hardy boys fan fiction
THE OUIJA BOARD
hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction
by
Phoenix
Chapter
6
hardy boys fan fiction
THE CHAPTERS
“Good night love,” Joe said, walking Vanessa to her door. Leaning over, he gave her a passionate kiss, leaving the girl flushed and breathless.
“You always leave me wanting more,” she whispered, her voice husky as she reached up to stroke his face. She felt some small satisfaction when she saw him swallow hard under her caress, and then she saw the gash on his forehead and a sadness settled over her face. “I am so sorry, Joe. We should have listened to you.”
“Yes, you should have,” he admitted, reaching up and putting his hand over hers, holding it against his cheek for a moment longer.
“What can I do to ever make this up to you?” she asked, her gray eyes searching his beautiful blue ones.
“I’ll have to think about that,” he smiled, and then the smile faltered briefly, “for now, just promise me that the next time I’m strongly against something – you’ll actually take me seriously. No questions asked.”
Vanessa nodded briefly; her eyes held her sincerity. “I promise. Thank you, Joe…” she paused and kissed his cheek lightly, “for going with us.”
“You’re very welcome,” he whispered, and stifling a yawn, gave her one more quick kiss and sauntered towards the van.
Getting in behind the wheel he sat back in the seat for a few moments, as an intense weariness settled over him. He knew that if he closed his eyes for even a moment, he’d be asleep. So, gingerly shaking his head to clear it, the blond teen turned the van on and started for home. He had one thing on his mind – his bed.
His brother would probably want to talk to him, but Joe was just too tired. Frank’s explanations would have to wait until the morning.
* * *
For a little while Frank and Callie rode in silence, broken only by an occasional cough. Finally he just said, “You wanna explain?”
“I’m sorry,” Callie apologized, looking out the side window and sighing, “I got a little carried away….But Dad gave me the Ouija board and I just had to try it out!”
“But Deathe House, Callie?” Frank glanced at her but she wasn’t looking at him. “You know how I feel about that place – and not without good reason!”
“I know, I know!” the girl admitted, turning to meet his gaze for a moment before shifting to look at her hands, still slightly trembling and folded in her lap. “I wasn’t thinking!”
“But you were,” the boy argued, “or else you’d have called me and told me about your new game and where you were going! You tell me everything! But no, you knew what I’d say – that I’d strongly be against it – so you didn’t!”
“I didn’t want you to worry!” the girl tried to justify, her brown eyes rising to meet his again.
“But you still went,” Frank pointed out, not ready to let her off the hook so easily. She could have been killed – they had almost died! If he hadn’t gotten there when he did – the boy shook his head to dismiss that horrible thought, forcing himself to stay focused on driving! He had gotten there and that was what mattered!
“Yeah, I still went.” Callie’s voice was soft and contrite.
“And you took Vanessa and my brother with you.” It was more a statement than a comment.
“Vanessa was as excited as I was,” Callie tried to defend herself, but it was lackluster at best.
“And Joe?” Frank pulled over in front of her house and parked. He turned in his seat to look at her. “Was he as excited?” The teen already knew that answer.
“No…not so much,” the girl said, leaning heavily back in the car seat and sighing tiredly. The boy gave her a disbelieving look and she amended, “okay, not at all…he didn’t want us to go, either.”
“But you wanted to anyway, so—” he trailed off, letting her fill in the blanks.
“So when we wouldn’t listen to him, he decided to go with us.” Callie opened her eyes and looked at the dark brown ones watching her so intently. “I am so sorry, Frank. You have no idea how sorry!”
“Callie—” Frank started, straining for patience. He spoke slowly, each word with emphasis: “If you knew I didn’t like that house…and Joe tried to talk you out of going…why in the world did you still go?”
“I dunno!” she cried out, but he shook his head.
“That isn’t good enough, Callie! That house is dangerous – you know that! You know what happened the last time I was there! Joe almost died—”
“I thought you said you didn’t remember what happened?” Callie interrupted.
“I don’t. It’s something I just know – without needing the details! Did you even think of how cruel it would be to make him go back there?” Frank’s brown eyes bored into her own. “You knew something bad had happened the last time we were there!!”
“He didn’t have to go—”
Frank cut her off. “Of course he did! Do you think my little brother would, for a second, even consider letting you or Vanessa go into that place by yourself? Puh-lease, get real, Callie! You saw something you wanted and you just had to have it; regardless of what anyone else was saying or who got hurt!”
“No one—”
“Bullshit, Callie! You guys almost died in that hell-hole tonight! So don’t you even dare try to say no one got hurt! And what the hell happened to Joe? Don’t try and tell me he cut himself shaving!”
