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Post by Jack Shephard on Jun 9, 2008 13:47:27 GMT -5
Jack was getting hungry he found, as the early morning sun set in. His first night had been restless. He had been up more than once to check on the man Jack had not yet discovered was a marshal. He wasn't doing well Jack feared, but it was important for him to eat if nothing else, and Jack was hungry too. He knew airline food would be running low soon enough and so, running his hands over his scruffy face, decided to take a short walk in to the jungle to see if he could find any fruit.
It wasn't a long walk through the canopy before he found what he was looking for. The pinkish-orange mango fruit would serve perfectly. It would be something easy for him to feed the marshal and it would be a little more refreshing than the airline paste he had become used to. There was only one problem. Jack had never climbed a tree this tall in his life.
He put his stuff down and tried to grab a low branch and swing himself up. He pulled himself up but felt the branch giving way under his weight. The last thing he needed was a broken arm. He hopped back down and stood back, staring at the tree and contemplating how he could possibly get the delicious fruit from the treetops.
As he stood pondering, becoming lost in his own thoughts, he didn't even hear the approaching footsteps.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 9, 2008 13:57:26 GMT -5
Skinner had taken to exploring in the morning, walking through the forest in the morning light. Part of it was so she wouldn't have to speak to the other castaways, and wouldn't have to answer questions about her life. Where are you from? What do you do? You're pretty, do you have a husband waiting for you? She'd heard them all before, possibly not in that context, but still the same.
Skinner heard a branch break and rather rushed as she knew the last thing they needed was a stupid injury in camp with all the tension and stress already visible. The food was becoming low in supply and time was running out. She sighed, seeing one of the other castaways contemplating a large tall tree with mangoes at the top.
"Need help?" she asked walking over to the man that was enthralled in the tree.
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Post by Jack Shephard on Jun 9, 2008 14:06:30 GMT -5
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Jack turned and smiled. "Don't suppose you know how to climb trees? I'm already getting tired of airline food." He reached a hand out to her, keeping the smile on his face. "Name's Jack. Jack Shephard. "I tried to climb but uh, less than successful obviously." He pointed to the branch snapped on the ground. "My back's still a little sore anyhow, I probably shouldn't be climbing until my stitches heal up a bit more."
As if to send the point home, Jack walked to the tree again, tried to reach up to the next, sturdier looking branch, only to grimace back in pain, grunting as pain shot through his arm. "Yeah, see? Seems to thick a tree to whack and knock down the fruit either. So... yeah. It's not just for me either. I have a guy back on the beach looking after, he's in rough shape. Oh, right. I'm a doctor. Should've mentioned that I guess." Jack shrugged and smiled. Being a man, he was obviously a little embarrassed that he couldn't even climb a tree and get some fruit for the survivors.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 9, 2008 14:15:46 GMT -5
Skinner nodded, smiling a bit as she shook his hand firmly enough. "I'm Skinner. Skinner Jones." Her annoying adapted Australian accent from the years in Sydney mad her flinch at her voice, but she shook it off mentally, walking around the tree and looking at the branches. Once she got past the first few, it wouldn't be too hard.
"A doctor huh? I'm a pediatrician. Or going to school to be. I just got my bachelor's and I'm going into Medical School this fall." She winced as she looked around, sighing a bit. "Or leat I'm supposed to." She was rather pessimistic about the crash actually, knowing that they probably wouldn't get off the island anytime soon. They'd survive, at least a few would, but in what shape woudl they be in at the end?
"Give me a lift up would you?" she asked softly, her small stature not being able to reach the branch she sought out by jsut a few inches. "If you can. I mean, don't hurt yourself." As she waited she pulled her brown curls up into a ponytail, getting the hair out of her face. The hair moved revealed her shoulders and an ornate sun designed tattoo on Skinner's shoulder, one she'd gotten in Sydney when she first moved there.
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Post by Jack Shephard on Jun 9, 2008 14:40:22 GMT -5
Jack listened to her and nodded. "Yeah, I guess I can try... Not promising anything though, but we can try." Jack grimaced again as he put his hands on her waist and gave her a quick boost up in to the tree. He felt his stitches flex and pull and nearly tear as he lifted her, but in the end she was in the tree and he was okay. He stepped back and made sure she had her balance. "Be careful up there. I don't want you to fall. If it gets too hard or something, don't worry about it, just come back down, we'll figure out something else, okay?"
He looked down at the ground and suddenly it was looking quite inviting. He sat against a nearby tree with the empty duffel bag he had brought for his spoils plopped on the ground next to him. He looked into the dense foliage and thought he saw a flash of something, quick and black. A suit? No, no one would be wearing a suit right now. That was crazy. Still...
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 9, 2008 14:49:15 GMT -5
Skinner grasped the tree limb, pulling herself up easily with her arms. Her well cut arms were very noticeable, and she thanked God for them now. She'd taken to hardcore workouts to help get her strength up as the abuse got rougher and tougher, but it was a good thing for her. To have something to work towards.
