Wow! You guys put me over 100 reviews. I've never had that happen before… Truthfully, I've never had the patience to stick with a story this long. No worries though, I love writing this… So, thanks you guys!
Chapter Thirteen: At the End of All Things"So, explain to me how someone falls thirty feet and walks away with nothing but a headache."
"I don't know."
"It just seems a little strange to me. I mean, you remember when Jin died, right? That guy just slipped on a rock, fell a few feet and bled to death."
Nadia clenched her jaw and continued walking. Josh trotted behind her with a questioning look on his face.
"It just doesn't make sense to me. So, you say I actually fell off the cliff?"
"Yes."
"And then you ran down there and I woke up?"
"Yes."
"And nothing else happened?"
"Like what Josh?"
"I don't know. Like some kind of golden mist or heavenly music."
Nadia raised her eyes and turned around, "Huh?"
Josh shrugged, "I dunno. Hurley told me it happens in movies sometimes."
"Well, that's not what happened."
"Well then, what…"
"I don't know! I don't know what happened. I can't explain it. I've already told you everything I know, everything I saw. So stop asking me!" Nadia turned on her heels and began walking again. Josh clamped his mouth shut and followed her.
They continued to walk for several hours and Nadia tried not to think over the events of the past day and night. She tried not to think about what had happened out there at the bottom of the cliff even though her mind kept replaying the events over and over in her head. She tried to think about something else, anything else.
Her mom and dad had to be worried about her. She had never been gone this long before. The more she thought about it the more her heart ached to be back home. It was a feeling she had never felt before because, well… she had never actually been away from home.
And where were the other boys? Where were Adam and James? What was that light in the forest all about? How did Josh just suddenly come back to life?
Dammit. She cursed herself silently for coming back to it again…
"We must be close to home by now."
Nadia shook herself out of her thought and looked around. Josh was right. They were close. She could hear the faint sound of waves crashing on the shore. Her mind began to relax as she thought of being back home.
And then…
No. This wasn't right. She stopped and let Josh pass her, staring at something. He turned around.
"What?"
Nadia pointed, "Hurley's basketball court. Something's wrong."
Josh looked over toward the small clearing in the forest where Hurley had laid bamboo and leaves to form a hard surface. He had tied the hoop, made from vines, to a high tree branch.
However, the hoop was no longer tied to the branch. It was lying, broken, on the ground. A tree root had emerged in the center of the court splintering the bamboo and tree limbs had almost completely overtaken the area.
Nadia looked at the ruins of the basketball court in confusion, "What do you think happened?" She looked around when no one answered her. Josh had taken off running towards the beach. Letting out a sigh, she turned and followed him.
"Josh, what are you… Oh… my… God."
She and Josh stared in shock at their surroundings, at the home that they knew… or rather, the home that they had once known.
There was an eerie silence even with the sound of the waves in the background. The usual noise, the laughter, the talking… it was all gone. Not a single person remained on the beach. Burnt remains of the huts were scattered around the sand amidst odds and ends, tattered clothes, shoes and tarps.
Nadia felt goose bumps rise on her arms and her heart began to race. Josh ran toward the remains of his hut and began searching through the rubble. Suddenly he stood up with something wooden in his hands. He looked at it for a moment and then looked back at Nadia.
It was part of Charlie's guitar. The guitar that he had strived to keep in working condition for twenty years. The guitar that he had lured all the children to sleep with. He never would have let something happen to it. He never would have just left all of this behind. No one would have.
"Hey Nadia?"
"Yeah…"
"I think something really bad happened."
Perhaps it was the simplicity of the statement. Or the innocence of the words. Or the wide-eyed expression coming from the fifteen year old in front of her. Whatever it was made the tears in Nadia's eyes start rolling down her cheeks. She brought her hand to her mouth and tried to abate the sobs that started to rack her body. Josh just continued to watch her, the broken guitar held loosely in his hands.
Without warning she turned and ran back into the woods as fast as her feet could carry her. From the sounds of snapping twigs behind her she could tell that Josh was following her. But she didn't stop. She didn't know exactly where she was going… all she knew was that she had to get away from that place. She had to find her parents. She had to fix whatever it was that had gone terribly wrong.
