HDA - Living in Darkness Trilogy - Pt 2 - The Search

Frank's grin faded slightly. "You didn't like the movie at all, Callie?" he asked as he pulled up to her house. It had been movie night and Vanessa's turn to pick. She'd known Joe had been quite anxious to see Sahara, so she'd picked that one.

"I liked the environmental message," said Callie as she got out of the van.

Joe rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. Frank got out to walk Callie to her door and tell her goodnight, and then got back in the van. He looked at Joe. "Behave."

"Hey, didn't say a word."

Frank backed out of Callie's driveway and headed towards home. "But you definitely were thinking it."

"So sue me." Joe leaned forward in his seat and pointed out the windshield. "What's that?"

Ahead of them was an odd blue glow filtering out of the trees. Frank frowned. "Why not check it out?"

He drove on, looking for a side road when the van hit something and the back end slewed around. Joe grabbed the dashboard to keep from hitting it. "Whoa. What—?" The van's momentum slammed it into a ditch and it was the last thing either brother remembered.

***

It was the cold that roused him. Joe wondered why he seemed to be facing down at an angle. There was a sudden loud tap on his window and he jumped. He looked out the window and saw a police officer, motioning for him to roll down the window. Joe tried to open the door and finally got it open. "Yeah?"

"You okay in there?"

"I, um, think so. What happened?"

"Let's get you and the driver out of there first."

Joe blinked and remembered Frank. "Hey, Frank, you okay?"

Frank groaned. "Oh, man, my head hurts."

"Maybe because you hit it on the steering wheel?"

Frank pushed himself back in his seat and looked around. "What... what happened?"

Another police officer helped Frank out of the van as the first police officer assisted Joe. Joe looked around and rolled his shoulders. He looked over at the police officer. "Hey, Todd."

Todd Wilkins gave Joe another look. "Joe Hardy, didn't recognize you in the dark. You okay?"

"Yeah."

Wilkins pointed to the black asphalt. "I think you hit a patch of black ice here. You two sure you're okay?"

Frank came around the back of the van. "Yeah." He massaged his neck. "Just sore, Todd. You on night shift now?"

Wilkins sighed. "Yeah. I'll get the guys to haul you out," he said, motioning to two more officers.

Joe looked around. "Wonder who called it in?"

"Huh?" Frank looked over at him and felt the oddest sense of déjà vu "Man, I had the weirdest dream."

"Ha, told you we were dreaming." Joe's jaw dropped and he stared at Frank. "Frank..."

Frank slowly shook his head. "Wait a minute, no, Joe..." He shared a long look with his brother and his eyes widened. He looked up at the night sky. "Wow."

Joe angled his neck back to look up at the night sky as well. "But that should be impossible."

There was a loud groan as the winch on one of the police vehicles started. Slowly, they pulled the van out of the snow-filled ditch. Once it was on level ground, Todd gestured to the van. "See if it starts."

Frank got in and twisted the key. The van started with a low rumble. Joe walked around to the front to check the grill. "Looks okay, just some branches caught in the grill."

Joe grinned at Todd. "Thanks, man." He started to get in and then looked over at the black man. "Hey, who called this in?"

Todd shrugged. "Anonymous call."

Joe pulled open his door and got in. "Oh, well, thanks for the assist, Todd."

Todd waved a hand as they pulled away. Joe looked over at Frank. "We remember, Frank, why do we remember?"

"I don't know. Maybe it didn't work the way they planned." Frank shook his head. "The future, wow."

"Kind of crazy, but fun."

Frank drove on to their house and parked. He and Joe got out of the van and went into the house. Frank hung up his jacket and saw his parents seated on the sofa. "Hey, Mom, Dad."

Laura Hardy smiled over at him. "Hey, Frank, Joe, was the movie good?"

"Oooh, yeah, Mom, awesome movie."

Fenton frowned. "Did it run a little long?"

Frank nodded. "Yeah. Then we took Callie and Vanessa home. Whew, I'm beat."

"Me too." Joe yawned. " 'Night, Mom and Dad."

"Good night," said Frank.

"Good night, boys," said Fenton.

Frank started for the stairs, pivoted on his heel and went into the living room. He gave his mother a kiss. "Love you, Mom."

Laura smiled. "Love you too, good night, Frank."

Joe came into the room and hugged her. "Me too, Mom." He followed Frank up the stairs and yawned again. "Whew, I am so tired." He started for his door and paused. "Frank?"

Frank stopped outside his door. "Yeah?

Joe frowned, wondering why he thought he should remember something. "Never mind. Good night."

"See you in the morning, bro."

***

Joe Hardy opened his eyes against the bright sunshine and rolled over. It was too early to get up. He'd had weird dreams all night of outer space and oddly enough delicious chicken and pizza.

"Hey, Joe, get up."

"Ugh, it's too early."

"Joe, it's Saturday, after ten. Come on, bro."

"Go away." Joe pulled the covers up over his head. Suddenly, he flipped the covers down. "Did you dream about chicken?"

Frank gave his brother a long look. Slowly, he sat down on the edge of his brother's bed. "Yeah, now that you mention it. What made you ask that?"

"I don't know." Joe sat up and sighed. "Last night, we went to watch a movie, right? Sahara, right?"

"Yeah."

"So why did I dream of space, stars....and chicken?"

Frank shook his head. "I don't know." He took a deep breath. "I didn't dream of space or stars. I...dreamed that Callie and I got married."

Joe snorted. "You're a little young to dream about that."

There was a tap on Joe's door. "Boys, you agreed to help shovel the walk today," said their father.

"Okay, Dad, we'll be down in a minute," said Joe. He sighed. "Who agreed to help shovel snow off the walk again?" He got out of bed and padded over to his closet. "Would that be you?"

"I'm not doing it by myself."

Joe grunted. "Yeah, well, you owe me."

Frank rolled his eyes and headed into the bathroom. "Whatever. Dress warm, bro, cold outside."

Joe grunted. "Oh, you'll definitely owe me," he said, grinning. "Just give me time to find out how."

"Heard that."

"Figured you would," said Joe with a grin. "That means you get first dibs on the shovel. I'll supervise."

Frank snorted and poked his head into Joe's room again. "Right. In your dreams."

Both boys went still and Joe frowned. "Frank.."

"Maybe we shouldn't know, Joe. Maybe we couldn't handle it in the long run."

Joe finished buttoning up his shirt. "You can deal with that?"

"I guess I have to."

Joe sighed. "Yeah." He took a deep breath. "Hey, don't you dare get to the table before me. I get first dibs on breakfast," he shouted after his brother. "Hey!" He pulled on his jeans and took off after Frank. "Hey, no fair!"

The End

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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.