"Hello there. I am glad that you finally decided to join the living world," a voice called out from the backseat. Joe wheeled around in his seat. There sitting comfortably in the backseat was a girl with long blond hair and skin that was almost pure white. Her blue eyes almost glowed.

"Oh boy! No more going to bed on an empty stomach," Joe quipped as he rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry, that would not save you my dear Joe," the young lady called out. Her voice was so sweet and reassuring.

"Let me guess… you are the ghost of Christmas Present," Joe smarted off.

"I am not a ghost, I am a spirit first of all."

"What’s the difference?"

"A lot my dear, a lot. But we don’t have time to get into all that. I have to take your mind somewhere, somewhere in the present," the young lady said as she leaned forward. "Are you ready?"

"Whatever."

"I will take that as a yes," she said. With that, Joe felt himself become weightless and the world became a blur. The next thing he knew, he was sitting in the backseat of his parent’s car. Frank was sitting beside him, dressed just as he was when he left for church. Again, Joe felt like he could not move or talk, but merely watch the images as they can to life around him.

"It was such a wonderful service. Annie Blackburn did a great job with the choir this year," Mrs. Hardy commented from the front seat.

"I have never heard "Go Tell It On the Mountain" sound that good. I have to admit that," Fenton said.

"Fenton, please just concentrate on driving. This snow is blinding and I can feel the car shift around with the wind. It was not supposed to do this," Laura cautioned her husband. It was true that the weather had taken a turn for the worse, leaving roads extremely slick. "What did you think Frank?"

"It was nice mom," Frank said glumly.

"Frank, I am sure that Joe is going to snap out of this sometime soon," Laura said as she turned around in her seat to face him.

"I don’t know mom. Plus I said some pretty harsh things to him," Frank said sadly.

"Joe knows you mean well Frank."

"I just hope that he is okay. I worry about him doing something stupid anymore. He is just not thinking the same way he used to," Fenton added. "His grades are slipping. He doesn’t want to do hardly anything but stay in that room. I do think that if he keeps it up, we are going to have to seek professional help for him."

"Fenton… no," Laura said sadly in a soft voice. "There is no need to send Joe off anywhere."

"Laura, I am not going to let him destroy himself over this. He is going to have to understand that Iola is gone and he is alive. He has to live and get over it," Fenton said sternly.

"Fenton…" Mrs. Hardy said again. "That sounded harsh."

"I would rather Joe hate me than to be miserable or dead all of his life because of some stupid decisions he made when he was a teenager. Iola was sweet and I loved her dearly like a daughter, but nothing is going to change what is done. If her mother and father can accept that, then why can’t Joe?" Fenton reasoned.

"Because he blames himself," Frank replied. Then he sighed again and looked out the window. The trip home was going to take three times as long as it would normally be. "I just want to get home and make sure he is all right. I can’t help but think that he is capable of doing something totally stupid out of anger or grief."

Laura started to cry softly. "I just want my son back." Fenton reached over and patted her on the shoulder. Frank reached up and did the same. Laura grasped Frank’s hand and held it on her shoulder. "You know that he does love you, no matter how he acted tonight."

Frank just nodded and sat back in the seat. That might be true, but Frank did not feel loved at that moment. He felt anger and most of all; he felt the pain of loss.

"I just wish that there was something I could do to make him feel better," Frank spoke up. "Today at the pool hall, he started to lighten up a little. We really had a good time. I miss doing things with him."

"Maybe just spending some extra time with him will make the difference," Fenton said, still keeping his full attention on the road.

"I don’t know Dad. It seems funny that it used to be that I could almost fix anything for him. We knew each other well and there was no one on Earth that he trusted more than me. But now it seems that everything I do is not right. I hardly know him. After Iola’s death, my brother became a stranger to me," Frank replied sadly.

"Frank dear, Joe still loves you just as much. I know he does. He is just in so much pain that he just does not know how to deal with it," Laura said softly. "He will come out of this. He just has to come out of it."

"I hope so too mom and the sooner, the better," Frank said pulling a picture out of his wallet. Joe leaned over to see the picture. He was shocked to see that it was a picture of the brothers when they first got the van. They were both smiling as they leaned up against the van. Joe felt a stab go through his gut. He had no idea that Frank even kept that picture with him.

Joe felt like his heart was going to rip right out of his chest. He could not believe that his behavior had that much of an effect on the rest of his family, especially Frank. He never wanted to hurt Frank, but it looked like that was just what he did.

When Joe was able to move, he was back in the driver seat of the van again. His head felt funny this time and he could still feel the lump in his throat. He peered through the side window. The snow was still falling and there was still no sign of his parents’ car. But as much as he wanted to, he could not move. His body was totally exhausted and must moving a finger was a chore. Joe allowed himself to be succumbed once again to the night.