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“Sweetie,” Jeff said slowly. “You can’t help this, don’t get Celeste’s hopes up.”

  “No. No, I’m sorry, not that. I mean...I can help with something else. Remember at the Mayor’s manor you told me that one compulsion overrides the other?”

  I knew where she was going with it and so did Jeff, he shook his head.

  “Normally, yes, but not this. The patch is...it’s like it’s hard wired into their brain. We’ve tried before. There’s no way to reverse it or stop the compulsion. You might be able to stave off the pull for a few seconds if you concentrated all your focus on it, but-”

  “Yes! That’s what I’m talking about. I want to do that; let Celeste and Margo have even a few seconds where Margo is coherent. To say goodbye.”

  It’s worth a try.

  Jeff apparently didn’t agree with me. He looked at me sharply.

  I still think it’s getting Celeste's hopes up. And it’ll drain Marissa of a lot of energy to pull that off.

  She wants to. She wants to help.

  Would you let Sherry?

  Could I stop her?

  His mouth pursed and he quirked an eyebrow.

  Touché.

  He looked at Marissa for a long minute.

  “You know what this will do to you, don’t you?” he asked her softly.

  “Yes. It’s worth it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Celeste asked fretfully. “What can you do?”

  Marissa looked to Jeff and he nodded, then she explained it all to Celeste; about how compulsion works, about one compulsion canceling out the other. About what she thought she might could do so she could have a minute with her mom before we had to let her go.

  Celeste nodded, understanding and stepped towards her mom a little bit.

  “Ok, why don’t we give them some space?” I said and we all started to move out.

  “Merrick, Kay, stay,” Danny said, not looking our way.

  “I’m staying, too,” Jeff said and took up a stance near Marissa that dares someone to tell him otherwise. Marissa knelt beside Margo on the floor.

  So, Miguel, Danny, Celeste, Kay, Jeff, Marissa and I watched and waited to see if Marissa could pull off what she proposed.

  She touched Margo’s hand carefully so as not to scare her. Margo looked at her like she didn’t know her at all. Then she looked at Celeste with the same expression.

  “Mom?”

  “Who are you? I need to... I’m supposed to tell someone. I’m supposed to... I’m important. To save her. To catch her. To take her,” Margo mumbled and Celeste whimpered.

  “Do it,” Celeste ordered in a whisper.

  Marissa closed her eyes and her whole body convulsed as she tried to undo the compulsion on Margo. You could almost see the energy surrounding them, the power of it. Marissa began to breathe heavy. Jeff moved forward to stop her.

  Wait. Just a few more seconds. I think she’s onto something. Can’t you feel that?

  I could literally feel a little current on my skin and a hum of static in the air. Jeff looked pained, but listened to me and held off. He moved to sit behind Marissa and steadied her as she began to sway. Then, what we’d all been waiting for happened.

  Margo sat up straight and looked right at her daughter.

  “Celeste,” she breathed.

  “Momma?”

  “Oh, Celeste. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault, Momma,” Celeste said crying and sniffling. “None of this is.”

  “But I hate it just the same.” She grabbed Celeste’s hands. “It’s coming back. I can already feel it. Listen-”

  “No, Momma, just hold on, ok?”

  “I can’t, honey. It’s coming. I need to tell you some things. I’m sorry for what I did to Sherry…so very sorry.” She let the tears fall from her eyes and didn’t wipe them. “But, the Lighters didn’t see. They put too many patches on too many of us, all spread out. They didn’t know which location we were at, they didn’t know what they were seeing. You’ll be safe here.”

  “Mom, no,” Celeste croaked.

  “Did you find Sherry?” she asked me.

  “Yes. She’s here. She’s ok.”

  “Oh, thank God. Ok.” She nodded and swallowed, then pressed on. “Also,” she looked at Celeste and held her gaze, “I don’t want this. Let them let me die.”

  “No!”

