Part 280: Two Souls

Hurley finally sat down after straightening up his tent. Or was it technically their tent now? The large man smirked; over the fact that he was taking the time to clean up “his place” to impress the girl that had been with him for the past few days. He liked Joscelyn; REALLY liked her. And from the way she had been acting toward him, she liked him. Was it love? Hurley thought it might as well be; he getting butterflies in the stomach every time she kisses him and she does seem to kiss him a lot. The large man smile to himself, hoping that his mother didn’t give up hope that he was alive. Because when he returned home with Joscelyn by his side, he’d knew she would be proud of him. Then the dropping of something interrupted his thoughts. He turned to his left to see the London girl standing there, dropping off some mangos. “Oh, cool, Joe,” he smiled, “Did you have any trouble getting the Mangos?”

Joscelyn didn’t answer.

“Joe?” he said, finally looking at her.

Hurley was slightly alarmed when he saw Joscelyn’s red face and her cheeks soaked from tears. He slowly stood up. “Joe, what’s wrong?” he asked.

She wiped her tears and looked toward her right. “John . . .he . .uh . . he said a strange thing.” She sniffed.

“What strange thing?”

“He said . . .that you . . .had won the lottery? He said . . .you had over a hundred million dollars, making you a millionaire.”

Hurley slowly closed his eyes and sighed. Joscelyn found out about his money finally.

“And I thought to myself, “ she gritted her teeth, wiping her tears, “That can’t be true! Not Hurley. He wouldn’t keep something THIS BIG from me.”

“Joe,” he whispered.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” she screamed.

“Joscelyn, it’s not that simple!” he begged, “I was gonna tell you but-“

“I can’t believe I was so stupid AGAIN!” she cried, pulling her hair, “I thought you were different Hurley!”

“Joe, please,” the large man approached her.

Joscelyn then ran back out of the tent and ran into the woods, continuing to try. Hurley then tried to run after her, but immediately tripped over the trunk he moved in the middle to allow more room in the tent. He landed on his back, cursing over the pain his knee. He needed to find Joscelyn and make things right.


The young girl cried as she shoved the branches from side to side. She then paused in a clearing and then collapsed, holding her hands over her face; weeping softly. She liked Hurley; enough to even love him at some point. But she felt her heart breaking when she realized he was no different than the rest. They tell you all the little things but they keep the big things hidden. It wasn’t fair. “Hurley,” she cried, “Why . . .why . .”

Joscelyn then jumped as a sharp sound pierced the air near her. She turned and saw the shape of someone in the woods with her. Then she heard the sharp sound again, like someone slicing wood. Not chopping but slicing.

She slowly stood up and walked toward the noise. She pushed back a set of leafy bushes to find Seth in a small clearing. He then swung his sword against a tree, making the smallest of cuts. He would then step forward and take a look at it, then check out a journal he was reading. The moment he did that, he noticed he had an audience. “Oh,” he laughed, “Hey, Joe, whatta ya know?”

“What . . .what are you doing?” she asked.

“Just practicing the Whistling Cut.” He replied.

“Whistling Cut?”

“Yeah, a small incision on the throat, “he said, checking the journal, “My friend Brendon said it was a samurai trait when he mastered on dead pigs. However, I ain’t got no dead pigs so I am trying a tree. I think I might have gotten it.”

“Oh,” she said, sounded a little interesting but she had other things on her mind.

Seth blinked when he finally got a look at her face. “Have you been crying?” he asked.

“I’m sorry I bothered you,” she replied, turning around to leave.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Joe,” Seth caught up to her, “The sun is shining. You are out of that bunker. Mangos are in season. And there are smiles all around. What possibly could make you cry?”

Joscelyn slowly sat back down, wiping her tears. Seth leaned in on his knees, looking at her. The brunette looked at him, realizing he wasn’t going to leave until she told him. “I . ..I got in a fight with Hurley,” she whispered.

“You . .and Hurley . . .in a fight?” Seth smirked.

“It’s not funny, Seth,” she hissed.

“Well, it kinda is,” he said, sitting down next to her, “I mean, you and Hurley . . .you guys are the kindest souls on the beach. I can’t fathom anybody having a problem with you. What could you two fight about?”

Joscelyn wiped her tears again. “Secrets.” She whispered.

“Ah, secrets,” Seth shook his head, “They do seem to be in abundance here, don’t they?”

“Hurley’s got a big one.” She coughed.

“Big one, small one, it don’t matter,” the singer said, “If you learned about a secret about Hurley, then you need to talk to him about it; open dialogue solves everything.”

“How . .how can I trust him now?”

“What do you mean, how can you trust him?” Seth smiled, slightly scoffing, “This is Hurley we are talking about. So he made a mistake, big deal! Talk to him about this secret, I can promise you . . it’s his only one!”

“I thought . . .I thought he was different.” She wept.

Seth shook his head with a bright smile on his face. “Now the big clue falls in my lap, “ he smirked, “You care about him, don’t you?”

Joscelyn shook her head in agreement.

Seth got on his knees and turned to her. He gently touched her arms, making her face him. “Joscelyn, believe me when I tell you this,” he smiled, “You and Hurley are perfect for each other. Kindred spirits make life all the more worth living.”

She slowly stopped crying and began to smile. Seth then gave her a hug, allowing her to wipe the remainder of her tears. “Go to him,” he replied, “Tell him everything you ever wanted to tell him.”

“Thank you,” she said, parting from him.

