Five Visits Hurley Never Received in Santa Rosa
Title: Five Visits Hurley Never Received in Santa Rosa
Characters: Hurley, Liam, Ana Lucia, Libby, Michael, Dave.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They own me.
Warnings: Spoilers all the way up through S4.
Summary: Liam, Ana, Libby, Michael and Dave visit Hurley in Santa Rosa.
Hurley’s never met the man who sits before him now, although he admits to himself that the man is vaguely familiar.
"Mr. Reyes?" the man says.
Hurley nods.
"Mr Reyes, my name is Liam Pace. I don’t really know why I came here today, but it’s driving me -" Liam stops himself abruptly. "I needed to talk to someone about my baby brother, Charlie."
Hurley blinks. "Charlie." He should have known this was coming. But he wasn’t prepared for this.
Liam nods, swallows hard. "They said he survived the crash, that he drowned just a few weeks before you were all rescued."
Hurley nods again. "That’s right," he replies, trying to ignore the shaking of Liam’s hands as he sits opposite him.
"I went to see one of the other survivors," Liam continues as if Hurley had not spoken. "That doctor bloke. He didn’t tell me much, though. Said you were the one that was mates with him."
Hurley doesn’t know what to say. They’d all agreed that stupid cover story for the outside world. But none of them had thought at the time that they would have to deal with loved ones of other survivors from Flight 815. True, Jack had had that encounter with Claire’s mother, where he found out that his dad was Claire’s dad too (never saw that coming!), but she’d taken his reaction at the time for shock at the fact that he’d had a half sister at all.
And it’s true, Charlie was his friend. He’d died saving them all, sacrificed himself to get his friends off the island.
It’s an insult to his memory to carry on pretending.
But Jack had said they had to. He told them all to lie, to protect the ones who’d stayed behind.
"It was an accident," Hurley mutters, hating himself for carrying on with the lie, but not knowing what else he can do. "He went for a swim, and the current, it caught him. Jack, the doctor, he went after him, but…"
Liam nods. "That’s what the doctor bloke said had happened." But he still looks wary. "Bloody nutter," he mutters more to himself than to Hurley. "Baby brother used to love swimming. Always said it was one of the proudest moments of his life, the day Dad taught him at Butlins. But he hadn’t been for years, not since…" Liam abruptly breaks off, looks away from Hurley. "Why did he do it?"
Images fill Hurley’s head: Desmond returning from the Looking Glass alone, Charlie telling Hurley what Desmond had predicted.
"I don’t know, dude," he answers weakly.
Hurley notices Liam’s hands are still shaking, that his left leg is jiggling up and down. Liam debates with himself for a minute before bursting out "We had an argument, right before he got on the plane. I need to know, Mr Reyes, did he die still upset with me?"
Hurley swallows hard, curses Jack once more for creating this situation.
"I’m sure he didn’t," he says.
"I should have argued harder, tried to stop him from leaving," Liam continues, but Hurley cuts him off.
"Dude? Can I ask you something?"
Liam nods distractedly. "What?"
"Does…Charlie ever visit you?"
Liam stares at him. "You what?"
"Because he comes to me," Hurley continues, hoping desperately that he isn’t crazy, that other people have experienced this too. "He comes to see me all the time. We sit on the bench and talk. Sometimes we play basketball, or chess. I need to know, dude. Does he ever visit you too?"
Liam slams his fist into his hand. "You’re crazy," he whispers. "He can’t come back. You’re bloody insane! This was a mistake," he mutters as he turns and walks out of the room. Dr Shephard had warned him that Hurley might say something like this. The guy’s in a mental hospital, for God’s sake. What was Liam thinking, taking him seriously?
Doesn’t this guy know that Liam would give anything to have five minutes with baby brother? He must now that, if he still understands anything at all.
It isn’t possible.
But as Liam walks past the bench, he’s sure he hears a familiar voice calling his name.
"Hey, man, you seem to be getting a lot of visitors," Lewis comments one day.
"What do you mean?" Hurley asks.
"That dark haired woman over there. She’s looking at you. Friend of yours?"
"Actually," says Ana Lucia, "he’s never met me."
