Part 270: Eddie and Jilly
Eddie wandered the beach, looking for Jilly. He knew she had to be some where, he just had to find her. The little boy waved to his mom as she was enjoying a conversation with Ana-Lucia. He was happy his mother was alive and that she made friends. Then he finally spotted his deaf friend. She was up on a hill folding up clothes. He walked up the hill to get to her, passing by Clay who was reading a magazine. Eddie came up to Jilly and tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, Eddie,” her face lit up at the sight of the young boy.
“Hey, Jilly,” he smiled, “Whatcha doing?”
“Just folding up some clothes I found. They were in the community pile and no one claimed them.”
“That’s cool. Chance of clothes is good here. Keeps your spirits up.”
Jilly giggled at the little boy’s statement. That was the last thing she expected him to say. “Yeah, I guess,” she agreed.
“Say, Jilly . . .you want to go for a walk on the beach with me?”
“Yeah, sure, “ she said, standing up, “Let me go put these in my tent and I’ll be right back.”
“Okey, dokey,” he said, smiling.
Eddie watched Jilly walk away, holding her bundle of clothes. The little boy held onto Mr. Kangaroo and took a deep breath, hoping his could pull this off. He liked Jilly and he knew if he help her, things would go well for her in the future. “Little kid and the deaf girl taking a romantic walk on the beach,” Clay muttered to himself, “isn’t that sweet?”
Eddie slowly turned to the tall man.
“I suppose he’ll do most of the talking and she’ll listen,” he chuckled.
“HEY!” the little boy grunted as he walked up to the large man, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about Jilly like that.”
“Relax, Kid, it isn’t like she can hear me.”
“Yeah? WELL, I CAN.” Eddie hissed.
“Geeze, kid, just get lost, will ya?”
Clay was about to read his magazine again until Eddie snatched it from him. The little boy then held the magazine up and ripped it right in front of him. “Ooops,” Eddie slapped his cheek, “I tore it. I guess I have a problem hearing you to tell me to get lost.”
“You smart ass,” Clay stood up and swung his hand back to hit the little boy.
Then he was interrupted by a coughing.
Clay looked up and saw John, Tony and McKay down on the beach. The archer had his arms crossed, giving the tall billionaire a severe mean stare. McKay and Tony delivered the same look. Clay slowly lowered his hand, looking at Eddie. The little boy held up his fists like he ready to fight up, with squinted eyes. The tall man then turned around and began to walk away. “The hell with this,” he coughed.
“Yeah, just like a chicken you better run,” Eddie grunted.
Jilly looked at Clay’s angry look as she past him coming back to the beach. She noticed that Eddie was looking mad at the tall man as he walked away. “Eddie?” the deaf girl said, “Did Clay say something to you?”
“Naw, “ he grinned, “I just had to teach him some manners.”
Eddie held out his hand and Jilly took it. The two friends then began their walk down the beach. John smirked at the boy, as he turned back to his two best friends to continue their discussion about tomorrow’s journey to the mysterious place called Broadway.
Eddie and Jilly had walked for a ways, then settled down near the beach. The woman smiled as the little boy insisted they sit sideways to the water, so she could see him and read his lips. “I appreciate you sitting in front of me, Eddie,” she smiled, “Not many people are considerate like this.”
“It’s cool, “ he said, rubbing his hand in the wet sand, “I wanted to make sure you could see my lips so we could have our talk.”
“Talk about what?”
“Whatever happened to your little brother.”
Jilly blinked for a second. “Eddie . . .I . . .I never had a little brother.”
“You little sister then.” Eddie replied.
The deaf woman looked away, trying to fight back the onslaught of tears that were approaching over the horrible subject of her sibling. “How . . .how do you know something happened? Barbara tell you?” Jilly asked.
“No, mom said nothing,” the little boy pointed at her face, “I can see it. In your eyes. You are happy when you are with me but you are sad too. Is it because of your sister, Jilly?”
