[Debris floats in the ocean. A woman breaks through the surface of the water and clings to a piece of wood. She looks around and sees the island. Soon after, she reaches the shore, which is strewn with debris, she is visibly pregnant and injured. She makes her way inland and comes to a stream. She drinks from the stream, but is startled by a reflection.]

MOTHER: Olle quidae graves? Ego auxilium tibi. [Subtitle: You're hurt? Let me help you.]

[Claudia reluctantly takes her hand.]

CLAUDIA: Gratias ago tibi. [Subtitle: Thank you.]

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[Some time later, Mother feeds Claudia and prepares medicine.]

MOTHER: Ago nomine appelarus? [Subtitle: What are you called?]

CLAUDIA: Mihi nomine es Claudia. [Subtitle: My name is Claudia.]

MOTHER: That's a lovely name.

CLAUDIA: Where are the rest of your people?

MOTHER: There's only me.

CLAUDIA: How did you get here?

MOTHER: [applying medicinal substance to Claudia's leg wounds] The same way you got here. By accident.

CLAUDIA: How long have you--

MOTHER: Every question I answer will simply lead to another question. You should rest. Just be grateful you're alive.

CLAUDIA: There were other people on my ship. I need to--

MOTHER: No! If there are other people on the island, I will find them.

[Claudia suddenly winces.]

MOTHER: The baby?

CLAUDIA: Oh!... Oh!... It's coming...

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[Some time later, Claudia screams in agony as she attempts to give birth.]

MOTHER: That's it! Push! Push harder!

CLAUDIA: I can't!

MOTHER: Yes you can!...That's good! One more push!

[Claudia pushes a final time and Mother shows her the baby.]

MOTHER: It's a boy...

CLAUDIA: His name is Jacob.

MOTHER: It's a boy.

[Mother swaddles Jacob and sets him down nearby.]

CLAUDIA: Can I--

[Claudia begins screaming once more.]

MOTHER: There's another baby... push again! Here it comes! Now!

[Claudia pushes out another baby.]

MOTHER: It's another boy.

CLAUDIA: I only picked one name.

[Mother lays the second baby next to Jacob - one twin is swaddled in light cloth; the other in dark.]

MOTHER: [to wailing infants] Shhh. Shhh.

CLAUDIA: May I see him?

MOTHER: I'm sorry...

[Mother bludgeons Claudia to death with a rock.]

MOTHER: Uhh! Uhh!

Act 2

[Thirteen years later, a young Man in Black walks along the beach. He is delighted to find a Senet game (ancient Egyptian game, ancestor to modern backgammon) in the sand. Later, Jacob approaches him as he prepares the game.]

JACOB: What is it?

BOY IN BLACK: It's a game. You play it.

JACOB: How do you know how?

BOY IN BLACK: I just know.

JACOB: Can you show me how to play?

BOY IN BLACK: If you promise not to tell Mother.

JACOB: Why can't we tell her?

BOY IN BLACK: Because she'll take it away.

[Jacob contemplates a white playing piece.]

BOY IN BLACK: So... do you want to play or don't you, Jacob?

JACOB: Yes. I want to play.

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[Later, Jacob joins Mother at the cave in which they live - she is weaving a tapestry.]

MOTHER: [without turning around] Hello, Jacob.

JACOB: Hello, Mother.

MOTHER: Where's your brother?

JACOB: He's down at the beach... staring out at the ocean.

[Mother casts a suspicious glance at Jacob.]

JACOB: Can I help you?

MOTHER: If you like, you can sort that.

[Jacob sits and begins to sort some different colored threads.]

MOTHER: What were you and your brother doing down at the beach?

JACOB: We were just... walking.

MOTHER: Do you love me, Jacob?

JACOB: Yes.

MOTHER: Then tell me what happened.

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[Later, Mother approaches the young Man in Black on the beach.]

MOTHER: May I join you?

BOY IN BLACK: Sure.

[Mother sits next to him and smiles.]

BOY IN BLACK: Jacob told you what I found...

MOTHER: Of course he did. Jacob doesn't know how to lie. He's not like you.

BOY IN BLACK: Why? What am I like?

MOTHER: You're... special.

