Take A Deep Breath And Die. {Open To anyone!}

[claire littleton.]

The heat of the fire seemed to wash over her as the screams filled her ears, only followed by the loud creak of bending metal. Something cool was slowly washing over her foot as she laid there, small grains of sand where present on her skin, pressing in ever so lightly making their presence known. As reality slowly began to come down around her the screams eventually go louder, and the fire only seemed to get hotter. It only took a moment for her eyes to shoot open and to really understand what happened. The plane had crashed on what thankfully seemed to be an island, the cool at her foot was simply the salt water that stung one of the cuts she’d managed to obtain, and the fire? Well the fire came from the engine that was only a ways away. A wing teetered over her which was the source of the sickening creaking that filled the air. And as the for the screams, it was incredibly obvious it was the distraught , upset, dying, and panicked passengers.

Claire Littleton’s hand shot to her stomach when she had finally come to terms with that had happened. The first thing that sprung to her mind, aside from the crash and the screaming people around her was the reason her stomach was so huge. Her baby. Boy or girl, she didn’t know, but regardless, there was no movement what so ever and that wasn’t the best sign after a plane crash. A sickening scream flew from her lips as she pushed herself into a sitting position, her arms cradling her belly praying for any sign of life. The entire reason she was on the plane going to Los Angeles was the pure reason to give up her baby. Claire in no way was mother material and she knew that. Shakily the blond Aussie wiped the sand from the side of her face as she pushed herself onto her knees. It was shocking as the sudden crunching pain that forced it’s self through her lower stomach. “Help me!” She screamed as her hand flew down to her stomach.

Before she ever had a chance to grasp it, her first moments on the island held a lot. They held the chance for change, as well as a strong feeling of uncertainty. They held an overall feeling of fear and pain. Now, as Claire looked back on the moment, anything she had felt at that exact moment, the one that began a new chapter it was all so insignificant. Anything she had felt up until a few minutes ago seemed to fade away and disappear. A general feeling of numbness washed over her as she held Aaron in her arms, tonight, under the canopy that dripped down upon them, he seemed unusually still and calm. It was unnerving. This was unnerving. Picking sides. Why? One side thought the freighter was danger and that side wanted to run and hide, the other thought it was rescue and intended to go meet them at the beach.

Two sides, and none of them appealed to Claire. Not unless one of them could go back in time and bring Charlie back, or some how… Some how have Charlie there waiting for them , there beside her simply with a reassuring smile. In all truth, it didn’t matter at the moment what each side had to offer since both really didn’t have anything to offer to her. Claire’s mind still held the scene when the rest of the Oceanic 815 was reunited with their lovers, their friends. Bernard went to Rose. Jin rushed to Sun and the list went on. Charlie however, he hadn’t came back. Despite how she stood there, waiting with hopeful eyes excitedly scanning the crowd, it wouldn’t change the outcome. The feeling of heartbreak lingered thickly over her heart. When Hurley approached her their eyes had meant and that was when her stomach sunk and a cold feeling washed over her, picking away at her insides and tearing at her heart.

“Charlie’s dead. He’s dead.”

After those words, her world crumbled. She could see it before her eyes. It was the part in a movie when the world dropped out around the item of focus, the sad music cued in , and the person or object was doomed, damaged or heart broken. “What? No..” Claire cried, her voice strained as Aaron let out a cry. Hurley’s giant arms wrapped around her as tears sprung to her eyes, his warmth over took her as he too began to sob into her shoulder. It didn’t seem real, it was all a dream, as they stood under the canopy, rain dropping down, it felt exactly like a dream, but only in this case it was a nightmare to the extreme.

Claire felt her lip quiver as she sobbed, tears falling down and sliding on her cheek, plopping right onto Aaron’s head. When Hurley’s body shook against her, it made her realize how unstable she truly felt, the weak feeling continued in her knees as she stumbled a bit. Charlie couldn’t be dead, when he went with Desmond… Well Desmond knew! Desmond had saved Charlie before, and Desmond knew exactly what would happen, and yet again, he’d save him again. So why was it Hurley had just told her that Charlie Pace was dead? Why was it Desmond had emerged alone into the forest looking sullen, and why exactly had Hurley told her?

It was hard to believe those events had played out only a little while before this very moment. Now, Claire found herself standing some what alone in the center of everyone. Jack was at one end, and Locke at the other, both proposing what they thought to be true. Jack; head to the beach, and wait for the people on the freighter. Locke; Run to the barracks and hide, hide because these people weren’t who they said they were. Hide because it wasn’t Penny’s boat. Charlie had died to tell them that, died trying to help them, but now… Claire wasn’t going to go against that. It would be spiteful, and in any other circumstances, she would have been along side Jack, but now, now she knew that was wrong. Locke was the light side in this, the right one.

Claire took a deep breath, her lip quivered as she suppressed a sob that randomly struck her, her nose remained wrinkled as she tried to hold them back, but like the past little while, it had failed. Tears had been falling but some would say she was ‘remaining calm.’ Claire cradled Aaron tightly to herself as she walked towards Locke feeling all eyes on her. It wasn’t the attention she wanted now, or ever, and along with that, she didn’t want the comforting looks, the ‘helpful’ hugs, or sympathetic gazes. None of them knew what she was feeling, and none of them knew her world was falling apart. Aaron was all she had now, and it was her job to protect him, and she was going to do exactly that. With an empty face she joined the others who had sided with Locke.