Seth then helped her up, and then used his shirt to wipe the rest of her tears. She laughed slightly, then turned around and walked back into the jungle to find her large companion. Seth smiled, pleased with himself. He then picked up the sword and began to continue his practice. “I am so damn cool.” He grinned, as he struck the tree.


Hurley limped up the hill. The weight on his knee was making it sting the more he walked but he didn’t care. He had to find Joscelyn and tell her . . .tell her what? The butterflies in his stomach fluttered yet again after thinking about what he could possibly tell her about the money. What would she say? He had a bad feeling in his chest, she was going to laugh at him. Only one girl didn’t laugh at him but all the others did. If only . . .

Hurley froze when Joscelyn came down the trail in his direction. Their eyes met each other for a few seconds. The large man tried to speak but nothing came out. The Londoner hugged her arms, trying to suppress her tears. “You tell me, Hurley,” she whispered, “You tell me right now why you would keep that from me.”

“Joscelyn, it’s not that simple.”

“Then give me the complicated explanation then!” she grunted.

“I will . ..just . . .just come back to the beach with me . .”

“NO! You tell me right now!”

“Joscelyn, I didn’t mean to keep this from you, I was gonna tell you.”

“I haven’t done anything like this to you, Hurley,” she pointed.

“What?” he finally barked, “Yes, you have! You haven’t told me about the scar on your forehead!”

“That isn’t the same thing!” she screamed back.

“How could it not be the same thing? It’s a secret, isn’t it?”

Joscelyn finally turned to walk away. Hurley felt the air slowly leaving his lungs. He needed to tell her, or he might actually lose her. The thought of that was more than he could handle. “JOSCELYN, PLEASE!!” he screamed, “I DIDN’T TELL YOU . . because . . .because I liked the way you looked at me.”

Joscelyn froze her tracks. That wasn’t the answer she was expecting to hear. She slowly turned around and looked at him. Hurley stared at her, slumping his shoulders. “When we were in the mess hall . . .sharing the food . . .I liked how you looked at me,” he whispered, “You saw me as Hurley . . .just Hurley . . .Not Hugo the Millionaire.”

Joscelyn slowly walked toward him.

“This money . . .has cost me a great deal,” he said, wiping his face, “I tried to do right by everybody . . .my mom . .my friends . ..but in one way or another the money was more of a problem than a solution. I lost my best friend. I . ..couldn’t lose you too.”

The brunette held onto her arms, feeling the breeze brush over her. She trembled slightly.

“Every woman I cared about before I got my money, only one gave me the time of day,” he whispered, “When I got my money, they all flocked to me. All of a sudden, I was somebody but they were fakes, Joe. All fakes. You were the only person in my life . . .that was real.”

Joscelyn felt her heart pounding. No man had ever told her such kind words.

“I’m sorry I kept it from it from you,” he said, hanging his head and turning around.

Joscelyn felt her heart move into her throat. She could barely breathe. The large man began walking down the trail back to the beach. The brunette nearly gagged but she forced her mouth to work. “Hurley,” she whispered.

The large man stopped and turned around. He couldn’t tell what was going on in the young woman’s face. It almost looked like a mixture of fear, rage and shame. “He . .he pushed me.” She whimpered.

Hurley’s eyes fell on her scar. “Joe . .who pushed you?” he asked.

“My father,” she cried.

Hurley’s heart sunk deep into his chest. No wonder she didn’t want to tell him; it was too much of a traumatic experience. She slowly turned, staring at the sky. “I didn’t . . .I didn’t do his laundry after he came in from work,” she cried, “I was up at the top of the stairs . .he called me lazy . ..then shoved me down them.”

Hurley then came to her and embraced her. She grabbed onto his chest and cried into his shirt. The large man did his best to comfort her. After a few sobs, she fought to catch her breath. “My mom . .” she coughed, “My mom didn’t know he was abusing me . .until that incident. She then saved up . . a lot of money and told me to run.”

“To Australia?” Hurley asked.

“I was . . .talking with someone over there by email . ..for year, Hurley. He said, he loved me. So I went there . . .hoping to spend the rest of my life with him . ..but he was married and he had kids!”

“Oh, Joe,” he said, holding her tight.

“I thought . . .I had made the same mistake . . with you.”

“No, it’s my fault,” he started to cry, “I should have told you.”

“You must . ..think I am pretty stupid, huh?” she said, wiping her tears.

“No, no,” Hurley said, stroking her soft hair, “If anybody is stupid around here . . .It’s Sawyer.”

Joscelyn stopped crying and then giggled a little bit at his attempt to relieve the tension in the air. She slowly parted from him, gazing up into his eyes. Hurley then gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. Hurley wanted to kiss her. BADLY. But he realized the familiar feeling in his legs was starting to happen. He was about to faint. Inside his brain, he screamed to not blow this moment; they connected. Hurley leaned down and gently kissed her.

After they paused, Joscelyn kept her eyes closed. After a few seconds, she realized what had just happened. It was the moment she had been waiting for; the proof that Hurley cared for her. She sniffed, gently curling her lips into a smile. “I am sorry for my hang-ups, Hurley,” she smiled, “But . . can you promise me . . .you won’t leave me?”

“I promise,” he smiled, “I swear to God, I promise.”

Joscelyn smiled and embraced him again, letting her head rest on his chest. Hurley held her there in the middle of the jungle, feeling the wind rip around it. The young couple could hear the ocean pounding behind them. It was the most peaceful moment they had experience on the idea.

And neither wanted it to end.