Arina has a short day at the office on Friday. As soon as the clock showed the end of working hours, the employees grabbed their bags and ran home. Arina was let down by the computer. The old car took a long time to turn off. As a result, the young woman was the last one to leave the office.
Her husband was unable to pick her up from work. The boss has scheduled an important meeting for the evening. Andrey must definitely attend it. The boss doesn’t make any decisions at all without her husband. This is, of course, strange, but Andrei seems to even like it.
Arina decided not to call a taxi, but to take a bus and walk around the area a little. Because of this, she got home a little later than planned.
When Arina entered the apartment, it seemed to her that the hallway smelled of unfamiliar perfume. The woman sniffed. After a second, the aroma disappeared, as if it had never been there.
For some reason, Arina looked around. Otherwise, everything is as usual, nothing has changed. Even the large gold earrings that had been carelessly left by the mirror lay in place.
– These are definitely not thieves! – she said jokingly out loud.
After a while she forgot about everything. She took a leisurely shower, dried her hair and went to heat up dinner.
In the refrigerator she noticed an empty package of sausages. Yesterday it was full, but today there are five left. Arina was surprised that her husband, when he came home, dined on sausages, and not lasagna and crab salad. This doesn't look very much like Andrey.
However, his right. Arina set the table and sat down to dinner. Andrey returned late and refused food. The meeting took place in a restaurant and he had a good meal. His wife did not question him about the sausages.
Over the next week, Arina several times noticed little things that indicated that someone was in the apartment in their absence. Either drops of water appear in the bathroom, which were not there in the morning, then the bottles on the shelves change their location, then her comb turns out to be lying on the floor.
The couple went out of town for the weekend. We returned only on Sunday evening. Arina began to throw things into the washing machine and discovered that it was wet. She and Andrey have been gone for two days, and the drum looks like it just finished washing.
“Andrey, sometimes it seems to me that while we’re not there, someone is in our apartment,” Arina said thoughtfully.
-Like this? – asked the husband.
“I don’t know,” the woman answered. “But I have this feeling.”
She told her husband about the strange things in the apartment that she had begun to notice lately.
-My parents have spare keys. But why would they travel to us across the whole city? To eat sausages and wash clothes? Everything seems to be fine with their machine. This is as weird as possible.
“Perhaps,” Arina agreed.
She rubbed her forehead thoughtfully.
-Arish, maybe it seems to you? – asked Andrey. — You’ve been coming home from work tired lately. This is probably how stress affects you.
“I don’t know,” Arina waved her hand. – But someone used the machine.
“Arisha, we used it,” Andrey answered.
“It would have dried out in two days,” she continued.
Andrey sighed. He came home from work later than his wife and it seemed to him that nothing in the apartment had changed.
-Do you suspect my mother? – asked the man.
-Who else?
– Arina, dear, she left for a friend in another city three days ago. She simply physically could not use our washing machine. And the father even more so. It is more important for him to watch TV than to wash his clothes or cook.
Arina thought again. If Elena Ivanovna really left, then she could not come. Boris Vasilyevich does not see any point in visiting young people. No, not because he is a sensitive father. He simply doesn’t care how his youngest son lives. However, the eldest too.
But he can at least brag about the elder Sergei. The man achieved great success in the capital. He makes good money, bought a brand new expensive car, bought a home. Boris Vasilyevich never tires of repeating how much he respects Sergei. As for Andrei, he is a loser for his father.
And no, the youngest does not ask his parents for money, is not unemployed, does not have bad habits or problems with the law. He never gave his parents any trouble and does not cause them now. If they need help, they always call Andrey and he does not refuse. Because he is nearby, in this city.
Andrey has a good job, a car and renovations in his apartment, but Boris Vasilyevich does not consider the successes of his second son worthy of attention. Moreover, the father believes that the youngest has achieved nothing.
The next day, Arina noticed that her hair balm was completely gone. She clearly remembered that before leaving, there was half a bottle left.
-Andrey, did you take my balm? – the woman asked.
“No,” answered the husband. — Are you looking for traces of the “little green men” again?
“I had half left, and now it’s at the bottom,” Arina assured.
Andrey sighed and looked at his wife with irritation. Her strangeness frightened him. The man was sure that no one was in their apartment. This is simply impossible.
If these are thieves, then why don’t they take anything valuable? Shampoos and powder are not the biggest treasures in their apartment. If it's mom or dad, then…it's time to call a doctor for them. Why would two not young people travel across the city to take a bath in their son’s house? Andrey could not find a clear explanation for this.
He tried to talk to Elena Ivanovna, but she assured that she had never come to the apartment without an invitation. Boris Vasilyevich even twisted it at his temple.
“I told you that women are nothing but problems,” he said. – Learn from your brother. He is free and no one is messing with his brains.
Elena Ivanovna, hearing these words, became sad. Andrey waved his hand and left the room. He never managed to have a normal dialogue with his father.
Arina soon realized what had happened to her air conditioner. She found his footprints on the tiles. Someone spilled it and then wiped it up. Andrei insisted that it was not him. But if not him, then who?
And while Andrei was thinking about which doctor to contact to help his wife, Arina looked around the apartment with excitement. She began to feel very uncomfortable here.
The young woman walked around the square meters, carefully examining all corners. Nothing interesting could be found. It seems that paranoia is deceiving her. Arina seemed to calm down for a while, but after a couple of days something strange again caught her eye.
For example, a mirror in the hallway. A fingerprint was found on it. Too big to belong to Arina or Andrey. Both had neat fingers.
-Andrey, look, there’s a stain on the mirror!
She called her husband.
-Now you won’t argue with me? This is clearly not your or my fingerprint,” the woman said.
-Arish, one of his friends could have left him.
-The last time we had a meeting was a month and a half ago. I did the cleaning two weeks ago. There was no stain here,” Arina answered.
-Darling, maybe we should go to the doctor? – Andrey asked as he exhaled.
He looked his wife straight into the eyes. Arina realized that the man was not joking.
-Do you think I'm crazy? she asked.
-No, but perhaps you have an obsessive thought. We need to do something about this,” Andrey answered.
“I see,” the woman answered offended.
She was simple I'm sure she doesn't think so. Arina's husband didn't believe her. He registered her with a psychotherapist, who, after listening carefully, prescribed medication that was supposed to help her calm down.
But Arina did not feel better. She simply stopped sharing her observations with her husband. Instead, the woman came up with a plan.
For several days in a row she asked to leave work early. She attributed this to her husband’s illness. The boss went forward. Arina usually came home earlier, wanting to catch the uninvited guest red-handed, but every time she turned the key in the lock, she found only a ringing emptiness.
The young woman pondered what was happening to her. Dragging home earlier than usual for the fourth time, she swore that if everything was fine today, she would admit that she was sick.
Arina carefully opened the door. The water was noisy in the bathroom. She glanced at the shoe shelf. Andrey is not home yet.
Having taken a step, Arina suddenly noticed someone else’s men’s shoes. No, this is definitely not her husband.
And she has no paranoia. There is a truth that for some reason was hidden from her. And now she finds out what it is.
