Apartment 407

[LadyOfThorns]

Many people believe very different things of what happens when you die. Some blieve you just simple cease to be, others blieve you go to a type of heaven, others believe you go to a type of hell, still others believe that where you go, be it a heaven or hell, depends on what kind of life you have lead. And then are those that believe you go to an afterlife that exists on earth but is unseen by the living. But no matter what, no one can really know until it happens to them.

Samantha Cole looked out the indwo of the apartment in the Guysling Estates building in upper Manhattan, the evening sun slowly sinking below the horizon, the neon lights and street lamps starting to come on. She had seen them..all the tenants who had rented the apartment..some of them single, some of them married, some of them with children. But none of them saw her. None could see the young face of the eighteen year old girl as she had observed there activities. Just as none of the people down below could see her as she stood in the window. But had any of them heard of her? Had the landlord of the building told them of her tale? Of how twenty years ago, a red haried green eyed girl named Samantha Cole had been about to giveherslef completely to the man she loved when three armed men broke into the apartment and had beaten her man down before ending her life befre him? She was not sure.

She still wore what she had been wearing that night all those years ago. A light red teddy that you could see a silhouette of her body in if you lookedin the right light, her red locks of hair falling about her shoulders...she had been the vision of an angel. But no more..no more would anyone see her like this, she had learned that long ago. She had tried talking to them when they came in, moving there things into place..their children playing about. Every time she had seen a kiss, had seen them making love, she had yearned for her own lovers touch..but no more.

The tenants did ot seem to stay long though..always leaving complaining about cold drafty spots, of things moving about, sounds in the night..but right now the apartment was empty..except for herself. Not that anyone would really notice her....would they?

 

[CollegeGuy19]

New Tenant

The place, surprisingly, did not look like a trash heap.

Adam McQueen nodded slightly to himself as he came in and took a look around the living room. Sure, the carpet was a little bare and the fridge looked like it had been built during World War II, but there were no roaches, no rats he could hear, and the neighborhood was surprisingly unlike a demilitarized zone. A real step up from the place he'd rented for three months during his summer lab rotation down by the university, where the drug dealers had waited by the door like footman and the rats had scuttled him to sleep every night.

Adam put his bags down and frowned slightly. It was enough to make him wonder why the place was going cheaply enough for a graduate student to even consider taking the place. Was there something the landlady hadn't said? After a moment, though, he shrugged- whatever it was, if it meant being able to live here it was worth it.

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Samantha

As she stood there, she could hear the dor open. Turning around slowly she took in the sight of this newcomer. It looked like..another potential tenant perhaps? So soon? The last ones had only left a week ago. She walked over to him, her barefeet not making a sound, and then she started following him about as he looked around. As he stepped into the kitchen she could see the look in his eye that spoke of a hidden humor as he looked upon the fridge. Well he was partly right, it had been built just after world war 2..he could tell if he opened it and looked at the aluminum plate thad had been nailed to the bottom of it for some reason.

But as he turned around to leave the kitchen there was movement.

Samantha had left him and had gone over to the doorway that lead into the living room, as she turned to watch him again the last rays of the setting sun filtering through a window caught on her teddy on her teddy, causing it to make a slight shimmer in the air just briefly. She wondered how long thisone would stay..a year, a month, two, three?

 

[CollegeGuy19]

Adam stared out over the sunset city, the red ball of the sun just a few degrees above the horizon and sending blood-red rays across the outlined black buildings and leaving bright reflections on the water. He had a lot to do before the night was over- his cooking gear and bed linens were still in their cases, which meant that he was going to have to do at least some unpacking unless he wanted to eat takeout and sleep on the couch. And after Christine, he'd had enough of sleeping on couches to last him another couple years. Breakups, those I don't mind. Taking nine months to break up, that I mind. Should have punched myself out sooner. The sunset was pretty, though, and he wanted just a few more minutes with it before he had to get down to business.

