Haha, this chapter was really fun to write because of all the Sawyer-Charlie interactions. Hehe. He's so damn witty. Anyway, sorry I didn't have it up technically yesterday, but it's up now. So.. it's only missing 40 minutes by tomorrow anyway lol. I had a good friend in town anyway, so I have an excuse. Lol. I'll try to have Chapter 3 up tomorrow as well! Please R&R! Enjoy!
"Whoa there Checkers, don't knock me over with your bout of enthusiasm," Sawyer said in response, his face lit up with cocky sarcasm. Tilting his head to his side in his usual way, the southerner raised an eyebrow and wondered why Charlie looked so… eager.
"Why you lookin' so eager there, you find Willy Wonka's golden ticket," he asked with a smirk, shoving his hands into his pocket to find a cigarette.
"Look Sawyer… I gotta talk to you about something," Charlie began, his hands coming up to shake once to emphasize his need, "It's important."
Lighting his cigarette, Sawyer waited for a few seconds before answering, bringing the stick of nicotine up to his lips. He inhaled, still peering down at Charlie with curiosity, and finally exhaled. A whirl of smoke came out of his mouth, whirling around the other's head, like a smokey halo.
"Why you comin' to me with somethin' important. Don't you know I can't keep secrets," he replied with a wry grin, his cigarette perched between his pointer and middle finger. Taking another drag, Sawyer's eyes narrowed and he waited for Charlie to say something.
"Because I need your help... look, just listen to me," the blond pleaded, giving Sawyer a long glance of desperation. Sighing, he kicked the ground, impatient with waiting. Why couldn't Sawyer just listen for once instead of spouting off off-colored comments?
"My help? Why do you need my help? Heh, I think you're lookin' for the wrong person Chuckles," Sawyer said, the end of his cigarette burning strongly before going out. He let it fall to the ground, crushing it with his boot as he began to walk away.
"Nono, please Sawyer..." Charlie shouted, rushing up to the other. Circling around Sawyer so that he was right in Sawyer's escape path, he put up his hand, waving it like a runway assistant waved down a plane that wanted to land off of the runway strip.
"...Fine," Sawyer said, lowering his voice to a quiet tone. There was something extremely desperate in Charlie's voice that Sawyer picked up on, something… almost unnatural. And for that very reason, Sawyer mentally decided to accept the challenge. He started to walk towards the jungle, but motioned for Charlie to follow him, figuring that he didn't want anyone else to hear. Now if he was going to come to him, for help, then whatever it was had to be shady.
Charlie, relieved that Sawyer had decided to at least listen to him, walked almost next to the other, a small smile on his face. If he could just explain to him the situation, maybe Sawyer could offer some ideas. He didn't know Sawyer very well at all, but he did know Sawyer was smarter than he let on.
The jungle, now only a few yards away, seemed to be as full of life as ever- letting off sounds of boars, birds and God only knows what else. Instead of the tree's swaying back and forth like they had only half an hour ago, they stood completely still. Not a tree moved as the two entered it, upright and erect like silent sentinels that guarded a castle full of hidden treasures.
Letting Sawyer lead the way still, Charlie fell into the rhythm of the jungle, his feet hitting the ground in time with a nearby woodpecker. He looked around, wondering where on Earth Sawyer was leading them to, but trusting the other to know a place where no one could find them. At least that's what Charlie though Sawyer was doing.
"Yo Checkers, you can stop now," Sawyer said, leaning up against a tree. Around them, a circle of six trees surrounded them, as if nature had intended for this meeting to happen someday. But, the trees didn't appear to be the average, healthy tree the two had seen before coming to this spot. At a quick glance, they seemed pretty normal- dark brown bark, really tall and green leaves. If one took a better look however, one would notice the huge, spots of funky mold growing on them. The mold grew rampant on the trees, spotting them like an infectious plague.
"Ew, what the bloody hell is that on the trees," Charlie asked, his nostrils flaring in disgust. Along with the weird appearance, the trees smelled awful, like death.
"Ain't you ever seen fungus before?" Sawyer said, laughing at the other's response to the place he had taken them.
"Too bad Mister Clean isn't around to make them trees all nice and pretty," he continued, sitting down on a stomp in the middle of the circle. Eyeing Charlie, he motioned for him to sit down next to him on a rock, petting it.
