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

Joe curled up as tightly as he could into a fetal position, lying with his back against the wall, huddled as tightly under the blanket as he could and, once more, he drifted off to sleep…

…For a few minutes.

*****

"Ouch."

Joe Hardy groaned as he slowly came awake to the pounding of drums and banging of cymbals in his head and he clutched it, willing the pain to just go away now please. His mouth felt full of cotton balls and his whole body ached and throbbed, depending on the body part. Moaning, Joe shifted again until he was on his stomach and he pushed up with both hands and knees until he was on all fours.

I'm going to be sick, Joe thought as he quickly rolled to one side and tumbled off of the bed. He stood for a moment, swaying back and forth as the room revolved around him, but finally he lurched forward, dizzy and nauseous.

Make way, he thought. Nobody get in the way. Sick man coming through.

He made it just in time to vomit into the toilet again but this time, there wasn't so much to come up. Joe idly wondered how long it had been since he'd eaten anything. He'd had the orange juice…

Joe shuddered past that thought and looked behind him, half-expecting Andrew to lunge at him with a needle again. He, blissfully, was alone right now. No one bothering him. No one giving him tainted orange juice to drink. No one…

Joe flinched away from the word but he knew would have to face it eventually. He hadn't understood the word when he was ten, though he had heard it more than once.

Just say it, Joe. Then it will be done and you won't have to worry about it.

No one to rape me, he thought. "No one to rape me!"

Instead of sickening him this time, though, the word made Joe angry.

"How could he?" he demanded of the empty room. "How could he do this to me, when he's been through it too? How could he?"

Joe wanted, badly, to hit something. To hurt someone. He limped forward, suddenly energized, and yanked at the pillow on the bed. He took the pillow and began to beat it, hard, against a wall, over and over and over again until the seams of the pillow burst and little white feathers began to float down on the floor.

Not enough, not nearly enough, Joe thought, still angry, still wound up tightly. He paced the room restlessly, pounding his right fist into his left palm, over and over again, trying to work out the aggressive energy. He ignored the pain that shot through his hands, using it, instead, to try to drive away the desire to kill, to hurt, to destroy, until finally he collapsed onto the bed and pulled his legs up.

Joe rocked back and forth, eyes intently looking around the room, waiting.

Andrew won't leave his precious toy alone for long, Joe thought hotly. And when he does show up, he's going to have a big price to pay for what he's done. A big price.

A small alcove in the wall in one corner slid open and a tray was slid through to Joe's prison. Joe went over to the tray and took the food into the bathroom. Immediately, he poured the juice down the toilet and dumped the food into the garbage can. There was no way in hell he was ever going to eat anything Andrew ever gave him. He almost threw the glass away but realized that had a useful purpose. He carefully rinsed it out, using a bit of his hand soap to wash it out and he filled it up full of water, drank it down and filled it again. Much better.

The tray, however, Joe took and began to bang against the wall. Regardless of the loud noise it made, he hit it, hard, over and over and over again until the plastic tray shattered into bits on the floor.

"Useful," Joe murmured as he saw the shards of plastic. He picked one up and tested the edge on his finger. "Very useful."

He smiled as he, using extreme caution, gathered up all the bits. He tested each of them, kept three and threw the rest into the garbage can in the bathroom. He downed another glass of water and filled the glass up again.

"Oh, Andrew," he called out. "Come out, come out wherever you are. I want to play again!"

Joe realized how that sounded – and didn't care in the slightest. Right now, for the first time since this whole thing started, he felt in control. For once, he was in charge and he wasn't going to give it up easily.

Andrew would assume he ate the food, which was probably drugged, and come back later on for fun and games – Joe was going to be ready for him.

Joe lay down on the bed, facing the room, and closed his eyes to half-mast.

It was a long wait.

A very long wait.

He almost fell asleep but stayed awake by pressing lightly on one of sharp edges of one of his makeshift knives but finally he was rewarded when he saw, through his shielded eyes, a section of the wall where the food arrived open up into a doorway, and Andrew walked through. Andrew pushed the wall closed and raced toward where Joe lay.

"You're so beautiful," Andrew whispered as a hand reached down to touch Joe's face.

"I know, I've been told that before," Joe opened his eyes, grabbed the hand, twisted and sat up, almost all in one move.

"Joe! What…what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, dear cousin?" Joe asked. "I'm getting out of here, that's what."

"You…you should be sleeping now." Andrew sounded stunned, which worked just fine with Joe. He wanted Andrew stunned, confused, anxious, helpless, whatever it took.

"I would be, if I had eaten that food you sent," Joe said. "Can't face me without the drugs, huh? Is that your idea of love?"

Andrew flushed and tried to break Joe's hold on his hand. Joe, however, had the upper edge and he knew it.

"I didn't think…didn't think you'd let me love you without it," Andrew whispered. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I love you!"

"Don't. Ever. Say. That. Again!" Joe roared as he twisted the arm even more tightly and savagely. "Don't you ever dare tell me that you love me again! You don't know the meaning of the word, Andrew. All you know is how to take and to hurt and to destroy but you don't know the first thing about love."

"I…" Andrew stopped. "I loved you. You could tell. I know you could!"

"You. RAPED. Me!" Joe stood, twisted with his upper body and slammed Andrew into the wall.

Andrew rocked back, dazed, blood gushing from his nose and his mouth.

"How does it feel, Andrew?" Joe demanded. "How does it feel to be the victim? How does it feel to have someone do something to you that you don't want done? That you would never want done?"

Andrew stammered again, his hands holding onto his bleeding nose.

"I've been your victim long enough," Joe declared. "I've been Uncle Derak's victim long enough. I'm going to take you to jail where you belong and I'm going to go home – to my family! I never want to see you again as long as I live. Do you understand that, Andrew? I. Hate. You!"

"No!" Andrew protested. "No you don't! You love me too, I know you do! I know it!"

"When you were my cousin. My friend, yes," Joe said. "Someone to have fun with. Family. But you stepped over the boundaries of what I felt for you and that's gone now. I don't know you and I don't want to know you. I hate you. I hate you more than I have ever hated anyone in my life, including Uncle Derak. You KNOW what he did to me because he did it to you too! How could you, Andrew? How?"

Joe felt his energy flagging but he didn't dare let down, didn't dare back down.

"He promised," Andrew whispered. "They both promised. They said…they said you would be mine. That I loved you and that we could be together forever. She helped me. She helped me figure out what to do. We worked together. She wanted me to be happy and she knew you would make me happy. "

"She?" Joe stared at his cousin. "What do you mean, she?"

"My… my mom," Andrew whispered again. "She helped me. She promised…"

"It was a promise she won't be able to keep," Joe vowed. "Maybe you can both share the same cell."

"NO!" Andrew demanded. "NO!"

He sprang suddenly to his feet and reached out to grab Joe. They grappled for a minute but Joe threw his lighter cousin away again and held out one of his makeshift knives.

"Stay away from me, Andrew," Joe demanded. "I don't want to hurt you any more, but I will if you don't just leave me alone!"

"Never," Andrew whispered. "I will never leave you alone. Not ever. Kill me now, Joe, because that's the only way I'm going to let you leave without me. The only way."

Man, I have walked into a soap opera, Joe thought, disgusted.

"I know where the exit is now," Joe reminded him. "I don't need you."

"Yes you do," and suddenly Andrew smiled again, a smile that sent chills down Joe's back. "Because I'm the only one who knows the key. The only way out of here is with me…forever."

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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.