BOY IN BLACK: Can I keep the game?

MOTHER: Of course you can. That's why I left it for you.

BOY IN BLACK: It came from you?

MOTHER: Of course it did. Where else would it come from?

BOY IN BLACK: From somewhere else. Across the sea...

MOTHER: There is nowhere else. The Island is all there is.

BOY IN BLACK: Then where did we come from?

MOTHER: [sighs] You and your brother came from me, and I came from my mother.

BOY IN BLACK: Where's she?

MOTHER: She's dead.

BOY IN BLACK: What's dead?

MOTHER: Something you will never have to worry about.

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[Sometime later, Jacob and the young Man in Black chase a boar through the jungle.]

BOY IN BLACK: Hurry up, he's getting away!

[They lose sight of the boar and hear it squeal in agony. They come to a clearing and find it skewered.]

BOY IN BLACK: Hide!

[They dive into the bushes and watch as three men descend upon the carcass.]

JACOB: Who are they?

BOY IN BLACK: Shh!

[They watch as the men begin to consume the boar.]

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[Soon after, they find Mother gardening.]

JACOB: Mother! Mother!

MOTHER: What's wrong?

BOY IN BLACK: We saw people! Men!

MOTHER: How many were there?

BOY IN BLACK: Three... they killed a boar!

MOTHER: Did they see you?

BOY IN BLACK: No. I don't think so.

JACOB: Where did they come from? They looked like us!

MOTHER: They're not like us. They don't belong here. We are here for a reason.

BOY IN BLACK: What reason?

MOTHER: It's not time yet...

BOY IN BLACK: Mother! What reason?

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[Moments later, Mother leads Jacob and the young Man in Black through the jungle, the boys are both blindfolded.]

BOY IN BLACK: Did you know about the people?

MOTHER: Yes.

BOY IN BLACK: Why didn't you tell us about them?

MOTHER: Because they're dangerous and I didn't want to frighten you.

JACOB: What makes them dangerous?

MOTHER: The same thing that makes all men dangerous. They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt... and it always ends the same.

BOY IN BLACK: They come? Come from where?

MOTHER: Another part of the island. And you're never to go looking for them. If they found you, they would hurt you.

JACOB: Why would they hurt us?

MOTHER: Because they're people, Jacob, and that's what people do.

BOY IN BLACK: But we're people. Does that mean that we can hurt each other?

[Mother removes their blindfolds.]

MOTHER: I've made it so you can never hurt each other.

[She turns them around to observe a tunnel with a stream running through it that culminates in a glowing waterfall.]

BOY IN BLACK: What is this place?

MOTHER: This is the reason you're here.

[They approach the tunnel.]

MOTHER: Don't go in there.

BOY IN BLACK: What's down there?

MOTHER: Light. The warmest, brightest light you've ever seen or felt. And we must make sure that no one ever finds it.

BOY IN BLACK: It's beautiful...

MOTHER: Yes it is. And that's why they want it. Because a little bit of this very same light is inside of every man. But they always want more.

JACOB: Can they take it?

MOTHER: No. But they would try. And if they tried they could put it out. And if the light goes out here... it goes out everywhere. And so I've protected this place. But I can't protect it forever.

BOY IN BLACK: Then who will?

MOTHER: It will have to be one of you.

Act 3

[Jacob and his brother are playing the Senet board game that washed up on shore - Jacob controls the white stones; and his brother, the black ones - Jacob makes a move that is reversed by his brother.]

BOY IN BLACK: You can’t do that, Jacob.

JACOB: Why not?

BOY IN BLACK: Because it's against the rules

JACOB: You made the rules.

BOY IN BLACK: I found it. One day, you can make up your own game and everyone else will have to follow your rules.

[Boy in Black looks frightened to see a woman standing behind Jacob - she is Claudia, their birth mother.]

CLAUDIA: It's all right... Don't be afraid.

JACOB: What? [turns to see at what his brother is staring - looks back to his brother after seeing nothing.] What's wrong?

BOY IN BLACK: I'm going for a walk to the beach. I'll meet you later.

[He runs off and stops when he again sees Claudia.]

CLAUDIA: Hello.

BOY IN BLACK: Why can't Jacob see you?