Her foot caught on the root of a tree and she went flying forward, landing in a heap in the dirt and leaves. She groaned and turned over so that she was lying on her back. Josh's face appeared over her a moment later.
"You okay?"
She nodded, "Sure."
"Anything broken?
She shook her head and pulled herself into a sitting position. Josh let out a breath of air, "I didn't know you could run that fast."
Nadia tried to laugh but the sound caught in her throat when she realized where she had stopped. It was a large clearing, close to the caves.
The cemetery.
From where she sat she couldn't see the crude crosses that marked the graves. She didn't want to see them. But she found herself getting up anyway. Her legs shook as she tried to stand and Josh gave her his hand to help. Her heart continued to race as if she already knew what she was about to see.
Josh turned and looked with her and they held onto each other when their eyes confirmed what they already seemed to know.
The last time Nadia had been there with her mother there had been about twenty-five graves scattered around the clearing.
There were more now.
A lot more.
They took a tentative step forward and Nadia took a deep breath as she tried to read the markings on the first grave through the tears streaming down her cheeks.
Jack.
Just one simple name and Nadia feel to her knees. She looked at the grave next to his.
Kate.
Josh walked further down the row of graves. Michael… Walt… Hurley… Shannon…He gasped,"Oh God."
He turned his head sharply back towards Nadia and she looked back at him. The tears had stopped and now she stared at him with a determined expression on her face. Getting to her feet she walked toward him… each step an eternity. Josh grabbed her hand when she reached him and she looked down at the four crosses he stood in front of. One significantly smaller than the other three.
Shannon… Sayid… Joseph…Nadia.
Nadia clenched her fist and swallowed hard. She turned away, unable to stand looking at her family, lying there under the dirt.
"I don't understand. I don't… I'm not dead. They're not dead. They can't be!"
And then she screamed, pointing her finger in the direction of a figure lying next to one of the graves at the edge of the clearing. Josh looked, feeling his heart begin to race. He pulled away from Nadia and walked toward the figure.
It was a skeleton. The skull stared up at him through empty eye sockets. Josh took a shuddering breath and turned to look at the grave it was lying next to.
Claire.
He couldn't even speak. He turned away from that empty skull. His entire body shook with the understanding that was beginning to pass through his body. It couldn't be… It couldn't be true. It was all a sick joke… it was a dream… it was…
"It's my dad."
He could hear Nadia behind him as she read the names on the other graves.
"There's yours."
She kneeled down next to him, running her fingers across the cross than bore the name Adam.
Josh shook his head furiously, unable to tear his eyes away from the remains of his father. "No… No!" He bit down hard on his thumb, trying to assuage the pain, his other hand nervously curling into a fist. There had to be some kind of explanation. Something. Anything.
He suddenly noticed for the first time a piece of wood by his father's side. He reached for it and read the words etched on it. He passed it to Nadia and she read it out loud.
"We were the survivors of Flight 815. At the end of all things."
Josh and Nadia looked at each other. And then both began to cry.
A Few Hours Later"Where are we supposed to go?"
"I don't know."
"What are we supposed to do!"
"I don't know Josh! I don't know! Stop asking me. I don't have any of the answers."
"So we just keep walking through the jungle?"
"What else do we do Josh! I wasn't about to sit in the cemetery and stare at my grave forever."
Josh shrugged his shoulders, "Why not? What the hell else are we going to do?"
"Look. Something weird has happened. I don't know what or how. But none of this is right. Our parents were alive yesterday. They still have to be alive… somewhere."
"Yeah, well maybe yesterday wasn't yesterday."
"What?"
"Maybe we were passed out for longer than we thought. Maybe we disappeared for years and years."
"That doesn't explain why our graves are in that cemetery."
Josh shrugged, "We never came back. They thought we were all dead."
Nadia bit her lip and looked up toward the sky, "If that's true…they must have been so worried. I don't know… how did this happen?"
"Well, I guess it's up to us to figure that out."
Nadia looked at him, "Yeah? You think we can?"
"Look, there's a lot of stuff our parents tried to keep us from. We've never even been around the whole island. Maybe we'll find something. Who knows? Maybe Adam and Hunter and them are out there trying to figure this thing out."
Nadia's eyes brightened slightly, "I hadn't thought about that. You're right. We should find them"
"Then let's do it."
A few hours later
" Where are we supposed to sleep?"
