In Alien Hands: Meeting Merle

Day 2, playtime -Holli

I took another sip from my cup. It made a loud sipping sound, making Merle look back at me. I had no idea what he had planned next, or if he was winging it. I still wasn't thrilled with this arrangement, but it was incredibly clear that there wasn't a way out. I couldn't survive in the wilds of my own planet, let alone one I had never stepped foot on. He didn't seem to be hitting me or overly degrading, so I was willing to deal with the current situation. It was far better than the last few weeks, anyways. I'd test my luck later.

Merle walked towards the back door, looking back at me. Curious, I followed him. He slid the door open and walked through the door ahead of me. I cautiously followed. The backyard was pretty nice. It had a decent sized porch with several chairs and a padded bench, a swing, and long grass. The sky was still odd. The yard featured a large (for me anyways) play ground, with slides and bridges, ladders, etc.

I stood on the porch, almost scared to step onto the strange grass. I was 18, not really interested in the playground, but I still would like to explore. My brain kept saying the grass was fine, but my instincts told me it could be deadly.

Merle took several steps into the grass and turned to face me, trying to prove it was safe. I still wasn't sure. I might sound silly, but you've never been asked to step onto literal blue grass before. Annoyed with myself, I turned to walk back inside. I'd have to build up the confidence another time.

I let out a shriek when I felt Merle lift me from under the arms. I had hardly the time needed to process such a violation before he put me back down, on the grass. Looking down at my feet, buried under a shag of grass, I immediately fell over from surprise and shock. Now, I was half way buried in the blue stuff, my eyes wide and my body frozen.

I was shaken out of it by Merle laughing loudly. Their laugh is a lot like a human's, albeit a tad different. It is louder, almost fake sounding. Annoyed at his lack of understanding, I quickly sat upright and glared at him again. Without a word, he walked away from me, further into the yard. I watched him, but didn't follow. He climbed up the ladder on the side of the playground and disappeared inside. He popped back out at the top and waved to me. I couldn't help but chuckle. He seemed so goofy. I slowly got back up to my feet and walked towards the playground.

Once I reached the set, I realized how big it was. It had to have been 20 feet tall. It was big enough for a dog-man to play on. It just have been designed for them. It wasn't as tall as the house, but it dwarfed me. I went around the side and found a set of stairs (I'm not much for ladders) and climbed up them.

The thing was a fortress. Have you been to a playplace at McDonald's? Think two of those side by side. Tunnels, bridges, places I'd have to crawl to reach, places with a trampoline as the floor. The inner child inside me was squealing. The outer adult, however, was annoyed that I'd be degraded to a playground and what was essentially a sippy cup.

Let's just say my inner child took over the moment Merle stuck his head down from the ceiling above me. The sight was silly enough to melt my adult self away and make me giggle. It was incredibly hard to stay serious around such a goofy face.

I decided to give chase. I climbed up a nearby tunnel, which led to the next level of the structure. I found a ball pit to the side, what appeared to be a maze of punching bags, and a pole going outdoors that I presumed could be slid down to the ground outside. I couldn't see the Dog-man anywhere.

That didn't last long. I heard the sound of plastic balls rattling around in the ball pit. I slowly approached, grabbed a ball, and threw it into the pit. The whole pit moved as if it were alive, clattering and bouncing as the large dog-man rose to his feet. His tail was wagging, which I realized just have been why the noise was made. I looked at his tail, wondering if they could stop it from wagging if they wanted to.

While I was lost in thought, he picked up one of the balls and threw it at me. while I shook myself out of the concentration, Merle entered the maze of bags. I quickly inspected the ball pit, which seemed to be deep enough that it would cover my midsection. The balls were light, brightly colored, and ping-pong sized. While I headed towards the maze, I realized how expensive this play set must have been.

The maze wasn't much of a maze. It seemed to wrap around most of that level, all the dead ends had windows. From them, I could see the neighbor's backyard (not nearly as fun as ours) and several other houses. I was definitely in a residential area. The dead ends were very short, so it didn't take much time at all to find my way through.

At the end of the maze was a rope bridge. It had a slight tilt to it, but it wasnt too difficult to climb. I was now on a second area of the fort, Merle wasn't in sight. I climbed down a sort of ladder to the room below the little offshoot I was on, it had no exits to the ground. The only way to access the area was the way I came. The floor in there was very soft, like some sort of memory foam. Every step left an imprint which slowly refilled itself after I moved.

I climbed back up, confused about where Merle had gone. Had he snuck past me? It didn't seem likely, the maze didn't have that many places to hide.

He popped his head out of the exit from the maze. He must've, somehow, hidden from me. I headed back to try and follow him. He seemed to be waiting to show me, he was just inside when I crossed the bridge. He went into the dead end right by the exit to the maze, which I hadn't really bothered to inspect. The "dead end" was a second exit. There were rectangular holes in the walls which allowed for climbing. He climbed up ahead of me and popped his head out from the floor above me. He really likes doing that for whatever reason.

I followed him up, my breath getting a bit short. In my defense, I had been in a cage for weeks before coming here. There had hardly been reason to stand, let alone run and climb ladders.

It seemed Merle had noticed my exhaustion, because he had slowed down significantly, though.He seemed as energetic as earlier. The third and top floor looked like a tree house. I had skipped the bottom floor entirely by climbing up the first set of stairs, I decided to explore that on a later date.

This floor was mostly wooden, with a warm, homey feeling. There was a couch and chairs, all human-sized, except for a single chair, which Merle sat in. There was a patio, which I went out to and immediately left, I wasn't one for heights. Merle handed me my drink, which I happily sipped while I plopped down on the couch. It was very soft, and my eyes soon found themselves closing. I was more tired than I thought.

I got a happy go-lucky chapter today. I've decided I'll put out writing when I can, but I promise it'll be at least one part a week. Next up is Merle's POV, then a slightly less happy-go-lucky part. Nothing as serious as crashed, however. I'm going to start adding a date for each part (the date it comes out) so people who start reading later on can have a good idea of how often I post. It is 10/22/18.