The last rays died away into a faint glow that outlined the lights of the neighboring apartment buildings. Adam turned with a sigh to the trunks and boxes on the floor of Apartment 407's living room, trying to remember which one had his pots and the dry food and running one hand through his hair. Instant noodles weren't his favorite for dinner, but they were quick and they'd silence the growling in his stomach and let him finish the night's work. Thankfully, he'd managed to move during a break in classes and didn't have another lab rotation for a couple of weeks, so he'd have some time to settle into this place and buy some real food before he had to get back into the swing of things.

Just as he threw open one of the trunks, Adam paused. Just for an instant, it seemed as though one of the last rays of sunlight had caught on something shiny in the air, making it shimmer just a little bit with reflected light. He shook his head and took another look, brow furrowing in concentration. There was definitely a shimmer in the air, but it had to be a current from the air conditioner or something like that. Just to make sure, though, he put out a hand and lightly brought it across the shimmering spot in the air, palm down. It felt slightly warm, but otherwise unremarkable.

He shook his head. Professor Kirk was right, Adam my boy. You do need a break. Now you're seeing things, too.

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Samantha

She was standing there just watching him..then..when he looked to the shimmering she blinked..it looked like..he could see her? No...he couldn't could h- he was reaching out..and then he was moving his hand around in the shimmering air. Looking down to see what he was doing she could see he was moving his hand around through the hem of her dress! But...but how..could he see her? Could he feel her?? None of the others had done this..none of the..she gasped and stepped back, the gasp barley audable in the room around him. The shimmer faded quickly as she puled away from him. And then she left the room.

Walking into the bedroom she leaned back against the wall by the door and slid down to the floor. She couldn't figure this out..had he seen her? Could he feel her? Or was it just her want and need of anothers touch making her thik about these things.

"No..none of the others did...none of the others had.." she said quietly as a tear trickled down her cheek "This isn't fair..."

 

[CollegeGuy19]

Adam

Adam tried to keep the chill racing up and down his spine down to a bare minimum as he pulled some of his cooking kit out of the trunk and filled the pot with water. Leaving it to boil on the stove, he crossed back to the living room and stared moodily at the jumble of luggage on the floor. If he didn't make himself start now, he'd probably never get past the inertia. He bent down and grabbed a duffle bag full of clothes in each hand, heaving them by their straps down the short hall and into the bedroom.

It was strange- the bedroom had looked like the most inviting room in the house when he visited it with his landlady, but now there seemed to be an almost tangible chill in the air. As he walked in, Adam felt sadness pass over him- nothing sudden or especially intense, but a sort of light mist that seemed to settle on his heart and subtly press him down, making his hunger seem more acute, the bags he was carrying seem heavier, and the knots of muscle on his shoulder throb more painfully. It was as though he was standing on the other side of a thin wall from someone who was softly crying, and could hear just enough faintly transmitted misery to make his own troubles stand out in his mind.

Tossing the bags on the bed, Adam threw open the closet and began to hang his clothes. He worked fast- once he started a disagreeable task, he tended to work as fast as possible in order to have it over with as quickly as he could. Just as he was emptying the second bag, his hand brushed against a bit of fabric on the very back hangar. Curious, he reached in and pulled out a white plastic coat hangar, from which hung what looked like an old teal-blue evening dress. It was strapless, shiny, and looked to be sized for a teenager. For a bare second, Adam was annoyed- the previous owners were supposed to have cleared everything out the apartment when they left- but then he felt himself smiling softly. Who knew how long it had lain there, since some long ago spring evening.

"I bet you were beautiful." He wasn't aware he'd spoken aloud until he heard himself, and he caught himself with a start. Talking to yourself- wasn't that another sign? Was he really going crazy after only a year in grad school?

As he reached back in to carefully put the dress back where it had lain, Adam froze. He could have sworn, just for a second, that over in the corner-

Steam filled the room, and Adam swore and raced to the kitchen. His pot had boiled over, and dinner was going to be further delayed.

