Meridith’s Sunday afternoon exorcism
Date: 2025-07-20 16:48
(Meridith’s Sunday afternoon exorcism)
[Sun Jul 20 2025]
A Sprawling Urban Park with Winding Paths/span>/spanSprawling lawns of well-maintained grass stretch across the grounds,
interrupted by winding asphalt paths that curve between mature oaks, maples,
and elms whose branches form natural canopies overhead. The paths are lined
with wrought iron benches and vintage-style lampposts that cast pools of
amber light after dusk. Small hills and gentle valleys create natural
divisions within the space, with occasional rock outcroppings providing
informal seating areas. Stone bridges arch over narrow streams that meander
through the lower areas, their water trickling softly over smooth pebbles.
The eastern sections catch salt-tinged breezes from the nearby Atlantic,
rustling through the leaves and carrying the faint scent of the sea.
Scattered throughout are small copses of trees that create shaded groves,
their undergrowth cleared but for patches of ferns and hostas. The grass
shows signs of regular use – worn patches where informal paths have formed
and areas compressed by picnic blankets and recreational activities./span>/spanIt is afternoon, about 81F(27C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey clouds. The mist is heaviest At Maple and Lake/span>/spanThe afternoon air hangs thick with an unseasonable mist that clings to the eastern section of Arcadia Park, despite the warm July temperature. Meridith, Chara, and Amber follow the winding asphalt path toward the area where Dr. Elena Vasquez was last seen, their footsteps muffled by the strange fog that seems to pulse and swirl with its own rhythm.
As they round a bend near an old stone bridge, the vintage lampposts flicker erratically despite the daylight. Chara notices her phone’s clock jumping between 4:47 PM and 4:52 PM, the digits shifting back and forth every few seconds. The sound of trickling water from the nearby stream seems to echo strangely, as if coming from multiple directions at once.
Through the mist ahead, a figure in mud-stained khakis and a field jacket kneels beside what appears to be an exposed stone marker, partially buried in the earth near a cluster of ancient oaks. The woman’s dark ponytail is visible as she hunches over the stone, her hands moving in repetitive motions as if she’s been working at the same task for hours. Even from this distance, something feels wrong about her posture, too rigid and mechanical.
Amber catches sight of Elena’s wire-rimmed glasses glinting in the strange, shifting light, but the scientist doesn’t seem to notice their approach despite their footsteps on the gravel path. The mist grows thicker as they draw closer, and the temperature drops noticeably in the immediate area around the stone marker.
Meridith steps light and nods to Chara and Amber. “Elena Vasquez, missing, hum…” She pauses at the bridge and grumbles. “Another temporal anamoly…” she mutters knowingly. She seems displease by this revelation. She waves a hand. “Heyo, Elna, can you hear us?”
Chara looks over at the figure near the stone marker and watches her as stays behind Meridith “Feels… really off.”
Amber fishes her phone from her hoodie’s pocket, looking down at it. Bored. She frowns as she notices the clocks flickering. “Not again,” she grouses, “Really hoping it’s not a time thing again. I hate time things.” She reaches up to polish the pin on her hoodie, then pocket the phone again.
45 PM, then 4:51 PM, then briefly displaying what appears to be 25:73 PM before settling on 4:48 PM. The temperature around the stone marker drops another few degrees, and frost begins forming on the nearby grass despite the July heat.
Meridith steps light and whistles to Elena. “Hey! Girl!” She scoffs. “This is a temporal effect caused by a demonic presence likely inside of Elena…”
Chara sighs abit “So is this gonna be like a groundhogs day sorat thing?” she asks over to the pair
“I really hope not. Last time I had one of those, it went to shit,” Amber grumbles a bit. She leaves her phone in her pocket so as to not be distracted by the time. She glances to the marker before shrugging and jogging her way over to Elena, whose glasses she’d seen glinting in the light a moment ago.
As Amber approaches the stone marker, Elena’s head snaps up with an unnaturally sharp movement. Her wire-rimmed glasses reflect the flickering lamplight, but her brown eyes seem to hold depths that weren’t there before. When she speaks, her voice carries an odd echo, as if multiple versions of the same words are being spoken milliseconds apart.
