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

“Are you nervous?” Joe asked his brother for the second – or third – or fourth time. Frank sighed patiently as he settled back on the hard pillow on the hospital bed and listened to his brother fidget – loudly. Joe was pacing, sighing, huffing, picking stuff up and putting it down – obviously he was far more nervous about Frank’s surgery than Frank.

“I’m fine,” Frank said – for the second – or third – or fourth time. He reached out a hand in the direction of his brother’s voice and Joe grabbed it. “Joe, look at me. In the face not at my navel.”

Frank paused for a moment before he continued.

“I’m fine. I’m ready for this. For the first time in months I have a very strong feeling that everything is going to be okay. Got it?”

“Got it,” Joe murmured lightly and Frank felt a squeeze on his hand. “I got it, okay? I’m just worried. Nervous, I guess. I keep waiting for the next shoe to fall, the next ball to drop – pick your metaphor. I’m scared.”

Frank smiled calmly and squeezed his brother’s hand. Joe might not really need the physical comfort but Frank needed it; he just wasn’t going to admit it out loud.

“Glad you got it. I won’t drop something on your head, then. If you really got it, of course.”

“I got it, already!” Joe laughed. “Sheesh, Frank. Was I born yesterday?”

Frank snorted. “Sometimes I wonder.”

Joe lightly whapped Frank on the nose. “Goober.”

“Brat.”

“Dork.”

“Baby.”

The brothers burst out laughing and were interrupted by Mandy’s voice from the doorway. “You two get more immature everyday. Are you ever going to grow up?”

“Nope!” Frank and Joe chorused together. Joe continued. “We’re thinking of staying young forever. In fact, we were just going to go look up the directions to Never-Never Land .”

Mandy sighed in mock exasperation. “I am surrounded by children!”

“We leave the growing up to you, Mandy,” Frank quipped. “You’re sooo good at it – Mom.”

Frank didn’t have to see to feel the dagger expression Mandy sent to both him and Joe.

“Are you nervous?” Mandy asked, echoing Joe’s question from earlier.

“He’s not,” Joe answered for Frank. “Said so himself. He’s calm. He’s leaving the nerves to the rest of us.”

“Ah,” Mandy said. “You better be okay, Frank.”

Frank smiled. “I’ll be fine, baby girl. Just fine.”

They were interrupted by the arrival of the surgeon, Doctor Beckett and Fenton and Laura. Laura kissed her eldest on the cheek and Fenton squeezed his shoulder affectionately. “We’re going to be heading into surgery,” Doctor Beckett said. “We’ll see you in a few hours. Your son’s in very good hands.”

Fenton and Laura agreed.

Joe squeezed his brother’s hand again before walking with his twin out of the room.

** ** **

Sound washed over him, moving around him in an almost solid wave of air. He thought he heard specific voices but none of them made sense to him, none of them were clear in his head. He tried to push them through his mind, tried to give them meaning but none of it did. Frank tried to reach a hand up for his face but nothing worked; his body felt heavy as lead.

Relaxing back on the bed, Frank ignored the noises and sounds. He felt dry-mouthed and tired, but oddly awake as well. He relaxed further and just existed, happy with life at the moment.

“Hello, baby,” a soft voice murmured in Frank’s ear as he felt the fog around him beginning to lift and the distorted, odd-sounding voices changed, becoming more solid and clear, something other than just odd, ambient noise.

“Hello, son,” another voice sounded from Frank’s other side and he turned his cotton-stuffed head toward the voice. The dark-haired young man shook his head several times and tried to break loose the heavy, dull feeling caused by the anesthetic.

Both hands were held in tight grips – Frank squeezed both, acknowledging the comforting clasps with small squeezes of his own. He coughed, the acrid taste of the anesthetic still all too present in his mouth, but he managed a smile. Frank remembered now – there had been an operation and it was over.

I’ll be able to see again! A surge of joy swept through Frank, filling him from head-to-toe. Sam’s green eyes. Joe and Mandy’s blonde hair. Mom and Dad’s faces. I’ll be able to see again!

In a moment of crystal clear clarity Frank realized something he had not realized, at least not consciously, since he was first blinded. He missed seeing. He missed being able to walk around on his own. He missed being able to wake up in the morning, open his eyes and see if the sun was shining into the room. He missed that funny-looking tousled look Joe’s hair had when he first got up in the morning, blonde curls all askew in a nest-like array on his head. He missed the smile on his mom’s face and the twinkle in his dad’s eyes.

Suddenly it all seemed so clear; things he almost forgot in the last few months of darkness.

I’ll be able to see them all!

Frank felt like crying with joy and probably would have if his eyes weren’t so totally covered with bandages.

“Hello, there, Mr. Hardy,” a vaguely familiar, humor-filled voice chimed in past the chattering around Frank. “Give me a few minutes, please.”

The chatterers departed, releasing Frank’s hands as they went and leaving him with his surgeon. Dr. Beckett poked and prodded – Frank winced when the cold business end of a stethoscope was placed against his chest. The doctor was methodical but, finally, Frank heard him step back.

“Looking good Frank,” Dr. Beckett touched Frank’s arm gently, letting Frank know where he stood. “Vitals are normal, EKG is solid, looks like you came out of the anesthesia just fine. How are you feeling?”