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Samantha

I bet you were beutiful she heard him say. Looking over to where he stood she could see him looking at the dress. Her dress. She had worn it when she had gone out with Brad on that faitful night. The night had seemed so prefect, so romantic. But it had gone from that to a nightmare just an hour after they had gotten back to here.

Then after he had put it back he had looked over to the corner, the corner where she was sitting, his eyes had met hers and in them she oculd see the look someone usualy gets when they think they see something. And the room was filled with steam. After he left she was left to wonder again if he had seen her. Standing she went over to the closet and looked in at her dress. Oh how she wished he could hear her, to hear her s she thanked him for the complimet.

Smiling to herself she looked down..even if he couldn't what he had said had sounded sweet. And..he didn't look so bad himself. But she pushed that thought aside and went to find him again..but stopped. From the sounds in the kitchen she knew he had to be there.

She walked in to see him cursing his luck about the boiled over pot, he reminded her of Brad in a way, the way he shook his head, cursed his luck..Brad hadn't been the greatest cook in the kitchen either. With a smal giggle she stood there and watched. "Maybe you should try a TV dnner instead." she said jokingly. Ah but it was probably wasted words.

 

[CollegeGuy19]

Edit: sorry for the double-post. PM me on how to delete this?

 

[CollegeGuy19]

Adam

Maybe you should try a TV dinner instead

What the hell?

Adam whirled around as fast as he could. The voice had definitely been there in the room, although it hadn't sounded like a normal voice. It had been more like a whispering wind through the trees, somehow shaped into words- which was ridiculous, because the closest thing to a tree in this apartment was the previous owner's spider plant, which she'd somehow neglected to take with her when she left. But it had still been...there.

And dammit, it would be easier if he had a TV dinner.

Absent-mindedly dumping the noodles into the pot, Adam stared hard at the space just behind him. He'd been half-joking when he suggested to himself that he might be cracking, Professor Kirk or not, but now he was starting to wonder seriously whether something hadn't come unhinged between the end of his last rotation and Christine finally leaving- because it looked to him like there was something shimmering in the air before him. Just a faint glimmer, like a heat mirage on a warm day. Impulsively, he put his hand out, and again felt a brief moment of heat as he slid his palm down through the air. The heat seemed to have a shape, just below his head height, a gentle curve like a neck and shoulder. Then, as quickly as it had been there, it seemed to vanish.

Adam turned back to his noodles, clapping his fingers to his temples. This was not happening. He was not losing his mind. And there was no one else in the apartment.

So why did he feel nervous and scared all of a sudden? And why did he get the feeling that some of that turmoil was coming from inside of him?

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Samantha

Again he had reached out and ran his hand through her, but this time..he had started to move it around her as well, tracing out the side of her neck and hand, the curve of her shoulder. Only when he hadstarted to go do down her arm she had pulled away again, her breathing fast as she tried to make sense of this. No noe of the others had ever done that. As she stood back from him in the shadows of the wall she looked to him.

Then she felt something..she could feel the turmoil in him beginning to reach her, it felt sad, almost lost, as if he had been through a moment of extreme stress and it was still following his heart,and also among this she could feel wht felt like a shred of fear. Her eyes lowered as she looked to the floor..chewing her lower lip nervously she felt she wanted to go to him, to try to comfort him. But how...she had an idea but wasn't sure if it would work or not.

Walking up behind him shereached out with her arms and wrapped them around his waist as she rested her head against his back, her body pressing against him from behind.

 

[CollegeGuy19]

Adam turned back to his pot, his mind seeming to roil and bubble with the water. There had seemed to be someone there, for an instant- in the sunlight, when he handled that dress, and just now, when he heard the faintest whisper of a voice and a shimmer. What was going on?

He'd broken himself at the end of his last rotation, slaving for hours in the lab to finish a project that hadn't mattered much to anyone in the end. Christine had just left, and anything had seemed preferable to going back to the dank two-room apartment that he'd hurriedly rented after she threw him out. After sitting very kindly through his largely incoherent lab meeting presentation at the end of his rotation, the professor had suggested he "take some time off for a rest". Was he cracking? Was his mind manufacturing something after three months without a friendly touch?