“You’re early,” Elena says, though none of them had arranged to meet her. “Or perhaps you’re late. Time becomes so… negotiable… when you understand its true nature.” Her hands continue their repetitive motions over the stone marker, fingers tracing symbols that seem to shift and change even as she draws them.
The mist swirls more violently around the group, and Chara notices that their shadows are moving independently of their bodies, sometimes lagging behind their movements, sometimes anticipating them. The stone marker itself appears to be carved with intricate patterns that hurt to look at directly, as if the eye can’t quite focus on their true shape.
Elena tilts her head at an impossible angle, studying Amber as she approaches. “Dr. Vasquez has been so helpful in preparing this place. Eight years of careful observation, detailed records of every seasonal change. She knows this park’s rhythms better than anyone.” The voice that emerges is layered, Elena’s familiar tone underlaid with something ancient and patient.
The trickling of the nearby stream begins to sound like whispered conversations in a language none of them recognize.
Chara looks over at the stream, letting herself stray away from the group to investigate it more closely
Meridith sighs and gazes at Elena. “You have allowed something into you, foolish girl. And now it has to depart. One way or the other.” She pulls her sword free. “Speak creature, what is it you desire.”
Amber eyes the sword a bit warily, but she lets Meridith handle this for the moment. She turns from the scientist to the stone monument as if she has experience with things that hurt to focus on.
As Chara approaches the stream, the whispered conversations grow clearer, though still in that unknown language. The water itself flows in impossible directions, sometimes upstream, sometimes pooling in mid-air before cascading down again. She can see reflections in the water that don’t match the current scene – glimpses of the park in different seasons, different times of day, and what might be different decades entirely.
Elena’s possessed form regards Meridith’s sword with something between amusement and curiosity. “Desire?” The layered voice ripples with temporal echoes. “I am Vex’thara, and I desire what I have always desired – the moments between moments, the lost seconds that slip through mortal fingers like sand. This place…” She gestures to the park around them, “will become a feast of forgotten time.“
Amber’s examination of the stone marker reveals intricate carvings that seem to shift between different states – sometimes appearing freshly cut, sometimes weathered by centuries. The symbols pulse with a faint energy, and she can make out what appears to be containment runes around the edges, though several are cracked or partially eroded.
The mist thickens further, and all three women notice their movements feeling slightly sluggish, as if they’re moving through water. Elena’s form flickers occasionally, showing glimpses of her struggling underneath the possession – her eyes briefly clearing before being overtaken again by that ancient, patient intelligence.
Meridith exhales. “This is not our first meeting, Vex’thara. And each has ended poorly for you,” she insists. She steps forward and points. “This land will be restored, and I will cast you away once more until next time.”
Chara tries to reach into the stream to try and disrupt the reflections with a hand starting to notice how sluggish she is feeling “Woah… feel like I just smoked.”
Amber kneels down by the marker, letting the others handle the demon itself. She pulls a knife from her pocket, unfolding it and leaning in to use her own knowledge to try to repair the containment symbols.
“Help… me…“
As Chara’s hand touches the stream, the water feels ice-cold despite the warm air. The reflections shatter like glass, sending ripples of temporal energy up her arm. For a moment, she sees herself from multiple angles and time periods simultaneously – past, present, and potential futures all overlapping. The sluggish feeling intensifies, but she also senses the stream’s connection to the stone marker.
Amber’s knife work on the containment runes proves effective. As she carefully retraces the eroded symbols, sparks of silver light follow her blade’s path. The stone marker begins to hum with renewed energy, and the mist around them starts to thin slightly. However, her repairs also seem to be causing Vex’thara pain – Elena’s possessed form doubles over, letting out a sound that exists in multiple time signatures at once.
The demon’s voice becomes desperate: “You cannot contain what feeds on time itself! I will scatter your moments across decades!” The temperature drops further, and frost spreads outward from Elena’s position in spiraling patterns.
