This chapter is rather...eh...It's sweet, but it's not my favorite. It will play an important part in the sequal though. The sequal is like...all the answers you won't get in this story. Lol.

Only 3 more chapters left.

Chapter 24

Lettere a Kate

"Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind."

Kate stared at the little wooden box as she walked to her tent, her curiosity building up quite quickly. She pushed her tent flap out of the way and walked inside, sitting down on the sand. Carefully, she put the little box down in front of her and opened it up, a bit confused to see it was full of envelopes.

She pulled the first one out and looked it over, running her fingers over the smooth white paper. She turned it over and carefully opened it, then pulled out the letter that was inside. Unfolding the letter, she looked to see who it was for. "Dear, Kate…" she murmured in confusion, shaking her head slightly. She went to read the whole thing.

Dear Kate,

I know that we haven't been on this island all that long, but I think that I'm feeling something for you. I hope you realize how much your friendship means to me, and I hope it lasts forever. I know you'll never get this letter, because I don't have the guts to send it to you, but I really do hope you know how much you mean to me. You're a wonderful person and I don't know what I would do without your help. If you hadn't sewed me up when we first crashed, who knows what would have happened. Everyone tells me about being the hero, but I'm sure I wouldn't even be thought of as the hero here with your help. And the only reason that I'm keeping the title is because of you. When things get too stressful, you always seem to be there to help me relax. Thank you.

Love,

Jack

Kate reread the letter a couple times, shaking her head. She bit down on her lower lip, feeling tears filling her eyes. She carefully put the letter back in the envelope and put it back in the box, pulling out the next one.

Dear Kate,

I'm so sorry for today. I know I made you cry, and I feel horrible for it. I just don't see why you find it so hard to tell me the truth. Why can't you trust me? You should know that whatever you tell me will stay between us, and who knows…maybe talking about it will help. I could tell that that toy plane means a lot to you, and I'm glad that it was in the case we opened earlier. I know that I'll never have the courage to send you this letter and it will just be put in that box I found with the old one, but even without this letter, I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me for making you cry.

Love,

Jack

Kate closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. She put the letter back in it's envelope and took out the next one. There was only one more after this one, so she read slowly, not wanting to finish reading them so quickly.

Dear Kate,

I don't know what was with you today. Alls I know is that something was really wrong. I'm glad I found you in the jungle when I did. I'm not sure what you're thinking, but I hope you know that I'm not sorry you kissed me. I just wish that you wouldn't have ran from me. I really wish that I could have figured out what was wrong and helped you with it. I hate to see you cry. Today made me realize that I really do love you with all my heart. That kiss was wonderful and I hope we get a chance to kiss again. I hope that things work out for you and that whatever's wrong goes away.

Love,

Jack

Kate could feel hot tears rolling down her cheeks. Why had it taken this long for her to realize she loved him? How many things could have turned out different if she hadn't waited this long? She put the letter back in it's envelope and put the envelope away. Now for the last one. She slowly picked it up, taking note of how it felt heavier than the other ones had. She opened it up and took the letter out, a necklace falling out with it. She picked it up, looking it over. It was something simple, obviously homemade, but still beautiful. The string was a dark blue and tied at the back at what seemed to be just the right spot. In the middle was a orange seashell with white swirls. On either side of the shell were three tiny white shells. On the middle shell, her name was written in pretty blue letters. She stared at the necklace for several moments, just admiring it. Finally she slipped it over her head, then adjusted it on her neck. She sniffled then opened the letter and began reading.

Dear Kate,

Writing these letters to you is most likely meaningless, isn't is? You'll never get them, and I'll never have the courage to tell you how I feel about you. You'll never even get the necklace that I made for you. One of these days, maybe, hopefully, we'll finally be able to love each other without things getting in the way. One of these days, maybe you'll actually love me. But if you love Sawyer, I guess I'll have to learn to accept that. I don't want our friendship to be ruined just because I can't bring myself to get along with Sawyer. This is my final letter now. But I do hope you realize that I love you. And who knows, maybe one of these days you'll accidentally stumble upon this little box and read these. And if you do, then hopefully you do it soon.

