Is It Any Wonder?

Keane

Sometimes it's hard to know where I stand,
It's hard to know where I am,
Well maybe it's a puzzle I don't understand.
Sometimes I get the feeling that I'm
stranded in the wrong time
where love is just a lyric in a children's rhyme.


Is it any wonder I'm tired?
Is it any wonder that I feel uptight?
Is it any wonder I don't know what's right?
Oh, these days, after all the misery made,
Is it any wonder that I feel afraid?
Is it any wonder that I feel betrayed?

The Locke and the Key

Chapter Nine

"What?" Ewan blurted.

"I said Desmond isn't coming," Sayid repeated. "Sun and Jin volunteered to help me navigate the ship." He motioned to the Korean couple who was eagerly packing their things and hauling them onto the ship.

"But you said Desmond knew how to sail!" Ewan complained. He dropped his backpack full of supplies and stared Sayid square in the eye. "How do you think he got here, anyway?"

Sayid sighed. He set down his bag as well. "Ewan," he said flatly. In his eyes Ewan could see his patience had run out, but his voice remained calm. "I don't mind your strange, sudden attachment to this man, but you must realize he can't go everywhere with you."

"I'm not attached!" Ewan squealed, his voice rising a few pitches.

Sayid slung his bag back over his shoulder and replied, "Then don't complain. Get on board."

Ewan took a deep breath and bit his lip. Sayid was right--but, Ewan wasn't about to admit it. He picked up his olive green backpack and let out a small sigh. He headed to join the rest of the crew.

"Look!" Sun cried. She pointed to the shore. Standing tall was a tan statue of a foot and an ankle. It was placed awkwardly around the natural stones and sky that surrounded it.

Ewan stared at it questionably. "It only has four toes," Sayid pointed out.

Ewan felt a haunting chill roll up his spine. It was a chill he had only felt before when he was filming horror movies. The statue was so out of place, Ewan wondered how it got there.

Apparently, Sayid was wondering the same thing. "Do you think your friend could've built that?" he turned and asked Ewan.

"No," Ewan replied softly. He continued to stare at the statue with the confused look still clearly painted across his face.

Behind them, Jin asked Sun something in Korean and Sun translated to Sayid, "How did it get there?"

"We were just discussing that," Sayid answered. "We don't know..."

Sun translated back to Jin and he nodded at Sayid. Ewan continued staring.

Once Sun and Jin found the excitement was over, they headed back down below deck. Sayid was about to stand when Ewan commented out of nowhere, "That statue... that would have taken a group of people to build." Sayid nodded. "And I think it was meant to be larger," Ewan added.

"Are you okay?" Sun asked.

Ewan coughed a few more times and then pulled himself upright. He wiped the side of his mouth with his hand and pretended to put on a genuine smile. "I guess the sea just doesn't agree with me today," he said.

Sun smiled back. "I hope it gets better," she replied.

Ewan asked, "Is everything..." He paused to pat his stomach. "Alright?"

Sun had forgotten that he and Kate were the only ones she had told about the pregnancy test. She looked around to make sure Jin wasn't watching. Even though he spoke little English he would be able to tell by Sun's expression that she was speaking about something secret. "It's fine," Sun said. "Jin was happy to hear the news."

"He was?" Ewan thought out loud. Quickly, he covered with, "Of course he was. I just hope we aren't stuck on this island for nine months, if you know what I mean."

"I'm ready," Sun took a deep breath in. Apparently, she had taken Ewan's comment very seriously.

"Well, if there's anything I can do for you... em, just let me know, yeah?" Ewan asked. This time a real genuine smile slid across his face adorably. His smile reflected on Sun and she batted her eyelashes at him.

"Of course. I will let you know," she said sweetly.

"Ewan?" Sayid hollered. "I need your help with the navigation!" He motioned for Ewan to head below deck.

Ewan quickly started for Sayid, turned back and shot Sun one of his Hollywood smiles and then raced below deck. Sun nearly melted in embarrassment.

"What is it?" Ewan asked as he banged on the door leading up to the deck. He looked up urgently waiting for someone to tell him why the ship had stopped. With a hint of annoyance in his voice he mumbled to himself, "Fine." He pushed open the door and let the sunlight pour in. Ewan squinted as he headed up to see what was going on.

When he reached the deck, he saw Sayid, Sun and Jin all staring at the shore. Sun and Jin were listening to Sayid who was pointing at the shore and getting ready to climb off the boat. As Ewan got closer he heard, "Jin and I could go ashore--oh. Hello, Ewan." Sayid motioned for him to join them.

Ewan sat down next to Sun and asked, "Is this where we'll be meeting Jack?"

"Yes," Sayid answered. "I told him I would signal him with black smoke once we reached the Northern shore."

