Chapter 3: Confusion and Fear

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It's quite beautiful here. Almost peaceful. She was surrounded by different shades of green, rustling in the wind. Like the sea. If Melissa closed her eyes and concentrated, she could hear the roaring sea, behind the green curtain of the tropical jungle.

After having escaped the tense atmosphere of the camp, she had trod along the beach for awhile, then she had headed almost unconsciously towards the old bunker. Although it wasn't that far from the campsite, Melissa had not reached it, nor had she found Eric. In truth, she hadn't searched for him that hard and had in fact stopped some time ago. She wasn't too worried about him; if someone in the island knew how to best act to his own interest, it was definitely Eric. And Jackson. Her throat felt tight.

It's not his fault that he doesn't like me.

The more Melissa thought about the current situation, the madder she became to herself. How in earth's name had she ever thought that someone like Jackson could ever fancy her? She had been a fool; practically throwing herself to him, hoping that once they got back home, things were going to be different. Now it seemed that they would never get back home, and even if they did, things had already changed and not for the direction she had wanted.

Jackson and Taylor? The thought of them together made her stomach knot; made her feel nauseous. Melissa wondered, if it would have hurt as much if Jackson had chosen to fall for Daley. Melissa had always seen Taylor as self-centred and spoiled; perhaps not outright malicious, but certainly thoughtless towards the feelings of others. And this just proves that. Taylor had known perfectly well what Melissa felt for Jackson, and still the other girl had purposely gotten close to him. Melissa felt she had been deceived.

They made me look like a fool.

Melissa leaned back into a palm tree and closed her eyes. Damned if I'll cry over this. The bark was rough against her back, and the wind was trying to tear down her hair from its bun; she felt a twist of hair in her face. Faintly, she could hear the sea. Her throat was still tight; she breathed deep, trying to force the tears back. She would most certainly not cry over this.

He could have told me.

Some part of her wanted to blame him; to rage against Jackson for not telling her about Taylor, for letting her to believe that something could happen between them. Why had he not told her? Melissa didn't think that courage had been an issue; maybe she was still blind towards him, but certainly Jackson had more courage than anyone else in the island. She couldn't also believe that he wouldn't care enough of her to tell her the truth; he was not heartless or thoughtless. The only reason she could think of was that he had felt sorry for her, and had not wanted to crash her fantasies, deciding instead to indulge them. That thought only made her feel worse; like she was some pathetic creature, whom he pitied.

God, please, do not let him pity me.

She didn't know what he thought of her anymore. Melissa was certain that although Jackson had not been straightforward with her, they really had been friends before. She hoped the angry words they had exchanged wouldn't break that friendship. Suddenly Melissa felt a new kind of fear take hold of her: what if their friendship really was finished? Daley and Nathan were too involved with each other to take notice of anything else, Lex was just a kid, and there was no way Eric or Taylor would become her confidant. She would be utterly alone without Jackson.

I just want things to go back to the way they were before.

But that was quite impossible. She had already seen the two of them together, so close to each other, heads and arms touching. She ached all over remembering it, knowing that Taylor had gotten what she herself had for so long wanted. Melissa felt herself blush, when she recalled all she had dreamed about.

"Hey."

Melissa startled; she jumped, heart pounding, the familiar voice coming right behind her ear. Slowly she turned, trying to will down the blush on her cheeks.

"I didn't mean to sneak upon you." Jackson stood next to the palm tree she had been leaning against, an apologetic smile in his lips.

He is speaking to me. After all the silence between them, she felt relieved and frightened at the same time. Melissa knew that the moment had come: they would have to solve whatever was between them, or they would feel uncomfortable around each other for ever. In an instant, the situation had become heavy with the knowledge how much was in stake.

"Hey." She barely got the word out of her mouth.

Silence fell over them; Jackson stood looking at her, uncertainty written all over him. Melissa felt desperation starting to take hold of her. She willed herself to speak. "It's ok. I'm not mad at you."

Jackson lowered his eyes to the ground, then raised them quickly towards her again. She had let the cat out of the bag, again, when he hadn't known where to start.

"You should be angry at me. I wouldn't blame you, if you didn't want to speak to me ever again."

Melissa shook her head; his mere voice had already managed to dispel whatever anger she had still felt towards him. "I'm glad we are speaking."

"You were right, I should have been honest with you." Jackson's gaze was intense, and Melissa fought the urge to turn her eyes away from him.

"And I am sorry for leaving things to be…so tense between us." She didn't say anything, just waited for Jackson to continue.

He seemed to collect his thoughts, to search for the right way to begin.

"The truth is, I don't know what is between us, or between me and Taylor. This whole situation…"

"What do you mean?" Melissa was now confused. How could he not know what he felt?

Jackson's voice was frustrated. "I mean that we are stuck here, on this island, the seven of us. And of course relationships are born and developed between all of us, because we all need security and comfort to survive here. And I don't think that should be a bad thing."

"You mean we have very limited choice of people..…to be friends with."

"Yes - no, I am not saying that I am being your friend because there is no one else. I mean that this is a very small circle we have here. Kind of twisted mini society. And living with so close with each other, it's inevitable that people just…react and connect."

Melissa sighed. She understood what Jackson was speaking about, knew it to be true, but still couldn't help but feel a little bit annoyed that he dismissed his feelings so easily.

"So you connected with Taylor?"

"Yeah. We started talking, and after awhile we just understood each other better."

Melissa felt a bang in her heart. If you had talked to me, I could perhaps understand you a little better.

"What you saw…it was just two people searching comfort from each other." Jackson was looking at her carefully, trying to read her face.

