Encounterlogs
Meridiths Odd Encounter Sr Harriet 240515
In a disturbing encounter on Guardian Lane, Meridith grapples with a seemingly innocent child who turns out to be a powerful and dangerous psychic. Her quiet afternoon is shattered by a psychic invasion, bombarding her with distressing whispers urging her towards violence against the boy. Initially approached with concern for what appears to be a lost child, Meridith's interactions quickly spiral into a nightmarish experience. The psychic child, with his deceptively innocent appearance, subjects her to a series of harrowing illusions, ranging from grotesque transformations of his visage to deeply personal and emotional manipulations. Despite the psychic's attempts to sway her through fear, Meridith's resolve only hardens in the face of his torment.
The confrontation escalates rapidly as the psychic child's attempts to intimidate Meridith backfire, exposing his vulnerability to her unexpected telekinetic powers. Despite his formidable psychic abilities, the boy is unable to withstand Meridith's onslaught, and is eventually subdued and left unconscious. Throughout the ordeal, Meridith battles not only the child's manipulative visions but also the ethical dilemma of fighting a seemingly innocent being who harbors malevolent intent. Her decision to defend herself while sparing his life underscores the complexity of navigating moral absolutes in a supernatural context. As the sheriff's department takes the psychic into custody, Meridith is left to reflect on the exhausting and ethically ambiguous confrontation, solidifying her stance as a protector who refuses to be prey, regardless of the deceptive appearances her adversaries may adopt.
(Meridith's odd encounter(SRHarriet):SRHarriet)
[Tue May 14 2024]
On Guardian lane
The hard-packed dirt road is wide enough for two cars to passs but just barely. Along each side, the foliage has been left to grow as it will with no attempt to tame it or trim it for appearance. Overhead, the tree branches grow thicker than previous, causing more of the shade during the day and an even deeper darkness at night.
It is afternoon, about 79F(26C) degrees,
(Your target encounters a seemingly innocent child who is, in fact, a powerful psychic causing havoc in Haven. They must find a way to neutralize the psychic's power without harming them.)
Something likely feels unsettling this evening in Haven -- an unusual disturbance within the community. It's inexplicable, but it is heavy, and then Meridith she can hear faint whispers in her mind. They feel like her own thoughts, only she should be well aware they are not her own. These thoughts are intrusive, and the voice in her head is saying, 'They don't see, and they do not know, but you will understand, won't you?' eerily, and it's lonely -- like a pitiful plea for companionship that is tainted by ominous undertones. The quality of the thought that invades her mind is one that seeks to make an impression as something has tapped into her innermost self, and tries to compel the young woman with a strange, and perhaps disturbing invitation.
Meridith is really all that settled on a good day. There's a quiet impulse, new and frustrating that drives her, long before this day. The whispers are new, the heavy weight. And she exhales softly as it begins to dawn on her what horrible shit might be going on. Her messages go out, warning others. But it isn't the kind of thing she ignores. Trouble is something she approaches. She tries to steel herself at the same time she invites it.
Meridith is outside of town, near her cabin. Phone in hand near her bike, after a rather annoying interpersonal conflict
As the thought in Meridith's head gradually dissipates, but maybe leaving a lingering unease, the young woman might notice a young boy ambling down the road toward her cabin. He is fair skinned and tall for his age, appearing to be around eight given his facial features. His clothes and skin bear the marks of a day spent in the embrace of the forest. Dirt smudges his cheeks, as well as the knees of his blue jeans. There's a leaf stuck in his messy blond hair, and despite his disheveled appearance, there is a lightness in each of his steps. A giddy joy bubbles over from him as he speaks to himself quite animatedly about his exploits. The voice he speaks in carries a sound of innocence, which is the exact opposite of the thought Meridith had just experienced. "And then, just when the rabbit was going to get caught, a bird made this CAW! and the cat jumped, spooking the rabbit and--" Noticing Meridith, he stops his tale to himself, and he waves to her as he walks nearer.
Meridith hesitates and stares at the boy as he approaches. She takes one step toward him, hesitates, uneasily, and then begins to hurry her self towards him. She is doing her best to not spook the boy, concern deeply obvious in every part of her features for the young man. She slows some hearing him speak then blinks, not yet assosciating the two despite the complete lack of a belief in coincidence instilled in her in this strange town
The concern Meridith has is noticed by the young blond boy, and his face breaks into a broad, innocent smile. His playful little march pauses as she begins to move over towards him. Tilting his head to the right, he assesses the worried adult. "Hey, lady," he greets her, blue eyes sparkling with the remnants of his recent adventures that he was just reminiscing over with himself. "Today was a good day. I skipped school!" Sounding rather proud of himself, the dirt smeared boy grins even more. "I pretended to be a caveman but I couldn't figure out how to make fire without a Zippo." His tone is light and carefree, sounding like someone without a single worry in the world, but in Meridith's mind she hears, 'Kill him. He must die. I'm telling you this for your own good.' Seemingly caught up in the magic of his own imagination, his head tilts back and he peers skyward for a moment.
Meridith exhales softly as she approaches, seeing him fine. As he speaks she nods to him. She can make it make sense, a young boy skips school, gets lost in the woods, has an adventure. She gives him the warmest smile. A very common form of energy you see in pre-school teachers, and people who work with kids. "It can be tricky, but good you didn't!" She says. "Fire in the woods can be veeeery dangerous. "She hums some and crouches in front of him. "Do you know your home address? Let's get you home to your parents," she says happily. Then, as the voice echoes in her mind she hesitates, shaken.