"Well if this is the Northern shore, what are we waiting for?" Ewan asked.

An awkward silence spread across the group. Jin looked at Sun, Sayid looked at Jin and Sun stared at the ground. Ewan glanced urgently around at the group. Finally, Sayid answered, "Jin feels that Sun should stay on the ship and he should stay with her." When Ewan's face began to read that expected something more, Sayid added, "I can't take the others alone if I'm caught."

"Well," Ewan smiled, looking around at the group--especially Sun. "I'll go."

"It's settled then," Sayid said as he swung his pack over his shoulder and exited the ship. "Stay here," he ordered Sun and Jin just before he left, "And take care of yourselves."

Ewan smiled directly at Sun and swung his leg over the edge of the boat. But instead of a clean swing, he foot clambered into the side of the Elizabeth. Ewan groaned and tried again, this time looking in the direction he was going.

After successfully leaving the ship and swimming ashore, Ewan caught up to Sayid and asked, "How're we gonna make sure the smoke is black and not just... smoke?"

Sayid pulled a wad of tan papers out of his backpack. "With these," he replied.

"They burn black?" Ewan asked.

"Yes."

"Cool, dude," Ewan said in his best attempt at a surfer dialect.

Sayid just laughed. "We better hurry and climb those rocks before the others realize we're here," he said.

Sayid carefully made his way up the rocky cliff with Ewan only a few steps behind him. As Sayid poked his head out to see the top of the cliff, Ewan whispered, "Are they there?"

Sayid shook his head no and climbed all the way up. Ewan nervously followed after him. His hands were still shaking from the fact that if the other found him they would kill him. As he reached to grab the last rock, his hand slipped. His feet grappled for a place to rest, but just fought the air. Sayid heard the sound of rocks and pebbles tumbling to the ground and turned around to see Ewan only holding onto the cliff with one hand. Sayid quickly reached out his hand and helped Ewan up. When Ewan reached the top of the cliff he tried to say, "Thanks," but there was no breath left in him. It barely came out as a whisper.

He took one glance at the horrible death he could have met a few seconds ago and swallowed hard. Since Sayid hadn't made a big deal out of it, neither would he.

"Come on," Sayid whispered. He crept carefully behind tents and weaved through the camp to reach one of the tan, tarp-covered tents in the middle. He sidled in the dark shadows the tent cast until he reached the opening. He pushed back the flap and stuck his gun inside. He slowly backed out as Ewan held his breath. Sayid looked over and shook his head no at Ewan. Ewan guessed that meant the others weren't there. Sayid continued to barge in on the rest of the tents until he reached the unguarded hatch with the rectangle symbol.

Carefully, but curiously Sayid outstretched his hand and eased open the door to the hatch. Once again he poked his gun instead. This time he backed away with a strange, shocked look wiped across his face. Ewan's curiosity forced his feet to drag him over to where Sayid was standing, knocked for six. "There's nothing inside," Sayid whispered to himself.

Ewan reached out and opened the door for himself. His eyes scanned the pure rock that was hidden inside the hatch. He turned back to Sayid, "Then why did Michael say it had two guards?"

Sayid answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Because there's no one here to guard it..."

"But where else would--"

"They must have found Jack and Kate," Sayid said hurriedly as he began to race off.

His curious footsteps suddenly stood still as a buzzing hum began to quiver in the distance. Ewan's hand flew straight to his ears and a few feet away Sayid was doing the same thing. The ear-piercing noise grew louder and stronger. Ewan looked up at the sky and watched the colour morph from blue to white and then purple. He closed his eyes tightly and immediately looked down. The strange lighting and sound effect suddenly died down and then everything on the island resumed to normal. Ewan cautiously let his hands fall back down to his side. First, he glanced down at the boat. Good, Sun and Jin are alright. Then he looked back at Sayid who was beginning to walk back over to him.

"What do you suppose that was?" Ewan asked.

Sayid, who was too good to answer him aloud, began to head back towards the boat. Ewan made a face at him and asked, "What are you doing?"

"We should be going," Sayid muttered.

Don't you think the song at the top perfectly matches this story? If you were to listen to the whole song you would find it's about a man who used to live in a perfect world and then a disaster happened. That song is pretty much the man saying, "Well how did you expect me to act?" And the chorus is kind of whiney too--how it keeps asking these questions. Whiney like... well, Ewan.

Wow. Yeah. So that's probably the end of this story until we get back to September with more LOST episodes. 'Til then, you will probably see me writing Desmond fics (working on one right now), Gattaca stories or Star Wars. And I might actually decide to do an Ewan flashback episode that's before Chapter one. So keep looking for me! And add COMMENTS!

--Mrs. Desmond