Chapter 11: While Haunted…

It came too suddenly, yet no matter how many times it returned the dream took him by surprise. The flashes of his mother's scared face, her feet running out of his room, and the soon after blood pool on his bedroom floor dripping off his bed above, all ran through his mind. Only this time, the dreadful dream did not end with the gun shot; it merely was the beginning tone for another destructive dream that followed, that was also created by painful memories. He stood in a dark forest staring in pure terror and shock, down at London, resting in a puddle of her own shed blood. Her lifeless body was pale, though the young girl still held an expression of strength and authority. Sawyer winced; flashes of his time with her on the island flew before his eyes as the nightmare continued. Her soft voice with its childish remains echoed in his ears.

Even in his dream the presence of her past echoed in how she said every word; she spoke with understanding sorrow, and as always, with strength. All he could see from then on was her breathless body lying in the empty jungle, and the same thought kept coming back.. that is was his fault another person was dead, and a young one at that. The colors began to blend together; black and red, and a pulse sound became more prevalent each moment, then overpowering London's voice. The pulse drowned everything out; the beat was slow and weak, but still loud in his mind.

Breathing heavily, he woke up, his hands gripped something. The piercing darkness was thick; he couldn't see two feet in front of him. The dim fire that he had fallen asleep to was long gone. His rushing heart still pounded in his ears.

"Sawyer" He heard a gentle scared whisper.

After blinking his eyes adjusted to the lighting, the layers of darkness were pealed away, then revealing a visibly shaken Kate before him. No longer could she hide what she was thinking. For a short time he had brought her to a venerable state; she had seen him terrified in his sleep by some dream.
"You were shaking." She told him in the same scared whisper that was barely audible.

She had fallen asleep in his arms from when he had been comforting her hours before. Looking down he saw that he was griping her wrists; then he saw her scared expression that she wore as plain as day. Sawyer knew how frightened Kate was at that moment. His fingers slid from her wrists up her arms and he then gentle laid his hands on her shoulders and pulled her into him till her head was tucked underneath his chin.
As Kate lay in his arms she knew his thoughts, but she did not think they were in need of exposure. Simply knowing what he was going through was enough; Kate had no need for him to verbally admit them. Sawyer also knew how she was feeling at the moment. Their understanding was a slight comfort to one another as they lay against the trunk of a tree before the morning sun rose to dawn a new day.

It was Kate rushing around their small camp site that they had rested in doing different little things that woke Sawyer up the next morning. Kate has woken up about an hour before and quietly left his arms to take a look around where they were in daylight. Upon her return from her small exploration she had not tried to be awfully silent; truth be told she had been loud on purpose for she was tired of Sawyer sleeping in.

"Tryin' to wake the dead, Freckles?" Sawyer said waking up with some what of a lazy start.

Kate sat stubbornly down on a near by rock and indignantly ignored his comment. Her mood swings were beginning to be as changing as the island's weather.
Sawyer got up and stretched.

"So ya gonna sit on your pretty lil ass all day or are we gonna get back to explorin' Gilligan's island?"

"What's the point?" Kate asked with a terribly confused tone. "We're only making our fate the same as London's."

"So what? We're just gonna stay here like sitting ducks and wait as the 90 thieves plot their next attack on island-villa?"

"What do you honestly expect, Sawyer?

"I expect you to get up off your ass and give a damn! Moppin' around ain't your style, Freckles. Nothing you do is going to bring her back, nothing you do is gonna change and of it on the island or whatever the hell it is ya did before we crashed here that screwed ya up so bad!"

Kate stared in disbelief at the man before her. All she wanted to do was hurt him. Hurt him for knowing her so well and knowing that she was better than she often lead people on to believe.

"You think you know me?" Kate said with a sly twisted smile that came off as if she was trying to say the answer was opposite than that which was the truth. She stood a few feet away from him and tried her hardest to block him from reading her, but she knew she couldn't. She tried to act as if he did not really know her as well as he did and she wanted him to think that he did not. Kate's stance was one of aggression that evoked her fearful purpose to discourage Sawyer.

Sawyer, had he not had been so aware of who Kate was, would have been hurt by her accusations of him not knowing her. But instead he kept his face emotionless and walked toward Kate.
He walked slowly and carefully with his face toward the ground viewing every step as if was of the utmost importance, but it was his destination that he thought most significant.

When he stood right in front of her he was so close she could feel his body heat. He leaned in and brought his lips close to hers. Kate felt butterflies in her stomach as her green eyes scanned his close face.

"Yeah, I do. So don't you even think about trying to say different." Sawyer spoke softly right to her in a calm, controlled voice.

Sawyer then created distance between them by slowly pulling away while keeping eye contact.

Sawyer grabbed his backpack and headed off into the jungle. He didn't say anything else to Kate, he did not even turn around to see if she was following him.

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