Afterlife - Stephanie Hudson Page 0,192

grey and his face full of lines showing the stress he had mounted up over the years. But there was no doubt it had been him. I had said his name and he hadn't denied that. I got the rest of the stuff in a daze. Maybe he suffered with short-term memory loss but I doubted very much a doctor's profession would be the way to go if he did.

Even when I had paid for my stuff and was loading it into my car I was still thinking about it. The man that I had seen had been kind and gentle, but this man had been rude and definitely not a people person. And how could someone have aged so much in such a short space of time? I just couldn't get my head round it and I knew it wasn't just me going crazy as Libby had also met him that day. Once again it had become one of those things that I tried to forget or put to the back of my mind but it kept crawling its way forward, scratching away at my brain.

I was back in the kitchen munching on a tuna sandwich I had made myself when the phone went again and I picked it up trying to swallow a mouthful of bread.

“Hello!” I said but there was nothing on the other end but heavy breathing, so I said it again.

“Helloooo!” But then I heard a guy that sounded like he was in the background saying in an agitated tone,

“Hey you have to pay to use that!” And with that, the phone went dead leaving me shaking my head. Must have been a wrong number. After I finished my lunch I did the rest of Libby's laundry and I decided to run a bath and try to relax before I knew what I had to do tonight. I poured in Libby's fancy bottles of bubble bath under the running water and it filled the room with the scent of a Tropical Delight. I lit a few candles and pressed play on the CD player that she had fitted in the bathroom wall. It had the sounds of the forest, with birds and waterfalls transforming the bathroom into a relaxing haven.

It was a huge room with a massive free-standing bath that you could fit more than one body in. I let my robe slip to the floor and I placed one leg in letting my skin adapt to the temperature, feeling the slight itch as it was too hot. I then braved it and dunked the rest of my body under the scented water, feeling it soothe my muscles into relaxation. I tried not to think about tonight and concentrated on the background sound of the forest but no matter how I tried I couldn't help it. I kept seeing Draven's harsh face, the way he had looked at me yesterday and it made me shiver, even though my skin was hot. Being in the bath was reminding me that Draven was like water, I didn't know when it would be ice cold or burning hot but either way I needed it...I needed it to survive!

Once I had finished relaxing I did all the usual girlie things, shaved my legs and any other area that needed attention. I scrubbed my skin with a rough sponge until it glowed and the soap that smelled like strawberries. As soon as I was done in the bath I rinsed off in the shower and washed my hair as I could never wash it in the bath with it being so long. By the time I got out Libby and Frank were back and frantically packing.

She popped her head round my bedroom door after about an hour of running around like a headless chicken.

“Hey honey we're off in a minute, thanks for sorting out my washing and going to the store for me, you’re a doll!”

“No problem. I just I used all your fancy products in the bath to make up for it!” I said and she laughed.

“Oh well, I will get you to scrub the decking outside for that one, seriously though you know you can help yourself ….are you sure you don't mind us going?” She said looking at her watch as though they were going to be late, so I got up and hugged her saying,

“I told you I will be fine...now go and have fun and don't worry about me, but if I'm not in later