MERRILL

The alarm pierced through Merrill’s ears as it struck 10 a.m. She felt an enormous amount of inertia flow into her before she even opened her eyes. But she did open her eyes only to realize that it triggered an unbearable headache to wake up as well.

“Oh honey, are you up already? I wanted you to wake up to the smell of your favorite chocolate chip pancake,” said Jim holding a big tray next to her.

The sound of him was powerful enough for her mind to pull out all the defenses it had and for her body to instantly sit upright despite the pounding headache.

Seeing the perplexed expression on her face, “Are you okay? Did you sleep well darling?” he asked worriedly and placed the tray on the bed. “I present to you, your very own breakfast in bed! Go on now, taste my creation” His morning was beaming with energy, enthusiasm and excitement. His eyes showed his impatience to see a reaction from her on his attempt at surprising her. But there was only one problem.

“Who are you?!” she demanded sternly. Her confusion had taken the form of aggression by the time she stood up and finally spit out the words running around her mind for the past 15 seconds, “And…who am I?!”

 “What?” His voice filled with all the hope in the world that her reply would be “Just kidding baby.” But he knew it would not be. Because this has happened before.

“Wha – Where..Who am i?! How did I get here? Why don’t I remember anything?” she yawped

“Mer..” he tried cajoling, taking a step towards her.

“Don’t!” she barked as her aggression turned into defense.

“Okay okay, your name is Merrill and I am your husband, Jim. And we are in our house in Brooklyn.”

“What on earth, how is that possible..”

“Honey listen to -“

“Don’t call me that!”

“Okay Merrill, please listen to me, I will tell you everything. I just need you to relax and not stress your brain too much”

His softness finally calmed her down. He sat next to her on the bed and looked right into her eyes.

“We got married 3 months ago and you just got into a horrific car crash 3 weeks ago. You have had such a memory loss before as well, a week after the accident but you were fine the next day. The doctor had warned us that such episodes can occur again due to the severe trauma you went through. See, your bandage is still not off yet,” he explained, pointing to her head.

Her eyes screamed confusion.

“I just, just cannot remember anything. Do I have anyone else in my life?” she started tearing up whilst holding her head with both hands.

“Of course,” he said pointing to the wedding picture on the wall, “Those are your parents on the right and mine on the left. Your parents live in Connecticut and mine are in Naples. You know what, let us invite them over for a few days, would that be okay?”

“Umm, sure” she still reeked of a whole lot of confusion.

“You have been through a lot Merrill and I promise I will be by your side,” Jim assured her.

“But”

“Don’t pressure your brain please. It is not strong enough to be burdened just yet”

She looked at him. Jim was tall, dark and quite an above average looking 33-year-old guy with soft black hair tied up in a small pony. He gave her some space and headed downstairs whilst she sat in the same position on the bed for the next 8 minutes, trying to process this bomb of information that had blown up her mind. She finally stood up, walked over to the mirror and stared at herself from top to bottom.

“Is this for real?” she skeptically touched her face as though some sort of sorcery was making her look at a different human in the mirror. She gently poked her bandage to see if it actually hurt which made her let out a slight “Ouch.” She was a beautiful lady. Her eyes looked sleep-deprived, weary and drained whilst her eyebrows seemed untouched for weeks.

“Is this me? How can I forget who I am and how I look? I have lost my goddamn identity! What else do I have left?”

The clinking of cups right behind her made her turn around instantly, giving her a very creepy vibe. Jim was standing behind her with two cups, watching her talk to herself.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“Not too long, made us some coffee.”

“Oh”

She felt a little awkward and went back to sit on the bed after taking the cup from him.

“I have a few more wedding pictures for you,” he said, “We just shifted, so this is all we got. You even deleted your Facebook and Instagram accounts because you could not stand the social media buffoonery anymore.  But I have called both our parents, they will be here by tomorrow.”

Merrill took the pictures and went through them one by one, carefully observing each and every detail in it with him next to her, naming and describing everyone in it.

“I just cannot blindly trust him,” she thought to herself whilst sipping on her coffee, “But right now, I don’t have a choice. Let me just pretend to come to terms with all this and wait for our parents to come.”

She handed the pictures over to him and said with a smile, “Thank you, for your patience and support.”

“Don’t say thank you Merrill, I am your husband and will always be there for you,” he made certain, “And our Doctor will meet with us in the night as he had to fly out for a day.”

