"Lift up your eyes and look North"? Locke has informed us that he intend to travel north to find our captured friends. This is so typical John Locke.
We made it back to camp after dark and went to our tents, luckily able to avoid contact with anyone. Nikki and Paulo agreed to keep what we saw at The Pearl secret, but who knows if they'll actually do it.
Locke sent Desmond to get Hurley and Charlie. I stand with him and Sayid at the jungle side of the tree line and Des, Charlie, and Hurley show up soon. "What happened?" Charlie asks.
"Eko is dead," Locke tells him.
"We found his body in the jungle," Sayid says. "Buried him yesterday."
"How did he die?"
"The Island killed him," Locke answers and I roll my eyes.
"What do you mean 'the Island killed him'?" Charlie asks, but Locke doesn't respond. "What do you mean 'the Island killed him'?" Charlie asks again.
"You know what it means," Locke answers. "With the doctor gone, the camp's on edge enough without people having to worry about what's out here in the jungle. They're going to look to you two to see how to react," he says, nodding to Hurley and Charlie. "So when I tell everyone what happened I need you to help keep things calm."
"Dude, you okay?" Hurley asks. I look up and follow his gaze to Desmond, who's looking agitated and jumpy, staring off into nowhere. "Hey guys, what's wrong with Desmond?"
The next thing I know Des takes off ou of the jungle and onto the beach. Instinctively, my legs follow him. I see him rip off his shirt and dive into the water. "What is he doing?" Sayid calls behind me.
I see Des swim intently further out to sea. In the distance a see a blob of blonde hair, really far out. "There's someone else out there," I say, running closer to the shore. I have the biggest sense of déjà vu ever and I'm thrust back to our sixth day on the Island when Joanna Miller drowned going for a swim. Boone tried to save her, but almost died himself.
Desmond has reached the blonde bob of hair and starts swimming it back. I recognize it now. "Claire!" Charlie shouts, confirming my thoughts.
Des makes it back to shore and Charlie calls Claire's name, but she hangs limp in Desmond's arms. "I've got her," Des says to Charlie, pushing him off.
"Is she okay?" Charlie asks, frantically. "Claire! What happened?"
Des drops Claire in the sand. "Just stand back; give me some room!" Charlie tires to intervene again, but Des pushes him away. "Get back, Charlie. I know what I'm doing."
"Is she breathing? She's not breathing."
Desmond starts to perform CPR. It's an excellent technique and if it had been bad, I would have taken over, but Des does know what he's doing. A few pumps to the chest later, Claire coughs up a whole lug of seawater.
"Claire!" Charlie exclaims in relief.
"Are you alright?" Des asks her. "Come on; you're okay. Let's get you back to the tent," he picks her up and carries her away. Charlie tries to follow, but once again Des blocks him. "It's alright, Charlie. Alright, let's get her back to her tent."
"Is she okay? Let me help."
"I got it, Charlie."
"Where are you going?" Charlie calls after him. "Hey, how did you know? How did you know she was drowning?" But Desmond ignores her.
"I'll tell you how he knew," Hurley says. "That guy sees the future, dude."
I turn to Hurley. "He can see the future?"
"You weren't here, dude. While you were on the other side of the Island in the boat, a freak lighting storm happened. Desmond placed this weird golf club contraption outside of Claire's tent and it, like, caught the lighting, dude."
"So you're saying that he knew at a 'freak lighting storm' was going to happen and that Claire was pulled out in a riptide?"
"Dude, I'm not crazy! When I was on my way back from the Other's boat dock, I found Desmond in the jungle completely naked! He said the hatch blew off his underwear!"
"He said that?"
"Well, he didn't deny it!"
"Hurley," Charlie interjects. "Tia's right. People can't see the future. Especially not wankers like him."
"So he saves Claire's life before you can and that makes him a wanker? That's hardly fair, Charlie," I defend.
"Piss off."
A couple hours later Hurley and I are washing clothes and Charlie runs up to us. "Hurley's right."
"About the future thing?" I say. "Not this again."
"No, I don't think he can see the future, but I do think there's something weird about him."
"Like what, dude?" Hurley asks.
"I don't know, but I think I know a way we can get him to tell us." Charlie waves us over to follow him. "I don't buy this precognitive insanity rubbish. Look, if the bearded wonder could predict the future he wouldn't have ended up here, would he?" We've made it to Sawyer's tent and Charlie crawls inside. "Well, whatever happened to him, we're going to have to find out what it is."
"You do realize he's going to know your plan before you even come up with it, dude," Hurley points out.
"In that case," Charlie says, pulling out a bottle of amber liquid. "We're going to have to get him really bloody drunk."
"Charlie, why is this so important?"
"You know, Tia, that's your problem. You have no sense of curiosity. Don't you want to know how he did it?"
I let out a breath and grab the bottle. The label on it reads MacCutcheon Whiskey. "Why do you need me there, though?"
"We don't need you there, we need you to watch from a distance. We'll probably get sodding pissed. You can keep a clear head."
"Wow, Charlie, you've really thought this through, huh?"
"I'm telling you Tia, something's up with this guy, and I'm gonna figure it out."