The tears slowly began to flow down her cheeks. She placed her hand over her mouth, trying not to choke on her sadness. “You couldn’t know,” she whimpered, “There is no way, you could have known.”
“Tell me, Jilly,” Eddie looked at her with complete sympathy, “You got to tell me.”
“No, Eddie . . .you don’t need to hear such things.” She sniffed.
“It’s not so much I need to hear it, Jilly but you should really tell me. If you tell me, good things will happen to you.”
“Eddie . .I . . .”
“You’ve held this pain in for a long time, Jilly,” he said, leaned over and taking her hand, “You need to let it go.”
Jilly stared at the little boy, who was offering a helping hand to deal with her past. She couldn’t fathom how he could know that something bad happened to her sister; no one was that intuitive. She slowly took her trembling hand and cupped Eddie’s hands in hers. She cried a little bit and looked at him. “She . . .wasn’t my little sister, “ she whimpered “She was my twin . . .sister.”
“What happened?” Eddie asked.
“We . . .lived on a military base most of our lives. We moved from place to place. Daddy . . .always liked Lucy the best cause . ..she wasn’t deaf like me. He hoped she would follow him into the military and she planed too. When we were both . . .eighteen years old, these two . . .soldiers kidnapped us as a prank.”
“A prank?” the little boy replied.
“Yeah, they were going to scare us. Male soldiers . . .never really agreed with female soldiers . . .hell, I don’t know. But one of them got drunk and . . .he started to hurt me.”
Jilly closed her eyes, weeping. Eddie didn’t move; nor did his eyes. But tears slowly began to crawl down his cheeks. The deaf woman tried her best to compose herself. “Lucy . . .tried to fight them but they hit on her head . . .Oh, God, they just kept hitting her . . .Then they . . .they . . .”
“They what?”
“They started to hurt us more.” Jilly said. She didn’t want to tell the little boy the truth about the violation the soldiers did to her and her sister.
“Did someone come and rescue you?”
“Some soldiers had found us the following morning. I could barely . . .move and Lucy . . .wasn’t moving at all. The . .coroner said that she had died the previous night . . .Oh, God, Lucy . . . .”
Eddie then stepped forward and embraced the deaf woman. Jilly held onto him, crying on his shoulder. The little boy gently stroked her hair, comforting her best he could. The two friends held onto each other long enough for Jilly to slowly stop crying for a few brief moments. Eddie slowly parted from her, wiping his own tears. “Did the bad men get punished?” he asked, sniffing.
“Yes,” Jilly coughed, “The . . .military criminal crime scene investigators. . . .the NCSI . . .they examined all the evidence and the one . . .bastard who wouldn’t stop hitting my sister . . .he wore a skull ring . . .the . . .impressions stayed on her face . . .later they found his bloody clothing in a trash-bag . . .they were arrested and convicted. The trial took a long time . . .they . . had the arrogance to say it was mutual . ..that we wanted . . .them to hurt us.”
“HOW STUPID.” Eddie grunted.
“Yes, yes it was,” Jilly wiped her tears, “But the jury didn’t believe them and sent them to jail for life. Needless to say . . .I haven’t set foot on a military base ever since.”
“This happened when you were 18?” the little boy questioned.
“Yes,” she shook her head.
“What made you think of it now?”
Jilly tucked her hair behind her ears and took Eddie’s hands again. “I think . . .being trapped in that bunker and that bastard Titus . . .and that he was so keen on hurting us, made me think about it. And you . ..how you look to me . . .like a big sister.”
“As far as I am concerned, you ARE my big sister.” He said, proudly.
The bold statement given by the young boy made Jilly cry yet again. She took him by the arms and brought him closer, embracing him. He was so small but yet, his heart was huge to her. Eddie kissed her on the cheek and held her close, as she continued to cry. “Its gonna be okay, Jilly,” the little boy said, “You will see.”
Jilly then stopped crying; her eyes slowly opening wide. She gently parted from Eddie, looking at him in complete shock. “What?” he asked.
Jilly blinked, shaking her head. “I thought . . .”
“Hey, you two,” Libby said.
