~*~Chapter Six : It Hurts~*~

After Todd disappeared as quickly as he had materialized, Marty sat down to read the book. She began reading about Todd's family, the Mannings, and everything that had occurred in the house at 1177 Lincoln Street. According to the book, Peter Manning, Todd's father had gone into a fit of rage and had killed his wife when she threatened to expose that he was pedophile. Peter Manning had defiled and murdered many children in the family's basement. Unbeknownst to some, Peter had always been abusive to his wife and his son Todd. On that night when Peter killed his wife and brutally raped his son, Todd had retaliated by stabbing his father. Then, it was believed that Todd couldn't live with the loss of his mother and what he had done, so he slit his own throat with a knife. His body had been found in an upstairs bathroom.

Todd Manning had died in the house. According to the book, his bedroom had been Marty's. Marty sobbed when she came realize that the young man she was falling in love with was actually an apparition.

Hours passed, and Marty had fallen asleep reading the book. When she awakened in the middle of the night, there was someone lying in bed next her.

"Todd?" she whispered in the darkness.

"I am right here, Marty," he whispered in her ear.

"How can you be here?" she asked.

"I am always here," he stated. "This is MY room."

"And I want it to be yours, too," he told her. "Forever."

"I can't stay, Todd," she said sadly. "I don't belong here with you."

Todd stared into her gorgeous blue eyes as she began to cry. As her tears fell like shining diamonds on her cheeks, he had an incredible longing to kiss them all away. "Can you love me?" he asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

He took her hand into his. As their souls connected, the sensation of his touch felt ever-so-real. Gently he kissed each and every one of her fingertips as she shuddered.

"You don't want me because of what I did," he spoke in a broken voice.

"No, Todd. That isn't it. I can't blame you for what happened," she said as she gazed at him with tenderness. "But you are a spirit... and I am alive... and we don't belong together."

"I guess you are right," she heard him murmur.

Then he faded away into the darkness as though he had never been there at all.