Right in the midst of their conversation, the atmosphere shifts suddenly around Meridith. The boy is chirping about where his home is located, speaking out an address, but his voice is drowned out by a sinister voice in her mind. Its tone is urgent and chilling, saying, 'You are not safe. No one is safe. Kill him.' It roars in her mind and the clarity is terrifying, and it reverberates with such intensity that it feels like it is not just a thought, but someone speaking into her ear. It would be hard to reconcile the warmth of the boy's smile with the cold dread of the voice that is trying to get its message to seep into Meridith's bones.... but then his very visage begins to change. In repeated flashes, his face morphs grotesquely, but he seems entirely unaware of the illusion. The face of the lively, and very much alive, child degenerates into that of a decayed corpse. Skin pales to an unnatural grey, taut over his small facial bones, and his blue eyes that were bright and vibrant a moment before are now hollow and lifeless, sinking into dark, recessed pits. Where once a carefree smile was, lips are a ghastly grin of rotted teeth.
Meridith listens intently, then her eyes shift. She exhales. That warning rocks against her, bringing a sharp glower into the air. The clarity is terrifying, but her response to the question of fight or flight is always the former. Well mostly the former. She tries to force it from her mind. As the boy begins to shift and change she stares blankly.
'This is his true form. I've shown you. End him,' comes into Meridith's mind. The awful apparition fades, and there before her stands the quite cute, dirt stained boy. Without the decay, as it has vanished without a trace, all that is left behind is the innocent face of a child with tousled hair and a mischievous grin. He beams up at Meridith, utterly oblivious, it would seem, to the turmoil. "So, yeah! That's where I live!" he replies happily with his small hands gesturing all over. Hopping from one foot to the other in a bundle of youthful energy, he looks every bit like the picture of a child lost in the joy of his own adventures. There isn't even a hint of the macabre vision that has momentarily replaced the little guy's visage.
Meridith nods to the young boy, troubled. She is nervous and scared but her expression remains fond, an confident. More important than any of this is the child being alright. He nods to her. "Once more?" she asks worriedly, her keen eyes flickering around to look for whatever this dangerous creature is. Her eyes flit to the boy, she refuses to know.
Exuberance comes from the boy in such a way that it seems to permeate the air around Meridith, and he begins to repeat his address with a joyful lilt while jumping in place. However, as soon as he begins to speak, the voice is back in her head, warning, 'You do not have much time. Kill him now!' and the scene before her shifts horrifically once more. Instead of the happy child bouncing energetically, she sees him as if he were swinging from the gallows. His small body is hanging limply with the rope tight around his broken neck. The corpse sways eerily in the breeze, and lifeless blue eyes stare out into nothingness. Both the gallows and the noose are weathered, and his body begins to quickly decay, as if it has been there for months.
Meridith lets out a sharp cry as she sees this sight, she grabs her face and screams, almost falling backward. For a moment the terror overwhelms her, the disgust of this unimaginably bleak scene. But all it does is steel her resolve, a refusal to give in to this compulsion. She digs her feet into the ground as grits her teeth, trying to dispel the vision. "What is going on...?"
The terrifying vision of the gallows fades away as abruptly as it appeared, but it is replaced by a profound scene that is intimate and deeply personal that unfolds right before Meridith's eyes. She's in a hospital room, and it is very sterile, but filled with the anticipatory buzz that surrounds what is the miracle of birth. Alone and anxious, Meridith brings a child into the world -- a small, fragile infant. A baby boy with tufts of blond hair and blue eyes. Rapidly, the scenes shift, one after the other, just like the pages of a flip book, and each one a snapshot of a moment in the child's life. Meridith witnesses her boy's first steps, birthdays filled with laughter, scraped knees being soothed by kisses, and quiet nights with bedtime stories. The boy matures, and each memory layers over the last until he's the very image of the boy standing before her right now -- vibrant, curious, alive, and exactly the same boy. The vision ends. Delightedly, the boy is chuckling before he's found a rock that has caught his attention. He bends over to pick it up, turning it over in his hand with the fascination that only a kid can muster.
Meridith begins with an awareness, a frustration, a fight. But it isn't for long. There is a serenity tht follows, competing with the quiet awareness of reality. What greater hope could she have for her life right now but to be there. Ready. Safe. A hospital bed to deliver this child inside of her safe and sound into the world. To see the boy grow up, first steps, birthdays, scraped knees. Her raising this child in a world that still exist. Then as it ends she is left weeping. A lifetime lost in a moment. She holds her head. "Something...you're not," she manages. Trying to pull herself together from that psychic whammy as a realization settles over her
"Imma call it 'Basalty,'" the boy declares about his precious new rock. "Because it's..." He draws the rock to his mouth and he... he licks it. "Okay. No. It's not salty. I don't think it's basalt either..." The stone is turned and he peers at it curiously, but then decides to stick with the name anyway and his laughter rings out, pure and unaffected. He delights over the rock, and he shows it off to Meridith. As he turns to her, his blue eyes sparkle -- it's untarnished innocence shining beneath the finge of his light blond hair. His smile is a perfect curve, missing two teeth behind lips though. When Meridith speaks, the air around them seems to thicken. Its sudden and oppressive weight blurs Meridith's vision, and yet another horrific scene unfolds before her eyes. It is unbidden and vile, and she sees herself, hands stained with blood, standing over the blond boy. He lies on the ground, his body is torn open, and he's gasping for air as his own life ebbs away from his small form. Wide eyes are full of agony and confusion, staring up at Meridith, pleading for an understanding that will never come. As quickly as it came, the vision ends again, leaving Meridith there next to the boy who is happily trying to show her his prized rock.
