Mrs. Jones

Glad Katie moved on with the conversation, Hunter nods. "Yeah, sure... I can keep you company after lunch. Not like I have any better offers." 

Swishing around the remainder of his coffee, he finally downs it as well. "Thanks for the coffee... I guess I'm a little more awake now." He nudges Katie's leg with his foot. "I need to get a hold of a couple guys about checking in on my apartment and taking care of my car... so I'll catch you at lunch if not before." 

He really didn't mean to dismiss Katie... but... for some odd reason he didn't understand, all of a sudden he just felt like being alone. 

It was only a few minutes later when he was back on his bed again, staring at the ceiling. Yes, he had to get a hold of some guys back home, but not yet. What bothered him now was that he'd snapped at Katie and didn't even know why. What had she said that made him bristle so badly? He didn't like feeling upset with her, especially when it seemed quite uncalled for. 

"...Just...make sure sooner or later you do talk so everything you're feeling won't have to stay bottled inside." 

It still gave him a weird sort of churn in his stomach. 

"...bottled inside."

"...if you keep all this bottled up inside, it's just going to harm you later down the road..."

Hunter blinks. That wasn't Katie's voice he was hearing anymore. That was Mrs. Jones. His high school counselor. 

"What happened, Hunter? Why aren't you living at home anymore?"

"Just wanted to move out, that's all." 

"And your grades? Why are there two Fs on your last report? That's not like you."

"So I've been busy. I got a job and haven't had time to study." 

"Aren't your parents helping you?" 

"No, why should they?" 

Mrs. Jones' soft eyes stared back at this seventeen-year-old with compassion and pity. "Do you want to tell me what happened between you and your dad?" 

Hunter rocks his chair back on two legs, his eyes landing everywhere but Mrs. Jones' face. "Nothing to talk about."

"You know, if you keep all this bottled up inside, it's just going to harm you later down the road. I want to help you, Hunter. Why won't you let me?" 

Because he'd been stubborn. Determined to push through on his own. And too hurt to talk about it. 

Hunter closes his eyes and remains lying quietly in bed. It had been years since he had thought about all of this. His dad. The fight. The consequences. The feeling that he was no good and unloved. Come to think of it... it still stung. But why was all of this cropping up now? Why was he thinking about so many things from the past all of a sudden? What had those nightmares done to him? What had that river done?

It wasn't until much later that Hunter eventually emerges from his bunkhouse again. He felt no better though. He was glad he'd figured out why what Katie had said had bothered him, but what bothered him even more was actually finding out the answer - that something from so far in his past was suddenly coming back to haunt him. He didn't like it. 

Making his way on his crutches, he stops in to see Angel so she can check his knee again, then he heads for the main building. It wasn't quite lunchtime though, but he knew Katie would be around at some point. He didn't feel much like waiting inside though, when it was so nice outside. 

Easing down on the porch swing, he sighs, and lets it sway gently back and forth.