A/N: Wow! I'm actually writing this way sooner than expected, which is a surprise. As everyone's probably already figured out, this is the next story in my new Choices series- a oneshot focusing on Hurley's POV during the season finale.

Disclaimer: Let's put it this way: If I owned the tv show "Lost," I wouldn't spend my time writing stories on it. Unfortunately, "Lost" belongs not to me but to J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and all of the people at Touchstone Television, ABC, and Bad Robot who have helped to make it in some way.

Reviews-

Thanks to hjr for reviewing the first chapter of What's Best. I'm really glad you liked it and I appreciated the praise, especially how it reminded you of Poe's "The Telltale Heart!"

So, here's the story. Enjoy!


Cursed

The whole day had turned into a serious nightmare. First, we had been betrayed by one of our friends- Michael, no less. Then, we had been captured by the Others. Now, this.

I really shouldn't have let Jack persuade me to stay after Michael admitted he'd killed Libby and Ana-Lucia. After we found out that Jack had known about Michael's trap, and not told us, purposely leading us into danger. I should have just stuck to my original decision and headed back to camp. I shouldn't have stayed; I should have left What was I thinking? Sure, I hadn't wanted to let my friends down, but in the end it hadn't mattered. We'd gotten captured anyway.

The capture. That was another thing. Why hadn't I run, someone might ask? It had all happened so fast. One minute we were standing in that freaky clearing filled with all those canisters- those canisters that looked so much like the canisters you find at bank drive-up windows and that had all those notebooks folded up inside them. And the next minute Sawyer was writhing on the ground with some kind of dart thing sticking out of his neck while everyone else looked on in shock, me included. Then the whispers came and the panic started to set in. Jack's gun was suddenly in his hand, and Kate was rushing over to Sawyer, who was still jerking on the ground. The whispers got louder and Jack became frantic, yelling out for us to run and grabbing Kate on the way. Michael was looking towards where the whispers were coming from and was saying something that sounded suspiciously like, "wait." I moved to follow the dynamic duo, a.k.a. Jack and Kate, but then I realized there was no way I was going to be able to outrun the Others, so I stayed where I was. If Jack and Kate could get away, then they would be able to figure out some way to get us help, and besides, Sawyer was still there. Even though Sawyer's not my favorite person, he was brought there the same way I was. Jack hadn't told him about Michael's trap either, so why should he have been the only one of us to get captured? He's a jerk, it's true, but not even Sawyer deserved to get captured.

My hopes of Jack and Kate getting away faded when the Others arrived, dragging them, each bound and gagged with a dart stuck in them- Kate's in her shoulder, and Jack's in his leg. What happened after that, I don't know. I only saw black.

I had thought that once the Others captured us, they would take us to their camp and throw us in a cell or something, but it turned out I was wrong, because the next time I was able to see anything, I saw my friends and I were kneeling on a long, wooden dock, surrounded by the Others who had their guns trained on us. This was not good. Why had I listened to Jack again?

Sawyer, ignoring the fact that we were bound, gagged, and could be shot at any moment started trouble like usual, by talking back through his gag to the bearded man he had apparently nicknamed Zeke. Why couldn't the guy just keep his mouth shut for once? He must know he'd only make them mad.

After everyone had cooled down and Kate revealed that "Zeke" or Tom's beard was fake, there was the sound of a motor approaching, and we all turned our heads to see a boat making its way toward the dock. A few minutes later, a man stepped off the same boat and headed towards where we were kneeling on the dock. Glancing at Michael, he moved past him and didn't stop until he reached Jack. I got the feeling that no one knew what he was going to do, but all he did was make eye contact with Jack, greet him with, "Hello again," and then turn to look at Tom, who he questioned on where his beard was. This couldn't get any weirder.

Apparently, it could though, because the man then turned back to Michael and declared, "Let's take care of business, shall we?" All of a sudden, for a reason I couldn't explain, I was filled with fear, and I wondered what would happen next.

Before the man and Michael could take care of business, a strange whirling sound filled the air and the sky turned a blinding white color. The Others and Michael all covered their ears, but as quickly as it had come, the light and the noise disappeared, and Michael and the man resumed their walk back up the dock until they stood next to the boat. They talked some more, and then Michael climbed into the boat without a glance back at us. He was just going to leave us there. After all we had done for him, after we had trusted him, he was just going to leave us?

How could Michael do this to us? I thought he was our friend.

Trying not to think about how much Michael's betrayal had hurt me, I concentrated on what was going on. The man was walking back from the boat, and once again I wondered what was going to happen to us. Why had they wanted us anyway? Kate was a fugitive, Sawyer was a con man, Jack was a doctor, and me? I was just a fat guy who had won the lottery and, by doing so, had become bad luck to everyone around me. Why would they want an unlucky and fat, but rich guy? Then again, why would they want a fugitive, a con man, and a doctor? It didn't make any sense.

If only I hadn't played those stupid numbers. Winning the lottery was supposed to be a good thing, but it had only brought me bad luck. My grandfather died. My mom broke her ankle. The new house I had bought for her caught on fire. And that was just the beginning. It was probably my fault the plane crashed. My fault Claire got kidnapped. My fault Charlie ended up getting hung from a tree while trying to rescue her. My fault Walt was taken. My fault Scott, Boone, Shannon, Ana-Lucia, and Libby died. Even my fault that Kate, Jack, and Sawyer were now prisoners along with me.

