Hill House Sumer 1992

Tara sat up suddenly in her bed clutching at her pounding chest; she took several deep breaths trying to calm her racing heart.

"Pst Tara." Luke Crain tired voice whispered as he sat up from the bed next to her, "Are you okay?"

Tara turned to look over at the older boy, "I th-think so, it was just a bad dream."

Luke rested his head back on his pillow, "What was it about?"

Tara gave the boy a confused look, "I don't remember."

Just as she finished speaking the bed on the other side of the girl squeaked as Nellie sat up with a gasp and began to cry while staring at the end of her bed.

"What is it, Nellie?"

"What's wrong, Nellie?" The other two occupants of the room asked the crying girl, but they received no reply.

It didn't take long for the children's bedroom door to open with Steve standing on the other side, "You okay, Nellie?" He asked stepping into the room.

Nellie shakily moved her head side to side,

"You scared?" again she didn't reply with words, just a nodding of her head.

Steve walked further into the room and stood between the girls' bed, "That's okay. I get scared too sometimes." He looked over at the other two children, "Why are you two awake?"

"Bad dream." Tara murmured sadly, she had been having bad dreams ever since they moved into the house, but she could never remember what they were about.

"What about you Luke? Why are you awake?"

"'Cause Tara and Nellie's awake." The younger boy replied.

The older boy nodded in understanding, before turning back to his little sister, "What was it?"

"The Bent-Neck Lady." Nellie tearfully answered, clutching her teddy bear closer to her.

"Oh, her again?" Hugh Crain spoke up from the door way. He walked into the room and asked, "Where was she?"

Nell raised a shaky finger and pointed to the end of her bed.

"Oh, boy." Hugh sighed, "Guess we better take a look." He walked over to where she pointed, "Here, huh?"

"Mhm." Nell nodded with a whimper.

"Your big brother must have scared her away. Big brothers are good like that." Hugh told his youngest daughter trying to comfort her.

"What if she's hiding?" the small girl asked fearfully

Her father shook his head, "She's long gone." He reassured her with a smile before turning to Steve, "I guess everybody can go back to bed now."

Steve walked over to the door and stood there watching his father sit at the edge of Nellie's bed.

"There you go." Hugh said tucking her in, "Do you girls remember what we talked about before?" he asked looking over at Tara as well, "About our dreams?"

"They can spill," Tara answered him.

Hugh gave the little girl that was like another daughter to him a smile, "That's right." He then turned back to Nellie, "Yeah, just like a cup of water can spill sometimes. But kids' dreams are special. They're like,"

"An ocean." Nellie finished his sentence.

"That's right." He nodded, "And the big dreams can spill out sometimes." Hugh finally noticed his eldest son still standing in the doorway, "Back to bed, Stevie."

Hugh turned back to the three children in the room, "Now, I know that Bent-Neck Lady is really scary. But that's all she is. She's just a little spill."

"How long do we have to live here, Daddy?" Nellie asked she wanted to leave as soon as possible; the bent-neck lady hadn't bothered her until they moved in there.

The father looked between the three young children, "Well, your mother and I, we have to finish fixing this house, and then someone has to buy it."

"Then we can go?" Luke asked, speaking up for the first time since his dad had entered the room.

Hugh nodded, "Yep, and then we can go, just like the last house. Now, you get back to sleep, the three of you." He leaned forward and kissed Nell's forehead, "I love you, sweetie."

Then he stood up and walked over to Tara placing a kiss on her head as well, "Sweet dreams."

Hugh exited the room and closed the door behind him as the children all settled themselves back in bed.

"Goodnight Nellie, Goodnight Tara," Luke whispered sleepily as he began to doze back off. Nellie had gone back to bed as soon as Hugh closed the door.

Tara had a harder time of it falling back asleep but just as her eyes were starting to close the bent-neck lady appeared next to her bed; and as she began moving closer to the little girl, Tara realized that the lady's face looked familiar.

The bent-neck lady moved until she was right in the little girl's face and slowly opened her mouth, "WAKE UP!"

Langer home October 28, 2018

Tara released a gasp as she awoke, jerking up in bed, her hand reaching up to her throat, and her blanket gathering at her waist as she moved.

She sighed as she ran her fingers through her tangled hair, pushing it away from her face and grabbed for her phone to look at the time.

It was 12:03 AM

Tara let out another sigh once she heard the sound of crying coming from the baby monitor on her bedside table.

"Mommy's coming, Lucy!" Tara called as she threw her blankets off and slipped out of bed. She made her way out of her room, and into the room across from her own where her child rested, "I'm here, sweetheart."

