As soon as he had appeared, he had vanished.

The hostile that had promised Ben that if he was patient, he'd be able to join his community, but that for now, Ben would have to return home. Ben pondered the exchange that had occurred between them, and wondered if he should have stated things differently. For whatever reason, Ben had felt confident enough to divulge the secret that he had seen his mother in the jungle . . . Somehow he sensed that this hostile would understand . . . That he would believe him when he said that he saw someone that was known to be dead. The hostile had asked odd questions, such as where his mother had died. Perhaps this unspoken trust between them, also encouraged Ben to ask the hostile to take him with him, back to his people. Perhaps it was this unspoken bond of understanding, that Ben knew that he had to do what the hostile had asked him… To be patient.

Ben had turned and began back the way he had come from.

The jungle was oddly silent as Ben made his way back to the barracks. It was bright daylight, and yet no birds sang, and lack of movement in the bushes suggested that there weren't any creatures one might expect in the jungle, like monkeys or snakes coiling in the tree limbs.

Ben stepped over the familiar passage way he had come from, and through the creeper vines that hung, until he came in view of the pylon fence. Taking a deep breath, he began his way back toward the pylons. Ben halted abruptly and his stomach did a somersault as a Dharma security jeep came roaring up angrily, stopping suddenly so that the people inside jerked with the motion of it stopping. The two Dharma workers leapt out of their seats, looking sour, and motioning at Ben. Uh oh. He was in deep trouble now. Ben could recognize them, one was named Paul and he was the head of security, the other one was named Phil.

"Come over here." Shouted Paul.

"RIGHT NOW!" Phil added.

Ben sheepishly obeyed, walking slowly toward them, wishing he could be any place but here.

"This isn't a turtle race, kid!"

Ben hastily approached and he was seized by the closest Dharma security worker, who was Phil as written on the name patch on his jumper breast.

"What are you doing out here?" Phil asked looking at him with his dark eyes that Ben tried to avoid.

"Nothing." Ben said in a small voice.

Phil narrowed his eyes suspiciously, and the other Dharma security worker approached.

"What's your name?" The head of security asked promptly.

"Ben." He replied meekly.

"Ben? Ben, what?"

"Ben Linus." Ben felt as if he was sentencing his own execution by uttering his own name.

"Who's your father?" Paul questioned.

"Roger Linus."

"And what's your house number?" Paul scratched something on his report paper clipped on a clip-board in his hand, writing him up.

"Twenty." Ben responded reluctantly. He knew he was going to be in trouble now. They were surely going to tell his father exactly what he had just done. But how could they have known? Ben looked up and found the source . . . There it was. A security camera. Of course! Ben silently kicked himself for not even thinking that they could be watching him in some mysterious building with televisions that showed the entire perimeter on film. Perhaps he had been more ill-prepared than he thought. Of course, to be fair, he had only made his plans the night before to leave.

Paul muttered something to Phil and he nodded.

"Come on kid." Phil said grabbing his arm. "Let's go. You're going home."

Ben was awakened in the blackness as the door squeaked open, he felt much more alert than he had and the voices had stopped talking. Ben opened his eyes to turn to the door, when the bright white lights were switched on. It blinded him, and Ben hastily covered his burning eyes from the sudden intrusion of light."Hello Ben. Are you doing O.K?" Ben recognized the voice, it belonged to the doctor. Ben's eyes slowly adjusted and he was able to remove his hand and see the familiar face of the bespectacled doctor with his lop-sided grin. The doctor touched his arm. "Remember me? I'm Dr. Gray."Ben nodded. Yes, he remembered. Ben pulled his bruised arm away from the doctor. He didn't want any more shots. The doctor laughed, sounding warmer than he had on the first day, when his cold eyes were rather vacant.

"Don't you worry now about any needles, I don't have some hidden up my sleeves. I just came to talk to you."

Ben eyed him suspiciously, he didn't seem to have any needles on him, so he supposed he was telling the truth.

"Can you sit up, Ben?" The doctor asked, but it wasn't a question, it was a reluctantly pushed himself up.

The room spun around a few times, and Ben caught himself on the flat bed's side. The doctor's smile flickered somewhat, but he retained his calm exterior.

"I want you to answer these questions honestly, O.K?" The doctor unfolded the chair he had brought inside with him, with a snap.

He took a seat, leaning forward toward Ben. Ben stared at him, examining his face.

"How have you gotten along here, Ben?" Dr. Gray asked.

"Fine." He replied quietly.

"Do you like it on the island?" Dr Gray asked.

"Yes."

"How do you like it at the Dharma initiative?"

Ben was silent for a few moments.

"The truth, Ben." Reminded the Doctor.

"Well... It's alright." Ben answered. The doctor scribbled something on a notepad he retrieved from his front pocket.

"Have you made any friends here?"

"Yes."

"Who are they?"

Silence again.

"Ben?"

Ben swallowed, "I don't have any friends right now."

"But you did? Have you ever liked anyone?"

"Yeah."

"What was their name?"

"Annie."

The interrogation seemed to go on like this for a long while. Ben wasn't quite sure what the doctor was going to do with the information and who he was going to tell it to. Certainly he could get into trouble if he said the wrong answer.

