Chapter Two
"My guitar! Where is it!" Charlie screamed, tiny specks of spittle flying into an unsuspecting Jin's face. The Asain man stared at Charlie with a look somewhere between confusion, slight terror, and annoyence. He spluttered something with the resulting affect of "I don't know," leaving Charlie even more aggravated than ever. He stalked off, muttering angrily to himself. Jin shook his head, feeling slightly sorry for the derranged man.
Charlie continued pacing, with almost frantic intensity. His feet wore a trodden down path on the seashore, the sand being beat down by his continuous stomping. Something caught his eye, and he glanced up. A huge, red bird was lazily gliding across the sky, its long feathers trailing behind it. It opened its curved beak and let out a shreik.
"Get it, Charlie! Claire needs it!" it called in its screeching voice.
"But I can't," he protested, yelling at the winged creature, "I need to find my guitar, first!"
The brid let out a sad cry and flew up into the sky, getting lost within moments in the endless blue. Charlie ran a hand through his dirty blonde locks, letting out an agitated sigh. "I need to find my guitar first," he said, quietly. "Where did it go, anyway?" he qestioned the air.
--
Kate watched from the cover of a bush, onfused at Charlie's strange behavior. He had paced for about five straight hours the day before. She could hear his yells at Jin from pratically half-way across the island. She watched as he stopped pacing to stare up at the sky. Her brow furrowed, even more confused, as he yelled at the empty air.
"What in the world...?" she breathed, curious. "Could he be going crazy?" suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her, twigs snapping and leaves swishing. She spun around to find herself staring into the face of a very confused looking Sawyer.
He peered over her shoulder to see what she had been looking at so curiously.
"Got a crush on Charlie, eh?" he teased.
"No! You don't get it, he's been acting all weird lately,"
"Well, he's Charlie. He's always weird, right?"
"Yeah, but you don't get it. A second ago, I watched him talk to the air, and yesterday, he paced for five hours straight"
She said the last words slowly, giving them extra emphasis. Sawyer simply stood, staring off into space, quietly thinking.
"Well, that is a little weird, weirder than ususal at least..."
"Of course it is!" Kate was tired of explaining herself. She turned back to observe Charlie, to find that he was halfway down the beach, pacing yet again. She gave an exasperated sigh and turned again, heading back towards camp. Sawyer stayed rooted in his spot, watching Charlie. His curiosity was sparked when he saw him suddenly veer into the jungle. Without a second thought, he began to follow him.
--
"Find it Charlie, you can do it," a small red butterfly flitted around his blonde head, whispering exitedly into his ears.
Around him, the trees snicked.
"He'll never find it," they murmured to each other. Charlie gritted his teeth.
"Don't listen to them, Charlie, they don't know what they're talking about," the butterfly attempted to encourage him.
It was no use. In a fit of rage, he took a sharp rock from the jungle floorand jabbed it into the trunk of nearby tree. He grinned as warm,crimson blood gushed out from the crack in the bark. The plant's agonized screams gave him a sort of sick pleasure thathe had never acknowledged before.
Suddenly, he heard a twig snap. He flung around, still angry from the disbelieving whispers around him. A tall, dark shadow materialized before him, red eyes blazing.
"Charlie, what are you doing?" it asked, moving closer.
--
"Charlie, what are you doing?" Sawyer asked. After following him, he found him stabbing a tree with a rock. The rock still hung loosley in Charlie's hand, and the crazed look in his eyes wasn't making him very comfortable.
"Huh? What are you doing out here?" he repeated his question cautiously, taking a step forawrd.
"You stay back!" Charlie warned, flailing the rock in front of his face.
--
"Now there, why are you doing this?" she shadow hissed, moving forward. Its eyes glowed even fiercer, the blinding red seemed to pierce his soul. It reached out what seemed to be its hand, its fingers long tendrils of darkness. Charlie's eyes widened and he did the only thing he could think of to protect himself; he took the rock and jammed it into the creature's arm, pointed side down. The creature let out a deafening shreik, and pulled it's injured limb back. Suddenly, it swung its other arm around, landing a strong hit on the side of Charlie's head. Colors flashed in front of his eyes as the shadow continued to pummel him. As the blows were raining down, Charlie fought back, swinging his fists at the shadow, clawing at its face. An explosion of pain. Charlie stumbled back, clutching his red and rapidly swelling jaw. As the Shadow came back for another blow, he reached in his back pocket. As he withdrew his hand, he was surprised to see a gleaming sliver knife.
'What in the world...? Where did I get this from?' A confuse thought troubled his mind for a quick instant. 'Oh well,' he stood, waiting for the Shadow to approach. He didn't wait long, for the Shadow was right upon him, its fist pulled back,
ready to strike. Charlie thrust forward, plunging the knife into the Shadow's chest. His hand tingled as black blood spilled over it. The Shadow shuddered and fell over, its gleaming red eyes closed.