Desmond's eyes cracked open. He was lying in a dark room, completely alone. He raised his head groggily and groaned. His vision swam in and out of focus.
"Where am I?" Desmond croaked in a hoarse whisper. His throat was dry and it felt sore. Desmond raised his hand and rubbed it over his neck, massaging the area. The smooth skin contrasted greatly with his callused fingers. He lifted his body up slowly, and felt a sharp pain in his arm. Desmond looked down, and pulled out an IV needle. He moved backwards in shock; the arm he was looking at was different than normal, whiter, no longer tan.
Desmond looked down slowly, his eyes moving upwards slowly. He was wearing jeans, but his legs were shorter than usual. He felt his hair, it was cut short, and fell in front of his eyes messily. Blonde, Desmond thought, My hair is blonde. Desmond nervously patted his face; it was no longer angular, but rounded, as was his nose.
"Hello?" He called out cautiously. His voice sounded different too, he had an English accent. This is wrong, he though to himself, This is all wrong.
A voice, seemingly from nowhere, reverberated through the room.
"Why are you here?" The voice asked sharply through garbled static. Desmond raised his head higher; the voice, females, with a sophisticated English accent, was strikingly familiar to Desmond. He knew that he had heard it somewhere before.
Desmond tried to raise his voice, and looked around the room expecting to see someone standing in the darkness.
"Where am I?"
The women's was low in pitch, she sounded cold and impatient. "Why are you here?" She asked again with false kindness. Desmond twisted and turned before he finally found the source of the noise, a loudspeaker in the corner. Above it, was a camera, a red light flashing periodically.
"I-I don't know. Where am I?" he asked again. An image came to the forefront of Desmond's mind, he was drowning, in a locked room. He saw himself on the other side of the door trying to break the it open. No, that couldn't be right. Desmond shook his head and thought harder, his head throbbing in pain.
"I was on a boat," he said finally, "How did I get here?" His voice wasn't so hoarse anymore, but it sounded different; not his one. The woman ignored his question entirely.
"Alright, Mister Pace," she said with an exasperated sigh, "if you won't answer me willingly, I'll have to try other ways of making you talk." More static. The loudspeaker went silent. All of the sudden, two people entered the room wheeling surgical supplies on a silver cart.
Desmond's voice fell to a whisper. "What are you doin'?" He asked fearfully, " My name isn't Pace, it's Desmond!" His voice became high pitched and fearful, "You've made a mistake, I'm not supposed to be here!" He yelled loudly.
"No, I'm afraid that you are not." said the voice, with a hint of pity, maybe even sadness, "Prepare him for the tests!" She said aloud. The two figures descended on Desmond, pinning him down to the bed. They slipped his arms into restraints as he thrashed wildly.
"No!" He yelled loudly, thrashing up and and down "Stop! I'm not supposed to be here!" One of the figures put a mask over Desmond's mouth, and his world went black.
"Desmond!" someone cried, "Des, love, wake up please," the voice was desperate, pleading gently. "It's okay, you can open your eyes now." The voice was obviously female, her accented voice was shaking.
"My name isn't Pace, it's Desmond," Desmond moaned horsely, "You've made a mistake, I'm not supposed to be here!" he said desperately, wanting them to believe him- they had to believe him.
"He's awake!" another female voice said excitedly, this one was different, American accent. Desmond heard a sigh of relief. "Can someone explain to me what just happened here?" yet another voice asked voice gruffly. Male, this time, Southern. He sounded relieved, but cautious too.
Desmond's eyes fluttered open. He blinked as his pupils adjusted to the sudden brightness. An bright light flickered above Desmond's head. He forced his eyes open again. Desmond was lying on the floor of the kitchen; Penny was kneeling next to him, supporting his neck with one hand, and holding his hand with her other. Kate and Sawyer were standing a little way's back, leaning over with relief spread all over their faces.
"That's it love, open your eyes." Penny smiled warmly. Desmond looked at her and joy filled his heart.
"I'm back with the first aid kit!" came a panting Claire. She looked around, and then her eyes rested on Desmond's face. "Oh," she said softly. Relief flooded her face, red from exertion, and she handed to kit to Penny before sitting down.
