Lights Out (Book 2): Under Attack

by Cal, Sarah

  "Merry," she murmured, keeping her voice low and soothing. "Your visions aren't real. When are you going to finally understand that? There is no way they can be, even allowing for everything you've said that hasn’t been wrong. It's all because of the bad situation we're currently in, not because you actually saw anything—you're just letting your imagination go to town."

  She tried to explain, like she had tried so many times before, but she could see her sister wasn’t ready to listen. Merry dropped her hands down to her lap, though, her expression turning earnest as she leaned forward even further, and Emma worried she might fall off the bed altogether.

  "I'm not lying," she said insistently. "It was so bad when you left Emma. I wanted to contact you somehow, but you had already left and there was no way to reach you. And that woman you had stay with us, and her little brats, you shouldn’t have let them stay, Emma, you can't trust them. You can't trust anyone."

  Emma watched her, surprised, as she took in harsh breaths after the fast talking she'd just done. When was the last time Merry had talked so much at any one time? She swayed a bit where she sat, and Emma almost jumped forward to catch her. But then her head snapped back up, and it startled Emma so that she jumped back.

  "I had a vision, Emma! I've had them since you left. I knew Chase was bringing you back home today, and I had a vision that predicts what will happen next. I need to tell you." she was growing excited as she talked, leaning forward again almost eagerly, and her eyes wide, expression open and earnest. "You're in grave danger, Emma. Just sit down and I'll tell you everything so you can prepare. You’ll want to if you want to walk away from this one. Someone is going to plot to have you killed!"

  Emma frowned at the words coming out of her sister's mouth. There was no way it was real. She had to make up her mind, believe her sister or not? Because she couldn’t keep thinking Merry was making sense only to turn around and say she really was crazy. There were some things she could believe, things even she could agree with, but this wasn’t one of them. It sounded too much like some cooked up conspiracy theory.

  Who would even want to kill her? She generally stayed out of people's way. There were those she annoyed of course, she could think of several from the past few weeks, but not bad enough that they would plan her murder, surely. Emma just wasn’t that important.

  "No one wants me dead, Merry," she said exasperatedly, feeling a low headache start in the back of her mind as she tried, yet again, to decipher what went on in her sister's mind.

  Merry's personality had changed again in a moment. She wasn’t moving at all, having straightened out her back and gone completely still. She was staring at Emma from under her wild mop of hair, and she remembered the Merry she had left behind a few days back. Then she smiled, it was small, but it was chilling, and Emma shivered. Now this was a Merry she was familiar with. She held her chin up, reminding herself again that there was no reason to fear her sister just because she had an annoying sadistic side to her twisted personality.

  "Well, you don’t have to believe me. You never do, anyway, right?" the smile grew bigger, and Emma lost the battle with herself and stepped back, jumping when she bumped into the door. Merry, of course, noticed and smiled even wider. "Do whatever you want, Emma. Don’t listen to me. You'll see soon enough. You always do."

  Emma opened her mouth to say something, but found she had nothing to say. She wasn’t sure what she could say. She kept reiterating that Merry was acting crazy, not using those exact words but the meaning wasn’t lost in the words that she did use. Instead, she looked back at her sister and tried to remember how she had dealt with her big sister before. Being away from it so long seemed to have unbalanced her, or Merry had just gotten a lot worse than before. Emma hadn't thought that was possible, because her sister was bad enough to begin with.

  Then she opened her mouth before Emma could.

  "Did you enjoy your time in a cell, Emma?" Merry asked snidely.

  Emma felt her face twist in irritation. No way could she stay here and let her sister mess with her. She'd been through enough crap the past week to warrant at least a bath before having to deal with Merry. Or better yet, going back to ignoring her sister until she started acting lucid. She searched for the door handle without turning around, and left the room, listening to Merry cackle as she rushed back down the stairs.

  Chapter 15

  As Emma was leaving the house to head out for community service, Karen appeared with her kids, ready for a day of work.

  Emma froze for a moment, surprised to see the other woman back. When she had gotten back and not seen her around, and then seen the situation that had been at home, she had just assumed the nurse had stopped coming by. Emma couldn’t even blame her, with how she'd seen her sister act the previous day.

  She was relieved Karen was still willing to come over and look after her family. Emma had been worried of leaving Chase behind alone to look after them. He hadn't explained to her exactly what he met when he got back, but that in itself told her something must have happened that had him so flustered. She hadn't pushed much on it, just gotten her much deserved bath and gone to sleep in the early evening. She'd had another quick talk with Merry the day before, right before she went to sleep, and hopefully her sister would behave for the day while she was out.

  "Karen! Thanks for still coming. I heard from my grandmother you had some problems with my sister. I'm sorry about her," she said sincerely.

  Back to apologizing for Merry. One thing I didn’t miss.

  Karen just smiled and waved it away. "It's all right. I assumed, when you asked me, the situation was bad. I can see why you need the help, especially when you can't stay at home. Your grandmother has been lovely, just a little forgetful. I've been coming back every day since you left, but I haven't stayed a full day until your friend came back. He sent me back yesterday saying you'd be home."

