"Hey, that weird bald guy brought everybody some mangoes—want one?" Kody held out a shirt full of fruit.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry," Aeron was pretty much never hungry, she watched him turn and walk away feeling relieved. She'd spent a week with her friend Sandy in Australia and every time she turned around there was some kind of food being shoved at her, and she'd get upset if Aeron didn't try any. If she didn't feel like eating that was her business, just because everyone else wanted her to get fat...
Aeron frowned, she needed to find some way to exercise, this island didn't have any of the machines she needed. She could swim, but who knew what was out there? Poison jellyfish, stingrays, sharks, maybe even evil dolphins! There was running, but they'd already heard something in the jungle so she'd have to stay on the beach. Hopping over people and luggage ought to burn a few calories.
So Aeron ran. Over sand, wreckage, possessions, and the glares of other survivors who didn't disguise that they thought she was crazy. She'd just started to lose count of the number of laps she'd run, when someone grabbed on to her arm and stopped her from moving.
"What the hell are you doing?! Let go of me!" Aeron tried to squirm loose from the man, but his grip was too tight.
"Whoa, there. I'm sorry to grab you like this Miss," he paused hoping to be supplied with a name and got only a glare. "The thing is, you're starting to upset people, and surely they have enough to worry about already."
Aeron finally managed to wrench her arm free, mostly because he let up a little, "Who cares? I need to run so I'm going to run. Who the hell are you anyway?"
"My name is John Locke, but you don't seem to be offering anyone your name."
Oh yeah, the crazy bald guy, she'd heard of him, "You aren't getting it either, creep. I'm going to keep myself busy until a boat, or a plane, or something comes to get us, alright?"
John sighed and shook his head—why couldn't people be reasonable? "I hope you've got some bottles of water and something to eat. Running like that in this heat will make you sick."
Food. Why did it always come back to that? Aeron decided not to dignify that with a response and stomped away from Locke as quickly as she could, resolved not to run lest he decide to grab her again.
John called after her, "I've got some to spare if you need it!"
Aeron twitched, "I could tell you what to do with it! Don't talk to me!"
Having stomped all the way to the tree line, Aeron settled down next to a papaya tree, holding her nose to block out the smell of overripe fruit. She was thirsty now, but there wasn't any way she would crawl back to camp looking for a bottle. Hadn't Jack and some others gone off this way in search of the cockpit? She hoped they'd be back soon, she didn't want to deal with Locke, and the way everyone seemed to run to Jack it made sense to keep closer to him so she didn't have to worry about John.
A rustling behind Aeron that definitely was not the wind made her freeze. Sure there'd been the weird thing with trees and that noise the night before, but she'd half convinced herself it hadn't happened. Steeling herself, Aeron turned to look for the cause of the sound. A golden retriever stood in a gap in the foliage looking out at her. She rubbed her eyes, and when she opened them the dog was gone. Maybe the running had been a bad idea after all.
A/N: Aeron everyone! I've rewritten this one a few times, still not quite sure about it, so I hope you'll let me know how it is. Thanks again for reviewing, it's tough working with other people's characters, and the responses always encourage me especially when I'm stuck.