Time to Come Home

The Cemetery

The Crain has decided to visit Malaysia during Christmas with Sarah. It's true that they have never experienced a summer Christmas. The kids are excited. Sarah tells them they can spend as much time in the pool as they want.

Sarah's uncle comes to pick them all up at the airport and drives back to Ipoh.

"It needs 2-3 hrs to get back to Ipoh. Get some rest." Sarah's uncle tells the Crain.

The Crain is absolutely amazed with the language Sarah speaks to her uncle, especially the kids. They try to get as many English words as they can.

A thought comes up on Olivia's mind. She leans in to the front seats. "Sarah, can we pay a visit to your parents, their tombs perhaps? Well, I wanna thank them anyway. If they never taught u about the witchcraft, u couldn't have saved me"

"Are u ready mentally? I mean it's a cemetery. U may see a lot of things" Sarah says seriously.

"I am." Olivia looks back at Hugh and he nods. "I mean we are. We've learnt to embrace what we are"

"Ok. We will settle then go to the cemetery"

They arrive in a two-story condo after 2 hours.

There are so many crystals in the house as well as something large standing in the centre of the house with candles lit up on the side. It's something from Sarah's belief.

Interestingly, Hugh would feel dizzy when he enters an area like that but he doesn't this time. He feels rather peaceful in the house.

At the other side of the house, there's a big swimming pool. Kids get super excited which lead the parents to calm them a little.

"Wow this place is huge! Just like Hill House" Luke says.

"Yeah but this feels much better than Hill House. It's quiet" Nellie says and looks around. "Sarah?"

"Yes kiddo?" Sarah kneels down to Nellie's eye level.

"How long can we spend in your pool?" The other kids come closer to them and wait for an exciting answer.

"As long as u want"

"YAY!!!"

"Hey, we gotta go visit Sarah's parents first. We can spend the night here" Hugh says.

In a few moments, Sarah drives the Crain to the cemetery which is not too far away from the house.

It's the first time Olivia goes to a cemetery after the Hill House incident. Although she's already got used to seeing spirits, she still finds it a little intimidating when she looks at the cemetery with quite a number of spirits in there.

Theo holds on to Olivia's hand when she steps into the entrance.

"U ok?" Sarah asks both Olivia and Theo. "We can go if it makes u uncomfortable"

Olivia shakes her head. "We are good. Do u think we can see your parents face to face?"

Sarah sighs. "I don't know. They maybe weak or they don't want u to see how...nasty they look. They died in an exorcism. They didn't look good. U may not see them or u only see white smoke or just feel their presence. I've never seen them myself"

"I'm sorry" Olivia says gently.

"It's ok. Come on" Sarah leads the way. When they get to the graves, Sarah takes out something like really thin candles which are in red. She lights them up and mumbles something in a mysterious language. She puts her palm together with the candles between the hands then puts them in a container.

The air changes rapidly. Not only Olivia but the rest can feel it too. Olivia sees some white smoke behind the graves. It's not from the candles. The smoke stays in place.

"You're gorgeous" Nellie suddenly says staring at Sarah's mum's grave.

"Indeed she is" Sarah mumbles to herself not surprised that the youngest sees the spirit. Usually kids at the twins' age see the most things.

Olivia doesn't make a sound. She thanks Sarah's parents with all her heart. She tells them everything internally.

"Hey look who's back to Ipoh!" A woman says.

"Auntie Geraldine!" Sarah is too excited that she slips out her accent which makes the kids giggle. The young woman hugs her auntie.

Geraldine returns her niece a hug. "U have brought your friends here."

"Yup meet the Crain"

Geraldine greets everyone but when she looks at Olivia, she sort of freezes. "U look familiar. Do I know u, Mrs Crain?"

"Ummm I don't think so. This is my first time coming to Malaysia." Olivia says honestly.

"Of course. Well, I'm getting old. My brain isn't in its best" Geraldine jokes.

Suddenly, a group of ravens are coming to their direction. It's not even sunset yet. It isn't a good sign. Something has happened. It's exactly what Sarah and Geraldine expect. Someone is shouting for help.

"Wait here" Sarah tells the Crain. She and Geraldine go see the two young men who are asking for help at the entrance of the cemetery.

Just one look, Sarah can see one of the men is possessed. In Ipoh, people go to the Lim if people are possessed or something supernatural happens.

"What happened?" Sarah asks calmly. She looks at the young man firmly. The other young man explains that his friend said something disrespectful to one of the graves then he loses control. She puts her hand on the man's head, just like what she did to Olivia. He screams and struggles for a while. He calms down after a few minutes and Sarah warns him not to do the same thing again or she won't be able to help him.

Olivia and Hugh, especially the wife, realise how bad she was like back in Hill House. They wrap their arms around the kids just in case they get scared.

Ravens are gone. Sarah looks back at her friends. She notices there's another raven standing on her father's tomb. The raven is staring Sarah straight in the eye. But she brushes off this weird situation. It's Malaysia after all. Animals are everywhere. Sarah doesn't pay attention to the raven.