"So you have started to like her…you don't have to apologise for that. I get that. It's alright. It's like you said - people can't really help what they feel." Melissa tried to keep her voice strong; she plunged on. "Just because I like you, doesn't mean you have to feel the same way." There, I said it.

"But I do. You're my best friend here Mel." He was watching her growing confusion with an amused and fond smile.

"But - let me get this straight." She was trying to organise all she had heard to a rational explanation. "You're friends with me and now with Taylor. You like me - and you like her, but still you don't really know what you feel."

"That's about right." Jackson's voice told her that he knew very well that the situation was still more than complicated, but that he really couldn't offer her anything else. She had asked for the truth after all.

They looked at each other, feeling they had reached a stalemate. Where to go from here?

"But does all this really matter?" His question took her by surprise.

"What are you saying?"

"We are so caught up in all this drama, these relationships that we lose focus of the real problem." Once again, Jackson's face looked frustrated, his whole body tense. "We should be thinking how to get of this island, how to get back home."

Melissa wanted to say that all this really did matter, but she also understood where he was getting at. The big issue, the question looming over their heads, would always be of rescue, never of who's with whom.

"Things can't go on like this for much longer." His voice was firm.

Melissa felt suddenly uneasy and worried; not because of the words themselves, for they were true, but the way he said them. Like he would be willing to take matters into his own hands; to actually do something -anything- to get them back home. She suspected that Jackson took their isolation in the island as badly as everyone else; he just had put up a better front at coping with it.

"What do you think we should do?" Melissa's question held an anxious note on it. They had finally learned to work as a group; she was afraid that rocking the boat too much would plunge them all to deep waters.

Jackson sighed. "I don't know. We should at least try to build a more durable raft, and maybe - maybe some of us should leave and try to get to the other side of the island."

Splitting the group in half was the last thing Melissa wanted. "I think we still have time before…things get that desperate."

Jackson looked as if he might disagree, but all he said was, "The storm is getting closer, we should head back to camp."

Melissa decided to drop the issue; she didn't want another thing for them to argue over. She followed Jackson as he started to walk towards the beach, noticing that the dark clouds were covering the bright sky with alarming speed. She had been too caught up in their conversation to pay attention to the changes in the weather; the wind was definitely stronger, tearing her hair and clothes, and the temperature had clearly dropped. Melissa shivered in her t-shirt, having left her jacket back to camp. The sooner they got to shelter, the better.

They were just stepping from the jungle to the beach, the ocean's roar increasing its volume, when Jackson stopped so suddenly that Melissa almost bumped into his back. Before she had any time to react, Jackson grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to the obscure undergrowth.

"What-"

"Quiet." Jackson interrupted, a finger against his lips. Melissa managed to obey in spite of her growing curiosity. What were they hiding from?

Jackson knelt behind a bush, dragging her beside him. He motioned her to look to the beach.

What the - O My God!

Jackson's hand in her arm was the only thing stopping Melissa from rushing headlong to the beach, where four figures walked towards the camp. She had recognised Eric immediately, but the other three she didn't know. They were strangers! Had the rescue come at last? She couldn't understand what Jackson was doing, hiding out of the sight of the group in the beach.

That is, not until he pointed towards the men and whispered, "Guns".

For a small moment that felt like eternity, Melissa could hardly think. The heart in her chest seemed to beat louder and faster, but the air was stuck in her lungs, unable to get out. She took another look at the situation in the beach, but couldn't make any sense of it; it felt foreign, completely alien to their life at the island.

She knew this much though: it was horribly, utterly, wrong.

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This is like crashing all over again.

Eric felt sick to his stomach; a bitter pile was rising in his throat. He remembered the vigorous beating and shaking of the plane; the freefalling, the deep horrifying plummeting into the unknown. He couldn't decide, if it had been worse than the small black gun that was now being pointed to his back.

He was walking towards the camp, the three men right behind him. The men he had thought were bringing rescue, not - whatever they were instead bringing.

Maybe they are not bringing anything - but taking.

Eric gagged, when the wind swirled sand straight into his mouth; the pile was rising and he closed his eyes briefly, trying to push it back down, only to almost stumble over his own feet. He straightened himself quickly, continuing to walk along the beach. The camp was getting nearer.

Please, do not be there.

But Eric knew it was a futile hope; with the storm approaching, everyone was surely back in camp, huddling together in their tent. For a moment he considered yelling a warning to them, but dismissed the idea quickly. They would not hear him, the wind's howl would cover his voice, until they were right in the camp and then it would be too late. And besides, he really didn't want to get shot.

And who knew, maybe things would work out. Maybe the armed men wouldn't do anything to them, but would let them be, once the men had seen that they were completely harmless. Maybe the thugs would just look at the camp and then leave. Perhaps all the men wanted was some food and there they had certainly come to the right place; no one in the whole island had as good fish and coconut as they had. Eric felt an odd, almost hysterical laugh starting to bubble in his chest.

Oh yeah, and maybe they'll tell us all of this is just a huge mistake and they'll take us back to Hawaii and give us a satellite phone to call home.

Eric swallowed back a sob, concentrating on the pace of his feet. He could see the outlines of the camp; the plane and the shelter circling the small clearing where they had built their fireplace. He almost stopped.

It had felt like an eternity before the shaking plane had crashed to the ground, the metal shrieking and tearing all around him. It took only a moment though, for them to reach the camp; only a moment to step into their self-made shelter; only a moment to register the confused and fearful looks they were getting.

Behind him, Eric heard an amused voice of a man.

"Home sweet home, eh?"

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That's all for now! Please review what you thought - do the characters seem plausible?

I try to update at least once in a week, so next week brings: Jackson and Melissa try to figure out what is happening and what they should do, and someone in the camp cannot believe all this is really happening…