Status: Work in Progress.

Night of the Hunter

Chapter Eleven: Medicine Jar.

*Jared's P.O.V.

I walked to the emergency room, but my mind was on the smell that lingered through the hallway. The smell of burnt flesh was all that filled my senses. It was nauseating, and only made me regret not saving Elijah sooner. It was in my mind set more than ever now to kill that bastard, as soon as I possibly could. I sat there as they cleansed the four cut marks on my arm, and instantly bandaged them. This time, they didn't even ask questions of how this happened, because they knew what I was going to say, and hell they didn't believe me anyhow so why waste their breath?

"Here you go, Jared" nurse Summers spoke, handing me two new shirts. "Take this one to Jeff".

I nodded, and slipped mine on first before heading out. As I walked down the hall, Dr Williams stopped me.

"Get Jeff and meet us in the therapy room, we're having a meeting to discuss what happened" he stated.

I nodded again, and went directly to our room to get Jeff and give him his new, clean shirt. Getting to the open doorway of our room, my eyes met with Jeff, who was sitting on his bed, still shirtless, with his head hung down. Walking in, he must have sensed me, because he looked up at me. I had to admit, the way he pushed his hair from my face outside gave me chills, but in a good way, and it made me question myself because I kept glancing at his exposed upper half.

"What did they say?" Jeff asked, as I sat down on my bed across from him.

"About?" I questioned, confused.

"The cuts? Elijah?" he added.

"Nothing about either. Dr Williams is waiting for us. He called an emergency meeting" I spoke, holding out my right hand that was clutching the fabric in my hand. "Here".

He took the shirt from me, unfolding it and preparing to put it on.

"Emergency meeting?" he asked.

"Yeah, to talk about tonight, I guess" I noted, standing back up.

"Makes sense" he said, slipping the fabric over his flesh and getting it situated.

He fixed his hair that got a bit ruffled by the shirt, and then followed my lead by standing up. I started to walk away when Jeff stopped me, gripping me by my left arm. My eyes focused on him again as he looked at me.

"I hope that... well, that thing outside... I hope that didn't weird you out" he spoke.

I knew he was referring to the whole hair thing.

"No, Jeff, it didn't. So no worries" I smiled.

"Oh, good. I was scared it would have" he responded, sounding relieved.

"Not at all. It didn't bother me at all" I said, stepping closer to him.

Our eyes were so intensely locked with one another as we stood there, and I could feel his body press against mine now. There was no way this could happen here. We couldn't let ourselves get caught up in these feelings. We needed to stay focused. But I couldn't deny I was finding myself drawn to Jeff. As we stood there, Jeff leaned in, kissing me at the base of my neck, and near my collarbone.

"Jeff... We can't. We need to focus" I spoke, trying to keep myself under control.

"I know... I'm sorry. I just can't help it" he spoke back, keeping himself close to me.

"I know, trust me. I feel the same. But there are people waiting for us" I reminded.

"Yeah... We should go then" he said, softly.

He pulled back, turning away and preparing to walk away. But this time, I stopped him, pulling him back by his right arm. And just like that, my lips pressed against his, giving a small kiss and then pulling away. A smiled formed on his lips, and I softly smiled as well, although I was slightly shocked at myself for that action. I had never been into a guy in my entire life, but Jeff had something I was drawn to.

"Come on" Jeff spoke, grabbing my left hand with his right as we then walked for the door, preparing to go join the group.

* * * *

We took our seats in the room, and Dr Williams was quick to get down to business.

"I know this is an odd time to call a session, but with the events that happened, I felt it was best that you all were able to get your feelings out" Dr Williams encouraged.

Out of the five of us left standing, we already knew what happened, and if we spoke about it, they would still never believe us.

"What... happened to him?" Jay asked, still in tears.

"You know what happened, just as we all do" Blake shot. "Krueger got him, and he's going to get the rest of us".

"Nobody got Elijah, it was an electrical fire that sparked in the bathroom" Dr Williams stated.

"Bullshit. It was Krueger. Stop feeding us lies and just believe us!" Jeff stepped in.

"Jeff, I want to believe you all, but do you know how crazy it sounds? Don't you?" Dr Williams responded.

"Of course it sounds crazy, because none of you have dreamed about him, or had to face him" Jeff added, "but it doesn't mean we are crazy or lying".

"I never said that. But it's hard to believe that some monster is killing everyone" Dr Williams noted.

"Then don't believe us. Let us die one by one" I responded. "Look, how do you explain the wounds I keep coming out with? Huh? Do you think I'm doing them to myself? 'Cause that would be pretty fucking hard to do without the right tools".

"Jared, I don't know how those are happening to you... But I don't get how else they are happening" Dr Williams spoke.

"Jeff" Blake spoke, capturing everyone's attention, "why don't you pull Dr Williams into a dream?"

There was the suggestion of a lifetime.

"Do what?" Dr Williams asked.

"Pull you in" Jeff answered. "I have this ability to pull people in, or get into others' dreams. Maybe we can prove to you that we aren't making this up".

"How?" Dr Williams questioned.

"Let's all sit here, focus and drift off to sleep.. It's worth a shot" Jeff encouraged.

"Please, Dr Williams. Let us prove it to you... Then you will understand why we need the Hypnocil", I begged.

He seemed extremely hesitant, and I couldn't tell if he felt we were bluffing or if it was because he felt this was real.

"We will try it, but if nothing happens, we drop the non-sense" Dr Williams ordered.

This was the moment to prove it, right here. We just had to pray it worked.

"Alright, everyone needs to clear their minds. And just focus on sleeping" Jeff instructed.

Blake got up, turning the lights off and making it night and dim, perfect for letting our tired minds think about sleeping.

"Counting backwards in your mind from ten, and you'll be asleep. Your eyes are heavy, and nothing sound better than to sleep right now" Jeff advised.

My eyes were already heavy, so I knew it wouldn't take much for me to fall into a deep sleep...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
♠ ♠ ♠
Once more, another long, overdue update. I see a lot of people have given up on this story, & I understand why due to lack of updates. I apologize, but life has just become very overwhelming, health wise, & I rarely find time to do anything I used to enjoy. I hope everyone understands. I hope to finish this story when I'm able.