Meridith bites her lower lip and nods to the boy. Letting out a quiet sound as she cries. He's innocent, wholly, she believes that in her heart, she needs to. Though, that joke was definitely a little too smart for an eight year old. Maybe he's a geo nerd. She moves to him, and offers her hand to take his. She gasps seeimg him dead on the ground, and whimpers, shaking her head, illusions. She won't, she won't. "It's a beautiful rock," she manages while her heart break and her mind strains against the continued assault.
Still, or so it appears, oblivious to the tormenting visions that Meridith is experiencing, the boy steps closer to her and accepts her offered hand. "This is for you!" he exclaims, extending his other hand with the rock in it to offer it to the woman. The voice in Meridith's head slashes like a knife. 'Why is he still alive? Why haven't you killed him yet? Are you waiting for him to kill you first?' These words are sharp and insistent, dripping with urgency and suspicion. Morphing horrifically, the boy's features twist grotesquely and his body contorts into a demon form reminiscent of a creature from the darkest depths of fantasy lore. Towering above Meridith with mottled skin and red eyes, horns curling back from its forehead, and a maw that opens up, the beast lets out a bone chilling scream that is filled with malice, as well as the promise of doom. However, the illusion vanishes again, leaving the innocent little boy still trying to give Meridith his precious rock.
Meridith shakes her head very gently to someone as she crouches and takes her hand, the other, to the rock. She grimaces, agonized by the vision she seems, but more important than that is the boy. The twisted haunting visions are nothing to her compared to the horror that ignoring her heart would cost her here. She gives him a strained smile and wipes her eyes. "Thank you for the gift. My name is Meredith," she manages.
"Merry-death! Merry-death!" the boy is singing out after the introduction is made, and the voice inside of Meridith's head is also repeating that phrase, over and over and over again. It's blaring, getting louder, encouraging her to partake in the murder of this child. "Merry-death!" He's chanting now, holding her hand and squeezing at it. His grip becomes tighter and tighter, and if he isn't stopped it's going to cut off the circulation in that appendage.
Meridith exhales harsh. "Please, stop," she exhales. "You're hurting my hand," she insists, fearful. No, there's no way, she murmurs.
Eerily, the chanting continues, "Merry-death! Merry-death!" The boy's voice grows louder and more insistent with each repetition, taking on a taunting, even mocking tone that rings out into the night. That grip of his small hand on Meridith's tightens futher, strong and unyielding for a child. His eyes no longer look innocent and joyful, but are now holding an uncharacteristic intensity, staring up into Meridith's eyes with a look that is too knowing and too old for his years. 'See? He needs to die. Kill him. Kill him now!' hisses the voice in Meridith's head in a relentless and cruel manner.
Meridith shakes her head. "No, this can't be real," she pleads. "This can't be happening," she whispers. "Not a child please it's too much." She tries to pull back, away from him.
Amid the psychic assault and the boy's unnerving chanting, Meridith is suddenly overwhelmed by a series of visceral visions. They each flash befoe her eyes with incredible clarity. The first is a beautiful blond little baby boy in her arms, and his first cries pierce the air, but then she drops him, and he is no more. This scene rewinds, and the dead infant comes back to life, lifting up into the air and right back into her arms. 'Murderer,' the baby says in a deep, masculine voice. 'You killed someone's son, didn't you?' Then the baby is gone and Meridith's arms are empty. The blond boy is still singing out, "Merry-death!" while unwilling to let go of her hand with his death grip.
Meridith shakes her head, she screams. "No! No!" she cries. "I've never! I would never she insists!" She screams and whimpers, begging for relief from this torment, trying to rip away from the boy. She grows wild, in her torment. The clarity of each vision lingers in her mind and likely will for some time to follow.
"That's a lie," the boy says to Meridith, his features twisting as he wrenches at her hand even harder now. "Liar. Liar. Liar. Murderer. You're a murderer. Merry-death! Merry-death!" He begins to cackle through his distorted chanting, and the voice in her mind is starting up again, 'You've killed before. Kill again. Do it.' The latest vision is unlike the previous ones. This time, Meridith sees herself, and she's older, wearier, and standing in a dimply lit room. Before her stands a man, and it obviously this boy in a grown form, no longer a child. His eyes are gleaming with a malevolent darkness, and in his right hand is a sharp knife with its blade pointed at Meridith. He laughs coldly, and the sounds he produces are devoid of any human warmth. "Merry death, indeed, mother," he says to her before lunging forward without a moment of hesitation in this illusion she experiences.
Meridith screams. "Not children! Not innocent! Child murderers! Harvesters of children hearts! Monsters who live in the dark!" She screams. "Who prey on innocent people! Not me!" She bellows. "I'm not like that, I won't ever be like that!" She screams in defiance, turning her fear and pain into anger, shielding her heart with it. She clutches a hand to her heart, and her eyes lock upon the man, the malevolent darkness and she throws a hand forward, her will sharpening like a knife as she buries it towards the man, letting out a violent rush of telekinetic force. "Get....AWAY FROM ME!" She roars, voice cracking and breaking.
