'Lost In Thought'
Chapter 3: Death Reunion
Danielle Rousseau and John Locke were facing each other, both with a gun in their hands. Lucas, unaware of the commotion inside, had run up to the doorway of the bone-filled cabin just when a shot had been fired. The bullet hit its target.
Approximately 30 years before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, a woman named Stephanie had given birth. The newborn baby boy, Lucas, was sent to an orphanage shortly after he had been brought into the world. He could not be cared for by his mother or his father, John Locke, who never found out he even existed. After being adopted when he was 5, he went to school, graduated, and found his place at Harvard. Here, he met his long time friends George and Felix, with whom he also shared his career with. After traveling to Australia with the two buddies and finding love on the trip, he had abandoned his feelings and boarded the plane that would crash onto a seemingly deserted island.
When Lucas was 15 years old, his birth mother died from cancer. Before dying, Stephanie made a desperate attempt to find her son, but it failed. She spent her last days in a hospital bed, alone. The Mindletons, the family in which Lucas had been adopted into, consisted of a Mr. and Mrs. Mindleton, who could not have a baby for reasons unknown. After adopting Luke, they became a real, true family. Years later, after their son had already moved out, they grew old together and never adopted or raised another child again. Lucas would be their one and only baby.
Alyssa, the woman who Lucas fell in love with in Australia, had married a wealthy businessman. They lived, not happily, but approvingly. The husband would work to pay the bills and the wife would stay at home to keep things orderly. Until the day she died, Alyssa kept the note Luke had written to her. She had never forgotten about him, and she never would. The note would serve as a reminder, but it didn't have to be. Lucas had never left her mind.
Lucas' eyes widened, just as they had on the day he was born. He watched in awe and disbelief as blood gushed freely from the open wound where John Locke had been shot.
Locke had been hit on his right side, just between his shoulder and chest. He fell from where he stood, clutching his wound with the cloth of his shirt. The bones on the cabin floor beneath him crunched and broke, as if they were crying out in pain.
Danielle Rousseau, the French lady, stood above Locke, her shotgun still in her hands. She trembled, subconsciously unaware of what she had just done. Lucas didn't know whether she had planned on making two executions that day or not, so he started to run back to camp on the beach.
"HELP," he screamed, mostly on Locke's behalf, but partly for his own life also.
Eventually, he passed by the stuck-up blonde, tanning on the beach like usual. The name 'Sharon' came to mind.
"Somebody, help!" he yelled, ignoring the blonde who only stared at him as he ran for the cave.
As Lucas neared the entrance to the cave, he saw a group of people coming out to see what all the commotion was about. Among this group was the Iraqi man, the English rock star, the large 'dude,' the doctor, and the beautiful fugitive.
"What's going on?" the doctor asked in response to the cries of help.
"It's Locke, we were out there and she came and then the bang and the cabin and all those bones…" Luke was nervously talking obsessively, not making much sense to the people in front of him.
"Calm down, take it easy, and explain what happened out there." Again, it was the doctor who spoke. Jack, maybe?
"He took me out there to the cabin, but there's no time! Locke has been shot!"
At Luke's mention of this, the small crowd went silent for a moment. Kate, the fugitive, gasped and put a hand to her mouth.
"Dude, that sucks." It was Hurley, the rather large guy, who broke the silence.
"Where is he now?" asked the Iraqi man hurriedly, referring to Locke. What was his name? Luke didn't have time to think about that right now, though.
"I'll show you! Quickly, follow me!" Before they went anywhere, however, the doctor spoke for the third time.
Jack turned to Charlie, the DriveSHAFT guy, and told him to bring Sun over. Her herbal remedies may be useful, he thought.
As Charlie ran along to find the Korean woman, Jack went back inside the cave to get the medicine he may need to use on Locke. As he was rummaging through his bags and carts, Kate walked in looking quite distraught and very stern.
"I'm coming with you," she said, a statement rather than a question.
"Kate," Jack began, not looking up from his bags. "There's nothing you can do. It would be better for you to stay here." He decided against adding 'You're just going to get in the way.'
"If what that man says is true, Locke's life is in danger! He's going to need all the help he can get!" she said angrily.