"So," she said conversationally, climbed up the tree limbs with ease. "Why were you in Sydney?" She continued to pulled herself on the limbs, getting to the easier part now that the more spread limbs were gone and closer ones came into reach. She felt a sheen of sweat come across her skin as the humidity became more blatant in the tree tops for some reason.
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Post by Jack Shephard on Jun 9, 2008 14:58:11 GMT -5
Jack watched as the reason he was in Sydney seemed to have just walked right across his line of vision somewhere in the distance. He talked to her without taking his eyes off the trees. She had asked him what he was doing in Sydney. "My father died. I was there picking up the body, bringing it back to the states for the funeral... Don't worry about condolences. We weren't really close. Not anymore anyways." He watched again, craning his neck, even going so far as to stand and look for the figure he could not have possibly seen.
"What about you?" He asked absently, not really there anymore. "What has you down under? Or are you a resident? Your accent gives you away a bit." Jack smiled, though he still didn't look up at her. He thought he had seen the flash again. Silver hair, perhaps, or a red tie. But never a clear look at the face. Who was that out there? And were they really even there to begin with? Jack stood as if to find out, but remembered Skinner. He didn't want to leave the girl alone in the tree in case she were to fall.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 9, 2008 15:02:44 GMT -5
Skinner listened and nodded. She wasn't good with condolences anyhow, just another lovely upside to all the hell she'd gone through for the past year. She laughed a bit at his comment about her accent, but the laugh didnt' fill her. It was a bitter laugh almost, reminding her of everything she was trying to leave behind.
"Yeah. I've lived there since I graduated from high school in LA. A study abroad thing. They've sort of rubbed off on me," she replied rather bitterly, but the bitterness could have been easily missed.
"Now I'm just going back to finish school and get back to where I..belong I guess." And forget things. And get back to a normal life. Fairytales just didn't happen, and Skinner had slipped and thought they did and where did that get her? Thousands of miles away in a living hell relationship.
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Post by Jack Shephard on Jun 9, 2008 15:18:09 GMT -5
"Fair enough," Jack spoke. "Everyone needs a break sometimes, yeah?" He had lost sight of the specter and so went back to sitting on the ground at the base of the tree. "So how's it coming up there? Getting close yet?" He wondered silently if he had really seen anything at all. He was exhausted after all, and he could be hallucinating, although the medical part of his brain didn't feel like he had reached that point of exhaustion yet. And the thing in the woods had seemed so real. For now, he would push it aside. He should be making sure Skinner was ok, not trying to look for something that wasn't there.
Jack Shephard shook his head and took a swig from his water bottle. There was something else that was running low. Fresh water. They had been careless with food and water at first, confident rescue was just hours away when they crashed. But now it had been nearly twenty-four hours, and there was still no sign of help. "So what made you decide you wanted to study abroad? Trying to get away from something?" Jack asked, squinting up in to the Sun.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 9, 2008 15:24:34 GMT -5
Skinner's hand slipped from a branch, causing her to fall down a few branches, but she caught herself, righting herself on the branch. She laughed lightly, swinging herself back up to the branch she'd fallen from. She heard his question and swallowed, thinking of her response.
"Eh I've always wanted to study abroad, actually. Since I was a kid. And always Australia. It was crazy thoguh, getting accepted for it." She bit her lip, hoping for a fleeting moment that he wouldn't ask about why she was coming back. Or what happened over there. She reached for another brach, pulling herself to a small resting plas where she stopped for a moment, taking a drink of water and wiping her face with her bandanna.
"And I loved the surf. I'm a hardcore surfer, always have been. My dad taught me when I was a small girl and I've been hooked ever since. There's nothing like a swell on the East Australian Current, early on a Saturday morning." She smiled, for once remembering a happier memory of Sydney. But those memories always were followed by bitter ones.
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Post by Jack Shephard on Jun 9, 2008 15:33:33 GMT -5
Jack uttered a brief "cool," and went back to watching the woods. It had appeared again. Not it though, certainly not. HE had appeared again, for Jack was now certain it was a man, and all but certain it was his dad. He dropped the bag under the tree and spoke quickly.
"Hey, uh Skinner. I'm gonna leave the bag here for you... I think I can see a freshwater source over by that clearing a mile back or so. I'm going to go check it out. If anything happens, just yell out ok? Either way, I'll meet you back on the beach later, so save one for my guy. I think he'll be able to eat fruit. Thanks!" With that, Jack took off, running, the girl in the mango tree out of his mind as he tried to chase the ghost of his dead father.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 9, 2008 15:41:25 GMT -5
Skinner looked down, sort of weirded out by the sudden departure. "Okay," she muttered, watching him run off. He wasn't just looking for water, and that was sure. But it was none of her business, so she brushed it off.
Skinner continued climbing, getting to the mangoes and tossing them down as she pulled them from the tree. She sighed, climbing back down and putting the fruit in the bag ans walking back to the beach slowly. Strange things were happening here. Strange things.
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