Fading suddenly, the vision of the blond man coming at Meridith to stab her to death disappears and she is left once again in the road with the eight year old boy. Reality snaps back into focus, and her instinctive reaction catches the boy off guard. His grip releases Meridith's hand, and the surge of telekinetic power thrusts the boy back with surprising force. He stumbles after, feet scrabbling against the dirt and gravel as he tries to regain his balance. Blue eyes are wide with shock, and a dawning realisation of fear flickers in them. For all of his psychic prowess and the manipulative horrors he conjured, he did not anticipate encountering someone with such abilities.
Meridith tilts her head some at the boy, and the visage of her calm serenity is gone. No more pre-school teacher, in its place is a quiet hunters gaze upon prey. She takes a step toward him. "It was you? Solely you?" She humms softly, stalking steps as she reaches into a pocket. No gear, save a slim knife. "Who was the voice telling me to kill you?" she asks, a tone icy and calm from her lips.
Now that the boy has steadied himself after the telekinetic shove, his movements are cautious. His previous facade of playfulness has completely vanished, replaced by an uneasy tension. The sudden shift in power dynamics has clearly made him wary, and he takes a few very slow steps backward. His blue eyes never leave Meridith. "I..." he begins to admit. "I... did that..." Hesitantly, he confesses that, referring to the voice in Meridith's head. "It was me," gets added, and his voice is barely above a whisper, conveying the gavity of his confession without revealing the mechanics of his psychic ability, nor his illusory magic skills. His posture is alert as he continues to back away, and in his caution filled retreat, with all of his brazen confidence nowhere to be found, he is perhaps realising that he provoked someone capable of retribution.
Meridith stalks forward, keeping the distance between them static as she moves after her quarry. Her eyes narrow some. "If you don't have sanctuary, please understand, a stupid move on your part will end my evening with an unfortunate corpse to bury. If you do have sanctuary, and do something, well. I'll just have to work at making that corpse, you understand?" she explains with an absolutely flat tone.
The threat that Meridith makes is heard by the boy loud and clear, but his fear morphs into desperate aggression. Blue eyes were shimmering with unshed tears, byt then in a flash, they are filled with a dark intensity. He continues to retreat, but as he does this, his psychic powers and arcane talents surge in an effot to protect himself by assaulting Meridith with even more horrifying things. The woman's mind is suddenly flooded with gruesome images. Visions of her own demise in countless and unspeakable ways are seen, each more terrifying than the last, and all too vivid. She is trapped in endless loops of suffering and death. As these hallucinations take place, the boy's voice, even though he does not open his mouth, echoes in Meridith's head. 'Stop! Just leave me alone! I'll do worse! I can do much worse!' That mental voice is frantic, trembling with the instability of his own fear. Each vision that follows escalates even more, becoming increasingly nightmarish as the boy's panic feeds directly into what he is projecting.
Meridith springs at the boy, pouncing, even blind by illusions attempting to pin him. "Why!" She screams. "Why did you do this to me!" She bellows. "What do you want!? My fear!? My anger!? My suffering!?"
Even in the thick of the terrifying visions, Meridith has a hardened determination, and once she's propelled herself forward through the onslaught of psychic attacks, she's pouncing the boy and the sudden ferocity catches him off guard. She's just a blur of motion and emotion, and the boy's small frame is caught and then pinned to the ground below. The impact against the hard earth forces the air from his lungs in a harsh whoosh of an unintended exhale. Then the physical reality sets in of the situation he's not encountered. He can feel Meridith's weight on him, as well as the weight of her resolve, and it jolts him out of the psychic assault he was performing. Gasping for air, the boy struggles under the woman, and he's wide eyed. Those eyes are mixed with fear and surprise, and for just a moment, he is a child again... vulnerable and scared. "I... I..." he's stammering. "I-- I didn't mean to," his voice quivers as he attempts to regain his breath.
Meridith loses herself into it, in a fury she begins to wail on him. "I!" She bellows. "AM! NOT!" Her voices carries a primalistic rage. Gone is her restraint, her compassion. The little voice that said she'd rather die than hurt something that looked like this. "PREY! You wanted fear!? You wanted pain!? You wanted suffering and anger!? HAD ENOUGH YET!?" she screams.
Pinned beneath Meridith, the boy's face shows raw and unguarded terror. Brimming with tears, his eyes are even wider when she starts to scream at him. Deep lines of panic etch across his young facial features. His small body trembles uncontrollably in his fright, and as he shakes, tears begin to stream down his cheeks, carving out clear paths down the dirt smudges on his face. The sobs that suddenly rack his body are heart-wrenching and desperate... and likely fake, and only an attempt to manipulate Meridith, but his voice cracks under the strain of everything. "You're a killer," he says. "A killer. You're a killer! You're a killer!" The boy starts screaming right back, no longer crumbling, but still stuck there on the ground.
Meridith feels an icy stillness settle over her. A quiet certainty. She begins to slug him, one punch, two, three, until he stops. Until he just stops making any kind of sound.
"Fear is a delicacy -- rare, exquisite..." The boy is saying right as Meridith is moving to take her first punch. "And you, Merry /Death/, are a feast," he claims. As Meridith unleashes the flurry of punches, the boy recoils as much as he can while pinned, but he's unable to defend himself and with a pained cry, he goes unconscious.
Meridith would leave it there, tie them, blindfold them, call the HSPD and leave it at that. She has had enough of this conflict for a lifetime. "Ever come for me again and your form won't save you. Don't count on it a second time," she warns the unconscious body of a small child that she just decked.
