Author's Note: Okay, so here is the promised second half of the first chapter. Like always, please review and tell me what you think about the story. I love your feedback- it keeps me writing. Well, Enjoy part 2!
What happened on the beach (Part Two)
The night was peaceful for the survivors, compared to what they had just experienced during that day. Ryan sat by herself near the shore, her head rested against a pile of wreckage. She had spent most of the day trying to mend people's minor cuts and bruises and making sure Shannon didn't kill her. Meanwhile, Shannon was sitting next to Boone, shooting Ryan venomous looks.
"Who the hell is she to tell me I'm on a high horse?" Shannon spat angrily. Boone sighed and looked wearily at his sister. He had heard her complain about Ryan all day long now.
"Listen Shannon, she was trying to help" Boone explained for the millionth time.
"By basically calling me a conceited snob!" Shannon cried.
"Well that wouldn't be a lie" Boone said back, becoming irritated with her. Shannon snorted and looked back at Ryan.
"Like she has any right saying I'm on my high horse- I mean look at her" Shannon said in disgust. Boone looked over at tiny little Ryan huddled by herself. Her long black hair flowed down her back and she was looking serenely into the water.
"What's wrong with her?" Boone asked.
"Her clothes!" Shannon cried. Boone once again looked at Ryan, seeing nothing unusual about her outfit. She was wearing a gray tank top, black jeans with a satiny ribbon as a belt and had a black and blue jacket at her feet.
"What's wrong with the clothes?" he asked Shannon, who just rolled her eyes.
"Her tank top is Juicy Couture, her jeans are Armani, and her jacket is polo" Shannon said irately. "She's obviously the one who is living on a high horse. That outfit costs more than my whole wardrobe" she moaned. Boone shook his head and leaned back once again. Leave it to Shannon to notice something as completely irrelevant as someone's outfit. But nonetheless, Boone wondered what type of Background Ryan came from if she could afford such outfits.
Suddenly a noise came from the jungle, disrupting everybody's thoughts. Ryan sprung up on her feet and was followed by Jack.
"What the hell was that?" Ryan asked and Lack shrugged.
"Maybe there are more people in the woods- I should go check" Jack said.
"I'll come with you- you might need help" Ryan said, a bit apprehensive.
"No- it's too dark. Wait until tomorrow to go" Ryan and jack turned around to find Michael, another survivor. He was sitting on the sand, his son Walt by his side.
"That's right docs, you two don't want to get hurt-what would we do with ya?" said, Sawyer, a man who was sitting next to Michael. Ryan had treated Sawyer for mild cuts a while before and had taken an immediate dislike to the man. His brashness annoyed her to no end.
"Maybe they are right" Jack said. Ryan turned on him immediately.
"There are people in there who need our help! Are you going to ignore them?" Ryan asked him, eyes wide.
"There is no point getting ourselves hurt while trying to find them. We can look tomorrow when it's light again" Jack said calmly.
"What if they are seriously injured? They could die by the time daylight comes" Alex said, starting to worry.
"Then they have to die. We can't go now" Jack said resolutely, sitting down. Ryan looked at him in amazement before starting off towards the jungle.
"I am going to go look for them" she said, resolute. She couldn't let people die, not now. Not when she had caused so many deaths before….
"Ryan- think this over" called Hurley form where he was sitting. Ryan faltered a bit. She turned around and faced the man. Hurley was a person whom Ryan trusted somewhat. He actually seemed genuine, a rarity. Not that Ryan let herself trust him completely. She had already learned the hard way to never give full trust to anybody. It always led to pain and disaster at the end.
"Why?' she asked him.
"Listen, we need both you and Jack to stay here. You are the only two that know squat about medicine and things." He said "people might get hurt and who will be here to help Jack. Not to mention, we need you when Claire has the kid" Hurley said. Ryan contemplated the words for a moment before realizing that they were true. She nodded slightly at Hurley. The people here needed her than the people in the jungle did. Ryan went back to her place near the water and rested for a moment. She really needed to regain her cool. She closed her eyes, meaning to get a short fifteen minute rest to build up her strength again.
Ryan opened her eyes and found herself staring at….blue sky. Shit she thought getting up. She had fallen asleep. Ryan looked around hurriedly, trying to find Jack. They were supposed to go into the jungle today.
"Good morning sleepyhead"
Ryan turned around to find Rose, a nice African American woman that she had taken care of the day before. Rose gave her a mango, which Ryan took and hesitantly took a bite of. She didn't really trust the local food.
"Where's Jack?" Ryan asked.
"He went into the jungle" Rose said "he didn't want to ruin your sleep so he took Kate and Charlie with him" she added. "He also wanted you to stay behind, in case anything happened, you know- with Claire or the rest of us" Rose said. Ryan nodded slightly. She wasn't angry at Jack for leaving her behind. It was probably better that way. There had to be somebody on the beach to take care of the people if things went wrong- especially with Claire. Ryan had promised Jack yesterday that she would take care of Claire, even though she hated the thought of having to birth a baby. It was just too awkward.
Ryan went forward to the water and sat, letting the cool waves dance at her feet as she slowly ate the mango. Ryan needed the food, and the fruit was very sweet and surprisingly good.
"Do you have more of those?" Ryan turned around and found Boone next to her. Oh goody, just what she needed another confrontation.
"No, Rose gave this to me" Ryan said, trying the keep her voice pleasant and civil. She looked over Boone's shoulder to see if Shannon was there. Thankfully she wasn't.
"Listen, I'm sorry for what I said to Shannon yesterday" Ryan started, but Boone waved her comment away.