Or was someone really there?

Suddenly, Adam felt arms encircle his waist- branches of faint warmth that folded around him just above his belt as something small and vaguely warm pressed againt his back. It was like being hugged from behind by a small upwelling of warm air from a heating duct. Either he was really getting into this hallucination, or...

...or something was really there.

Adam found his voice. Talking to someone that might not even be there was crazy, but seeing things- feeling things- that weren't there was crazy too. Since he was insane either way, might as well give it a shot.

"Hello? Is someone here?"

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Samantha

Hello? Is someone there? That's what he had said. She wasn't sure if it wasbecause she was holding hm that he said it, or what. That question had been asked so many times before. But right then as if on cue, and by no part of her own, a sudden gusty draft came in through the window for a brief scond. But it was all it needed to push the faded picture of Samantha Cole from the top of the cabinets above the counter. The picture tumbled down and landed on the counter top softly, the front of it facing up at him. The picture was of a young girl in her late teens, either 18 or 19 wearing avery familair looking blue evening dress. Her hair was the lightest shade of red, like that of a red rose whos petals had been faded by the sun fell about her shoulders in natural curly locks, her eyes a brilliant green, the skin of her well formed body natuarly light tanned and on her face with the most pleasent of smiles. The way she was lookng in the picture looked as though she were smiling to him.

From behind him she did whisper however to his question. "I am here..." she said, her whisper laced with a tinge of sadness. She hoped he could feel her, could take comfrot from her embrace...but she wasn't even sure if he could feel, see or even hear her.

 

[CollegeGuy19]

I am here

The words came with the rustling of the wind, the syllables seeming to be formed the the sounds of the trees tossing outside, the curtains blowing...and the photograph that suddenly wafted from the top of the refrigerator and onto the counter. Adam quickly snatched it away from the burner- a young girl, beautiful, looked like she was no more than eighteen or nineteen, with soft red hair the color of just-turned autumn leaves and bright green eyes. He felt a soft stirring in his stomach and a tightening in his groin as he stared- the girl had a beautiful, slim body and a bright smile that seemed to reach out of the printed photo paper and bring a little bit of sunshine with it. She was wearing a shimmery blue dress, which he recognized as the one he had found earlier in the bedroom closet. Was this her? How could someone with such a bright smile sound so heartbreakingly sad?

"I was right. You were beautiful." He thought he felt a squeeze around his stomach, as though the wafting arms that seemed to be holding him had tightened ever so slightly against him. They certainly seemed to be real. Was he losing his mind?

Adam shut off the burner on the stove- food could wait until he had this straightened out. He decided on an experiment.

"I think I can feel you...can you hear me? If you can, can you try to make the curtains blow, or something like that?"

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Samantha

She gasped..not only at his words to the picture but when he said he thought he could feel her..she felt her heart jump. He thought he could feel her. And yes she could hear him. But he wated a sign form her to show that she could hear him. Making the curtains blow was too obvious..another draft could do that just as well. But she wanted to show him she could hear. Looking around she started to thin. Ah yes, she could give that a try.

Releasing her hold on him slowly she went over to the stove and started to turn the burners on and off a few times, then she opend the freezer door a crack. Was that proof enough for him that she could hear him? She hoped so. But could he hear her.

She waited to see what he would do before she went further with trying to actually speak to him.

 

[CollegeGuy19]

Adam

There was a pause, and the warmth seemed to disappear from against his stomach and back. Adam was surprised at how sorry he was to lose the contact, however tenuous it might have been. Then, the burners on the stove started lighting themselves, the blue gas flames flickering on and off, and he almost imagined that he could feel whiffs of air from unseen hands moving to the knobs. The freezer door swung open, and as he automatically moved to close it he could almost feel his palm brush over the back of a small, unseen hand.