Love,

Jack

Kate sniffled and put it away just like she had done with the other ones. "Guess I stumbled upon them a little too late, huh?" she asked quietly. She shook her head slightly and put the box in her lap, shutting it and then simply looking at it. She wondered where he had found it. It didn't look like it had been in the crash, since it was in perfect condition. It was the perfect size for the letters and made of dark wood. Around the bottom tiny ships and waves were craved perfectly into the wood all the way around.

Kate blinked away a few more tears and shook her head again. She lied down, resting her head on Vincent, using him as a pillow. "It's barely even dinner time yet." she muttered, shaking her head. She tapped her fingers on the ground, beginning to get bored. It was hard to just sit around like this and do nothing, especially for her. Forcing herself to leave her tent though seemed to be even harder.

After about five seconds of lying there, she got bored and sat up. Rubbing her eyes, she stood and glanced around. She had found the letters, maybe now she'd stop hallucinating. Her fever was still up, but she had a feeling now that that had nothing to do with the hallucinations. Glancing down at Vincent, she tried to decide whether to take him or not. Figuring he was probably just as bored as she was, she knelt down and took his leash.

The two of them walked slowly out of her tent, though sat down right outside. Kate was still quite nervous about getting captured. She unhooked Vincent's leash from his collar and looked at him. "Where's your tennis ball?" she asked him.

The dog look at her and blinked for a few seconds, then turned and took off down the beach towards the tent he used to stay in. Hopefully that's where it was. He couldn't remember where he'd put it. It'd been quite awhile since he'd actually played with it. He stopped outside his tent and sat down in the sand, trying to think. He glanced at Kate and wagged his tail. He wanted to play, so he needed to find it. It had to be around here somewhere. He walked inside the tent, poking his nose in all the little cracks and holes. Eventually it brushed against his tennis ball and he pulled it out. Wagging his tail, he ran back to Kate with it. After he dropped it on her lap, he began bouncing around.

Kate smiled smally and picked the ball up off her lap. She glanced around then threw it as far as she could, watching as the dog ran after it and brought it back. She continued to throw it several times until her arm got tired and she began to get bored with the game. She sighed and picked up the ball. "Let's go back in and get something to eat." she said, looking down at the dog.

Standing up, she turned and headed back into her tent. With a sigh, she picked up another piece of guava. "Are you hungry?" she asked Vincent as she picked up a knife and cut it for them. She forced a smile and once again gave the dog half while she ate the other half. She finished half of what she had then sighed and gave the rest to the dog. She found it hard to keep her thoughts off of Jack, and once they had found their way back to him, she had found herself no longer having an appetite. "We watched the sunset together once." she said quietly to Vincent, looking outside as the sun began to slowly go down. "It was really nice. We just sat there in silence." She smiled smally. "I ended up falling asleep about five minutes after it went down and he had to pick me up and carry me to my tent." She closed her eyes and sniffled, her smile slowly fading.

What was the point of this? Why was she forcing herself to be miserable when she knew he wasn't coming back? Why was she trying to rely on false hope? It was amazing how she could go to semi-happy to crying within a matter of seconds.

Opening her eyes, she stared outside as the sun slowly went down. Everything was blurry do to her tears though. She wasn't sure how long she stood there, seeming to be in a trans, just thinking. It was completely dark though when she snapped out of it.

Eyes red and puffy from crying, she lied down on the sand, shaking her head. "There's no point in this." she said quietly. "I just want to be with him." And tomorrow, she would be with him. Tomorrow she'd die and finally she'd be with him. "It wasn't supposed to be like this." She shook her head, almost choking on a sob. "It wasn't supposed to end like this. We were supposed to have a happy ending. Not like this."

Vincent lied down a few feet away from her and glanced over at her. He shifted slightly and closed his eyes, just listening to her ramble. He was a dog. He didn't know what she was talking about. He knew sit, stay, come, roll over, and where's your tennis ball?. That was all.

Kate watched the dog than sighed. Great. She was boring the poor thing to sleep with her depressed rambling. "Night Vincent." she muttered. With a sigh, she rolled over and closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep.