Knowing LOST

(Read this post before beginning, please.)

—-

He stepped down into the hatch, his feet racing down the ladder as he pulled the two metal doors down over him. He was blinded by darkness for a minute, but a flickering of light below soon adjusted his eyes.

His feet touched the bottom of the shaft, and he knew something was wrong. It hadn’t sounded right.

His eyes slowly wandered downward to the floor, which was covered in streaks of red plasma. Blood was everywhere; flecked across the walls in tiny specks, pooling on the ground. It was even splattered across the monitors on the far end of the hallway. He felt the sudden urge to vomit, but held it back.

Claire had already done so, though with her pregnancy he could tell that she was used to puking by now. She had turned away from him, but was turning back, wiping her mouth with one of her sleeves.

“What the hell is this place?” she asked, fear obvious in her eyes. “Whose blood is this?”

Ryan stood for a moment, transfixed by the gruesome scene in front of him. “This… this wasn’t here before,” he said quietly. He stepped forward, making careful to dodge the puddles that lined the hallway. “Kevin?” he called out quietly, but he already knew there wouldn’t be an answer.

The console room was a mess. The central table had been overturned. There’d been a struggle, he knew that for certain. One of the monitor panels was slightly cracked, and the remote control had been thrown against the wall. It had shattered into pieces that lined the floor under the wall.

“It was him,” he said quietly. It didn’t surprise him, strangely. Nothing like this surprised him anymore. “Ethan.”

“What?” Claire asked, having followed him into the room. “Ethan’s dead!”

Ryan turned to her then, swallowing grimly. “Look,” he said. “Remember how I told you that Kevin and I know things?”

She nodded, her face slowly stiffening. She still wasn’t convinced, he knew. She’d only come with him because he’d begged to her. She was still completely in the dark beyond anything other than that he’d woken up on the beach and that he ‘knew things.’

“Okay,” he said, taking a breath. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

She shook her head, trying not to look at the blood. “No.”

“Right. There’s only one way I can convince you,” he sighed, sitting down in one of the chairs that was luckily devoid of blood. He gestured to the other one for her to sit.

She shook her head. She was going to stay standing.

“Your mother’s name is Carole Littleton,” he said simply. She frowned. “She was put in a coma in a car accident you feel responsible for.”

That hit home. Claire took the seat across from him, staring at him unblinkingly. “How do you know–?” she asked.

“You never got along with your aunt, but then a guy showed up. Your dad. You deliberately made sure you never knew his name, and he paid for your mother’s life support.”

She stared at him, agape. “How do you know that?” she whispered finally. “Are you some kind of –?”

“No,” he interrupted. “I’m not anything. I saw it.”

“You saw it,” she said, rolling her eyes, her voice cracking with emotion. “Right. Now you’re going to tell me you’re some kind of psychic!”

“No,” he said, smiling sadly. “I’m no Richard Malkin.” He realized his mistake as soon as he had made it. Her eyes widened slowly with realization.

“You son of a bitch!” she screamed, standing up angrily. “You’re with him, aren’t you! You’re with that fraudulent bastard!”

“No,” he said, raising his hands in protest, but it did no good.

“I should have known,” she raved, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. “You’re just another one of these people trying to manipulate me! It’s all a con!”

“Claire,” he said forcefully, and she silenced herself, staring at him balefully. “You have to listen to me,” he told her, glancing over her shoulder down the hallway. “I’m not playing you. I’m stuck on this Island just like you. There is no plan.”

“Then how do you know all this?” she asked, having calmed down a bit.

“It’s a long story,” he said nervously. “And one we don’t have time for now.”

“No, you’re going to tell me now!” she yelled.

He paused, closing his eyes slowly. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. “Ethan Rom was not on the plane,” he said, ignoring her question. “He’s lived on this Island his entire life. But right now, you need to be worried about the fact that he wants you.”

“Me?” she asked, her arms unconsciously drawing into her body. “Why?”

“Aaron,” he said, pointing to her protruding stomach.

She looked at him, her face betraying a moment of confusion. Suddenly, it was as though she understood, that she knew everything. “Aaron,” she repeated,” smiling mildly to herself. “That’s what I’ll name him.”

“Brilliant,” he replied, looking back at the hatch door. “Okay, I have to go.”

She glanced up at him. “What?” she said. “After all that story you’re just going to leave me?”

He nodded. “I have to. You’ll be safe here.”
“Kevin wasn’t!” she screamed, and he started. He’d forgotten all about the fact that Kevin had been taken from here, in this very room in which they were standing.

He paused, then reached behind his back, under his shirt, and pulled out a gun. Claire jumped back.

“Relax,” he said. “I’m giving it to you.” Holding it by the barrel, he extended his arm across the room to her, the black hilt glinting in the flickering fluorescents. With a trembling hand, she reached out and retrieved it.

“You know how to use it?” he asked her, turning to leave.

“Point and shoot,” she said simply, still terrified.

“Good,” he said. “I’ll be back in just a bit. I would take you with me, but you nearly passed out on the way here.”

“Where are you going?” she asked.

He glanced back at her, one hand already on the first ladder rung. “To get Locke.”