NHRALUVER: If there's any flashbacks or dreams, they're in italics, okay? Read on!
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: The Dream
He ran as fast as he could. An endless brush of trees and various shrubs stood in his way. With each step he took, another cut fell upon his body. He heard all the noises of the jungle within the trees. He continued to run and run. Finally he reached a cliff. It was quiet. No more evil sounds, no more trees, no monsters...just a calm atmosphere. He looked around. The grass rustled lightly in the wind. He could see the ocean from here. The sun was hiding behind the clouds, creating a calm wind. He could smell the ocean breeze. He looked around. He closed his eyes. From behind him, he heard rustling. He quickly turned around. Kate was standing there. She seemed to be looking through him. He approached her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
She didn't respond. For a moment, all she did was gaze past him at the ocean. Then, more rustling in the trees was heard. Out of the trees stepped a beautiful blonde woman. He couldn't recognize her at first, but then he realized it was her.
"Jessica? How did you get here?" he asked.
David stepped out of the trees with his son's hand in his. His son looked to be about eight years old, red hair, and freckles. Jessica began to back away towards the edge of the cliff, stepping backward as David came closer.
"You lied to me, Jessica!" David cried out.
"Wait! Stop! It wasn't her fault!" he cries out to David.
David continued to back her away towards the edge of the cliff. He glanced over to the little boy and saw him watching his parents as they
walked towards the cliff. Finally, David pushed Jessica over the edge, and then fell off himself. He stood, stunned. He looked over at the little boy, who ran off into the trees.
"Wait!" he called out. He started to follow after him.
"It's your fault. You killed them." Kate said to him.
Her mouth barely moved. She continued to gaze into the ocean. Suddenly, a man stepped out of the jungle. He couldn't see the man's face. From behind his back, he removed a gun and pointed it at Kate. As he watched the man cock back the trigger, he fell to the ground from no apparent reason.
"Kate!" he called out. Tears streamed his face.
He closed his eyes and the gunshot echoed through the jungle. Suddenly, he heard Jack's voice.
"It's all your fault. You let it happen."
When he opened his eyes, Kate was dead on the ground, blood pouring from her chest. The man with the gun stood nearby, still not revealing his facial identity. Jack stood discretely apart from the murderer. He closed his eyes again and the whole world began to spin...
"Stop!" Sawyer cried out. He awoke in a cold sweat. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the medical tent, apparently back at the caves. He could hear the trees of the tropical rainforest sway back and forth from a combination of the wind and the light rain that fell atop the tarp of the tent. He noticed that the gaping wound across his stomach had been sewn shut and wrapped with white bandage wrap. Jack entered the tent.
"She's not dead! It wasn't my fault!" he muttered.
Jack looked at him strangely. "What are you talking about?" He sat down next to him and handed him a water bottle. "Having a bad dream?"
"Where's Kate?" he asked immediately.
"She fine. She's outside near the fire."
Sawyer took a drink. "That was a damn brave thing you did, Sawyer." Jack said.
"What's that?"
"You could've died. But you saved Kate instead. And you're lucky to be alive."
He'd heard that before.
"Is she okay?"
Jack shrugged. "Sprained ankle, a couple cuts. Nothing bad. How about you? That cut on your stomach didn't look so good."
"It's fine." he said.
He slowly stood up. They began to exit the tent. Sawyer seated himself next to Kate as Jack went into the cave to check on the others.
"Hey." Kate said.
"Hey."
"How are you feeling?"
"No better than you are."
Kate smiled. "Thanks for doing that. That really meant a lot."
"It was easy." He grinned his cheesy grin.
"Well, thank you."
Still smiling, he looked away. It made him happy to know that she appreciated something he did for her. Then, his smile began to fade as he recalled the dream he had. Did it mean something? It scared him. He prayed that it didn't mean anything, that it was just where his conscience and his present situation met up at. Apparently he had an awkwards face on, because Kate noticed.
"Hey..." she looked at him. He slowly met her gaze. "You okay?" She gently touched his shoulder.
He shook his head and blinked. "Uh...fine."
She knew he was lying. What was wrong with him? He cleared his throat and stood as her hand fell off his shoulder. He began to walk away.
"Where you going?" she asked as he began to exit.
"The beach. I'll see you."
With that, he disappeared. As she watched him leave, Jack seated himself next to her, taking a drink from the water bottle in his hand.
"He okay?" Jack asked.
"I don't know. He's acting strange."
"Well...how's your ankle feeling?"
She turned it at an angle where she could see it. "Not bad. Thanks for taking care of it."
"So...you wanna tell me the story?"
"What story?"
"How it all happened?"
She sighed as she began her story. "I went to go bring Sawyer to the caves like you said I should do. He wouldn't come, so I started to head back and a couple trees fell on me. He came and pulled them off. We were looking for the caves and then we both got knocked out from another tree. A few hours later, I guessed, I was in a tree somehow. I thought maybe Sawyer brought me up there, but he wasn't there. Then someone pushed me out and that's how I sprained my ankle."
