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The first time Mathias looks up and catches a glimpse of someone through the trees, he thinks nothing of it. Though he and Lucy don't live right on the boardwalk, it's not unusual for people to travel near their home and he continues to look through the trees for a moment, partly expecting to see someone he knows. But no one emerges onto the path near their shared hut and so he returns to the work on his lap.

For the first time, the island has given him something that he's never used before. The first year he received the tools and since then he's been lucky enough to be given diving equipment. At first, he'd been faintly disappointed with the gift, but now, with the wood working tools and a small, misshaped block of wood in his hands, he's finding he doesn't mind it quite so much. It's a task, something for him to learn, a new skill he's never had before and for that reason alone, he's enjoying his new tools. Even if the wood in his hand looks less and less like a horse with each passing moment.

Sam is playing nearby and he looks up every few minutes to check on her. The horse is supposed to be for her, but he's beginning to think that he's going to end up with a few more practice pieces before he can give anything to her. Glancing up, he watches her push the nose of a plastic elephant into the dirt, then looks into the trees again when he sees movement.

There, just beyond Sam, is one of the men from the base of the hill. Mathias stands in an instant. His wood working tools all tumble to the ground, the block of wood forgotten even as it bounces off his foot and into the dirt. The man has an arrow nocked, aimed at Sam and without thought, Mathias crosses the small clearing to stand between them. Sam looks up at him, smiles, then goes back to her toys as if she doesn't see the man standing there in the jungle.

When Mathias looks down at her, there's a fine green fuzz growing on her clothes and his gaze shifts back to the man in the trees. They don't need to speak, Mathias knows what he's thinking and he wants to make it very clear that nothing will happen to Sam. Even if she carries the vine all over this island, no one is going to shoot her.

He takes a step toward the man, but the second he pushes the branches aside, the man is gone. In the small space where Mathias would have sworn he was standing, there's nothing. Not even an indent in the dirt where his feet would have been.

"Sam, did you see--" But the question falters when he turns to look at her. The green fuzz growing on her clothing is gone, too.

"What?" she asks. "Lucy? Lucy's inside with the dogs."

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"Correction," Lucy said, leaning sideways against the doorway of the hut. "Lucy was inside with the dogs. What are you two up to?" Something seemed just slightly off, but she couldn't have pinpointed what it was, and she didn't want to jump to unnecessary conclusions and definitely not to alarm Sam. She'd been quietly on edge lately already as it was, one bad thing always seeming to precede another, and for all she knew, it was in her own head. That was still no reason not to be sure.

"Playing," Sam says, pushing her elephant into the dirt again. She makes a quiet trumpet noise, returning to her toys without Mathias needing to prompt her and so he turns in a circle, looking for the man he'd seen in the trees. There's no one there and the green fuzz on Sam's clothes hasn't come back.

"I thought I saw something," he admits, turning to look at Lucy finally. What he doesn't want to admit is that it isn't the first time. He remembers falling down that mineshaft, the things he'd heard and seen in the dark corners while he and Danny waited for help.

"Saw something?" Lucy asked, voice instinctively lowering a little. At least Sam didn't seem to be bothered by whatever it was, but around here, saw something could mean just about anything, and probably not anything good. Running a hand back through her hair, she exhaled slowly, trying to will herself not to overreact. It could have just been an animal or something, but then, they weren't often so close to paths, and she doubted Mathias would think much of that. "Something like what?"

"I don't know exactly," he says, mostly because he doesn't want to admit what he's seen. In his time on the island, he's worked hard to leave Mexico behind, even in the fact of all the reminders that have been thrown at him. It's cold, really, but since Stacy's disappearance, he's even worked hard to leave her behind. If he leaves them all in Mexico, if he doesn't think of them, it's a little easier.

"It looked like a person," he continues finally. "Someone with a bow and arrow."

"Holy shit," Lucy said under her breath, eyes going wide as she glanced from Sam to Mathias and back again. Nothing had happened, that much was obvious, but nothing about that sounded good, either. There were plenty of people on the island who hunted, but this didn't sound like that, and as much as she hated any kind of feeling of helplessness, she had to admit that this was that. "Do you think Sam's safe? Should we get her inside?"

Whoever it was, they're not there now, and there's more to it than just the person. The green fuzz growing on Sam's clothes was too familiar, but it's gone now, too. It worries Mathias, but he doesn't think anyone is in danger. He's just confused, mostly.

"They're gone," he says. "Maybe I didn't see them in the first place." He's not entirely convinced of that, but he can't explain their rapid disappearance either. There was no rustle of trees, no sound of footsteps. The man was there one moment and the next he was gone.

