1.3 Six months prior to present day. Darwin, Australia.
You found it hard to walk, finally on solid ground, after weeks aboard that ship. As you made your way on foot into the city centre, finally for the first time in years, you realised you couldn't smell that salty coast air. As you descended into the city, everything seemed distantly familiar, yet so foreign. Cars, traffic lights, sirens, smog, crowds of people. It was surreal. And you kept blinking, as if you expected it all to vanish before your very eyes.
You said nothing to one another as you crossed the busy street. You had nothing in the way of money or ID. You were essentially stranded in a foreign city. You were going to have a very hard time explaining who you were and where you'd come from.
It was fortunate that no one on board that ship spoke English. A lucky thing that ship was illegally and secretly docked in Australia. Kate had been right, it would be so easy to slip away unnoticed. It was tempting. The three of you jumped off that ship into Australia, and no one so much as blinked. It had all been frighteningly easy.
"Let me." Kate offered as she turned into a motel on the main road.
You and Jack followed her inside, but you turned your head, not really wanting to know what kind of tale Kate was spinning to get you into that motel room without so much as a credit card between the three of you.
"She's unbelievable." Jack shook his head in disgust.
"Yes." You answered defensively, adoration in your voice "She is amazing."
Kate, giving a fake name and smiling brightly, spun some story to explain her dishevelled appearance and lack of ID. The man at the desk smiled back at her. It hurt you a little to see her flirting with him. And it hurt more to see how easy she had slipped behind this mask. You'd read all about her life on the run, the marriages, fake names, different identities, and it scared you to see the real Kate vanish before your very eyes so suddenly.
Wearily made your way to the five star room Kate had managed to talk you into. It was all so different from the way you had imagined it. You anticipated it would have been taken out of your hands. You imagined media everywhere. Rachel would see you on TV before you even had a chance to try and explain. The police would come for Kate. It would all be over. This was an anti climax. A strange reprieve for you and Kate both.
"Back in the real world." Jack announced, in relief and disbelief. He helped himself to a drink from the mini bar, and made himself at home on the sofa.
You stood for a moment, surveying your surroundings. Trying to ascertain if this was just another dream.
"It doesn't feel like home." You mumbled. Everything felt so strange, you felt like an alien.
"When you get back to the states you'll feel better." Kate said as she approached you from behind.
It didn't escape your notice that Kate said 'you' and not 'we'.
"How are we going to get back, we have no money, no ID?" you wondered aloud, deliberately emphasising the 'We.'
"Your sister will come and get you." Kate answered, again talking in the singular.
"And you, Kate?" You finally asked.
Kate only shrugged and turned away from you.
Jack broke the awkward silence. "Look Kate, I'm not going to turn you in. But I'm not going to hide out here with you either. I'm waiting for my family to get in touch with the embassy tomorrow, and I'll be on a plane back home by tomorrow afternoon. You too Juliet, if you want to come. I'll be home by the end of the week."
"What are you going to tell them?" Kate asked him, ignoring the rest of his statement. "They think you're dead."
"The truth, that I survived the plane crash, was stranded on an island, a ship came past. I'll tell them I'm the sole survivor, I already told you I won't turn you in. But I won't help you either."
"And Juliet?" Kate wanted to know "What will you tell them about her?"
"Well that's a lot easier. Since they don't think she died in a plane crash. Her sister will just have to prove her identity."
Kate nodded. He seemed to have it all figured out. And you sat silently as they discussed your fate, as if it had nothing to do with you.
"And you, Kate?" You asked her again.
"This place isn't so bad. I like Australia. I could learn to like it."
You shook your head.
"There is nothing for me back home Juliet. No one waiting for me. Just a murder trial." She explained.
It had been an ongoing debate between the two of you since you first realised you were going to slip into the real world undetected. Finally, she had wore you down. Perhaps she was right. Who were you to drag her back to the states? Could you live with yourself if you coerced her into going home and she was locked away for the next twenty years?
"Ok." You agreed "We'll stay." Just like that, your fate decided.
This met with arguments from Jack and Kate both.
"Are you crazy?" Jack asked you "You're finally free, finally get to go home, and you want to throw it all away, for her?"
She is my home, you wanted to say to Jack. Instead you said nothing, staring at him defiantly. He turned from you then, to Kate "Don't drag her down with you Kate. Turn yourself in, for once in your life do the right thing."
"Shut up" you told him. "It's nothing to do with you."
"Just trying to help. " He protested, as he retreated to the bathroom for a long awaited shower, leaving you and Kate alone.
There was no choice about it. If she wasn't coming back to the USA with you, then you were staying in Australia with her. End of story.
You remembered how Kate had hesitated when she saw that ship approach the island. Jack had run for his life to climb on board, but Kate had stood still, staring. You thought she was thinking about the trial, the things facing her back home. And you understood her hesitation. But instead she turned to you and said.
"It won't be the same, back there."
"What?" You asked
"You and me." She answered sadly.
"Don't be silly." You told her "It will be better you'll see, away from this place."
It's not like there was another option. The three of you were the three sole survivors on that island. There were too many bad memories, too much death. You would have driven each other insane stuck on that place a moment longer. You needed to get off that island. No question about it.
Only now do you finally realise Kate was right to be afraid. Nothing was the same, everything was so much more complicated back in the real world. And for the first time you caught yourself longing as you never ever imagined you would, to be back on that island.