Time to Come Home

The Sanity

Sarah follows the scream to Steve's room. When she's on her way, she sees two girls walk past the corridor. "Shirl? Theo?" She mumbles to herself. But that's too weird. Sarah finally comes to her senses. Why would they be there? She goes into the girls' room and sees the girls are in there sleeping.

A golden snake slithers into Steve's room which draws Sarah's attention.

"Lily!" Once again Steve screams for help. Sarah rushes to the room.

Steve is restrained by the golden snake. Everything looks so harmful but at the same time it doesn't make so much sense. Why a golden snake? Sarah has never seen a golden snake like that in the area of Hill House or in Ipoh.

She remembers quickly she isn't in Hill House. She's actually in a dark wizard's house. It makes sense if there is animal like that but...everything makes no sense to her now. Her parents, Olivia and the twins...they all disappear when she reaches them. Now Steve, although he's struggling.

Sarah looks up at the decoration above the fire pit. There stands a raven staring down at her.

The sun is setting. A ray of light shines through the window as if a hint to Sarah.

"Lily help!" Steve screams.

Sarah ignores the scream and stares at raven, which is actually Verna. She sits down on the floor and watches Steve getting consumed by the golden snake.

She closes her eyes and starts mumbling spells under her breath. The scream fades away. There's no Hill House. There's no golden snake. There's no children. The house is empty.

'When your heart is quiet and calm, you see everything.' Sarah's father's voice is lingering on her mind.

Sarah takes a deep breath and focuses on the images appearing on her mind to find where the Crain is.

There are two figures in front of her wandering Hill House. They are heading to the red room. The faces become clearer.

"Theo? Olivia?" Sarah whispers. "Show me where u are"

The red door is open but there is only light in there just like there is a boundary there. The figures disappear when they go into the light.

Sarah opens her eyes. It's just a normal abandoned house. It's not Hill House. She gets up and walks out of the room. The corridor is so much like the one in Hill House. She walks according to her memory of the images she had on her mind earlier. A very old wooden door stands in front of her. Sarah presses her ear on the door. She hears nothing. Her hand brushes over the door knob and turns it.

Nobody is inside. Strangely, there's a layer of fog inside the room. Sarah has seen something like this.

The raven stands on top of the doorframe staring at Sarah which is Verna is watching Sarah silently.

Sarah focuses on the view in front of her. She takes a step into the room.

"Lily? U found us" Theo, the first one that spots Sarah, says.

"Sarah" Olivia says and hugs the young witch tightly. "U found us. A...a...a woman took us here and we can't get out of here" Olivia pulls back and she doesn't recognise the girl's eyes when she holds her gaze on the girl.

The witch's gaze is distant and determinate almost full of anger. The witch is still holding the piece of purple paper in hand.

"Verna" Sarah says firmly. "She killed my parents"

"U know that's not the case" Verna says but only Sarah can hear her voice. "It's part of the deal"

"Still, u killed them" the Crain really does think Sarah is talking to no one but the air.

Suddenly, Sarah yanks off Olivia's arms and rushes to Shirley and Theo. She sees the evil ghostly creatures slowly crawl on the girls.

"They are hurting your sisters" Verna whispers next to Sarah's ear. "What do u do?"

Hugh looks up at the ceiling. He finds a raven standing above the fire pit. "Liv" he calls out his wife and points at the raven.

"I destroy. Just like I did to Poppy Hill" Sarah says quietly.

"U protect not attack" Olivia tries to get closer to Sarah. "Like your bracelet protected me"

"I destroyed Poppy Hill"

"But u didn't use the spell. Your bracelet protected us. It was just... Poppy Hill was simply evil and when she hit something good, she couldn't take it. U did nothing wrong" Olivia slowly takes away the purple paper in Sarah's hand. "You have the kindest heart, Lily. That's y Verna has given u back to me" a drop of tear rolls down Olivia's cheek.

"This house is dark. This house belonged to the dark wizard my parents dealt with. I don't want anything dark in this house to hurt any of u" Sarah turns to Olivia and Hugh. Her impression softens. "I'm same as Verna, an executor of fate and karma"

"U can do it with protection. It doesn't mean u have to execute." Olivia swallows the lump in her throat. "And I absolutely don't wanna lose u for the third time" Olivia's eyes redden and her voice shakes. "I can't take that anymore"

"I'm not ready to say goodbye, mummy" the unshed tears wobbling in Sarah's eyes.

"Me either"