CLAUDIA: Because I'm dead... Will you come with me? I'd like to show you something.

BOY IN BLACK: Show me what?

CLAUDIA: Where you came from. It's across the Island--a place you've never seen.

[Confused, Boy in Black follows Claudia to a hill overlooking a bustling settlement.]

BOY IN BLACK: Who are they?

CLAUDIA: They came here 13 years ago. The day before you were born. Their ship was wrecked in a storm.

BOY IN BLACK: Ship? What's that?

CLAUDIA: It's a way for people to get from one place to another. It's how we came across the sea.

BOY IN BLACK: There's nothing across the sea.

CLAUDIA: There are many things across the sea... You come from across the sea, too.

BOY IN BLACK: No. That's not true. That's not what my mother told me.

CLAUDIA: She's not your mother...I am.

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[At night, believing his mother to be asleep, the Boy in Black, with a shoulder bag, awakens Jacob.]

BOY IN BLACK: Jacob. Jacob, wake up. Come with me.

[Jacob gets up and follows his brother.]

JACOB: Why do you have all your things?

BOY IN BLACK: They're our things... I took them because we're leaving and we're never coming back.

JACOB: What?

BOY IN BLACK: Just follow me.

JACOB: Follow you where?

BOY IN BLACK: To the people.

JACOB: No. We're supposed to stay away from them.

BOY IN BLACK: They're our people, Jacob, and we're gonna live with them.

JACOB: No, mother said--

BOY IN BLACK: She lied, she lied about everything--all of it. I know you don't understand, but you have to come with me. I don't want to go by myself.

JACOB: We can't--Mother loves us.

BOY IN BLACK: She doesn't love us.

JACOB: Stop!

BOY IN BLACK: It was all a lie!

JACOB: Stop it!

BOY IN BLACK: She's not even our mother!

JACOB: Aah!

[Jacob angrily forces his brother to the ground and begins punching him repeatedly in the face.]

JACOB: No!

MOTHER: Jacob! What are you doing?

JACOB: He's leaving. He's going to them...to the other people!

[Boy in Black, bloodied, gets up, spits and glares at his mother.]

MOTHER: What?

BOY IN BLACK: I know now. There is another place across the sea. It's where I'm from and I'm gonna go there. I'm gonna go home.

MOTHER: Who--who told you that?

BOY IN BLACK: My mother!

MOTHER: I'm your mother.

BOY IN BLACK: You killed my mother... Jacob, she was your mother, too. We don't belong here. We don't belong with her. Come with me.

JACOB: No.

MOTHER: [grabbing Boy in Black] My love, you need to know this. Whatever you have been told, you will never be able to leave this Island.

BOY IN BLACK: [forces himself away from his mother] That's not true. One day I can prove it.

[Boy in Black picks ups his bag and walks off into the jungle as his mother helplessly watches.]

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[On the beach, distressed Mother is joined by Jacob - they sit on a log, looking out into the sea.]

JACOB: Do you think he'll come back?

MOTHER: No.

JACOB: He said you killed our mother... Is that true?

MOTHER: Yes... If I had let her live, she would have taken you back to her people; and those people are bad, Jacob--very bad. I-I couldn't let you become one of them. I needed you to stay good.

JACOB: Am I good, Mother?

MOTHER: Yes, of course you are.

JACOB: Then, why do you love him more than me?

MOTHER: I love you in--in different ways. [touching his cheek] Will you stay with me, Jacob? Please?

JACOB: Yes. [she chuckles and snuggles up to him] For awhile.

Act 4

[Thirty years later, adult Jacob weaves a tapestry - turns to his mother, who is mixing herbs in a bowl.]

JACOB: What do you think?

MOTHER: It's very nice, Jacob.

JACOB: Are you all right?

MOTHER: I'm just tired.

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[From a distance, Jacob observes the settlement - workers, including his brother, are involved in a project. His brother sees him - they sit and play the Senet board game.]

MAN IN BLACK: She know you visit me?

JACOB: She never asks about you.

MAN IN BLACK: Then, I'm sorry I asked about her. Why do you watch us, Jacob?

JACOB: [mutters] I watch because I wanna know if Mother's right.

