HDA - Coping With Darkness by WintersRose Chapter 1

Wednesday, September 20, 2000 (12:20 pm)

“Watch the first step, Frank! Slow down!” Joe pulled on his brother’s arm when his brother tried to go barreling past him up the stairs into the Student Union at Bayport University. “Frank, give me a break, OK?”

Frank Hardy turned toward his brother, his brown eyes covered by the dark sunglasses he wore almost everywhere now. He stopped and waited, his expression anxious as he waited for his younger brother to take the lead again. Frank had been blinded exactly 15 days before; this was his first day to really start getting around the campus and it took effort to remember to go slower. Even with the uncertainty of not knowing where things were, of not being able to see anything around him, Frank wanted his life back. He lost more control than he thought he would when he was blinded and everyday he had to remind himself that he was still a worthwhile person. His parents still lived him. His brother and sister still loved him. He could still attend classes and, indeed, his professors were all willing to take the extra measures needed to ensure that Frank could stay in school.

“Sorry,” Frank said, finally as he put his hand back on Joe’s shoulder and waited for Joe to lead the way. This was the one thing he still didn’t like about his blindness. He felt entirely too conspicuous when he had to let Joe or someone else lead him and even more conspicuous with his hand on Joe’s shoulder. He vividly remembered the classes he took the last week at the hospital, classes that taught him, specifically, how to get around, how to learn to use his other senses to detect things. His family had taken classes as well, classes that taught them how to help Frank and, more importantly, when to help Frank. That helped. If they didn’t hover over him, waiting on him hand and foot, he could do this.

“Careful, big crowd coming up,” Joe told him when they had finally negotiated the six steps that led up to Mellars Student Union and Cafeteria. “Hold on tight, duck a little to your right.”

Frank carefully followed the instructions. Of all of the people who had thus far led him around the campus, either to classes or to eat, Joe gave the best directions by far. He never had to work quite so hard when Joe led him, though maybe that was a hindrance as well. Frank tried to tap things out with the cane he now carried but that wasn’t always possible, especially in a crowd. Right now it was hanging off of the arm that was holding onto Joe’s shoulder. Frank felt people brush against him and, when his hand slipped off of Joe’s shoulder, a rush of students going past him turned him around. Frank stopped in place as he remembered that it was, to his chagrin, Joe’s job to find him now. Someone shoved him rudely backward and he fell against the wall behind him.

“Geez, you jerks, stop it!” Joe called out to the crowd. “Sheesh, maggots, look where the heck you’re going!”

“Joe, it’s all right,” Frank said calmly as he allowed the crowd to push past him and he readjusted his sunglasses. “I’m fine. See? No harm!”

“Still should have watched where they’re going,” Joe retorted hotly. “Idiots never heard of giving way for their betters?”

Frank chuckled at that. “Uh, they may not see us as their betters, you know.”

“Well, we are,” Joe said. “We’ll just have to remind them of that small fact again, one of these days. Can’t have them forgetting who the Hardy Brothers are!”

“Oh, nice healthy ego there,” Frank teased affectionately. “Glad to see it hasn’t been stomped into small, iddy-biddy little pieces. Wouldn’t know what to do with a brother who suddenly learned what the word ‘modesty’ meant.”

“Oh, har, har,” Joe exclaimed but he sounded just as affectionate. There were several brothers or brother/sister teams on campus who got along fairly well and there were some who got along not at all and spoke to each other only when they had to. Frank cherished his relationship with his younger brother. He and Joe had been in too many scrapes together to not have a great deal of respect, friendship and camaraderie for each other.

“Come on, we can probably make it now,” Joe told Frank.

Joe reached out and took Frank’s hand again, placing the hand on top of Joe’s left shoulder. Again. Frank sighed and wished that Joe would not call so much attention to him. He got enough, he was sure. He didn’t have to see the eyes to know that they were on him. It made him very self-conscious and, worse, made him want to go hide in his room. He might have affection for his brother but sometimes, just like all siblings; his brother annoyed him very much.

“Going right, hold on,” Joe told him. “Entering the noisy zone, fasten your ear plugs and hold on for the ride.”

