Todd woke up startled when he heard his father banging on his door. It was 5:30 and Michelle was still asleep. "Michelle, wake up," Todd whispered as he shook her awake.

"Come on you little shit, open the door," Peter Manning shouted.

Marty opened her eyes and saw Todd staring at her. "You have to hide in my closet...don't come out, no matter what you hear. I would never forgive myself if he hurt you too," Todd whispered as she climbed inside his closet.

Todd opened the door and knew that he was in deep trouble as he looked into his father's enraged face.

"Why was your door locked? Locked doors are for cowards who want to hide their dirty little secrets. You wouldn't be hiding anything from me?"

"No sir. I forgot to unlock it after I changed for bed."

"Maybe...maybe not, but if I find that you're lying to me, I'll cut out your tongue," Peter stated as he backhanded Todd. "I just came up to tell you that I will be out of town for the week. I need you to be on your best behavior for your nanny Juanita. If I find out that you have misbehaved then the consequences will be very severe. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir."

Peter shook his head in acknowledgement and left.

He looked out his window and watched as his father drove away before he opened up his closet door.

Marty was crumpled on the floor shaking. "Michelle, it's okay...he's gone," Todd said as he opened the door.

"I'm sorry that he hit you," she stated as she kissed Todd's swollen cheek.

"It's okay...he just loses his temper some times when I'm bad."

"I know what it's like to be hurt by somebody that should love you. I'm really sorry that he hurts you. I better get home...before Michael realizes I'm gone."

"Has Michael ever hit you?" Todd asked.

"I got to go," Marty stated.

"Okay, I'll walk you home."

Todd walked Marty home in silence. He turned around to leave when she grabbed his hand. "Would you mind if I come over to your house tonight and spend the night in your room again ?"

"Why are you so afraid to sleep in your own room?" Todd asked.

"I was hurt there,"

"By who?"

"I can't talk about it or he'll make me disappear. Will you let me sleep with you?"

"Yeah, we're friends and you can spend the night in my room as long as you need."

"I'll see you tonight," Marty stated as she climbed into her bedroom window.

XOXOXO

"Where were you?" Michael asked as he took a drink from the Whiskey bottle that he clutched in his hands.

"I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk," Marty lied.

"You should have told Michael before you left the house. He was worried about you, I on the other hand knew it was only a matter of time before you came back to haunt him," he said as he took another long swig.

"Do you want a drink?" He asked as he held the bottle out to her.

"No thank you," she whispered. She hated it when he drank...he was drinking the night that he left her in the hole in the ground. He frightened her when he got this way...it was almost like there was two of him.

"Come on Michelle, misery loves company besides I've thought of a new drinking game that I want to play with you. Sit down on the bed," he ordered.

Marty instantly sat down...there was just no use in arguing with him when he got like this.

"I'll be right back, don't move anywhere," he said as he left the room.

When he came back he was carrying several different bottles of alcohol. He poured five different shot glasses full with Vodka, Whiskey, Rum, Wine and Tequila

He let her smell each one as he told her their names and then he blindfolded her.

"What's in this glass?" He asked as he held the shot of Whiskey under her nose.

"I um...I don't know," She whispered.

"Wrong answer," he stated coldly as he slapped her across the face. "It's Whiskey, I want you to drink it and remember what it tastes like.

Marty lifted the shot glass to her lips and drank it. It tasted awful, but she had no other choice but to swallow it. The liquid burned all the way down her throat.

He presented her with the other four shot glasses and when she guessed wrong, he would slap her across the face harder and harder each time.

By the time that she got to the last shot glass, she couldn't feel anything anymore. Her face no longer hurt. She hated the way that alcohol tasted, but she liked the warm feeling that had begun to settle into her soul.

"I'm bored of this game," he said as he removed her blindfold.

"You're so beautiful just like your mother was," he said as pulled her closer to him and kissed her, pushing his tongue into her mouth.

She felt uncomfortable and he was holding her so tightly that it was hard for her to breathe as he continued to push his tongue in and out of her mouth.

He stopped kissing her after a few minutes, although it felt like hours of torture to her. "This has to be our little secret...if you tell anybody about this then I'll have no other choice but to take you to the middle of nowhere and leave you all by yourself," he threatened as he staggered out of her room.

She locked the door and headed to the shower, she suddenly felt very dirty.

XOXOXO

After Marty had finished her shower she crept downstairs to see where Michael was.

"Where's Michael?" Marty asked as she saw Luke.

"He's sleeping on the couch. What happened to your face?" Luke asked.

"I tripped and fell," Marty lied.

"Did it hurt when my dad hit you?" Luke asked.

"I can't talk about this with anybody. If I do then I have to leave and I don't want to leave you or Megan. Promise me that you won't say anything."

"I promise I won't say anything, but when I get bigger I'm going to protect you against him," Luke said as he hugged Marty.

"I need to get out of here. If Michael wakes up will you tell him that I'm sleeping."

"Of course...make sure that you lock your door before you head out," Luke stated.

Marty went back up to her room. She locked the door and climbed out the window. She walked to Todd's house and tapped on his window as she saw Todd sitting on his bed playing a video game.

"Michelle, what happened?" Todd asked as she climbed into the room.

"Is your dad home?" Marty asked as she looked towards the door. She wanted to be with Todd, but she didn't want him to get in trouble.

"He's on a business trip until tomorrow. What happened? Who did this to you?" Todd asked as he softly grazed the bruise on her face.

"I can't talk about it or he'll get more angry with me."

"Does it hurt?"

"It looks worse then it is. Would you mind if I played video games with you?"

"No, not at all," Todd said as he handed her the remote.

Todd and Marty played games for a couple of hours and then Todd shut it off when it was his bed time.

"I'm going to go say goodnight to Linda so that she doesn't come up here," Todd explained as he left the room.

Marty went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth with Todd's toothbrush and then climbed into his bed. A few minutes later Todd came back into the room and climbed into bed beside her.

"I'm so glad that you're here. You're my very best friend and I love you," Todd said as he kissed her bruised cheek.

"I love you too. Goodnight Todd," Marty said as she closed her eyes.

Todd wrapped the blanket around her and held her in his arms as he fell asleep.