Yes! I actually finished Chapter 1 in one day as I said I would! Wohoo for me. Lol. Anyway, there is one scene in here from the actual episode, but it isn't exactly how it happened. Close enough. I will try and have one chapter per day as I said I would before. Please R&R and Enjoy!
Confused to find himself waking up on a sandy dune, Charlie suddenly remembered lying down on it the night before, and sighed. He sat up, trying hard to wipe off the gritty bits of sand covering his clothes, but found that it was a lot harder than it looked. Along with it being all over his clothes, it was in his shoes and he could even taste it. The blond tried spitting it out of his mouth, his teeth grinding briefly against the tiny specks, but he wasn't able to get it out of his mouth.
Coughing, he let his hands sink into the sand in front of him, his eyes narrowing as he was hit by a flashback of a scene he wanted so badly to forget. The nasty, filthy taste distinctly made him think of the night he had his first taste of the grainy substance. It wasn't like he had a choice in the matter though, oh definitely not. On that night, he had unfortunately been caught by not only Claire, but Locke and the rest of the bloody island trying to baptize Aaron.
Recalling back to that scene, his eyes seemed to glaze over like a madman's, as if even thinking of it caused him to feel extreme hate. The hands, which were once falling deeper into the sandy hole, crept up to his face, covering his cheeks and eyes. He sighed, wanting desperately to erase those memories, but begrudgingly let them take over for a few minutes.
It was a fairly clear, fair night when the series of dreadful events happened to Charlie. The moon beamed from the starry sky like a newborn babe from above, cascading it's ethereal light over most of the island's inhabitants. Fortunately for him, the moon didn't shed enough of it's light over the part of the island he was concerned with, and he considered this one of his few blessings. Pulling his infamous black hoodie over his blond locks, he glanced around, checking to make sure none were in too close vicinity. If he was going to do this, he had to make sure everything was in it's proper place, or else he would be in dire trouble.
He snuck around to hide behind a large rock close to Aaron's crib, his eyes still searching for any possible threats to his plan of action. Giving one final look around the area before walking almost soundlessly to the crib, his gaze nearly caught Claire's- but thankfully didn't, her's landing on the sandy beaches instead. Claire stood there laughing with Sun as Charlie crouched low, her smile causing Charlie to feel a twinge of pain in his heart. Sighing, he tried his best to ignore her, telling himself that he needed to hurry up. He crept up to the sleeping baby, fondly smiling down at him as he dangled a hand down over him.
"Hey there turniphead, how's it going," he sheepishly whispered, his eyes twinkling happily in the presence of Aaron. The baby awoke at the sound of Charlie's soft voice, opening his eyes to stare silently up at him.
Picking the baby up, he looked to and fro one final time before heading for the ocean, trying his best to not arouse suspicion around him. But no one seemed to notice the absence of the baby boy, and Charlie let out a small sigh of joy. Nestling Aaron's little face with the blanket, he tilted his head up to the sky, his eyes now filled with the black sky. He peered back down at Aaron once again, his legs walking fast towards the silently noisy ocean.
The ocean roared and gurgled as he approached with Aaron, as if it was giving Charlie a warning to stay clear of it's dark waters. Ignoring the sound, he started to lean over to catch a splash with a a cupped hand, but was stopped by a sudden yell.
"Charlie! What are you doing with my baby!"
He turned at the sound of Claire's voice, cursing himself secretly. He should have known that being able to baptize Aaron by himself would be too much to ask for. So much for the blessings.
"Claire.. I was just... listen, something bad is going to happen to Aaron," he began, trying his hardest to sound convincing.
"Give him back to me, right now," she screamed in response, a few angry tears running down her face.
"... I was just trying to baptize him..." he muttered to himself, handing back the now wailing boy to Claire.
"Don't you ever come near him again," she shouted, ending their argument as she reached out to slap Charlie hard on the face.
Feeling the sting of the slap, Charlie winced, but not from physical pain- from emotional pain. The girl that he had grown to love as a person, the girl he had sworn to change for- didn't want anything to do with him anymore. She had said it before, but it rang all too true right now.
As Claire ran off in a bout of anger, a crowd of people approached Charlie, whispering and mumbling secretly to try and figure out what was going on. But the person Charlie noticed the most out of the bunch, was Locke.
He stood there, arms crossed over his chest, frowning at Charlie, as if he was the only one responsible for the other's actions. The scar directly above and below his eye was magnified by the moonbeams, looking almost as though it had been created only a few seconds ago.
Preparing himself for a lecture, Charlie cocked his head and gazed back at the older man, already guessing at what he would be lectured on. But to his dismay, Locke, instead of giving him verbal punishment, gave him the physical kind. Locke came forward, punching Charlie square in the jaw, and then another time right below the eye.
Falling back from the sudden blows, Charlie fell to the ground, looking up to see not only the disapproving face of Locke, but everyone he had tried to befriend on the island. Even Hurley was there, staring at him as though he was an enemy. Of course, through the eyes of the people on the island, it appeared Charlie was trying to hurt the baby, or worse. Before, ever since the word had gone through the grapevine about how he had lied to Claire about his drug usage, people decided to form their own judgements about him. Worse than that, it wasn't the first time he had taken the baby without Claire's knowledge, so that certainly didn't help his case in the least.
