Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

blur r ed eyes, I could see that it had collapsed onto one side, and the hor ses had
br oken fr ee fr om tor n tether s, pounding away dow n Old Coach Road.?
?Get this man out of her e,? Whitlock half-shouted, half-moaned, as if in agony.
Yet not a man moved.
?As I cr adled Emily in my ar ms, I saw the dr iver stagger ing to his feet in the r oad,
ahead of the over tur ned coach. As he stood, swaying in the dusk, he pulled fr om his
belt, a pistol!?
Whitlock tr ied to get up fr om his chair , but was unable; per haps due to the effects
of the alcohol - inebr iated, just as he had been on that dr eadful day. He clutched at
his chest, gasping for br eath w hich labour ed to come.
?You pointed that pistol str aight at my hear t, Whitlock. And you pulled the
tr igger ? You couldn?t affor d the scandal, could you?? He shook his head feebly,
quietly w hining now , eyes pleading.
?Even intoxicated as you w er e, you made off acr oss the fields then had your
?men?r etur n to satur ate the coach in petr ol or some such thing. Shielded by tr ees,
they disposed of the evidence. By the time the r esulting fir e was discover ed, it was
far too late! You left me ? and my beloved Emily ? bleeding in the dust of the
r oadway. Like tw o w hipped cur s? ?
Whitlock?s w or ds came as little mor e than a hoar se cr oak: ?My dr iver had been
taken ill, that?s w hy I was? You w er e dead? Both of you?
Dead? ?
And ther e it was. The equivalence of a confession.
Ther e was only one thing r emaining to do.
I slow ly but fir mly pulled open my shir t at the fr ont, to r eveal the r agged hole
w her e the bullet had passed thr ough to my hear t. Whitlock?s eyes gaped madly
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