Chapter 16 to a LOST Love
Alex heard a crashing in the brush somewhere behind her and to her right. She turned her head to hear better and knew it was a person coming behind her. Thank God for this new-and-improved hearing of hers, otherwise she'd be in serious trouble.
"Hey Jack," Kate said pointedly for Alex. "What's up? God, you look awful."
"Thanks, Kate, nice to see you too," Jack said sarcastically. Jack looked thoroughly exhausted, like he hadn't slept all night. He still hadn't finished his shave from yesterday so he had half of a beard coming on and he had dark circles under his eyes. He'd been thinking hard, Kate could tell.
"Hey Jack, you finish your shave yesterday?" Alex asked.
Jack reached up and rubbed his hand under his chin. "Damn!" he said. "I must have forgotten…huh, and I was up all night and I couldn't even remember to finish my shave! Great, I bet I really do look awful."
"Why were you up all night, Jack? Was it Vincent? He kept me awake too with all of his barking and face licking," Michael asked.
"No, no, it wasn't Vincent. I was thinking about Alex, actually," Jack said, turning to face Alex. "I paced around for hours, recalling all of my medical research, trying to figure out what the hell could have happened to you, without hitting your head, no genetic diseases, and no bad food. Then I remembered, really, really early this morning, reading about this powder found somewhere in, like, Africa or South America or something."
"What does it do?" Claire asked.
"Anyways," Jack continued, "it's taken from a certain tree and native people would use it on their weapons to make them even more deadly. It doesn't kill right away; it drags it out for three or four days. I don't remember any of the symptoms except the blindness and dizziness part. I'm thinking that Alex might have inhaled or swallowed that poison inadvertently and that's what caused the blindness." Jack paused.
"I…I don't remember taking any poison, Jack. I mean all I had yesterday was some fruit in the morning and water the night before. That's all I ate yesterday considering I had just gone blind and was a little freaked out!" Alex said, making a point.
"No, no, I'm not saying you took poison for the hell of it, I'm just saying that maybe you brushed up against some tree and the powder came off on you and you inhaled it. It's that deadly, Alex," Jack said.
"Woah, woah, woah, doc, so you're saying that we could brush up against some tree, get that shit on us, and die?" Sawyer stood up. "We shouldn't even go in the forest then, for Christ's sake! Why didn't you tell us about this before? We could all have died!" Sawyer said angrily.
"Sawyer, I don't even know if that powder is the true cause of her blindness! I just remembered something that could have caused it, that's all! It might not even grow here, the tree the poison comes from. So just chill, okay?" Jack said, upset too.
"Hey, hey, easy guys, calm down. It's not that big of a deal. Who knows, maybe I did get this poison on me, maybe I didn't. I guess we'll find out soon enough, won't we?" Alex said, exasperated with the boys. She looked at Kate and shook her head, saying, "Honestly!" Kate smiled in agreement.
Alex heard Jack turn in the sand and crunch through the leaves and bushes, taking his leave of the group. Suddenly, Alex felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped, startled.
Sayid laughed. "Hey, sorry about that; didn't mean to scare you."
Alex calmed down and grabbed his hand with her own. "Good morning to you, too, Sayid. Sleep okay?"
"For the most part…I was surprised to find you gone this morning; you didn't wake me up so I panicked," Sayid explained.
"I smelled breakfast. I figured you'd want to sleep, so I let you. Have some of Sun's rabbit, it is amazing, Sayid," Alex said.
"You two were…together…last night?" Charlie said, smiling wickedly.
"Yes, if it makes any difference to you, and no, nothing happened last night! Don't you even think about it, Charlie, or I swear to God, I'll…" Alex didn't get to finish her sentence because Sayid interrupted with, "Nothing happened, Charlie. That's all there is to be said. Now drop it." He gave Charlie a mock-anger glare and Charlie returned his look with one raised eyebrow and another wicked smile.
Alex leaned back and sighed with content. "I'm stuffed. Thanks Sun," she said. She stood up and stretched. "I think I'm gonna go take a walk along the beach. Anybody want to come with me?"
Sayid instantly said, "I will, Alex. Thank you Sun, that was delicious." Sun beamed with pride and took his empty bark piece from him. She put some more of the fish and fruit on there, and held it up, offering it to anyone. Sawyer stood up to take it and he sat down. Kate, moving lightning fast, snatched a piece of fish and popped it in her mouth, grinning the whole time, before Sawyer could say, "Hey!"
Sayid came over and took Alex's hand and they started walking down the beach together. They waved goodbye to the others and some waved back.
"Do you think that's a good idea, letting Alex take a walk?" Kate asked, nervously, after they'd walked a ways. "I mean, what if she falls or hurts herself…after all, she can't see."
"Well, Freckles, that's what Sayid's there for, to catch her if she falls. You worry too much, Freckles," Sawyer said, grinning. He gently pushed her shoulder in a friendly way, and Kate pushed him right back, laughing. Not expecting it, Sawyer fell over sideways on the sand, nearly dropping his "plate" of food.