“Hello, Miss Libby.” Eddie smiled.
Jilly saw what Eddie said by looking at his lips and she turned to face her therapist friend. The older woman immediately saw the remnants of the deaf woman’s tears by her red soaked face. “Is everything okay?” she asked.
“It is now.” Eddie smiled.
Jilly turned to the young boy, rubbing his arms. “Eddie, why don’t you head back so I can talk to Libby for a minute? When I get there, we’ll see if we can get the last of the cup cakes.”
“Yeah, we better get them before Hurley does, “ he giggled, and then ran off into the distance.
Jilly took Libby’s hand as she helped her up. The deaf woman brushed the sand off of her shorts. The amber haired woman looked at her directly to make sure she could read her lips. “Are you sure you are all right?” she asked.
Jilly looked at her and smiled. She wiped her tears and the slowly placed her hand on her chest. “Yes, I am okay,” she admitted.
“What did you and Eddie talk about?”
“I told him the past about my sister and what happened to her. I wasn’t going to volunteer the information . .but he knew it happened. Somehow . .he knew,” the deaf woman faced her friend, “Libby, what do you think about the rumors . . .that the Island is magical?”
Libby smiled, feeling the wind blow her hair up a little bit. “It’s hard for me to comprehend.” She admitted, “But some times, I think one can make their own magic.”
“He’s such an extraordinary boy,” she said, wiping off the remainder of her tears,” And he seems to even have adopted me as his big sister.”
“He saw how you and his mother bounded. It’s natural for a child to assume that aspect based on observation.”
“It’s more than that. He’s got an intuition to read people, that I don’t even see in adults and just for a brief second . . .I thought . . . .”
“You thought what?”
Jilly touched her left ear and looked up to Libby. “For a moment, I thought I could actually hear him.”
Libby raised an eyebrow. She didn’t know how to explain it. Was Jilly imagining it, due to the stress of the moment? The deaf woman touched her friend by the arm and walked off to go find Eddie and thank Barbara for having such a wonderful son. Libby pulled out her little pad from her side pocket and scribbled some notes. The therapist was left wondering; after the spin the bottle incident with Hal and what Jilly just told her about their chat with Eddie . . . .
Was the Island truly magical?
“Hey, Jilly,” he smiled, “Whatcha doing?”
“Just folding up some clothes I found. They were in the community pile and no one claimed them.”
“That’s cool. Chance of clothes is good here. Keeps your spirits up.”
Jilly giggled at the little boy’s statement. That was the last thing she expected him to say. “Yeah, I guess,” she agreed.
“Say, Jilly . . .you want to go for a walk on the beach with me?”
“Yeah, sure, “ she said, standing up, “Let me go put these in my tent and I’ll be right back.”
“Okey, dokey,” he said, smiling.
Eddie watched Jilly walk away, holding her bundle of clothes. The little boy held onto Mr. Kangaroo and took a deep breath, hoping his could pull this off. He liked Jilly and he knew if he help her, things would go well for her in the future. “Little kid and the deaf girl taking a romantic walk on the beach,” Clay muttered to himself, “isn’t that sweet?”
Eddie slowly turned to the tall man.
“I suppose he’ll do most of the talking and she’ll listen,” he chuckled.
“HEY!” the little boy grunted as he walked up to the large man, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about Jilly like that.”
“Relax, Kid, it isn’t like she can hear me.”
“Yeah? WELL, I CAN.” Eddie hissed.
“Geeze, kid, just get lost, will ya?”
Clay was about to read his magazine again until Eddie snatched it from him. The little boy then held the magazine up and ripped it right in front of him. “Ooops,” Eddie slapped his cheek, “I tore it. I guess I have a problem hearing you to tell me to get lost.”
“You smart ass,” Clay stood up and swung his hand back to hit the little boy.
Then he was interrupted by a coughing.
