Northern Wolf - Physics totally sucks. I sat there most classes all, "Pretend you're Daniel. If you were Daniel, you'd get this stuff. Your book even says Faraday in it! Pretend you're Daniel." Well...that failed. Haha.
Anon - Hey. Don't dis falling while sinking. Lol. -pets Jack- The first time I ever tried to sink, I fell over and took my brother down with me. -epicfail- xP
Jess - I'm glad you like the flashbacks. I love thinking about what life might have been for them off the island. ^-^
Lostcandy - Haha. Maybe I should be all, "You do my Physics or I won't update my fanfiction." Kiiiidding. x]
Temporarilymisplaced - Thanks for reviewing! =D
Boo2ubam - I think she might have got all flustered if Claire hadn't screamed. Lol. I'll miss you while you're away! Have fun. =]
Okay. So more excuses. Today kinda...sucked, to put it simply. I had major writers block due to the day being blah. I forced myself through this chapter. It was supposed to be longer. The next one should be more exciting.
"So no more calling out my name in the middle of the night tonight, right?" Jack spread out his blanket, lying down on his side.
My cheeks became red again and I shot him a glare. "Haha. Funny." I leaned back against the cave wall, slouching over slightly. I was tired, but trying to convince myself to stay away. I was attempting to keep my days straight and figure out what happened when. From what I recalled, Claire had nightmares around the time Ethan became a known enemy. I just didn't know how many she had before he tried to take her. I silently cursed myself for not keeping an eye out for him. Sleeping in the caves was beginning to become a bit of a distraction because now Jack was constantly on my mind.
"You okay?" Jack questioned.
"What?" I looked over at him. "Oh. Yeah. I'm fine. Go to sleep." I watching as he shut his eyes again then moved to lie down myself. I'd have chances during the day to get it all sorted out. Trying to get comfortable, I watched Jack. After awhile, he looked like he was asleep and I sighed. Finally able to relax now that I wasn't worried about him, my eyes drifted shut.
"Somebody's trying to hurt me! Please, help me!" It was Claire.
My eyes snapped open and I looked over at Jack who was also waking up. Pressing my hands to my eyes, I found myself getting frustrated with her. So much drama for this baby and then in the end she ends up dumping him off in the jungle anyway. I focused on calming myself down as Jack rushed out of the cave.
I listened to their muffled voices through the cave wall as I breathed deeply through my nose. I didn't want to repeat any of this. I wanted to go home and never come back to the island. I knew people were beginning to search the perimeter of the caves and after several moments I heard Hurley make the suggestion someone start a census.
Jack stepped into the cave and dropped heavily to his bed, rubbing his face with his hands. "She had another nightmare," he stated, shaking his head. "Thought someone was attacking her."
"What if it wasn't a nightmare?" I sat up a little straighter. "What if somebody really did try to hurt her?"
"No one is trying to hurt anyone," Jack answered. "It was just a dream."
"There's this guy Ethan that's been really creeping me out. What if…'
"Kate, relax, we're safe here," he replied. "From people at least."
"Right." I turned away from him after he settled to sleep again, placing my head in my hands.
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I stood on the beach, focused mainly on keeping my breakfast down. I had followed Jack and Charlie to deliver water, but ended up just leaning against a tree along the tree line of the jungle.
"Dude, you look tired." Hurley strolled up to me, a cheery grin on his face. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Yeah. Sure." I attempted to stand up a little straighter to look more awake. I didn't get any sleep after Claire had been attacked the night before. "What is it?"
"What's your full name?" He tapped a pen on the small notebook he was holding.
The census. "Katherine Austen," I answered, glancing away from him to watch Charlie and Jack.
"What were you doing in Sydney?" He glanced up at me after he finished writing my name.
I looked at him and smiled. "You said a question. That was two questions." I walked away, following after Jack. They turned and headed back to the caves. I kept a good distance behind them, not really feeling like getting involved in whatever conversation they were having. I was beginning to hate getting in on their speculative talks without being able to throw in the answer. Even if I was to tell them what they wanted to know, I doubted they would even believe me.
I began to go over things in my head again, stopping just before I got to the caves. Tears of frustration stung my eyes and I seriously considered just letting everything happen the way it happened last time. Jack died last time though. I turned and jogged back to the beach.
"Locke!" I called when I started getting close. "John!" I crossed through the tree line and leaned forward to catch my breath.
"Hello though." Locke came walking calmly across the beach.
I glanced at him impatiently. "I need to borrow one of your knives."
"What?" He asked.
"One of your knives," I repeated, putting emphasis on the sentence this time. "Please. It's important. I don't have time to answer questions."
"Right." He nodded his head for me to follow and began walking toward the case. "Just tell me which one you want."
"The sharpest one you have."
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I ran into the caves, holding the knife tightly in my hand. "Jack! Jack, we need to go find Charlie and Claire!"
As soon as he turned to look, Sayid also came limping into the cave. Jack's attention immediately turned to Sayid.
I cursed and tightened the grip on my knife. I didn't have time to convince him of anything. I heard him shouting my name as I exited the caves again, but I didn't turn around to acknowledge him.
"Claire!" I called, traveling along the path to the beach. I didn't even know if they were actually on the path. "Charlie, where are you?" My knuckles were beginning to turn white as I squeezed the knife's handle. "Hey!"
"Kate? We're over here!"
I followed the sound of Charlie's voice, bursting into the clearing they were standing in. Claire was grinning, holding Charlie's hand to her stomach. Their looks immediately turned alarmed as they saw me. "Listen. I don't have time to explain. We need to get back to the caves right now."
"Where's Jack?" Charlie asked.
"At the caves," I answered impatiently. "Where we need to go."
"Hello there."
I spun around, coming face to face with Ethan. I took a few steps back toward Charlie and Claire, intent on protecting them. Unfortunately, they were beginning to seem more frightened of me than of Ethan.
"Ethan, where's Jack?" Charlie asked, stepping around me.
I took a few steps toward Ethan, raising my knife. "I know who you are."