“Hmm,” she replied.

A few hours went by with Merrill adjusting to the life she was supposedly living for the last 27 years. Jim did not try to scoop her memory back as the Doc had warned him against it. He let her chill, watch T.V, stroll around the garden as he kept an eye on her like a parent. He made her favorite items of food and watched her from a distance.

Merrill’s day was quite bizarre as it was. Adding to that were Jim’s watchdog skills. Whichever part of the house she went to, she would find Jim watching her every move. She grew increasingly uncomfortable as the hours passed with the way Jim kept looking at her. “Why does he keep staring at me without saying a word?” she wondered. The more creeped out she got, the more her suspicion regarding the whole story grew stronger. She got fed up of all the questions bouncing about in her mind. So, she decided to take a nap. Her busy mind kept knocking off whatever little amount of sleep was coming her way. Frustrated, she slapped her eyelids shut and channeled all her energy into calming herself down.

“It is 8 pm Merrill, wake up sleepy head. I ordered your favorite pizza,” Jim’s soft voice sounded more like a lullaby than a wakeup call. “Want to freshen up, take a shower perhaps?”

She sat up slowly, “I have been sleeping for 4 hours?

“Yes, you needed it. But hey, get up now. The Doc will be here in an hour so let us have dinner.

“What is the Doc going to do to me?” she inquired in a tensed tone.

“Just going to check how you are and how severe the amnesia is, don’t worry darling.”

She nodded her head in comprehension and replied with a sigh of relief, “Okay.”

The nap had really helped cleanse her mind and cut down the skepticism floating in it.

“He seems sweet, maybe I am giving him a very hard time,” she reflected.

He laid out a minty fresh towel, “Your clothes are in this closet, choose whatever you like. I will be waiting downstairs,” and gave her a peck on the forehead before walking down.

She stepped out of the shower feeling revitalized and began searching for some clean clothes. Just then, her hand brushed across a folded sheet of paper. “What is this paper doing in a pile of clothes?” She grabbed it open. It was a letter addressed to her that started with “Read Alone.” Baffled, she began reading.

“You were an air-hostess with Southwest Airlines since the past 5 years and you had gotten married to your boyfriend from college, Joe 3 years ago. You even had a little boy, Manny. Why am I using the past tense? Because Joe and Manny are both dead now!”

“What on earth is this?! Who are these Joe and Manny? Is this a joke?” Merrill thought to herself. Who was telling this story? And whose story was it anyway? The words fluttered and flew in the wind. But out of curiosity, she continued reading with utmost bewilderment.

“And this man, Jim, he is not your husband, he is a psychopath. You have not been in any accident and whatever he is telling you is utter bullshit! I know you might not believe me so here is how it all started. Jim was on your flight around 4 months ago and befriended you mid-air. You thought he was quite a cool, harmless dude so you exchanged numbers. Soon, he started stalking you. He claimed to be in love with you, wanted you to be his and wouldn’t take no for an answer, despite knowing you had a husband and a kid. The situation worsened to the point that you had to take help of the police along with a restraining order. And what he did in retaliation shocked you beyond limits. You had never expected him to react in this way, even in your wildest thoughts. He broke into your house in the middle of the night and shot your husband and son, point-blank. Right in front of your eyes! The love of your life and your son breathed their last breath before falling dead on your feet.”

Merrill was flabbergasted with one hand on her mouth and the other hand shaking as she held the letter. Her heart was pounding. She was trembling in fear. She was aghast at those horrifying words. Her knees felt weak. She was petrified to move even a millimeter. But she just could not stand on her wobbling knees anymore and took support of the bed to sit. She mustered up all the courage left in her to gaze back at the letter and continue reading.

“He then kidnapped you and brought you to this house. Whatever pictures he is showing you must be Photoshopped and the stories, made up. And as for the memory loss, he has hired a Doc who gives you electric shocks almost every night for you to erase your past. He is a lunatic, he just wants you to be with him, live in his house, whether you are yourself or not. This will harm you to the point of death, possibly. Get out of there!”

Her heart skipped a beat upon hearing “Are you ready honey?” from downstairs.

She hid the note and replied “Almost done,” in a tone filled with nervousness, panic and fear. After confirming he is still downstairs, she carried on with the letter.

