Part 368: Night Shift

October 10th, 2005

The downtown parking lot was empty. Amid the slight blowing breeze of the October winds, rested a lone Avalanche truck. The vehicle had belonged to one Hugo Reyes, commonly known among his friends as Hurley. The young man had begun his life as the poor sun of a waitress and advanced up to becoming a multi-millionaire. His life had thrown him a curve ball when he realized that using a special set of numbers to win a lottery had in essence placed an electromagnetic pulse around him that caused him and his loved ones to suffer “bad luck”. During his adventure on the Island, his good friend Mia took control of the machine that placed the pulse around him in the first place and “reset” it. Now, his bad luck had become good luck for him and those around him.

Joscelyn rested gently on his lap as they kissed each other. The young and timid girl had fallen in love with Hurley. It wasn’t for his money, which he really liked. It was for his kindness and his own shyness, which made them practically kindred spirits. Hurley let his arms rest on her hips as she parted from him. Joscelyn licked her lips as she reached up and gently traced the outline of his eyebrows. Then she let her hand slowly glide up to his hair, making him laugh as she started to play with it. “You are such a lovely dork,” Hurley laughed.

“What?” she replied innocently, “I like your hair. Have I told you that?”

“Only about 600 times.”

Joscelyn laughed as she turned around and curled up in his arms. Hurley just enjoyed holding her. He leaned in and smelled of her beautiful hair. She smiled, making her giggled slightly. The young woman looked up into the night-sky, catching a glimpse of the few stars she could see away from the LA smog. “Buy a star, Hurley,” she whispered.

“Sure thing,” he laughed, without missing a beat, “ Which one do you want?”

She pointed through the windshield. “That one,” she giggled.

Hurley leaned over and looked at the small star shining in the sky. He blinked and laughed slightly. “I think that is Venus.” He grinned.

“Really?” she leaned over, raising an eyebrow.

“Well . .do you still want it?” he laughed.

She smiled and turned to look at him. “You’d get it for me?” she smiled.

“I’ll call NASA in the morning,” he grinned, “I’ll tell them that I will purchase landing rights to Venus and we’ll rename it to Joscelyn. Cause it the end . . .those two names mean the same thing.”

Joscelyn smiled at her boyfriend, comparing her to the goddess of love. He leaned over and rested her head on shoulder. He laughed as she immediately started to play with his hair. “Josie, not that I am complaining,” he said, “But why did you want to come hang out so late at night?”

She smiled and snuggled closer to him. “My dad,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry?” he asked.

“He . .uh . . he never allowed me to go out, least of all at night,” she whispered, “I wasn’t allowed to date. I wasn’t . . . allowed to be a girl.”

“I’m so sorry, Joe.” He said, stroking her arm as he held her.

“It’s okay. I am here with you now, and I am making up for lost time. I am getting the chance to be young. I’m getting the chance to be a girl.”

Joscelyn leaned up, held onto his cheeks and kissed him again. Hurley always felt weak in the knees whenever she was kissing him but lately she seemed to be kissing him a lot. In fact, he might have been the first boy she ever kissed cause how her father treated her. He pulled her close as she leaned into him. She then squeaked at the tapping on their driver’s side window.

They both looked up and saw a cop tapping the glass with his night stick. When the officer saw that they saw him, he motioned them to move on. Joscelyn quickly got off Hurley’s lap and jumped back into the passenger’s seat, giggling. “No problem, dude,” the large man told the police officer, “We’ll move on.”

Hurley started up the vehicle and they finally pulled out of the parking lot. The black truck worked it’s way down the parking lot ramp and found it’s way to the practically empty highway. Joscelyn placed on her seat belt and stared out at the window. She loved the lights for the city at night. Without thinking, she gently placed her hand on Hurley’s leg. The large man smiled, allowing her soft touch to send goose bumps down his back. “So, where to?” he grinned.

Joscelyn looked out the window at him and looked at him with a bright smile on her face. “I’m hungry,” she grinned.


The Doughnut Palace was once Hurley’s home away from home. He did admit he missed it. Joscelyn had been enjoying coming to the all night doughnut shop over the past two months. She enjoyed getting special treats for her nieces in the morning. This was the first time she had eaten at the place so late. The owner Ali was not there but the young man behind the counter was more that adequate to take their order. Hurley got three Deep Chocolate Doughnuts with a large Pepsi. Joscelyn got two chocolate doughnuts with candy sprinkles, and half a dozen Pigs-In-Blankets, which were her favorites. She washed them down with a large Sprite. Hurley was often worried his eating habits would translate to hers and she might become overweight like him. However, it didn’t seem to happen. Joscelyn’s sister often joked she had the metabolism of a bumble bee.

After their late night snack, they got back in the truck and bid farewell to all the cops in the parking lots. It was one of the reasons Hurley felt safe to eat there late at night. He started up the truck and then proceeded onward back toward the highway. Joscelyn sipped on her Sprite and placed it in the cup holder. “Now, where too?” he asked.

“The suburbs,” she pointed back toward the edge of the city.

“Huh?” he blinked, “What do you want to do there?”

“I want to liberate a lawn gnome.” She giggled.

