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Chapter 3

"Hey, Claire" I smiled, sinking into the sand next to her, "how are you feeling today?"

Claire leaned back in the sand a little, resting on one elbow while her other hand mindlessly skimmed over her pregnant belly. I liked Claire, she was the same age as me, and her situation was familiar to me.

"I'm feeling ok, but the baby hasn't moved in a while, I'm sure he is ok though" Claire explained, chewing on her bottom lip.

"He?"

"Yeah I think so, the baby just feels like a boy, you know?"

"Yeah I do" I murmured.

"If you still can't feel the baby moving when Jack gets back, speak to him about it. But I'm sure everything is fine" I told her, squeezing her hand.

We sat in easy quiet for a while; Claire's eyes were closed as she lay back in the sand. I sat with my chin resting on my knees, thinking about what was going on in the real world. It is funny how I thought about things, everything that wasn't the island was the "real world", and the island was something else. What exactly the island was in my mind I'm not sure.

I wandered the beach for a while before returning to my tent. I was pretty nervy, I wanted Jack, Kate and Charlie to be back. I wanted them to be back and to have that transceiver working. I just wanted to go home or at least go to L.A where I originally intended.

"They're back!" I heard someone shout, and heard dozens of feet pounding against the sand.

I crawled out of my tent and followed the crowd of survivors, jogging on their heels, towards the jungle boundary. Kate, Jack and Charlie stumbled out of the trees. Jack's face was hard, Kate didn't look happy and Charlie looked like he was going to be sick. Dread rolled through me, what had happened? From out of his pack, Jack pulled out a bulky looking radio type thing.

"Does anyone know how to work this thing?" Kate called out.

Sayid stepped forward.

"I can take a look" Sayid said.

"What would you know about it?" Sawyer asked, arms folded across his chest.

"I was a Communications officer in the Republican guard" Sayid stated.

Jack passed the transceiver to Sayid before walking away towards the Marshall's tent. Kate just shook her head lightly before moving to watch Sayid mess with the transceiver. I followed Jack to the Marshall's tent; I wouldn't be any help to Sayid.

"How is he? Did I do the bandages ok?" I asked Jack as I crawled into the tent behind him.

Quietly, Jack checked him over and gave him so more little red tablets and water. Jack leaned back and smiled at me.

"Yeah, these bandages are fine, Ollie. Thank you for helping with this today. Did Sawyer act up?"

"Nope, he was fine. Claire seemed good too, well she said she couldn't feel the baby move but that's fine now. Everything was pretty good – except the whole stranded on a desert island thing" I joked.

Jack smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.

"What happened in the jungle?" I asked him.

"We found the cockpit, and the pilot. He was alive. He said we were thousands of miles off course before we even got told to put our seat belts on. The transceiver is broken, even the God damn pilot didn't know how to fix it" Jack exclaimed, slamming his fist into the blanket covered sand.

"Where is he?"
"He was killed" Jack said bluntly.

"Killed?" I whispered "by what?"

"I don't know. We heard crashing and banging in the jungle, and then something only God knows what…plucked…him out of the plane. We ran and found him hanging from a tree, dead, and covered in blood"

"Mama! Mama!" screamed a girl no older than five, I didn't recognise her, I didn't have a clue who she was.

"I don't know where your Mama is" I tried to explain to the girl, which just made her scream even more.

"You're my Mama" she howled; red rage colouring her cheeks and hardening her eyes at such a young age.

"I'm not your Mama, I'm not your Mama" I repeated over and over before the girl disappeared and her form was taken by that of Leah's.

"You're not my Mama" she said indignantly "you'll never be my Mama"

"I'm sorry, Leah, I'm sorry" I cried over and over like a mantra.

I woke up screaming, my throat burning and with hands shaking me awake. My breathing was coming in pants and my heart was racing like a stampede. I blinked rapidly, faces blurred into my vision. Jack, Kate and Claire were hovering above me; Claire's belly was protruding out close to me, it brought back memories of the nightmare. In the doorway I could see many of the other survivors, including Sawyer. He actually looked pretty worried about me, which weirdly made me feel self conscious.

"It's just a dream, Ol, You're ok" Claire said soothingly, rubbing my arm as my breathing tried to right itself.

"Thanks, Claire" I mumbled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"Drink this" Kate instructed kindly, handing over a bottle of water.

I sipped at the water, I felt pretty sick. But I drank it all the same; I didn't want to get sick on a desert island; that would be just my luck.

"I'm ok, really I am" I said quietly, trying to smile, "go back to bed, I'm sorry I woke all of you"

"Are you sure you're ok?" Jack asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, Jack. Honestly, I'm fine" I lied.

"I'll stay with Ollie, Jack" Claire smiled "I don't mind sharing her tent for the night"

"Thanks, Claire" I murmured.

The others cleared out, Kate squeezed my hand, Jack gave me a hug, and Sawyer even gave me a smile. I smiled weakly back. He did seem genuinely concerned for me; then again, everyone seemed concerned for me. I was a comforted about that, it consoled me a little. I was stranded on an island, but I at least had people who cared about me.

I lay back down and smoothed out the beach towel that I was using as a duvet cover. Claire lay down beside me, shifting at a funny angle so that she could get comfy and so she could sleep better. I smiled sadly to myself. When I was pregnant with Leah, I was pretty much nocturnal. At night, I wouldn't be able to sleep, and for hours I would wander aimlessly around the house with a hot chocolate in one hand and a book in the other. Then, when I finally got to sleep it would be nearly four in the morning.

"Thanks for this, Claire" I told her.

"Everyone needs someone sometimes, Ollie" Claire shrugged, smiling lightly at the tent covered sky.

We both were quiet, falling asleep with sound of the sea lapping on the sand outside the shelter of my rickety tent.