Ten minutes before midnight, Addison swallowed two tablets of ibuprofen and scolded herself for failing to stop at the drug store before she returned home to purchase something potent enough to assist with her persistent insomnia. But a pill wasn’t what she needed. She needed something more—resolution.
To get it, she’d have to push a lot harder.
She headed upstairs, closed the door to the red room, and sat on a tufted, black velvet sofa from the 1920s that had once belonged to her grandmother. She crossed one leg over the other, pressed her hands together, and said, “Scarlett Whittaker, I invite you in.”
Seconds went by.
Nothing happened.
She waited.
Still nothing.
She tried again.
“Scarlett Whittaker, I summon you. Come through the light. Show yourself.”
After another minute passed, Addison received her first answer of the evening. It was just as she suspected. Her attempts to beckon Scarlett had been in vain because Scarlett wasn’t in the earthly world anymore. She’d passed through to the light, and it was time for Sara to do the same.
“Sara Belle, I command you to appear,” Addison said.
A bright orb appeared in the corner of the room, its shape bending and expanding until Sara stepped out. She rubbed her eyes, took in her surroundings, and stuck her hand up at Addison.
“Hi,” Sara said.
“Would you like to go home?” Addison asked.
“To Mommy and Daddy?”
Addison shook her head. “No, sweetie. You need to leave here and move on.”
“I can’t. I don’t know how.”
“It’s all right,” Addison said. “I’ll help you. I just need you to do two things for me first.”
Sara huffed and shook her head. “No. I ... I don’t want to go.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t like being by myself. It’s scary.”
“You won’t be alone this time. You’ll see Scarlett, and your grandmother will be there.”
Sara’s eyes widened. “Grannie JoJo? She’s there now?”
“Not yet, but she will be. She’s been trying to find you so you can both go home.”
Sara looked around. “Is she here? Where is she? Grannie JoJo?”
“She’ll be here soon. I have to invite her to come here, and I will. I need you to answer a question for me first, okay?”
Sara pressed her face into Mr. Pickles’ fur, speaking in a muffled voice.
“Sara, please look at me,” Addison said. “I can’t understand what you’re saying. It’s okay. You don’t need to be afraid this time. No matter what you say, I won’t be mad. You’re not in trouble.”
Sara lifted her head just enough for one of her eyes to peep out.
“I know what you want to ask,” Sara said. “I know it was wrong, but I took it.”
“What did you take? The locket?”
Sara nodded, her eyes still glued on Mr. Pickles.
“Can you tell me about it?” Addison asked.
“Do I have to tell?”
Addison nodded.
“Oh ... kay,” Sara said. “Mommy and Daddy were gone, and Scarlett wanted to play hide-and-seek. She said we could only play if we played upstairs, and I had to hide first. I hid under the bed, and she found me. It was her turn to hide, but she said she wanted me to hide three more times first. She started counting again, and I ran into one of the bathrooms and got inside the cabinet. I was in there a long time. I waited and waited, and she didn’t come get me. I peeked out, and I called her name, and she still didn’t come. I got tired of hiding. It wasn’t fun, and I didn’t want to play anymore.”
“What did you do?”
“I got out of my hiding spot, and I heard Daddy in the hall. He forgot to take his money when he left, and he came back to get it. He found Scarlett, and he got angry.”
“What did he say?”
“I don’t know. He yelled at her, and she was sad. She said we were just playing a game and she guessed I was hiding upstairs cuz she couldn’t find me anywhere else. But she lied. She told me to hide upstairs.”
“What did your dad say when she told him you were playing a game?”
“He made her cry, and then she ran away. I thought I would get in trouble if he saw me, so I went downstairs real quick.”
“Did you find Scarlett?”
She nodded. “She ran to her room, and went in the bathroom, and closed the door. She was still crying. I was going to knock on the door, and then her backpack fell off the bed, and the locket fell out. It was so pretty and shiny.”
“What did you do with the locket after you took it?”
“I played with it for a minute. I poured it into one hand and then into the other one, and then I got bored and put it in my pocket. I was just going to keep it for a little bit. I was going to give it back. Promise.”
Addison crossed the room and knelt in front of Sara. “It’s okay. Thank you for telling me the truth. Did you open the locket?”
“Uh-huh. Nothing was inside.”
“What happened after you put it in your pocket?”
“Scarlett came out of the bathroom. She said sorry for leaving me in the cupboard upstairs for so long. I asked her why she left me, and she said she got lost. I get lost upstairs sometimes, so I said it was okay. Then she went home.”
“When did you see her again?”
“The next day, Mommy went somewhere, and Daddy’s friends were coming over to play games, and he asked Scarlett to stay with me.”
“Did she come over?”
Sara nodded. “Daddy wasn’t mad anymore. He told her he was sorry, and she said it was okay. Grannie JoJo came over. She gave me Mr. Pickles and told Daddy she was taking me to get ice cream. She went to the car to wait for me, and then Scarlett and Theo got there.”
“Why was Theo there if Scarlett was going to be taking care of you?”
“He used to come over and swim with us sometimes and Scarlett took him home. Daddy told Scarlett she was early. She didn’t need to be there for two more hours, and he asked her to get some snacks for his friends for when they came over later because he was busy. I was going to get in Grannie JoJo’s car, and then she said she couldn’t take me for ice cream anymore, and Scarlett said she would. We left, and that’s when ... that’s when ...”
“It’s okay, sweetie. I know what happened. You showed me. You just didn’t show me everything, did you?”
“I ... I can’t remember.”
Except Addison knew she could.
“Sara, I need to see what you didn’t show me the first time. I know you don’t want to, and I know it’s scary. I’ll be with you the entire time. Show me one more time, and you’ll never have to think about it again.”
Sara sat down on the floor, crossed her legs, and rested Mr. Pickles inside her lap. She squeezed his ears, rubbing them between her thumb and fingers. “I don’t like thinking about it.”
“If you want to be with Grannie JoJo, I need you to tell me everything.”
“Promise?”
Sara seemed tormented. Addison could see it in her eyes. Going back into her memory the first time had opened an old wound, and the wound had festered. If Addison was to convince her to dive back in, she needed to go deeper.
“I had to remember something I didn’t want to once when I was a little older than you,” Addison said.
“Was it a bad thing?”
“It was.”
“Did it make you sad?”
“It did.”
“Did you get hurt?”
“My friend did,” Addison said. “Her name was Natalie. We were in her back yard, and she was on a tree swing. She got too high, and she fell.”
“Is she okay?”
Addison weighed the best way to answer the question. “She wasn’t okay, but she is okay now. She’s in the place you’ll be going with Grannie JoJo.”
Sara was quiet for a time.
Addison waited.
“Did you see Natalie fall?” Sara asked.
“I did. I tried not to think about it for a long time after. Then one day, I knew I needed to remember what happened so I could feel better again.”
“Do you feel better?”
“I do, and you can too, Sara.”
Sara’s eyes filled with tears. Addison flushed with guilt, knowing she was about to put her through the traumatic event once more. There was no other choice. Not this time. Sara’s inability to face the truth had kept her trapped in the void between one realm and the next. She was the key to unraveling everything, and she always had been. Addison knew that now.
Sara folded her arms around the bear and said, “Can Mr. Pickles come too?”
“Sure, he can.”
“Okay. I’ll do it, I guess.”
Addison stood. “All right then. Stand next to me, and I’m going to reach for your hand. Whatever happens, don’t worry. Hold my hand, and don’t let go. I’ll be with you. I will see what you see, and it will all be over.”