Hitting The Enemy

Title: Hitting the Enemy 4
Author: scots_rock
Pairing: Charlie/Sawyer, with appearances of other members from LOST
Rating: R (mainly)
Summary: Sawyer’s flashbacks
Disclaimer: I’m so not possessing them. But I wish though I would…
Feedback: is like a Maroon 5 Song YAY!
Author's Notes: I had these idea during church. Now that’s what it’s for, huh? *muahaha*


~***~

When Charlie had pushed him aside and had left the clearing Sawyer had lain on the ground crying for a long time. He couldn’t get the thought out of his head that it had been all Charlie’s fault. It was so untypical for him to do that. Sawyer then sat up and looked around wiping away his tears with his dirty hands. Silence surrounded him. A sound he hadn’t been used to for years. Everywhere he had gone was action and fun and girls. He hadn’t had time to stop and just listen. Listen to himself.

Charlie. Charlie had always had someone to talk to and to listen. He was the centre of attention during his whole life. Liam took care of that. Maybe too badly. When Sawyer had seen Charlie on TV or now, few weeks ago, on the plane he hadn’t been able to recognize him. He had become worn out, ruined with one word. Eyes tired, face scratched, hands trembling. This wasn’t the Charlie he had known for so long. The boy he had met years ago.

Flashback

He was sitting on the stone pavement leaning against a lattice fence. His untidy blonde hair, almost brown and shoulder long, fell into his face. He was chewing on a toothpick and was curiously looking over to the house on the other side taking in every detail with his green eyes. It was a house built for more families to live in, six in fact. One apartment had been standing empty for three months; it seemed now that this situation was about to change. A big truck parked in front of it packed with furniture and cardboard boxes on which were written “Fragile” or “Books”. A new owner moved in.

He was watching the scenery very closely though he didn’t move. His eyes were fixed on the young couple.

“Honey, do you really want to keep that old thing?”, asked the man his wife.

“Of course, it belonged to my mother. She bought it when I was a child and it proved itself as a very good stove. Please, it’s only temporarily, until we can afford a new one.”

His attention was suddenly turned towards a young boy, their son probably. He had blonde shiny hair and was running around the truck holding in his hand a little gray plastic plane. The kid made noises like a real plane and moved the little toy up and down until he stopped and let it fly straight to the ground.

“CRASH!”, he cried out loud.

He smiled at the kid. What a fantasy. Then the little boy looked up and watched him carefully. He stared at him for what seemed like forever and suddenly ran over to him.

“Hi!”, the kid shouted enthusiastic.

“Hi.”, he responded unprepared for this sudden presence of the boy.

“Are you dead?”

He laughed. “No. Do I look like that?”

“Kind of. You don’t move at all.”

“Well, I’m afraid to tell you that I’m still breathing. How old are you by the way?”

The kid proudly hold out his left hand showing all five fingers. “I’m five! How old are you?”

“Thirteen.” He nodded over to the house. “So, you moving in or what?”

“Yeah. Where do you live?”

He pointed with his right thumb over his shoulder. “I live here with my aunt.”

“Why aunt? Where are your parents?”

That child was asking a lot of question. No surprise. “Not here…”, he whispered and was about to add something when an older looking boy, maybe three or four years older than this little one here, came into view.

“Hey! Are you crazy? Get off the street!!!”, he shouted.

The little boy turned around, recognizing just now that the other one was right, but then shouted back angrily: “Bloody bugger off, Liam! I know what I’m doing!”

Liam looked quite shocked. “MUM! He just said BLOODY BUGGER OFF!”

“Charles Thomas Pace! Come over here! NOW! And apologize to your brother!” The angelic voice of Charles’s mother called her cub.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” Charles didn’t seem very eager to leave his place right now, knowing very well that he was about to get into trouble.

“So, you’re name’s Charles?”, he asked.

“Ch...Charlie. I’m…I’m Charlie, ok?”, the boy stuttered with eyes closed as if he hated to hear his real name.