Frank felt his anger simmering and was bereft how to stop himself. The more he thought about it, the more upset he became – they had almost died! He needed her to realize just how badly she’d messed up! He’d come too close to losing her…to losing all of them! Before she could answer, he was speaking again: “What do you think would have happened if I didn’t get worried and go looking for you? If I didn’t catch you in a lie and try to find out what the hell was going on? I’ll tell you what: the fire department would have responded to the call and – and three bodies would have been found—”
“Frank, stop!” Callie cried out, not wanting to hear anymore, but he continued, ignoring her. This had been too close!
“But not unidentified for long, since my van was parked out front. They’d notify my family first, and then ask us who else was with Joe tonight. We’d say, Vanessa Bender, and then I’d rush to your house – thinking beyond my own grief – and not wanting you to hear about Vanessa from anyone else….And – and—” his vision blurred with unchecked emotion, “and then I’d find out that it was you, Callie, you were the third person with them tonight – the third burned to death in that fire!”
A heavy silence fell over the car as Frank sniffed, and Callie, white-faced even beneath the soot, just stared at him, too shocked and horrified to say anything. Her shoulders started to shake but she was determined not to cry – Frank was right, and as what he said sunk in, she felt her stomach quivering as her heart hammered in her chest. Could he ever forgive her?
And then Frank sighed, reached across the car and pulled her towards him, wrapping his strong arms around her slight frame and holding her. “Do you understand now?” he whispered, his voice choked by tears.
Callie nodded, leaning against his chest and holding on tightly. Oh yes, she understood completely. Frank had been terrified that he’d lose them…he almost had.
“I – I wish I was more like you,” she managed after a few moments, not bothering to keep the sob out of her voice as tears ran, unbridled down her dirty face. “You always know the right thing to do!”
“No, I don’t,” Frank’s words were muffled against the top of her head. “I have no idea what the ‘right thing’ would have been tomorrow, if tonight had ended any differently than it did…I just really wish this had all not happened.”
“Oh Frank!” She pressed her face against his sweater and sobbed, “I – I was so stupid – so blindingly stupid! And for what?” She pulled away and snorted, disgusted with her single-mindedness. “To talk to spirits…to the dead!” She sniffed; whispered, “I almost found out about the afterlife the h-hard way,” and then she buried herself back into his arms, feeling him slowly stroking her silky blond hair.
He didn’t say anything, and for that she was glad. Her lesson would be better learned if she had to wait for his forgiveness. And Joe…
“Oh God,” she whimpered, her voice almost lost in Frank’s sweater, “how do I apologize to Joe about this?! He’s going to hate me!”
“I don’t think he’ll hate you,” Frank chuckled softly, “but I wouldn’t expect to be on his top ten favorite people’s list right now.”
“I need to talk to him.” Callie pulled away from her boyfriend and hastily wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her coat. She was desperate to make amends!
Frank reached out and brushed an errant tear from her cheek. “Not tonight, Callie. It’s late. Give Joe some distance from this and you can talk to him tomorrow.”
“And I will,” the girl said resolutely, giving him a contrite smile. “You’ll see!” She paused and then added, “Thank you, Frank.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, thinking she was talking about him rescuing her tonight, but she wasn’t.
“I don’t mean about the fire. Although thank you for that, too. But thank you for being exactly who you are…”
He looked at her, a bit confused. She gave a little laugh, leaned over and kissed his nose before she got out of the car and headed towards the house. When she got to the door, she turned, blew him a kiss, and then said only loud enough for him to hear, “For being someone who loves me.”
And then she was gone into the house.
* * *
Frank shook his head, backed the car out of the driveway and headed home. He was drained, and kind of hoped Joe wasn’t up and waiting for him when he got home – as far as he was concerned, right now, they could talk in the morning. Some conversations were best held in the daylight anyway!
Arriving home to a dark house, ten minutes later, the teen let out a relieved sigh. His parents had obviously retired for the night, as had Joe.
Quietly moving through the living room and up the stairs, the older boy crept into his brother’s room to check on Joe – something he’d been doing since they were children. He just slept better this way.
Shaking his head at the discarded blanket on the floor, Frank covered the blond teen up, wondering if Joe had thought to clean the gash before he went to bed. He almost woke his brother up to ask, but quickly decided against it, not particularly eager to meet Mr. Grumpy at this hour. He frowned: did Joe look paler now than he had earlier?
Sighing tiredly and rubbing his eyes, he was sure it had just been the lighting. Frank quietly moved through the bathroom and into his own room to get ready for bed.
‘So much for my assignment’ he thought as he closed his eyes and was asleep moments later.
But in the Hardy house, something stirred….
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency 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.