A/N: Hey, I didn't get a chance to send this to a beta, so if there are glaring errors, message me. Please read and review! Oh and the story was inspired by Eomer's line from The Two Towers: "But do not dare to hope- It has forsaken these lands."
Do Not Dare To Hope
She was finally leaving. Her chance was here. She could go back to her sister after more than three years. She could see her nephew, Julian, for the first time in his and her life. She could work in Miami again. Just her and science. No politics.
Juliet stood up and looked across the beach. She knew she would never miss this place. All possible futures off the island seemed infinitely better than any future on the island. She knew those futures on the island were akin to hell. Maybe once she got off the island…She and Jack…But she was getting ahead of herself.
A small pack that held her meager belongings lay next to her feet. She was ready to go. Nothing could hold her back. She had fulfilled her promise of getting everyone that she could off of the island. Now it was her turn.
And then a sudden cacophony. Juliet turned her head and saw smoke and flames.
What was that? It couldn't be. The freighter had exploded. It had exploded? It didn't register in her mind. No way home. No way home.
Her heart fell and she quickly sat down to make sure she didn't fall down. Were they all dead? All of them? Jack? Sun? She did not understand. They couldn't be dead. First the submarine. And now the boat. What sin had any one of them committed to be punished in such a way?
Then she felt despair. Despair as deep and dark as the flames rising from the ocean. Another way off the island was gone. She'd never get out of this prison.
The most overpowering sensation inside of her was however, a feeling of wanting to give up. She wished she could have been on the freighter when it had blown up. At least her life would be over. Her heartache and desire to return to her sister would vanish. Her pain, her hopelessness would evanesce.
In moments like these, she wished she was heartless like Ben. Being here would be so much easier then. She could stay here forever if only she hadn't a heart. But she did, and her heart longed to return to her sister and her nephew.
Now all she had were memories. And hope is born of memories. But she did not dare to hope.
Ben had stopped her once.
Now he had stopped her again.
She would never leave.