I don\'t think Aaron is dead. But seriously, you know how when Ben left the church he was like, \"I\'m gonna fulfill a promise I made to an old friend\" and remember how he swore he\'d kill Penny? And then he calls Jack to pick up Locke\'s body and he\'s all covered in blood and stuff and he was at a pay phone at a boat dock. And Penny and Desmond were on a boat and they docked in L.A.. Plus, Eloise told Desmond that the island isn\'t done with him. And to me, that implies that Desmond needs to go back to the island. And the only way he\'d EVER go back to the island would be if a) he has nothing left to live for in the \"real\" world (aka Penny) or b) he thinks that he can save Penny/bring her back/change things by going back. *************SPOILER****************************************** DON\'T READ BELOW IF YOU DON\'T WANT THINGS POSSIBLY SPOILED Plus, there have been rumors going around (by credible people) that a main-ish (as in not a [i]main[/i] character like Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Locke, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, etc.) character (like Penny) is going to be killed off. So I\'m pretty sure Penny\'s dead and/or is going to die and/or she\'s dying.