“Ok, Charlie, then. Nice to meet you. I’m Adam.”

Flashback End

Sawyer’s eyes were red and showed signs of tiredness. He stood up from the ground; though he hadn’t been the one to be beaten up his every movement ached. His knees were shaking, his arms were hanging weakly at his side, his head was hurting terribly. But the worst pain came from his heart, a broken heart filled with sadness and despair. How had Charlie been able to let it happen?

Sawyer was now moving towards the beach, back to his tent.

Adam.
He had almost forgotten his real name. Only closest friends – of who he hadn’t a lot – and some family members – of who he hadn’t a lot either – knew how he was really called.
Adam.

While Sawyer was wandering through the jungle deepened in his own thoughts he nearly overheard a cry.

“Help!”

He looked up. Did he hear right?

“Help!”

Someone was in danger. A male person. A young male person, he even could recognize this desperate cry by the voice. Charlie.

Flashback

“Help me, Lord!” Liam whistled through his teeth. “I call that a comics collection!”

He at once sat down on the floor, seized the first comic book and roughly thumbed through it.

“Adam, this is awesome! I didn’t know you were such a huge fan of comics at all!”

“Well, you’ve never asked. And the subject didn’t came up.”, said Adam shortly, but smiling. “But great you like it.”

It was late afternoon when Liam came over to Adam to stay at his house over night. There was only the two of them, talking and laughing. Charlie wasn’t allowed to visit Adam by his parents for he was still too little and too young.

The comics reading session ended at around 11 pm. Both boys showed no sign of tiredness but went on talking about their common future plans.

“I want so bad to be in a band, Adam. Imagine how great that would be! To found one would be even more awesome! Charlie could play base, he learns how to play guitar lately, you know. And we two would be simply rockin’ the stage! I think I’ve already found a good name for our band! DrivenCock!”

Adam just stared at Liam speechless but then he burst into laughter.

“DrivenCock? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He struggled hard for words breaking into another laughter every second. Liam’s facial color turned red.

“It means that it’s a cock that controls everything. Driven as in ‘to lead’, got it you wanker?”

“Now that’s really nice. Can’t wait to see the shocked faces of our record company.” Adam fell silent for a moment suppressing more laughter and trying to think. “Better name for our still fictional band would be Driveshaft. You know, you got your cock involved somehow, if you want be rude and provocative, and ‘drive’ sounds simply better than ‘driven’.”

Liam relaxed and began to grin. “Driveshaft, sounds cool.”

Adam got up from his bed and went over to his night drawer.

“By the way, I got your rock magazines. Think there might be some good rock bands coming up…”

He stopped talking abruptly. His gaze was fixed on the window. Not the window in itself had shocked him but what lay behind it right now.

“You’re house is burning…”, Adam said quietly, dropped the magazines and ran out of the room. He heard Liam screaming “What?” and seconds later he was right behind Adam. As they finally arrived outside they looked into a mountain of flames. People were standing in front of it eyes and mouths opened wide in shock and fear.

“Charlie? Charlie!!!”, Adam cried into the crowd but no answer came back. “Where is he? Where is Charlie?”, he asked the people but again no one answered him. Everyone just stared terrified at the burning building.

Adam didn’t hesitate for another minute. He ran back into his house and came back with a wet blanket. He didn’t even stop in front of the front door but threw the blanket over his head and body and ran inside the building.

The first thing he saw were walls of flames creeping everywhere. He rushed up the stairs and as he reached the right flat he kicked the door strongly open. It feel to the ground with a crashing noise and revealed a room filled with smoke and flames.

“Charlie! Charlie!!!”

He looked around but couldn’t see a thing. He nearly gave up hope when a little crying voice answered him: “Liam!”

