Afterlife - Stephanie Hudson Page 0,148

staring back at me. I didn't remember at first that I had sketched a picture of him so I was shocked to see the perfect features that I had burned to the memory slot of my brain. It was his deep set eyes, his strong jaw line, even down to his stubble and his shoulder length hair styled back off his face. I had captured every bit of him as though I had copied a photograph. Just looking at it gave me Goosebumps and I quickly put it away in my drawer, hiding his cold glare. I had drawn him the way he looked last night and the memory made me close my eyes and push it back into the far corners of my mind, next to the other bad stuff I stored there.

I got to college early, as RJ wasn't in today due to a hangover she called “study time.” I went to the Library to kill time and to get out a few books on American History, as it was the one subject I was going to be in the dark about. Of course when it was the time for British history then I would be back in the game but for now, seeing as pretty much everyone in the class except me was taught it in school, I was going to need to learn it all from scratch. By the time I found the section I only had time to grab one book and run to my first class.

While I was in History class Sophia had apologised for her brother's “Bad mood” and asked me if everything was all right at home? I explained that it was all fine, not wanting to disclose any details. I thanked her for her concern and lied about being fine with what happened last night.

“Sometimes I don't understand Dom's reasoning but let’s just say he likes things the way he likes them if that makes any sense?” She said and I nodded but I really wanted to say, “Well actually it makes no sense what so ever but hey... I guess cryptic clues must run in the family.” Instead I just stuck to,

“Don't worry about it.” And she dropped the subject, not mentioning her brother again.

Before she went she told me that I could start at eight instead of seven if I wanted but I didn't want to add more fuel to the fire so told her seven was fine. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of another showdown.

When I got back, Libby reminded me that she and Frank were going to Frank’s parents for dinner and were staying the night so not to worry when I returned to an empty house. It was going to be the first time I would stay there alone and the idea didn't have me jumping around in excitement shouting “party,” if anything Freddy Kruger came to mind!

I had a feeling that this would be one of those nights and the dread washed over me like sticky black tar. With these thoughts I had a shower and it helped but even Libby's honey milk shower gel didn't make me feel clean. I dried the top part of my hair putting up the rest that remained damp. I put on a black vest over my black underwear that I only wore when I needed to do some more washing. I pulled out a pair of black long sleeved gloves and slipped them over my scars, placing my thumb through the hole. I put on my black shirt that did up with a few hooks at the front and tied at the back as it wrapped round my waist. It showed my curves as the material clung to my skin. I added a Gothic black and purple tie that RJ had lent me as I was sick of being the only one that didn't make an effort on weekends. I even decided to add a tiny amount of mascara that I had borrowed from Libby. She looked as shocked as Frank when I asked her for it.

“What's brought this on?” She said as she handed me three different types, getting over excited to see me making an effort again.

“Nothing, it's just most of the waitresses dress smarter at the weekend so I didn't want to stand out.”

“Well you look great, really smart with the whole tie thing.” She said waiting for me to pick a stick to use.

“I only needed one.”

“Yeah but what do you