LITTLE BOY LOST
by
Phoenix
Chapter 0
The Chapters
Laura Hardy just stood in the middle of her living room. Outside she could hear the faint sound of car engines as the patrol car left the driveway to start the search for Joe.
The woman shivered and sank down on the edge of couch.
Her baby was missing…
Her Joey was missing.
She kept repeating it to herself over and over again, forcing herself to believe against every fiber of her body that screamed they were wrong. That her little boy wasn’t lost…that he was at safe at school, and that this was all some sort of abhorrent mix-up. A horrible nightmare –
It had to be.
Then Laura’s gaze dropped on the small, carefully prepared plate of veggies. Carrots. Cucumber. Broccoli. The afternoon snack that Frank had so cheerily helped her prepare. For Joe…
It’s okay, Mommy…Daddy’s got me...
And suddenly it got too hard to breathe.
The room closed up around her. All the air suctioned out –
Her baby was missing…
Her little sunshine boy was gone.
Laura’s chest heaved painfully as she wrapped achingly empty arms around herself and hugged tightly. Joe…
She leaned over until her forehead almost touched her knees and continued to gasp. Her eyes burned. Her vision blurred.
No.
No.
No!
Bolting upright, Laura was on her feet, yanked open the front door and lurched outside. Cold rain pounded and bit into her exposed skin but she was oblivious.
Laura…I’m sorry…
“JOEY!” the woman screamed as she stumbled down the front steps. “JOEY!!”
Joey never made it to school…
She ran to the end of the driveway, not caring about how the puddles splashed under her feet and wet her pants.
Didn’t you walk him to school?...
I was going to…
but then the phone rang…
“JOEY!” Laura screamed again. Hot tears tracked down her face as fear ate through her soul. She stopped where the driveway met the sidewalk and twisted, frantically looking for any sign of the small tow-headed boy. “Please…Joey…” A plea, whimpered, and went unanswered.
Good-bye, Mommy.
Laura turned back to the house, torn in two. Frank. She couldn’t leave Frank. Oh God. This was so hard.
Her mind fought to understand. Where could Joe be? He didn’t like storms and although striped with an independent streak, he wouldn’t just run away. It didn’t make sense.
Answers supplied by the dark places of her mind terrified and tormented her:
A small blond boy, alone and afraid…. Mommy?
Large blue eyes, scared and crying….I want to go home.
Precious child, sobbing and hurt….Please, stop!
Pale faced, vacant eyed. Dead.
Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake. I pray the Lord, my soul to take…
“JOEY!” Laura screeched until her throat was raw. The passage of time had no matter.
She didn’t care that people heard.
She didn’t care that people saw.
She didn’t care about the car that suddenly lurched to a stop a few feet away from her, or about the restraining hands that grabbed her arms firmly and gave her a little shake –
“Laura?”
The distraught woman stared into her best friend’s face. “Find him, Fenton,” she sobbed as she refused to let him pull her close. She didn’t want his comfort. She wanted her son, “FIND HIM!” she yelled, unexpectedly enraged. “FIND MY SON. NOW!”
And then a small voice behind them pulled Laura back from the edge of hysteria.
“Mommy?”
It was Frank.
For one long moment, Laura just stared up into her husband’s face, not even bothering to wonder why he was back so soon, and figuring a neighbor’s call to 911 about a ‘mad woman’ on the corner of High and Elm streets would have added up to as much, and then she forced a false calmness for her brave little boy and turned around.
The child stood, his clothing, quickly soaked, plastered to his small body. Pale faced and shivering, he clutched something tightly in his fist but when he saw his mother looking at him, he opened his hand and held it out so she could see what it was.
It was Joe’s car.
“Don’t cry, Mommy,” the little boy implored. “Joe’ll be home soon.” His eyes were dark with certainty. “He’s got to come home….I have Pal. See?”
The child pressed the small car towards her and Laura’s hands trembled when she took the toy, its metal still warm from Frank’s hand. Her heart crumbled and she collapsed to her knees, grabbed her son and pulled him towards her, mindless of the rain or cold. The world narrowed to her and Frank.
His small arms looped around her back and held tight as she pressed her face against the side of his and just held on. He smelled like Joe.
“Oh Frank…” she whispered and then sniffed and pulled back. She placed a hand on either side of his face and leaned forward to kiss the tip of his nose. The child didn’t even move or try to squirm away. “Of course. You’re right. Your brother will be home soon. He’ll be missing his car…” she gave him another quick squeeze and added, “And his brother…”
Pulling away, she stood up and then brushed a strand of wet hair from her face. This wasn’t helping Joe.
Fenton reached towards her but Laura pushed him away. “Go,” she implored, suddenly feeling exhausted. She indicated an impatient-looking Officer Collig waiting in the patrol car behind them. “Please.”
The man looked torn. His face was guilt stricken and grief lined and she knew he wanted desperately to do the impossible: to find Joe AND to be there for her and Frank. But he couldn’t be, and Laura wanted her son more than she wanted his company.
Part of her was afraid of what she might say if he stayed behind, and another part wanted to say it.
…It’s okay, Mommy…Daddy’s got me…
But it wasn’t ‘okay’ because Fenton didn’t ‘have’ him. He had answered the phone, and let her six year old son leave the house by himself.
Laura knew it wasn’t really his fault and that her husband would rather die than let anything happen to her or their boys, but it still didn’t change the facts. She had trusted Fenton to see that Joe got to school…and the child hadn’t.
“Are you sure,” her husband asked, “I could stay—”
“No!” It came out harsher than intended but instead of apologizing, Laura shook her head, her eyes silently begging for his purposeful distance. “Fenton…he’s going to be afraid. You know how much he hates storms.”
Frank’s hand slipped into hers and Laura gave it a gentle squeeze.
“We’ll be okay,” she added. It was a lie but her deceit felt justified, and she forced a smile for good measure.
Fenton held her gaze and then glanced down. “All right,” he said, his voice soft and resigned. He turned to leave but Frank’s voice stopped him:
“Hurry up and find him, Daddy, okay? Joey’s favorite part is getting found.”
Laura closed her eyes as they stung; her son’s words unknowingly salt in the wounds. Frank was right. While Joe loved playing ‘Hide’n Seek’, his favorite part about the game was being found –
Bright blue eyes, shiny with excitement peered up from under his bed.
You found me! You really found me!
“I will, Frank.”
The woman reopened her eyes at the slight tremble in her normally self-assured husband’s voice. She watched him get back in the car and slam the passenger side door, his head hung low, his shoulders stooped with the weight of their loss.
Collig gave her a slight nod as he spoke into a radio and then pulled away from the curb, leaving her and her son standing there.
The coldness of Frank’s hand in hers pulled Laura’s attention back to them. They were both wet and cold.
“C’mon,” she gently urged, tugging on his hand. “Let’s go back inside.”
As Frank placidly complied and they went into the warm house, she could only hope that wherever her baby was, he wasn’t cold and that he’d be home soon.
The house was just too quiet…
For them all.
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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.