Okay, Adam, it's time to think. Your options are as follows. You are having an extremely realistic combination nervous breakdown and hallucination, or you are having an encounter with an unseen entity. Now, which is it, Mr. Scientist. There are no such things as ghosts, but you didn't hallucinate that burner coming on. No one made you find that dress or that photograph. The obvious conclusion is...

The obvious conclusion was impossible, of course. But it was the only thing he could come up with. He found his voice, speaking lowly and calmly.

"All right, so...you're there." He held up the photo, the smiling young woman whose face seemed to radiate happiness. "Is this you? How long has it been?"

He waited, his skin seeming to prickle slightly. Time to see how deep the rabbit hole went.

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Samantha

She felt her heart jump again...she had never felt this nervous in a long time..the air in the room started to change from a comfrtable sort of cool to an in between mix of warm and cold. He wanted to know if that was her, and how long it been. Her breathing quickened as she could feel her heart racing..with a light swallow to bild up her courage she looked to him imploring, hoping he would hear her now.

"Yes..yes that is me...and it has been..twenty years...please..can you hear me? Please tell me you can hear me..please??" if he could hear her he would hear a soft almost melodic voice filled with imploringness of him. She reached out to him, he had to hear her..he had seen that she coud hear him, he knew she was there. He just had to! Didnt he?

 

[CollegeGuy19]

"Yes..yes that is me...and it has been..twenty years...please..can you hear me? Please tell me you can hear me..please??" The voice was louder this time, and more its own- no longer borrowing sound from the environment, but seeming to come from just across the kitchen. It was definitely a woman's voice, high and pleasant but thick with what sounded almost like panic and suppressed tears. Adam's mind registered all of that, but most of it stayed stuck on one thng the voice had said.

Twenty years. He'd been three years old when this woman had...his mind shrank back from the world died, but it flitted at the edge of his consciousness like a stranger that wouldn't stop hovering over his shoulder. A toddler, being packed off the pre-school for half the day, just learning to read and play games with blocks.

Twenty years. Had she been here the whole time? Insubstantial, faded away, living as a breeze and a whisper and a soft sigh? Had she really been aware all that time? How many times must she have cried, huddled close to herself, wished that whatever it was that...had happened had turned out differently? She should be a wife now, a mother, a career woman- anything but caught here for twenty years.

Doubt fell out of Adam's mind. Whether or not he was insane had become almost an abstract concept in the face of the need in that voice, the enormity of twenty years. Even if this was a hallucination, he couldn't help it. A soft, warm feeling welled up inside of him, an overwhelming need to somehow comfort.
His mind reeled as thoughts and impressions of this mingled with school, with moving, with Christine, with his own loneliness...and all that could come out of that for him to say was, "It must have been forever since anyone touched you. It must have been lonely. I'm sorry."

It sounded pathetically inadequate, but it was literally all that could come to his mind.

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Samantha

He could hear her..he could hear her! Suddenly she rushed forward throwing her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Indeed it had been a long time since anyone had touched her, talked to her, done anything with her. "Thank you..thank you.." she siad to him and started peppering his face with kisses as she thanked him for hearing her. "You heard me...thank you.." And then she pulled back..suddenly affraid that she may have frightened him with her sudden action.

 

[CollegeGuy19]

Adam

Suddenly, Adam felt warm currents of air close around his waist and tighten, squeezing him as he felt a warm mass settle against his chest. It was still pretty eerie, because the only thing he could see was a faint shimmer- but it felt like there was somehow the shadow of a girl there, pressed against him, squeezing him as tightly as she could. The voice was there, in his ear, murmering "Thank you...thank you" and other, mostly incoherent things as he felt the girl settle in against him. To his surprise, Adam felt a tension begin to gather in his stomach, a tingling edge of desire that he hadn't felt for months. It was ridiculous, on the face of it- he couldn't feel more than a vague sort of warmth against him, and this was either a hallucination or a ghost- hardly a prime candidate to help him relieve his stretch of celibacy.

Besides, he was willing to be that insubstantiality made for poor sex. But that smile had been so vivid, so beautiful...