Hurley and Charlie approach Desmond after dark. I stand a distance away, in the shadows where Des can't see me. "Beautiful evening." Charlie says.
"Aye," Des agrees.
"Say it, dude," Hurley tells Charlie, nudging him in the side.
"This morning," Charlie says. "I'm sorry I wasn't more grateful. Thank you for helping Claire not drown."
"No harm done."
"Excellent. We brought a peace offering, you know, make the truce official."
Desmond eyes the whiskey. "Thanks, but no. I've spent a wee bit too much time drunk as of late."
"This'll be good for us, brother." But Desmond just shakes his head no. "Alright, that's fine. We'll take our drink and go somewhere else."
But Desmond stops them. "What kind of whiskey is that?"
"It's, uh," Charlie looks at the bottle. "It just says MacCutcheon."
Desmond starts laughing his head off. "Alright then, let's have it." Charlie smiles and offers him a cup. "No," Desmond denies. "The bottle, brother. I mean, if you've come to drink, let's drink."
"Alright, let's drink."
Des takes the bottle from Charlie and uncorks it with his teeth. "Cheers," he praises, taking a hearty gulp.
It doesn't take long and soon the three of them are completely toasted. "Here, Des-y," Charlie says, handing him the bottle.
"Cheers."
"Hey," Hurley slurs. "Do you know any songs about drinking and fighting and girls with one leg?"
"Girls with one leg and a heart of gold!" Charlie and Desmond say together, laughing.
"So, Des-y," Charlie says. Here we go. "Let me ask you something."
"Anything, pal."
"How'd you know Claire was drowning?" Charlie's speech is much more sober now that he's getting down to business.
"I could hear her calling for help," Desmond slurs.
"Oh no you didn't," Hurley counters. "You were like a mile away."
"Well, I suppose I've got good hearing."
"You hear the lightning, as well?" Charlie asks him.
"Excuse me?"
"The lightning. Just by chance you pitch your little rod outside Claire's tent. Two hours later lightning strikes."
"Thanks for the drink, pal." Desmond says, rising from his seat.
Charlie stands with him "Hey, I don't know what you're doing but you best tell us. Oi! You think because you turned some key that makes you a hero? You're no hero, brother. I don't know how you're doing what it is you're doing, but I know a coward when I see one."
Desmond turns around and tackles Charlie, running right at him and knocking them both to the ground. I jump up from my perch and run towards their squall.
"You don't want to know what happened to me when I turned that key!" Desmond shouts into Charlie's face, putting his hands around Charlie's neck. I keep running. Almost there. "You don't want to know! And I don't want to know!"
"Get him off!" Charlie chokes out, noticing me approach.
I grab Desmond's shoulders and try to pull him off Charlie, but boy is this guy strong. Hurley's no help. He just sits over by the fire muttering "dude," over and over in a drunken stupor.
I finally manage to get Des off of Charlie, but only because his grip slackens. Desmond starts crying and I pull him off and he lands in the sand. "You can't change it," Des mutters. "You can't change it no matter what you try to do. You just can't change it."
Hurley has managed to get up and walk over. He makes the crazy sign with his hand.
"He's wankered," Charlie says. He must have not had a lot to drink because he's acting pretty sober. "Let's get him to his tent. Alright, Des, come on. Give me your arm. Come on stand up. Stand up. Okay, okay." Charlie and I manage to carry Desmond to his tent and we drop him down.
"You're a good person, Tia," he says.
"Yeah, don't mention it," I grunt, pulling off his shoes.
"And you're a good man, Charlie. Listen, I'm sorry I tried to strangle you, alright?"
"Oh, fair play, mate. Sorry I called you a coward."
"No, you're right, pal."
"Desmond, you are going to tell me what happened to you."
Des takes a deep breath. "When I turned that key my life flashed before my eyes. And then I was back in the jungle and still on this bloody Island. But those flashes, Charlie, those flashes, they didn't stop."
"So, you're telling me you saw a flash of Claire drowning this morning? That's how you knew how to save her?"
"I wasn't saving Claire, Charlie, I was saving you. This morning you dove in after Claire. You tried to save her but you drowned."
"What are you talking about?" Charlie asks, confused. "I didn't drown."
"When I saw the lightning hit the roof you were electrocuted. And when you heard Claire was in the water you drowned trying to save her. I dove in myself so you never went in. I've tried, brother. I've tried twice to save you, but the universe has a way of course correcting and I can't stop it forever. I'm sorry. I'm sorry because no matter what I try to do you're going to die, Charlie."
Charlie stares at Desmond for a few seconds then stands up and walks away. "Charlie!" I call, running after him.
"You're a good person, Tia," Desmond calls after me.
"Charlie, wait." I catch up to him and grab his arm. "You don't actually believe that, do you?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because, you said it yourself. You don't believe in his precognition crap."
"Well, he's made one bloody hell of an argument!"
"Charlie, you're tipsy. You need to lay down and go to bed."
"Piss off, Tia. Stop acting like my big sister."
He walks away, toward his and Claire's tent. Hurley stumbles around the beach and almost lands in a fire. I let out a deep breath and make my way over to help him.