Hullo.
Here's chapter 3... 3 chapters and 2 reviews? Doesn't quite add up does it? Please R&R!
Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
After Jack, Kate and Charlie departed off to commence 'Operation Find Cockpit', the rest of the survivors had situated off into their own little groups. Some headed towards the luggage to see if they could retrieve any other personal belongings or just help new found friends look for their bags.
At the current moment in time, Lori was sitting in the sand; much like the others; and huddling her knees while keeping a stern eye on the horizon to await these rescue boats that everyone was pretty sure were coming. Despite the fact they'd crashed, the island now seemed pretty peaceful not the place of screams of terror it was the previous day. Sure there was still plane fuselage but some survivors had moved a little bit down the coast of the beach so they weren't confronted with half the plane in their vision.
Lori sighed; knowing now would probably be a good time to see if she could find her bag and change or something. She didn't know why she'd put it off this long, maybe the fact that her Mother's was going to be there too? Her heart tightened, she'd forgotten about that bag. Now her Mother was stranded at the airport, either drunk or hung-over with no bag. She rubbed the sweat from her forehead, again rubbing away those thoughts. She was thousands of miles away from her Mother; it wasn't like she was going to jump out the jungle.
Lori carefully looked round just to make sure.
She got to her feet and frowned, wondering how it had got so dark… Oh, she soon found the source as the sky started to blacken and without any other warning, rain lashed down quick as a flash. Survivors ran across the beach to find nearest shelter, Lori obviously being near the trees retreated back into them, looking up at the sky before turning her attention to the others trying to shelter.
Half of dozen had headed to a part of the fuselage, another survivor ran forward but the Korean man seemed to wave him off. He got the message and ran past Michael who was shielding Walt from the downpour with a way too large raincoat.
Shannon and Boone had been heading to the main pain of the fuselage when Hurley started to yell at them; "I'm telling you, you don't wanna go in there! Too many bodies!"
After hearing that they retreated over beside Lori's sheltering spot, and Boone tried to start awkward conversation.
"It's wet".
"Uh, yeah… It is", Lori shrugged, pushing herself further back into the trees as water dripped down through the leaves.
"How old are you anyway, Lori?" Shannon cut in, rolling her eye's at Boone's lame skills at conversation.
"16", she replied. Already getting sick of this conversation, it had happened about 3 times today and always went in the same direction.
"Your parents were on the plane?"
"No, was meant to meet my Dad at the airport", she shrugged, squinting through the rain. "Think we're a bit late".
"Just a bit", Shannon allowed herself a slight smile, the trio not noticing the trees far up in the jungle starting to sway again…
After the rain subdued, Lori headed with Boone to the luggage splay while Shannon went the other direction muttering about something to do.
More survivors had gathered, and were rummaging through the luggage to find what belonged to the deceased. For some of the survivors luggage had been lost out in the ocean and they'd had to 'borrow' some clothes. Lori looked carefully through the luggage, and after a short while spotted her holdall and her Mother's trolley case. Retrieving both, she lugged them off to the side and clicked open her Mother's case. It had alcohol in it and lots of it. To be honest she had more of the alcohol than clothes. Typical of her… Lori threw out a few blouses and trousers to give to whoever needed them and shut the case, hoping no-one would ask for it. She didn't need them finding out she'd ditched her Mother at the airport…
Lori zipped open her case, grabbed some fresh clothes and asked Boone to make sure no-one rummaged through her stuff when she went to get changed. He agreed, eyeing Shannon from a distance who was sunbathing of all things. He'd gone over to her a few moments before but he'd come back in a slight huff.
Eyeing some secluded trees, Lori headed up that way and quickly got changed; not wanting to stay in the jungle for too long after the noises that had erupted from it the previous night.
"No, don't do this", caught Lori's hearing and curiosity over took her. She walked forward towards the sound as the conversation got louder. "You listen to me, I mean what I say. You understand that?" A pause. "What's this?"
"I just found 'em", she recognised Walt's voice and frowned. What could he have found?
Hearing them retreat back to the beach, Lori soon followed and went back to her cases, deciding to just to throw the bloodied ones into her Mother's case. They went back to sorting, not really speaking very much. A new man came to stand over Lori, but she didn't care to look up.
"Hi there", he stated, obviously wanting her attention. She turned round and stood up, faced with an old looking sort of man that she remembered had sat in the rain earlier, quite enjoying it too. "I'm John Locke, call me Locke though".
"Lori", she nodded; what did he want?
"I was wondering if I could speak with you… Can we take a walk?"
Hundreds of scenarios flashed in Lori's mind at that suggestion. He could just kill her in the jungle and no-one would see her again… She shrugged… He looked nice enough; surely he just wanted company or something?
"Uh, sure, I guess. Boone, can you?"
"Yeah, I'll watch them for you, go ahead", he smiled, before going back through broken cases trying to find his own.
Locke made a line straight to where the tide was coming in, washing up in the shore. He took his shoes off quickly, and let the water wash round his feet, like it was a completely new sensation.
"So, uh, what did you want to talk about?"
"You're alone, aren't you?"
"Yeah…"
"There was no-one on the plane with you".
