#40: Madison deWitt & Jai Shankar, Skype recording: July 22, 2017
[Beginning of Recorded Material]
Madison: Hello? Jai? Are you there?
Jai: Hi, Miss deWitt.
Madison: Hey, Jai! How are you?
Jai: I’m good.
Madison: Good! Is your aunt there?
Jai: Umm. No. She’s at home.
Madison: You’re not at home? Where are you?
Jai: I’m at the library. I told Aunt Karen that I had to do some summer reading stuff.
Madison: Does she know that we’re talking, Jai?
Jai: Uh… no.
Madison: Jai. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be talking if your aunt doesn’t know. I don’t want to get either of us in trouble.
Jai: It’s okay. I’ll make sure she doesn’t find out. It’s not like this has anything to do with her anyway…
Madison: I don’t feel right about this, Jai.
Jai: She’s not going to let us talk, Miss deWitt. I overheard her and grandpa talking about you after the whole hospital thing. They don’t want me to get into anything with Datchet or you guys. They just want to forget about it. If you want to talk, we’ve got to do it this way.
…
Jai: Miss deWitt? Are you still there?
Madison: I’m here, Jai. Just give me a second.
…
Jai: My aunt’s picking me up in a half an hour, so…
Madison: Okay, okay. I was just calling you to ask if you’ve had any more of those dreams we talked about?
Jai: The Deer Man?
Madison: Yes, that one. I was wondering if you were still having the dreams.
…
Jai: I am. Every night.
Madison: Oh, Jai. I’m so sorry. I don’t know-
Jai: Don’t be sorry! He’s not so scary anymore!
…
Madison: What do you mean?
Jai: I’ve talked with him.
Madison: You’ve talked to the Deer Man?!
Jai: His name is The Hunter and he just wants our help!
…
Madison: I don’t understand.
Jai: The Hunter says that everyone has left him and he needs his people to come back. We’re his people!
Madison: Jai, this is not right. I don’t think the Deer Man is a good… guy. You were too young to remember, but anytime he was around bad things happened.
Jai: He told me all about that. He was only protecting himself! One or the adults was doing something that was hurting him.
Madison: Jai, I don’t…
Jai: He’s reaching out to us! He wants us to join him again!
Madison: What do you mean?
Jai: Once we’re all together again, he said everything will be right again. He’s already got his Arrow. I’ll be his Horn. Michael will be his Sword. Danielle will be his Snare. And you’ll be his Cloak!
Madison: Cloak? Sword? What are you…? Wait, how do you know about Michael and Danielle?
Jai: We have to join him, Miss deWitt! The Hunter needs us to come back. We have to go back.
Madison: Jai, this is a bad idea. You need to stop talking to him! Nothing good is going to come out of this! You shouldn’t listen to him! You can’t go back to Oak Circle!
Jai: You don’t understand, Miss deWitt. We HAVE to go back. We don’t have a choice. He’ll make us go back. He’ll make you go back.
…
Jai: Miss deWitt, are you still there?