"Look, John." said Boone. "We'll never get it open. Why even try"
"Why even try." Locke repeated. "Why even try? I have never, ever given up in my life. And I am NOT about to start now. You can turn around and go, but I'm not going to do that"
Boone held up his hands. "All right, all right. I'm sorry. But what the hell is in this thing?" "Don't know." said Locke. "Do you have any ideas"
"Not a clue." said Boone.
Back at camp, the others were just waking up.
Claire hugged her knees and looked at the person across the way from her. Emily. Sad, sad story.
Claire hugged her knees tighter, as tight as possible with her big, round stomach. It was raining slightly. Not the type of day anyone wanted to spend on a deserted island.
Inside her, the baby kicked.
"Hey," Claire whispered to her stomach. "Be nice"
Despite the weather, Claire got up to get some water. Once she came back, the others were up.
Emily was sitting alone against the same tree she's leaned on last night. She had her eyes closed, but she wasn't asleep.
"Hi," said Claire. "I'm Claire"
Emily opened her eyes. "I"m Emily. But I guess you already knew that." said the girl.
"Yes, I did." said Claire. She sat down beside Emily. "What are you doing?"
Emily leaned her head against the tree. "Thinking"
"Oh," said Claire. "I've been doing a whole lot of that lately, too. Been one hell of a ride for all of us. Our lives won't ever be the same"
Emily nodded.
"Can I ask you something?" said Claire.
"Shoot." said Emily.
"Why did you lie about your name?"
Emily sighed and opened her eyes again. "My mother's name was Emily too," she explained. "It's sad when I think about it. Dad didn't like my name. We were in the process of changing it to Lucy when he died. Lucy was what he wanted to name me. It was his mother's name."
"What do you prefer?" asked Claire. "Emily or Lucy"
Emily leaned back once more and fingered the locket around her next. "Emily." she said. "I miss my mother"
Claire didn't quite know what to say. "I'm very sorry," she said. Claire looked at Emily's necklace. "What's in your locket"
"My mom," said Emily. "Day before she died she gave me this and said to never lose it." Emily looked at Claire. "Somehow, I think she knew her time was up. Weird how things turn out, huh"
"Yes," said Claire. She pointed to her stomach. "I'm in love with someone, but I'm holding someone elses' baby"
Emily looked at her. "You mean you don't love Charlie? I thought you did! He's such a nice fellow, Claire, how could you"
"No, no," said Claire, laughing slightly. She bit her lip a bit, but she figured this kid was old enough.
"I'm thirteen years old, Claire." said Emily, realizing this. "I know where babies come from"
Claire laughed a little bit. "My lousy ex-boyfriend left me when he found out I was pregnant. I met Charlie on the plane"
"Do you love him?" asked Emily.
Claire smiled. "Yes, I do."
Kate looked around the beach. A gentle breeze passed through. The waves crashed on the beach.
"Hey, Freckles."
Kate rolled her eyes. Sawyer approached her.
"What's going on with you"
Kate turned around. "Nothing, Sawyer"
"You look upset"
"Wonder why," said Kate sarcastically.
"I'm not that annoying," said Sawyer. "I just wanna talk"
"About what?" said Kate.
Sawyer put up his hands. "All right, you got me." he sat down in the sand.
Kate sat down, too. "Can I ask you something"
"What"
"Why'd you cry"
Sawyer looked at her. "I don't know what you're talking about"
"You know what I'm talking about, Sawyer." said Kate. "Is there some big secret in your past you've never told me"
Sawyer paused for a minute. Then he said, "Yeah"
"Feel like telling me now"
"You're not gonna let me go otherwise, are you?" he smiled, then he looked straight ahead at the waves. "I was a foster kid when I was her age, too"
"Really"
"Yeah," Sawyer said. "My old man didn't want me"
"Really?" said Kate in some surprise.
"Yeah, so..." Sawyer just trailed off.
"That's all?" said Kate.
Sawyer looked at her. He almost wanted to tell her the truth. But instead he said, "Yep, that's all."
"So what's wrong with me?" asked Emily.
"I don't know yet," said Jack. He pulled one of her eyelids down. "Have you had any medical problems in the past"
Emily shook her head, but she pulled her face away from Jack.
Jack pulled it back. "Emily," he said. "I'm trying to help you. Have you ever had any medical problems"
Emily mumbled something.
"I can't hear you, could you speak up"
"Bulimia, Jack." she said.
"What"
"You heard me, I was bulimic. When you can't control a bloody thing in your life, the only thing left is your weight. All right"
Jack was a little stunned. He almost wanted to cry. Poor kid.
"Emily, do you know how dangerous eating disorders are?" he said. "Bulimia does permanent damage to a person's stomach and esophagus"
"Yeah, I know that now." she said. "I threw up everything I ate for almost two years. And now I keep throwing up at weird times"
"You don't force yourself to throw up anymore now, do you?" asked Jack.
"No." said Emily.
"Did you ever throw up blood"
"No." said Emily.
Jack wasn't almost crying now. He was trying to hide it, but he couldn't. "And do you promise me," he said between intakes of breath. "that you will never, ever do it again"
"Yes," said Emily. "I didn't know it would get me this sick"
"You promise me?" said Jack. There were only two things in the world Jack hated with all his heart and soul- one was seeing people die and knowing that he could have helped them, and one was seeing kids suffer. He'd always wanted to be a parent, and he couldn't stand it when kids were sick.
"I promise!" said Emily. "Yes, Jack, I promise!"
Jack gripped her shoulder. "Okay."
"So can I go or what?" asked Emily, who was always very impatient.
"Well," said Jack. "Either your bulimia is taking over and it's already damaged your stomach, or you have a stomach virus. You're sure you haven't thrown up blood"
"No, Jack"
"When's the last time you forced yourself to vomit"
Emily thought. "Oh, two months ago." she said. "My dad had just died a few days before"
"Have you thrown up periodically since then, without forcing it"
"Yes. A few times. Once the day before I was leaving to go to LA, and once on the plane"
"On the plane"
"Yeah, but I didn't hurl all that much. I thought it was motion sickness. So I didn't think much of it. And the time before that I thought I was sick. Oh, and yesterday, with Charlie in the woods"
"That's all"
"Yes." said Emily.
Jack looked at her one last time. "All right, you can go. Remember what I said, though. And you have to eat, too"
"I know, Jack." she called as she left.
Emily walked onto the beach. Oh, great. Now Jack was going to be watching her like a hawk.
She should have lied. But at least now she knew what was wrong with her.
Emily put her backpack down and waded into the water. She liked living on the island better than any foster home she'd ever been in. At least these people cared about her. She hadn't seen that since her mother. Her father had always been at work. And Annie was just plain mean.
Yes, this was paradise. Or close to it. Compared to anything Emily had ever seen before, this was paradise.