"You’re not here!" Hurley yells, thoughts racing through his mind: fear at the sight of another dead person in front of him, shame at having denied her to her friend the detective, who after all had just wanted news of his friend in the same way Liam had wanted news of his brother.
"Charlie warned me you might say that," Ana Lucia remarked.
"You’re not here!" Hurley repeated.
"Want me to prove it to you?" Ana scowled.
Hurley didn’t. "What are you doing here?" he asks instead.
"You didn’t listen to Charlie, "Ana points out. "I’m here to see if you’ll listen to me."
Hurley squeezes his eyes tightly shut. It had worked that first time Charlie came. When he opens them, Ana will be gone.
"Don’t bother," Ana coldly informs him. "I’m not going anywhere."
Hurley sheepishly opens his eyes.
"They still need you, Hurley," Ana begins. "More than ever. Things have been happening since you all left."
"I’m not listening," Hurley mumbles. "You’re dead. I’m not listening to you."
"I wasn’t able to protect my people when we first got to the island," Ana continues, ignoring him. "The Others came that first night, and took three of us. Then they took the kids, who I’d promised to get home to their mother. And then on the way to your camp, when I was starting to hope we might be safe, they took Cindy."
"I know all this," Hurley interrupts. "Why are you telling me again?"
"I couldn’t protect my people then," Ana brushes him aside once more. "And I can’t protect the people on the island now. You’re right, I’m dead. But you’re not. You have to go back. You have to help them."
"This isn’t real," Hurley tries again weakly.
"You know what?" Ana Lucia scowls. "Fine. Don’t listen to me. But you know that I’m right. And you know what you have to do."
Ana Lucia turns on her heel and storms out, pausing at the door to turn around and face Hurley again.
"Maybe someone else will be able to change your mind."
Hurley dismisses this remark at first.
Until the day that Libby comes to visit him.
"Hello, Hurley," Libby greets him one day. "Thought I’d come by and see you. Seeing ass we never did get to have that picnic."
Hurley flushed as his eyes filled with tears. "I’m sorry. Sorry I forgot the blankets. Sorry I let you go back to the hatch."
Libby reaches out and takes his hand. "It wasn’t your fault."
They sit in silence for a while, Hurley wondering what to say. He remembers how shy he’d been when Libby had first arrived on his side of the island. He’d had conversations with her at her graveside for weeks. But now, faced with her after all this time, he just doesn’t know what to say.
He just knows that after what she’d said when he’d suggested that she wasn’t real that day at the clifftop, he isn’t going to say to her what he said to Charlie and Ana.
"I stuck to my diet," he eventually blurts out instead. "And I never kept a stash of food again. "I’ve stuck to it, Libby, even since we got back."
Libby smiled. "I know. I’m proud of you."
"Not that it’s difficult in here," Hurley jokes. "You should see what they give us to eat here."
"So how are things here, in general?" Libby asks. "Do you get a lot of visits?"
"My parents and Diego usually visit every week," Hurley begins. "My friend Johnny came by a couple of times at first, but that was kinda awkward." He paused thoughtfully. "He and Starla are getting a place together."
But he knew that wasn’t what Libby was asking. "Eko’s been by a couple of times. Doesn’t say much."
Libby laughs. "He never did."
"Charlie comes by a lot," Hurley continued. "And I’m guessing you know I saw Ana."
Libby nods. "Don’t worry. I’m not going to go on about that. But I think you know what you have to do."
Hurley nods. "Next time Jack comes here, I’m gonna tell him we have to go back."
Libby smiles. "Good."
"So, uh, how about you? Do you ever visit any of them? Jack, Kate, Sayid?"
Libby shakes her head. "I haven’t seen them. But it won’t be long before some of them get visits of their own," she adds cryptically.
"And I saw Michael," she continues.
Hurley chokes. "Michael? What?"
"I visited him in hospital, and on the freighter."
"Why?" Hurley demands. "Why did you visit him?"
"Because he still had work to do," Libby answers. "Just as you do."
Hurley doesn’t say anything.
"If it’s any consolation," Libby continues, "I don’t think you can possibly hate him any more than he hated himself. You know he ended up losing his son because of it."