With the psychic subdued and unconscious, Meridith gets him swiftly secured. Once he is securely bound and blindfolded, he's still entirely unaware of it. Soon after, a sheriff's department vehicle pulls up and the deputy carefully loads the still unconscious psychic into the back of the car. A nod is given to Meridith, and it seems the officer is familiar with this little trouble maker. As the police car drives away, the red and blue lights fade into the distance, leaving Meridith alone to ponder the bizarre encounter she had just endured.
The confrontation escalates rapidly as the psychic child's attempts to intimidate Meridith backfire, exposing his vulnerability to her unexpected telekinetic powers. Despite his formidable psychic abilities, the boy is unable to withstand Meridith's onslaught, and is eventually subdued and left unconscious. Throughout the ordeal, Meridith battles not only the child's manipulative visions but also the ethical dilemma of fighting a seemingly innocent being who harbors malevolent intent. Her decision to defend herself while sparing his life underscores the complexity of navigating moral absolutes in a supernatural context. As the sheriff's department takes the psychic into custody, Meridith is left to reflect on the exhausting and ethically ambiguous confrontation, solidifying her stance as a protector who refuses to be prey, regardless of the deceptive appearances her adversaries may adopt.
(Meridith's odd encounter(SRHarriet):SRHarriet)
[Tue May 14 2024]
On Guardian lane
The hard-packed dirt road is wide enough for two cars to passs but just barely. Along each side, the foliage has been left to grow as it will with no attempt to tame it or trim it for appearance. Overhead, the tree branches grow thicker than previous, causing more of the shade during the day and an even deeper darkness at night.
It is afternoon, about 79F(26C) degrees,
(Your target encounters a seemingly innocent child who is, in fact, a powerful psychic causing havoc in Haven. They must find a way to neutralize the psychic's power without harming them.)
Something likely feels unsettling this evening in Haven -- an unusual disturbance within the community. It's inexplicable, but it is heavy, and then Meridith she can hear faint whispers in her mind. They feel like her own thoughts, only she should be well aware they are not her own. These thoughts are intrusive, and the voice in her head is saying, 'They don't see, and they do not know, but you will understand, won't you?' eerily, and it's lonely -- like a pitiful plea for companionship that is tainted by ominous undertones. The quality of the thought that invades her mind is one that seeks to make an impression as something has tapped into her innermost self, and tries to compel the young woman with a strange, and perhaps disturbing invitation.
Meridith is really all that settled on a good day. There's a quiet impulse, new and frustrating that drives her, long before this day. The whispers are new, the heavy weight. And she exhales softly as it begins to dawn on her what horrible shit might be going on. Her messages go out, warning others. But it isn't the kind of thing she ignores. Trouble is something she approaches. She tries to steel herself at the same time she invites it.
Meridith is outside of town, near her cabin. Phone in hand near her bike, after a rather annoying interpersonal conflict
As the thought in Meridith's head gradually dissipates, but maybe leaving a lingering unease, the young woman might notice a young boy ambling down the road toward her cabin. He is fair skinned and tall for his age, appearing to be around eight given his facial features. His clothes and skin bear the marks of a day spent in the embrace of the forest. Dirt smudges his cheeks, as well as the knees of his blue jeans. There's a leaf stuck in his messy blond hair, and despite his disheveled appearance, there is a lightness in each of his steps. A giddy joy bubbles over from him as he speaks to himself quite animatedly about his exploits. The voice he speaks in carries a sound of innocence, which is the exact opposite of the thought Meridith had just experienced. "And then, just when the rabbit was going to get caught, a bird made this CAW! and the cat jumped, spooking the rabbit and--" Noticing Meridith, he stops his tale to himself, and he waves to her as he walks nearer.
Meridith hesitates and stares at the boy as he approaches. She takes one step toward him, hesitates, uneasily, and then begins to hurry her self towards him. She is doing her best to not spook the boy, concern deeply obvious in every part of her features for the young man. She slows some hearing him speak then blinks, not yet assosciating the two despite the complete lack of a belief in coincidence instilled in her in this strange town
The concern Meridith has is noticed by the young blond boy, and his face breaks into a broad, innocent smile. His playful little march pauses as she begins to move over towards him. Tilting his head to the right, he assesses the worried adult. "Hey, lady," he greets her, blue eyes sparkling with the remnants of his recent adventures that he was just reminiscing over with himself. "Today was a good day. I skipped school!" Sounding rather proud of himself, the dirt smeared boy grins even more. "I pretended to be a caveman but I couldn't figure out how to make fire without a Zippo." His tone is light and carefree, sounding like someone without a single worry in the world, but in Meridith's mind she hears, 'Kill him. He must die. I'm telling you this for your own good.' Seemingly caught up in the magic of his own imagination, his head tilts back and he peers skyward for a moment.
Meridith exhales softly as she approaches, seeing him fine. As he speaks she nods to him. She can make it make sense, a young boy skips school, gets lost in the woods, has an adventure. She gives him the warmest smile. A very common form of energy you see in pre-school teachers, and people who work with kids. "It can be tricky, but good you didn't!" She says. "Fire in the woods can be veeeery dangerous. "She hums some and crouches in front of him. "Do you know your home address? Let's get you home to your parents," she says happily. Then, as the voice echoes in her mind she hesitates, shaken.
