Merrie Sanders
Bio
Writing for fun and as an escape from the everyday. After all, what is life for if not to create?
Achievements (1)
Stories (48)
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An Elebration: A Playlist for my Daughter
We found out I was pregnant with my daughter Eleanor on February 1, 2020, and just a few weeks later, the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My husband, Sean, was furloughed from his job at a commercial real estate firm (later to be laid off two months before my due date), and my job as a paralegal switched to a remote position. While working from home while dealing with severe first trimester illness was a blessing, our lives felt truly uncertain. Did I mention we were also trying to buy our first house? 2020 was a doozy of a year for our household--and it wouldn't calm down after my daughter was born.
By Merrie Sanders3 years ago in Beat
Embrace
After many long years apart, the two came together in a fervor. Their arms and fingers a tangled mess as their tongues danced hungrily across the other’s lips. They paused to take a breath and looked deeply into one another’s eyes. The past suddenly seemed so empty from the other’s absence, and they resumed their wanton embrace. As they lay down on the hard concrete beneath, unable to delay any longer, they heard the explosions in the distant, growing closer and louder and longer, until…nothing.
By Merrie Sanders3 years ago in Fiction
Maxwell's Thanksgiving Message
On this lovely Thanksgiving Eve, I'm reminded of the multitude of things for which I have to be grateful. I have wonderful family and friends, a good job, and a roof over my head. But beyond this gratitude, I was struck by something else today. It was a slow day at the office, and with the permission of one my bosses, I brought my sweet Maxwell to work with me. Anyone that knows me knows that the little guy is a ubiquitous fixture in my life. He lends an ear when I need to vent, and his presence calms me in a way that I cannot quite explain. He is kind and soulful in a way I've never personally known any animal to be. He's a sidekick, a protector, a therapy dog. But he is also, as I believe all of nature to be, a teacher.
By Merrie Sanders3 years ago in Petlife
Somewhere Beyond the Stars
As I wash my hands, I look around at the sparse décor. I don’t know what I had expected but zipping through space on an air train conjures up thoughts of grand glass windows overlooking the galaxies. Ladies with unusual hairdos walking around in skintight jumpsuits serving drinks. Martians and men mingling around oversized, modern couches that stretch from wall to wall.
By Merrie Sanders3 years ago in Fiction
Somewhere Beyond the Stars
Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Honestly, I'm counting on it. The people on this ship are on their way to new lives. They've sold all their earthly possessions to afford a ticket, and they're full of promise at what is what waiting for them off of our world. The naïve electricity in the air is unmissable. Ever since Cruizes announced the first one-way trips a few years ago, I'd reveled in the absurdity of how ready people were to abandon everything they had known; ready to abandon the very soil that once fed them, the foundation of their homes--as if Earth had been the problem all along.
By Merrie Sanders3 years ago in Fiction
Cabin to Safety
The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Amanda and her family spent every summer here when she was a kid. She remembered the excitement she felt in the weeks before their arrival. She and her brothers Mike and Tim would stay up late talking about the things they would do: fishing down at the lake, stick carving, building a fort deep in the woods. But their favorite activity was a game they'd play with the neighboring kids called "Cabin to Safety."
By Merrie Sanders4 years ago in Fiction
