Addison needed to unwind, to return to center. While she’d been pregnant, Luke had turned one of the rooms in the house into a place of refuge, a place where she could communicate with those who had passed on. He’d even given it a name, “The Red Room,” after the scarlet-colored paint Addison had chosen for the walls. Tonight was the first time she’d used it after she’d decided the best way to center herself was to return to the beginning, where it all started—with Sara.
Addison sat in the middle of a round, black rug, rested her hands on her knees, and closed her eyes. She visualized Sara, pulling out the details of the round curves in her face, the dimples on the sides of her cheeks, the pink tracksuit she wore the first time they met.
With a clear vision of Sara frozen in her mind, she said, “Sara Belle, I command you to appear.”
A beam of light appeared in front of Addison. It was small at first, no larger than a knob on a door. It grew several feet in length and hovered there. Addison expected Sara to come through. When she didn’t, Addison pushed her hand inside it.
“Sara, take my hand,” Addison said. “Hear my voice and come toward me.”
A force of energy surged through Addison’s hand, and she drew it back, pulling Sara into the room with her.
Sara glanced around and then looked at Addison and said, “Hi. Where am I?”
“You’re in my home,” Addison said. “It’s okay. Don’t be scared. You’re safe. Remember me?”
Sara stared at Addison a moment and nodded. “You were at the hospital. You have a baby. Where’s your baby? Can I see her?”
“She’s sleeping.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s nighttime.”
Sara turned her head and gazed out the window. “I don’t like night. I don’t like it when it’s dark.”
“Do you remember what happened the last time you saw me?”
Sara nodded. “You came with me. We were in the car. Nanny was taking me to get ice cream. I was going to get chocolate chip. We didn’t get ice cream, though.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I’m tired,” Sara said. “I want to sit down.”
Sara sat on the floor, crossed her legs, and squeezed the teddy bear with her arms.
Addison sat beside her.
“Do you know why you didn’t get any ice cream?” Addison asked.
“Don’t make me say it. I don’t want to say it.”
“Don’t make you say what, Sara?”
“I don’t want to ... you can’t make me.”
“I’m not trying to make you do anything, honey,” Addison said.
“Yes, you are. Everyone tries to make me do things I don’t want to do.”
“I won’t ever make you do anything you don’t want to do. Okay?”
Sara stared at Addison. “You promise?”
“I promise.”
Sara set the bear down next to her and said, “I’m sad. When I see the other kids in the hospital, I try to talk to them, but they never talk back. No one wants to be my friend.”
“I think they would be your friend if they could see you.”
“Only you see me. You and the angel.”
The angel?
Was it possible someone had been watching out for her all this time?
“Who is the angel? What does she look like?”
“She wears a white dress, and she’s really shiny. Even her hair is shiny. She smiles at me when she sees me, and that’s how I know she’s nice.”
“Tell me about the angel.”
“She’s not a kid like I am. She’s old.”
To a child the age of Sara, her perception of old was relative.
“Where do you see the woman—at the hospital?”
Sara shook her head. “She’s in the window behind my house.”
It was a revelation Addison hadn’t expected.
“You leave the hospital and go home to the manor?”
“Sometimes, when I think about home real hard, I close my eyes and say I want to go home. When I open my eyes, I’m there. I want to see Mommy and Daddy, but I don’t.”
“Why not?”
“The angel says I can’t. She says I have to stay outside.”
“She talks to you?”
“Well ... kinda. Not with words. She says things with her mind. I know what she’s thinking.”
“Why doesn’t she want you to go into the house?” Addison asked.
“I don’t know. She doesn’t tell me.”
“Do you see anyone else when you’re there?”
“Once there was a man in the window.”
“Does he talk to you too?”
She nodded. “He asks me to open the door and let him out. I almost did one time, and then I saw the angel, and she said I shouldn’t.”
“Do you know the man?”
Sara thought about it. “I think so. I can’t remember.”
“What can’t you remember?”
“I forgot what people look like.”
Addison assumed the angel Sara referred to had to be Libby Carrington.
But who was the man?
Why was he trying to get out?
What would happen if he did?
“I have something to show you,” Addison said.
“Oh ... kay.”
Addison dangled the locket in front of Sara. “Have you seen this before?”
“Umm ... I don’t know.”
“Did someone give this to you or your nanny?”
Sara eyed the locket and then stuffed a hand inside her pocket. When she pulled it out, it was empty. “Why do you have Mr. Pickles’ locket?”
“Is Mr. Pickles the name of your bear?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Who gave the locket to you?”
Sara turned her shoulders in. “I don’t know.”
“You were looking for your nanny when I met you. I want to help you find her. Would you like to be with her again?”
Sara’s eyes lit up, and she nodded. “Yes, please. She’s nice.”
“I’m not sure where to look for her. Can you help me?”
“I think she’s at the hospital.”
“Why would she be there?”
“I saw her after the bad thing happened.”
“The bad thing ... do you mean the car crash?”
“Uh-huh.”
“What did Scarlett say when she came to see you?”
“She laid next to me in my bed and said not to worry. She said she had to leave, but she would come back to get me. She never came back. She left me there all alone. I waited a long time, and then you came.”
“You waited in my hospital room?”
Sara nodded. “It looks different now. It has pretty colors on the wall. When I was there, I floated over the bed, and I could see myself.”
Sara had witnessed the moment her spirit detached from her body, the separation between her physical self and her soul.
“What did you see when you were floating?” Addison asked.
“I saw my nanny. She gave me a hug. She was crying.”
“Why was she crying?”
“Because she had to leave. A nice lady came to get her. My nanny said she couldn’t go yet. She couldn’t leave without me. The lady said she had to go because it was time. My nanny said she was sorry she couldn’t stay longer. She told me she’d come back, and then she walked through the door, and it turned into a wall again.”
“Do you remember Libby, the nanny you had before Scarlett?”
Sara thought about it. “Yeah. Kinda.”
“Can you tell me about the last night she slept over at your house, the night she went missing?”
Sara was no longer listening. She tensed, and her eyes shifted to the corner of the room.
“What is it?” Addison asked. “What’s wrong?”
Sara struggled to speak, and then said, “Do you hear it?”
Addison looked over.
No one was there.
They were alone.
“You’re safe here,” Addison said. “Everything is going to be all right.”
Sara wasn’t convinced. “I have to hide.”
“Why? What are you worried about?”
“I ... I’m ... I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“Why not?”
“He doesn’t want me here, talking to you. He said I need to stop.”
“Who says you need to stop?”
“I don’t know. I can’t see him. I only hear what he says in my mind.”
Sara’s spirit began to fade, the light ebbing from inside her.
“Wait!” Addison said. “Please. Don’t go. Let me help you.”
Her words came a moment too late.
Sara was already gone.