Meridith shakes her head. “You are little more than a pesky gnat feeding off stolen power. A tick embedded into this city who keeps coming back no matter how many times they are rebuked.” She tilts her blade forward, keeping Vex’thara where they are while the duo works to undo this time conundrum. “I will be there each and every time to rebuke you,” she insists.
Chara scrunches up her face, trying to distrupt the stream more “Guh… feel weird.” she says out loud looking to the possessed woman “Can you like. Find literally any other city to do this shit in? Whats so special about New Haven?”
Amber braces herself for the frost, but she makes no effort to move away. She’s in a hoodie. In July, yes, but it keeps her insulated. She continues her repairs as the others face off, muttering a “fuck me” to herself.
“The marker… construction exposed it… I was just… documenting the seasonal anomalies…” Her genuine distress is clear before Vex’thara reasserts control.
Chara’s continued disruption of the stream causes the temporal reflections to fragment further. The whispered voices grow louder, more urgent, as if the water itself is trying to communicate. The sluggish feeling begins to lift slightly as the stream’s connection to the marker weakens.
The frost spreading from Elena’s position suddenly reverses direction, pulling back toward the stone marker as Amber completes another crucial rune. Vex’thara lets out a shriek that echoes across multiple timelines: “I will not be bound again! This vessel knows every secret of this place!“
The mist begins to swirl in a tight vortex around the marker, and Elena’s form starts to flicker more rapidly between her possessed state and her true self. The containment is working, but the demon is fighting back with increasing desperation.
Chara stands up just starting to stomp her boots into into the stream yelling out to the ghost in a mocking tone “How you like this?”
Meridith scoffs at Chara, smirking faint. “Elena, stay strong, you’ll overcome it, we will starve it and you will break free. Hold on!”
“Every secret?” Amber grumbles, “I mean I like scientists and all, but I think you’re really overselling it.” She shifts around the marker a bit to start on the other side, recarving more symbols of containment.
Chara’s aggressive disruption of the stream sends shockwaves through the temporal connection. The water begins to flow normally for the first time since they arrived, and the whispered voices fade to silence. Her boots splash through what is now just ordinary park water, breaking the last of the supernatural reflections.
Elena’s flickering becomes more pronounced as she fights against Vex’thara’s control. “I… I can feel it weakening!” she gasps during a moment of clarity. “The marker… it was never meant to contain something this old… the construction damaged the original bindings…“
Amber’s work on the opposite side of the marker creates a complete circuit of containment runes. Silver light now pulses around the entire stone in a steady rhythm, and the temperature begins to return to normal. However, as the binding strengthens, Vex’thara makes one last desperate attempt at freedom.
“If I cannot feast here, I will take this vessel with me!” The demon’s voice roars through Elena as her form begins to blur, as if she’s being pulled between different moments in time. The grass around the marker withers and dies as Vex’thara draws on every available source of temporal energy for a final escape attempt.
The containment runes flare brighter, but cracks begin to appear in the stone itself from the strain.
Meridith reaches forward, and her hand grips firm to Elena’s, seizing her wrist and shaking her head. “You cannot have her,” she declares. With little concern for her own safety.
Chara continues stomping looking over to the marker in alarm as it seems Elena is going to fade “That doesn’t look good!!” intensifying her disruption
There is magic in blood, and Amber uses the blade to cut her palm and dribble some on the rock. She touches her pin, using haemomancy to attempt to strengthen the material. It’s a hail Mary of an attempt, but she wants to make it last long enough to finish the binding.
“No… the temporal flows…“
Amber’s blood magic proves crucial. As her blood touches the cracked stone, the haemomancy reinforces the ancient material at a molecular level. The cracks seal themselves with veins of silver light, and the containment runes burn brighter than ever. The marker becomes solid and unbreakable, creating a perfect prison.
Vex’thara’s final scream echoes across multiple timelines as the demon is forcibly separated from Elena and drawn back into the reinforced containment. Elena collapses forward, caught by Meridith’s grip, her eyes clear and brown once again. The mist dissipates completely, revealing the normal afternoon park around them.
Elena gasps, looking up at her rescuers with confusion and gratitude. “What… how long was I…? The last thing I remember was examining that marker three days ago…“