The voice kept murmering in his ear, almost desperately thanking him, and he felt the hint of soft lips against his cheeks, like the memory of a kiss that stays long after the real thing has faded. Then, suddenly, he felt her move away, air rustling behind her as she seemed to almost run from his arms. Adam stood there for a moment, dumbfounded and a little afraid that he'd somehow gone too far- although like the nervousness before, some of that emotion seemed somehow be coming from outside of him. Then he shook himself and made his eyes scan the room, finding that shimmer of false-mirage a few feet away, by the door to the living room. Moving slowly, he stepped over and put out his arm, finding that junction of shoulder and neck at the same height it had been before. If he was crazy, at least he was consistently so. He managed to find his voice again.

"Hey...it's all right. I can't imagine how long it's been...literally. Let me, please." Moving slowly, giving her the chance to escape if she wanted, he stepped forward, letting his arms go around the unseen shoulders in a warm hug, feeling the hint of her body against his again as he slowly tightened his arms.

Was it his imagination, or was she somehow more substantial now?

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Samantha

No..it was not his imagination. And it wasn't hers either. He was holding onto her shoulders, huggingher. With a sudden gasp she looked over to the window catchig anactual glimpse of her own reflection. She was still transparent but..if she could see herself in the windwo..could he see her? But...but how?? Maybe it was the fact he could hear and feel her...was he different form the others then? No one until Adam had been able to do this.

But she wasn't goingto complain..she was tense at first but then started to relax, resting her head against his shoulder. But then suddenly he could not feel her anymore, the sudden sound of the door flying open and banging into the wall startled her and had made her jump. Quickly she had gone to see what had done that.

Standing in the door was the Land Lady, lokoing at the door that had slammed into the wall..a puzzled look on her face..oh well if there were any damages she would have it fixed later. "Adam?? Sorry to disturb you but you left some things in my office." she called out as she held a small gym bag in herh and.

 

[CollegeGuy19]

Adam

Adam could feel her body press against him, feeling invisible muscles loosen under his fingers as she began to relax in his arms, the faintest hint of touch pressing against him as her faint warmth wafted over his skin. The moment was so perfect that he forgot that this was a ghost, that he was holding someone who had apparently been dead for twenty years, and that he had quite probably catapulted himself firmly over the edge and into utter madness. His eyes closed for a moment.

They darted open again as the door to the apartment slammed open, and suddenly the warm presence in his arms was gone. Adam whirled around, his breathing suddenly rapid- was there something else in the apartment? Another ghost, a demon, a monster? Now that he'd apparently held one ghost in his arms, how could he be sure that any of the monsters he'd mentally filed away as figments of imagination since childhood weren't real?

Nope, just the landlady. Not quite an Archduke of Hell, although from the way she was looking at me when I gave her my security deposit, I'm not sure the feeling's mutual.

There was no sign of the phantom girl, and Adam gritted his teeth for a moment in frustration. She'd started away before when he'd just gone to hold her a bit- after this, he might not see her for a month. Silently, he counted off prime numbers in his head, getting up to twenty-three before he could trust himself to reply.

"Thanks, Mrs. Vicelli. Guess I must have forgotten them when I was signing the lease." He reached over and took the bag from her, his mind racing as he tried to think how to get her out of the apartment. If the girl was too scared-

-If she existed at all.

Adam's mind slowed for a moment, and he sneaked a glance over his shoulder. No shimmer. No outline of a girl. Had he imagined it all?

Finally, the landlady left, after what seemed like an eternal five minutes. As the door closed behind her, Adam turned and called out,

"Are you there?"

No answer.

Had it been real?

Impulsively, Adam turned and headed for the bedroom. That was where he'd found the dress- or thought he had. It should still be there, and there had seemed to be something else in the bedroom, something strong and sad all at once. If she was real, he knew, he'd find her there.

Adam walked up to the bedroom door and paused at the threshold. His eyes scanned the room, now dark after sunset, and he tentatively murmered, "Hello? Are you there? Are you okay?" A tiny tickle of fear went up his spine, and almost to himself he murmured, "Please don't hurt me..."

