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 Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:02 pm
"Oh?" Michael asked. The syllable had left his lips while he was still admiring his toast, and all was well and normal until he looked up and saw Lissie's face. His chewing slowed. Something was happening that he hadn't been aware of.
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:08 pm
"Yes. I asked him how it felt because--"
Lissie hesitated, took a sip of tea. "I had a warm feeling. And I asked him. He said that's what love feels like." And a few other things too. "Michael, I've never had this feeling for anyone before."
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:21 pm
Michael was no idiot. At his core, he knew what was happening. It had never occurred in his life, but it didn't take a pulse to understand the situation. He still held his bread, but his back straightened even further. For some time he said nothing, ice blue eyes flicking over Lissie's face. What was there to say?
"What feelings, dare I ask?" His voice wasn't cool, but he didn't want to admit to himself what this all meant.
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 9:40 pm
...Michael wasn't reacting well. Lissie hesitated. She took a long sip of her tea, and swallowed. She busied herself with peeling an orange. She wasn't sure how to put this. At least she'd know how he felt, she supposed.
"I love you, Michael."
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 7:41 am
She might as well have punched him in the chest. In fact, Michael might have preferred that. Nearly any idea was better than being in love with a person you had been sent to save, when saving them meant saying goodbye forever. He's given up on love a long time ago; it hadn't seemed to jibe with death, and who would love a ghost anyway?
He set his bread down and stared at the table with his hands crossed over his stomach. The silence continued. He got to his feet suddenly and wandered away a few steps as if it had some purpose.
"Are you certain?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 7:47 am
Why wasn't Michael happy? Was it possible she'd read him wrong, and he didn't feel the same way? She set her tea cup down and stood.
"Fairly certain," she said, frowning in concern. Her eyebrows knitted together. What did she do to make this better? Maybe she shouldn't have told him?
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 7:52 am
Michael's lips pursed. His eyes closed. The ache was back. What was he even supposed to say? The ghost wrung his hands and willed it all away. Coming to a Victorian home had been pleasant, if not mildly painful, at first. Now it was mostly just pain.
Finally he had built the strength to turn back to Lissie. "I don't know what to say. I've never done this before."
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:37 pm
"Me either," Lissie admitted, and reached for his hand. "I asked Toby to tell me about it, because of that feeling. I'd never experienced it before." She hesitated before moving closer to him.
"Michael, you make me feel warm inside. I didn't know what it was. I think I do now."
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:39 pm
Only Michael's eyes moved toward her offered had. He didn't deny it outright, but he didn't take it either. There was so much danger in that little pale hand.
"Love can hurt." He may never have been in love, but he knew that much.
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:51 pm
"And love can be wonderful!" Lissie said, taking his hand. "I know that. I've felt it in just the short time I've known you. Don't you feel the same way?" It was perhaps, bold to assume. Bold to ask outright. But...
"I love you."
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:02 pm
Michael resisted the urge to pull his hand away and simply looked between theirs for a moment. Her skin looked so pale and cool against his, and he had always been fair. No, she had to cross over. He couldn't keep her around just for his own selfish desires.
When he spoke, his voice was sad. Were they alive, this would have been a much different conversation.
"Lissie, I do, but I'm not sure that I should act."
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:10 pm
He felt the same way. Lissie seemed to light up, becoming a healthy young woman as she had been in life. There was a warmth, but her focus was on Michael. Her eyes were shining with joy. She couldn't believe it. He loved her. That was all she'd ever wanted.
She looked up, and startled as she saw it. She released Michael's hand and took several steps back. "I'm not going."
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:12 pm
Lissie might have been defiant, but Michael was caught by the presence of the light as well. He turned to peer up the stairs, Lissie's stairs, and saw the unfamiliar shapes of her family. Were there members she didn't want to see? Michael had never seen a spirit deny the white light when it had reopened for them. He stared over his shoulder for a while, and turned back to Lissie and smiled. The pain was gone, but the joy he felt was the same as seeing a friend off to be wed. It was bittersweet.
He offered his hand again. "Come." Love said that he had no other option but to see her through.
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:18 pm
Lissie took his hand, but didn't seem willing to move any closer to the light. "I'm not going," she said, looking away from it. She'd turned away from it the first time, her desire to be alive had been so strong. Her anger st her fiancée had been. But now, that anger was gone, and Michael was here...
She wouldn't leave him. No.
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:31 pm
"Trust me," Michael said, giving her hand a little squeeze and offering another bright smile. Surely once she actually stepped inside the light she would want to go, and understand why he was so adamant. She would forgive him his half-trickery in avoiding mentioning that he wasn't coming. There were more people to help, even if they weren't for loving. Lissie was a rare sort, after all.
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