The dark van cautiously made its way along the snow slick back road.  The driver had the stereo cranked up and his voice carried into the dark night as he sang at the top of his lungs…”I’ll be home for Christmas… you can count on me…”  

He was looking forward to getting back to his comfortable two-story family home to spend a quiet Christmas Eve with his brother and his brother’s girlfriend.  He had actually hoped to be home before now but he had gotten a bit distracted…  

“Oh come on Joey… please… just five more minutes”, any question punctuated with a kiss by Iola Morton couldn’t go denied… so he stayed.   

And he stayed.  

And he stayed.   

Until finally an hour after he originally planned on leaving, the blond haired teenager reluctantly left the warmth of the old farm house, and took to the lonely roads.  

As it was the night before Christmas, the roads were fairly deserted with most people being home already with their loved ones.  And this youngster was anxious to be counted one among those…  

He saw the truck coming towards him in the other lane but he never paid it much attention as he continued with his singing – god he loved Christmas… “I’ll be home for Christmas… if only in my dreams…”  

And then at the last moment, the truck swerved across the lanes and towards the van…

* * *

18-year-old Frank Hardy smiled proudly at his girlfriend, pretty blond Callie Shaw. It had taken some effort but they had finally finished wrapping all the Christmas gifts.  It was almost 9:00 p.m. and Callie had dropped by his house just after supper to help him out.  

She had brought the last of her own gifts that needed to be wrapped and they had thoroughly enjoyed doing this.  It seemed so difficult at times for her and Frank to spend any time together, and she truly cherished these moments; even if other people might think it rather mundane…  

But, she corrected, with one of the Hardy brothers as a boyfriend, mundane is a nice change of routine!  

“When is Joe supposed to be home?” Callie asked as she reached for her warm winter jacket and car keys. It was Christmas Eve and she wanted to spend the rest of it with her family.   

Frank looked at his watch and shrugged, “Anytime I guess. He was only heading out the Mortons to drop off our gifts and promised to be back before it got too late.”  

Callie laughed and it was a musical sound in Frank’s ears, “Well with Joe ‘too late’ could be hard to define… and if I know one Iola Morton, she will be doing her best to make sure your brother gets waylaid!”  

Shaking his head, Frank had to laugh. His oldest friend’s little sister certainly had it bad for his little brother… and she did know how to distract Joe and help him lose track of time that was for sure, “I’ll give him another hour or so before I start jingling the bells.  Mr. Morton won’t want him driving back that stretch of road too late in the night, this time of year, anyway.”  

“True”, the girl said as she gave her boyfriend a passionate kiss and stepped outside into the cold winter night, “Don’t forget to leave out the cookies and milk for Santa!”  

The dark haired boy chuckled, “Yeah whatever.  You know, I don’t think I’ve ever believed in the jolly old elf.”  

Callie stopped and regarded her serious minded boyfriend sadly for a moment before she gave him a smile, “That’s really too bad, Frank.  What is Christmas without a little Santa?”  

“A little Santa?”  Frank was laughing now, “last I saw… there wasn’t anything little about Santa!”  

“You’re incorrigible!”  Callie scolded, and as she opened her car door, he called out from the warmth of the house, “And you love me for it!”  

“Bah Humbug!”  She laughed as she started up her car and pulled out of the driveway.  She was still chuckling about Frank when she got home ten minutes later. 

* * *

Two teenagers staggered back towards the side of the road.  They were very obviously either drunk, stoned or both.  

One pointed towards the van, “Whoa ‘ya see that baby roll?  Cool.”  

The other guy was a bit more worried as he glanced up and down the dark roadway, “We better split.”  

“Don ya think we’ see if he’s ‘kay?”  The first guy, and driver asked, his voice slurred heavily.  

The second guy shook his head, “No one could have survived that, come on before someone sees us!”  

Grabbing his friend’s arm he towed him towards their own vehicle.  They were lucky that the van had swerved out of their way. Not so lucky for the van driver though, as he had plowed through the guard rail, over the embankment and towards the frozen pond.  

“Better let me drive this time”, the second guy said grabbing the keys from his more inebriated friend – they needed to get the hell out of here.

* * *

Joe Hardy forced his eyes open – where was he?  

Groaning, he tried to move only to discover that he couldn’t and it hurt to even try.  

What happened?   

With an amazing amount of effort, the blond haired teen tried to focus on his surroundings and remember what had happened.  

He was cold.  He was hurting. So far that was the extent of his recollection.  

I’m in the van, his dulled mind finally registered as he recognized the deflated airbag… a smashed windshield… shattered glass…  

Moving his head with great effort, he shivered as the air from his mouth turned into puffs of white crystal… a car accident.  

Suddenly a memory slashed through his mind and he gasped sharply as even the act of thinking hurt right now…  

…Driving on snow slick roads, going home…  

…listening to Christmas tunes on the stereo…  

…a truck on the road coming towards him…  

What happened?  

The truck suddenly swerved into his lane…  

Rolling… the van rolled…  

How many times?  

A couple…  

That was it.  That was all he could remember, but as the boy felt the heavy hammering in his head, he realized he must have been knocked out then.   

Fighting the waves of nausea that come whenever he tried to move, Joe realized he was lucky about one thing – the van had finished rolling, right side up.  

And then it became too painful to even keep his eyes open and he was lost again to the darkness…

* * *

Frank lay down on the couch and watched the lights flickering on the large Spruce tree. He hoped Joe would hurry home. He would never admit it to him, but Frank always worried when his younger brother was out of eyesight.  The kid just had this knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  

Closing his eyes, he decided to take a short nap, fully expecting to be awoken by Joe at any moment.

* * *

“In case I forgot to tell you”, Fenton Hardy whispered into his wife, Laura’s, ear, “You look beautiful tonight.”  

Laura smiled back at him, her blue eyes twinkling in the dimness of the lighting, “Thank You… and you have.”  

They were dancing slowly together, enjoying this time as around them, at the Collig’s Christmas Eve party, other friends danced, chatted and had a good time.  

She sighed and he asked, “What’s wrong?”  

“I just feel a bit guilty being away from the boys on Christmas Eve… it just feels… I don’t know?  Kind of wrong.”  

Fenton chuckled and nuzzled her neck, “The ‘boys’ are almost grown men, Laura.  Besides Callie was coming over to help Frank with wrapping and Joe was going to the Mortons… it’s not like it used to be when they were younger.”  

Smiling faintly, Laura had to agree, “I suppose you’re right… but it still doesn’t feel right.”  

“I tell you what”, the sleuth said, “if you still want to go home in an hour, we’ll go. It’s just that Ezra and Rachel worked so hard to put this together… it’d be a shame to leave early.”  

“Okay”, she compromised. But deep down she already knew she’d still want to go home in an hour.

* * *

The ice underneath the van groaned.

* * *

Joe fought his way back to consciousness. Everything hurt… and he was so cold. But he knew if he didn’t somehow get out of the van and back up on the road, he would die here.  

Blinking open his eyes, he groaned softly and then when he heard a man’s voice in the van next to him, he turned as quickly as he could, stifling a gasp as he saw who it was!  

“Hello Joseph”, the man said.  

And as Joe passed out again, his final thoughts were… ohmygod… I’m dead.