| abstract | - Growing up, Hugo (also known as Hurley, for an unknown reason), was in an accident. A deck collapsed and claimed the lives of two people. Hurley believed he was responsible due to his weight, even though the truth of the matter was the deck was built to hold eight people and was holding 23 during the accident. Due to his constant belief he was at fault and a deepening depression, Hurley's mother had him committed to the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute (2x18). Hurley honed his ping pong skills in his mother's basement and also at Santa Rosa. During his time in Santa Rosa, Hurley's doctor, Dr. Brooks, was intent on telling Hurley that he was not the cause of the accident because it would have happened with him there or not due to the overcrowding upon it. It was also revealed that Dr. Brooks believed that Hurley was trying to punish himself by overeating and that he could help him with a diet. Also, while attending the Institute, Hurley used to play Connect Four with another patient at Santa Rosa, Leonard, who had been repeating a series of six numbers over and over - 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 (2x18). Hurley listened to Dr. Brooks and was going to do the diet until one of his "friends", Dave, convinced him not to conform to the diet. Dave turned out to be an imaginary friend that Hurley had conjured. Dr. Brooks believed it was a troubling sign and prescribed Clonazepam pills for Hurley in order to make Dave go away. Dave told Hurley he should not take the pills. Dr. Brooks decided to try and shake Hurley into the belief that Dave was not real. He did so by agreeing to take a picture of Hurley and Dave together. He showed the picture to Hurley so that he could see Dave was not there. Hurley, realizing now that Dave was not real, found a way to shut him out of his life and get the help he needed, by locking Dave, who tried to make him escape, outside the Institute (2x18). After Hurley was released from Santa Rosa, he went to live with his mother and got his old job back at Mr. Cluck's. While working there, Hurley decided to buy a lottery ticket using Leonard's numbers. These numbers made Hurley one of the biggest winners in a 16 week jackpot worth approximately $156 million dollars (1x18). Hurley, having won the lotto, suddenly felt confident and managed to ask out a girl whom he had a crush on and decided to quit his job at Mr. Cluck's. His best friend, Johnny, joined him, and the two spent the rest of the day together, without Hurley telling him that he had won. Hurley and Johnny promised each other that no matter what, they would never change. Despite this promise, Johnny found out Hurley's story as the TV reporters spotted Hurley in a car while they were driving by the place where Hurley bought his winning ticket. Ultimately, Johnny left Hurley, feeling betrayed and angry at him (2x04). Hurley quickly began to believe that the Numbers were somehow cursed due to a number of misfortunes that occurred after he won the lotto with them:
* His grandfather's heart attack during an interview with the news.
* The priest at his grandfather's funeral was struck by lightning at the service.
* Hurley's brother went on to lose his wife to another woman.
* His mother broke her ankle when Hurley wanted to show her a house he bought for her.
* The same house caught fire and burned down.
* Hurley was being arrested by mistake when the police believed him to be a drug dealer.
* His girlfriend Starla ran off with his best friend Johnny
* The Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack that Hurley bought was struck by a meteorite before its reopening, killing TV news reporter Tricia Tanaka and her cameraman (3x10).
* The sneaker factory Hurley bought burned down, killing 8 people who worked there.
* Tropical storms hit Florida causing Hurley's stock in Orange futures to skyrocket.
* An unidentified man (not Locke as confirmed by Carlton Cuse on the 03/30/07 podcast) fell from the building as his accountant told him that he wasn't cursed. Although Hurley's luck seemingly grew worse, he gained more and more money; he got even more money for some of these incidents, as the factory was over-insured and he received a huge settlement over his mistaken arrest. With this money he bought a box company based in Tustin, California. One of the workers was, coincidentally, John Locke. Locke's boss was Randy Nations, whom Hurley likely hired due to the fact that Randy had been the manager of the Mr.Cluck's at which Hurley had worked. Hurley sought out Leonard at Santa Rosa, and informed him that he had played his numbers in the lotto. Leonard informed Hurley that he should not have done so, claiming that he had "opened the box." Before Leonard was taken away by the staff, he told Hurley to seek out another person by the name of Sam Toomey, whom he had been in the navy with and who lived in Kalgoorlie, Australia (1x18). At this point, Hurley's mother decided to bring back Hurley's father, David. David was given the task of convincing Hurley he was not cursed by the Numbers, and shouldn't go to Australia, to find information about Toomey. Hurley believed that David was back just for money and did not want him to stay. David denied Hurley's reason and took him to a fortune teller, whom he had paid off to pretend to remove the curse, but Hurley saw through the ruse. Hurley eventually bought the ticket to Australia. Right before he left, David revealed to Hurley that he did come back for the money, but that he also wanted to get closer with Hurley. He promised Hurley that he would be at home when Hurley came back (3x10). Hurley then flew to Australia, where he found Sam Toomey's wife, Martha Toomey. He learned from her that the Numbers had been first heard by Sam and Leonard at a listening station in the South Pacific where the two were stationed. Even though Martha had her own share of bad luck (a lost leg and her husband Sam's suicide) she became angry at Hurley when he suggested that the Numbers were cursed (1x18). Hurley left from Sydney the day before his mother's birthday. He had several problems upon making it to the flight, but managed to make Flight 815 on time (1x24). On the plane, he gave a thumbs up to Walt (1x24).
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