Frank chuckled as they made the turn that Frank knew led into the game room in the Student Union. On one side, nearest the door they just entered, were various video games. Frank could hear their distinct sounds and had no problem imagining what some of the screens looked like. He’d spent enough quarters here to know some of the games very well. On the right, a few of the students were playing pool. One rack was just broken, on a couple of others, Frank heard more cue balls being hit and colliding with other balls on the table.

The loudest of all, however, was the bowling alley, in front of the desk that serviced all areas of the gaming center. The bowling alley only boasted eighteen lanes but Frank had played many a game there with his friends. He sighed as they continued past the bowling lanes and, he hoped, out through the door on the other side.

“Hi Frank, hi, Joe!’ a friendly voice called from nearby.

“Why, hello, Anna!” Frank called out, confidently. That had to be Anna Phillips, a girl that he took chemistry with on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“Hi, Anna,” Joe said, confirming Frank’s suspicion. They stopped and both of them turned to Anna.

Blonde hair, green eyes, dimpled smile, small beauty mark just beside her left dimple, Frank thought as Joe chatted with Anna. At least I can remember what they look like. She’s probably wearing a sweater of some kind. She’s always wearing a sweater of some kind.

“How are you, Frank?” Anna asked him in a soft, shy voice. “You… you look well.”

“I am well,” Frank affirmed for her. “All things considered, I’m fine. How are you? Have they replaced Doctor Rich yet?”

Frank didn’t hear anything for a moment.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I meant, no,” Anna said. She had, Frank figured, been shaking her head. A lot of people still did that. He still did that; he couldn’t blame others if they did. Or at least he could try not to blame others. “We had a substitute yesterday, Professor Bledsoe. I heard they were going to make an announcement about a replacement next Monday. Until then, Professor Bledsoe is just going to follow Doctor Rich’s syllabus. Do you need a list of our assignments? We have quite a bit of homework before class tomorrow.”

“That would be great,” Frank said. He had been careful to try to stay caught up in his classes. He had studied quite a bit in the hospital and later at home. “Thanks, Anna.”

“I’ll drop off a copy at the desk in your dorm,” Anna promised. “Uh, that won’t be a problem will it?”

“No,” Frank assured her. “Samantha will read stuff off for me if I need it. Thanks again.”

“Oh, no problem whatever,” Anna said. “Anything I can do to help.”

“We have to be going,” Joe interrupted them. “Good to see you again, Anna. Take care of yourself!”

“See you,” Anna said and Joe replaced Frank’s hand and led Frank toward the snack bar, which was just around the corner from where they now stood.

“Hold on,” Joe told Frank. “There’s a huge cart in the way. Cripes, how do they expect a person to get around?”

Frank chuckled. “You could always go around it, Joe.”

“I could,” Joe commented. “But you’d end up tripping over about fifteen cable cords running from the cart toward the TV area.”

“Ah,” was all Frank said in return. Well, that made a certain amount of sense, he supposed.

“Wait right here,” Joe told him. “I’ll be right back.”

“Joe…” Frank said, nervously, but Joe was already gone.

“Hi, Frank,” Frank turned his head automatically in the direction of the voice. “It’s, uh, Jase. You know, I just moved into the room next to yours in Tauhausen? We met yesterday?”

“Oh, yeah, I do remember you,” Frank said. “Sorry, still getting used to placing people by their voices. Did you get settled in all right? You’re living with Housen, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Is he as weird as I think he is?” Jase sounded curious. “I mean, he has his room all done in dragon pictures and he’s got wizards and stuff. He’s one of those D&Ders isn’t he?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s Housen all right,” Frank said. “And, yeah, he’ll make you crazy with his D&D stuff. Fortunately, he has a group he plays with fairly regularly so he’ll leave you alone after he’s asked you for the fortieth time or so. If you want, you can have Connor teach you the best one hundred and ways to say ‘no.’ He learned last year and the year before. I keep thinking Housen might outgrow it but he seems as much a nut for it as before.”

“Lucky me,” Jase said, this time he sounded mournful. “I guess I could threaten to burn his collection, maybe then he’ll take a hint.”

