HDA - Where Troubles Melt by Cherylann Rivers Introduction

Vanessa and Iola stared up at the screen in front of them in horror, watching Frank and Chet in confusion and pain. Then, they stared at the split screen image, watching Joe and Callie fall to the floor, almost unconscious. At that point, the screen clicked off.

"No!" Vanessa screamed, while Iola turned her head away. "Oh, Iola! What are we going to do?" Vanessa asked, panicked.

Iola looked at Vanessa, her eyes filling with tears. "I don’t know, Vanessa," Iola replied, honestly. "All I know is that if we could see them, then they could probably see us. That stands to reason, doesn’t it?"

"I… I guess so, yeah," Vanessa answered her.

The girls had been locked in some sort of room, after having been dragged there by two of the men. At first, they hadn’t had a chance to look around their surroundings; the threat that Iola was "gone" and that something "indescribable" would happen to Vanessa still hung in the air. When they finally did have a chance to look around, they only saw a small clock that read, simply, "Minutes to Meltdown." It had started at one hour, and was already down to 45 minutes.

"What on earth does that mean?" Iola asked Vanessa, pointing to the clock. "What’s the meltdown? I thought we were goners when we were almost tossed into the minting machine. What could be another meltdown? I don’t understand."

"Neither do I," Vanessa answered, meeting Iola’s eyes.

"Maybe we should look around the room or something," Iola said nervously.

"Okay," Vanessa replied, and the two girls spent several minutes coming to the same conclusion.

Iola spoke first. "There’s no way out."

"Yeah, I see that," Vanessa answered, warily.

Having nothing more that they could do at the moment, the two girls stared at each other, countless unspoken words sitting silently between them. Here they were- Joe Hardy’s old life and his new one- and they both wanted to reach some sort of middle ground. Iola was afraid to talk to Vanessa about the "incident" in the cab, fearful that she would think Iola had maliciously gone against her. Vanessa was ashamed that Iola would think that Joe didn’t love her as much as he had once loved Iola; after all, he had chosen to die with Callie. Then, of course, they both had the immediate concern that they could very possibly die soon. They continued to stare at each other, wordlessly.

Finally, Iola broke the silence. "Van," she said, slowly, using Vanessa’s familiar nickname. "I… I just wanted to let you know that I… I saw what happened inside with you and Joe. I know you saw me there."

Vanessa felt the color rise to her cheeks. "Oh," she managed.

Iola went on, nervously. "Vanessa, I know something about WHY Joe chose to go with Callie, and I guess now’s as good a time as any to tell you—considering we may not have much time left." She gave a shaky smile. "Vanessa, Joe loves you- very much- probably more than he ever loved me." Iola had to pause; she hadn’t realized how badly actually saying those words, however true, hurt her heart. Clearing her throat, she continued. "That decision couldn’t have been easy for him. But… But… well, Callie’s PREGNANT, Vanessa. Joe was probably thinking about saving her and the baby. It--- it wasn’t that he didn’t love you…" Iola’s voice trailed off. This was too painful to even continue.

Vanessa’s eyes grew wide. "What?!" she stammered.

"It’s true," Iola whispered.

"No," Vanessa responded. "I know it’s true. But how did YOU know about it? Joe swore me to secrecy!"

Iola weakly smiled. "He swore me to secrecy, too. When we all went away, he didn’t want to call you and bother you, even though he was having a hard time. He needed someone to talk to, and I happened to be there. I… I told him to talk to you; I don’t even think he thought that he could trust me." Iola immediately flashed back to her strained relationship with Joe, set off by his comment and their actions earlier, and felt her heart drop. "He loves you," she added again.

Vanessa was too surprised to be angry with Joe. As she listened to Iola, she felt a wave of compassion come over her, and she was touched by Iola’s efforts. For the very first time, she realized that when Iola and Joe had broken up, Iola was still in love with Joe. She hadn’t seen that until now. She wondered, involuntarily, if deep down, Joe felt the same way. Still, she couldn’t hate Iola. Vanessa always had a sense of when people were lying, and Iola simply wasn’t. If Joe was honest with her, and she was pretty sure he had been, then Iola must feel horribly. Nothing was worse than unrequited love. Still, Vanessa had to ask, and to say something.

"Iola," Vanessa said, taking a deep breath. "I promise not to be mad, but I need to know some things.

Through tear-filled eyes, Iola nodded. "Okay," she said, softly.

"Are you still in love with Joe?" The question was painful to ask; Vanessa knew it would be even harder to answer.

Iola looked away, unable to meet Vanessa’s eyes. "Yes."

Swallowing hard, Vanessa continued. "Then WHY did you break up with him on Prom night? Or did he break up with YOU? Please, Iola."

Iola continued looking at the floor. "I broke it off with him, Vanessa, because he loves YOU."

Vanessa didn’t know what to say.

Iola finally looked up, tears running gently down her face. Vanessa felt horribly.

"Vanessa," Iola said, suddenly knowing what she had to do, "I almost kissed Joe when we were investigating what happened. Did he tell you that?"

Vanessa, shocked, could only shake her head, "no."

Iola closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. IF they got out of this, and that was a big IF, she had only one gift left that she could give to Joe- she would protect him. Love knew no boundaries, and if she loved him, which she did, she’d sacrifice her own pride for him, even though she knew full well that he’d never find out. Vanessa made him happy- so Vanessa would be Joe’s reward. Opening her eyes slowly, she said, determined, "He wanted to tell you; I know he did. I tried to kiss HIM; he… he wouldn’t try to kiss me. He would never betray you like that. I’m sorry, Vanessa."

Vanessa couldn’t believe her ears. Iola had done what?! Still, Joe HAD refused. That must mean something. After a few moments, Vanessa finally asked the only thing she knew how to. "Iola?"

"Yes?"

"It’s over then? REALLY over??"

Choking back a sob, Iola nodded. "It’s really over."

Suddenly her eyes grew wide. The clock read "30 minutes." It wasn’t that which had caught her attention, though. "Vanessa!" she cried, standing up as she began to see smoke coming under the door. "Oh my God! It’s a fire! THAT’s the meltdown!!!"

She cowered back in fear, coughing.

Vanessa started coughing too, dread washing over her. There was simply nowhere to go.

"I think you were right," she said to Iola, heading to a corner of the room.

"What’s that?" Iola asked, coughing again.

"It IS over."

They stared at the burning door in terror…..

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors 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 them without express permission of the authors.