes. Everyone's up."
Charlie nodded. "Working?"
"Yeah, I guess," she answered foggily, still staring.
"Do they need my help?"
Kate didn't seem to hear him.
Charlie frowned and tried again. "Kate?"
She blinked furiously and snapped back to reality. "No, Charlie. You just rest. We're hunting today. And getting firewood. You don't have to help."
"Okay, if you're sure..." Charlie's voice trailed off. Kate stood up, as though struck by a sudden sense of undeniable purpose. "See you later," she called, jogging out of the cave and into the dense, green mass that Charlie's muddled, tired mind defined as 'jungle'.
He looked around. He was utterly alone. No one else was left in the caves. Standing up, Charlie rubbed his back, his face screwed up with pain. Aching, he was always aching nowadays. Probably has something to do with sleeping on hard stone, getting attacked by wild animals, including delusional plane-crash survivors, and maybe even has something to do with the fact that it's like four-hundred-and-eighteen degrees in the shade here.
Sighing, he wondered what he ought to do. If they didn't need his help, then what is there to do on an uncharted, supposedly uninhabited island. Well, his internal advisor told him, you could explore the jungle.
Sure, he replied to himself, that sounds fine. Charlie stretched and walked slowly toward the waiting wilderness. His heart beat fiercely, an anxious tattoo within his chest. His breath came in sharp, rapid bursts, as though he were undergoing some kind of asthmatic attack. He ought to know. He'd seen it for himself: Shannon gasping and choking, rocking back and forth, the tears of frustrated panic coursing down her flawless cheeks.
Yes, quite a bit like an asthma attack, this is. Except that he wasn't crying or panicking. The jungle waited expectantly, it seemed, like it had been watching and hoping for him to come along for a while. Something was different. He could sense it. Yes, even a former druggie's senses were competent enough to perceive the eerie air that lay thick upon the jungle before Charlie. An adventure, that's what's waiting there. He needed an adventure. Something to take his mind off of Claire. Off of the thick, dark burden of worry that lay heavily upon his haggard shoulders.
Charlie disappeared into the trees. As he stepped into the jungle, he felt a sense of walking through an entryway, of entering a new chapter, a new odyssey that lie ahead.
Chapter Two: The Jungle Within