Right in the midst of their conversation, the atmosphere shifts suddenly around Meridith. The boy is chirping about where his home is located, speaking out an address, but his voice is drowned out by a sinister voice in her mind. Its tone is urgent and chilling, saying, 'You are not safe. No one is safe. Kill him.' It roars in her mind and the clarity is terrifying, and it reverberates with such intensity that it feels like it is not just a thought, but someone speaking into her ear. It would be hard to reconcile the warmth of the boy's smile with the cold dread of the voice that is trying to get its message to seep into Meridith's bones.... but then his very visage begins to change. In repeated flashes, his face morphs grotesquely, but he seems entirely unaware of the illusion. The face of the lively, and very much alive, child degenerates into that of a decayed corpse. Skin pales to an unnatural grey, taut over his small facial bones, and his blue eyes that were bright and vibrant a moment before are now hollow and lifeless, sinking into dark, recessed pits. Where once a carefree smile was, lips are a ghastly grin of rotted teeth.
Meridith listens intently, then her eyes shift. She exhales. That warning rocks against her, bringing a sharp glower into the air. The clarity is terrifying, but her response to the question of fight or flight is always the former. Well mostly the former. She tries to force it from her mind. As the boy begins to shift and change she stares blankly.
'This is his true form. I've shown you. End him,' comes into Meridith's mind. The awful apparition fades, and there before her stands the quite cute, dirt stained boy. Without the decay, as it has vanished without a trace, all that is left behind is the innocent face of a child with tousled hair and a mischievous grin. He beams up at Meridith, utterly oblivious, it would seem, to the turmoil. "So, yeah! That's where I live!" he replies happily with his small hands gesturing all over. Hopping from one foot to the other in a bundle of youthful energy, he looks every bit like the picture of a child lost in the joy of his own adventures. There isn't even a hint of the macabre vision that has momentarily replaced the little guy's visage.
Meridith nods to the young boy, troubled. She is nervous and scared but her expression remains fond, an confident. More important than any of this is the child being alright. He nods to her. "Once more?" she asks worriedly, her keen eyes flickering around to look for whatever this dangerous creature is. Her eyes flit to the boy, she refuses to know.
Exuberance comes from the boy in such a way that it seems to permeate the air around Meridith, and he begins to repeat his address with a joyful lilt while jumping in place. However, as soon as he begins to speak, the voice is back in her head, warning, 'You do not have much time. Kill him now!' and the scene before her shifts horrifically once more. Instead of the happy child bouncing energetically, she sees him as if he were swinging from the gallows. His small body is hanging limply with the rope tight around his broken neck. The corpse sways eerily in the breeze, and lifeless blue eyes stare out into nothingness. Both the gallows and the noose are weathered, and his body begins to quickly decay, as if it has been there for months.
Meridith lets out a sharp cry as she sees this sight, she grabs her face and screams, almost falling backward. For a moment the terror overwhelms her, the disgust of this unimaginably bleak scene. But all it does is steel her resolve, a refusal to give in to this compulsion. She digs her feet into the ground as grits her teeth, trying to dispel the vision. "What is going on...?"
The terrifying vision of the gallows fades away as abruptly as it appeared, but it is replaced by a profound scene that is intimate and deeply personal that unfolds right before Meridith's eyes. She's in a hospital room, and it is very sterile, but filled with the anticipatory buzz that surrounds what is the miracle of birth. Alone and anxious, Meridith brings a child into the world -- a small, fragile infant. A baby boy with tufts of blond hair and blue eyes. Rapidly, the scenes shift, one after the other, just like the pages of a flip book, and each one a snapshot of a moment in the child's life. Meridith witnesses her boy's first steps, birthdays filled with laughter, scraped knees being soothed by kisses, and quiet nights with bedtime stories. The boy matures, and each memory layers over the last until he's the very image of the boy standing before her right now -- vibrant, curious, alive, and exactly the same boy. The vision ends. Delightedly, the boy is chuckling before he's found a rock that has caught his attention. He bends over to pick it up, turning it over in his hand with the fascination that only a kid can muster.
Meridith begins with an awareness, a frustration, a fight. But it isn't for long. There is a serenity tht follows, competing with the quiet awareness of reality. What greater hope could she have for her life right now but to be there. Ready. Safe. A hospital bed to deliver this child inside of her safe and sound into the world. To see the boy grow up, first steps, birthdays, scraped knees. Her raising this child in a world that still exist. Then as it ends she is left weeping. A lifetime lost in a moment. She holds her head. "Something...you're not," she manages. Trying to pull herself together from that psychic whammy as a realization settles over her
"Imma call it 'Basalty,'" the boy declares about his precious new rock. "Because it's..." He draws the rock to his mouth and he... he licks it. "Okay. No. It's not salty. I don't think it's basalt either..." The stone is turned and he peers at it curiously, but then decides to stick with the name anyway and his laughter rings out, pure and unaffected. He delights over the rock, and he shows it off to Meridith. As he turns to her, his blue eyes sparkle -- it's untarnished innocence shining beneath the finge of his light blond hair. His smile is a perfect curve, missing two teeth behind lips though. When Meridith speaks, the air around them seems to thicken. Its sudden and oppressive weight blurs Meridith's vision, and yet another horrific scene unfolds before her eyes. It is unbidden and vile, and she sees herself, hands stained with blood, standing over the blond boy. He lies on the ground, his body is torn open, and he's gasping for air as his own life ebbs away from his small form. Wide eyes are full of agony and confusion, staring up at Meridith, pleading for an understanding that will never come. As quickly as it came, the vision ends again, leaving Meridith there next to the boy who is happily trying to show her his prized rock.
