ILLUSIONS
by
AUTHOR D
Chapter 3
The Chapters
In the light given off by the unobscured full moon, Vanessa could see her boyfriend blanch.
“What?!” Joe lunged for the window and looked inside. He stared for what seemed an eternity and then whispered, “I… I don’t understand… It’s empty.” He suddenly whirled on Vanessa, startling her. “She was there!” he cried out, pointing to the shack. “I saw her! She was tied up and gagged and she was scared, Van! Terrified!”
As Joe spoke his words were coming faster and faster. Vanessa could see he was getting more upset by the second and she was no longer sure who Joe was trying to convince of the girl’s existence - Vanessa or himself.
“Okay, okay,” Vanessa said soothingly, trying to calm him. “Let’s go to the office and tell them what you saw, okay? I mean it is possible it was someone in the cast who accidentally set up in the wrong place. Maybe a new cast member or something.” She reached out, and took Joe’s hand, squeezing gently.
“I wasn’t hallucinating, Van,” Joe insisted, though she could feel his hand shaking. “She was there, she was real… and she was in trouble.”
“Come on…” Putting an arm around his shoulders, Vanessa started to guide him back to the main entrance and the ticket office, suddenly very sorry she’d helped talk Frank into letting them go off alone...
By the time they had arrived at the office, Vanessa had convinced herself and Joe that the girl he’d seen was simply a cast member who’d gotten a little disoriented in the dark and wandered off the Frightland property. And at first the two men and one woman in the office seemed very concerned that one of their cast had set up in the wrong place, until Joe mentioned her age. That’s when Vanessa got a distinctly unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach and it had been all downhill from there. The more the three staff members insisted that everyone in the cast was over sixteen, the more distressed Joe became. It was only when the one of the men threatened to call the police unless Joe left immediately that Vanessa grabbed his arm and physically pulled him from the office. And she didn’t miss the look the woman gave her as they left – ‘Good luck with that one, honey! He’s nuts!’
Once outside, Vanessa pulled Joe’s cell phone out of her pocket, not having returned it to him earlier. Looking at her, Joe said “He’s number two,” apparently sensing she intended to call Frank, then sank down onto the curb, dropped his head and stared at the ground.
Vanessa pressed the button and when Frank answered he didn’t even give her a chance to speak. “No, Joe, you can’t have thirty more minutes together. If you guys aren’t back here in two minutes, I’m calling Dad.”
“Frank, it’s me,” Vanessa said quietly. “We’re outside the management office; it’s right next to the ticket booth. Can you meet us here?” She tried to keep the anxiety out of her voice but based on Frank’s immediate response, she’d been unsuccessful.
“What’s wrong?” Frank demanded, his voice rising slightly. “Is Joe okay?” he pressed.
Vanessa glanced down at her boyfriend worriedly. “Just meet us here… okay?”
She heard a click and then a dial tone. Folding the phone, she handed it to Joe as she sat down next to him. Resting an arm on his back, she laid her head on his shoulder. “He’ll be here in a minute…”
“I saw her, Van,” Joe mumbled softly. “I wasn’t hallucinating. She was real… I saw her…”
Sighing, Vanessa rubbed his back comfortingly. “I know, Baby… I know…”
******
Frank flipped the cell phone shut and shoved it in his pocket. Grabbing Callie’s hand he took off weaving through the crowd, muttering half-hearted apologies to those he bumped into.
“Frank?!” Callie asked alarmed, tugging on his hand. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t know,” Frank answered curtly, with another mumbled “Sorry,” to the young man he’d just cut off.
“Is it Joe? Is he okay?” Callie questioned, practically running to keep up with him.
“I said I don’t know, Callie!” he snapped. Seconds later, he stopped and turned around to face her. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “It was Vanessa who called. She just said they’re outside the management office and wants us to meet them there. She sounded… I don’t know… but, yeah, I think something’s wrong.”
Immediately Callie opened her purse and fished around inside, pulling out her own cell phone. Opening it up, she started scrolling through the phone book list even as she nudged him forward. “Keep going,” she instructed him. “I’ll call everyone on the way.”
A few moments later, they arrived at the entrance to Frightland and Frank stopped short. Just off to the right he saw Joe and Vanessa sitting on the curb outside the offices, looking decidedly shaken. Taking a deep breath he hurried towards them.
“Joe? What’s going on?” he asked.
Immediately Joe stood up, waving his hand back towards the area of the barn, talking so fast Frank could barely understand him. “There’s a shack back there, by the barn. I saw a girl. She was bound and gagged and she was crying. I went to get Van and by the time we got back she was gone, but she’s in trouble, Frank! I know she is! We have to help her!” Reaching out, he grabbed Frank’s arm and pulled. “Come on! Let’s go before they get any further away!”
Frank looked at Vanessa, alarmed. She stood, too, and looked at him worriedly, shrugging her shoulders. Removing Joe’s hand from his arm, Frank held him in place. “Whoa, slow down, Joe. Start over… slower this time, okay? Now… what did you see?”
Joe took a breath and started speaking again, slower this time, although he was clearly agitated as evidenced by the way he kept shifting his weight and fidgeting nervously. “There’s a shack back there by the barn. I heard crying so I went to check it out. There was a girl in there, about eleven or twelve. She was tied up, hands and feet, and she was gagged. She was crying, Frank… terrified! I went back to the barn to get Vanessa but when we got back to the shack, the girl was gone. They must’ve moved her.”
Still trying to follow Joe’s train of thought, Frank glanced at Vanessa. “Did you see this girl too?”
Vanessa looked at Joe and hesitated for a moment but finally shook her head. “No. She was… gone… by the time I got there.”
“I saw her, Frank!” Joe yelled angrily, garnering a few wary looks from passers-by. “Vanessa thought she might be part of the cast who just didn’t realize she was over the property line so we came back here and checked at the office. She’s not part of the cast.” Joe took another step in the direction of the barn, running into Biff Hooper, one of the Hardys’ friends who’d accompanied them. Ignoring the other boy, Joe gestured again. “Frank, we have to go now! The longer we wait, the harder it’ll be to find her!”
The rest of the Hardys friends had now caught up with them and an awkward silence descended over the group. Each, in turn, looked at Joe uncertainly and then quickly looked at Frank, wanting to take their lead from him. Before Frank could even finish processing what Joe had said, the younger Hardy exploded.
“What, you all think I’m crazy?!” Joe challenged his friends, furious. “I wasn’t hallucinating and I’m not crazy! I know what I saw! She was there!”
The silence grew heavy as Frank rapidly tried to assess the situation - and Joe’s mental state. He glanced at Vanessa who gave him a long look in return. Frank nodded slightly, realizing even she wasn’t sure if what Joe saw was real or not. Sadly, Frank thought it was more likely that what Joe saw – or thought he saw – was an aftereffect of the hallucinogenic drugs, but he knew Joe was so worked up now he wouldn’t even consider that as an explanation.
“No one thinks you’re crazy, Joe,” Frank finally said quietly, easing the tension slightly, grateful when their friends murmured their agreement. “Okay,” he said, exhaling in frustration. “You said this girl definitely isn’t part of the cast?”
Joe nodded, seeming somewhat mollified that he was being believed.
“How about you take me back to the shack and we’ll check it out together. If the girl was in there and then taken away, there should be some kind of clue or trail or… something.”
“Yes! Exactly!” Joe agreed excitedly. “Come on!”
Shrugging at their friends, Frank took off after his younger brother who was already disappearing into the darkness.
Let the author know what you think of this story
Home Library Authors Rogue's Gallery Vehicles Chums Message Board Rap Sheet Links Contact
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.