  “Yes. Baby, you don’t know what it’s like with this thing in my mind. I’m being pulled in two, trapped inside myself. Please. I know I screwed up. I’m so sorry. I thought I was protecting you.”

  “Momma, just wait. We can figure something-”

  “No, Celeste. I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to be angry and resentful. You know where I’m headed and I’m ready.” She turned and took Danny’s hand. “I’m so glad she met you. I couldn’t have asked for a better son-in-law. Be good to each other.” He nodded and she reached up and hugged Celeste tightly. “I love you so much. I am sorry. I want you to know you were the most precious thing in my life. You were so...” She trailed off and the glassiness and blankness returned to her eyes instantly, she looked up at Celeste. “Must be afternoon. I feel a nap coming on, but I’m so busy. So very busy. The store. Must save her. Must take her.”

  Celeste turned her back on Margo as the gibberish returned and she let Danny fold her in his arms.

  Marissa collapsed into Jeff’s arms just as she let go of Margo’s arm. I knelt down beside them.

  “It was a lot, but you did it didn’t you,” Jeff told her with clear fascination and awe and then looked up to me. “Did you see that? That was incredible.”

  “I saw and I agree. Marissa, that was genius. I’ve never seen anything break that kind of compulsion before.”

  “Thanks,” Marissa whispered, she grimaced. “Jeff, I think I’m gonna be sick,” she groaned.

  He scooped her up and carried her out of the room with her head lolling to the side. It looked like she passed out. She would be ok, but using that kind of power always took all the energy out of you. Like when Marissa put the Muse’s wrath on Sherry, Sherry wasn’t normal again for a few days.

  “Celeste? Do you want to be here for this?” I asked her, telling Danny in his mind that I really didn’t think she should be, maybe he should persuade her to go, but it wasn’t needed.

  “No.” She knelt down beside her mother who continued to mumble and whisper. “Bye, Momma. I love you, too.”

  Impatient Patient

  Chapter 5 - Sherry

  It was daytime and hot, which was surprising. The sun was bright and casting long dark shadows on the ground and landscape before me. The buildings looked too shiny, too new and unused. The trees were too green and the sky was bluer than ever. Not a cloud in the sky and no birds. There were no noises, no horns, no traffic.

  It was eerie and unsettling. I don’t like the quiet. The power lines above me were swinging in the wind, lulling me into a false sense of normalcy. But things were far from normal.

  Where were my parents, for one? I hadn’t seen them in weeks. Usually, I moseyed on over every couple weeks and suffered through a tofu dinner with them, but they hadn’t answered the door in a while, or the phone.

  And Danny, he was still a loafer, but I hadn’t seen him either. And Matt, no. I’m not dating him anymore. He’s mean.

  I pull from the ridge. I wondered about it because I never go there in the daytime. I don’t understand why I went there this time. I decide to see if Danny is working. Maybe I can get him to help me find our parents.

  I get in the drive-through and wait, and wait. The guy in front of me is just sitting there. After an insane amount of time, I tap my horn, which I hate to do. He still sits there.

  I get out to see if he’s ok, but the car is empty. What? What is going on here? I get back in my Rabbit and reverse it to the parking lot, where I pull in to a spot near the exit. I go up to the window for walk-ups but there’s no one inside. I ring the little bell but no one comes so I pull out my cell ph
one to text Danny. No signal. What?

  I get back in my car. My lunch break is over by now. I drive down North Lake Shore Drive, hanging a left at Wacker Drive, headed for the office. Ugh. I hate this part of town. The Trump Tower looms over me ominously as the Rabbit sputters and spits in lunch hour traffic.

  I’d kill for air conditioning. Kill for it. I grab my emergency hair band out of the glove box and shake my hair back, attempting to tame the beast of curls. At a standstill in traffic I decide to check my phone again. Still no signal, but I’ve got a message. I click on the little envelope and read the words so clearly meant for me.

  ‘Meet me at the ridge’

  What? I was just there. Who sent that to me? No one knows I go up there but Danny. I close my phone and look up. All the traffic is gone. My car sits alone in the middle of the street. Absolutely every person is gone. No cars on any streets or parking spaces. No people walking the sidewalks, nothing. What is going on?