And then he saw Charlie, right through the flames. He was crouching on the carpet surrounded by the red danger. Adam took a run and jumped through the unbearable hot barrier that parted him from Charlie. The moment he landed on his two feet again he grabbed Charlie, held him tightly in one arm, covered him with the blanket and jumped back, running now as fast as he could. He didn’t recognize it but he was speaking during the whole time they were trapped in the house. Adam was encouraging Charlie. He himself didn’t believe that they were going to survive this hell. But suddenly he could see the front door and his steps fastened if this was possible at all. He stormed out of the building right before hearing the first floor crashing down behind him. He collapsed some meters away from the danger zone on the black asphalt and right at that moment the fire brigade arrived. Adam wasn’t aware of it anymore; he was only glad that Charlie seemed to be unharmed.

“Alright there, kid?”

Then there was nothing more than deep black darkness.

Flashback End

“Help!!! Somebody help me!!!”

The cry became more and more desperate with every step Sawyer made towards it. His breaths were short and fast, panic in his eyes, this all kept him moving on. The nearer he got to where the cry came from the louder it grew.

“Hold on, Charlie! I’m on the way!”, Sawyer screamed into the wilderness.

His heart sank into his stomach, fear increasing. He had to save Charlie, no matter what he did in the past. It didn’t matter that he was the reason Liam took drugs. It didn’t matter that Sawyer because of this had beaten the fuck out of Charlie. That Sawyer had been angry and furious – and surprisingly doubtful. Now while he was running and thinking about Charlie, worrying about him and remembering the moment when Charlie was standing so close to him, anger in his incredibly clear eyes, it seemed so impossible that Charlie had begun with taking drugs and bringing Liam with him down. That was just so – surreal.

Sawyer always had tried besides Liam to take care of Charlie, had played with him, taught him tricks and games, seen him literally grow up. But after he had moved away from England to Australia this had become difficult. Not to say impossible.

Flashback

Adam was in his room. He shut the last suitcase and looked around. Empty white walls where once thousands of posters had hung. Empty drawers where once his favorite shirts were kept. An empty room where once so many things had happened, good ones, bad ones. Memories gone forever.

Adam sighed deeply when he heard his aunt calling him downstairs. He put one bag over his shoulder, grabbed the two suitcases and started slowly walking out. He left this room. Never to return. It kind of made him sad.*

As he stepped into the living room his aunt was already waiting for him – but she was not alone. Liam was standing next to her. Adam’s aunt nodded at him smiling gently and left the two boys alone to call Adam a cab.

“Hey. What are you doing here? Thought you were at school.”, asked Adam surprised, putting down his suitcases.

“I guess that’s where I am supposed to be right now, eh? I thought that I came here to wish you a happy 20th birthday. I wanted to celebrate it with you. I even bought you something.”

Adam smiled. “That’s nice of you…”

“But”, Liam went on, interrupting Adam. “now that I see you standing in front of me with your two suitcases, your room empty, I am really pissed off.” He had been starring at the ground but now he looked up. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re moving to Australia? I had to come to know about it from the neighbors!”

Liam was shouting and Adam could see that he was fighting with tears.

“Six years, Adam. And you made them vanish in one single moment. Everything’s gone. First my parents, now you. What’s going on with you people? What about our plans? What about our band?”

“Liam, understand, I cannot stay here. You may not have realized it but I have changed. I’ve become a different person than I used to be. I’m not Adam anymore.”

Adam took a look out of the open window. A fresh breeze was playing with the hair of both boys.

“Where’s Charlie? I’m worried about him. You think he will understand why I have left?”

Liam’s eyes narrowed and darkened at that sentence.

“So, you’re worried about Charlie but not about me. You always were paying more attention to him than to me, weren’t you? Do I mean anything to you at all? I thought we were friends.”

And at that Liam couldn’t stop himself from crying any longer. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. Adam dropped his bag and quickly embraced Liam.

“Liam, you will always be a very important part in my life. How can you even think something like that? You’ve become my brother. I love you like one.”

“Then don’t go. Don’t…leave…me…”, Liam spoke under sobs.