"I’m sorry, Libby." Hurley slams his fist down on the table. "I know you always try and see the best in people. But I can’t forgive him for what he did to you."
Libby looks at him thoughtfully for a long while, but says nothing.
"I have to go back," she says eventually. "My time is almost up."
"Will you come and see me again?" Hurley asks. "I miss you."
"Of course." Libby smiles. "Maybe we’ll actually get to have that picnic this time."
"I’d like that." Hurley replies.
Libby takes look around her. "This place hasn’t changed much, from what I remember," she says, wrinkling her nose.
Hurley starts with shock. "What?"
"It’s where we met before. You didn’t really step on my foot on the plane. I was here the same time as you."
Hurley stares. "What?" he repeats.
But Libby is gone.
Hurley wonders who will be next to visit him. Maybe Boone, or Shannon.
He certainly doesn’t expect his next visitor to be Michael.
But one day, Hurley see his former friend watching him from across the room, looking like he wants to speak but not knowing what to say.
Not that there is anything he can say anyway. There’s no way Michael can ever make it up for what he has done. Libby’s gone, the only good thing in Hurley’s life for a long time, dead because of Michael.
Dr Brooks and Nurse Lazenby have to take Hurley back to his room because he becomes so agitated at the sight of Michael, struggling to restrain him, attempting to calm down his incoherent outbursts. He’s pleased to be shut in his room, where Michael cannot get to him.
He can’t do anything here.
But the next day, Hurley hears the familiar voice speaking to him.
"Didn’t expect to see me here, did you, man?" Michael asks. "I didn’t expect to be here, either. That old guy said I could go, back on the freighter. But it turns out my work wasn’t done, after all."
Hurley can’t look at him. "Dude…you’ve done enough."
Michael shakes his head. "They wanted me to kill everyone on board the freighter."
Hurley snorts. "Old habits."
"I’m sorry." Michael replies. "It’s like I said before. Libby was a mistake. I didn’t mean to kill her."
"She saw what you did, Michael," Hurley reminded him. "It made no difference whether you meant it. You’d have killed her anyway.
"You now, when I thought it was Ben who shot you," Hurley continues, "I was actually glad you were okay. You were one of us, man. We trusted you. And we would all have been there for you. You could’ve come to us for help to get Walt back. You did have a choice, Michael."
"I know that now, man, I know that’s what I should have done. I just couldn’t see another way at the time. And in the end, I lost Walt anyway."
"You told him what you did?" Hurley asked in disgust.
"I didn’t mean to. I kept seeing them every night. He heard me shouting in my sleep." Michael explains.
Hurley brushes this off. "That day was meant to be our first date."
Michael looks down. "I remember."
"We had a future together, Libby and I. We could have been happy. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. Libby helped so many people during her life: me, Claire, any number of people before the island. And you took all that away."
Michael sighs. "There’s really nothing more I can say, is there?"
Hurley doesn’t respond to this.
"But I tried, man. I tried to make things better by stopping the freighter from getting to the island. I knew things were going to happen if they landed. And I could have done it if Sayid hadn’t been there and said what he said."
Hurley remembers the day they landed on the island. And he remembers Alex, Karl and Danielle.
"The freighter’s gone. But more stuff happened after you all left, man. And I couldn’t stop it. The old guy was wrong. The island shouldn’t have let me go. Because my work wasn’t really done. Everyone’s lives are in danger now. Sawyer, Juliet, Rose. I can’t do anything for them now. But you can. You have to go back and save them."
Hurley can’t take any more of this. "Leave me alone! Get out of here!"
Michael raises his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay! I’m gone, man. But think about what I said, okay? And you might want to take a look at yourself."
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
"Paralysed. Not Paulo Lies. That’s what Nikki said. She and Paulo weren’t actually dead."
The next day, when Expose is on, Dr. Brooks can't understand why Hurley becomes agitated.
When Jack visits Hurley, he doesn’t understand why Hurley insists that the Oceanic Six never left the island, that they’re all dead.
Hurley knows that even if he tried to explain, Jack wouldn’t believe him.
He didn’t believe it himself at first when he saw Dave again.
"You’re not real!" Hurley yells again when Dave first appears to him.