  I decide the only logical thing to do is go to the ridge and find out. I make my way quickly with the clear streets. I park and get out, leaning on my hood overlooking the city.

  I hear someone’s steps crunching in the gravel behind me. I turn to see Merrick, my one and only. Surely he’ll know what’s going on.

  “Hey, baby,” I say sweetly, happy to see him.

  “Honey,” he crooned softly. “Have a good day at work?”

  “No, not really. Something very strange is going on today.”

  “Yes. Very strange.”

  “But I’m glad you’re here.” I wrap my arms around him and smell his shirt. He smells clean and mountainy. “I missed you,” I crooned and he laughed.

  “You just saw me three hours ago.”

  “I know. It’s been too long. You didn’t miss me?”

  “You know I did.”

  I tried to pull him down to kiss me but he wouldn’t budge.

  “Are you ok?” I asked.

  “Yes, but we can’t do that here.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because this isn’t real.”

  I thought about what he was saying.

  “Wait. How did you text me? You don’t have a cell?”

  “I didn’t. She did.” He pointed behind me, but before I could turn he grabbed my arms and looked into me. “I’m sorry things aren’t as they should be.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Listen to them. They miss you.”

  “Who?” I turned and saw a group of people standing behind the Rabbit. My parents. Mrs. Trudy. Aaron. Phillip. Mitchell. Margo. Matt.

  Matt? Whoa, weird. I look between the two of them. Both have the same dark mess of hair, the same build. The same face but so very different. One, so obviously adoring and honest, the other so inherently self-absorbed and controlling.

  How had I ever mixed up the two even once? The one with brown eyes watches me too. I look at him and see a large spot of blood on his undershirt, under his button up over his heart. So that’s how he died, an injury to the heart…almost fitting. He takes a step towards me but stops.

  “Sherry, you didn’t let me in.” I try to think what he means. Oh, the night he was drunk and he was banging on my door, the day before he died. Does he blame me for his death? “Things would be different if you had. I don’t know where I am.”

  “Oh shush. She didn’t come all this way to hear you cry like a baby,” Mrs. Trudy said and pushed him aside to come hug me tightly. “Hey, sugar, you pretty thing. You still keeping Merrick in line?

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Good. How’s that Lily?”

  I grinned.

  “She called me mommy.”

  “Awww. What a sweet girl. She has just what you need you know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just what I said. Lily is the key. She’s everything you need, Sherry.”

  “Yes, she’s very precious.”

  “More than you know. Give my love to the family.”

  “Ok, I will.”

  For some reason, none of this seemed strange to me. I remembered everything from my previous life. I remembered everything from the present, too. They both melded together and for some reason, in my mind, this seemed normal, seemed to fit.

  Mom and Dad came forward, not touching each other, and looking very much rebuffed and noncommittal, like they were made to be here.

  “Dad, Mom, what are you doing here?”

  “Seeing you it would seem,” Mom said. “How’s your brother?”

  Typical.

  “He’s fine. He met a girl.”

  “I expected nothing less. He’s a handsome boy.”

  “I got married. And I adopted a little girl.”

  “Did you get her from China?”

  “Uh, no. We found her here.”

  “Well, there are way more females waiting to be adopted in China than here. You should have gone there and set a good example.”

  “I said I’m married, Mom, did you hear me?”

  “I heard you. How old is he?”

  “Twenty four.”

  “Hmm. A little old for you. What does he do?”

  “That’s all you have to say? Dad?”

  “Your mother’s right. It’s a huge age difference. Hey,” he said and smiled, “you’re still wearing my necklace.”

  “Of course I am, Daddy. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Waste of metal if you ask me,” Mom mumbled.

  “Where did you go?” I asked.

  “It doesn’t matter now. You’re safe, for now. That’s all that matters,” Dad said and put a hand on my shoulder. “Tell Danny we love him.”