I knew it wasn't logical. Not everything was my fault, it just felt like it was. It was Ethan's fault Claire got kidnapped and Charlie was hung. It was the Others' fault Walt was taken, and Scott was killed. It was partly Locke's fault Boone died, and it was Ana-Lucia's and the Others' faults that Shannon was killed. It was Michael's and the Others' faults that Ana-Lucia and Libby were killed and Kate, Jack, Sawyer, and I were prisoners. Still, everyone around me seemed to either die, be taken, or just have something bad happen to them. And I was tired of it.

The guy had reached us now, and he motioned to the black lady standing nearby, who Tom had called Bea or Dee or something. Bea or whatever her name was came to stand in front of me, and reaching out, she took off my gag. Then, with another man's help, she helped me to stand with "the guy" looking on. I was led out of the line containing a still kneeling Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, where she turned me around and unbound my hands. What was going on? I was still too stunned and shaken to talk.

"Hugo," she said, "you can go back to your camp." Huh? I was confused. They were letting me go? This had to be a dream. A really weird dream, but a dream none the less. But if it was a dream, why wasn't I waking up?

"What?" I asked. This couldn't be happening, but apparently it was, because Bea repeated for me to "go back."

I still didn't understand. Why would they let me go?

Suddenly, Bea was talking again. "Your job is to tell the rest of your people they can never come here."

And I understood a little better. I was the messenger. But why did they choose me to go back? Why not Jack, or Kate, or even Sawyer? Jack. Kate. Sawyer. What would happen to them? I couldn't just leave them there.

"But," I began, "what about my friends?" What about my friends? What were they going to do to them?

I looked at Jack, who was our only doctor on the island. What would we do without him? What if someone got sick or hurt? I looked at Kate. Sure, she was a fugitive, but she was always so nice. She was always willing to help or go on a hike. Finally, I looked at Sawyer, the con man who always tried to be so tough but everyone knew that he had his nice side. He could be a real jerk sometimes, with his attitude and his nicknames for everyone, but really, he wasn't all that bad. No matter how pushy Jack could be, no matter how secretive Kate could be, and no matter how much of a jerk Sawyer could be, they were all my friends. Yeah, it could be my only chance to get away, but unlike Michael, I couldn't just leave them there. They were my friends.

"Your friends are coming home with us," "the guy" answered, and that one sentence chilled me beyond belief. It seemed to alarm Kate, Jack, and Sawyer too, because as soon as they heard, their heads shot up.

I was frozen to the spot. What was I going to do? I couldn't just leave.

"Go," Bea urged. Go? How could I go when I knew my friends weren't coming with me? Why did everything bad always have to happen to me?

I looked to Jack, hoping for some advice from the man everyone regarded as a leader. Jack, what am I supposed to do? He looked me straight in the eye, and slowly nodded his head, telling me to go. I'm sorry.

I began to walk slowly away from my friends, each step killing me. I was leaving them there. I was no better than Michael. What was I doing? I should be helping them. But Jack told me to go. What could I do? There was nothing I could do.

I wished I could bring them with me. I wished the Others would let them go to. Why had they let me go? The camp needed Jack a lot more than they needed me. How could I have let them stay with the Others? How could I have left them there? What kind of friend was I?

I kept walking down the dock, getting further and further away from my friends by the second, and as I was walking, I passed the boat that now held Michael and was that Walt? I was happy Michael had gotten his son back, but at what price? He had betrayed his friends. Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were with the Others because of him.

I hope you're happy, Michael. Why would you do it? We would've helped you get Walt back, man. You didn't need to kill Ana-Lucia and Libby. You didn't need to betray us and bring us to the Others.

How could you kill them? How could you kill Libby? They never did anything to you, and you shot them. You said there was no other way, but you lied. You didn't have to kill them. Do you even care, Michael? All you wanted was to get your son back, and now you have him. Do you even care that Ana-Lucia and Libby are dead and Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are prisoners because of you? We were all survivors. We were all from the same plane. Why would you do this to your friends? How could you do this to us, Michael? We all trusted you; we were all your friends. You lied to us. You betrayed us. You sold us out just to save your son.

I hope Walt appreciates what you've done for him, because he's the only one that might.

It was going to be a long walk back to camp, and I hoped that I wouldn't run into any polar bears or monsters along the way.


A/N: Well, this oneshot is now complete. I hope everyone is satisfied. It took me a really long time to write this. It looks pretty long, and hopefully it will still be long when I upload it. Hurley might be a little OOC, but hopefully not by much.

The next oneshot I'm thinking of doing is in Jack's or Locke's POV, but if you have another character in mind that you'd like to read about first, such as Sawyer or Kate, just send me a review telling me. It will be a first come-first serve basis, and if I don't get any reviews recommending another character's POV within the next week or so, I'll assume no one wants to read any other POV in the next oneshot besides Jack's or Locke's.

I'd also love to receive some reviews telling me what everyone thought. As always, compliments, praise, criticism, and/or advice is appreciated.

Thank you for reading!

LostObsession, a.k.a. Ana