"Uh-huh, I'm meeting my Dad at the airport", the lie was getting easier everytime she said it. "Well, I was meant too".
"Lori, I saw your Mother check in at the airport too. With you, she had luggage, which you've got over there".
Lori froze at that, what? How did he… Why did he… What?
"I think you're mistaken, Locke", she tried to keep the nervousness out of her voice. God, why did she sound so guilty? She hadn't done anything that wrong! It was a mistake, a simple and easy mistake…
"No, I remember quite clearly that she checked in. What happened to her? Was she on the plane?"
"…No", Lori shuffled her feet.
"Then, where is she?"
"Look, I don't have to tell you this!" She retaliated, then covering her mouth in shock. She hadn't snapped at someone like that before, ever. "I'm sorry, Locke. I'm so sorry, I just-"
"No, you're perfectly right, you don't have to tell me. But, I thought since you'd been looking guilty and nervous ever since we arrived here, it might be nice to get it off your chest".
Lori frowned, kicking at the sand. Sawyer knew what happened… But he hadn't really spoken to her since last night. Fair enough she thought, so he retrieved her ticket and looked out for her on the plane; well, so had Jack but it didn't mean they had a life long friendship.
"Lori?"
She slumped down in the sand, a little further up from the incoming tide and Locke stepped back too and joined her.
"It was her own fault", she muttered. "She drank too much and passed out at the airport".
"Why didn't you stay with her?"
"It wasn't out in the terminal, it was in the under construction bit-"
"What were you doing in there?"
Lori hesitated at this part. She'd never actually come to say it out loud to anyone, not even her friends… They just thought she was very badly clumsy…
Locke saw the girl's discomfort and decided to enquire what he thought, "Is it something to do with those bruises?"
She nodded numbly, still scared to admit it. "She… We were in the terminal, and she went into the bathroom. I waited for her but she was taking ages… So, I went inside and called for her… She was drunk already and pulled me into the cubicle, bashed my head against the wall and gave me a nose bleed…" Lori looked out to the ocean and continued with the rest of the story, telling of her encounter with Sawyer and the taking of her Mother's passport and ticket.
"So, you're not lying when you say you had no-one on the plane with you".
"Unless she magically managed to sneak on and then keep herself hidden all this time… I'm not", she shrugged.
"Ah and-"
"GONNA KILL YOU – LET HIM GO! – SICK OF… - DON'T!"
The sounds of a fight broke Locke's sentence and he and Lori hurried over to the crowd of twenty huddled round Sawyer and Sayid who were in the middle of it. Jack, Kate and Charlie emerged from out the jungle, all looking worse for wear.
"What?" Kate stared, dumbfounded as Jack threw off his backpack and enetered the fight, immediately pulling the two men apart.
"All right, enough!" Jack ordered.
"I've had enough of this guy! You accuse me of being a criminal! What next? I suppose you think I am responsible for the crash!" Sayid argued.
"You've had enough of me! If the shoe fits, buddy! Look around! They all know it's you! I'm just the only one SAYING it!" Sawyer yelled right back.
"HEY!" Jack shouted the loudest, drawing back attention to himself. "What the hell?"
"My boy found these in the jungle", and with that Michael held up a pair of handcuffs. Ah, Lori mused, so that's what Walt had found…
Sawyer lured right into Sayid's face. "And this guy was in the back row of business class the whole flight. Never got up. Hands folded under his blanket. And for some crazy reason – I'm just pointing this out – The guy I saw next to him didn't make it. Do the math", Sawyer was nose to nose to him now. "You're the prisoner, muchacho".
"Thank you for observing my behavior so very carefully"
"You think I didn't see them pull you out of line before we boarded?"
"If you do not take your finger out my face…"
"Oh please – Bring it".
"STOP!" Kate yelled, everyone's attention now drawn to her. "We actually DO have bigger problems than this", and with that she pulled out a funny looking thing from Jack's discarded pack. "We found the transceiver. But it's not working. Can anybody help?"
Sayid stepped forward, glaring at Sawyer. "Yes, I might be able to".
"Oh yeah, good! This guy! Perfect! Let's trust him--"
"Hey—We're all in this together, man. Let's try to treat each other with", Hurley tried to reason.
"Shut up, lardo".
"Hey! Give it a break". Jack ordered.
"Whatever you say, Doc, you're the hero", and with that Sawyer stormed off, walking straight into Jack.
"You found the cockpit? Were there any survivors?" Boone finally questioned.
Eyes flickered between the trio before Jack said simply, "No".
Sayid was looking over the transceiver before speaking up, "It's dual-band. Military spec. Broadcasts full-range, far as I can tell. Chances are the battery is good, but the radio… It is dead".
"Can you get it to work?" Lori questioned, it was on everyone's mind. Sayid stared at the teenager, avoiding all the other pressured gazes before turning to Jack.
"I need some time".
A few minutes after that discussion, Lori left and went back to her luggage, sitting on top of her Mother's case, sighing and burying her head in her hands. What was with that Sawyer? He'd seemed so nice in the airport too her…
"So, what's with all the alcohol?"
Ooh, a cliffhanger. Sortof. It will get more interesting soon, I promise! I'm doing quite well, a chapter per day, so yes, please review if you read it and tell me what you think.