Tara made herself a cup of tea before heading into her art room. She had just finished feeding Lucy her breakfast and put her down for a nap, and now she was going to try and get a bit of work in while she could.

She hadn't had much time to paint ever since the baby was born, and her agent was already on her ass about delivering some new pieces to the gallery for the next exhibit.

It was times like these that she began to resent Luke for forcing her to be a single mother, but then she had to stop and remind herself that he was in rehab trying to get better for his two girls. So he could be there for them.

Tara had just sat down at her easel when her phone began to ring. She groaned in aggravation and picked the phone up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Tara, it's Steve." The voice of the older man answered.

"Oh hey, Steve, what's up?" She asked.

"Have you spoken to Nell recently?" Tara heard the sound of a horn honk in the background and guessed that he was in his car.

Tara shook her head as she stood up, "No she called me last night but I was busy and couldn't talk. I didn't leave the gallery until late and forgot to call her back once I got home." heading into the kitchen she placed her teacup in the sink and turned around to lean on the counter.

"Yeah, she called while I was working too. I tried to call her back later but she didn't answer." He replied, "But I did talk to Shirley and she said Nell called her too and left a voicemail. She was worried about Luke, apparently. Have you spoken with him?"

Tara smiled slightly at the mention of her boyfriend, "Yeah he called me yesterday and we talked for a bit. He got his 90-day chip yesterday."

"Yeah I know, I called the rehab center and talked to some lady named Paige. I'm really proud of him for sticking with it this time." Steve admitted.

Tara grinned and nodded her head, "Me too, I really feel like he's gonna make it this time and really get better."

"Well, he's got a good reason to get better. He's got to be there for little Lucy and you." Steve laughed, "How is my beautiful niece doing?"

"She's good, taking a nap right now." She informed him as she moved to sit on the couch tucking her legs beneath her, "She's getting so big."

"I'll have to stop by and see her soon." Steve replied, "But hey let me let you go, alright?"

She nodded, "Alright, Text me and let me know you made it home safe."

Steve laughed, "Alright mom, will do."

Tara hung up and headed back into her art room to try and get at least some painting done before Lucy woke up. She let out a deep breath and tried to relax as she thought about what to paint.

Hill House Summer 1992, Luke's Treehouse

Luke and Tara were lying on the floor of the tree house. Tara was drawing a picture for Aunt Liv and Luke was making another sign neither one of them saying a word, just working in silence until the door to the tree house opened and Steve poked his head in.

"Mom's looking for you two." He announced as he entered, "Trying every closet." He continued as he closed the door behind him, "It never occurs to her you guys will be in your tree house. You know, the one Dad built for the both of you?"

"Tara and I don't want to go in yet." Luke said not looking up from the piece of paper, "We don't like it inside."

Tara nodded her head in agreement but didn't speak up or take her eyes off her drawing.

"No rush, my man." Steve chuckled at the two kids, "What are you two making?"

"A new sign," Luke answered.

"I'm drawing a picture for Auntie Liv," Tara spoke up.

"How do you spell "no girls allowed"?" Luke asked and Tara's head shot up.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, affronted

Luke rolled his eyes, "Except you, Tara, duh."

"N, O"

"I already got those."

"G. I told you last time that's a bad idea. What happened to your other sign?"

"Theo ripped it." Luke pouted and Tara chuckled but continued on with her masterpiece.

"I'll bet. I. Is this the family?" Steve smiled at the picture.

"Yep."

"R." Steve stopped by a picture of a little blond girl, "Who's this?"

"Some girl we saw by the woods." Tara answered him, looking up from her picture for a moment before looking right back down.

"What's next?" Luke asked

"L. You know, I used to have imaginary friends, too." Steve informed to the kids as he walked away from the drawings to sit beside them, "They go away when you get bigger. S."

"She's not imaginary." Luke informed him and she looked at his new sign, "Okay, 'no girls.' Theo can't rip this one. It's not allowed."

Steve smiled at his little brother, "I'll tell her."

"Will you hang out with us?" Luke asked his big brother.

Steve grinned, "You want me to?"

"Yeah!" Tara shouted happily. Besides Luke and Ellie, Steve was the one the little girl was closest to.

Luke nodded in agreement with his best friend, "You can hang out all the time. We can draw together. No boring girls. Just Stevie, Luke and Tara."

"The cool kids." Steve nodded as he looked down at some of Luke and Tara's drawings, "Where do you guys get the ideas for these drawings?"

The two children shrugged.