Loving Merritt Forever

Loving Merritt After 34

As though her knees had been struck, Merritt crumpled to the floor in a heap. Suddenly and without warning. Sobbing loudly in the empty house. Her anguish filling the air for miles all around as Merritt let all she had lost, all she had suffered wash over her. There was no time piece in the entire cottage. No way to tell the time except by the scant changing of the shadows as the sun moved over the land on its course to mark the day.

Merritt had no idea how long she had lain on the floor of the cottage. Content to be alone with her endless trench of despair. When she heard, "Hush," Echo as if it was inside her mind and all around her. Merritt sat up with a start. Looking around the empty home. The sun was still in the sky, no windows or doors had opened. She was alone, and yet she knew she was not alone.

"You were not supposed to be." The same voice said, echoing in Merritt's mind and all around her. Judgment heavy and obvious in the voice that was everywhere and the source yet unseen.

Merritt's main emotion changed from the grips of despair to confusion and fear. "Your demon is supposed to feed on those feelings. Keep them from you. Undying were never meant to feel what you feel." The voice pressed its will onto Merritt. Telling her everything she already knew. She was wrong. Broken. She wasn't ever supposed to be, not in life or in death.

"No." Merritt weakly argued back.

Merritt's voice was small at first. Barely audible to even her own ears. The voice around her continued to press inwards. "You can feel it. Fates have pushed too far. You know you should not be." Merritt could feel the weight of the unseen voice. Could so easily give in to the partial truth they spoke.

"No." Merritt repeated. Louder this time. Her voice more clear. More confident.

"Walk into the sun and accept the fate set in this existence. You should not be." Merritt could feel the voice try to dominate her. Trying to force control over her body. Except Merritt was no longer so easy to get to submit.

"Why?." Merritt said with a clear voice. Sitting on her heels with her back straight. Unbending to the oppressive voice and power all around her. Unsure what would happen next. In life or death, Merritt had been unlikely to stand up to any authority figure. Merritt undead, was far less willing to do as she was told. 

There was a sound like a horse's muffled snorting. "I bear you no ill will. You will choose life." The unseen voice around the cottage boomed. The moment the words were heard, an experience like a sonic boom rang through the cottage. But once the brief upheaval was over Merritt felt like she was truly alone again.

After the strange encounter with the unseen powerful neighbor. Merritt was only left more confused than she was when Marisol had left her here. Merritt had spent her afternoon trying to make sense of what she knew she had felt. What she knew to currently be true. Merritt went to the most comfortable looking chair of those available. Curled up and tired to rest when she felt so unsettled, and even the very air around her was wrong.

Merritt felt as though she was snared in a trap she could not escape from. Truly she was trapped. Unable to leave this cottage while the suns remained in the sky, and unable to communicate with anyone. She had been put away in a safe place, and Merritt honestly wasn't certain if anyone would actually come to get her.

Levi and Asher were both gone now. Merritt had no one else who cared. Merritt was lamenting her situation, when Marisol teleported back into the cottage, thrusting a tablet into Merritt's hands. "Joy needs to see you." Marisol announced. Teleporting out of the room, but staying nearby. Merritt assumed Marisol was needed to get a connection to Joy, and that she wanted to give the illusion of privacy.

The tablet rang and Merritt answered. "Joy? It's Merritt. I'm ok." Merritt was rewarded with a colorful string of swearing. Joy's voice loud and clear, eventually Joy got the hang of the camera on her device and Merritt could see her too. Hospital gown, scrub pants and all.

"I can't get in touch with Levi." Joy said, sounding worried. Merritt felt like everything slowed. Letting her see every single emotion in Joy's face, through the screen as Merritt told Joy that Levi was gone. Warning Joy that if she saw Asher or Levi she needed to run because they were puppets of a demon now. Dangerous.

Joy did not take the news well. She started hyperventilating. Merritt watched with deep sadness as the tablet was wrenched away from a now screaming Joy as the nurses sedated and restrained her. Merritt ended the call and Marisol appeared as if on que.

Merritt nibbled on her lower lip. "Joy is safe? The hospital has protections against demons?" Merritt had no idea if the demon that had taken Levi and Asher would seek out Joy or not. Merritt just wanted to believe that Joy would be safe.

Marisol made a non committal sound. "As safe as anyone, we have done what could be done to ward the building." Which was as good as Merritt could hope for.

"What happens now?" Merritt could not stay isolated in this cottage forever. She would quickly go insane if the only company she had was her own thoughts. It was too quiet here. Merritt had always been a city girl. She needed be around other people.

Marisol sighed, flipping down on the chair beside Merritt, head rolling back until she was staring blankly at the ceiling. "I have no idea. We've sent teams to look for the demon's lair or grounds. The teams can't locate it, equipment malfunctions in the area when they were certain they were close and one team has been considered lost on duty after losing contact with base operations." Marisol turned to look at Merritt. "It's a collector, has been collecting lives for who knows how long, the only other thing we know is that it wants you, so you need to be kept safe." Merritt hates that answer. Feeling like she was being treated like a porcelain doll, locked up and hidden away.

Merritt looked at the floor. "I understand." She said quietly. Marisol nodded, able to feel Merritt's sadness. She like Lux found it deeply uncomfortable to be near a vampire who still felt emotions as strongly as Merritt.

Marisol rose elegantly from the chair. Doing everything to hide her current high level of stress. "I will come to check on you at least once every other night." Trust no one, and do not leave. Stay close to the cottage." In an instant Marisol was gone. Teleported back to what Merritt considered the real world. Leaving Merritt alone with only her thoughts and the books upstairs for company.

The night was full dark, Merritt went outside. Sitting on the lush grass near the door, looking up at the bright moons, the strange patterns of the stars overhead. Merritt sat with her thoughts until the first brightening of the sky forced her back inside the cottage. She lay down on the bed in the back room. Willing her body to rest. To give into oblivion for even just a little while so her heart could have a break from the endless sadness she had felt since Asher left her.