(Listen to the song above while reading. It's time for the 'Antagonist Playlist' to kick in.)

Meredith is standing infront of me.

"So, you've finally figured it out that I'm not Daddy Charlie Knightley." Meredith laughs loudly in the silent forrest, causing a few birds to fly out of their nests.

I have a sudden urge to run and I find myself backing up. I crush a few leaves as I back away.

"Not so fast!" She presses her palm into a fist and an excruciating pain runs through my body.

I groan in pain as my body binds together rigid. It straightens on its own account and my arms are slapped against my hips.

"It was so very easy to lure you here...
The poor orphaned little girl who so desparately wanted to see her father." She walks towards me.

"I really wouldn't blame you for running into this forrest, though.
What I did was absolutely horrid but so wonderfully satisfying." She laughs as she circles around you.

"'Tis something I would have done...
We both are alike in severals aspects, afterall."

"I am nothing like you." I manage to say but it sends of wave of pain through my body again.

"Of course, we are!
Two orphaned little girls who got hunted down by their inner demons, the both of us have had our fair share of sorrows. Both of us ruined by the most important men of our lives...
Do you know the only difference...?"

I grit my teeth and am not able to make a reply.

Meredith narrows her eyes playfully at me and says,
"The only difference is that my father ruined my life and your brother is ruining yours....

What is you talking about...?

"And can you tell how Dylan ruined my life?" I look straight at her.

Now, it feels like my entire body is drowning and I have no resource of oxygen.

This sensation continues for a more few seconds when Meredith says,
"I'll tell you about that later....
For now,....
I am here to offer you a deal."

A deal with the devil herself...

"What deal?" I narrow my eyes at her.
This time, however, I don't feel any pain as I talk.

"Stop helping our beloved Henry in finding those memories." She stops circling and looks me straight in the line.

I cringe slightly at the use of our.

"And what would I get, then?"
I raise my right brow.

"No harm shall ever come to your family. You can have all that you ever wanted in these past seven years...."

My family?

I scoff.
"Like you would ever want any good for my family."

"I have been living in the mortal world for almost a hundred and fifty years, one hundred and five-and- fourty to be exact. I know certain things...

"Think about it. You only have five minutes." She lazily flicks her fingers and a sand clock appears in mid air.

Meredith starts walking backwards into the deeper side of the forest-- leaving doubt to linger about.

I... can protect my family...
Maybe, even give them back the life, life that was taken from them...
A family that loves me...

You have your brother, Ms Bragge and your friends.
No being on earth can bring them back.

The voice inside my head says. This voice doesn't seem mine. The voice inside my head is usually sarcastic.
This voice seems mature and old....

Henry....?

Yes, it is me.

He's literally in my head?

What are you doing in my head?

Guiding you, that is all. I told you to accept your past but you let your inner demons and sorrow consume you....
That is how Meredith was able to lure you here.

I'm just a teenager, okay? I snap back at him.

You and I both know that you are wiser beyond your years.

I almost want to laugh at the wiser part.

There is no time for jesting, Lindsey. You only have now three minutes left till she comes back.

How did you even come inside of my head, anyway? Are you possesing me or something?

Of course, not.
This is your dream, it may be manipulated but it is yours, which is why I am able to communicate like this.
Only evil beings can posses an entire human. I am merely a ghost.

That kind of explains it, I guess?

So... I'll just temporise her then.

Yes.

"Time's up!"
I see two eyes glimmer from the darker side of the forrest.
Meredith comes out and lifts her head up.

She glides across the short distance between us and stands beside me.

"What have you decided? Do you want Isabelle's fate or a fate like mine?" she says.

"What?" I arch my eyebrows up.

"Do you want your fate to end like Isabelle: unsuccessful and dead, or like mine: successful and alive?"

"I...
How are you even standing in front of me? You killed Isabelle?" I ask.

She smirks.
"A rose can not be enjoyed wholly till all of its thorns are wrenched out.
I don't expect mere mortals to understand my cause."