“WHAT?” he gasped and laughed at the same time, “You want to steal a lawn gnome?”

Joscelyn laughed as she punched him in the arm. The big man laughed and reeled from the blow, massaging his arm. “Steal is too dirty a word, Hurley,” she laughed, “I said LIBERATE.”

“Okay,” he laughed, “I know the perfect place.”



Deep in the suburbs, Hurley had parked the Avalanche truck in the street next to large house that had no cars and an abundance of newspapers resting in the driveway: hopefully meaning no one was home. The large man crept along the big hedge bushes that adorned the side walk with Joscelyn holding onto his shirt as they did. He stopped and got on his knees, looking at the lawn. It was adorned with an abundance of lawn gnomes. “Who is this guy again?” she whispered.

“Coach Kessler,” Hurley smirked, “He would torment me in Gym class and I hated getting his class every single time. I remember his crazy obsession with lawn gnomes.”

“This isn’t crazy,” the young woman giggled, “It’s disturbing!”

“I even walked into his office in gym and saw him reading a pictorial history of Lawn Gnomes book.”

“No way,” she laughed, trying not to wake the neighbors.

“So, if any gnomes deserve to get liberated . .it’s these.”

“Oh, my gosh, Hurley, this is exciting!”

“It’s your turn to shine, Joe. Go liberate one.”

Hurley watched as his girlfriend pushed through the bushes and slowly walked over pass the cards, toward the army of ceramic gnomes. He smiled and understood this was maybe simple by his understanding but for her, it was the thrill of a lifetime. She used her hands to glide through the man’s driveway and then worked her way to his lawn. She looked at all the lawn gnomes and saw a cute one with a blue shirt. Joscelyn felt a rush in her blood she had never felt before. She gently reached over picked it up.

Then a small siren went off and a bright light flooded the door.

“OH, MY GOD!!!” Joscelyn screamed as she turned around and headed back for the bushes. Hurley laughed as he got up and ran after her. They heard dogs barking and then someone was shouting, which the big man could only assume it was Kessler. He quickly unlocked the truck via his key ring and jumped in with Joscelyn right behind him.

He quickly backed up and headed the other way, as far away the siren as he could. Joscelyn was laughing so hard, she was holding her stomach as she found it difficult to breathe. “Are . .are you okay?” he laughed.

“Hurley . .you did . didn’t say . ..he would . ..HAVE A SIREN!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!” she laughed, as tears ran down her eyes.

“I didn’t know,” he chuckled with her, “He’s more of a freak than he was in high school.”

All that did was make Joscelyn laugh even more. Hurley was on the verge of laughing even more. He decided to find a quiet place for them to recuperate from this strange and humorous ordeal.


The waves crashed against wet sand of Vadigo Beach. At 4 in the morning, it was practically empty. Only a few surfers were around doing their night runs. Hurley flipped out the blanket and laid it down next to an abandoned fire pit. After that he placed it some firewood and various pieces of trash to light it up. He smirked, hoping that somewhere Sayid was proud of him for remembering how to start a fire all the way back from the Island. Hurley looked around and for a brief second, he imagined he was back on the Island, surrounded by trees and his friends. He missed the majority of them but if they kept their promise, that they would always get together every Christmas, then he’ll see them all shortly.

Over next to the beach front taco stand, Joscelyn had purchased a bottled water from the vending machine and helped herself to the napkins of the closed restaurant. She had spent the last twenty minutes, cleaning her gnome. When she was satisfied, she carried him like a baby back over to where Hurley was waiting. The large man then laughed as she kissed the little statue on the cheek. “His name is Pierpont and I will love him.” She giggled.

“Hey, Pierpont,” Hurley waved, “Welcome to the crew.”

Joscelyn giggled as she set the gnome into the sand near the fire and walked over to where Hurley was. She then gently down in his lap, using him as a backrest. She brought his arms around her and he nuzzled up against her head, making her giggle. “Thank you for this night, Hurley,” she smiled, “I’ll never forget it.”

“Nor will I.” he promised.

She leaned back her head and kissed him. Hurley fought against passing out every time their lips touched. He couldn’t help it; Joscelyn put so much passion behind every kiss she gave him. As they parted, she gently pecked him on the lips and then leaned back into him. They held each other there for either a few minutes or hours, she couldn’t tell. Nor did she really care. “Being trapped in that bunker for so long was the scariest point in my life, Hurley,” she whispered.

“Yeah?” he asked, wondering what brought this up.

“Life with my dad was horrible but being forced to pick fruit for a bunch of mercenaries was even worse.” She said, letting her index finger gently trace his arm, “It was worried for my life almost on a daily basis.”

“I am sorry you had to go through that, Joe.”

“I’m not. Cause if I hadn’t have gone through it . . ..I never would have met you.”

Hurley wondered how many more statements she would tell him that would cause him to be flooded with goose bumps. The sky started to appear a soft blue as the morning sun began to crept up over the horizon. Joscelyn was a little tired, as she yawned and rubbed her forehead under Hurley’s chin. He held her close, silently vowing never to let go. “I should probably get you home,” he grinned, “Your sister will be worried.”

“Maybe in a few more hours,” she smiled brightly, “Let’s watch the sun rise first.”