Antonio walked silently back towards his house and even if he was passing right by the police there was no longer any worry in him all thanks to Eloise’s words. He was even able to walk with his head held high all the way to his front door. Smiling to himself as he unlocked the door, he couldn’t help but  enjoy this new little privilege of his. Now he was free from both his father and the law. Nothing more could hold him back from living a wonderfully fulfilling life at his family’s side. That is what he thought, at least, until he pushed the door open.

Everything in immediate sight and beyond seemed to have been made an absolute mess. Not the typical kind of mess that was occasionally found in any household, particularly one inhabited by a toddler, rather it was the kind of mess that was made with destruction in mind. Photos ripped off the walls, their glass lying shattered on the floor, cabinets thrown over with their wood now splintered, couches shoved around and their cushions ripped open, stuffing dotting the ground like a sick sort of snow. 

“JANE,” Antonio called out, his mind already racing through the worst of scenarios. He rushed past the initial destruction to only find more destruction and not a single hint of his family. Jane? Otis? They had been here, happy and safe just some days ago. They had been right here so how could they be gone now? Somehow, out of each and every damn thing that he had experienced in his life this was the single most infuriating moment. 

He began to run all around the house, throwing doors open and jumping over the messes that were made at every corner. Despite his attempts to fight it off he wasn’t able to stop the bitter tears that had begun to form at the corner of his eyes. Though there were some nooks of his house that some dust scattered in them, it certainly wasn’t them that was clogging up his throat and making it harder to breathe by the instant. A great nausea began stirring up from some netherworld far beyond his stomach and clawing its way up him to cloud his eyesight. As he went on with his frantic search of the house his legs began to struggle in holding up his weight, slowly and surely forcing him to collapse against the wall. Just what was going on? Was he just a cruel joke for the universe to entertain itself with at this point? Were a few days of peace really too much to ask for? Were his sins just too great to ever be able to deserve them? If so then they were his own sins, not for others to bear, so why did Jane and Otis have to be dragged out in this? As he lay on the floor, his thoughts rampaging about so fiercely he could scarcely make sense of his surroundings, Antonio held his arm out in the frail hope that somehow, out of nowhere, someone would appear and place their hands around his. 

“Jane…”