  “Sure,” I said exasperatingly, having no idea what the meaning of all this is.

  They walked away and Merrick put his arm around my waist from behind just as Phillip stepped forward smirking.

  “I got nothing to say, sweetness. No cute anecdotes. Sorry.”

  “It’s time to go,” Merrick said and waved his hand in front of us.

  Everything started to shake and bleed away, just like all the dreams I’d had before. All the colors bled in to the ones below it and faded away until only we were left. So, this is a dream. Makes sense now.

  “But I haven’t learned anything. Why am I here?” I asked him.

  “To remember," he said steadily. "To remember all the things that have happened and all the people you knew. To remember past mistakes, yours and theirs. We must learn from history or it is doomed to repeat itself.”

  “Oh, don’t you talk riddles to me, too,” I pouted.

  He laughed.

  “My Sherry, so eager to learn. You’ll know all you need to know when you need to know it.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense at all, Merrick. You know that right?”

  “One day, it will. In the mean time...” He pressed his lips to my ear, giving me shivers of pleasure. “Wake up.”

  I woke with a start. I was lying on my back, alone in our room. My body felt heavy but I wasn’t quite as achy as before. I remembered every detail of the dream like it was a memory. It was a strange dream for sure.

  I stretched my body slowly, testing myself. Feeling my muscles groan and complain and my joints pop. Yesterday had been good. Today, my third day home since my rescue, looked to be even better.

  Yesterday I was bed ridden and slept most of the day away. I only got out of bed once- correction - I was only allowed out of bed once to go to the bathroom and I was carried there and back.

  Danny had poked his head in once, but didn’t stay. I was a little surprised by that but chalked it up to him believing I was fine.

  Merrick fed me, sponge bathed me, rested with me and talked for hours. He even cooked lunch for everyone since it was supposed to be my day to.

  He brought Lily to me that afternoon after her nap. Oh, that was a sweet, sweet reunion. I’ve never felt so loved and needed. She chattered on endlessly about everything she could think of. About how uncle Danny had read her a bedtime story about an
old woman who lived in a shoe and had lots of cats with a mole on the end of her nose and hated pie. She also had a pet wolf name Marco.

  Merrick and I laughed so hard we cried at her explaining it to us. I made a mental note to teach Danny a real bedtime story.

  She told us that Aunt Rissa and Uncle Jeff - the kid had a lot of aunts and uncles - had done a puzzle with her. And Uncle Cain and Aunt L had played hide and go seek with her in the dark second room with flashlights.

  I wondered where in the world she got the idea to call Lillian L from.

  Lots of people came to visit me, like I was in the hospital or something, faces so sullen and uncomfortable. I laughed at them and told everyone to stop acting like I had an incurable disease.

  But today, I was getting out of this bed. People walked around with concussions and besides, I felt like I was about to get muscle atrophy.

  I got up and eased on some clean clothes, jeans and a loose low hanging green top. Merrick had scrubbed me with a sponge bath yesterday morning and night. He was so thorough I doubt I’d ever been so clean. To be honest, I think he enjoyed it more than I did. He kept smiling and trying to hide it. He watched me with a look of fascination, to see if I’d like what he was doing or not. I did like it, but he wasn’t about to do anything about me liking it so it was a moot point.

  I brushed my hair out with my fingers and twisted it to the side to hang over my shoulder. I creaked open my door. I had no idea what my face looked like. Merrick had assured me the bruises weren’t that bad, but he was prone to stretch the truth for my benefit which made it hard to tell if he was lying or not.

  So I just lifted my chin. Why did I care? I wasn’t vain, I just didn’t want people to see me really good in the light and put on the sympathy face. I was tired of the sympathy face.

  Marissa saw me coming and pulled away from Jeff to meet me at the mouth of the hall. She grabbed my hands and pulled them out to my sides to look at me.

  “Oh my goodness! You look so great.”

  “I can tell when you’re lying, Marissa,” I teased.