After a few agonizing moments of staring, the islanders dispersed, some of them shaking their heads in shame or maybe even anger. He watched them leave, hearing the ocean still churning frantically behind him.
Still lying on his back on the sand, he didn't bother to even wipe the blood from his face off, feeling too humiliated and betrayed to move. Now all that he had loved, all that he had cherished- was gone. He stared up at the sky above him, a single tear trickling down his face. The fat tear rolled down his chin and fell onto the sand, not even making one single spot.
Smacking his lips, he became aware of the tiny specks of sand in his mouth, causing him to watch to retch. He shakily stood up, still not cleaning himself, and let out a low moan of pitiful agony.
As soon as his painful flashback ended, Charlie pushed himself up off of the sand, the bitter taste still lingering in his mouth. He sighed, looking around him, and noticed that except for a small speck of a person in the distance, he was alone.
Taking a slow, deep breath, he felt better knowing that no one was around to give him those dirty looks he had become so accustomed to lately. He brought a greasy hand up to his hair, raking it through the messy strands as he decided on what to do. Suddenly coming up with an idea, he nodded to himself, raising a hand up to shield his eyes from the bright sun. The sun beat down on him, causing more than just one trickle of sweat to drip down his neck, staining the back of his T-shirt. He could care less that it was hot though, better to be hot out in the open than have to deal with sharing shade with another person.
Starting towards his destination, he picked up his speed, going from his normal walking pace to a jog. If he wanted to get this awful sandy taste out of his mouth, he had better hurry up. He watched the edge of the jungle loom towards him, as if the jungle was calling him to come forth and see what it had to offer. Tall trees swayed in the slight breeze, the branches moving back and forth from the air circulation. Just beyond the trees, Charlie knew there was not only a stream, but a tree that he could pick fruits off of.
He jogged faster, sticking out his tongue in slight concentration as he always did when he was really intent on something, and came to the needed path into the jungle. As soon as he reached this path, he heard a strange sounding bird singing, but not a pleasant song in the least. The songs sounded horribly off-key and minor- like an old broken record of an out of tune classical piano bit. Shivers raced down Charlie's spine briefly as he listened, giving him somewhat of an uneasy feeling.
But, he shrugged it off and headed down the path, really wanting to fill his mouth with something other than boar or mangos. He wasn't quite sure if the tree had mangos or not, but he would make do regardless of the fruit. Coming to the stream, he stopped next to it, bending down to wash his face. The cool water felt delightfully wonderful against his dry skin, perking up his angst filled mood a tad. After he washed his face and took a big sip of water from the stream, he watched the water flowing east into the jungle. It made lovely little patterns as it ran it's course, bubbling every now and then with content.
Standing back up, Charlie's eyes landed on the tree he wanted the fruit from. He gave the tree somewhat of a devilish grin before trying to make his way up it, holding onto various branches to get to the fruits. Making his way up, he realized that the fruits really weren't mangos, but something all together different instead.
Too impatient to climb back down to have a bite, he yanked one of the fruits from the tree and took a nice, juicy bite of it. Saliva ran down his neck as he began eating it, thinking it tasted a whole hell of a lot better than mangos or boar. The fruit reminded him a little bit of oranges and apples mixed together, sweet and yet kind of nectar in flavor. Still chomping into the food, Charlie couldn't help but let his mind wander back to what he moped about a few minutes ago and he narrowed his eyes.
If anything, he wanted to do something the conundrum he was in, but what? He couldn't exactly just waltz up to Claire as though nothing had happened, but he couldn't just stand by and watch his friend without him by her side. Chewing on the fruit, he started to think that maybe he could get someone else to persuade him that he was truly sorry. Who would do that for him? After the looks that everyone had given him last night, he doubted anyone would help him.
Coming to the last few bites of the fruit, he began to slow down his eating, wanting to savor the last of it. He didn't know how long it would be until someone else discovered this new fruit, and he wanted it to himself for now. Letting a good chunk of his last bite linger in his mouth, he began to think that maybe befriending Claire again wasn't going to happen anytime soon. They said that time would heal all, right? So, Charlie's mind wandered aimlessly through the couple of possibilities he thought of, trying to choose between them.
He could either be nice and not do anything, or he could take matters into his own hand. Besides Claire, he had someone else in mind. If it wasn't for Locke, he would have never felt so stupid in front of everyone, bleeding and down on his back like a big idiot.
Chomping down again on the fruit, he grinded the last part of it down with his teeth, savoring the last taste. The sandy taste no longer filled his mouth, but instead this succulent one did. A sweet, almost too sweet treat that he had given himself, kind of like the one he now plotted to give to Locke.
But how would he seek revenge against him? He had never really been the kind of guy to seek revenge on anyone, so this was a new thing. As he climbed down the tree, his mind sorted through a group of people, finally coming to one. If anyone knew how to have revenge, it was this person.
He made his way down the same path he had come into the jungle with, feeling refreshed from the mini trip into the jungle. Going away from the jungle, he saw in the distance the tent that he wanted to go into. He turned around, walking backwards for a second to see the landscape change from that angle, and almost ran right into the person he wanted to talk with.
"Oh hey," he said, a wolfish grin on his face.