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Smantha

Please don't hurt me... he heard again, but he had not said it..the voice sounded feminine and quiet, almost terrifed. And then "PLEASE don't hurt me!!" And there on the bed he could see her, wearing a red teddy, her green eyes streaming tears, her red hair falling about her shoulders as her legs were curld up under her, her hands crossed over her chest. On either side of and at the foot of the bed he could see three men wearing black ski masks. The one to her right lunged forward and grabbed her by the hair causing her to scream, yanking her head towards him with a growl and then he pulled her to the floor. Yanking her to her feet by a hand on her arm he slapped her hard across the face and started to drag her out of the room the other two following behind him. But as they passed Adam her eyes went to him and she mouthed the words Help...me..

Into the living room they took her where another man, wearing only a pair of jeans was secured to a kitchen chair by cuffs around his ankles and wrists attached to the chair behind him. A trickle of blood was running out of the corner of his mouth, his left eye swollen, freshly forming bruises on his shoulders, chest and stomach. "What do you think of him now...What do you htink of him now Samantha??" the man holding onto her arm growled as he shoved her to the floor.

All she could do was whimper as she tried to go to the one in the chair who looked to her, trying totalk but no words came out. Then the one who had shoved her removed his mask with a swift motion and dropped it to the floor. Looking to him she shook her head. "Why..why Tod? Why are you doing this to us???"

He shrugged and knelt besideher lifting her chin so she looked right into his eyes. "Because if I can't have you...no one can. Now tell me..what do you think of him now.."

She loked then to the one in the chair.. "Brad..." she said quietly as she started to cry again. "I..I love him..." With a shout of anger Tod stood and drug her to her feet slapping her across the face again. "You LOVE him??"? He shoutedat her as he sturck her again..and then again. Over and over he struck her, her cries ofr help and pleadings for mercy going unanswered, it was as if no one else was in the building with them.

And then she went to defend herself, picking up a large book from the table to try to block his blows, whichdidn't work at all. He continued to strike her knocking the book from her hands. The other two that were with him held Brad's head up so he could watch. And then, finally having backed her against a wall, Tod grabbed a jar from the stand by the window and smashed it against her head. She dropped to the floor like a bag of uncared for laundry.

And then the door opened again. There in the doorway stood a man, the man looked familair, like the picture of the one Adam had seen on the Lan Lady's desk, looking at the scene with an expression of....horror maybe. Tod turned around and shook his head as he walked out of the room, looking to his two friends he shrugged "Take care of him." And then he started to go out into the hall "Not a word of this to anyone Dad." he said as he started to walk out. The man just shrugged and nodded. "She deserved what she got..."

And then...the scene faded. The living room was as Adam had left it, the apartment terribly quiet but chillingly cold, it was like the temperature had dropped by fifteen degrees, Adam could swear he could see his own breath as if he were outside on a cold fall day.

Then from the bedroom he could hear something, someone crying.

Samantha sat huddled on the floor against the wall by the bed, her arms hugging her legs to herself as she rocked back and forth, right now she was nothing more than a transparent figure of herself.

 

[CollegeGuy19]

One

Adam sagged back against the wall, his knees giving out for a moment as his mind went blank with horror, fumbling through the primes as he fought to bring some kind of order back to his thoughts. That was...had to have been...well, either that, or my hallucinations have a better imagination than I ever did. But where in his mind could those images have come from? Two Sure, he'd seen that man in the picture on Mrs. Vicelli's desk- looking a bit older, but not much- but he'd never seen the man she'd called Tod before in his life. That left only one conclusion.

Three

That was how she died. About three feet from where he'd been standing, on the floor of the living room, with her head bashed in. Adam hadn't been able to tell from where he sat whether or not Tod had meant to kill her, and he didn't know which possibility hurt his mind more: that someone could have decided to take that bright, smiling girl out of the world just because he couldn't keep her as a posession, or that her death had been the result of a careless half-second two decades ago. Adam shivered against the cold in the apartment, a chill racing along his spine.