Dave grins. "Hate to break it to you, buddy, but I’m the only real person here."
"You’re not here. And you’re not going to tell me that I have to go back."
"That’s right." Dave informs him. "You can’t go back, because you never left in the first place. You never left the island."
"That’s not true," Hurley stammers. "We got back home. Penny, she found us. I went back to my parents, and Dad had fixed up the old Camaro. Sun, she’s got a little girl now. Jack and Kate, they’re bringing up Aaron together. And Sayid got married" - He breaks off, remembering what happened to Nadia.
"Really? Awesome, dude!" Dave’s face becomes serious. "Only here’s the thing. None of that actually happened. Because none of you left the island."
"But we did," Hurley begins, but Dave interrupts "Who’s been coming to see you since you’ve been in here?"
Hurley blinks. "Uh, Charlie, Libby, Eko…"
"Bingo!" Dave exclaims. "Ana Lucia and Michael too, right? All people from the island.. They never left either. And that’s how come they can visit you. Because you never left either."
"But Ji Yeon - Aaron…"
"Right. Sun and Jin were never able to have kids for years. And then suddenly, there’s Sun with a daughter. Kate’s been on the run since 2001 for killing her stepfather. And guess what, she actually gets off, and she and Jack are taking care of the baby. Perfect, dude. Just like heaven."
Hurley’s about to argue that Santa Rosa is hardly heaven, but Dave continues "And your dad, and the Camaro, that never happened either. See, when they moved the island, you all were still on it. and the electromagnetism made your brain blow a gasket, like the time you shut the door on me before, remember?"
Hurley shakes his head. "You admitted it yourself on the clifftop, you’re imaginary. You’re not here."
Dave grins. "That version of me was imaginary. I’m real. I’m the only real guy here. And there’s no point taking your meds. They can’t help you now. But when you do stop taking that crap, you’ll snap out of it. And when you do, come and find me on the cliff. See, I never left the island either."
Hurley doesn’t see Dave again. But he doesn’t take his tablets either.
Until the day he receives another visit.
"Hello, Hugo," says his visitor. "My name is Jeremy Bentham."
Characters: Hurley, Liam, Ana Lucia, Libby, Michael, Dave.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They own me.
Warnings: Spoilers all the way up through S4.
Summary: Liam, Ana, Libby, Michael and Dave visit Hurley in Santa Rosa.
Hurley’s never met the man who sits before him now, although he admits to himself that the man is vaguely familiar.
"Mr. Reyes?" the man says.
Hurley nods.
"Mr Reyes, my name is Liam Pace. I don’t really know why I came here today, but it’s driving me -" Liam stops himself abruptly. "I needed to talk to someone about my baby brother, Charlie."
Hurley blinks. "Charlie." He should have known this was coming. But he wasn’t prepared for this.
Liam nods, swallows hard. "They said he survived the crash, that he drowned just a few weeks before you were all rescued."
Hurley nods again. "That’s right," he replies, trying to ignore the shaking of Liam’s hands as he sits opposite him.
"I went to see one of the other survivors," Liam continues as if Hurley had not spoken. "That doctor bloke. He didn’t tell me much, though. Said you were the one that was mates with him."
Hurley doesn’t know what to say. They’d all agreed that stupid cover story for the outside world. But none of them had thought at the time that they would have to deal with loved ones of other survivors from Flight 815. True, Jack had had that encounter with Claire’s mother, where he found out that his dad was Claire’s dad too (never saw that coming!), but she’d taken his reaction at the time for shock at the fact that he’d had a half sister at all.
And it’s true, Charlie was his friend. He’d died saving them all, sacrificed himself to get his friends off the island.
It’s an insult to his memory to carry on pretending.
But Jack had said they had to. He told them all to lie, to protect the ones who’d stayed behind.
"It was an accident," Hurley mutters, hating himself for carrying on with the lie, but not knowing what else he can do. "He went for a swim, and the current, it caught him. Jack, the doctor, he went after him, but…"
Liam nods. "That’s what the doctor bloke said had happened." But he still looks wary. "Bloody nutter," he mutters more to himself than to Hurley. "Baby brother used to love swimming. Always said it was one of the proudest moments of his life, the day Dad taught him at Butlins. But he hadn’t been for years, not since…" Liam abruptly breaks off, looks away from Hurley. "Why did he do it?"
