LOST

Chapter 5: White Rabbit

Isabella stared out at the sea from her tent. She was getting increasingly worried the longer she stayed with the group. It had been nearly a week. She got up and started walking through the forest. However, it wasn't long before she realized she was being followed. Isabella doubled back, hoping to get a look at her tail. It was Sawyer.

"Why are you following me?" she asked.

"You keep disappearing, and I want to know why."

"Does it really matter?"

"It does when there's a water shortage. You hogging all the water?"

"No. I get water, it's not from a bottle. I'm too used to fresh water to ever be able to drink from a bottle again."

"Fresh water... So there's some not far from camp?"

Isabella nodded. "But I won't tell you where."

"Why not?"

"Because you'll tell everybody else, and then how am I gonna answer how I found it? I was just walking in the forest on my own? Came across a stream of fresh water and decided not to tell anyone? That's gonna lead down a rabbit hole of questions I'm not gonna answer."

"I'm the only one who knows?" Sawyer realized.

"Yeah, you are," Isabella said. "Because -- and I have no idea why -- I trust you." She kept walking, Sawyer not a step behind. "Somehow... Despite everything you did, I trust you."

"Izzy, I didn't know, okay? I-" Sawyer cut in front of Isabella. "Izzy, if I had known, I swear to you, I would never have tried anything. I wouldn't even be in town."

"You still caused it." Isabella swallowed hard and said, "You still killed them."

Sawyer closed his eyes. Those four words hurt him, Isabella could tell, but that part of her didn't care. He was the reason her parents were dead, and there wasn't anything he could do or say that could change that. Both of them knew it.

"You mentioned your fiance. Gabe. Could I meet him?"

Isabella whistled her sparrow song and waited. Sawyer looked at her, a bit of a worried look on his face. "Is that a good idea?" he asked.

Isabella didn't answer.

They heard leaves crashing, and Sawyer tensed. Isabella, however, remained calm. A bright-faced brunette bounded out of the brush, surprising Sawyer. Isabella wrapped the girl in a massive hug. "I think you missed me," Isabella commented.

"We all did, Mommy. We always do. We never know-" Rosemary cut herself off when she noticed Sawyer. "Who's that?"

"Mary, could you get your father please? I want to talk to him."

"Can I come back with him?"

Isabella nodded. Rosemary skipped off.

"You have a daughter?" Sawyer asked. Isabella nodded. "How old-"

"Nine." Sawyer's look was all Isabella needed. "Yeah, she was," Isabella said, answering her brother's unspoken question.

"I have a nine-year-old niece," Sawyer said, basically summing up the entire conversation. He looked up as the brush ahead of them started moving. Rosemary emerged, walking beside her father.

"Bella, what's happening? Who is this?" Gabe asked after the two embraced.

"Gabe... Meet my brother. Sawyer... Meet Gabe. My husband."

"But... How..." Sawyer and Gabe shook hands, then Sawyer looked at Isabella. "I thought he was your fiance. When you guys crashed."

"We're not technically married, but with nothing else to do, we figured why not. We set up a little area by where we crashed, and with little Mary still inside me, we married ourselves. I braided grass as rings, but obviously, it didn't last."