"Did you see who it was?"
"No. I was barely conscious for a whole minute before I passed out down below. Then I guess that's when Sawyer found me and you found him."
"Yeah. It was."
They both sighed and watched the fire flicker.
Sawyer was resting in his airplane chair back on the beach. At the beach it was calm and tranquil. The only thing that was bothering him was his dream. He thought it over several times and couldn't come to any logical explanation of it. He wanted to talk to someone, but then again, he didn't. They didn't need to know everything about him.
He sighed and leaned forward, rubbing his head. Leaning forward stung his cut, but he wasn't worried about that. Maybe the dream had no important meaning. Hopefully, was all he could think. Maybe he should go cool off. He stood and stripped his shirt off. He tossed it aside and waded into the ocean water.
His cut screamed and it stung. But he ignored it as he swam even deeper. He let his mind fade away and drift deeper into the ocean.
Kate sighed as she trampled through the jungle onwards to the beach. She had finally decided that she was going to speak with Sawyer. Whatever was bothering him had caused it to bother her as well. And it was annoying! Once she reached the beach, she headed for Sawyer's tent. She tried to peer in.
"Sawyer? You in there?" she asked.
No response. She opened the tent flap slowly and stepped in. No one was there. She was a bit curious, but stepped outside. She looked around on the beach, but saw no one. She started to head back through the jungle to the caves when she finally glanced out towards the ocean and saw a figure of a human bobbing up and down. Sawyer!
"Hey, Freckles!" he called.
She grinned and folded her arms over her chest.
"You busy?" he called out.
"Why?"
"Wanna come for a swim?"
She shook her head and rolled her eyes, still grinning. "That's okay. I just showered."
"Hell, don't let that stop you."
Even being so far away from him, she could see his evil grin.
"Are you - "
Suddenly, she felt a hand grab her, clasp over her mouth, and drag her away. It was a strong person. She struggled to free herself, and managed to muffle a scream. The person began to drag her off.
"Freckles!" she heard Sawyer scream.
She could slightly see him coming in to come to her, but she knew he wouldn't be there in time. She was dragged into the maze of trees.
"Freckles!" Sawyer called again.
He dove into the water deeper and swam as hard as he could. As he did, a million thoughts came to mind. Who was that person? Why had he taken Kate? And why did he have to be so stupid as to be out there? If only he would've known something was going to happen.
He quickly staggered onto land and ran in through the trees.
"Kate!" he called, ignoring the water pouring from his body.
"Sawyer!" a voice called.
Sawyer jerked his head in the direction. It was Jack. Jack approached him.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know."
"I heard screaming."
"Someone took Kate."
"Why?"
"You're asking the wrong person, Jackass. I was out for a swim. I was coming back to get her - "
"You were out for a swim?"
"What about it?"
"Dammit, Sawyer! Why?"
"You think I planned it, Mr. Hero?"
Jack stepped threateningly close to Sawyer.
"I swear, if we find her, if there's one scratch, one bruise...it's on your hands."
Sawyer wasn't one to get hurt by accusations, especially ones coming from Jackass, but that did hurt him. How could he say such a thing? He had come to save Kate, but she was gone. It wasn't his fault. Jack was putting it off on him. Jack began to walk away when Sawyer grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.
"Check your scoreboard again, Jackass. As I recall, I had nothing to do with this until I started to go rescue her."
"It's your fault! You let it happen!"
Sawyer was too stunned to speak. As Jack began to jog away back to the caves, Sawyer stood in agony. That was what Jack had said in his dream. Was it coming true? He prayed it wasn't. He breathed deeply, released, and then headed back to the beach to gather some items to assist in the rescue of Kate.
OMG OMG OMG! Youguys, will you ever 4giv me? I am SOOOOOOOOOOO sorry i took so long to get this posted. Thanx for bein so patient wit me. I was so stuck, and ive been very busy lately. but now im gettin more ideas. ill post as often as possible. and to evermore, that whole thing with the j/k moments is a couple chapters comin. and guys, i finally think i found a way to end the story. itll have a nice lil twist. maybe a couple more chapts till the end so keep reading. youve been great fans.
and i got a question...its kinda a long one, but i really need someone to answer it...but ok, so ya know how i was tellin ya bout that story i was writen called butterflies return someday? well, its kinda a POV story about this girl. i kinda started at the beginning of the lost episodes and tied in my character and my plots with the original episode. and i put in some of the lines from the episodes, and i mentioned that i didnt own it in the disclaimer and all, yada yada, so...if i did the disclaimer thingy, thats not illegal, right? coz i dont wanna write a story illegally. i dunno...maybe im right, or maybe im paranoid, but pleaz just answer me ok? if it is a bad thing, i wont post the story. i just need to know...so yeah, keep reading the story!