Images fill Hurley’s head: Desmond returning from the Looking Glass alone, Charlie telling Hurley what Desmond had predicted.
"I don’t know, dude," he answers weakly.
Hurley notices Liam’s hands are still shaking, that his left leg is jiggling up and down. Liam debates with himself for a minute before bursting out "We had an argument, right before he got on the plane. I need to know, Mr Reyes, did he die still upset with me?"
Hurley swallows hard, curses Jack once more for creating this situation.
"I’m sure he didn’t," he says.
"I should have argued harder, tried to stop him from leaving," Liam continues, but Hurley cuts him off.
"Dude? Can I ask you something?"
Liam nods distractedly. "What?"
"Does…Charlie ever visit you?"
Liam stares at him. "You what?"
"Because he comes to me," Hurley continues, hoping desperately that he isn’t crazy, that other people have experienced this too. "He comes to see me all the time. We sit on the bench and talk. Sometimes we play basketball, or chess. I need to know, dude. Does he ever visit you too?"
Liam slams his fist into his hand. "You’re crazy," he whispers. "He can’t come back. You’re bloody insane! This was a mistake," he mutters as he turns and walks out of the room. Dr Shephard had warned him that Hurley might say something like this. The guy’s in a mental hospital, for God’s sake. What was Liam thinking, taking him seriously?
Doesn’t this guy know that Liam would give anything to have five minutes with baby brother? He must now that, if he still understands anything at all.
It isn’t possible.
But as Liam walks past the bench, he’s sure he hears a familiar voice calling his name.
"Hey, man, you seem to be getting a lot of visitors," Lewis comments one day.
"What do you mean?" Hurley asks.
"That dark haired woman over there. She’s looking at you. Friend of yours?"
"Actually," says Ana Lucia, "he’s never met me."
"You’re not here!" Hurley yells, thoughts racing through his mind: fear at the sight of another dead person in front of him, shame at having denied her to her friend the detective, who after all had just wanted news of his friend in the same way Liam had wanted news of his brother.
"Charlie warned me you might say that," Ana Lucia remarked.
"You’re not here!" Hurley repeated.
"Want me to prove it to you?" Ana scowled.
Hurley didn’t. "What are you doing here?" he asks instead.
"You didn’t listen to Charlie, "Ana points out. "I’m here to see if you’ll listen to me."
Hurley squeezes his eyes tightly shut. It had worked that first time Charlie came. When he opens them, Ana will be gone.
"Don’t bother," Ana coldly informs him. "I’m not going anywhere."
Hurley sheepishly opens his eyes.
"They still need you, Hurley," Ana begins. "More than ever. Things have been happening since you all left."
"I’m not listening," Hurley mumbles. "You’re dead. I’m not listening to you."
"I wasn’t able to protect my people when we first got to the island," Ana continues, ignoring him. "The Others came that first night, and took three of us. Then they took the kids, who I’d promised to get home to their mother. And then on the way to your camp, when I was starting to hope we might be safe, they took Cindy."
"I know all this," Hurley interrupts. "Why are you telling me again?"
"I couldn’t protect my people then," Ana brushes him aside once more. "And I can’t protect the people on the island now. You’re right, I’m dead. But you’re not. You have to go back. You have to help them."
"This isn’t real," Hurley tries again weakly.
"You know what?" Ana Lucia scowls. "Fine. Don’t listen to me. But you know that I’m right. And you know what you have to do."
Ana Lucia turns on her heel and storms out, pausing at the door to turn around and face Hurley again.
"Maybe someone else will be able to change your mind."
Hurley dismisses this remark at first.
Until the day that Libby comes to visit him.
"Hello, Hurley," Libby greets him one day. "Thought I’d come by and see you. Seeing ass we never did get to have that picnic."
Hurley flushed as his eyes filled with tears. "I’m sorry. Sorry I forgot the blankets. Sorry I let you go back to the hatch."
Libby reaches out and takes his hand. "It wasn’t your fault."
