Waking Up as in Coming Home

The Recovery

After knowing Sarah is fine by now, Hugh gets the same nurse to get Olivia checked up. He has absolutely no idea what was going on with his wife.

"Where did u take the kids to?" Olivia asks Hugh while waiting for the doctor.

"Just a motel nearby. Liv...it wasn't u at all. I knew it. What happened to u?" Hugh holds Olivia's hands tightly.

"U don't understand anyway. Why bother?" Olivia is indeed frustrated. Hugh does know she's sensitive but he has a hard time understanding the world of a sensitive. Hugh has his head hung down looking guilty. "No Hugh...I don't mean...I'm not even mad. I just...it wasn't a dream. I saw ghosts. And the evil ones possessed me or controlled me or...I can't even find the right word. I'd never experienced that." Olivia takes a deep breath. "Sarah...is a witch. She banished the evil ones and there was one female evil spirit named Poppy Hill. It was her controlling me so that I had all those weird actions"

"She told me she was a witch before I left with the kids. I didn't expect the whole situation would be like this." Hugh says. Then the couple falls into silence.

"Sarah feels so much like...her" Olivia opens up once again.

The Crain would have had 6 children but the first one, before Steve, was miscarried. Olivia was heartbroken. She was 18 weeks in the pregnancy. They never revealed the gender of the child but Olivia always called it a she or Lily.

"I didn't know anything about Sarah but the first time I laid eye on her, I knew she was Lily. She would have been Sarah's age if she was here" Olivia continues. "My heart shattered when I saw Sarah was dying and now we can't even tell if she can make it to see another sunrise." Olivia forces herself not to cry. "I don't wanna experience that feeling again. I hope all the spirits she has helped can help her this time."

Hugh is never a superstitious person but now he will pray to anything to get Sarah better. He has felt the same towards Sarah but not as strong as Olivia.

The doctor comes in. He informs the Crain that Olivia is better to stay for a night or two. After all, she hit her head. She needs to get a CT scan of the brain.

Olivia is sent to the general ward whereas Hugh gets back to the motel. He explains everything to his children. He expected the kids to ask him so many questions but apparently they know about the other dimension of the world. They don't ask questions but ask when they can visit Sarah.

The grown ups can't sleep. Hugh spends the night sitting outside of the motel room waiting for the call from the doctor. Olivia spends the night staring out of the window. The babysitter, who has become their close friends, is undergoing a surgery.

"Mrs Crain" the surgeon who's responsible for Sarah's surgery goes to the ward Olivia stays in. "I'm the surgeon for Sarah's surgery"

Olivia holds her breath and her hands clench on the cinnabar bracelet which belongs to Sarah.

"How...how is Sarah?"

"She's fine. We have stabilised her. She's a miracle. She just fights for her life. All through the surgery, her vital was just like a normal person which was so stable. And the  internal bleeding has stopped before we performed the surgery. Now we just need to send her up to ICU and observe her"

Olivia lets go of her breath and smiles. "Thank u doctor. Can I go see her?"

"It's better to let her rest. U can see her in the morning. It's late now. You should get some rest as well. I'll call your husband"

Days have passed until Sarah is good enough to be moved to the general ward. It's so fast that she has recovered. The doctor is also surprised. But not everything can be explained with science.

Olivia visits Sarah every day. Hugh and the kids are going to see her on one of those days.

"Hey! U don't have to visit me every day. I'm fine" Sarah smiles when she sees who comes into the ward.

"Well I heard your ribs are still broken. I don't think u can move much" Olivia puts down a box. "I tried making Chinese food. U wanna try?"

"Sure!" Sarah sits up but sharp pain hits her chest. "Damn it!"

"Easy, will u?"

"I got this"

Olivia takes a look on Sarah then she sits down at the edge of the bed. There's something she wants to say so bad.

"Can I ask u something?" Olivia says gently. Sarah nods. "Do u sense anything around me? I mean do u see something else apart from the evil spirits from the house?"

"Not that I notice" Sarah opens the box and the food is definitely looking good and delicious. "Lily..." there's a moment that Sarah isn't herself as if she's sleep talking but just like two seconds.

"What?" Olivia whispers and freezes in place.

"Lily? Who's Lily? My gut is telling me this name" Sarah doesn't see anyone in the ward or around Olivia. Olivia covers her mouth and tears well up in her eyes.

"That's my unborn...I miscarried my first child. I don't know how I know but I always know it's a girl. When I first saw u...u looked like her. And your age...if she was here now, she would be your age"

"I don't see anything further though. I guess perhaps she already left the world. I mean as in reincarnation."

"I knew it was u. I always know" Olivia grabs the girl's hand. "The feeling u gave me and Hugh. I just know and our kids trust u so much"

Sarah hugs Olivia. "Do I look like the way u expected her to look like? Despite the fact that I'm Asian"

Olivia nods vigorously. "Yeah! Absolutely! And really bright and smart"

The two smile at each other. Olivia is careful not to hurt Sarah. "I wanna go back to Malaysia to visit my parents' graves. I'm sorry I lied to u"

"Don't be sorry. I get it. And...I want u to know you're not alone anymore. We wanna come with u. After all the mess...u know" Olivia wipes her tears. "Can we?"