Somehow, Lucy didn't think it could be that simple. There was no better explanation for it that she could come up with off the top of her head, but Mathias was too sensible for that, and it seemed to her like it would be a pretty fucking difficult thing to just imagine someone with a bow and arrow. Maybe there was no danger now, but there had been, leaving her torn between scooping Sam up and carrying her inside and running off into the jungle in search of whomever had posed a threat, however momentary. She'd always been good at going headlong into danger.

"You know, this place likes to screw with people's heads," she said, as calmly as she was able, though there was a tension in her shoulders that she couldn't shake, an inherent need to stay on guard. She'd lost too much recently to lose anything else, too, no matter what the cost was of keeping the people she cared about safe. "It could... I don't know. Be the island playing tricks, maybe."

"It could be," Mathias agrees slowly, though he doesn't want to think that the island might be playing tricks on him. That it would be that specific image, a man with a bow and arrow, the vine growing on Sam's clothes, it's too much to consider. It's been three and a half years since he's been on that hill and he doesn't understand why he can't just leave it behind.

It could be that or maybe it's him. Maybe he's hallucinating again like he did down in the dark of the mineshaft.

"It is probably nothing," he says finally, shaking his head. "When Danny and I fell down the mineshaft on the other island, I thought I was hearing things. Maybe it is just... something like that."

"It could be," Lucy said, nodding slowly. She didn't know a lot about those sorts of things, or even if they were comparable, but she'd gathered enough about PTSD to figure this might be similar to that. The jungle in itself could probably have been enough to conjure up reminders of that. It shouldn't have been a comforting thought, but it was, a little. At least Mathias and Sam weren't in any immediate danger. "That wouldn't be the worst thing, right?"

"No," Mathias says, then laughs, because while it's preferable to there actually being someone there, he doesn't like the idea of hallucinations either. "It would be safer for you and Sam, anyway," he adds. "But hopefully I'm not seeing things either. Hopefully it was just the sun in my eyes."

He doesn't believe it, though, and he's sure that it's evident in his voice.

Lucy wasn't sure she bought that, either, the image he'd described too specific to just be a trick of the light, but she didn't see the sense in saying so. He seemed to know that much, and whatever the explanation, she was certain there was one. At least they were all safe for now, inasmuch as anyone could be around here.

"Just let me know if you see anything else, okay?" she asked, resting a hand briefly against his arm. "It's probably nothing, but... just in case." She wasn't going to trust this place in the slightest. It had put them through too much for that.

"I..." He's prepared to say that he will, but if he does, it'll be a lie. Because he's seen something else right here, the fine fuzz that had been growing on Sam's clothes and although he doesn't want to tell Lucy about it, he doesn't want to lie either. Though she's like a sister to him, they're also raising Sam together and he has to be honest with her, if no one else.

"There was something else," he admits. "I thought there was something growing on Sam's clothes. Something... green. It looked very similar to the vine growing on my clothes before I came here."

Lucy inhaled sharply at that, knowing enough about where Mathias had been before he arrived here to have a sense of what that meant, which was to say, nothing good. Glancing at Sam again now, not seeing anything like that on her clothing, she frowned, wary, as she looked at Mathias again. If that vine showed up here, they were all screwed, but she didn't want to outright say as much. She was sure he didn't need to be told.

"But it's gone now," she said, almost a question, as if she couldn't see that for herself. "So maybe it is just some sort of trick. A mind game."

"It's gone now," Mathias agrees, doing a quick sweep of the area. There's nothing on Sam's clothes, nothing on his own or Lucy's and the man in the jungle is gone. He doesn't want to think that he may need to go back to seeing someone in the psych office, he hasn't spoken to any of the doctors since Harry disappeared, but if he's starting to see things, it might no longer be an option.

"It was probably nothing," he says. "If it happens again, though, maybe I should see someone in the clinic."

"If you think it would help," Lucy said slowly, worrying at her lower lip. The last thing she wanted was to seem like she was calling him crazy or some shit like that, wouldn't have pushed him into it if he didn't want to, but she couldn't pretend that it was a bad idea, either. With all he'd been through before this place, chances were, it could do some good. "But right now, like you said. It's probably nothing." She really fucking hoped it was nothing, at least.

"Neither of us sound very convinced," he points out, though he's smiling very slightly as he says it. He wants to be sure, he wants to know, without a doubt, that it's nothing. That they're all safe. But if there's anything he's learned after living here for so long, it's that they're not safe. That this place will wait until they think they are just to pull something like this.

If it is the island at all and not just something he's hallucinating.

"Well, we're probably better off not committing one way or the other," Lucy said thoughtfully, head tipping to the side. For Mathias to be seeing things was hardly a comforting thought, but it would have been inherently understandable, something to hope for, however strangely. No matter how much sense it might have made, though, she wasn't about to put any stock in it. The island had put her — all of them — through too much for her to rule that out. "You never know around here, right?"