Five Help me, she'd said, but how could he have? He was watching some kind of recording of something that had happened when he was still working on toilet training. It was too late to fix things. Too late to help.

Wasn't it?

Seven. Adam felt his mind start to click back into place. As it did so, he could hear a low, soft crying sound coming from the bedroom- more substantial than her voice had been at first, but still somehow thin-sounding, as though coming from a scratchy record being played next door. Adam pushed himself to his feet and walked towards the bedroom.

Eleven. Calm now. Calm. Maybe it wasn't too late to help. She needed someone there.

Thirteen. Why had the landlady's appearance triggered that shock, though? The man on her desk- her husband? If so, that would make the murderer her son. Adam filed that away for the moment- nothing he could do, unless he could convince the New York District Attorney's office that a murderer in a 20-year old case had just been fingered by the ghost of his victim.

Adam walked into the bedroom, and stopped dead for a moment at what he saw. She was there- transparent, but there, visible, a beautiful young woman with red hair falling over her shoulders, bright green eyes, and a beautifully sculpted body that almost tumbled out of the filmy red teddy she was still wearing. Adam felt a momentary stirring inside of him, and paused for a moment to gather the willpower to force it down. Her face, though, was buried between her knees, and the sound of her sobs was louder.

He crossed the room, knelt down beside her, and wrapped his arms around her. She felt ever so slightly solid, this time, as though he were wrapping his arms around stiff tissue paper that somehow held its own shape. For a moment he just stayed there, eyes closed and head leaning against the top of hers. Then he gently slipped a finger between her knees and under her chin, lifting her face up to brush away her tears with another finger. They flicked away, but vanished as soon as they got more than a couple inches from her body. His palm gently stroked along the side of her face, and he softly whispered.

"I'm so, so sorry. You must have loved him."

God, that sounded stupid.

"I wish I had been there. I wish I could have helped."

 

[LadyOfThorns]

Samantha

She was scared, confused..she knew she had looked directly at Adam twenty years ago but he hadn't been there. But now, he WAS there. He was here with her, but it was twenty years too late. As he touchd her she flinchd and tried to get away, not sure if she wanted to be alone or if she wanted him near.

She just knew right now that Mrs. Vicelli had triggered it again, causing her to relive that horrible night. As he started to wipe the tears away she looked up to him...yes she had loved Brad..she had loved him very much...and this Adam..she reminded her a lot of him..those same soft eyes, the way he spoke...but there were differences at the same time that told her it was not Brad. Irt couldn't be. If he was still alive he would have married and moved on by now. With another sob she lowered her knees and leaned forward, slowly and tentavley she started to wrap her arms around him, pressing her face against his chest, her tears actually dampening his shirt, not gooey feeling like warm jelly, but wet and warm like real tears..and as she held onto him the stiff feeling of tissue went away and he could feel her arms about him, trembling and warm.

"Pleas..." she whispered, the sound of it sounding like a desperate whimper of one who was lost. "Please...hold me..."

 

[CollegeGuy19]

Adam

"Please...please hold me."

She was there. All the way, or as close as made no difference. Adam could feel her in his arms, warm and soft and shaking as though she was chilled to the very core of herself. Adam wrapped his arms around her, letting her burrow her face against his chest and neck and squeezing her tightly against him. She was barely wearing anything, and he felt himself stir again, a little more insistently this time- she felt real now, not some half-there shimmer or barely-heard voice. He forced himself down- this wasn't the time, and wouldn't have been even if she hadn't been...well...a ghost.

He murmered soft words in her ear, trying to reassure and soothe something that he wasn't sure could be soothed. "It's OK...it's allright, just stay here as long as you need to and it'll be OK."

It'll be OK. Right. She was dead. Nothing would ever be OK for her again. But Adam kept softly whispering in her ear, trying to calm her as best he could. And maybe, after he'd made sure she was all right, he could see about trying make sure nothing was OK for Mrs. Vicelli's son, ever again.