"All this talk about roses... I might as well make rose sherbet out of it," I say sarcastically.

I feel blood rushing through my head as if I've been hanging upside down and I feel my legs weakened and wobbly.

She only wants to hear what she likes...

"Need I remind you of reasons other than just revenge over a woeful event." She lifts his fingers and starts to regard them.

She twists and turns her white hand in odd angles and brings it infront of my face.
"This hand here can cause you such pain that even remorse in your chest will seem like a feeble pebble infront of it.

"I am asking you again.
Will you stop interferring or will I have to end your petty existence in your own dream?
I can asure you that if you keep on intervening, everything will end in embers and ashes..."

I feel my breath stuck inside my chest.

I have never been one for finding hacks. Maybe, after finding out about Henry's mystery, I can finally resolve my own past.

On the other hand, I can pretend this never happened.

But if this never happened, I would never have met Allison and Ethan, my friends.

On top of that, there's a possibility that my family might...
And then there's Henry's own warning.

God, what should I do...

Even my body wasn't binded together, I would be running my hands in my hair.

"WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER!"
I feel a high pitched scream that sends my ears feeling like blood will start coming out of it.

"NO, I WON'T! I WON'T HELP YOU!"
I shout in between the screams pierceing through my ears.

The screams stop and I open my eyes. I didn't realize that I had screwed my eyes shut because of the pain.

"So, you prefer having mayhem in your life rather than accepting what is better for you own fate!"

I look up at her pale face and mockingly roll my eyes,
"I don't need your help in finding out what's better for me, Poltelgeist."

She brings her finger up and straightens my bent back.

"Very well.
Just remember...
The accident that killed your family wasn't an accident. Heed my words, your brother knows more about what actually happened than he lets you on..."

Dylan and the accident...

"What are you trying to say?" I pull a stern expression on my face and press my lips in a straight line.

"Let us just say that I am not the only devil here....."
She laughs loudly, sending the sound waves echoing across the dark forest.

The other devil?

"Please, Stay away from my neice." Shock comes over Meredith's face as she's pulled back by some invisible force.
She quickly recovers and looks agitatedly at the person standing next to her.

While looking at Henry, she breaks eye contact with me and I feel my muscles relaxing. I try to move my arms and they are now following my orders without any hesitation.

"Neice?" I say out loud, but this time I feel no twinging.

Really? That's what worries you most about this scenario?

Oh, the old sarcastic voice in my head is back. Great.

Henry smiles at me before turning to Meredith,
"Leave her alone. This is our feud, Meredith."

Meredith laughs,
"A lot of other things could have been ours, Henry, had it not been your own stance."
She takes a few steps toward him and extends a hand at him.

Henry takes a step back.
"Don't touch me again."
He shakes his head.
"You do not have any business in this dream," Henry says, changing the topic.

What?

"Neither do you, Henry. Now, can you leave us two ladies to discuss matters privately."

Meredith raises her hand and is about to point it at me when Henry shouts,
"WAKE UP!"

My eyes feel like they will barge out of their sockets as I open my eyes. I sit up in my bed and remove the covers from the body.

My breathing is ragged, like the steam coming out of an overused engine. My clothes are completely drenced in sweat as I clumsily unfold my right sleeve.

There's a purple bruise there...

Hello wonderful people who are reading this !!

Wow, a lot has happened in the last two chapters, eh? I can't believe that just happened(and I wrote a double update!!)

I know I was supposed to add Ethan's pic next but I put Meredith's in the last chapter. I have a scene in my head where I want to put Ethan's pic and that scene hasn't come, yet.

The song above is 'The Devil Within' by Digital Daggers. If you want to know Meredith by one song, it's that one.

And now to this week's question:

What was Meredith talking about? What's all this about the 'other devil'?

Avoid weird typos and have an absolutely fantastic week:)

Love,
MS Zame:D