hardy boys fan fiction
MAKE A WISH
hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction
by
Cherylann Rivers
Chapter 11
hardy boy fan fiction
THE CHAPTERS
"H... hold on, Frank. I can explain..." Chet gasped.
Frank, however, was not about to hear any of this. He couldn't believe what had just happened. Frank had a thousand emotions rushing through him all at once. Could Iola be alive? Was Biff telling the truth? Had Chet purposefully deceived Callie? Where was Jeff? And, above all, where was Callie? He couldn't fathom the fact that he could have let Callie suffer so much and abandoned here in her time of need. He should have known . What if she was hurt? Or worse? Frank couldn't even think about THAT All at once, he shoved Chet to the floor, where Chet landed with a thud.
At once, Frank found himself being held back by someone. Enraged, he swung around and blindly lashed out. Joe barely dodged his brother's swing. Great, he thought. Now is just the time I really want to get into a brawl with my big brother. "Frank," Joe gasped. "Cut it out! We need to find out what Chet is talking about! Stop it!" With that, Joe managed to grab one of Frank's arms while Biff grabbed the other. After a minute or two, Frank calmed down enough to listen. Seething, he told Chet, "I'll listen to you, now, man, because I have to. For Iola. For Callie." Shoving away from Joe and Biff, Frank sat on the edge of the couch, hanging on to every word.
Joe had to admit that he was feeling much like Frank at the moment, only his reaction was more shock than anything else. He personally was more dumbfounded at Biff's story than anything else, and the hope that Iola was alive was almost more than he could bear. He was, however, incredibly curious about Chet's sudden announcement. Helping his friend to his feet, Joe indicated to Chet, "Buddy, you better tell us what's going on. What do you know about this? What do you mean that you sent pictures of Iola to Callie? Could she be..." Joe couldn't finish the thought.
Chet, face blanched, took a gulp of air before he began. Then, in a slow voice, he managed, "No, Joe. Frank. Biff. Iola... I mean, she can't be alive. She's gone."
Chet found it difficult to continue, and Biff put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Chet, it's okay. We all know what you went through. But you have to tell us, what did you do with Callie? Because, honestly, I think there IS something to her story, and I think she really might be in trouble."
Faltering, Chet began again. "Okay. I'll try. Well.. I mean, you see...a few weeks ago I was kind of depressed. I knew that Iola's birthday was coming up, and that's always a hard time for me. It was kind of hard to concentrate, and I didn't feel like hanging out with anybody. I kind of kept to myself."
Joe sighed. Chet could prolong a story better than anyone he knew. Joe heard a rustle next to him, and caught a glimpse of Frank, who looked as if he was ready to burst. Evidently, Chet caught this as well, and decided to get to the point.
"Anyway, I was in school one day and I was by my locker, when all of a sudden Graig Saunders came up to me. He started talking, and I kind of thought he was a nice guy. I mean, he offered to buy me pizza and all after school, since he said I looked depressed. I figured why not? I mean" (he blushed) "I could always go for some good food."
Well, THAT I believe, Joe thought.
"So I met him. And we started talking. He told me that he had seen my last name on my locker, and wanted to know if I was related to the girl who had been... killed... in the car bomb a while ago. And, well, since I was, he started telling me a bunch of things."
Frank didn't think he could take much more of this. "What KINDS of things Chet?" he asked, mustering what was possibly his last bit of patience.
Chet continued. "Um, well, he told me a lot about Callie, and things he had heard her saying. She said... she said..." Chet seemed to be holding back his own anger. "Graig told me that Callie had been going around talking about Iola. Not only was she cheating on Frank with his cousin, but she had been talking about the day when Iola- you know."
Chet seemed to be having a hard time here. "And I got angry. Really angry. You understand, don't you, Joe?"
Joe could only stare at Chet. He was absolutely and utterly confused about what Chet could possibly say next.
"So, I asked him to tell me more about the things Callie was saying. Over the course of the next week or so, he told me how Callie had gone around saying that she was glad Iola had died instead of her. She talked about you, Joe, and how she thought that you got what you deserved because you were never faithful to my sister. She said that if she could have planned the bombing herself, she would have, since Frank never paid any attention to her. She even said that she should have faked an injury or devastation better, so that Frank would pay attention to her. Apparently, she had also gone behind Frank's back and cheated lots of times because she's a slut and..."
Frank looked like he would kill Chet. Chet, however, totally misinterpreted Frank's look at of hostility to mean that Frank had supported him in his actions.
Joe, though, knew exactly what his brother was thinking, and he began to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He needed to find out one vitally important piece of information before he could think straight, and he said to Chet, "So... where do the pictures come in?"
"Pictures? Oh, yeah. Well, Graig suggested that Callie couldn't get away with the things she was doing, and that we ought to have some plan for revenge. So he told helped me to think of something. We decided that maybe we should teach Callie a lesson, so we found some old pictures of Joe and Iola and got them together, and sent them to Callie, kind of like..." He paused. "Kind of like Iola was watching Callie from the grave, and that she should watch out. We just wanted to scare her."