Adam tightened his hug and felt Liam’s fingers digging into his shirt.

“I won’t leave you. Never.”

The horn of the already waiting cab made them both jumped and they had to break up their embrace.

“We’ll keep in contact. Would you be so kind to tell Charlie, that I’m sorry for not saying good-bye?

Liam nodded silently. Adam grabbed his stuff again and turned his back on Liam.

Flashback End

“Charlie!”

No answer.

“CHARLIE!”

Finally arriving at the beach Sawyer screamed his lungs out. Something had happened. The cry had stopped suddenly. Maybe he was too late. Maybe Charlie was already…

“Damn it… CHARLIE!!!”

“Sawyer? What is going on? Something happened?” Locke appeared out of the jungle some feet away from Sawyer’s position.

“Locke, it’s Charlie. I think he’s in danger. He was calling for help. Did you hear him? Or did you see him?”

“Sorry, I didn’t hear him. But I actually saw him, couple of minutes ago. He was at you tent and looked quite unharmed.” Locke pointed to his left. “Well, at least on the outside.”

He shot Sawyer a serious and worried glance before disappearing into the greenery again.

Sawyer started to run immediately to his living place. Unharmed. That was a good sign. Or wasn’t it? Then it suddenly occurred to him; Charlie had surely opened the box. Saw all those things, read all those letters. Well, not all the letters. Sawyer unconsciously reached for his shirt pocket. It was still there. But, anyway, Sawyer doubted that Charlie would remember Sawyer. He had been kept away from Sawyer by Liam. Maybe Liam had recognized it. Maybe he had known that Sawyer had felt more for Charlie than he would have admitted. Liam had been right when he had accused Sawyer of paying more attention to Charlie than to him.

Finally Sawyer arrived at the tent but Charlie was nowhere to be seen. Sawyer fell to his knees breathing heavily, panting, sweating. Had someone played a trick on him? And where the hell was Charlie?

In Sawyer’s head thoughts were circling around which made him even more dizzy. He leaned against a part of the plane wreck which was standing nearby. He took out the letter he had been reading not an hour ago. He almost had forgotten it. He had suppressed it, hid it in the back of his mind. He wanted to forget. But he could not.

Hi Sawyer,

How are you? I’m feeling great right now.

I haven’t been taking them since you have sent me that box. It’s all to you that I at last got that push to quit with my past life. You were right as you always are.

But that’s not the reason I’m writing. Now that I can think clear and am able to remember some things I can finally tell you the truth. About why I took those drugs.

It was Charlie. One day he met a man and he gave him some money in exchange for drugs. When I realized it I screamed at him and wanted to end the band but he accused me of ending his career. He wanted to quit our brotherhood. And I somehow began to take them, too. He was angry when he didn’t get his fix and most of the time started a fight. I didn’t want to beat him up but sometimes I had no choice. When we were both high we were brothers again. We would do fun stuff, we would talk about everything that troubled our minds.

But then your package came and this threw me back into reality. I had to take care of Charlie again. He was the first one to get cleaned and then he was about to help me. But he left me alone with my troubles. He had gone back to his friends who drove him right back into his addiction.

I managed to get away from the drugs on my own. I wanted to help Charlie, I hadn’t given him up yet, but he refused my help.

I’m sorry for the feelings I surely have caused in you now. I know you liked Charlie a lot. But I’m only writing the truth here. I wanted to make things clear, to open your eyes. You can’t count on Charlie. He will let you down. I’m only warning you.

But be sure that you can always count on me. I will always be there for you, Sawyer. Adam.

Liam.


Sawyer’s hand cupped his own chin covering his lips with the palm. He shook his head slowly. He forgot that it had been Liam who had written this letter. His best friend. Who had been like a brother to him. Liam could not lie to him.

Sawyer heard a twig crack and turned his head around to see who was there.

“I know your name. Adam.”, said Charlie with a silent and sad voice.

*This line was taken from the movie LOTR The Fellowship of the Ring SEE.

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