Clay looked up and saw John, Tony and McKay down on the beach. The archer had his arms crossed, giving the tall billionaire a severe mean stare. McKay and Tony delivered the same look. Clay slowly lowered his hand, looking at Eddie. The little boy held up his fists like he ready to fight up, with squinted eyes. The tall man then turned around and began to walk away. “The hell with this,” he coughed.
“Yeah, just like a chicken you better run,” Eddie grunted.
Jilly looked at Clay’s angry look as she past him coming back to the beach. She noticed that Eddie was looking mad at the tall man as he walked away. “Eddie?” the deaf girl said, “Did Clay say something to you?”
“Naw, “ he grinned, “I just had to teach him some manners.”
Eddie held out his hand and Jilly took it. The two friends then began their walk down the beach. John smirked at the boy, as he turned back to his two best friends to continue their discussion about tomorrow’s journey to the mysterious place called Broadway.
Eddie and Jilly had walked for a ways, then settled down near the beach. The woman smiled as the little boy insisted they sit sideways to the water, so she could see him and read his lips. “I appreciate you sitting in front of me, Eddie,” she smiled, “Not many people are considerate like this.”
“It’s cool, “ he said, rubbing his hand in the wet sand, “I wanted to make sure you could see my lips so we could have our talk.”
“Talk about what?”
“Whatever happened to your little brother.”
Jilly blinked for a second. “Eddie . . .I . . .I never had a little brother.”
“You little sister then.” Eddie replied.
The deaf woman looked away, trying to fight back the onslaught of tears that were approaching over the horrible subject of her sibling. “How . . .how do you know something happened? Barbara tell you?” Jilly asked.
“No, mom said nothing,” the little boy pointed at her face, “I can see it. In your eyes. You are happy when you are with me but you are sad too. Is it because of your sister, Jilly?”
The tears slowly began to flow down her cheeks. She placed her hand over her mouth, trying not to choke on her sadness. “You couldn’t know,” she whimpered, “There is no way, you could have known.”
“Tell me, Jilly,” Eddie looked at her with complete sympathy, “You got to tell me.”
“No, Eddie . . .you don’t need to hear such things.” She sniffed.
“It’s not so much I need to hear it, Jilly but you should really tell me. If you tell me, good things will happen to you.”
“Eddie . .I . . .”
“You’ve held this pain in for a long time, Jilly,” he said, leaned over and taking her hand, “You need to let it go.”
Jilly stared at the little boy, who was offering a helping hand to deal with her past. She couldn’t fathom how he could know that something bad happened to her sister; no one was that intuitive. She slowly took her trembling hand and cupped Eddie’s hands in hers. She cried a little bit and looked at him. “She . . .wasn’t my little sister, “ she whimpered “She was my twin . . .sister.”
“What happened?” Eddie asked.
“We . . .lived on a military base most of our lives. We moved from place to place. Daddy . . .always liked Lucy the best cause . ..she wasn’t deaf like me. He hoped she would follow him into the military and she planed too. When we were both . . .eighteen years old, these two . . .soldiers kidnapped us as a prank.”
“A prank?” the little boy replied.
“Yeah, they were going to scare us. Male soldiers . . .never really agreed with female soldiers . . .hell, I don’t know. But one of them got drunk and . . .he started to hurt me.”
Jilly closed her eyes, weeping. Eddie didn’t move; nor did his eyes. But tears slowly began to crawl down his cheeks. The deaf woman tried her best to compose herself. “Lucy . . .tried to fight them but they hit on her head . . .Oh, God, they just kept hitting her . . .Then they . . .they . . .”
“They what?”
“They started to hurt us more.” Jilly said. She didn’t want to tell the little boy the truth about the violation the soldiers did to her and her sister.
“Did someone come and rescue you?”
“Some soldiers had found us the following morning. I could barely . . .move and Lucy . . .wasn’t moving at all. The . .coroner said that she had died the previous night . . .Oh, God, Lucy . . . .”
Eddie then stepped forward and embraced the deaf woman. Jilly held onto him, crying on his shoulder. The little boy gently stroked her hair, comforting her best he could. The two friends held onto each other long enough for Jilly to slowly stop crying for a few brief moments. Eddie slowly parted from her, wiping his own tears. “Did the bad men get punished?” he asked, sniffing.