"Ah, what happened?" Desmond asked slowly; his head was still pounding.
Sawyer looked at him, and answered in a even tone, "That's what we'd like to know, Chief."
Penny's voice came gently "You fell onto the floor Des, while we were talking about Charlie." Her eyes were filled with tears, but she was smiling.
"You were yelling," Kate added, "You said that you're name wasn't Pace." She ran a hand through her brown curls, sighed, and went on, "We were worried about you; you were crying in pain."
"Pace?" Claire asked quietly, "That's Charlie's last name" They all turned to look at Claire. "Desmond, why did you think you were Charlie?"
Desmond was slow to respond. "I think..." He said finally, "I think I was in his body, like- like my mind shifted or something." Desmond looked up at them, waiting for them to say that it was impossible, ludicrous.
"That makes sense," said Sawyer, folding his arms and leaning against the wall, "Anything crazy, or impossible, or just don't make any sense, happens to us." Desmond couldn't help but smile, it was true after all.
"I think I can stand." He said finally. Penny took his arm, and helped him up. Claire reached over and helped too. They walked a few steps. Desmond screamed out in pain; his chest felt like it was being cut into with a knife. Penny jumped, and her hold Desmond slipped in shock; she almost dropped him to the floor.
"What's wrong!?" Penny asked quickly. She and Claire set Desmond down gently on a chair and held him steady. He clutched his chest and cried out in pain. Claire had sat back down, but got up again to help.
"My chest feels like it's being sliced open!"
"Des, take a deep breath," Penny pleaded. She kneeled next to Desmond and took his hand. Desmond looked at her, his face wild, panic in his eyes. He grasped Penny's hand and held on to get his point across.
"It's Charlie!" Desmond yelled through the pain, "They're doing this to him, I can feel it." He gasped again and began to pant. Claire froze in the act of getting up. Her eyes were opened wide, like a child being told a ghost story.
"Charlie feels the same way as you?" She whispered, confused. The realization hit and Claire started shaking. "You're saying that Charlie's somewhere, and someone's cutting him open!" She put a hand to her mouth and began sobbing.
"No," Desmond answered through shaky breaths. "They have him sedated."
"Why?" Claire said in a barely audible voice, "Why would they do this to him?"
Desmond turned to her and stared. He could tell she was scared, but she needed to know the truth. Desmond thought about his answer before speaking.
"They wanted to know why he was alive. I think it was Eloise" he said remembering the cold voice; he turned to Kate, and she nodded. They both knew who she was. Kate's expression gave away her shock, Sawyer and Claire just looked confused.
"Who the h-" Sawyer began, but he stopped abruptly. Desmond had begun seizing; his whole body was shaking erratically. Penny started crying, but she held onto Desmond's hand. A small stream of blood trickled out of Desmond's nose. He wiped it way with his hand. Whatever they were doing to Charlie, he wasn't responding well.
"James, help!" Kate yelled. Sawyer ran forward and held Desmond down. Through all the commotion, Desmond heard the sound of whimpering. He turned sharply to locate the noise, gasping in pain as he did so. Charlie, his son was standing in the corner, tears streaming down his face. Aaron was tugging on his arm, trying to get him to leave, but Charlie wouldn't leave. He just stared at Desmond.
Desmond slowed his breathing and took control of his motions. The seizing stopped and Sawyer let go. "Charlie, go to your room," Desmond ordered. Charlie cried some more and started moving towards his father.
"Daddy's hurt!" He whimpered to Penny. Desmond put on a brave face, and smiled at Charlie. Charlie didn't need to see this, he was only three.
"Daddy just fell," Desmond said kindly, "I'll be fine, promise." He smiled warmly and did his best to appear healthy.
"No!" Charlie whimpered, "Daddy's, in the water!" He moaned, "Bleeding!" Desmond paused and looked at Charlie. Charlie's eyes were glazed over, and he was blinking rapidly.
"What?" Desmond asked, shocked. Just then, Claire recovered from her state of shock. She got up and smiled at Charlie and Aaron.
"Your daddy is fine" she said sweetly. "He'll be okay." Claire took Aaron, who was also crying, and Charlie in each hand and led them from the room. Desmond sat still, surrounded by his friends, wondering what his son had meant about the water.