Locked Away

Chapter 36

TW: Abuse

It's a month later and Meredith is doing relatively well! She has been hanging out with Derek and Mark at her house. She is no longer scared of them. Carolyn is able to see a change in Meredith and is really proud of her for trying so hard. Meredith is slowly becoming part of the real world again.

"Caroyln, I'm ready to go!" Meredith says, walking into the room. She's still unable to drive so Carolyn drives her wherever she needs to go.

"Okay dear. Let me grab my jacket. Mer, I just want to say how proud I am of you for how far you've come. You have taken huge strides in your recovery and I'm just so, so proud of you." Carolyn says with a smile. "And I know Derek, Amelia, Addison, Mark, and Cristina are as well."

"Thank you. It's really hard but I'm trying. I don't want to be scared for the rest of my life." Meredith says softly.

"I think these appointments with Dr Wyatt are really helping you sweetie."

"Yeah, they are." Meredith says softly.

"Now Mer, Dr Wyatt wanted me to suggest something to you. And it's okay if you're not ready yet, but she wanted you to go to Joe's with Cristina soon. She knows that that's where you were at before everything happened and she doesn't want you to avoid Joe's. We don't want you to avoid Joe's. We want you to have fun and not worry about bad things happening to you. And I know Cristina would help you deal with being at Joe's and reliving all those painful memories. What do you think sweetie?" Carolyn asks.

Meredith's face pales and she shakes her head no. "No! I- I can't go back there. It-It's too much. I just can't." Meredith starts anxiously playing with her fingers.

"Shh, you're okay. That's okay if you're not ready yet. You don't have to do that yet. But you should one day Mer. But that doesn't have to be today." Carolyn takes hold of Meredith's hands to calm her down. "I know you're anxious Mer, I've got you."

"I'm sorry." Meredith whispers. "I'm just not ready yet."

"Meredith. Look at me sweetie." She tilts Meredith's chin so that she's looking at her. "You don't need to apologize. That's perfectly fine if you don't feel ready yet. You went through trauma and even though you're doing well it makes sense that you'll still avoid Joe's since that's where you were last seen."

"Okay." Meredith whispers.

"Now, are we ready to go see Dr Wyatt?"

"Yeah. I'm ready to go." Meredith says.

The two women go into the car and Carolyn starts driving towards the hospital. They soon arrive and Carolyn drops her off at the entrance. "Bye Meredith. I hope you have a good session. Cristina is bringing you home today, correct?"

"Yeah, Cristina will bring me back. She said she wants to watch my mom's surgical tapes later. That'll be good. Plus it'll be good to watch those since I've been out of work for so long." Meredith says.

"That'll be nice. I know you enjoy watching those. I'll see you later Meredith."

"Bye. Thanks for the ride!" Meredith smiles.

Carolyn waves and drives off. Meredith sighs and walks into the hospital. She heads to the elevators and presses the button for psych.

The elevator door opens to the floor and she gets out and makes her way towards Dr Wyatt's office.

"No! Don't touch me! I hate it here! You can't keep me here against my will!" A psych patient yells after leaving an appointment with their therapist. A psych nurse is with them, trying to bring them back into the psych area since their appointment is over. "You can't do this! Let me go!" The patient screams.

Meredith hears all of this and is instantly terrified. She is reminded of being kept against her will in Finn's basement. Meredith forgets about her appointment with Dr Wyatt and takes off running down the hallway. "I need somewhere to hide. He'll find me! I can't be here! I can't let Finn take me again!"

Meredith sees an empty exam room and quickly runs in there and closes the door behind her. "I can't be out in the open! I can't let him find me! I need to find somewhere to hide!" Meredith looks around the exam room and decides to hide in a cupboard that's open. "There!"

Meredith climbs into the cupboard and closes the door behind her. The safety latch clicks and locks her inside, reminding her immediately that the doors lock automatically from the outside when they are closed. Meredith's eyes widen in shock and fear. She is now in the pitch black cupboard with no way to get out.

The pitch blackness reminds her instantly of how dark it was back in Finn's basement. And the only times when she would see light was when Finn would come downstairs to hurt her.

Meredith is immediately taken back into a flashback.

"You don't deserve light Meredith! You will sit here in the darkness until the next time I come to see you!" Finn yells at her. He roughly grabs her wrists and pulls her over to the pole. He ties her ankles and wrists to the pole, not caring at how tight they are. Once she's tied up again, he kicks her multiple times and then leaves the room. He closes and locks the doors behind him. He then turns off the lights from the hallway outside the basement door, making the basement go dark. There are no windows in the room which means no light from outside can get in the room. Meredith can't see a single thing. It's like she has her eyes closed, yet they're open.

Meredith sobs in fear and pain, eventually falling asleep tied to the pole.

Meredith is back in the cupboard and puts her arms around her legs and rocks her body back and forth. She believes Finn has kidnapped her again and put her back in his basement. Her mind won't allow her to remember that she's just in the cupboard in the hospital. All she can think of is that she's back in Finn's basement.

"I need to get out of this basement! I need to somehow get out before he comes back!!!" Meredith whispers to herself while sobbing softly.

I hope you enjoyed!