“Bit…fuzzy,” Frank touched his head with the hand on his casted arm. “Okay,though.”

“It will wear off,” Dr. Beckett promised. “You’ll be good as new before you know it. I want you to try to eat something in about an hour – soup and water for now; it will be easiest on your stomach.”

Frank nodded slightly. “Yes sir,” he managed.

“I’ll be back in about four hours to check you over. I’ll send your family back in.

“And don’t worry, Frank. The surgery was a complete success.”

Frank heard the doctor open and close the door and his heart leapt a little. I’m going to see!

**** **** ****

December 21, 2000

“You look so relaxed I could push you and you’d just plop over without a single problem,” Joe told Frank as he settled into the chair beside the exam table on which Frank sat, swinging his long legs back and forth. “Aren’t you even the slightest bit worried?”

“Nope,” Frank said casually. “Nothing to be worried about, Joe.”

Despite the bandages covering Frank’s eyes, Joe glared ineffectually at his older brother.

The last three weeks had been spent in healing – Frank physically and Joe mentally. Joe went to see Doctor Morgan three times a week and he and Frank talked long hours into the night, chasing away demons that threatened Joe’s sleep.

The nightmares never went away though, and sometimes Joe feared going to sleep. He did, though, usually too exhausted to stay awake any longer.

Each day got a tiny bit better, as he learned to get up, to do a little more to regain the life Andrew stole from him.

All in all, Joe reflected, it’s much easier to focus on Frank than myself. And that’s what I’m going to do for now.

“Nothing to worry about?” Joe echoed his brother’s earlier words. “What if it didn’t work, you dope?”

“It worked.” Unwavering in his belief, Frank smiled.

Joe wanted to smack him – hard. Joe wanted to hurt him in the worst way! Just because!

“You don’t know that for sure,” Joe protested. “What if you’re wrong? What if you still can’t see? What if you’re…stuck?”

“I’m not.” Frank swung his legs some more and Joe sighed – loudly.

“You’re still being a dope,” Joe declared.

“No, I’m not,” Frank grinned. “I’m always right.”

Joe snorted derisively. “Since when?”

“Since always. Stated, proven, fact. Frank Hardy is always right. Joe Hardy, however...”

“Is a lot more demure, wise and handsome than Frank Hardy who, by the way, is delusional, suffers hallucinations and is a big dope!” Joe managed a grin though.

“Who’s a big dope?” Mandy asked as she came into the room. “Besides the two of you, I mean?”

Joe grabbed his twin and pulled her down, tickling her. He let her go promptly when she squawked, and grinned.

“Frank’s the dope,” Joe said. “I’m the wise, cautious and intelligent one.”

“He’s dreaming,” Frank informed Mandy. “One too many clonks on the head. One too many tackles on the field.”

“Children!” Laura Hardy exclaimed from the doorway. “Do I need to separate you?”

Joe felt his face redden and saw Mandy and Frank both blushing as well. They were joined a few moments later by their dad, Connor and Samantha.

“Full house,” Joe exclaimed, shifting back uncomfortably. Despite the fact they were his friends and family, Joe felt closed-in.

“Mandy, Connor and I are waiting outside,” Fenton explained.

“Mr. Hardy!” Samantha protested. “You should stay. I can wait out with Mandy and Connor!”

“Nope,” Fenton smiled and gently pushed Sam toward Frank. “You stay. You have a much prettier face.”

Joe grinned and relaxed as the crowd in the room thinned out with the vacancy made when his dad, Mandy and Connor left the room.

Dr. Beckett arrived only a few minutes later, turned on a soft lamp that was sitting on a table and killed the overhead light. He unwrapped the outer bandages quickly before talking.

“All right, Frank,” Dr. Beckett said. “I want you to put your hand up over your eyes – just shield them for me.”

Joe watched as Frank raised his hand up over his eyes and Dr. Beckett carefully removed the second layer of bandaging, leaving only two cloth disc-shaped bandages over Frank’s eyes. Dr. Beckett touched Frank’s shoulder and smiled gently.

“Okay, Frank, we’re on the final stretch here,” he said softly. “I want you to keep your hand over your eyes; don’t move it until I tell you to. When you feel the bandages move, I want you to open your eyes. If you feel an intense pain I want you to close them again. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Frank nodded slightly and Joe held his breath.

“Then do it. Keep blinking your eyes as you adjust.”

Joe continued to hold his breath as the two round bandages were moved and, even in the dimness of the room, he saw his mother’s face was pale and Samantha’s eyes were wide.

Finally, Frank moved his hand and Joe stared at his brother as he blinked his eyes, over and over. The doctor leaned forward and put drops in each eye, which caused Frank to blink even more furiously.

A few moments – or a short eternity – later, Frank turned his head toward his mother, brother and girlfriend. Frank blinked a few more times and looked blankly for a moment until Joe felt – and saw – Frank’s eyes focus on Joe’s own.

The gaze shifted quickly from Joe, to Samantha and then to their mother but returned to Joe again a moment later.

A huge smile formed on Frank’s face as he spoke.

“Hello, Joe,” he said, and with a joy that filled them all he said, quite simply…

“I can see!”

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.