Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Frank followed Joe into the motel room, closing and locking the door behind him. He tossed the keys on the small table and wearily sank into one of the chairs. He hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep the previous evening, thanks to the chilling nightmare and the unsettling feelings left in its wake. Closing his eyes, he ran a hand through his dark hair, craving sleep, but his mind refused to turn off the emotional events of the past twenty-four hours.

Yes, he’d been angry with Joe last night – angry and bitter and hurt. He was still very bothered by the fact that there seemed to be a part of Joe that couldn’t – or wouldn’t – confide in him. Or was it the way Jodi seemed to be able to control his brother? Like a puppet master, she pulled the strings and Joe automatically responded. Yes, Frank wasn’t happy with Joe or the choices he’d made, he was still upset at being shut out, but more than anything he was worried about Joe. He had no idea what was going through his younger brother’s mind, and that in itself increased his concern.

Hearing what sounded like a muted voice Frank opened one eye a crack. Joe was sitting in the other chair, staring blankly into space, talking about something Frank didn’t quite catch. He listened for a moment and realized Joe was rambling more than trying to carry on an actual conversation, and while he wasn’t quite sure what Joe meant, he preferred his brother’s disjointed thoughts over the suffocating silence that had hung over them in the car. Closing his eyes again, he tried listening to Joe instead of his own worrisome thoughts.

“I never should’ve gone to see Jodi when I left the house that night,” Joe said, not really addressing anyone in particular. “Shoulda stuck with my original plan. Everyone would’ve been a whole lot better off…”

‘Original plan?’ Frank frowned, wondering what the heck Joe was talking about.

“This whole situation – Jodi, Luke…everything… it all could’ve been avoided. It would’ve been better if I discouraged her that night…if I hadn’t given in so easily…if I’d just left and done what I’d set out to do.”

Puzzled, Frank thought back to that night and shivered slightly. The fight between Joe and their parents had been like nothing Frank had ever witnessed before. He’d almost been afraid Joe and their father would come to blows, but then Joe had stormed out of the house and gone to Jodi’s.

‘But if that wasn’t what he’d ‘set out to do’ what was?’

“Shoulda just driven off the cliffs like I planned…no one would have gotten hurt…”

Frank’s eyes shot open and he snapped his head up, staring at his brother. ‘What did he say?!’

Joe stood and took off his jacket throwing it on the bed. “Everyone would’ve been better off without me anyway…”

As Joe started for the bathroom his words sank in and Frank’s stomach clenched painfully at their meaning. He felt the rage, anger and betrayal he’d felt the night before and one additional emotion…absolute fear. Fear that Joe had thought about taking his own life; fear that he could honestly think they would have been better off without him…and he snapped. Practically launching himself out of the chair, Frank grabbed Joe by the shirt and slammed him hard up against the wall.

“You wanted to kill yourself?” he yelled, his voice shaking. “And you thought no one would care?! No one would be hurt by it?” Fueled by sheer emotion and pure adrenaline, Frank shook Joe hard, pulling him forward slightly and then shoving him back against the wall again. “God damn it, Joe, don’t you ever say that again! Do you hear me?! EVER!”

Just as quickly as his rage had exploded, it was gone. Frank looked down at his own hands, balled into fists and buried in Joe’s shirt, as if they didn’t belong to him. He immediately released Joe and stumbled back a few steps as Joe looked at him, stunned.

“God, please tell me you don’t really believe that,” he said, his voice much softer now. “That you could take your own life and it wouldn’t affect us forever. That we would just get over it and move on…”

Joe remained silent and that scared Frank more than anything. Had Joe slipped so far away from him, shut Frank out so completely, that he could no longer get through to him? Frank took one small step forward, his voice pleading. “I want to help you, Joe, but I can’t…no one can…not if you won’t let us in.” Frank threw his arms out helplessly, his voice hitching painfully.

“You open this door to your soul just long enough so I can see how much you’re hurting. It’s like you let me in just enough to see how worthless you think you are, how little you value your own life….Do you have any idea what it does to me to see you like that? To know how much you really hate yourself? Because that’s all you give me….God, Joe, you’re screaming for help but the second I try and walk through that door to help you, you slam it shut in my face, and it’s killing me!

“I know this…all of this…is tearing you apart, but to think you contemplated…” Frank tripped over the word, still unable to associate ‘suicide’ with his brother, and almost feeling like a failure himself for missing all the signs in the one person he thought he knew better than himself. “Please...” his voice broke, “you gotta trust me enough to let me in…”

Joe was still leaning against the wall, stunned and afraid to move; afraid his own legs wouldn’t support his weight. Frank’s initial shove was so violent the wind had been knocked out of him, and now, watching Frank and listening to him falling apart, Joe was sure the wall was the only thing holding him up.

“Please...” Frank’s voice broke, “you gotta trust me enough to let me in…”

A crushing silence hung over the room. Joe was humbled…and terrified…scared…and then Frank started speaking again, softly this time.

“I get it, Joe. I get that when you look in the mirror you don’t like what you see, what you think you’ve become – a burden and a disappointment. But you wanna know what I see when I look at you? I see one of the strongest people I know. I see a survivor. Someone who’s gotten a raw deal in life more times than anyone should, but who keeps getting back up, keeps looking for the positive and keeps moving forward no matter what.

“I see someone who jumps in with both feet, who puts everyone else first and himself last…even when he shouldn’t. Someone who has a big heart – sometimes too big, and it gets him in trouble.

“I see a guy who loves his family and his fiancé; who always tries to do the right thing by them. A guy who’d help anybody; give the shirt off his back or his last dime to a total stranger if he thought they needed it. I see a loyal partner who I trust with my life. I see a guy I’m proud to call my brother.

“And sometimes…like now…I see a scared, hurting little boy. The same one who used to come running to his big brother for advice or protection or to confide in…or just for a hug. But now he puts up a wall and I don’t know why…because his big brother is still here, even if he can’t always see it…”

Joe stared, his eyes bright and rapidly welling up. Frank was right. He could feel the bond between them slipping away. He knew if he didn’t do something now…if he didn’t open that door and keep it open, allowing Frank to walk in… that trust – their bond – would be swallowed up by the darkness that seemed intent on taking Joe’s soul. As they stared at one another, Joe recognized it as the defining moment it was – now or never.

Frank’s last few words touched a place in his heart where that little boy used to live. A place Joe thought he’d outgrown….His voice was raw and trembling…and sounded very small. “I remember that little boy, too,” he said quietly and slowly, tentatively he reached out for his brother…

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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.