WISHES
by
Duckling
Chapter 4
The Chapters
Who
is Joe? Frank struggled to break through his confusion. How could his
parents not know who Joe was? He was their son. And then, as he remembered
that Joe had even vanished from the pictures in his wallet and the family
photo on the wall, a new thought struck a chill in him. Suppose Joe had
vanished from his parents’ memory as well? What if, in banishing Joe as
she had, Callie had caused Joe simply to no longer exist, even as a
memory?
Suddenly
Frank trembled. The thought that his beloved brother should so terribly,
and so totally, be torn from him shook him to his very core.
His
mother slipped a comforting arm around his shoulders, but Frank quickly
shrugged her away.
Concerned,
she shared a look with her husband before speaking again. “Frank? Honey?
You haven’t yet told us who Joe is.”
Frank
continued to shake, arms crossed tightly across his chest as he stared out
into middle distance.
Finally,
he turned first to his mother, then his father, before answering simply:
“My brother.”
***
Vanessa
Bender sat huddled on her bedroom floor, her thoughts tumultuous. She was
too conflicted to sleep, even though it was after two in the morning.
Joe
had vanished. One minute he was beside her, complaining about the cold,
and the next he was gone. Illogically, inexplicably gone. Unless you
believed in magic genies who granted people wishes. And how Callie could
have ever wished Joe away like that bothered the tall blonde greatly.
Sure, it had been a thoughtless comment, spoken in a moment of
exasperation, an exasperation she too had felt. But to say that one wished
another away forever, well, given what happened as a result, it seemed
rather a cruel thing to say. Vanessa tried not to feel bitter, tried to
remind herself that that was precisely the type of thing one said when one
was irritated and was hardly ever meant. But the weirdest part, the aspect
of the whole experience which spooked her as much as Joe’s physical
disappearance was his disappearance from her photos as well.
Distractedly,
she took out a journal she had been keeping in which she recorded Joe’s
athletic triumphs. The younger Hardy boy was one of the star athletes in
the city; his natural talent had led his high school team to numerous
victories. She had been collecting local newspaper accounts to this effect
and was intending to show it to Joe as soon as it was complete; despite
his acknowledged prowess in sports, Joe didn’t seem to think he stood
much chance of earning a sports scholarship anywhere. Vanessa had been
compiling this journal as proof positive that he was wrong.
Upon
opening the journal to her most recent newspaper clipping, the girl paled
as a strangled cry escaped her throat. The newspaper was blank. Flipping
frantically to the front of the journal, she turned page after page, her
pulse racing. Each page was identical: carefully affixed to the center of
each was a newspaper cutout entirely devoid of ink. Joe had even vanished
from the newspaper accounts. Dropping the journal in horror, the girl
shrank back against the wall, trembling with 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 original characters without express permission of the authors.