An Outsider's Call

75

SAWYER

When the brightness dies down, I notice we're somewhere else. I see the sun rising in front of us, and the waves crashing onto the beach.

We're at the edge of the island in front of Freemind's doors. America and I take our hands off of each other, and look around.

"How are we here?" asks America confused.

"I guess the Spirits wanted to take us here," I say. "So all your people will see what we've done together."

A few seconds pass until America says, "Our people."

I turn to her, surprised by her sudden remark. She stares at me, still looking ashamed. I smile briefly. I can already see her development growing.

The creaking of the doors opening all the way to the entrance catch my attention. I see people walk through, and immediately recognize Eli first. His eyes light up when he sees me, almost in shock that I'm still here. I smile brightly, and bolt into a run.

He runs towards me, pure happy emotion on his face. Once we're close, I leap into his arms as he wraps  his  arms  around  my  waist. I press my lips on his, wrapping my legs around him  as  he  holds  me  up.

I look at Eli when we put our foreheads against each other as he holds me up. He smiles at me with tearful eyes, as well as mine are.

"Did I do good?" I ask. He smiles, closing his eyes as he opens them to look at me. "Was any of this worth it?"

He looks up at me, brushing his  hands  up  and  down  my  torso.

"Was it?" I ask.

"This one... was so worth it," he mutters. "Not only did you save us, but you saved so many people here too. That matters."

I look at him, and nod. He puts me down. I slide my hands off his face as I turn to see America. America walks towards the group, when she sees Cyvil walk out. She freezes, looking at him in shock. He looks at her, relief and surprise in his eyes. I smile brightly, as he holds his arms out to her.

She instantly cries as she walks towards him, putting her arms around him. She lets go of the hug and looks up at him.

"I'm so sorry..." she cries.

"It's okay!" he assures, putting his hands on her arms.

"It's not..." she cries.

"Yes it is! I forgive you, okay?" he says, putting his hands on her face. "It's really okay."

"I thought I knew what I was doing... But I just hurt so many people. I thought putting chips in their necks would make them my people but I just made it torture. Tell me I'm not a monster..." weeps America. I watch in heartbreak. So there were chips in the Children of Freemind. I wonder why she would do that...

"You are not a monster." says Cyvil, looking into her eyes.

"No... mean it, and tell me I'm not..." she begins.

"Hey, hey, hey..." soothes Cyvil. "You're not. You're not a monster. And if I have to spend the rest of our life telling you that, I will."

America stares at him, and hugs him close. I smile at the siblings, overjoyed for  them  to come  to  terms.

That's when Children of Freemind come outside, walking around, wondering what's going on.

Many of them are smiling, laughing.

It's like they know their society is finally changed, and at peace.

I look around, trying to find my friends... and then see Grace and Levin in the crowd... Both their eyes fall on me, looking surprised. I smile at them, running over to them. I throw my arms around both of them, as both of them hug me back.

"Hey!" I exclaim, letting go of them.

"Hey..." exclaims Levin smiling.

"Are you guys okay?" I ask.

"Yeah..." mutters Grace, smiling too. I turn away from them, trying to find another person. I look around through the crowd frantically, and then I see her. She looks at me in such relief, in shock.

It's my mother.

I run to Laura, never so happy to see her. She holds out her arms to me as I run into them happily. She holds onto me tightly, putting her hand on the back on my head.

I back up to look at her. She looks down at me, pushing my hair back. A tear rolls down her cheek as she beams at me.

"You're crying..." I say, smirking. She scoffs, pushing my shoulder.

"You owe a movie night. You gave me a scare... A really, really big scare." she says, raising her finger at me. I shrug, smirking.

"I love you too," I say, accepting that answer. She smiles at me. I glance over at Lim watching us, and smirk back at Laura. "Oh, and by the way... go get that man already."

Laura rolls her eyes, sighing. She turns to Lim, walking over to him.

"Hey..." he begins. She doesn't even let him speak, and pulls his mouth onto hers. He looks surprised, but goes along with it.

I've been dreaming to see that! I watch passionately, smirking at the two of them. Laura lets go of Lim's lips, when he looks at her surprised.

"Yeah... um... Oh yeah, I am attracted to you... and very in love with you as well," says Laura awkwardly, pursing her lips. That means he's already confessed to her! "So we can just make this obvious, unspoken thing official... if you want...?"

Lim's face goes flirty as he smirks, putting his hand on her face as he pulls her to his lips this time. Laura closes her eyes happily, putting her hands on his shoulders.

She deserves him. Never seen her that happy in a while.

I see Jamie and Tyler run to each other, kissing in the sunrise. Tyler holds Lillette to his side, helping her walk as she hugs Jamie.

We've yet again accomplished another mission. Peacefully this time. Peacefully. Everything's finally ended, and now we're at peace.

I see Vegas come out of the doors, greeting everyone as they pet him happily.

This is the peace everyone on this island deserved. Outsiders or not. We were called here to make peace. As an outsider here, I took the call. I risked everything for another mission to succeed at... and it was worth it.

I was once taught that risks are worth taking.

And today I was taught this whole thing had been worth it. Whatever we go through to get to the end, it all comes together to feel the feeling of success.

If everyone's at peace, everything was worth it. Everything.