They sit in silence for a while, Hurley wondering what to say. He remembers how shy he’d been when Libby had first arrived on his side of the island. He’d had conversations with her at her graveside for weeks. But now, faced with her after all this time, he just doesn’t know what to say.
He just knows that after what she’d said when he’d suggested that she wasn’t real that day at the clifftop, he isn’t going to say to her what he said to Charlie and Ana.
"I stuck to my diet," he eventually blurts out instead. "And I never kept a stash of food again. "I’ve stuck to it, Libby, even since we got back."
Libby smiled. "I know. I’m proud of you."
"Not that it’s difficult in here," Hurley jokes. "You should see what they give us to eat here."
"So how are things here, in general?" Libby asks. "Do you get a lot of visits?"
"My parents and Diego usually visit every week," Hurley begins. "My friend Johnny came by a couple of times at first, but that was kinda awkward." He paused thoughtfully. "He and Starla are getting a place together."
But he knew that wasn’t what Libby was asking. "Eko’s been by a couple of times. Doesn’t say much."
Libby laughs. "He never did."
"Charlie comes by a lot," Hurley continued. "And I’m guessing you know I saw Ana."
Libby nods. "Don’t worry. I’m not going to go on about that. But I think you know what you have to do."
Hurley nods. "Next time Jack comes here, I’m gonna tell him we have to go back."
Libby smiles. "Good."
"So, uh, how about you? Do you ever visit any of them? Jack, Kate, Sayid?"
Libby shakes her head. "I haven’t seen them. But it won’t be long before some of them get visits of their own," she adds cryptically.
"And I saw Michael," she continues.
Hurley chokes. "Michael? What?"
"I visited him in hospital, and on the freighter."
"Why?" Hurley demands. "Why did you visit him?"
"Because he still had work to do," Libby answers. "Just as you do."
Hurley doesn’t say anything.
"If it’s any consolation," Libby continues, "I don’t think you can possibly hate him any more than he hated himself. You know he ended up losing his son because of it."
"I’m sorry, Libby." Hurley slams his fist down on the table. "I know you always try and see the best in people. But I can’t forgive him for what he did to you."
Libby looks at him thoughtfully for a long while, but says nothing.
"I have to go back," she says eventually. "My time is almost up."
"Will you come and see me again?" Hurley asks. "I miss you."
"Of course." Libby smiles. "Maybe we’ll actually get to have that picnic this time."
"I’d like that." Hurley replies.
Libby takes look around her. "This place hasn’t changed much, from what I remember," she says, wrinkling her nose.
Hurley starts with shock. "What?"
"It’s where we met before. You didn’t really step on my foot on the plane. I was here the same time as you."
Hurley stares. "What?" he repeats.
But Libby is gone.
Hurley wonders who will be next to visit him. Maybe Boone, or Shannon.
He certainly doesn’t expect his next visitor to be Michael.
But one day, Hurley see his former friend watching him from across the room, looking like he wants to speak but not knowing what to say.
Not that there is anything he can say anyway. There’s no way Michael can ever make it up for what he has done. Libby’s gone, the only good thing in Hurley’s life for a long time, dead because of Michael.
Dr Brooks and Nurse Lazenby have to take Hurley back to his room because he becomes so agitated at the sight of Michael, struggling to restrain him, attempting to calm down his incoherent outbursts. He’s pleased to be shut in his room, where Michael cannot get to him.
He can’t do anything here.
But the next day, Hurley hears the familiar voice speaking to him.
"Didn’t expect to see me here, did you, man?" Michael asks. "I didn’t expect to be here, either. That old guy said I could go, back on the freighter. But it turns out my work wasn’t done, after all."
Hurley can’t look at him. "Dude…you’ve done enough."
Michael shakes his head. "They wanted me to kill everyone on board the freighter."
Hurley snorts. "Old habits."
"I’m sorry." Michael replies. "It’s like I said before. Libby was a mistake. I didn’t mean to kill her."
"She saw what you did, Michael," Hurley reminded him. "It made no difference whether you meant it. You’d have killed her anyway.
