Her eyes fluttering open slowly, Shannon tried to readjust her blurred vision to her surroundings, her mind still delayed in remembering what had just happened. As the trees became clearer, the brightness dying down, she dared to let her eyes stay open, gazing over the jungle that lay out before her. It took awhile until she could remember, thinking back to that feeling of being lost, that fear of being grabbed by someone…

Her breath catching in her throat, Shannon looked around with a newfound panic, trying to lift her head up, but it felt too heavy, and was throbbing too bad. She closed her eyes as the pain rushed to her head, tears squeezing out from beneath her closed lids, as she felt soft fingers trace along her upper cheek, gently wiping away the moisture.

Instinctively, she opened up her eyes again, knowing they weren't her own fingers, and wanting to catch sight of this 'predator' before he disappeared. But when she opened her eyes, laying down there beside her, with his stomach pressed to the ground just like her, was Boone. He let his fingers trail away from under her eyes, stroking them softly down her cheek, until they came to rest on the side of her jaw.

If she had thought this was real, she would have screamed, cried, jumped up, held onto him, or even slapped him. She would have done something other than lay there staring at him, letting silence fill the air, which is just what she did.

"Are you hurt?" he asked after a long period of silence, such a hardened look on his face, yet his blue eyes always betrayed him, as they filled with worry. His hand hadn't moved from her face yet. He felt so real.

"You look different," she spoke out, her voice almost catching in her throat, which made her words come out choked and quiet. In all her other dreams, he had looked the same, but now, he was changing on her. She couldn't figure it out. "You're dead," she muttered under her breath. She always said this, even when she knew she was dreaming, though each time she was hoping for a different answer. Maybe he'd give her clues, give her some newfound insight, tell her that this whole damn island was some big nightmare, and that the plane crash had never happened.

Boone's eyes gazed over her once more. It was as if he was trying to memorize every detail. He never did this before in her dreams, which made her wonder why this one was so different.. Maybe she was dead too, and this was really Boone.

"You have to go back," Boone's voice came out dry, a sad, slight smile twitching across his lips.

Shannon frowned at this, her eyes narrowing on him curiously. This wasn't right. He couldn't be a dream.. He had never touched her before in a dream, or talked so funny, or looked so different.. "Are you going to leave me again?… Are you?" she pressed him, trying to make her voice rise to a threatening level, as she gave off her most hurt, and betrayed expression.

Boone tore his eyes away from hers, for the first time. Taking his hand back, he sat himself up. He was moving, blinking, breathing.. Things were all too-real. Shannon forced herself up at this point. She didn't care about the stabbing pains shooting through her head, the blinding surge that shot behind her eyes, or the harsh numbness that had settled into her legs from laying there so long. As soon as she sat up, Boone reached out to grab her, his hands encircling around her arms, looking at her as if he was afraid she'd either fall back down, or run off. His touch was so real at this point. She knew this wasn't a dream.

Shannon reacted back, wiggling out of his grasp, and the second he let go, slapping him away from her. He kept trying to get a hold of her though, as if she had gone hysterical, but she shoved him hard, making him fall back, to where he had to use his hands to keep himself from falling and prop himself up.

"Where have you been? WHO the hell are you!" Shannon screamed out. Even though he looked real, and looked so much like Boone, she couldn't get herself to fully believe this. Boone was dead, she had seen him, before they buried him. She knew he was dead, and that this couldn't be realistic. Someone, some strange monstrous person, had taken on her brother's identity. This island had a lot of out-of-this-world stuff going on, and she knew this had to be one of them… But she also wanted to believe that this was, somehow, her brother. Her companion, her lover.

Boone sat up, regaining himself, and before she knew it, he took a hold of her again, and pulled her towards him, wrapping her up in his embrace. He clung to her like he used to, whenever he wouldn't see her for six months at a time until he would have to 'save' her from all those guys. Or whenever she would reappear back home after taking off for several months of partying overseas. He held her close to him, his breath catching on her neck, his hands massaging against her back, his chest heaving heavily against hers. He hugged her for so long, and she didn't push away, she didn't dare to. She knew now that he had to be real. No one could impersonate Boone down to every detail.

Shannon was too confused, too devastated and relieved at this point, that she hadn't even realized she had begun sobbing. She didn't even have it in her to react when Boone pulled away, and scooped her up in his arms, holding her close to him as he carried her through the jungle. Everything happened so quickly, it was too much to take in. All she could focus on was his hands around her, being held in his arms, her head cradled against his chest.

When he put her down, they were back at the campsite. He laid her down carefully in her own tent. It was so dark out that none of the others seemed to be awake, and if they were, they probably wouldn't have noticed them anyways.

"Why are you leaving me?" she asked, as he backed up, not even sitting near her this time. After he had laid her down, he pressed his lips softly to her forehead, kissing her so briefly, before he backed away to the entrance of the tent.

"I was never hurt in the plane, Shannon.. I heard something I wasn't suppose to, and they took me away after that.. Don't make the same mistake, don't get involved," Boone whispered to her, his voice barely audible, his face so dark against the night.

"Who was out there? With us?" she asked him, needing to know, even though he had warned her... There were people out there. Kate, Michael, Jin, and Sawyer.. They weren't crazy. Someone had taken Walt. Someone had even taken Boone, and made them all think he was dead. Someone-- someones --had taken them both. Someone had grabbed her out there, maybe even wanting to kill her, after she had seen Boone that day, when she had the asthma attack. And Boone, her hero, had saved her once again. But where was he going to disappear to? Where was Walt? Why couldn't they come back? What the hell was this place..

"Shannon, stay with Jack," Boone said, and she heard him back away after that, out of the tent.

"But- You're going back!" she screamed out, wanting to understand, but the only answer was the sound of his footsteps, running towards the trees, and away from her. "Boone?" Still, no answer, and not even the sounds of him leaving anymore.. He was moving further and further away from her again. "BOONE!"

To Be Continued…