“All right, Frank, we can get through now,” Joe came back over to them. “Hey, hi, Jase, how are you? Has Housen started making you crazy with all of his crazy Dungeons and Dragons stuff?”

“He hasn’t asked me to play yet but when I woke up this morning, one of his dragon posters nearly rid me of ten years of my life,” Jase told Joe. “And this morning when I was in the bathroom, I swear I heard the sound of dice rolling.”

“Housen can’t keep a room-mate,” Joe told Jase with a low chuckle. “If you last longer than four or five months with him, you’ll break some kind of record.”

“Oh, lucky me,” Jase mumbled. “Well, I have to get to class. See you both around. If you’re lucky, maybe I will have rid the world of Chuck Housen. Chuck. Who would name their kid Chuck?”

“He prefers Charles,” Joe said in perfect imitation of the geekazoid Housen.

“I am Charles, not Chuck.”

Frank heard Jase laughing as Jase went off, presumably to go to his next class.

Joe led Frank over to where Frank assumed his sister and their friends were sitting, waiting for them.

“Hello, boys!” Frank heard his sister, Mandy, call out to him. He easily saw his little sister’s blonde hair and blue eyes, a match of Joe’s own features but more feminine and soft. When she smiled she had a dimple in each cheek that had caused Frank to tease her many times growing up. Nope, he had not forgotten what the dimples looked like either.

Frank was led over to a booth and another hand reached up to take his as he slid into a vacant spot in the booth. He smelled Samantha’s favorite perfume, Fleur D’Amarallys, something that he had bought for her for Christmas just last year. He felt her arms go around him and he reached out to put his arm around her. Her hair, and he remembered her hair, it’s bright red tendrils curling just so over one shoulder and spilling down her back in a rush of silk, smelled good too, like she had washed it with fresh lavender. He sighed with contentment.

“You would not believe how many rude people there are on this campus,” Joe groused as he shook his head. “I swear, Frank and I got separated four times on the way here. I thought we were going to get trampled over by the dining hall.”

“I see you managed to brave the war anyway, Joe,” Vanessa’s voice sounded cheerful and teasing. Tall, with blonde hair and gray eyes, Frank easily remembered what she looked like as well. She had Joe had been dating for over two years now. “The brave warrior comes through a winner in the end?”

“You’d think people would keep their eyes open,” Joe muttered. “I mean, how hard is it?”

“I’d just as soon,” Frank said. “They treated me like everyone else on campus. I know I don’t like getting separated from you, but at least I don’t feel like people are staring at me if they’re running over me. Hard to do both, isn’t it?”

“It’s still rude,” Joe muttered, petulantly.

Mandy laughed at that. “Ah, poor baby. Do you want Vanessa to kiss you and make you all better?”

Frank didn’t know what happened next but all of them suddenly burst out laughing. He sighed, wanting to know what they were laughing at, but feeling too foolish to ask.

“Joe just turned the most remarkable shade of tomato,” Samantha whispered to Frank in his ear. “And Vanessa just kissed him, quite thoroughly. Let me demonstrate.”

Frank suddenly felt some lips being pressed up against his and his eyes went wide underneath his dark glasses. He knew he was turning the same shade as Joe when he heard the others laughing again.

“Wouldn’t want you to feel left out,” Mandy said to someone, probably her boyfriend, Connor and, sure enough, he heard the sounds of kissing. He joined the laughter that time. His cheeks felt flush and warm but he continued to smile.

“When’s your next class, Frank?” Connor asked him. His roommate spoke in a low-pitched voice, not quite a bass, but definitely a baritone. Connor’s bright red hair and vivid green eyes were not hard to imagine, either, nor was the fact that he had his arm around Frank’s petite, blonde haired, blue eyed sister.

Frank had to think a minute. It was much easier to keep track of when he could keep it all in his head.

“Uh,” he said, softly. “I have Ab Psych at 2 and Fundamentals of Computing II at 4:00.”

“I can get you to your 4:00,” Samantha told him. “I’m done at three today. Do you want to go out to eat afterward?”.”

“Sure,” Frank said and he bestowed another grin on her. “If I get to pick the place.”

