Home.

I am home, I thought. And stopped in wonder at the thought. I am home. I AM home. Now to climb…

Fear.

Fear is the relinquishment of logic. The willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns.

But so, it seems…is love. Love is the relinquishment of logic. The willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns.

                                         We yield to it. Or we fight it.

But we cannot meet it halfway. Without it, we cannot continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.

Hill House,

not sane, stands against its hills holding darkness within. It has stood so for a hundred years, and might stand a hundred more…

Within: walls continue upright, bricks meet neatly, floors are firm, and doors are sensibly shut.

The silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House. And those who walk there…

She sat up slightly in the chair, focusing on her book only for a moment to fold over a small triangle in one of the pages. “That was the plan, but it didn’t exactly turn out that way.” Referring to the fact that she’d probably napped more than she’d read. 

Gentle eyes followed the younger woman as she kneeled down next to her, and she found herself tucking a loose strand of hair behind Cara’s ear - it was one of those things, a small thing, but something Olivia allowed herself to do when she felt close enough to someone. And she did practically treat Cara like a daughter, after all.  Her gaze then fell to the wrapped gift as she took it, taking her time unwrapping it while the other spoke. They had indeed talked about it a few days earlier, but she hadn’t expected Cara to go out of her way to get her one of his books. She appreciated it though, and her smile grew accordingly. 

“Thank you –” As she spoke, she flipped through a few pages before she glanced back up at the woman. “I’m sure I’ll love it.”

                   @stxries​

Pale blue grey eyes that were usually described as infinitely sorrowful, were soft and happy. Growing up an orphan whom no one wanted for very long, she found pride and acceptance in Olivia Crain’s motherly presence. Her eyes and her smile always said it without words and her willingness to forgive such a blatant disregard of naptime was telling in and of itself.

Cara beamed as Olivia said she was sure she’d love it. It was something so small and trivial, but by the same token, something that passed between them that meant a lot more. The two of them shared a love for reading that bordered on the fanatical; obsession with other worlds and realities where some things were simpler but hearts and minds and souls guided by humanity and love were still the rule of law. And that’s what the young nearly raven haired girl hoped the matriarch of the Crain family took away from that book series, too.