Audrey's house: Hugh & Rafe WHO: Hugh & Rafe WHEN: Mid-morning, following these conversations. WHERE:Audrey & Hannah's House. SUMMARY: Following Audrey's disappearance at Hugh's place; Hugh and Rafe go check to be sure she didn't just go home. WARNINGS: Expect an X-Files vibe, ok.
The truth that Hugh didn't particularly care to admit to himself was that he played a much better dashing hero on the stage than he was one in real life. Especially in situations like the one he found himself in currently, which was looking up at the large white house in the neighborhood with the keys to the front door in his hand. In situations like this one he was anxious and paranoid, and he could admit, to himself at least, that if Rafe wasn't with him this would have been a lot more difficult.
He kept telling himself that this was ridiculous. He probably should just go knock on the door. The obvious thing that logically made the most sense was that Audrey had gotten up early for some reason, returned to the house to pick something up and gotten busy. Audrey would probably be halfway through some baking project and he'd feel stupid.
At least, he hoped. Because the alternative was what was setting anxiety badly in his stomach. If she wasn't here he didn't know where to look next. Sure he could file a missing person's report, but… everything he had to tell the police was stuff he wouldn't have believed a year or two or three ago. All he had to go on was the feeling that something bad had happened, and there'd been noises in the house that had brought her to his place.
Plus, she'd been in his house the last time that she'd been seen and he wasn't stupid, it would mean questions of him and Zee, questions maybe even more than what Rafe had asked him as a friend. And considering his history, it was going to probably bring suspicion because of the murder trial even if he had been cleared of the charges. He also couldn't stop thinking about the fact that there had been something supernatural in his house- something that had intended harm - and while he didn't know that the two were related, he figured they had to be - right? Hannah's theory didn't entirely make sense to him, mostly because there had been something in his house too and because Rafe had said he'd heard something in his house. If it was something with the house itself going bad and the house itself calling her back - why would it be making noises in other people's houses. But he couldn't explain that to Hannah without explaining Theodore having left the alarm for him.
He wished Theodore was here, because somehow if there was some sort of supernatural thing - Theo's magic, his experience, and frankly the very calm way he carried himself would have gone a long way to ease Hugh's overall nervousness. But the wizard was an ocean away.
Rafe did have that similar sort of steady sensibility and if he didn't have curse breaking experience, then he did have security experience which was more than Hugh could say for himself. So he was here, despite the fact that he didn't like being cast in a real life mystery or potential horror story nearly as much as he'd enjoyed the one he'd acted in last fall. He shook off the mood as he looked up at it. It hadn't been much more than a couple of months ago probably that he'd been enjoying a house party and he'd thought how warm and inviting the place looked. It was just that no one was home that was making him feel uneasy (it wasn't, but he could tell himself that until he couldn't deny it anymore).
"I guess let's knock and if there isn't an answer, we can let ourselves in," he raised up the key. "Any thoughts on how to do this?"