I am not happy. There has been a noticeable decline of reviews with each chapter. Are my chapters getting worse? You can tell me. Be honest.
Miles followed Charlie and Boone as they led him across the beach to meet their friends. "Okay, well, where should we start?" Charlie said, clapping his hands and looking around. "Ah, well, this here was one of the first people ever to die other than on the crash. Miles, I'd like you to meet my good friend Steve."
"Scott," he corrected.
"Yeah that too," Charlie said uncomfortably. Miles snickered.
"How good of friends can you be if you can't remember his name?" Miles asked.
"Hey, no one on that island can remember his name," Charlie said defensively. "We would always mix him up with Steve, I mean, they look practically the same."
"We look nothing alike!" Scott exclaimed.
"Actually you were really similar," Boone said honestly.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Steve," Miles said.
"I think I should legally change my name," Scott mumbled.
"Yeah, yeah," Charlie said. "Just go report your case to the Supreme Court of Island."
Scott rolled his eyes and walked away. Miles laughed. "Wow, if everyone is like that guy, I think I might like it here."
"He really does look like Scott!" Charlie said.
"That was Scott," Miles told him.
"Whatever!" Charlie said impatiently. "Oh, look who it is now, our favorite person on this island, here he is. He's the reason we're all here, please put your hands together for Seth Norris, Oceanic Airlines pilot!"
Boone and Charlie clapped unenthusiastically as someone was walking by. "You know, you can't blame me. Blame your friend…what's his name? The one that didn't enter the numbers in that computer and crashed the plane?"
"How do you know about that?" Charlie said.
"Eko told me," Norris said simply. "Who are you?"
"My name is Miles Straume, most likely the only one here that does not blame you for being here," Miles said. "Wait-did that make sense? The only one that doesn't blame you for me…the only one that is here and doesn't blame you…?"
Miles went on like that and they carried on the conversation without him. "Why doesn't he blame me?" Norris asked.
"Because he's not really dead," Boone said. "It's just his spirit here-it's kind of a long story so just believe me."
Norris nodded, though evidently confused. He walked away too. "I'd expect more people to be here on account of the crash and all," Miles said after he was done ranting.
"Well, there are," Boone said. "They don't live on the beach. We just hang out here during the day. Some of us live on the beach, but only those who really connected with the island. Like me. I was a sacrifice the island demanded. The island wants me. But every else, they live in the abandoned Others' town."
"That isn't abandoned anymore," Miles muttered. "That's where Locke has me captured. There's a boathouse there by the river."
"Cool, let's go," Charlie said. They grabbed their bags and said a quick goodbye to the pilot and Scott, who were in a big argument about airline food. They also passed by Ana, Libby, Shannon, Nikki, and Paulo.
"Hey, where are you guys going?" Libby asked.
"Barracks," Charlie said. "We're going to see who lives there."
"Yeah," Boone said. "We haven't seen who's living where recently."
"I haven't ever been there," Charlie put in. "Want to tag along?"
"Is he coming?" Shannon nodded towards Miles.
"Yes," Miles said bitterly. "Is there a problem with that?"
"Then I'm not going," Shannon said stubbornly.
"Oh, come on, Shan," Boone rolled his eyes. "It's just a walk through the jungle. And anyway, you could use the exercise."
Shannon's face grew brick red with anger while everyone else cracked up laughing. She stood up, shoved her bag into Boone's hands, and said, "Give me ten minutes." She walked away.
Boone grinned proudly. "Are you all going to come along?" Boone asked the other four.
"Sure," Ana shrugged, and Libby agreed. Nikki and Paulo, however, decided to stay behind. Shannon met up with them at the tree line a few minutes later and they set off for the Barracks.
It didn't take long for them to spot the first sign of the Barracks: the boathouse. "Now you can see for yourself that I'm not dead," Miles said. "C'mon, I'll show you." He stepped inside with everyone else following him.
"Whoa, it's like, you," Boone said. He waved his hand in front of Miles' body's face. "Ha, you don't even react!" He put his hand through Miles' forehead. "It's like I'm touching air and nothing's even there!"
"Don't do that!" Miles exclaimed impatiently, pushing Boone's hand away. "You might end up hurting me! Or you may even put your spirit in my body!"
"So I'd come back to life?" Boone asked curiously.
"You know what?" Miles said. "We shouldn't even have come in here. Come on, I want to go meet people. No! Stay away from me!" he warned Shannon.
They went through the walls again and walked towards the living area of the Barracks. Spotting the first house, Boone stepped up and boldly knocked on the door.
"I'm well known around here," Boone explained. "I was one of the first to die, like I said, the island wanted me. I walk up to peoples' houses and knock on the door, just because I can."
Before anyone could do anything more than Shannon rolling her eyes, the door opened. "Hey," Boone greeted. "I, uh, I actually don't believe we've met before. When'd you die?"
"It was only a few days ago," the man said.
"I see," Boone said. "Well, I'm Boone, and this is Miles, Ana, Libby, Shannon, and-."
"We've met," the man grinned evilly.
"Figures," Charlie scoffed. "We've got some unfinished business anyway, don't we, Mikhail?"
There was silence, and everyone watched as Charlie and Mikhail glared daggers at each other. "I can just see the tenseness," Miles whispered after a while.
They all burst out laughing again, while Charlie shot a sharp look at them too. "Seriously, though, what's with the tenseness?" Miles asked.
"Ask him," Charlie spat, referring to Mikhail.
"Oh, come on!" Mikhail said impatiently. "It was your destiny. If you didn't die then, the universe would've course-corrected itself and killed you some other way!"
After another few moments of silence, Ana said, "Okay, let me get this straight…he killed you?" Ana asked Charlie.
"Blew himself up in the process," Charlie smirked.
"Ha, ha, you guys are dead!" Miles laughed in a sing-song voice.
"Have you not seen where you are?" Mikhail asked. "It looks like you're dead too."
"I'm tired of explaining," Miles sighed. "I'm a spiritualist. I talk to dead people as a job. Right now I'm just doing it because I'm bored."
"So you hate each other because you killed him?" Shannon asked Mikhail. He nodded. "Oh, hmm, does this remind you of anything?" Shannon said, glancing angrily at Ana.
"I'm sorry, okay?!" Ana yelled. "It was an accident!"
"All it took was an apology," Shannon said softly. Ana rolled her eyes and said nothing.
"Really?" Mikhail asked excitedly. "I'm sorry, Charlie."
"Good, but I still hate you," Charlie said.
"Dude, what's going on over here?" someone asked from behind Mikhail.
"Oh, who's this now?" Miles sighed.
Once again, an intense silence swept over them all. "You couldn't break the tenseness with a hammer," Miles said softly.
Okay, I know I introduced only one more character as a conversation but all in all I think it's a pretty good chapter. Do you agree? Tell me in your reviews!