Thoughts in italics
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
After going to her tent last night, Kate was unable to quell her fears long enough to fall asleep. Her time in the jungle with Jack had upset her more than even she realized. Kate had never been good at facing her fears anyway. That was why she liked to run. It also didn't help that her tent was in close proximity to the jungle that she had grown to fear in the last twenty-four hours.
It was around one in the morning before Kate managed to fall into a fitful sleep but even that didn't last very long. She had that same nightmare from yesterday which caused her to wake up about an hour later. She wished that Sawyer was with her so she could get a good night's sleep but there was no way in hell she would even ask him for something like that again. When she asked yesterday, she may have gotten a decent amount of sleep but it came the price of her dignity.
By the time the sun came up, Kate's exhaustion had got the best of her and she fell into another nightmare-plagued sleep. This one lasted almost four hours before Jack walked into her tent. He had been on the beach, looking for Kate again after she ran off yesterday when he heard her talking in her sleep much like Sawyer did the other night. So when Jack walked into her tent and saw her tossing and turning, he immediately tried to wake her up which only resulted in Kate suddenly waking from the nightmare and punching Jack in the shoulder as hard as she could.
Jack probably deserved at least one punch for waking Kate up but she didn't stop after just one hit. She continued to fight Jack, trying to get away from him until he managed to hold her still.
"What the hell, Kate?" Jack asked angrily while Kate stopped thrashing.
"Jack?" Kate questioned, clearly not sure who was holding her.
"Who else would it be? What's a matter with you? I come in here to wake you up and all of a sudden you attack me?"
Jack was fuming by now. Not only did Kate not recognize what she was doing, but she was also not grateful for him waking her up from her nightmare. He knew she wasn't okay like she kept insisting. People who are okay don't go into attack mode after being woken up. Jack's anger, however, had set off Kate who hated when people saw her in a moment of weakness.
"You had no right to even come in here!" Kate exclaimed as she pulled angrily out of his grasp and stormed out of her own tent.
She immediately headed for the jungle, which was where she would usually run off to, but then she came to her senses and stopped. She glared at the swaying trees as if they personally had offended her and stalked off to a deserted part of the beach instead so she could be alone.
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From his position just outside his tent, Sawyer watched Kate head toward the jungle and then turn around and go in the opposite direction. He smirked when he saw a pissed off Jack storm out of Kate's tent a minute later. Serves him right after takin' Freckles yesterday, Sawyer thought happily. At least now she blew him off too.
Sawyer was ticked off about what had happened yesterday. First, he antagonized Kate when she just wanted to thank him. Then, she just takes off with Jack to do who knows what in the jungle. And finally, even though she told him she would come to see him when she got back, she never did. Guess I had that comin' though. That's what I get for openin' my big mouth. At this point, Sawyer was just mad. At himself…at Kate…at Jack…
Despite his anger toward Kate, he still felt inclined to follow her. He did still have to apologize after all. Or at the very least show her no hard feelings because he was horrible at saying sorry. He'd have to be careful, though, because he did not want a repeat of yesterday and he had the tendency to make things worse than what they already are.
Sawyer's pride may have to take a hit but he was worried about Kate so he got up and headed in the direction she just went. You're goin' soft and that's all there is to it. A couple weeks ago, would you have cared that Kate was upset? …No. He sighed. I've been on this island too damn long.
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Kate stomped down the beach, avoiding the weird looks from the other survivors. She was beyond caring what they thought of her. Right now she just wanted to put as much distance as she could between herself and her problems. Unfortunately, while she could run from Jack and the jungle, her troubles went with her wherever she went.
When Kate reached the part of the beach where she could barely see the camp, she plopped down on the sand and put her head in her hands. This was getting out of control. She usually freaks out on this week every year but this was just insane. Despite the fact that she had faced all this before, it never got to her like this. She had always prided herself on being able to keep her emotions in check but now they were going haywire and she had nowhere to run.
As a consequence, she was taking out her problems on innocent bystanders, like Jack, who was really just trying to help. She couldn't bring herself to go back and apologize, though, so she just sat there in the sand, wallowing in her grief.
Kate picked her head up and stared out at the rolling ocean. She always loved the water. It was so strong and free. I wish I had some of that strength right now. I could sure use it.
Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when a person sat down next to her. Kate jumped a mile high and whipped around to face whoever decided to follow her out here.
"No need to be so jumpy, Freckles. I ain't gonna hurt ya," Sawyer said when she had jumped.
Kate breathed a sigh of relief. It was just Sawyer, not some demon from her past as she had feared. Of course, Sawyer could be just as bad depending on his mood.
"Why'd you follow me out here?" she asked him.
"Ya looked upset. And you own me a talk from yesterday," Sawyer answered, deciding to give her the real answers instead of a smart-ass remark that would usually follow such a question. Well, as real as the answers could get anyway since he was not about to tell her he was worried about her.
Kate sighed, "Yeah, well, I had a lot on my mind yesterday so… sorry."
"We were talking fine before you skipped off with the doc into the jungle of mystery," Sawyer said angrily. "What the hell did you two do out there that made ya not want to talk to me when you got back?"
"Are you kidding me with this?" Kate stated disbelievingly. "You're pissed because I didn't come to see you after picking fruit yesterday so you follow me all the way out here to bite my head off? I so don't have the patience to deal with this right now."
Kate stood up and started to march off once again but Sawyer quickly jumped to his feet and grabbed her arm, keeping Kate from running anywhere. So much for not making things worse than what they already are, Sawyer fumed at himself.
Kate glared up at him, "Let go of me!"
"No way, Freckles. Just sit back down and we can talk."
"Well, I don't want to talk. I want you to let me go."
It was Sawyer's turn to sigh. He loosened his grip on her arm but didn't let go.
"Look, Freckles… I actually came out here to tell ya that I'm sorry about teasin' ya yesterday. I didn't mean to yell at ya today either but I'm not the best at apologizing. There… happy?"
Kate nodded mutely and sat back down on the sand. She felt Sawyer sit down beside her.
"So, seriously," Sawyer began, "how was fruit picking yesterday?"
"Horrible"
"Did it have anything to do with being in the jungle?"
Kate stared in surprise at Sawyer. How does he know?
"Yeah…" Kate said slowly. "But how did you know?"
Sawyer grinned. "I saw ya run away from the jungle this morning. I assumed that meant that ya didn't want to be in there."
"Oh."
"I also remembered that your nightmare took place in the jungle," Sawyer offered.
"Yeah… it did." Kate said softly.
"Ya okay?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Kate questioned angrily.
"Maybe because it's pretty damn obvious that you're not fine," Sawyer replied, careful to not let Kate's angry at this question fuel his own.
Kate calmed herself and answered, "I will be. In about four days I should be just fine again."
Sawyer stared at her with a disbelieving look on his face. "So you're saying, in four days whatever's bothering you will just… stop?"
"Yeah," Kate said. "I've gone though this before. I know how it works."
"How what works?"
"This week of… insanity." Kate told him. "This week where everything is messed up and my past comes back to haunt me."
Well I finally finished another chapter. I really hope you all liked this one as much as the first two so please review and let me know. You guys have been awesome at reviewing and I can't thank you enough. My life was at a pretty messed up place while I was writing this chapter so if it's not the best or seems kinda angry… sorry. I will definitely update this between now and Halloween.