Desmond stared at the blonde haired man sitting on the beach. Charlie was strumming on his guitar. The Australian girl, Claire, joined him and sat down. The pair laughed giddily and flirted. They almost looked like a normal, happy family, with the baby.
It was surreal to Desmond. He had gone 4 years with talking to all of 4 people, 3 of which were in the last month. Now he was sitting on a beach, with almost 40 people walking around. He was so lonely in the hatch, and now he didn't even want to socialize.
He longed to be rescued from the hell hole that is the island. He wanted to be with Penelope again, snuggling on a Saturday night, watching a movie, or just gazing into her eyes.
It's amazing what 4 years of solitude can do to you, he thought. After he ran off and left Jack and Locke with the computer, he found himself waking up every 2 hours to press some pointless button. Now he was a lone psycho, sitting on a beach in a dharma jumpsuit and staring at happy people he longed to be.
He figured he was going to do something. Anything. Desmond decided he was going to find out what was going on with the hatch when he was approached by one of the survivors of the crash.
"You must be Desmond." A short elderly woman approached Desmond as he was getting ready to find the doctor.
"So I am," he joked around.
"My name is Rose, and you looked like you needed someone to talk to."
He smiled. Maybe socializing wasn't such a bad idea after all. "Nice to meet you, Rose. What would make you think I needed someone to talk to? I seem that desperate, yeah?"
Rose's face tightened, but then relaxed. "Well, Desmond, I don't appreciate sarcasm. I was just trying to be polite." The woman started to walk off towards her shelter.
"Wait, Rose, I'm sorry. I really do need someone to talk to. Sarcasm just helps me cope with our current situation." The woman turned around, and stared at him sympathetically. She cleared a spot on a boulder near the jungle and sat down.
"Well, Desmond. I'm curious. Have you always been in that… hatch?" He laughed, remembering the times before he arrived on the island. "No, sister, but compared to what I was in before, I can't really tell anymore. It seems I'm always locked away somewhere."
Rose stared at him, she wanted to say something, but she didn't want to strike a sour note from his past. "Well, honey, you and I are going to be great friends. We've both got sorrow to last forever."
Desmond opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. He wanted to ask her what her sorrows were. He longed to have some kind of heart felt conversation where he could drone on about Penelope, and life in Prison. He wanted to get Cameron Widmore, and all his other problems off of his back. But for now, all he could let out was. "You don't even know the half of it."
A short, stubby man with white hair tapped Desmond's new friend on the shoulder. "Bernard?" Their conversation was cut short. "Rose, Jack and Kate are leaving soon. Didn't you need to talk to Hurley? I think he's going with them." Rose sighed, and pulled herself off the small boulder. She shook her pant legs to get sand off, and then turned her attention to Desmond again.
"Desmond, this is my husband Bernard." Desmond moved himself from his position on the sand and shook Bernard's hand. "Good to meet you, Desmond. Oh, and welcome to our little camp."
Desmond let out a forced laugh. "Yeah, brother. Good to meet you, too."
Rose noticed a depressed Hurley walking towards Jack, Kate, Michael and Sawyer. "Desmond, I have to go talk to someone. But you and I will finish this talk later, alright?"
"Yeah. I'm just glad to talk to someone new."
Bernard and Rose walked off towards the rest of their group, and Desmond heard an almost inaudible, "Is that the hatch guy?" He laughed to himself. Maybe his new location wasn't so bad after all.