"Alrighty Checkers, I'm all ears," he said, the dimples on his cheeks really apparent now.
"Okay… you remember when I took Aaron that one night because I thought he was in danger," he began, semi-closing his eyes to remember everything correctly.
"Yeah, ol' baldy sure got you good that night," Sawyer replied, chuckling to himself.
"Yeah, whatever man, anyway- I was in a real bad state of mind after that. I felt real bad and..-"
"Okay Chuckles, I'm not no quack, so don't come to me with your problems," Sawyer interupted, shaking his head. If that were all he came out here for, he'd be outta there in a jiffy.
"No no, stop bloody interrupting, that's not the point. Anyway, yeah- Locke did punch me real hard, and I hated that. He humiliated me in front of everyone like he was some damn God and I want to get back at him," he explained, the anger he had experienced on that one night resurfacing all over again. He clenched his fists tightly, feeling like beating the crap out of Locke right then and there.
"Oh I see, you want me to give you a plan," Sawyer said, another one of his infamous smirks plastered on his face. "I see."
Before Charlie could answer, Sawyer suddenly stood up, walking out of the rotting circle of trees and going a few feet ahead of them.
"C'mere Charlie, I have something to show you," he said, pointing to a big, dark blob in the distance.
"Hey, you never said if you would help or not," the blond protested, a frown on his face. He had to have known that Sawyer would beat around the bush instead of giving him a straight up no or yes. Crossing his arms over his chest, he made his way out of the circle of trees as well, standing next to the other now.
"What is it," he asked, squinting his eyes trying to see it clearly. From there, it just looked like a darkened lava rock of some sort, nothing extremely special. But if Charlie moved up a couple of inches, he could see that it definitely wasn't a rock.
"It's a dead boar. Ol' feller died yesterday," Sawyer explained, now on his way up to the dead beast. He parted two twig like trees and stepped in the middle of them to get to the boar, holding them open for Charlie to come as well.
The blond rolled his eyes, thinking that Sawyer really was full of it now, and wondered if he was ever going to get the answer he wanted. Half-hopping through the trees, he scratched his face on a spiny tree limb, biting his lip in pain. A bit of blood trickled down his face, but Charlie didn't notice, now standing beside Sawyer and the boar.
The boar, although it was dead, was in a weird kneeling position, as if it begged a Supreme Being to let it into its heaven. It had a huge gash down its back, which still trickled with blood, exposing a huge hunk of muscle and it's spine to the rest of the world. Matted and seemingly sweaty, it's fur lay still and lifeless to the slimy maggots which infested its space. Other than the strange position the boar lay dead in, Charlie couldn't figure see anything special about this beast.
"Why'd you want me to see that? It's dead," Charlie stated matter-of-factly, his eyes still planted on the boar.
"Yer missin' the point Checkers, look at it's head," Sawyer ordered, stepping up to be a bit closer to the boar.
Raising an eyebrow, he obeyed, moving his eyesight from the boar's bloody back to the head. He opened his mouth in a small "O" shape as he noticed what Sawyer had sometime before, almost creeped out by what he saw. Sitting on the boar's head, a crown of thorns sat there, reminding Charlie of Jesus. The crown, encircled around the boar's head, had tiny leaves and berries still stuck to it. It was a golden, brown color and almost matched the color of the path of Earth upon which the boar had its final moments.
"How the hell did that get there," Charlie remarked, placing a hand on his hip in question.
"Someone must've put it there. You see Charlie, this boar must have felt mighty special with this crown on top of his head. Probably felt like a regular ol' King of the Jungle. But, without the crown," Sawyer explained, kneeling over to lift the crown off, "It isn't anything special anymore."
Realizing what Sawyer meant by this, Charlie nodded rapidly, the whole meaning of this little side adventure becoming clear.
"So if I find something that makes Locke feel special and take it away, he'll feel real stupid and average, like this boar?"
In answer, Sawyer placed the crown on his head, making real damn sure that it didn't prick him by not putting it all the way down.
"Yep- and better yet, if you give it to someone else..." he insinuated, pointing to the crown on top of his head, "He'll feel even more like an idiot."
Charlie's grin began to grow as he stared at the said crown on Sawyer's head, knowing that if he could humiliate Locke, that he would have his revenge.
"So you're gonna help me, right?" he asked, hoping the other would answer okay.
"Sure, but what's in it for me?"