MAN IN BLACK: Right about what?

JACOB: About them.

MAN IN BLACK: Oh, you mean my people. You wanna know if they're bad. That woman may be insane, but she's most definitely right about that.

JACOB: I don't know. They don't seem so bad to me.

MAN IN BLACK: That's easy for you to say. Looking down on us from above. Trust me, I've lived among them for 30 years. They're greedy, manipulative, untrustworthy, and selfish.

JACOB: Then why are you with them?

MAN IN BLACK: They're a means to an end.

JACOB: What end?

MAN IN BLACK: I'm leaving, Jacob. I found a way off the Island.

JACOB: No, it's impossible. There is no way off the Island.

[Man in Black hurls a dagger, which adheres like a magnet to a stone block wall - Astounded, Jacob pulls it off the wall, which stops a magnetic humming noise.]

MAN IN BLACK: There are very smart men among us. Men who are curious about how things work. Together we have discovered places all over this Island where metal behaves strangely. When we find one of these sites, we dig. And this time we found something. Come with me, Jacob. Please... What are you gonna do when she dies?

JACOB: She's never gonna die.

MAN IN BLACK: Jacob, everything dies.

JACOB: Well, I don't wanna leave this Island. It's my home.

MAN IN BLACK: Well, it's not mine.

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[Jacob returns to his mother.]

MOTHER: Where were you?

JACOB: You know where I was.

MOTHER: What did he say to you, Jacob?

JACOB: He said he's finally found a way to leave the Island.

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[At the project site, Mother waits until workers leave, and appears down a well to the Man in Black - he is startled and draws his dagger.]

MOTHER: May I join you.

MAN IN BLACK: [sheaths his dagger] Yes... How are you?

MOTHER: I'm worried.

MAN IN BLACK: Well, Mother, you should be. I spent 30 years searching for that place you brought me as a child--that...waterfall with that beautiful light. I've walked this island from end to end, not once coming close to finding it. But, then I began to think--what if the light underneath the island--what if I could get to it from someplace else? Figuring out how to reach it took a very long time.

MOTHER: The people with you, they saw this, too?

MAN IN BLACK: Yes, they have some very interesting ideas about what to do with it.

MOTHER: Do with it? You don't have any idea wh--

MAN IN BLACK: I have no idea because you wouldn't tell me, Mother.

[Man in Black dislodges a stone, which allows light to filter in - Mother notices a large, wooden wheel leaning against the cavern wall.]

MOTHER: What is that?

MAN IN BLACK: It's a wheel... We're going to make an opening...one much bigger than this one; and, then I'm going to attach that wheel to a system we're building. A system that channels the water and the light. And then I'm gonna turn it. And when I do...I'll finally be able to leave this place.

MOTHER: How do you know all this? How do you know it will work?

MAN IN BLACK: I'm special, Mother.

MOTHER: Please don't do this... Don't go.

MAN IN BLACK: I have to go.

MOTHER: Why?

MAN IN BLACK: Because I don't belong here.

MOTHER: Then I suppose this is goodbye.

[They embrace, Mother cries.]

MAN IN BLACK: Goodbye, Mother.

MOTHER: [grasping his face] I am so sorry... Ahh!

[She smashes his head into the wall - he is unconscious.]

Act 5

[Mother returns to camp and awakens Jacob.]

MOTHER: Jacob... It's time.

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[With torch in hand, she leads Jacob through the jungle.]

JACOB: Something happened, didn't it?

MOTHER: Yes. I had to say goodbye to your brother.

JACOB: You're letting him go?

MOTHER: I don't have a choice. It's what he wants. Do you recognize this place?

JACOB: Yes.

MOTHER: Do you remember what I showed you here?

JACOB: The light.

MOTHER: You're going to protect it now.

[She hands him the torch and sits down on rocks, looking at the lighted waterfall.]

JACOB: What's down there?

MOTHER: Life, death, rebirth. It's the source, the heart of the island. Just promise me. no matter what you do, you won't ever go down there.

JACOB: Would I die?

MOTHER: It'd be worse than dying, Jacob...much worse.

