User:Carlsthompson/sandbox

Synopsis

The novel is told from alternating viewpoints of eight-year old Merry Barrett as she watches her sister deal with mental illness and twenty-three-year old Merry as she retells the story to an investigative journalist. The novel also contains exerts from a Fan Blog dedicated to the show that documented Merry's childhood.

As an eight year old, Merry's recently unemployed father, John, begins struggling with how to support Merry, her older sister Marjorie, and their mother. Although their mother has been working full time to support the family, finances had been dwindling. To make matters worse, Merry's fifteen-year old sister Marjorie had begun to act in an increasingly bizarre fashion. Merry first notices the strange behaviour after her sister began making up macabre stories and defacing a copy of Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go to describe the characters murdering their parents. Unbeknownst to Merry, Marjorie had been seeing a therapist, and is suspected to be suffering from an unnamed mental illness, although it is suggested to be schizophrenia.

Merry's father, who had recently become a born again Catholic, begins to wonder if Marjorie is possessed. After meeting with his local priest, who believes that an exorcism is necessary, he contacts a reality television crew similar to Ghosthunters. Together, the two men manage to make the family the focus of an upcoming reality TV show The Possession, which will focus on Marjorie for its series debut, much to their mother's disgust.

As the documentary crew begins recording the activity around the house, Marjorie switches between acting completely irrational and acting normal. Eventually, Marjorie confides in Merry that she has been faking so that the family can experience a financial gain from the success of the documentary series. After Marjorie threatens her, Merry decides to keep the secret to herself.

While filming the exorcism, which is intended to be the climax of the show, Marjorie demands that Merry be in the room. Initially scared, Marjorie begins acting erratically once the cameras begin to film her. Objects in the room begin to shake and Marjorie realizes that the filmmakers rigged to appear haunted to increase the dramatic effect. In a fit of rage over the deception, Marjorie begins insulting her family members and viciously attacks one of the crew members.

Weeks after the crew leaves, Marjorie explains to Merry that their father forced her to fake her symptoms. While referencing the Richard Scarry story she had written, she convinces Merry that their father is the one who is mentally ill and that the two must stop him. Through Marjorie's instruction, Merry mixes cyanide into dinner one night, believing that it will heal them from their plight. She watches in horror as her family dies in front of her.

Through her narration as an adult, it is revealed that Merry was never a suspect in the murder and allowed her father to take the blame. It is also suggested that she struggles with Alcoholism. As she explains the story to the reporter, it is also unveiled that she is the one who has been running the popular blog dedicated to the television show, and has been presenting more outlandish theories of what could have happened. As the interviewer finishes speaking with Merry, it becomes unclear how much of the tale she has shared was true.