A Nightmare Remembered

Chapter Three: An Overshadowing

A light breeze blew through the window and the black, torn drapes hanging down swayed back and forth. Jack sat in his favorite chair near the open window, but didn't notice the fluttering breeze or the soft aroma of pumpkin spice that it carried. He sat in deep and troubled thought. As a matter fact, too many thoughts ran through the Pumpkin King's mind; however the most pressing was that of Halloween. Reason being why this thought was most prevalent, was because another thought was overshadowing it. Jack sighed and massaged the sides of his skull. Suddenly a knock came at the door. The knock made Jack jump slightly. Being that only Zero was in the room, he was still embarrassed. Red in the face, had it been possible, he cleared his throat and stood up.

"Come in." he said toward the door. To Jack's surprise, Doctor Finklestein rolled into the foyer. "Why doctor, this is unexpected. Erm, to what do I owe the pleasure?" An awkward feeling began to take hold of the room, for the doctor and Jack had not had a conversation lasting more than a minute since, it happened. The doctor looked directly at Jack, but his expression was tired and even a bit sad.

"You don't have to do that Jack…I know you're not entirely…erm, well I just wanted to bring you the latest on the statistics." He said, narrowing evading what was really on his mind. Jack took a breath and took what seemed to be the papers with the statistics on them, out of the doctor's hands. Gripping them, he didn't look to see what they had to say just yet.

"Usually the mayor brings me these." Jack said, set of bringing out of the doctor what he really had come to say. Finklestein sighed, but said nothing, however urging with his eyes that Jack read the papers. Warily, Jack began to read, but shortly after stopped. He lowered his head and fell back into his chair. "They're just getting worse and worse. And nothing I do seems to be working." The doctor was taken aback. However subtle this reaction was, it was unusual for Jack to have. Normally, whenever Jack would be given this kind of news, nothing was said, only harder work came from him. No one else seemed to know, or maybe even care, but the doctor knew Jack was suffering in silence, but at this moment, a bit of emotion had broken through. Jack looked back up at the doctor, having just now seemed to realize what he had done. The doctor sighed.

"I'm sorry Jack. This doesn't mean it's you though. It could just be how things are now. Children, adults, people, they just don't get scared like they used too." He offered. Jack nodded.

"Perhaps…." He said. Finklestein nodded. Jack hung his head once again. "But you know it's me." He muttered. A suddenly both men grew painfully silent. No one and nothing made a sound for much too long. Finally the doctor felt as though he must tell Jack something.

"Jack, I-I saw you, two weeks ago…you were-" he began. The doctor was rarely this timid, in fact he never was, but in the current state of things, most everyone was. Not in fear of Jack, but rather fear of hurting him. Jack looked at Finklestein confused. "erm…well you were walking back from the direction from the Hinterlands, only you weren't really walking…"

" I was running." Jack finished. The doctor nodded. Jack leaned back in his chair. "I guess I can't very well hide it anymore." he said. He stood up and walked over to the window, he looked out it aimlessly. He was silent for only a minute. "I miss her." he said sadly. The doctor opened his mouth to reply, but was unintentionally cut off, reason being Jack was not looking at him. "I'm not sure if I would rather she miss me too, or not." He turned around to face Finklestein. "Do you think she does?" The doctor gulped. He scratched his head.

"Of course I would think she misses you Jack."

"What do you mean, you would think?"

The doctor's heart sank; it was about time Jack knew. He took a deep breath and looked Jack straight in the eye.

"I didn't know at the time how deep your love for one another went Jack. When I made the potion to send her back, I thought that she was just a whim, a girl with no real consequence. I didn't know about your shared past. So to avoid interference of any kind from her in the future…." He stopped. Jack's expression was a horrified one. The doctor shut his eyes. "I put an extra ingredient in the potion to make her forget you and her entire time here." The doctor opened his eyes. Jack was looking at the ground. He walked back to his chair once again and just stared at the ground.

"She doesn't even know I exist." he stated, rather than asked. The doctor nodded. "All this time I worried about her feeling this same pain I do…..she doesn't even know…" The doctor shifted his wheelchair, moving over to where Jack sat.

"You must know how truly sorry I am Jack." He said in a small voice.

"She can move on. Have a life. This is a good thing." Jack said. Finklestein wasn't sure what he was trying to get at.

"So…" Finklestein began, but Jack didn't hear it. He was thinking. Thinking about everything. Everything he and Eve had been through and whether he could remember it all or not, he didn't care. For all these things to happen, it couldn't just be that they were no longer apart of each other, in life or death. He loved her and if she truly loved him like he thought she did, then this was all wrong. He stood suddenly, slightly startling the doctor.

"I have to get her back!" Jack exclaimed.

"What?!" Doctor Finklestein exclaimed. Jack's eye sockets grew wide.

"I must get her back, don't you see? I love her and in getting her back I would be doing what's best for us. Please just think about it, if we weren't truly meant to be with one another, then none of this would have happened! She would have never had come here in the first place!" he said ecstatically. This was most excited Doctor Finklestein had seen Jack in years. He knew he owed it to Jack to help him win back his true love, after what he had done, but there was something else as well and he wasn't sure if he should tell Jack. He thought quietly for a second. No perhaps not…if Jack was going to win his love back, it'd best for the pure reasons Jack had and not anything that would make the venture all the more stressful. The doctor nodded.

"I have a question Jack. If you journey to get Eve back, just how do you plan on accomplishing it?" he asked. Jack grinned slightly and began going through his newly devised plan.

"Well, of course I would have to venture into the human world, find Eve…and, uh….hmmm…" Jack stopped and his expression turned blank. He stared at the floor. "ermm, well I haven't really had time to plan this out, but I will do it!" he said, clearly improvising for an answer. The room grew silent once again. The doctor turned around and motored for the door.

"I will help you Jack. Meet me at the lab the day after tomorrow, early morning." He said as he sped off.

"What are you going to do?" Jack called out after him. The doctor opened the front door.

"I'm going to make you human again…"