“And who am I? I am Merrill, I am you!”

Merrill was horror-struck. Her eyes widened in astonishment. “This can’t be happening..” she murmured.

“I just recalled every little detail and I am writing this to remind myself again some other day in case I do not escape tonight’s electric shock. I do not know how many times I have remembered and made to forget again due to the shock. But if you are reading this, it means I am still trapped. Please believe me get out before it is too late and go to any length to do so! He won’t let you off as long as he is alive. Kill him Merrill, kill him!”

Merrill could not fathom what she had read. Who should she believe? Who should she trust? She felt dizzy from the turmoil in her head. She was entangled in a web of lies where she simply could not differentiate truth from lies. “I wish I remembered my handwriting to confirm this was written by me. What do I do now?!” she whimpered as she put on some clothes.

“Merrill” Jim called from downstairs.

Words could not come out of her whilst she tried swallowing what was happening to her.

“Merrill!” shrieked Jim.

Merrill was not ready to face him. She wanted to run away. But she was on the 2nd floor of the bungalow and there was no way to jump out without getting severely injured. She quickly browsed around the room to unearth ways to escape.

Just then she heard footsteps up the stairs. “He is coming up, what should I do?” She got hold of the heavy vase next to her to use in her defense and stood against the wall at the end of the staircase. He could not see her until he walked all the way up. Jim was on the last step when Merrill spotted something in his hand.

The lights suddenly went out as he crossed the last step and looked to the right to see terrified Merrill. That is when she realized he had a knife in his hand.

“Mer-“

In a split second, she breaks the vase on his head with all the force her shuddering arms could manage. He falls back and tumbles down the entire flight of stairs, smacking his head in several places on the way down. He finally lands. His forehead starts bleeding profusely. His body is still.

“Oh my goodness!” she yelped and walked down meticulously yet anxiously. He wasn’t breathing even a little bit.

“Dear God, I have killed him!” she exclaimed after checking his pulse. She simply could not think anymore. Her mind was cluttered and her body, crippled, as though she had been struck by an arthritic attack.

She took a few seconds to break out of her frozen state and ran out the house and onto the road. She ran as fast as she could away from the house, in a devastated state. Eyes, blood red and heart, racing. A white sedan flashed a high beam right into her face, forcing her to look away. It came closer and closer. She slowed down and so did the car. It came to a halt right next to her and out stepped a short, dark-haired woman in purple stilettos. She had wrapped her head in a scarf, almost making it impossible for Merrill to see her face. She then took off the scarf and looked Merrill in the face.

“Hi Merrill. Wow, don’t you look like a wreck?”

“Who ar-”

“Don’t bother remembering, I am Sheila. You don’t know me but you sure have made my life hell.”

“What..”

“Well Merrill, remember the car accident you got into 3 weeks ago? Well, you got out of it quite safely despite it being your fault. But the person in the car opposite yours, didn’t.”

“Wait, Jim was telling me the truth?”

“Oh yes he was, he really is your husband! And you my darling, have just killed your own, beloved husband. He did love you a lot, if you must know.”

“Oh my God!” Merrill howled. “How do you know all this?”

“I am the wife of the man that died because of you, you stupid woman. You were the one texting while driving and you got out of it with a clean chit. Of course, when I learned about your memory loss episodes, I planned to show you what it feels like to have a hellish life.”

“So, the letter?”

“Oh dear Merrill, gullible little Merrill, I planted that over there too!” Sheila scoffed.

“You wretch!” yelled Merrill.

“You will realize the pain of losing a dear one now. In fact, pain coupled with the guilt of killing him too.” Sheila taunted. “Not to forget you will be behind bars while feeling all these. Your fingerprints are everywhere and the police have already reached your house. Somebody tipped them off, I wonder who it could be,” she grinned, “And if you are thinking of presenting that letter as evidence, you should know that I have already gotten rid of it. But hey, you can always plead insane and get admitted into a mental hospital to escape jail.”

“I can’t believe this..” Merrill mourned.

“Oh darling, you better start. Your life has now gone for a toss.” Sheila ridiculed with a smirk on her face.

Sheila sat back into her car and drove away. Just as her cae drove away, another car’s high beam gleamed in front of her. It was a police car.

“Mrs. Merrill Scott, you are under arrest for the murder of your husband, Mr. Jim Scott.”