  Emma wondered if Karen knew what had happened. She wasn’t sure how Merry even knew Emma had been locked up, unless Chase had mentioned it. She couldn’t know since he hadn't told her even when she'd asked, but Emma wanted to smack herself when she found herself wondering if Merry had predicted her getting locked up as well.

  "I really am sorry about her. I don’t know what happened when I left, but I did have a talk with her when I got back yesterday. Well, hopefully she'll behave today. I have to go out now but Chase should help you guys with whatever you need, okay? Ask him for the payment."

  She went to go around them so she could head for town. She was hoping the sooner she could start her job, the sooner she could be done and gets back home early for the day. She wasn’t sure how long she was supposed to be doing 'community work' for. She had been volunteering anyway, so it was just like a continuation of what she'd already been doing. How had they viewed it as a punishment?

  Her progress was slowed when Karen grabbed her arm. Emma stopped, surprised, and turned around.

  The look on Karen's face was guarded, and it had Emma straightening her back as she wondered what was wrong now. Did Karen want more food in payment? If that was all, Emma wouldn’t mind with what she had to put up with. She had a feeling that wasn’t it, though. Whatever it was, it was definitely something she wouldn’t like.

  Karen shooed her children so they moved closer to the door and away from them to give them privacy. Karen pulled Emma a bit away and faced her with a look of determination.

  "Look, I came today especially because your friend told me you'd be coming back today. I've been meaning to talk to you for some time now, though I know it hasn’t been that long. Thank you for what you've done for my family, but I don’t think I can keep this up."

  Emma's eyes widened, alarm going through her body. "Did my sister do something bad? I'm sorry, but I really—"

  "It's not that. It's just that Merry needs more help than I can offer. I'm not qualified to deal with her... condition, and I can't keep sticking around, giving her all my attention, when I have my own children to look after. I als
o don’t want them exposed to her."

  How could she argue that? She had seen herself how Merry was yesterday. Even if she never left her room, and Emma was starting to think she must not have done so in a while, there was no way two curious children wouldn’t come across her and get scarred by the experience. Especially if Merry acted like she had yesterday.

  Karen had to protect her children, the same way Emma had to protect her own family. It was inconvenient, but somehow they would have to deal with it.

  "My suggestion is sending Merry to someone more qualified to deal with her."

  Emma sighed, almost exasperated, and reminded her, "I have no idea where I would find someone like that. I came to you because I knew you and you were close by. With the current situation as it is... I don’t have any other avenues besides just leaving Merry and Janice alone, or with Chase, and hoping nothing bad happens while I'm away."

  If there had been choices, hell, Emma could have held interviews to determine who would be best for the job, and Chase would veto them for her. If she could find someone that didn’t have children to take care of, it would have been even better. But Karen was close, convenient, and Emma sort of knew her, even if it was only in passing. Also, Karen knew her grandmother, so she was someone Janice could be calm around. Where else was she going to find someone like that?

  Now, with Karen quitting, she was back to her original problem; looking for someone to look after her family for her, someone qualified. It would have to be someone school in psychiatry, not just any nurse.

  "I'll continue to work for you, but at the first sign of Merry declining, I'll have to leave."

  Emma watched Karen's back as she walked to the door and opened it to walk in with her children. She supposed she should be grateful that Karen wasn’t going off without any notice. Now that she had the warning, though, the only thing she could do was worry, because she had no idea where to start looking for someone new.

  Then she sighed and went on her way to town. Like she didn’t have more than enough to worry about. Considering the state she found her sister in yesterday, if she didn’t improve, Karen wouldn’t be around to help them out for much longer. It was unfortunate, but there was no way Emma could control her sister, even if she could stay at home. So she put it out of her thoughts, to think on them later.

  Well, they would survive somehow, like they had before without the extra help. It would take some readjustment, and Emma could only hope her sister would be a little more docile when the strangers left the house, but she knew it was too much to hope for. Somehow, she would have to find someone else to help out or Chase would be the one having to deal with Merry while Emma was out doing community service. He wouldn’t complain, but Emma knew he would rather not do it, because Merry unnerved him. Not that he would ever admit to that, either.

  She stepped into the police station and looked around.

  First, she had to deal with the gun. She was carrying it concealed under her jacket, feeling a little awkward about it. The process ended up being quicker than she thought, and she was grateful to have it over with. It was one of the officers from the trial, the one that had spoken during the proceedings. She left in a hurry once it was done and looked for someone else to help her with the other matter.

  She didn’t go for the officers she had talked to before to deal with the volunteering. Instead, she looked for one of the three from yesterday so they could tell her where to go first. She thought she recognized the woman police officer and approached her.

  "Excuse me? I was asked to come here today to get news on community service?" she asked politely.

  The officer's eyes lit up in recognition, so Emma had found the right person.

  "You've been reassigned to the hospital for today. From what I hear you've been there before, so I'm sure you know the way."

