Welcome aboard the crazy train.

What to Expect: In my personal opinion, Benjamin Linus was completely cheated out of a romantic subplot. This is my attempt to remedy that. Expect high levels of angst and lots of death. Although this is an intrinsically Ben/OC story, it will feature the majority of the characters from the show.

Disclaimer: I do not own LOST or Benjamin Linus. Unfortunately. If I did, well, you can use your imagination. [insert suggestive wink]

Also, I'm writing this out of love for the show and not for any sort of profit. I am but a humble fan of this magnificent series.

I awake to the shrill screams of a panicked woman. I can smell smoke and ash and something else . . . something faintly clean. The stark contrast confuses my senses, and my eyes flicker open just as I finally register what the clean smell is. It's the ocean.

The soft fluttering of my heart begins to beat wildly out of control as I struggle to piece together my surroundings. I was curled up on my dorm room bed when I dosed off not too long ago, and now warm sand sifts through my fingers as I scoot myself into a sitting position.

Sand? SAND? Where am I? What's going on?

I sit in a confused stupor as the world around me carries on in complete chaos. Men and women run screaming in all directions, their words blurring together in disharmony.

The man nearest me bellows, "WALT!"

This snaps me out of my lethargic trance, and I push my aching body to my feet, stumbling half blind in the general direction of the screaming mob. Behind us a massive whirling plane engine belches out thick black smoke and causes bursts of air to fling sand all over the place. I have to cover my eyes to keep from going blind.

A nightmare. I'm having a nightmare.

Which isn't really that big of a surprise. I was in the middle of a LOST re-watching marathon with a few girls from my University when I dosed off, so I suppose a LOST themed nightmare was bound to happen.

My foot gets caught on a chunk of debris, and I stumble forward onto my hands and knees.

A pair of strong arms hoist me up. A man's gruff voice is in my ear, yelling, "Get out of the way! Move!" I recognize the voice as Sawyer's just as he gives me a strong shove, causing me to go sprawling out in the sand a few feet away. When I look back, I find a massive flaming hunk of metal where I had been just seconds before. Sawyer is nowhere to be found.

Just keep moving. Keep moving.

Somehow I scrape and claw my way to the ocean, far away from the remains of Oceanic 815. A young woman kneels in the water beside me, sobbing with abandon. I'm so exhausted that all I can manage to do is collapse in the wet sand on the shoreline, gasping desperately for air, and praying with all my might that I wake up from this nightmare soon.

When I do manage to wake up, the sun has disappeared. Someone has built a roaring fire and dragged me near it. I scoot away from its heat.

That's when I notice that multiple fires have been lit all along the beach. People sit hunched over near the flames, talking quietly amongst themselves.

"The princess has awoken." Sawyer stands over me with a lazy smirk on his lips. "Has the Doc looked at your head yet?" he asks.

I have no idea what he's talking about, and it frustrates me. "Huh?" I grunt.

Sawyer squats down and reaches for my forehead with what looks like gauze. A sharp pain bolts through my skull, and I quickly pull away from his touch. "Ouch!" I roar. "Don't touch me!"

Sawyer stands and holds out his hands in surrender before wandering off down the beach.

I reach up and gently tap the spot where Sawyer did. When I pull my hand away, my fingers are covered in blood. For the first time in a long time I question myself for switching career goals. Why didn't I finish nursing school? I would be better prepared to deal with this madness right now.

I lay down in the sand and fight to keep the nausea at bay. A man's figure is suddenly standing over me, and in my blissful delirium I think Sawyer has come back to tend to my wounds.

But it turns out the man is Jack. I want to ask so many questions, but my head injury has scrambled my brain. Besides, I'll be waking up from this dream soon, so what's the point?

Before I doze off for a second time, I hear Sawyer's voice through the clouded fogginess of sleep. He came back after all.

"Heads pretty messed up, Doc," says Sawyer. "Think she's gonna be okay?"

"I don't know," Jack answers. "We'll have to wait and see."