“As long as the words ‘Mr. Pizza’ don’t come out of your mouth, I’m game,” Samantha said. “But no Mr. Pizza.”

“I promise,” Frank said with a grin. “No Mr. Pizza.”

“I can get you to the two o’clock,” Mandy said. “I have class at three, though, so someone will have to get you from there.”

“That’ll be me,” Connor said. “I can get you after your two o’clock. Football practice starts at 4:00, though, so I can’t be late to that.”

Frank nodded and sighed, leaning back into Samantha’s arm. He really despised all of the fuss that had to be made. Maybe, when he had more practice, he could learn to get from class-to-class on his own. Other blind people got around on their own all the time. Of course, a lot of other blind people had seeing-eye dogs.

“It’s all right, Frank,” Samantha told him, her voice soft in his ear. “We fuss because we love you. Just accept it, all right?”

Frank nodded and swallowed, glad that he had dark glasses covering his eyes.

“What time is it now?” he asked.

“Half past twelve,” Joe commented. “And I’m starving. What do you want?”

“Uh, see what the chicken salad looks like,” Frank said. “If it’s disgusting, I’ll eat a burger, if it’s not, I’ll take the chicken salad.”

“Be back in a flash. Anyone else want anything?” Joe asked.

More orders were made, which Frank ignored. He continued to listen, however, to the bantering between Connor and Mandy and Mandy and Vanessa. Something flew past his cheek a moment later. He felt a small rush of wind.

“MAIDLIN!” Connor roared. “Give off, you moron!”

“Ah, get over it, Connor, nobody got hit,” Maidlin’s voice was somewhere behind Frank. Frank didn’t bother to turn around to face Maidlin.

“Close enough,” Connor growled at Maidlin.

“He’s coming up beside us,” Samantha whispered in Frank’s ear. “He’s beside you right now.”

Frank reached out a hand and grabbed hold of Maidlin’s shirt and pulled him down.

“All right, Mr. Maidlin,” Frank said in a harsh voice. “If you ever toss a spit wad, or any other sort of projectile at me again, I’m going to take it and stuff it down your throat. Is that clear?”

Frank had no idea what Maidlin’s reaction to that was but he released the prankster and turned his attention back to Sam.

“He looked like someone just hit him in the stomach with a large fish,” Samantha whispered in his ear. “He turned purple too.”

Frank waited until she told him that Maidlin was gone before he laughed and stretched.

“That was sort of fun,” Frank said. “Did I sound scary enough?”

“I think the fact that he couldn’t see all of your face totally spooked him, Frank,” Connor said. “Hopefully he’ll wait a couple of weeks before he tries that again.”

Frank nodded in agreement. He wasn’t sure he had that kind of bravado in him again. He shook his head and rubbed at his eyes for a minute, then wrapped an arm around Samantha again.

“One chicken salad sandwich,” Joe said to him a moment later. “It looks edible enough today. I got you a soda and some chips, too. Er, sandwich is at twelve o’clock high, chips at three, soda is beyond the chips at three.”

Frank reached out with his fingers and found the plate, then slid them up until he came into contact with the sandwich. He lifted the sandwich up to his nose and sniffed at it cautiously, before he took a bite of it. He chewed just as cautiously until he decided it was, indeed, edible and ate the rest of it with partial enjoyment.

“Oh, yum,” Frank said with a shrug. “Well, it’s not going to kill me anyway.”

Samantha chuckled. “That might not but these fries just might.”

“Not if I don’t eat them,” Frank chuckled back to her. He reached for, found and took a drink of his soda, grateful for such things as straws. At least that way he wouldn’t totally miss his mouth and spill all over the front of his shirt.

“Do you want to hang here until your next class, Frank, or go back to the dorm?” Joe asked his brother. “I have just enough time to walk you back if you want to go back.”

“I think I’d better,” Frank said.

“I’ll be by to get you at 1:45. Do you want me to call first?” Mandy asked him.

“Yeah, otherwise I might be napping,” Frank said. “See the rest of you later.”

