Catalyst by Shelly Crane

us.
                  Everything started to shake and bleed away, just like all the dreams I’d had before. All the colors bled in to the ones below it and faded away until only we were left. So, this is a dream. Makes sense now.
                  “But I haven’t learned anything. Why am I here? ” I asked him.

              “To remember," he said steadily. " To remember all the things that have happened and a ll the people you knew. To remember past mistakes, yours and theirs. We must learn from history or it is doomed to repeat itself.”
                  “Oh, don’t you talk riddles to me, too,” I pouted.
                  He laughed.
                  “My Sherry, s o eager to learn. You’ll know all you need to know when you need to know it.”
                  “That doesn’t make any sense at all, Merrick. You know that right?”
                  “One day, it will. In the mean time...” He pressed his lips to my ear, giving me shivers of pleasure. “Wake up.”
     
                  I woke with a start. I was lying on my back, alone in our room. My body felt heavy but I wasn’t quite as achy as before. I remembered every detail of the dream like it was a memory. It was a strange dream for sure.
                  I stretched my body slowly, testing myself. Feeling my muscles groan and complain and my joints pop. Yesterday had been good. Today, my third day home since my rescue , looked to be even better.
                  Yesterday I was bed ridden and slept most of the day away. I only got out of bed once- correction - I was only allowed out of bed once to go to the bathroom and I was carried there and back.
                  Danny had poked his head in once , but didn’t stay. I was a little surprised by that but chalked it up to him believing I was fine.
                  Merric k fed me, sponge bathed me, rested with me and talked for hours. H e even cooked lunch for everyone since it was supposed to be my day to.
                  He br ought Lily to me that afternoon after her nap. Oh, that was a sweet, sweet reunion. I’ve never felt so loved and needed. She chattered on endlessly about everything she could think of. About how uncle Danny had read her a bedtime story about an old woman who lived in a shoe and had lots of cats with a mole on the end of her nose and hated pie. She also had a pet wolf name Marco.
                  Merrick and I laughed so hard we cried at her explaining it to us. I made a mental note to teach Danny a real bedtime story.
                  She told us that Aunt Rissa and U ncle Jeff - the ki d had a lot of aunts and uncles - h ad done a puzzle with her. And Uncle Cain and A unt L had played hide and go seek with her in the dark second room with flashlights.
                  I wondered where in the world she got the idea to call Lillian L from.
                  Lots of people came to visit me, like I was in the hospital or something , faces so sullen and uncomfortable. I laughed at them and told everyone to stop acting like I had an incurable disease.
                  But today, I was getting out of this bed. People walk ed around wit h concussions and besides, I fe l t like I was about to get muscle atrophy.
                  I go t up and eased on some clean clothes, jeans and a loose low hanging green top. Merrick had scrubbed me with a sponge bath yesterday morning and ni ght. He was so thorough I doubt I’d ever been so clean. To be honest, I think he enjoyed it more than I did. He kept smiling and trying to hide it. He watched me with a look of fascination, to see if I’d like what he was doing or not. I did like it , b ut he wasn’t about to do anything about me liking it so it was a moot point.
                  I brushed my hair out