" You're worried about where we're going to sleep?"
"Well, it will be dark soon. It's probably something that we should start thinking about. I mean, I know we can find food and everything. But where are we supposed to sleep?"
Nadia looked around and threw her hands in the air, "I don't know. Maybe we'll find something."
Josh sighed, "We've been walking for what? Five hours? We have yet to find a single thing except… oh look, more trees!"
Nadia glared at him and then turned and continued walking, "I'm glad to see your wit has returned to you."
Josh placed his hand on his heart and nodded emphatically, "Oh, me too. I thought that maybe in my near death experience I had lost my greatest power."
Nadia rolled her eyes. Then she thought of something and bit her lip as she considered telling Josh about what had actually happened at the bottom of the cliff.
"Hey Josh, there's something…"
"Whoa, what is that?"
Nadia looked through the clearing of trees where he pointed. She squinted and tried to place the object before her.
"It's a… ummm…"
Suddenly Josh gasped and raced forward, "I know what that is! It's a plane!"
Nadia walked with uncertain steps towards to remains of the small, yellow passenger plane, "So, that's what a plane looks like?"
"You think it's our parents plane?" Josh circled the wreck looking at it in fascination.
"No, you idiot. Our parents plane was a lot bigger than that."
Josh made a face at her, "Well then, what is this plane from?"
Nadia shrugged and bent to pick something up out of the grass, "What is this?"
" Beats me. There's a lot more of it though."
Nadia wrinkled her nose at the baggie of white powder in her hand, "Why would a plane be carrying white powder?"
Josh didn't answer her as he attempted to crawl through the small opening in the side of the plane.
"What are you doing? Be careful."
"There could be something… Ewwww!"
Nadia ran forward and poked her head into the plane, "What? What is it?"
Josh heaved a sigh and pointed toward the skull in front of him, "More dead bodies."
"You know, I think I've seen enough of those lately."
Josh stepped over the skull and looked towards the instrument panel, "Cool." He began fiddling with the buttons and knobs.
" Do you even know what you're doing?"
"No." He picked up the handset and held it to his mouth, "Hello? Anybody there? Over…. Roger that."
Nadia rolled her eyes, "What the hell are you doing? That thing doesn't even work."
"But it's cool." Josh looked at the radio wistfully, "Too bad it doesn't work. We might be able to get a hold of somebody." He ran his hands over the instrument panel.
Bleep.
Nadia looked up, "What was that?"
Josh looked at the panel strangely, "It sounded like…"
Bleep.
"It was!" Josh looked at the instrument panel excitedly, "It's working!"
Nadia's eyes widened as she stared at the blinking lights on the panel.
And then suddenly the air was filled with soft buzzing. Josh jumped and stared at the handset, "It's making noise."
And then suddenly a voice came over the radio.
"Hello. Hello. Anybody out there? Mayday, mayday."
Josh's hand shook as he tried to remember what Sayid had taught him about radios. Nadia watched him with wide eyes as he tried shouting into the handset. Nothing happened. Then Nadia remembered, "Push that button on the side there, while you talk."
Josh nodded excitedly and pushed the bottom, "Is anybody there?" He waited for a moment and then…
""Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?"
Nadia clasped her hands together at the sound of a voice she had never heard before.
Josh grinned at her and spoke into the receiver again, "Repeat your transmission please."
"Hello. We're survivors of the crash of Oceanic flight 815, please copy."
The smile fell off of Nadia's face and Josh looked up at her in shock. He shook his head, "No. We're the survivors of Oceanic flight 815."
He waited for a moment but there was nothing. The voice did not come back on the line and the soft buzzing was all that could be heard.
Nadia and Josh both jumped as the control panel blinked a couple times and then went out with a descending groan.
"No! No! No!" Josh hit the panel as hard as he could and Nadia flinched behind him. She watched as his shoulders sagged. He turned to her and they locked eyes.
She shook her head, "I guess we're not alone after all."
Author's Note: I'm going to apologize in advance since it may be a little while before I get the next chapter up. I'm graduating in three weeks (Whoo Hoo! ) and things are a little bit crazy right now. There are probably about ten chapters left. My goal is to try and finish this thing before the season finale (here's hoping). Anyway, thank you so much for reading and reviewing. The next update will come as soon as humanly possible.
