NSFW Author

On the following night, Lucy managed to gain control of her former body almost as soon as Catherine feel asleep and explored every more of her apartment with her own eyes.

Have you every noticed that the bigger your apartment or house, the more sections of it you never actually lay your eyes on? Perhaps a room you never use, or a drawer of old junk you don’t need.

Lucy spent the night scanning for hiding places: she needed a way to store her current (and future) personal possessions in Catherine’s apartment, but away from her.

For now, the best spot was the gap between the top of Catherine’s kitchen cabinets and the ceiling.

Lucy knew from the security meeting, that she possibly could already expel Catherine from her body, but she didn’t know enough yet about Catherine’s life to take over it and as such, she left Catherine in charge during the day to observe her.

On the third night, Lucy actually left Catherine’s penthouse and hurried to her former apartment which, she knew, would be emptied soon but which she secretly hoped would not have been touched yet.

She was shocked to discover that most of her things had been thrown away, but some were still in garbage bags near the door.

Someone had begun to paint over her hand drawn mural in the living room, but only one layer of paint had been laid and some of the drawing still showed.

Lucy ran toward her bedroom and was relieved to find that her bed had not been touched yet. Whoever was cleaning her former apartment seemed to be processing room by room.

Lucy’s laptop and diary were quickly retrieved, as was some of the clothes and memorabilia that Catherine had left behind but which were of emotional importance to Lucy.

With a tear in her eye, Lucy abandoned many of her more voluminous possessions,  like her hand painted bedside table which she couldn’t really hide in Catherine’s apartment without raising suspicions.

That night, everything retrieved was hidden in Catherine’s apartment and Lucy decided to return to a more passive role, simply using the night as a way to practice keeping control over her body.

Instead, she used the day to note Catherine’s routine: the body thief was using her time to introduce herself as her niece and slowly getting back into her former circles, using her knowledge to create new relationships with her old friends.

Catherine however, was a very predictable woman. She had a clear routine which varied only in specific spots.

For example, she was a deeply religious woman who attended mass at the same church 3 times per week (Sunday morning, Wednesday evening and Friday, at the morning mass).

She always ate brunch at the same restaurant after mass on Sunday with the same people she had re-connected with.

But Sunday afternoons were often spent shopping or idly browsing into shopping malls, libraries or specialty shops just as every other Monday morning, Catherine would visit her hair stylist.

Lucy didn’t like the shorter hair Catherine was giving her, but it was longer than many older women and the hair would grow back.

What Lucy wondered was how come no one lightened up that Catherine wasn’t in a new body? Perhaps it sounded too extreme of a thought and no one had a clear idea of how much the niece acted like the aunt.

But Lucy wasn’t all passive. A few times, on Sunday afternoons, she managed to influence Catherine’s direction or purchases without Catherine realizing it.

Initially, Lucy had planned to expel Catherine from her body, but she now wondered if it was even needed in the short term if she could manipulate her to her advantage?

Lucy thought that Catherine should have wondered why she had bought a wireless router and ordered Internet when she didn’t even have a computer, but perhaps Lucy’s directives simply came as subconscious desires or maybe Catherine was so used to making frivolous purchases that this was not even registering in her mind as unusual…

Soon, Lucy thought. Soon she would get her life back, but with added resources…