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Chapter 12
"Oh my god," I heard Isaac mutter under his breath when five of us walked into Holly's house the next morning.
"I hear you," Michelle agreed. "You said it was bad Ryan but I didn't think it'd be this bad."
"And you're saying that nothing got stolen as far as you know, right?" Veronica asked again that morning. Holly nodded. "Hmm… Then why go through all the trouble?" She let the question hang in the air.
"Come on people. We got a full day of cleaning up to do," I said, wanting to lift the uneasy feeling that was surrounding all of us. I stole a glance to Holly. A mixture of rage and depression floated around in her eyes… Mostly depression. I was afraid that this latest mishap in her life was going to ruin all the progress she'd made since Daniel's death. "You sure you want to be here Holly? I know it's your house and all but you shouldn't be seeing it like this."
"I'll be fine," she said, going over to where I'd left the stack of pictures yesterday.
"All right," I said, a bit reluctantly. "Let's get to it then."
We all split up, each of us concentrating on a separate room. I stayed in the living room to continue the work that I had been doing yesterday, repairing the torn sofa, concentrating to make sure that the split strings wove themselves back together before setting it upright where it belonged. I went over to where a corner showcase shelf had stood. Carefully, I took the piece and examined the crack that led a good way up one of the wooden sides. I stared at it long and hard, watching as faint wisps of smoke burned the pieces of wood carefully together to make it strong again. Surprisingly, the glass that had made up its shelves and doors had been spared and I carefully put placed the pieces back where they belonged. I took a look around me and sighed. So many things had been damaged… There was no way to get it all fixed. Some of the items had been priceless for the two, not necessarily money wise but definitely memory wise.
A few long hours had passed in silence when we'd finally finished. A big pile of trashed items was gathered against one wall and Holly was slowly going through the pile, deciding on what to throw out and what was too precious to get rid of. Veronica, Isaac, and Michelle each gave Holly a hug before leaving, saying that they had some things to get done before the day was through. I showed them out, quietly thanking them for helping. Holly hadn't even looked up from the pile to really say good-bye. I sighed and took a seat next to where Holly knelt in front of the pile.
She was holding up half a plate and crying. "This was one of the wedding gifts from his parents." I watched as she traced the border fondly before putting it in the pile to throw out. Most of the cracked and chipped china had already been put into that pile, as were several glass ornaments and other fragile pieces that were all now beyond repair. The articles that had received the least amount of damage were gathered in the pile to be salvaged and repaired, most of these being the larger, heavier, and sturdier pieces.
I gave her a pat on the back for holding up so well before I went to begin putting the broken pieces into a bag to throw out. In the middle of my cleaning, I looked up to watch her pick up a wooden figure of a cat sleeping. I noticed the faint smile on her lips as she pet the ornament that had once rested beside the doorway leading to the kitchen. "I remember when Kristin got us this. It looked exactly like my cat when I was younger and it was a shock. Every detail was right, down to the last whisker it seemed." She gave a short chuckle and my heart went out to her when she placed the cat in the pile to keep, a tear slipping from her eye.
Only two things had warned me that it was late. The first was when I'd stepped out to put the trash out for the garbage collection and noticed that the streetlights had already gone on. The second was when I came back inside and smelled the aroma of food being warmed up. I hadn't even really considered myself hungry until my stomach growled in anticipation of being fed. I guess whoever had trashed the place had left that area pretty much alone from what I heard from Veronica. Thank goodness for that, I thought to myself.
Dinner was quick and quiet, the two of us both caught up in our own thoughts that night. I offered to let her stay at my place again that night and thankfully, she accepted. Neither of us was comfortable with the idea of having her stay alone in that house for long periods of time just yet. Or at least, not until we found out why her house had been broken into in the first place. It made absolutely no sense to just target her like that and not do anything… Then again, that could have been it. Their intent could have been to just mess with her mind, and if that had been their intent, then that goal had been reached. Still, I couldn't but help that this wasn't going to end with just messing up a few of her rooms and I wasn't looking forward to what else was planned for the future…