"How is your relationship with your father?"

Ben froze. "It's good."

The doctor began to scribble something again. Ben longed to know what he was writing.

"Has your father ever hit you?"

"No." Ben answered quickly.

The doctor looked at Ben from over his glasses. "He's never hit you?"

Ben knew that he was starting to be suspicious and he didn't want to be caught in a lie. "Well, only-only if I deserved it." Ben diverted his eyes, unsure of why he was justifying his father's actions. He felt as if his father was standing in the room with him, glaring at him from the corner.

Why couldn't he face his fears and admit what was happening? Ben supposed that he just wasn't strong enough yet.

Roger thanked Phil for returning Ben, and assured him that nothing like that would ever happen again. Ben waited with bated breath, knowing that as soon as that door was closed, he would be getting it.

"He probably wanted to go exploring or something. I don't know, he's kind of a lonely kid, his friend left yesterday and he hasn't gotten along too well with the rest of the kids in his class. Ben is kind of quiet and expects the other kids to pay attention to him I guess." Roger huffed a laugh.

"Well, Paul just wanted me to tell you to make sure that he's not getting the fence codes. We have to keep those damn hostiles at bay." Phil replied.

"Alright I will." Said his dad with a large smile.

"Have a nice day." Phil said.

The door closed with a snap, and Ben's focus went down to the floor.

He could feel his father's eyes on him, he could feel the leather straps of the bags that was slung over his shoulders… the weight of it.

Roger approached him slowly, his fury burning off of him like fire. Ben couldn't remember him ever being so mad at him. This silent anger was louder than anything Roger could have shouted.

"Open up those bags, right now." Roger said sternly.

Ben hastily bent down to his knees, pulling the backpack from his shoulders. He unzipped it with shaking fingers. Roger bent down and seized it roughly, shaking it upside down so that the contents would be revealed. The crackers, cereal, a water bottle, bread, and some powdered milk fell out first, followed by a bowl and spoon, a book, a blanket, and fresh clothes. Roger grabbed the cereal box, shaking it in Ben's face.

"What's this?" Roger said through gritted teeth. "What is this?"

Ben stayed silent, wringing the strap of the bag still around his arm.

"What's in that bag?" Roger asked sharply.

Ben's fingers tightened around the strap, unwilling to give it to him.

"What's in the bag, Ben?" Roger repeated. "Open it up, or I will."

Ben bit his lower lip, hesitating before he moved it off of his arm, placing it on the floor in front of him. He opened up the flap.

Roger moved forward grabbing the bag roughly, turning it upside down, ignoring Ben's protests. Ben's white fluffy bunny fell out with a squeak and froze in fright, relieving itself on the floor.

Roger slowly looked at Ben with narrowed eyes, and Ben shrunk under his gaze.

"Where the hell did you get this?"

"I-I found it." Ben stammered, his throat felt dry and constricted. This was half true after-all . . . It was one of the rabbits bred to be used in a science experiment. Ben had seen the cage left unattended and both him and Annie had decided to rescue the bunny. They had named it Lucky.

"You found it, huh?" Roger grabbed the rabbit by scruff of it's back, shaking it roughly. The rabbit squealed, a horrible gut-wrenching noise escaping it's small body.

"Dad! No!" Ben yelled, jumping up and trying to take the rabbit.

Roger held it up higher, out of his reach. "No, huh? I'm not going to tolerate this Ben! This is the last straw!" The rabbit continued to scream it's awful, death-curdling screeching.

"Shut up you damn rabbit, shut up!" Roger twisted it in an awkward position, the rabbit made a disturbing, strangled noise and then it was quiet and still.

There was a moment as both Ben and Roger seemed to be in shock.

All at once, Ben began to cry, tears falling freely from his eyes, as he took one last look at his limp pet. Grief overwhelmed him and Ben ran to his room, and flung himself inside his closet, just to be alone. He hugged his knees into his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. He couldn't hear much movement outside of his room, so he had no idea what his father was doing. Hours had passed and as Ben laid down for bed alone that night, could still hear Lucky's last pitiful cries for mercy.

A/N: Hey, hope this wasn't too gorey, but I figured I'd explain where Roger got that rabbit foot on his keychain--(yuck!) I saved a rabbit from a cat once, and it was screaming so loudly I could hear it all the way across the yard, I pried the cat's mouth open and the baby bunny fell and it just sat there in shock until I shooed it. Poor thing. Also, Some jerky lifeguard yelled at me and a friend of mine when we were about 9 and 10 to come over to her once, because we were playing in a little sprinkler that apparently was intended for younger kids (but there wasn't even anyone around). We weren't sure if she was yelling at us or not, because we weren't being rough or horse-playing, so we were walking kind of slowly because we were unsure, and she says, "COME ON! THIS ISN'T A TURTLE RACE!" So I thought I'd add that in there for some personal laughs. LOL!! Ugh… being a kid sucks.

Oh, by the way, I plan to incorporate the losties in again in future chapters. Also, Ben is going to get older in the future chapters, but not quite yet. Thanks for the reviews guys, you keep me going! I love the new season of Lost! I can't believe it's back finally after all this time.