MOTHER: [chanting in Latin] Nam non accipimus hoc quasi vulgarem potionem, sed ut ille sit quasi unus mecum. [Translation: Because we don't accept this as a simple potion, but so that he shall be as one with me.]

[She takes a wine flask, pours some into a silver cup and hands it to Jacob.]

MOTHER: Here. Drink this.

JACOB: What happens if I do.

MOTHER: You'll accept the responsibility that you will protect this place for as long as you can; and, then you'll have to find your replacement.

JACOB: I don't want to protect this place.

MOTHER: Someone has to.

JACOB: I don't care.

MOTHER: My time is over.

JACOB: Why? Why is your time over?

MOTHER: It has to be you, Jacob.

JACOB: No, it doesn't. You wanted it to be him. But now I'm all you have.

MOTHER: It was always supposed to be you, Jacob. I see that now. And one day, you'll see it, too; but, until then...you don't really have a choice... Please, take the cup and drink.

[Jacob takes the cup and drinks the wine.]

MOTHER: [grasping her hands around Jacob's] Now, you and I...are the same

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[Man in Black regains consciousness, sees the project wrecked and the well filled up with dirt. He runs in the direction of dark smoke to discover the settlement destroyed and all of the people dead - he picks up the burnt Senet game and is overcome with rage.]

Act 6

[Thunder rumbles as Mother and Jacob walk back to the caves.]

JACOB: Storm comin'.

MOTHER: Yes, there is... You should go, get some firewood before it rains.

[Jacob starts to walk off.]

MOTHER: Jacob? Be careful.

JACOB: I'll see you back home.

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[Mother returns to her camp to see a mess and the tapestry ruined - she picks up the charred Senet game box, she takes out one black and one white polished stone, as she closely examines the black one, she is stabbed through from behind by the dagger of the Man in Black - she collapses onto her back, muttering indistinctly, and stares at her son.]

MAN IN BLACK: Why wouldn't you let me leave, mother?

MOTHER: Because I...I love you. Thank you.

[Mother dies, Man in Black sobs - Jacob returns, dropping the firewood.]

MAN IN BLACK: Jacob.

JACOB: What did you do?

MAN IN BLACK: Wait. Listen.

JACOB: What did you do?

MAN IN BLACK: No!

JACOB: What did you do?!

MAN IN BLACK: You have--

[Jacob savagely beats his brother - Jacob drags Man in Black.]

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[Jacob drags him through the bamboo forest.]

MAN IN BLACK: Don't. Jacob, don't do this. She burned them. She was crazy. She burned them all! You can't kill me, Jacob. She made it that way. You can't.

JACOB: Don't worry, brother. I'm not going to kill you.

[They come to the shining waterfall - Jacob throws his brother into the stream]

MAN IN BLACK: Uhh. [He realizes that they are at the waterfall] She brought you back here?

JACOB: Yes.

MAN IN BLACK: Why would she?

JACOB: Because I have to protect it now.

[Jacob grabs his brother by the neck and head.]

MAN IN BLACK: Ahh.

JACOB: You want to find the light? You want to leave this place, brother? Then go.

MAN IN BLACK: Uhh!

[Jacob forces his brother into the stream, he hits his head and is sucked unconscious into the waterfall - moments later, Jacob is knocked to the ground as the Smoke Monster emerges from the cave and hurries into the jungle.]

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[As Jacob washes in a stream, he sees the lifeless body of his brother. Jacob takes his brother's body to the cave - he retrieves the two stones--black and white--that fell from his mother's hands and places them in a pouch.]

[Flash-forward to centuries later - Kate and Jack finding the pouch.]

[Jacob closes his mother's eyes and lays her next to his brother in the cave.]

[Flash-forward]

KATE: Who are they? Where'd they come from?

JACK: Didn't you guys shoot a polar bear last week?

KATE: Yeah.

JACK: Where'd that come from?

[Jacob, crying, kisses the pouch and places it in his brother's hands.]

[Flash-forward]

LOCKE: Hello? Anybody there? Who were these men?

JACK: Actually, one of them's female.

LOCKE: Our very own Adam and Eve.

[Jacob sobs as he looks upon the bodies of his mother and brother.]

JACOB: Goodbye, brother. Goodbye.