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"Well... we should find the way out then... right?" Timothy sounded scared, but I mean that was the kind of stuff you were supposed to do in situations like this.

"This is probably just a bad nightmare... you know." he shrugged. Not sure if he should play along or if he really was in a huge... dirt... tunnel.

A dream seemed more reasonable. Of course he was turning into a skunk so... maybe it was real.

Timothy followed behind.

He knew it wasn't a dream. He'd enjoyed his dream... he hadn't wanted to wake up.

He felt, frustrated to say the least... partly about waking up here and partly about... waking up from that dream.

"I'm just gonna... follow... okay?" his voice quivered. "Thanks for leading."

Timothy followed behind Lauren in mostly silence for a long time as they walked through the tunnel. Atleast a half an hour had passed in complete silence.

Something in both of them knew how to navigate passages like this. Timothy found some part of him was comfortable here. Also, some part of him was comfortable around Lauren now. She reminded him of himself? It was an odd sensation.

Atleast he hadn't musked anything in fear.

Timothy came climbing out shortly after behind her. "Well that was interesting... why were we down there?"

He saw the moonlight and the sun just starting to come up in the distance. Wow, they'd been deep down there he realized, based on how long they'd walked.

He pulled himself out with a little more effort than Lauren. Timothy really was quite the sissy.

Lauren had awaken as the rain stopped and Awen was no longer at her feet. She couldn't quite recall going to sleep but her stomach growled asking for food. She got up, put on her now sort of dry shorts and stumbled out of the tree. A rather large beetle scurried into her line of site as she promptly grabbed it and popped it into her mouth. It didn't taste too bad, it was just the exoskeleton that bothered her.

She spent the rest of the day gathering food, hunting down eggs and insects to eat. This was her life right now. It wasn't until late that night she thought about searching for Awen. Then again, she told herself not to, Awen had rejected her. But then, she remembered the stuff she had left at the camp and trotted off to look for that.

She arrived at a now empty camp, her stuffed moose laying lonely and sopping wet on the ground. "********, forgot about you, first time in my life." She felt guilty. "Hope you don't have any mold on you." She searched it to find that mold did not grow onto him as of yet. "Damnit!" She hugged the animal. "Geuss you got your ******** way... it's just you and me in bed from now on... except.. minus the bed part."

Lauren missed Moreau terribly, she missed cooked food, she missed her bed and her xbox. She missed her duplex and even though it had been a hell of a long time, she missed her mom. She held the dripping moose by the arm, looking again for Moreau.

-----

As Lauren went towards the village in her search, she realised it was up and running. She smelled food being cooked in the cafeteria, she found her duplex door had indeed been unlocked. She went into the room, molded pizza sitting near her desk with empty coke cans scattered here and there partially ******** ME!" She yelled in a short lived happiness to herself. Lauren stood in disbilief... but something felt weird. Was this home? Was this really home or a dream. It had been so long.

Too many things scattered her brain. She had no clue what to do first. Finally she stripped out of the rather rank clothing and got into the shower, turning on the water to nearly intollerably hot just how she liked it. If she exited the shower with pink skin, it had been a awesome ******** shower!

She was in there until her skin turned pruny. Lauren searched and found clean underwear and clothing. She kind of felt like Sarah in the Labyrinth when she falls into the room that wasn't really hers. Lauren was tempted to break a mirror to see if there was just a junkyard on the other side. But she knew it was real.

Lauren put on her makeup, played with her hair and her 'toys' Moreau had given her feeling very much like she was in the middle of heaven. Reluctant to see any islanders just yet, Lauren ordered food from the cafeteria to be sent to her. She did not want to leave the duplex for fear it would close up again.

----

Sitting there, with a whole pizza half devored, and a 3 cans of a six pack of coke chugged down Lauren eyed the radio to reach Moreau. What would happen if she called him? Would he be there. She sat staring it down debating on what to do.

And what if he WAS there on the other line, alright and unharmed. What if he did this to all of them, did this to her. She could care less about the other islanders except for her and Awen but he could of left her out of it. Lauren's head spinned with several what if scenerios, her stomach now full of the pizza she nearly gorged herself with she lied in bed, setting the radio beside her. After a nap, if he's there maybe he will call. Maybe all of this had been a horrific dream and now she was awake, late for a science lesson.

Her soggy moose was there, the stench remaining the familiar smell of neglect she had grown to accept and love.

An intercom receptionist picked up, this was the first intercom to work since the island reopened. "Hello, how may I help you?" the unfamilar woman said.

The receptionist rolled her eyes. She'd never really been this fond of this girl, she was always so rude and disrespectful. Why Moreau put up with her was something she'd never gotten.. "One moment, I'm connecting you to the not so late Dr. Moreau"

She enjoyed that far too much. Then the hold music came on for Lauren.

Moreau sighed audiably when the receptionist told him who it was. He knew he was going to have to deal with this eventually. In all honesty he was a little disappointed that she seemed so emotionally unstable while he was gone. Still, if he could handle Aubrey he had no doubt he could do the same with Lauren.

"Hello Lauren" the familar voice of the Doctor came on the line.