Who Killed Sarah Foster?

4. I Sensed You

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Leah thanked the cab driver as she closed the door. Turning around, she sighed as she looked up at the grand Victorian three-storey house. She was staring at her childhood. And she was also staring at her biggest nightmare.

Her grandfather's death had changed everything for her.

It had changed how she looked at life.

It changed how she felt about the grandparents whom she once adored.

And it changed every single good memory of this place into her personal hell-loop.

Leah sighed again as she dragged her feet across the stone path leading up to the front porch. Her eyes noted the silhouette looking at her from behind the curtain in the library. There was a bunch of people who were awaiting her arrival.

She did love all these people. Every single one of them.

But you deal with death and its consequences all the time and all of a sudden, you feel detached from the living. Maybe that was the reason that she felt more connected to her brother and Paul than her parents.

She quickly climbed up the stairs two at a time and rang the rusty doorbell. The ancient tone echoed throughout the house.

Her grandma usually peeped through the curtain before opening the door but that step was skipped today since she was already waiting for her kiddo to arrive.

"LEE!" Janet Wayne squealed in happiness as she threw her arms around her granddaughter as soon as the double doors were pulled open.

"Hi grandma," Leah said, awkwardly returning the arms attack. She did not feel the warmth and security that she once felt in these arms. And still, she was closer to her grandmother than she was to her parents.

It really was a messed up family dynamic.

"Come on in!" She exclaimed all so excited as she tried to grab the duffel bag from her hand.

"No that's fine, I will take it." Leah refused as she took a step forward into her childhood home, where she had lived until she was seven. She would have stayed longer but her grandfather died when she was six and she was so scared and scarred from the things that she saw and discovered about her family in that one year that she had screamed and yelled for her parents to take her back home.

Her parents, blissfully ignorant as ever, thought that she was simply traumatized by the death of her grandfather. But her grandmother, who knew the reason even though she could not see them for herself, let her go and gave her the time that she needed before gradually coaxing her into coming back from time to time to hone her powers.

Leah looked over at the portrait of her grandpa, Samuel Wayne.

"Don't let go." "Embrace it."

"We missed you."

Leah felt her eyes well up with tears as she turned to her great-grandmother Evelyn Wayne.

"Don't worry my dear. The rest have decided to stay away because they don't want to overwhelm you." She smiled sadly. "But Uncle Joseph says you need to gain more weight."

Leah nodded, rubbing away her tears.

Janet Wayne watched with a small smile the exchange between her granddaughter and thin air. Samuel was right when he said Leah would take it better than anyone else. Of course, she will be overwhelmed at times. But she will be able to take it.

"Leah, you are here!" George Wayne walked in with a bright smile on his face. He loved his precious little girl dearly, more so after his firstborn died. He was unaware of his family's great secret. To him, his daughter was just a bit eccentric, like his father and grandmother.

"Hi, Dad." Leah smiled, leaning in for a quick hug. "Where's Mom?"

"Putting together a decent dinner." He smiled and then turning to his mother to give her a cheeky grin. "You know you can't cook to save your life, Mum."

"Right." Janet narrowed her eyes at him and then turned to Leah. "You should go freshen up, precious."

Leah nodded and made her way to the room that had always been hers. She felt the shift in energy as she entered.

"I sensed you." She sang a small smile appearing on her face.

"Hi Lee, Ms. Wayne said not to disturb you." Martha appeared. Martha was the daughter of a maid from Evelyn Wayne's time. She had died by falling down the stairs one day when her mother had brought her over when she was eight. She had been there since. Evelyn and Samuel had tried to liberate her and help her cross over. But they were just unable to find the reason why she was stuck back on earth.

The same went for Paul and Michael in Leah's case. She just couldn't find the reason for their retainment.

"You are never a disturbance to me, Martha." Leah smiled as she closed the door behind her. "You are my friend."

Martha gave an innocent toothy grin. "That's what I told Ms. Wayne.." She lowered her voice. "But you know how she can be."

The one year she stayed there after she attained the ability to see ghosts, she was terrified of her great-grandmother Evelyn and Uncle Joseph. It was only Martha she got along with. Of course, she warmed up to them in the end but seven-year-old Leah cared about nothing but getting out of there.

"You have grown into a fine young woman," Martha commented as Leah changed into a set of pajamas.

"Thank you, Martha."

"I wish I could too." She pouted. She was still grieving her death. Martha wanted to grow up. Grow up into an independent woman who would work so hard that her parents and siblings wouldn't have to for the rest of their lives. But she couldn't fulfill it, because she had died so young. She wished she had listened to her mother and had been more careful.

Sometimes Leah wondered if that was the reason. Maybe Martha's biggest desire was to grow up, and she didn't get to do that.

"I am sorry I can't help you with that, Martha." Leah sighed as she combed her damp hair.

Martha nodded. "I know. Neither could Ms. Wayne or Samuel."

Martha retired, leaving Leah to her thoughts and the memories of the house. She hated her abilities but she was also grateful for it. She could still see and interact with her big brother because of it. She didn't know the full potential of her abilities but she had helped her brother and Paul in retrieving their identities. Even if she couldn't help them in any other way, she was glad at least they didn't have to exist in distress and confusion, unaware of who they were and what happened to them.

Leah made her way downstairs, walking in on the three of her remaining family talking amongst themselves. They looked up and gave her loving smiles, her mother forwarding her hand for her to take. Leah smiled as she did so.

"What are you guys talking about?" She asked as she sat down on the dining chair next to her mother.

"About how much Michael loved you." George chuckled sadly, taking off his glasses to wipe away his tears. "He was one protective big brother, from the day he knew you were in your mommy's tummy."

He still was. Leah thought, but alas, her parents would never know. Samuel Wayne deemed them too weak-hearted to know this secret so Linda and George remained oblivious of their daughter's abilities and their son's ghost.

Leah looked over at her grandmother with an expression of disapproval which she acknowledged with a simple nod. Janet knew that Michael's ghost resided in their house but she had insisted on the three leaving him alone for his death anniversary.

She had to do what she had to. She felt that her granddaughter was getting too attached to the ghosts around and them to her, and that was never good. She was of the living world and them of the dead. She could help them but she was not meant to detach herself from the living world for them. Samuel had made that mistake, mostly because he lived in this house with three of them and he had wholly accepted his abilities and he had thought of it as his responsibility to help out distressed souls. But he had detached himself from his own world and Janet saw the same tendencies in her granddaughter and she didn't want her to end up all alone because of that.

She was disappointed at her son and daughter-in-law for labeling it as 'just a phase' while their daughter withdrew into herself and the world of paranormal. Then again, they couldn't be totally blamed. They didn't know of the existence of the paranormal world and that wasn't their fault.

Things were complicated and Janet was the only living soul other than Leah who knew about her abilities and she had to protect her granddaughter at all costs.

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