Finally, Jack looked up at her. He paused, started to say something, and finally, albeit reluctantly, he said, "Fine, but be ready when Charlie and Sun get here."
As if on cue, Charlie arrived with Sun closely following behind. In her hands she was holding many types of leaves, seeds, and plants which she must have had to scoop up in a hurry.
"Okay," Jack started after finishing his medicine gathering. "Let's go follow that guy. Hopefully it's not too late."
After Charlie, Sun, Jack, Kate, and Sayid left the beach and followed Luke into the jungle, they all began to wonder how much longer it would take to reach their destination. Charlie was following behind the group, not really aware of why he was going. In front of him was Sayid, who kept up with Sun and Kate. For what seemed to be the first time, Jack was not leading the group. He was right behind Lucas, who was trying his hardest to remember the location of the cabin.
BOOM! Without warning, they all heard a huge explosion very close by. They saw a large cloud of dust in the near distance and heard the clink clink clink of things falling to the ground.
"Let's go!" yelled Jack, who ran in front of Luke and toward the noise. The rest followed behind. Finally, they reached the clearing which led to where the cabin was standing (or more precisely, where it had been standing before it had been blown to bits.)
Pieces of the oak wood were scattered everywhere. Along with the wood were all the bones, also in pieces. Next to the cabin, lying open-eyed and almost breathless, was John Locke. The French lady had vanished.
"Bloody hell!" stated Charlie. "What's happened here?"
Jack, however, immediately rushed to Locke's side. He pulled off the small pack on his back, which held all the medicinal supplies he could fit. Sun followed, carrying along the various herbal remedies she brought.
The doctor ripped open Locke's shirt. There, on the right side of his chest, was the gaping bullet wound. Jack was all business. He started to take out what looked to be large metal tweezer-like pliers, feeling for a pulse at the same time.
"Thank God," he thought aloud. "He's alive."
After peering at the wreckage all around him, which was no doubt caused by the whacko who is Danielle Rousseau, Lucas scurried over to where Locke, Sun, and Jack were gathered together. The doctor was busy inspecting the gash and stopping the steady blood flow, while his beautiful assistant was forming a type of relaxant from the leaves she carried. When the herbal medication was finished, Sun gently opened Locke's mouth and placed the concoction inside. His rasping breaths had slowly become more normal and relaxed, and soon it seemed as if he were sleeping.
Jack, who had finished staring at the wound and temporarily stopped the flow of the blood, grabbed the tool that would be used for removing the bullet. Very gently, he inserted it in and expertly dodged everything in the path to the bullet. He pushed the two ends together, and there was a soft cling as the bullet was grabbed. Jack slowly retracted it with the same expertise he used to grab it. Sun was trying her best to stop the blood that had wanted to flow again..
"We must hurry because his state of unconsciousness will not last long," said the very nervous Korean woman.
Lucas suddenly noticed that the rest of the people who had come along with them were standing behind him anxiously. Knowing that there was nothing left to do, Jack fumbled through his bag once more and took out the needle and thread. Coincidentally, this was the same thread that had been used on him when he had first met Kate. After disinfecting the wound, Jack carefully put the string through Locke's skin and began the process of sewing the injury up.
It was Charlie who broke the silence. "Uh, guys, I'm just gonna take a stroll over…" He continued with what could only be described as the suppression of vomit. He did as he said and left…very quickly.
The wound had been sealed, and Locke was slowly coming to his senses. Jack was smiling.
Before sitting with the others, Kate asked, "Is he going to be okay?"
"I hope so. It seems very possible right now," Jack replied..
The situation was very good indeed. The bullet had missed all major arteries, been removed without a hitch, and the gash was sewn up very nicely. It was looking very good for John Locke.
"I think you're going to be okay," Jack was telling him. "Everything is going very well."
Locke, who was still lying on the ground amidst the ruin of the cabin, looked up at Jack. "No," he replied casually, his voice strangled and slightly hoarse. "The island wants me gone. The island always gets what it wants, Jack."
A chill crept up Jack's spine. "As a doctor, John, I'm telling you that you should be…"
"Fine, yes. A man of science will never change his ways."