"So... we keep an eye out," he says, because that seems to be the only option available to them. Really, though, he's the only one who can keep an eye out. Sam hadn't seen the man or the fuzz growing on her clothes, which leads Mathias to believe Lucy wouldn't have seen them either. And it's not likely anyone else will be an exception to that.

"We keep an eye out and if we see any other strange things..." But at that, he trails off, because he isn't sure what they'll do.

"If we see any other strange things, we figure it out as it comes," Lucy finished for him, mustering up a small, reassuring smile. "No sense in trying to make too much of it before then." Even if there were, there was still nothing they could do about it now, but that wasn't the point. Though it wouldn't have done them well to be anything other than prepared, there was still a chance that it was nothing, or a one-time occurrence that wouldn't mean anything later. There was enough else to worry about being here without adding to it.

Nodding his agreement, he lets his gaze sweep the surrounding jungle again, but when nothing jumps out at him, he returns his attention to Lucy. "It just has me a little on edge," he admits with a faint smile. He has to remind himself that Sam hadn't seen anything, hadn't noticed the green fuzz on her clothes and that Lucy hasn't seen anything either.

Just a trick of the light, perhaps.

"What's on edge?" Sam asks then, looking up from her toys.

At once relieved for and further concerned by the interruption, Lucy shot Sam a crooked smile. It wasn't going to be an easy thing to explain, but better to attempt this than have to answer what they were talking about in the first place. Maybe this would keep her from asking further questions. That was one of the nice things about kids, Lucy thought, how easily they could get distracted.

"It's like... uneasy?" she said, brows furrowing. "A little nervous. Like you can't relax because you're worried about something. Even if there isn't anything to be worried about." She glanced at Mathias, suspecting he'd agree that they should pretend that was the case, at least for now. "That's on edge."

"That's silly," Sam says before Mathias even has a chance to support what Lucy's said and he can't help but laugh. Sam returns to her toys easily enough and Mathias walks over to the simple bench he's built and set up in their front yard, sinking onto it with a sigh. He has every intention of working on it with the tools, which he collects now, putting them back into their case.

"It is silly," he agrees, though he directs it more at Lucy than at Sam. "Isn't it?"

"It is," Lucy agreed in turn, though the glance she cast Mathias was a thoughtful one, a shadow of reluctance in her expression. She hoped it was silly. At least if that was the case, it was something they'd be able to do something about, whereas if the vine from Mexico was here, they'd be powerless. For Sam's sake, for all of theirs, she wanted fervently for that to be the case. Looking at Sam again, she said, "Very silly. So it's nothing you need to be worried about."

The last thing in the world he wants to do is worry Sam, though she seems far more concerned with her toys than anything that's been said to her over the past few minutes. He doesn't want to worry Lucy either, but he doesn't want to carry it on his own if anything happens.

"When I broke my leg," he says, "I thought I was seeing things in the mine shaft, too."

"Makes sense," Lucy said, drawing in a deep breath, admittedly relieved that their conversation hadn't held Sam's focus. If something was really wrong, they were going to have to find a way to deal with thy eventually, but until then, it wouldn't have done them any good to do so. Jumping to conclusions could be just as dangerous as being unprepared. "So maybe this is... just like that. A memory more than anything else."

The idea was probably too good to be true, but she'd hold on to it while she could. Better that than a loosening grip on sanity, or worse yet, the threat being real.

It's harder for him to believe up here in the daylight, no fear, no real threat, but maybe she's right. Maybe he's just still having a difficult time dealing with what happened to him and his friends. That sort of thinking makes him believe he really does need to see someone in the psych office again, something he isn't looking forward to. Working there every day is a much different experience than actually seeing one of the doctors.

"A memory. A minor... what do people call it? A freak out?" he asks with a small smile.

Though it wasn't funny, Lucy laughed anyway, stifling the sound with her teeth pressed to her lower lip. "Yeah, they do call it that," she said. "So, see, it could just be that." Even if she wasn't convinced of that yet, she didn't want Mathias to have to worry any more than he was bound to be doing already. He would know if things were getting worse; as far as she could tell, he'd have enough on his mind as it was without her openly fretting over the situation. She was a worrier, but she wasn't going to make other people be the same.

"Sometimes, even after being here for so long and speaking mostly English, some of the things people say don't make sense to me," Mathias says, smiling. It's easier to talk about something like that than to worry anymore about what he's seen.

"Chicken with its head cut off," he says, looking up. "I don't understand that expression."

Of all things to say, it was impossible for Lucy not to laugh at that one, shaking her head a little at just the thought of it. "It's... a special one," she said, wishing she had some way of actually knowing its origin. What it meant was pretty common knowledge, but how it started was a different story. "It's because — you know, when they behead chickens, apparently they don't die right away, they just keep... running around without their heads. So it's like, running around kind of frantic, doing things blindly."

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