Sometimes Joe Hardy was so angry he thought he was going to scream. Ever since the incident that blinded his brother fifteen days ago, Joe had ridden on a steady edge of anger that he hid from everyone but his twin sister. He felt as though his whole life had been completely altered and he wasn’t the one who was blind! Joe felt almost as self-conscious about leading Frank around as Frank did. Frank had only mentioned that to him once and Joe understood the feeling. Joe saw the eyes that looked toward them for an instant and away just as fast. Only those that truly considered the Hardys to be friends said something and asked Frank how he was. Everyone else wanted them both to be invisible.

Joe said nothing about it to Frank. Frank had enough on his mind these days. Having to have his book assignments read to him, having to make major adjustments to how he did things was enough for Frank to worry about. Frank had always been the strong one of the two. Joe admitted that to himself if he didn’t to anyone else. Now, Joe felt as though he had to be the leader, be the strong one. It wasn’t fair to Frank and it wasn’t fair to him.

Joe led them on the back route to the dorm; it tended to be a little faster and had less people. The way people brushed past them sometimes made Joe a little uneasy. Getting separated from Frank was not something Joe looked forward to when he led Frank around. It tended to cause major anxiety until Joe looked around and saw Frank was standing only a few steps away. Joe had already woken up twice at night in a sweat; terrified he had left Frank stranded somewhere.

Joe shook his head and brought his attention back to what he was doing. Frank was tapping his cane along beside him, feeling out the sidewalk that they were walking on. Those were things that Joe was supposed to look for and he felt guilty for his woolgathering session. It was just luck that they hadn’t come across a bump or unusually high crack.

“You’re quiet,” Frank said to him a moment later. “Everything all right?”

“I’m fine,” Joe said. “Just thinking, that’s all. Thinking I’d like to crack a few heads together.”

“Joe, this isn’t your fault,” Frank said, not for the first time.

“I know, I know,” Joe said, also not for the first time. “I just… I can’t help it, Frank. I want to rip Doctor Rich’s head off. I want to beat on him until I can’t move. I want to rip his eyes out and give them to you so you can see again!”

“Is all this hard on you too?” Frank asked him. “I know how it must look, having to lead me around everywhere, all the time.”

“It’s not a problem,” Joe said, a little curter than he meant to be. “I’m sorry, Frank, like I said, I’m just… an…”

Joe’s attention was diverted by a scuffle taking place off the sidewalk, down near the walking paths that went around a small lake behind the dorm. Joe saw three, no four, boys harassing a girl with blonde hair.

“What is it?” Frank asked, anxiously.

“Someone’s bothering a girl down by the lake path. Do you mind waiting here for a minute?” Joe led Frank over to a bench. “Just sit here, I promise I’ll be right back.”

“OK,” Frank agreed and he took a seat on the bench. Joe walked away from him, leaving the sidewalk to cut across the grass to the lake path. He walked up, confidently, behind one of the guys and tapped him on the shoulder.

“What do you want, meat?” a boy about an inch shorter but stockier than Joe demanded. “This isn’t none of your business. I suggest you go away!”

“When three or four big strapping boys such as yourselves decide to start harassing a nice young lady, I’m afraid it is my business,” Joe disagreed as he flexed his muscles and readied himself for the battle to come. “Let the girl go and we can all go home and have a nice day.”

“You go and you can live another day,” another of the boys said.

Joe raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Gangs. They would have to be members of a gang. Joe sighed but stood firm.

“A little far from your turf, aren’t you?” Joe asked. “Why don’t you run back before you get more than you can handle?”

“Our turf is where we say it is, man,” the first boy said. And with that, he swung a fist at Joe. Joe dodged it by jumping out of the way, then turning, ready for all comers. He lashed out with his fist at the first boy, connecting in a solid blow with the boy’s face. He kicked out at a second boy then ducked under a blow from the third and fourth.

Four against one was not Joe’s idea of favorable odds. He lashed out again with his leg at another of the boys and managed to take him down. A second fell to a well-placed hit along the back of the knees. The first two, however, drove Joe down into the ground with two flying tackles and he fell with a grunt and moaned.

“We ain’t done with you, boy,” one of the boys said to him. “We ain’t done with you by a long shot!”

One of them hit him in the stomach again then the two boys, helping their two friends, ran off, leaving Joe gasping on the ground.