"Don't be. Shannon can be a bit of a bitch sometimes" Boone said, sitting next to Ryan, who nodded slightly at Boone's comment. She noticed the way that Boone kept a pleasant voice when talking about Shannon, even when he was saying bas things about her.
"You really like her, don't you?" Ryan asked. Boone looked at her, slightly surprised.
"Yeah, I do" Boone said. Ryan looked back at the waters. It must be nice, she thought, having someone to like as much as Boone liked Shannon. But to be liked, one must like back and Ryan doubted she would ever like another member of the human race again, not after the whole incident with Sam.
"What kind of name is Ryan? Is it your real name?" she heard Boone ask. A small smile tugged on Ryan's lips. She had been asked that question multiple times before.
"What kind of name is Boone? Is that your real name?" Ryan countered.
"Yes, My full name is Boone Carlyle. And yours is?" Boone asked.
"Ryannon Rousseau" Ryan answered.
Ryannon- that's an unusual name" Bone mussed.
"It's Irish, Gaelic" she said, shrugging her slight shoulders. Boone saw that she had a tattoo on one of her shoulders. It was a bar code with the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 underneath it. Boone was curious as to what the numbers meant, but didn't want to question her further. It seemed as though she was already tightly sprung as it was. Just then Claire called out to Ryan, saying she needed help.
"My patient awaits me" Ryan said, getting up. She nodded curtly at Boone before walking over to Claire. Boone nodded back to the girl's receding figure before looking back out into the sea.
The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. Ryan helped Jin and his wife, Sun, fish, and listened as Walt read a comic book to her- all while keeping a close eye on Claire. Sayid, an Iraqi man, came for a while to help her look after Claire and Hurley and Rose were always willing to lend a helping hand. There was another man, by a name that no one knew- that was sitting on the beach by himself. They didn't want to bother him, though, since he looked so serene and happy where he was. Sawyer, the arrogant man, was off sulking by himself and Ryan didn't want to bother with him either. Sayid suggested that they clean up the wreckage and build a small shelter out of it. Everybody got t work, trying to get up the shelter before nightfall. And what good timing it was as well. Just as night fell, the heavens opened up and rain poured down on the island. The survivors huddled under the makeshift shelter they had created, all anxiously awaiting the return of Jack, Kate, and Charlie. Ryan noticed the man who was sitting by himself on the beach before. He was still sitting, getting drenched, his arms outstretched. Feeling worried, Ryan got up.
"I'm going to go get that man over there" she said to the others as she stepped outside the shelter. As soon the drops of rain hit her face, an old memory that Ryan had been trying so hard to forget came surfacing back to her.
It was a cold night, colder than any other she had felt before. The rain was pounding down on her like a million little daggers, and the wetness of the felt foreign on Ryan's face. She was huddled up against a phone booth, her breath coming out in short, small puffs. There was a bad cut on her thought and she was afraid that she was going to die here, in this tiny god forsaken village. Her body was rot here on the streets and nobody would notice. Gathering up her strength, Ryan went into the phone booth. She searched her jacket pocket for change and put the coins into the machine while checking her watch.
1:00 AM. It read, its sickly green glow reflected in her eyes. Ryan dialed the familiar number and clutched the phone to her ears, as though it was her lifeline.
"Hullo" a groggy, male voice sounded from the other end.
"Sam" Ryan breathed, blood flowing from her wound.
"Ryan! What are you doing? Do you know what time it is?" she heard Sam ask.
"Sam, help" she said weakly. Just then a car turned the street corner. She recognized it instantly and her eyes widened in fear. She turned her back to the car, hoping that her long, floor length coat would disguise her. The car swept past the phone booth and Ryan gave off a sigh of relieve.
"Ryan, what's happening?" Sam asked her, his voice concerned.
"I need you to come here- they've killed them, both of them" Ryan muttered.
"Who Ryan? Who were the people and who did they kill?" Sam asked.
"Sam come- please, I'm losing…I'm losing you" Ryan said weakly, feeling the black creep into her eyes.
"I'm coming" she heard Sam say as she slumped against the phone booth, unconscious.
Ryan cleared the memory from her head as she walked towards the man on the beach. How long would it take for her to stop balking at the sight of rain? How long would it take for the most innocent things to stop bringing back horrible memories? Ryan knelt beside the man.
"Are you okay?" she asked him.
"Never better" he answered, looking over to her, a smile on his face. For some reason, Ryan felt safe with this man, as though he was a person who knew what he was doing and knew what he wanted. Ryan nodded at the man.
"Do you need anything Mister….." she asked
"Locke, John Locke" the man answered. Ryan smiled a bit.
"Stop, Traveler! Near this place lieth John Locke. If you ask what kind of a man he was, he answers that he lived content with his own small fortune. Bred a scholar, he made his learning subservient only to the cause of truth" She quipped, stealing a quote from the epitaph of the philosopher John Locke. The Locke nest to her smiled.
"You know your philosophy" he stated.
"I know a lot of things" Ryan answered back, causing Locke to smile more broadly.
"Are you sure you don't want to come to the shelter, Locke, It's a lot dryer" Ryan said. Locke shook his head.
"I'll stay here for a bit longer" he said. Ryan nodded as she headed back towards the shelter.
"I'll put out a place for you, in case you change your mind" Ryan said to him.
"I appreciate it" Locke answered. Ryan returned to the shelter.
"He didn't want to come?" Claire asked. Ryan shook her head.
"That's weird" Claire said.
"I think there are a lot of things on this island that can be classified as weird" Ryan said, shaking her head. The rest of the members in the shelter nodded to themselves. This island was indeed a mystery. And on the beach, all alone Locke smiled to himself as he flexed his toes, basking in the wondrous revelation that had come upon him. Weird was definitely the right world to use……..