Afterlife - Stephanie Hudson Page 0,210

plan worked because as soon as he saw me he panicked. I then played him at his own game. I told him how I didn't want to lose him, how it was the demon that made me do it, how it was jealous of my love for him and it wanted me to suffer and die.

Of course he believed my every word and for the first time in over a month I saw daylight as he put me in the car. But I must have passed out because the next thing I knew I was being placed outside the emergency room doors and the last thing he said to me was, “Don't say a word and I will be back to get you.” Of course it didn't take long before I was found by the hospital staff. Once inside I screamed as loud as I could for the police to be called as I had been kidnapped! Well it didn't take long before they finally took me seriously and my parents confirmed it, as they had been looking for me after only two weeks of me being taken. They arrested Morgan when he came back trying to get me as the reception told him I was in a different room, which was full of cops waiting to take him down.”

“That was an incredibly brave thing you did but there is one thing I still don't understand…Why didn't you give a statement?”

“I have my reasons which are personal, but it helped that I didn't need to as they went to Morgan's house and found more than enough evidence, which unfortunately included more dead bodies. I found out later that he had killed my room mate Charlotte, making it look like suicide. They found Tom's body dumped in the woods near the University, he'd had his throat cut so deep it nearly severed the head, so naturally the police were already investigating his murder. For a time I was even a suspect as I had disappeared. They also found the body of the real Hugo Morgan as he had taken on his life and fooled everyone. They had told me his real name was Douglas Brone and his background was a sketchy one. They knew he had a sister who was also called Catherine and that he thought of her as more than a sister, if you know what I mean. They don't know how but she died and she was the one in the picture that I found.”

“They also found a room in his attic that was dedicated to his obsession with me. They found hundreds of pictures of me, ones he'd taken, and ones he'd drawn and painted. There was also my hair, some of my clothes and some other sicker things that he had removed from my trash. But the worst thing they found was my body double.”

“What do you mean by body double?” Draven asked as he leaned forward.

“The frozen body of a murdered girl who looked like me, she had also gone missing close to the same time as I had and they believed they could have a serial killer on their hands. But then they realised why her. See the police believed he was planning to fake my death and for this he needed someone that fit my body type. He thought that he could just take me and that we could disappear, but my family were making that difficult, as they got the police searching for me and people at the University were being questioned. Morgan was also questioned and soon became a suspect. It wasn't going to be long before they found me but of course I didn't know any of this. Naturally as soon as he was caught it was clear to everyone he was insane and instead of going to a usual prison he pleaded insanity and was sent to a highly secure mental institute.”

“Fools...he deserved the chair!” Draven shouted in anger as I had now clearly come to the end of my near destruction two years ago.

“So now you understand why I have to go?” I said standing and walking towards the door, knowing this would be that last time I would see him. I swallowed the lump in my throat at the thought, as I tried the door which was still locked.

“NO I don't, if anything that story just confirmed my justification for keeping you here.” He said standing himself, folding his arms across his chest making his stance more