  Emma nodded her agreement and the officer went back to doing her job. She walked out of the place in a daze, somehow managing not to knock into anyone on the way. She stopped outside to catch a breath.

  Of all places, she had to end up at the hospital first. Ironically, also the first place she was sent the day she went to volunteer. Back then, she had been more than ready to go. But after her experience there, just knowing she would have to go back made her stomach turn.

  She had been so naïve, thinking that as long as she had the skills she would readily help out. She hadn't even thought about the conditions she would find there and had ended up horrified. Only her will had helped her push through her time there, and even that came to nothing at the end of her hospital shift. When that woman had been brought in, so devastated and obviously suffering, crying for her kids. Then asking for death when no one could give her any news.

  The last time she had been there to look for the woman she'd injured, she hadn't really taken a proper look around. She was pretty sure it had been roomier, so some people must have been let out in the time since she had volunteered there.

  Emma knew she hated the work there, but she couldn’t refuse it. It wasn’t the same as volunteering; this was meant to be a punishment so she didn’t have the option of picking what she wanted and discarding the tasks she didn’t like. So she took a last deep breath of fresh air, held it, and then exhaled. She made her legs move down the familiar route to get to the hospital. She was there a lot sooner than she would have liked, but she firmed her resolve and marched the remaining steps forward.

  There was someone to meet her outside when she arrived, like the first time, and she was pointed where to go lend her services.

  At least one good thing came of it, though. Emma was placed with Carol again. As soon as she walked into the section, she found the other woman there, and even with the misery surrounding her, it made her feel a little better to see a familiar face. She hadn't known how she would find Carol after the trial, because she hadn't known she would be sent to the hospital. Though she wasn’t sure exactly what she had expected.

  "Hey, Carol. I didn't get the chance before, but I wanted to thank you for your statement at the court."

  Carol, grinning over at her, just pulled off her gloves and patted her arm. "It's no problem, you don’t have to thank me. I know you're a good kid and you just wanted to help. Even if I really suspected you of nefarious purposes, it wouldn’t have made sense for you to show up here to make sure the woman was okay. I did suspect you had done something you regretted when you came, though."

  She smiled wryly. Carol was sharp enough to have caught it, though Emma had to admit it had been careless just showing up like that, especially as anxious as she'd been. She'd tried to put up a front but it had clearly been useless. Still, there had been no way she just wouldn’t go. At least knowing the woman would be fine had made her feel a lot better than the crashing guilt and hovering depression that hit her in the wake of what she did.

  She had to keep reminding herself she hadn't killed someone. She hadn't even managed to sleep the night of the incident because she was worried about nightmares. The closure had helped her out enough that she could still sleep soundly at night.

  "And besides," Carol added, getting another pair of gloves for herself. "Checking on her showed your character, though I was positive I had read you right already. I can tell you aren't a killer. There's nothing wrong with trying to protect yourself in a situation like that."

  Emma felt better with the nice words. Chase would have said them if she'd asked, but she knew he was biased. Even if she had made the shot and the woman died, accident or no, Chase might have gotten mad but she was sure now he wouldn’t have condemned her. If anything, he would have tried to absolve her of the crime, and she hadn't told him about it because that wasn’t what she'd needed right then. Getting the words from Carol made a big difference.

  She accepted a pair of gloves and pulled them on, and allowed Carol to put her to work.

  The first thing she noticed, was that the hospital was much more empty than it was before the plane crash. It was certainly a big difference to what it
had been like since she had been there last not that long ago, even though her visit then had been brief and she hadn't exactly looked around. There had still been some noise then, but it had gone considerably down. She frowned, the seemingly sudden drop in numbers worrying her.

  "Hey, Carol? Did you guys manage to heal most people?" she asked, tentative, almost hopeful.

  Carol glanced around, almost like she was just seeing herself how much the numbers had dwindled. "Well, we did manage to heal a few, but in the end, at least a hundred people died."

  Emma winced at how blandly the other woman dropped the number. This late after the crash, there wouldn’t be too many more people coming in with critical injuries. If there were others that hadn't been rescued from the crash, then they would have died already. She hadn't passed by the crash site, and had deliberately made sure to avoid crossing that route as she moved around town. But she assumed even the few volunteers she'd seen out there last time would have gone by then. There wouldn’t be much in the wreckage left to salvage.

  "I'm sorry you had to deal with that," she said honestly.

  But Carol just shrugged. "I'm used to death and despair by now."

  She bit her lip. "I admit I'm finding it hard to adjust."

  Carol just shot her a curious look at the comment, but didn’t try to get her to continue. After a moment of silence she told Carol about her recent expedition and how downhill the town had become. She and Chase hadn't had the time to talk about that, either, and it felt good to have someone other than the police know what she'd seen out there. Someone she could talk to honestly.

  "I swear they didn’t look sane, certainly not the ones that I saw. It was such a big surprise, but I was more afraid than anything so I didn’t really think much of it. It's just... We've held on this long. Their town is around our size, if not smaller, so I don’t know why they haven't held on as long as we have."