Chet finished his story. "So, that was kind of it. We made sure the whole school knew what kind of person Callie was, and Iola, well, she helped, I like to think. I mean, I didn't want to bring her into it, but what could I do? And that's why I have no idea where Callie is now, but it's not with Iola. The whole thing was a prank. Iola's gone." Chet's last word sounded flat.
Frank could sit silent no longer. His brain had been working in overdrive. He looked at Joe. "Are you thinking what I am?" Frank managed to get out.
Joe, face pale, responded "Yeah, bro, I think I am."
Biff looked confused, but not as confused at Chet.
Chet had to ask, "What? Are you guys mad or something? I hoped you would understand. I did this to protect you."
Joe looked at Frank. "Do you want to start, or should I?"
Frank, trying to control his breathing, responded, "No. I have this one."
Chet looked up.
"Chet, did Graig ever offer you any proof that Callie said these things?"
"Well, no, not exactly, but..."
"But what? I mean, how long did you know this guy before he started talking to you about your dead sister and your good friend? A week? A few days?"
Chet tried to defend himself. "No, man, it wasn't like that..."
Joe had to jump in. "Yeah, Chet, it was. It had to be. What are the chances of a complete stranger walking up to you and staring a random conversation at exactly the moment when you were the most vulnerable? What do you really know about this guy?"
Chet was frozen. He didn't know what to say.
This time it was Frank again. "Who's idea was it to send the pictures? I could be wrong here, but you don't strike me as the kind of person to do that. It was Graig's, wasn't it?"
Silence.
"And did it ever occur to you, even once, to ask WHY exactly Graig would be bad-mouthing Callie and saying what a horrible person she was when she was supposedly dating his own cousin?"
More silence.
"And," Joe interjected, "Did you ever once ask Graig where he was from? Or how he had heard about Iola? Or why he would know that Iola and I even dated?"
Chet continued to stare, the implications of his friends' words finally beginning to sink in.
Frank, who looked like he was holding back tears, then asked the central question. "Chet. You said you gave pictures to Callie of Joe and Iola. How many?"
Chet paused. Clearing his throat, he mumbled, "I dunno. Like somewhere between seven and ten, maybe." Looking up, he asked, simply, "Why?"
"Because," Biff chimed in, suddenly seeing the light, "If Callie is telling the truth, she said that she had a picture of Iola dated only a few weeks ago. You never gave Graig a recent photo, did you?"
Chet shook his head no.
"And you never wrote captions or a letter to Callie, did you?" Frank added.
Again, Chet could only shake his head.
Joe finished this out. "And" he sighed, "I bet Graig was in charge of getting the pictures to Callie, wasn't he?"
Chet, face blanched, squeaked out, "Yeah. And that means.... "
"Yeah," said Frank. "It means Callie was telling the truth. Whether or not Iola is alive or not, Callie is in serious danger. And, the Assassins are somehow involved. And..."
"And," Joe finished, barely managing to say the words he was afraid to utter, "It means that there is a chance, however miniscule, that Iola really might be alive. And I intend to find out."
Frank lost it at that point. Face red, he slammed his fist into the door. Joe was shocked. Frank never lost his cool, but he watched his brother unravel right in front of him.
"Chet! How could you?!!! Callie has been nothing but a loyal and good friend to you for all these years! How you take a total stranger's word over hers? Callie loved Iola, Chet. She'd never hurt her. Oh, God." Frank put his head in his hands, and suddenly walked out the front door. Joe followed quickly behind, his own mind a whirl of emotions.
Joe saw the look of horror on his brother's face. He noticed Frank's bottom lip quiver, and how his hands were clenched into fists tightly. Joe felt ill at ease. Frank was normally the one to calm him down, to offer support and advice. But Joe knew what it was like to feel utterly helpless, and he knew he had to say something. Frank, though, beat him to the punch.
"Joe," he said softly, "The question isn't how could Chet have done this to Callie? How could I?"
Seeing the pain in his brother's eyes, Joe met Frank's stare.
"Frank, I don't know. But right now, I think we have a lot more to worry about than owing Callie an apology. I think we need to save her life. And" Joe paused, resolved. "And we need to save Iola's. Because I promised myself a long time ago that if there was ever any chance to find her, if she was ever alive...."
Frank, suddenly jolted back to reality by the vacant look he had seen in his brother's eyes before on this very same topic, stopped his brother.
"We leave tonight then, for Lazarus. I'll bet that Graig Saunders isn't around here any more. For Callie. And for Iola. And for a chance at saving ourselves from living in this hell of guilt. If they're alive, Joe, we'll find them. I promise. If ever I wished for something, this is it."
"To making wishes come true," Joe responded.
The two brothers clasped hands on the deal.
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The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.