Meridith bites her lower lip and nods to the boy. Letting out a quiet sound as she cries. He's innocent, wholly, she believes that in her heart, she needs to. Though, that joke was definitely a little too smart for an eight year old. Maybe he's a geo nerd. She moves to him, and offers her hand to take his. She gasps seeimg him dead on the ground, and whimpers, shaking her head, illusions. She won't, she won't. "It's a beautiful rock," she manages while her heart break and her mind strains against the continued assault.
Still, or so it appears, oblivious to the tormenting visions that Meridith is experiencing, the boy steps closer to her and accepts her offered hand. "This is for you!" he exclaims, extending his other hand with the rock in it to offer it to the woman. The voice in Meridith's head slashes like a knife. 'Why is he still alive? Why haven't you killed him yet? Are you waiting for him to kill you first?' These words are sharp and insistent, dripping with urgency and suspicion. Morphing horrifically, the boy's features twist grotesquely and his body contorts into a demon form reminiscent of a creature from the darkest depths of fantasy lore. Towering above Meridith with mottled skin and red eyes, horns curling back from its forehead, and a maw that opens up, the beast lets out a bone chilling scream that is filled with malice, as well as the promise of doom. However, the illusion vanishes again, leaving the innocent little boy still trying to give Meridith his precious rock.
Meridith shakes her head very gently to someone as she crouches and takes her hand, the other, to the rock. She grimaces, agonized by the vision she seems, but more important than that is the boy. The twisted haunting visions are nothing to her compared to the horror that ignoring her heart would cost her here. She gives him a strained smile and wipes her eyes. "Thank you for the gift. My name is Meredith," she manages.
"Merry-death! Merry-death!" the boy is singing out after the introduction is made, and the voice inside of Meridith's head is also repeating that phrase, over and over and over again. It's blaring, getting louder, encouraging her to partake in the murder of this child. "Merry-death!" He's chanting now, holding her hand and squeezing at it. His grip becomes tighter and tighter, and if he isn't stopped it's going to cut off the circulation in that appendage.
Meridith exhales harsh. "Please, stop," she exhales. "You're hurting my hand," she insists, fearful. No, there's no way, she murmurs.
Eerily, the chanting continues, "Merry-death! Merry-death!" The boy's voice grows louder and more insistent with each repetition, taking on a taunting, even mocking tone that rings out into the night. That grip of his small hand on Meridith's tightens futher, strong and unyielding for a child. His eyes no longer look innocent and joyful, but are now holding an uncharacteristic intensity, staring up into Meridith's eyes with a look that is too knowing and too old for his years. 'See? He needs to die. Kill him. Kill him now!' hisses the voice in Meridith's head in a relentless and cruel manner.
Meridith shakes her head. "No, this can't be real," she pleads. "This can't be happening," she whispers. "Not a child please it's too much." She tries to pull back, away from him.
Amid the psychic assault and the boy's unnerving chanting, Meridith is suddenly overwhelmed by a series of visceral visions. They each flash befoe her eyes with incredible clarity. The first is a beautiful blond little baby boy in her arms, and his first cries pierce the air, but then she drops him, and he is no more. This scene rewinds, and the dead infant comes back to life, lifting up into the air and right back into her arms. 'Murderer,' the baby says in a deep, masculine voice. 'You killed someone's son, didn't you?' Then the baby is gone and Meridith's arms are empty. The blond boy is still singing out, "Merry-death!" while unwilling to let go of her hand with his death grip.
Meridith shakes her head, she screams. "No! No!" she cries. "I've never! I would never she insists!" She screams and whimpers, begging for relief from this torment, trying to rip away from the boy. She grows wild, in her torment. The clarity of each vision lingers in her mind and likely will for some time to follow.
"That's a lie," the boy says to Meridith, his features twisting as he wrenches at her hand even harder now. "Liar. Liar. Liar. Murderer. You're a murderer. Merry-death! Merry-death!" He begins to cackle through his distorted chanting, and the voice in her mind is starting up again, 'You've killed before. Kill again. Do it.' The latest vision is unlike the previous ones. This time, Meridith sees herself, and she's older, wearier, and standing in a dimply lit room. Before her stands a man, and it obviously this boy in a grown form, no longer a child. His eyes are gleaming with a malevolent darkness, and in his right hand is a sharp knife with its blade pointed at Meridith. He laughs coldly, and the sounds he produces are devoid of any human warmth. "Merry death, indeed, mother," he says to her before lunging forward without a moment of hesitation in this illusion she experiences.
Meridith screams. "Not children! Not innocent! Child murderers! Harvesters of children hearts! Monsters who live in the dark!" She screams. "Who prey on innocent people! Not me!" She bellows. "I'm not like that, I won't ever be like that!" She screams in defiance, turning her fear and pain into anger, shielding her heart with it. She clutches a hand to her heart, and her eyes lock upon the man, the malevolent darkness and she throws a hand forward, her will sharpening like a knife as she buries it towards the man, letting out a violent rush of telekinetic force. "Get....AWAY FROM ME!" She roars, voice cracking and breaking.
Fading suddenly, the vision of the blond man coming at Meridith to stab her to death disappears and she is left once again in the road with the eight year old boy. Reality snaps back into focus, and her instinctive reaction catches the boy off guard. His grip releases Meridith's hand, and the surge of telekinetic power thrusts the boy back with surprising force. He stumbles after, feet scrabbling against the dirt and gravel as he tries to regain his balance. Blue eyes are wide with shock, and a dawning realisation of fear flickers in them. For all of his psychic prowess and the manipulative horrors he conjured, he did not anticipate encountering someone with such abilities.