Throughout the whole conversation, Luke had still stood near Locke. He was looking, listening, wondering. Charlie hadn't returned after he left during the sewing stage. The others, all but Sun and Jack, had sat in a group near the far left side of the cabin, and were discussing matters unknown to Lucas. Occasionally, they would come over and see how Locke was doing.
Locke spoke up again, after Jack's silence. "Let me talk to Luke. I need to tell him something."
Jack looked a little surprised, but nodded and joined the others. Sun followed closely behind. Now, it was just Locke and Lucas together. Luke knelt down to talk more closely with Locke.
"I don't want you to think it was your fault," Locke stated. "Because of what happened to me."
Luke nodded solemnly, if not awkwardly. He did, in fact, consider this conversation to be very awkward. What was he supposed to say to that?
"I want you to take these, too." Locke ruffled through the inside of his shirt and after a few minutes, produced many yellowed and old parchments. They were the papers he had taken from the cabin, before Danielle Rousseau arrived at the log house and started some commotion. Locke handed them to Lucas. Lucas looked at them questioningly.
"Why would you give these to me?" he asked Locke.
"I'm not going to be around much longer. It's my time to go."
"But Jack said…"
"It doesn't matter what that doctor said!" Locke said, fuming. "The island wants me gone!"
Luke couldn't help but think that Locke was becoming as crazy as the French chick. How could he know that he was going to die? After all, Jack said he would get better and heal quickly. What was there to worry about? How would the island have anything to do with it? What would make Locke think the island was going t-…?
Rhaaaaaaaa-Whooooooooooooooo. The noise was deafening, a mix between siren and foghorn. It was a noise they knew all too well: The Security System.
Jack was the first to respond to this new crisis, as was expected.
"Sayid! Take the group back to camp, quickly! GO!" he yelled, as he got up and ran toward Locke and Lucas.
"Thank you," Locke said to Lucas, before Jack got there. "For everything." He smiled, with a mysterious gleam in his eyes.
Jack came sprinting over. "Help me get him up," he told Luke. They succeeded in getting him to hold on to their shoulders.
"Just go!" Locke screamed to them. "Leave me here, otherwise we'll all be dead!"
As he spoke, the thing behind them was getting closer and trees were being uprooted as it went. They were fighting a losing battle, and they all knew it.
"Can't you walk and keep up?" Jack asked Locke, as they planted him on his feet. He crumpled and fell, unable to walk. Immediately, Locke realized something was wrong. He knew the worst had happened: He was paralyzed once again.
Both Lucas and Jack didn't know what to say or do, and the trees were being destroyed faster and faster. Jack hated to do it, and he knew he would regret it, but he did something no one would ever believe he would do. He picked Locke up and deposited him close to the trees and turned to leave him alone, with the thing steadily approaching him.
"I'm coming back for you! I won't let you go! YOU CAN'T DIE!" Jack screamed, on the verge of crying.
"Don't tell me what I can't do," Locke said with a smirk, as Jack and Luke turned and left him alone. There was the clink clink clink and clank clank clank of something coming from the creature or machine. In less than a second, a large metal chain shot out from nowhere and attached itself to Locke's helpless body. It retracted with another set of clinks, and disappeared in a cloud of large black smoke. It took Locke with it.
Later that night, back at the beach when everyone was safe, Luke sat by the small fire that was burning. He was all alone, which was no surprise to him or anyone else. Eventually, he took out the papers he had hastily shoved in his pockets. He was tempted to throw them in the fire, but decided against it at the last moment. Without so much as a glance at them, he threw them back into his pocket.
After the danger of the Security System was over, Jack had returned to the place where he had left Locke. He had found nothing and no one there, of course. He came back, feeling every bit guilty.
He informed the other survivors of what had happened. Kate broke out in a fit of tears.
"Oh Jack," she said through her sobbing. "What are we going to do?"
In his last moments, before being swept up by the thing in the jungle, John Locke knew the absolute truth. About Luke. About Jack, Kate, Sun, Hurley, Sawyer, Michael, and all the other survivors. About himself. About the island.
Almost everyone was mourning that night.
Perhaps if Luke had known that he had just lost his real father, he would have mourned too.
To Be Continued…