The Boy Next Door

Chapter Seventeen

One month later. No food. Hungry. Starving. Hot. Humid. Pain. Hot girls. Need to coo- . . . wait what?!

I spend too much time with Aaron.

Speaking of the very tall devil, he's in the woods now hunting. Jamie and Wolf haven't gotten around to it, so he did. Jamie has recovered in the last two weeks, but is still sore in her broken bones. Wolf is staying by her side no matter what. I think it's because he feels guilty for being there when she got hurt. The new girl, Alyssa, is getting in the pattern of cooking, cleaning, and picking ingredients.

That may sound very sexist, a girl doing the cooking and things, but she practically begged Aaron to do the jobs. So she basically stole the jobs from Aaron. Good for her.

I am boiling water. Waiting for everyone to return. It's so hard to boil water when it's already 'five fucking thousand' degrees. Aaron's words not mine. For some reason it's been really, really hot lately. I am pretty sure its supposed to be fall now, but then again the sun is her own star. I just hope it cools down by winter, I hate dramatic weather changes.

I see Alyssa coming back from the woods carrying a basket she made. I was sitting next to her when it was made and still don't know how a few weeds could be a basket. I look behind her to see if she was being followed by any family. No but I do see a panther . . . .

A panther!!

I jump up and start running towards her. I point behind her, but she thinks I'm waving. I put on a panicked face and point behind her again. She looks back and sees the panther. She slowly backs up towards me. I keep running forward. The cat pounces and lands a foot away from her. Alyssa drops her basket and falls, surprised.

I run past her and stab the panther. He yowls and jumps up with my knife in his neck. All I need to do is rip it out and he's dead. I jump away before he can land on me. He get even more angry and swipes my leg.

I fall as he jumps on me. The panther bites my arm hard, tearing the skin. I growl and rip the knife out, dragging it out to make the wound more open. He lets out a gurgled screech as his blood pours on my face. I grunt as the pain in my arm shows itself. I see the snapped bone and the torn muscle. Its gross.

I get up after pushing the panther away. Grabbing Alyssa and walking back to the cave, I see Aaron. He hurries towards me and takes her from me. Wolf comes next then Jamie not far behind. I start to fall as soon as they reach me, my wound making me dizzy.

As I hit the ground and before everything goes fuzzy, I hear Aaron's faint voice yelling at me. I can't make out his words but I know it's something important. I strain to listen as the dark dots appear. I make out "don't". Don't what?

His face leans in closer and I feel his breath on my face and his hand reaches out and I feel a stinging pain on my face and then . . .

I sit up fast. I look around with wide eyes. My heart beat is frantic, as though I ran a mile in one minute. I see Aaron sitting with Jamie, Wolf, and Alyssa. They are talking. My ears aren't working. I can't hear!

It takes me two minutes to figure out they're whispering. Good, I can hear. I stand shakily. My arm is making my shaky and is messing up my brain. I guess too much pain does that. I look down at my arm. It's been sewed together with string. Maybe from Aaron's shirt. It looks cleaner and its set and held together with a shirt. Aaron's.

Wolf hears me stand and starts towards me. I pet him with my good arm. He whimpers. Jamie comes over and picks me up gently. She sets me in her lap. I lean into her. She smells like forest. Aaron comes into view.

"Hey, you okay?" I nod. "Good, you were out for three days. I'm sure yet hungry." My stomach rumbles at the thought of food. Alyssa comes over behind Aaron.

"Hey, are you good?" I nod. "Good. Here." She hands me a piece of dried deer. I eat it hungrily.

"I knew you was hungry." Aaron comments. I smile. He claps and whistles. A second later a huge black horse comes running.

Towards me.

I shrink against Jamie's fur. The horse stops at the entrance to the cave. Aaron goes over and pats its side. It moves away.

"This here is Mustang. He's nice, sort of."

As I keep looking at Mustang I notice him sprout wings. They stretch out as he rears and grows fangs. Aaron grows fangs and takes out a knife. Jamie holds me tighter. Wolf snarls. Alyssa starts spiting and flicking her reptile tongue.

They all come towards me.

Right before they pile in, I wake up.

I look around with sweat running down my face, my eyes wide, my breathing frantic, my arm numb, my heartbeat too fast.

Aaron grabs my arm before I can jump up and start running.

"Calm down dude. You're fine."

Alyssa comes from behind him. "It's okay, calm down."

Jamie is on the other side of me. She gently touches my face, humming. Wolf is laying by my head. He licks my face. I slowly lay back down.

Everything is fine, Jason. Calm down, it was a dream. No need to get worked up. Look your family is here. They aren't monsters. This isn't a dream.

Wait, I'm talking to myself now? Okay . . .

"Hey dude, you aight?" I nod. "Okay, cool. I made dinner, want some?" Another nod. "Here." I take the wooden bowl and sit up. It's beef stew. I wolf it down.

After I hand the bowl back and settle Jamie down and tell Alyssa ten thousand times I'm fine, I lay down to sleep. I don't know how long I was out, but I'm exhausted.