“Yes,” Jilly coughed, “The . . .military criminal crime scene investigators. . . .the NCSI . . .they examined all the evidence and the one . . .bastard who wouldn’t stop hitting my sister . . .he wore a skull ring . . .the . . .impressions stayed on her face . . .later they found his bloody clothing in a trash-bag . . .they were arrested and convicted. The trial took a long time . . .they . . had the arrogance to say it was mutual . ..that we wanted . . .them to hurt us.”
“HOW STUPID.” Eddie grunted.
“Yes, yes it was,” Jilly wiped her tears, “But the jury didn’t believe them and sent them to jail for life. Needless to say . . .I haven’t set foot on a military base ever since.”
“This happened when you were 18?” the little boy questioned.
“Yes,” she shook her head.
“What made you think of it now?”
Jilly tucked her hair behind her ears and took Eddie’s hands again. “I think . . .being trapped in that bunker and that bastard Titus . . .and that he was so keen on hurting us, made me think about it. And you . ..how you look to me . . .like a big sister.”
“As far as I am concerned, you ARE my big sister.” He said, proudly.
The bold statement given by the young boy made Jilly cry yet again. She took him by the arms and brought him closer, embracing him. He was so small but yet, his heart was huge to her. Eddie kissed her on the cheek and held her close, as she continued to cry. “Its gonna be okay, Jilly,” the little boy said, “You will see.”
Jilly then stopped crying; her eyes slowly opening wide. She gently parted from Eddie, looking at him in complete shock. “What?” he asked.
Jilly blinked, shaking her head. “I thought . . .”
“Hey, you two,” Libby said.
“Hello, Miss Libby.” Eddie smiled.
Jilly saw what Eddie said by looking at his lips and she turned to face her therapist friend. The older woman immediately saw the remnants of the deaf woman’s tears by her red soaked face. “Is everything okay?” she asked.
“It is now.” Eddie smiled.
Jilly turned to the young boy, rubbing his arms. “Eddie, why don’t you head back so I can talk to Libby for a minute? When I get there, we’ll see if we can get the last of the cup cakes.”
“Yeah, we better get them before Hurley does, “ he giggled, and then ran off into the distance.
Jilly took Libby’s hand as she helped her up. The deaf woman brushed the sand off of her shorts. The amber haired woman looked at her directly to make sure she could read her lips. “Are you sure you are all right?” she asked.
Jilly looked at her and smiled. She wiped her tears and the slowly placed her hand on her chest. “Yes, I am okay,” she admitted.
“What did you and Eddie talk about?”
“I told him the past about my sister and what happened to her. I wasn’t going to volunteer the information . .but he knew it happened. Somehow . .he knew,” the deaf woman faced her friend, “Libby, what do you think about the rumors . . .that the Island is magical?”
Libby smiled, feeling the wind blow her hair up a little bit. “It’s hard for me to comprehend.” She admitted, “But some times, I think one can make their own magic.”
“He’s such an extraordinary boy,” she said, wiping off the remainder of her tears,” And he seems to even have adopted me as his big sister.”
“He saw how you and his mother bounded. It’s natural for a child to assume that aspect based on observation.”
“It’s more than that. He’s got an intuition to read people, that I don’t even see in adults and just for a brief second . . .I thought . . . .”
“You thought what?”
Jilly touched her left ear and looked up to Libby. “For a moment, I thought I could actually hear him.”
Libby raised an eyebrow. She didn’t know how to explain it. Was Jilly imagining it, due to the stress of the moment? The deaf woman touched her friend by the arm and walked off to go find Eddie and thank Barbara for having such a wonderful son. Libby pulled out her little pad from her side pocket and scribbled some notes. The therapist was left wondering; after the spin the bottle incident with Hal and what Jilly just told her about their chat with Eddie . . . .
Was the Island truly magical?
posted by Jason | 8:01 AM
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