Waking Up as in Coming Home

The Dead

Shirley finds a few kitten in the barn near the house. She's been feeding them with milk. But soon, one of the kittens stop breathing.

It would be better if Shirley can bury the kitten in the ground. So Olivia and Hugh take Shirley to the garden.

"When we die, we turn into stories" Olivia says gently. "Is there any story about this kitten?"

"Ummmm" Shirley slowly opens the wooden box. She focuses on the lifeless body. She widens her eyes when she sees the chest of the kitten heaves. "It's moving! Mum, it's not dead!"

Slowly, something is trying to get through the mouth. Insects start crawling from the mouth. Shirley screams and lets go of the box. She literally falls on the grass.

"What's wrong?" Hugh asks. But Shirley can't form a word anymore after the shocking and weird movement of the kitten.

Sarah hears the scream and she stares right at Shirley. "Is everything alright?" She goes to the girl quickly noticing the wooden box on the ground. Shirley points at the box.

Sarah turns the box over. It's not the cat inside. She sees the head of the kitten was cut off from the body. And the expression of the kitten looks horrifying. But after she blinks twice, it's just a whole dead body of a kitten. Nothing was cut off.

"It's ok. Maybe I can help u to honour it yeah?" Sarah smiles bitterly.

Shirley just nods. Sarah closes the lid and puts one of her hands on the top and mumbles a few words that nobody understands. "May it rest in peace" she puts it on the ground and covers it with the dirt.

"Thanks" Hugh says. Then Olivia and Hugh guide Shirley back inside the house.

Sarah looks at the parents from behind. There's something strange about Olivia that she didn't see it when they first met. Her face looks...grey, not pale but grey. Well, she shakes off the thought. Maybe just lack of rest. Then she goes back to the other kids to enjoy the sun.

The other day, Sarah is making her own tea in the kitchen while the kids are having their own time.

"Hmmmm! Smells delicious! What are u making?" Olivia is drawn by the aroma of the tea.

"Just tea from Malaysia. We call it teh. The difference is I have to burn the tea a little so that the aroma will come out. Do u want one?" Sarah says then she looks up at Olivia. Olivia's face looks slightly greyer.

"Yes please! Gonna see if Malaysian tea can cure my migraine"

"U look like you're drained. Haven't slept well?"

"No. I've been thinking of the forever house. U wanna see my blueprint?"

"Sure!"

Sarah pours the tea into two cups and mixes them with condensed milk. Then she takes the cups and Olivia leads her to her design room.

Olivia lays out the blueprint on the table and sips the tea. "Hmmm! This is fantastic!"

"Yeah? U should come with me back to my hometown. They make good coffee too"

Theo walks past the room. She curiously looks at the two women.

"Come here, sweetheart" Olivia motions Theo to go to her. "U need to try this. Sarah has made the best tea in the world"

Olivia hands Theo the cup and Theo takes a sip. "It's good" Theo takes one more sip before she puts down the cup.

"Maybe we should visit Malaysia some time later" Olivia rubs Theo's hand gently.

Theo's smile slowly fades away as if she sees something. She screams and pulls back her hand as soon as she looks up at her mother.

"What's wrong?" Olivia stands up and Theo keeps stepping back.

"Theo! Theo! You're fine" Sarah grabs Theo's hand no matter how hard Theo fights. In just a few seconds, Theo calms down so much and she stares at Sarah. "Yeah, you're fine" Sarah slowly lets Theo go and Theo leaves the room.

Sarah tries to gather her thought. She gets the image from Theo, the image of Theo seeing Olivia being severely injured. Half of her face is hurt and covered in so much blood.

"Whats wrong?" Olivia asks again worriedly.

Sarah swallows hard before she turns to Olivia. "Nothing. Just something startled her. Well, I forgot about something. I gotta go back to my room. Enjoy your tea"