Sayid and Alex walked along the beach, hand in hand. Sayid told jokes to make Alex laugh and she told interesting stories of her past. She only faltered twice when her foot suddenly sank into a sand pit, but Sayid was right there to pull her out.
Alex would cough a few times, nothing serious, but then Sayid noticed her coughing get deeper and it seemed to come deep within her. Then they would pass and Alex would be perfectly fine. Sayid was worried but didn't say anything.
They had been walking on the beach for about 2 hours and enjoying every minute of it. Sayid told Alex a joke:
"Moses, Jesus, and an old guy go golfing. Moses tee's off and hits a ball into the lake. He says, "It's okay, it's okay," and he parts the waters. He hits the ball again and gets a hole in 2. Jesus tee's off and he hits a ball into the lake. He says, "It's okay, it's okay," and he walks across the waters. He hits the ball again and gets a hole in 2. Then the old guy tee's off. The ball flies into a rabbit's mouth and just as the ball went in, an eagle swoops down, picks up the rabbit, and flies off. As they pass over the hole, the rabbit spits out the ball and the old guy gets a hole in 1. Moses turns to Jesus and says, "I hate it when your Dad plays."
Alex laughed hard and shook from laughing so hard. Suddenly, her laughing turned into spasmodic coughing; deep, resonating coughing. She coughed so hard, she suddenly fell onto her knees. Holding herself up with her hands, Alex coughed and coughed. She coughed so hard, she spat out blood.
Sayid bent down and held her steady as she coughed. "Alex, Alex, are you alright?" he asked worried. Finally, she stopped coughing and rolled over on her back, breathing heavily. Sayid touched her face with both hands and asked, "Alex, are you alright? You coughed up blood…" Sayid felt her face with his hands. "You are very warm, Alex. Are you feeling alright? You look very sick…we should go back to Jack."
"Jack…yes…" Alex managed to get out, before another spasm of coughing racked her thin body. Sayid helped her sit up to cough. She put her hands to her mouth to cover it and when she pulled them away…blood. Blood was running down her hand, quite a lot of it. "Oh, Sayid…" Alex started to say. "I…I can feel…"
"Blood?" Sayid asked. "Yes, you are coughing up blood. You are very sick, Alex, we must get you back to Jack, alright? Come on, I'll help you." Sayid put her left arm around his neck and hoisted her up. She stumbled but managed to stay upright.
They walked back to the beach, which took them even longer because Alex would have to stop moving, her coughing was so bad. Each time she coughed, more blood would spill from her open mouth. She was likely to bleed to death, so much blood kept coming up. They finally reached the caves by mid-afternoon and when Sayid helped her to sit on the hospital bed, Alex collapsed on the bed, thoroughly exhausted from coughing.
Sayid knelt beside her and took her hand in his. It was freezing…
"Sayid…" Alex said.
"Yes? What is it?" Sayid asked quickly.
"Find…Jack. The more blood I cough up…" Here, she was interrupted with a spasm of coughing. She pulled her hand away, covered in blood.She continued, "…the weaker I get. Find Jack."
Sayid was reluctant to let her go. He still clung to her hand with dear life. "I don't want to leave you, Alex…" he said.
"Please, Sayid…" Again she stopped for a coughing fit. "Please, Sayid, find Jack. I need him. He can help me…please, Sayid."
Slowly, unwillingly, Sayid let go of her hand and stood up. She placed her newly freed hand over her eyes and the other hand on her stomach. She was burning up inside and her chest felt like it was going to collapse if she coughed again.
Sayid walked out of the cave slowly, and then thinking to himself, What am I doing!, he broke into a sprint. He called out loudly, "Jack! Jack! Jack, where are you! JACK!" Receiving no answer, Sayid sprinted down to the beach. After nearly tripping on a fallen branch, Sayid entered the beach and saw that Sawyer and Kate were snuggling on the sand. They both looked up surprised at Sayid and quickly broke away from each other.
"What is it, Sayid? What's wrong?" Kate asked, her face slightly red from embarrassment.
"Where's Jack? It's Alex…she's coughing up so much blood. Have you seen Jack?" Sayid asked hurriedly.
"She's coughing up blood!" Kate fairly shrieked. "Why didn't you say so? I'll help you look for Jack. Come on, Sawyer!"
Sawyer practically flew off the sand as he jumped up to help. Sayid turned away from Kate and, putting his hands around his mouth, he called out, "Jack! JACK!" Kate and Sawyer joined in the calling, jogging behind Sayid as they did. Sayid entered the forest, hoping to find Jack somewhere in there.
Suddenly, Kate grabbed Sayid before he could call out Jack's name again, and said quickly, "The waterfall! He might be there!" Without another word, Kate took off in the general direction of the waterfall, with Sayid and Sawyer in hot pursuit.
Will they find Jack in time? Who knows?
A Bleeding Rose