Meridith tilts her head some at the boy, and the visage of her calm serenity is gone. No more pre-school teacher, in its place is a quiet hunters gaze upon prey. She takes a step toward him. "It was you? Solely you?" She humms softly, stalking steps as she reaches into a pocket. No gear, save a slim knife. "Who was the voice telling me to kill you?" she asks, a tone icy and calm from her lips.
Now that the boy has steadied himself after the telekinetic shove, his movements are cautious. His previous facade of playfulness has completely vanished, replaced by an uneasy tension. The sudden shift in power dynamics has clearly made him wary, and he takes a few very slow steps backward. His blue eyes never leave Meridith. "I..." he begins to admit. "I... did that..." Hesitantly, he confesses that, referring to the voice in Meridith's head. "It was me," gets added, and his voice is barely above a whisper, conveying the gavity of his confession without revealing the mechanics of his psychic ability, nor his illusory magic skills. His posture is alert as he continues to back away, and in his caution filled retreat, with all of his brazen confidence nowhere to be found, he is perhaps realising that he provoked someone capable of retribution.
Meridith stalks forward, keeping the distance between them static as she moves after her quarry. Her eyes narrow some. "If you don't have sanctuary, please understand, a stupid move on your part will end my evening with an unfortunate corpse to bury. If you do have sanctuary, and do something, well. I'll just have to work at making that corpse, you understand?" she explains with an absolutely flat tone.
The threat that Meridith makes is heard by the boy loud and clear, but his fear morphs into desperate aggression. Blue eyes were shimmering with unshed tears, byt then in a flash, they are filled with a dark intensity. He continues to retreat, but as he does this, his psychic powers and arcane talents surge in an effot to protect himself by assaulting Meridith with even more horrifying things. The woman's mind is suddenly flooded with gruesome images. Visions of her own demise in countless and unspeakable ways are seen, each more terrifying than the last, and all too vivid. She is trapped in endless loops of suffering and death. As these hallucinations take place, the boy's voice, even though he does not open his mouth, echoes in Meridith's head. 'Stop! Just leave me alone! I'll do worse! I can do much worse!' That mental voice is frantic, trembling with the instability of his own fear. Each vision that follows escalates even more, becoming increasingly nightmarish as the boy's panic feeds directly into what he is projecting.
Meridith springs at the boy, pouncing, even blind by illusions attempting to pin him. "Why!" She screams. "Why did you do this to me!" She bellows. "What do you want!? My fear!? My anger!? My suffering!?"
Even in the thick of the terrifying visions, Meridith has a hardened determination, and once she's propelled herself forward through the onslaught of psychic attacks, she's pouncing the boy and the sudden ferocity catches him off guard. She's just a blur of motion and emotion, and the boy's small frame is caught and then pinned to the ground below. The impact against the hard earth forces the air from his lungs in a harsh whoosh of an unintended exhale. Then the physical reality sets in of the situation he's not encountered. He can feel Meridith's weight on him, as well as the weight of her resolve, and it jolts him out of the psychic assault he was performing. Gasping for air, the boy struggles under the woman, and he's wide eyed. Those eyes are mixed with fear and surprise, and for just a moment, he is a child again... vulnerable and scared. "I... I..." he's stammering. "I-- I didn't mean to," his voice quivers as he attempts to regain his breath.
Meridith loses herself into it, in a fury she begins to wail on him. "I!" She bellows. "AM! NOT!" Her voices carries a primalistic rage. Gone is her restraint, her compassion. The little voice that said she'd rather die than hurt something that looked like this. "PREY! You wanted fear!? You wanted pain!? You wanted suffering and anger!? HAD ENOUGH YET!?" she screams.
Pinned beneath Meridith, the boy's face shows raw and unguarded terror. Brimming with tears, his eyes are even wider when she starts to scream at him. Deep lines of panic etch across his young facial features. His small body trembles uncontrollably in his fright, and as he shakes, tears begin to stream down his cheeks, carving out clear paths down the dirt smudges on his face. The sobs that suddenly rack his body are heart-wrenching and desperate... and likely fake, and only an attempt to manipulate Meridith, but his voice cracks under the strain of everything. "You're a killer," he says. "A killer. You're a killer! You're a killer!" The boy starts screaming right back, no longer crumbling, but still stuck there on the ground.
Meridith feels an icy stillness settle over her. A quiet certainty. She begins to slug him, one punch, two, three, until he stops. Until he just stops making any kind of sound.
"Fear is a delicacy -- rare, exquisite..." The boy is saying right as Meridith is moving to take her first punch. "And you, Merry /Death/, are a feast," he claims. As Meridith unleashes the flurry of punches, the boy recoils as much as he can while pinned, but he's unable to defend himself and with a pained cry, he goes unconscious.
Meridith would leave it there, tie them, blindfold them, call the HSPD and leave it at that. She has had enough of this conflict for a lifetime. "Ever come for me again and your form won't save you. Don't count on it a second time," she warns the unconscious body of a small child that she just decked.
With the psychic subdued and unconscious, Meridith gets him swiftly secured. Once he is securely bound and blindfolded, he's still entirely unaware of it. Soon after, a sheriff's department vehicle pulls up and the deputy carefully loads the still unconscious psychic into the back of the car. A nod is given to Meridith, and it seems the officer is familiar with this little trouble maker. As the police car drives away, the red and blue lights fade into the distance, leaving Meridith alone to ponder the bizarre encounter she had just endured.