The September Outcome

Chapter 12: Burglarized

 Audrey's automobile screeched down the driveway and into the drive. She pulled the breaks on the car and it came to a swift halt. The crisp autumn breeze blew and scattered a few crumbling leaves across the dirt ground. Audrey had driven fast down the highways upon exiting her father-in-law's house. She had not enjoyed the trip. 

 It had been a brief visit and a difficult one to say the least. She had explained everything that had happened to Randall thinking he would understand, but alas that was not the case. He retorted everything she said to him and called her crazy. It had upset her deep down despite the brave face she tried to pull. Randall had always been kind and tentative to her and now it was like he was a different person altogether. His reaction had been out of character completely. Why was the whole word against her? 

 She attempted to shrug the whole thing off and stepped swiftly from the car's interior. She outstretched her arms and gave a draining yawn. Rubbing her eyes she walked through the wind, continuously having to brush her hair from her face. The relentless wind kept blowing until she reached the door. Sheltered by the huge exterior of the mansion she unlocked the front door and entered inside. 

 The hallway looked the same as it always did, over the top and grand. As if she'd been hit over the head with something she could feel that something was wrong. She could sense it. She glanced up the staircase and on the floors. Dumping her coat on the carpet she made her way to the kitchen. The feeling of something astray was overwhelming as she brushed the door open with her shoulder. She jumped at the sight.

 The cupboards and shelves were all flung open, as if in a state of frenzy. Broken glasses lay a wreck on the floor along with plates and cutlery. She noticed the various foods that lay smashed around on the countertops and the floor. The kitchen window had also been smashed. She glared at the fridge that seemed to have been hacked to pieces with an axe or a shovel. Audrey gulped hard at the scene. What the hell had happened? Who had done this? She immediately thought of Jackie and Eleanor. She looked at her watch. No, they were long gone and the attack looked recent enough. 

 Audrey didn't know how to react. She felt scared in her own home, like someone ad come and violated her safe place. She shuddered, was there ever a safe place? She stepped in and around the shattered materials and adjourned to the living room. She gasped when she came through and covered her mouth. The sofa had also been hacked to pieces and the gramophone, radio set and television were destroyed. The carpet had been ripped to shreds and there were axe marks in the wall, clumps of plaster littering the wooden floor. Whoever was here had done a thorough job and left no stone unturned. Audrey cringed at the idea that if she had been here she might have been caught in the crossfire, hacked to pieces. 

 Audrey would have sat down and cried but frankly there wasn't anywhere to do that without being chopped up. She sobbed and kneeled on the floor. Audrey didn't know what else to do other than wait for Dwight. Exploring any further might hurt too much and Dwight was the last person on her mind. The thoughts of him swirled around relatively until she realized that this was Dwight's doing. This was once again linked to the series of oh-so secret behaviours from her husband. Whatever he was up to gave someone enough anger or fear to come and trash their house. Another thought hit her. What if they were searching? 

 Audrey got up and rushed imperatively down the stretching hallway until she came to Dwight's office. The door was usually locked but now it seemed to have been stabbed into pieces. She pushed the door in itself and it fell back. Audrey shook her head looked at the various papers, removed from their organized home and slung around the place. She stepped inside and glanced at the floor concealed by the never ending amount of papers. 

 There was no way of interpreting if anything had been removed or taken considering the crazed mess of paper. Audrey exerted over whether the intruders had been here to take something belonging to her husband, something official and document related or if they were just in an insane rage. They were either crazy and on some sort of rage or they had been trying to give a warning. A warning about what? For her or Dwight? To stop whatever he was doing, or to quit shoving her nose where she wasn't wanted. Audrey wondered if they were right.