"You now, when I thought it was Ben who shot you," Hurley continues, "I was actually glad you were okay. You were one of us, man. We trusted you. And we would all have been there for you. You could’ve come to us for help to get Walt back. You did have a choice, Michael."
"I know that now, man, I know that’s what I should have done. I just couldn’t see another way at the time. And in the end, I lost Walt anyway."
"You told him what you did?" Hurley asked in disgust.
"I didn’t mean to. I kept seeing them every night. He heard me shouting in my sleep." Michael explains.
Hurley brushes this off. "That day was meant to be our first date."
Michael looks down. "I remember."
"We had a future together, Libby and I. We could have been happy. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. Libby helped so many people during her life: me, Claire, any number of people before the island. And you took all that away."
Michael sighs. "There’s really nothing more I can say, is there?"
Hurley doesn’t respond to this.
"But I tried, man. I tried to make things better by stopping the freighter from getting to the island. I knew things were going to happen if they landed. And I could have done it if Sayid hadn’t been there and said what he said."
Hurley remembers the day they landed on the island. And he remembers Alex, Karl and Danielle.
"The freighter’s gone. But more stuff happened after you all left, man. And I couldn’t stop it. The old guy was wrong. The island shouldn’t have let me go. Because my work wasn’t really done. Everyone’s lives are in danger now. Sawyer, Juliet, Rose. I can’t do anything for them now. But you can. You have to go back and save them."
Hurley can’t take any more of this. "Leave me alone! Get out of here!"
Michael raises his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay! I’m gone, man. But think about what I said, okay? And you might want to take a look at yourself."
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
"Paralysed. Not Paulo Lies. That’s what Nikki said. She and Paulo weren’t actually dead."
The next day, when Expose is on, Dr. Brooks can't understand why Hurley becomes agitated.
When Jack visits Hurley, he doesn’t understand why Hurley insists that the Oceanic Six never left the island, that they’re all dead.
Hurley knows that even if he tried to explain, Jack wouldn’t believe him.
He didn’t believe it himself at first when he saw Dave again.
"You’re not real!" Hurley yells again when Dave first appears to him.
Dave grins. "Hate to break it to you, buddy, but I’m the only real person here."
"You’re not here. And you’re not going to tell me that I have to go back."
"That’s right." Dave informs him. "You can’t go back, because you never left in the first place. You never left the island."
"That’s not true," Hurley stammers. "We got back home. Penny, she found us. I went back to my parents, and Dad had fixed up the old Camaro. Sun, she’s got a little girl now. Jack and Kate, they’re bringing up Aaron together. And Sayid got married" - He breaks off, remembering what happened to Nadia.
"Really? Awesome, dude!" Dave’s face becomes serious. "Only here’s the thing. None of that actually happened. Because none of you left the island."
"But we did," Hurley begins, but Dave interrupts "Who’s been coming to see you since you’ve been in here?"
Hurley blinks. "Uh, Charlie, Libby, Eko…"
"Bingo!" Dave exclaims. "Ana Lucia and Michael too, right? All people from the island.. They never left either. And that’s how come they can visit you. Because you never left either."
"But Ji Yeon - Aaron…"
"Right. Sun and Jin were never able to have kids for years. And then suddenly, there’s Sun with a daughter. Kate’s been on the run since 2001 for killing her stepfather. And guess what, she actually gets off, and she and Jack are taking care of the baby. Perfect, dude. Just like heaven."
Hurley’s about to argue that Santa Rosa is hardly heaven, but Dave continues "And your dad, and the Camaro, that never happened either. See, when they moved the island, you all were still on it. and the electromagnetism made your brain blow a gasket, like the time you shut the door on me before, remember?"
Hurley shakes his head. "You admitted it yourself on the clifftop, you’re imaginary. You’re not here."
Dave grins. "That version of me was imaginary. I’m real. I’m the only real guy here. And there’s no point taking your meds. They can’t help you now. But when you do stop taking that crap, you’ll snap out of it. And when you do, come and find me on the cliff. See, I never left the island either."
Hurley doesn’t see Dave again. But he doesn’t take his tablets either.
Until the day he receives another visit.
"Hello, Hugo," says his visitor. "My name is Jeremy Bentham."