Joe Hardy, the annoying, loud brother had somehow managed to get himself a girlfriend. Shocking, huh? Well, it wasn't all that surprising. Amber is beautiful: long, dark curly hair, green eyes, and a slender body. Joe is currently walking said beautiful woman to the door, and as soon as she was out the door, he turned around to notice Frank and I staring at him.
"What did I do?" He asked, holding his hands up.
Frank shook his head, smiling, "Nothing. I'm just surprised she thought it was cute how you spit Aunt Trudy's pea soup back into the bowl."
"Some girls like an honest man!" He exclaimed.
"Well, honest man, Mom and Dad are going to be home soon and expect the place to be clean. Let's clean up."
"I can help." I volunteered, and made my way to the kitchen where the remnants of dinner sat at the table and on the counters. If you look closely, you can still see the little green specks where Joe's spit didn't quite make it into the bowl.
If anyone can walk dramatically, it would be Joe sauntering into the kitchen to clean up after himself. He began gathering up the bowls to load them into the sink, while Frank began to run the hot water.
Just then, the door opened up and I could hear Laura say, "We're home!" A moment later, she stood in the doorway of the kitchen. "Oh hello, Nancy."
"Hi, Mrs. Hardy." I greeted with a smile. Fenton made his way to the kitchen shortly after her. "And hello, Mr. Hardy."
"Hey Nancy, how are you?"
"Great! Your sister made a great dinner tonight, by the way. Pea soup." I told them, making the best small talk in the world.
"Oh, no, you don't have to be nice." Laura scrunched her face. "That soup is more of a punishment than a dinner."
I laughed, and Fenton took her purse off her shoulder and sat it down on a chair.
Laura brought her attention to Joe, who stood much taller than her. She smiled at him and wiped something off his shirt. "I have news for you boys, too."
"What's that?" Frank pressed, scrubbing away at the dishes.
"We're going to California!"
"California?" He repeated.
"Yes, sir." She beamed. "We got ourselves a nice beach hotel with a spa, pool, really good restaurants nearby…" She listed the amenities on her fingers before Joe interrupted her.
"When are we leaving, Mom?"
"Tomorrow morning. You boys always leave so suddenly for your school trips, I figured you two would be the masters of getting ready overnight." She waved her hand in dismissal, "Go on, then."
Before she even let the boys question her, she left the room muttering to herself about how she absolutely cannot forget sunscreen.
"Dad, what about ATAC?" Frank asked in a hushed tone.
He thought on the question for a moment before responding, "I can clear this up. Your mother has been starting to question all the missions, so I figured a nice vacation would get her back on track."
Joe started to leave the room before turning around and waving at me. "See you, Nancy. I'll tell you all about the sweet, sweet California summer." With that, Joe and Frank headed upstairs to begin packing.
"Sorry we're not taking you along." Fenton told me with a slight frown. "But, maybe next time."
"It's no problem." I dismissed. "Plus, we're just getting settled in here in Bayport. I haven't even unpacked half my stuff."
"Well then, I can drive you back home."
"That'd be great, thank you."
We got into his car, and he drove me back home. The drive was no more than five minutes, and it was nice being so close to Frank and Joe. Just being able to hang out with them lately has been a relief. Between my cases and their missions, we were hardly able to see each other before I moved here.
Once I got inside, my dad was sitting at the kitchen table hunched over a mess of paperwork.
"Hey, honey." He looked up at me momentarily before getting back to his paperwork.
"What are you reading?"
"Well… I'm working on some paperwork for moving in. They want to know every credit card transaction I've made in the last five years. Who knows that?"
I shrugged. Who does know that? "Well…" I tried to find a way to respond, "Maybe you can call the company?"
"Not this late." He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. "Speaking of, you should probably go to bed."
"Right." I headed up the stairs and into my new and improved bedroom.
It's only slightly bigger than my older one, but it means more room to pile paper and books. After getting into my jammies, I called it a night, and fell asleep rather quickly. But that's when the nightmares began.
"Frank! Joe! Get out of here!" Fenton cried out, hurt and terrified. He had blood seeping out of the backside of his shirt. He was holding himself upright on the bed, but then fell onto his stomach.
Joe held onto Laura's arm, guiding her out of the vacation house. Frank looked back at his dad. "Dad! Get up!"
He doubled back and ran to his father's aid, grabbing his forearms and pulling him up. He winced, "Frank, no."
"We're not leaving you." Frank said firmly. He looked out the window and his mood suddenly changed. Before he had time to react, a small black ball crashed through the window.
Right as it hit the ground, gas started to spray out in all directions. Frank coughed and wheezed, tugging at his dad's arms. "Come on."
"I can't." Fenton's eyes began to droop.
"Joe!" Frank shouted, the gas making him sick to his stomach. Joe ran back in, and immediately starting coughing and hacking.
"Help me get Dad up." Frank pulled his shirt over his nose and mouth, Joe quickly following his lead. With Joe's help, he got Fenton back onto his feet. Frank guided him out of the room, unknowingly leaving Joe inside.
To add to the chaos, bullets started shooting into the room from the shattered window. Frank dropped onto the ground. "Joe where are you?"
"I'm here." Joe's voice was weak and quiet. Frank army crawled to where he could hear his coughing. Between the gunfire and the hissing of the gas bomb, he stopped being able to hear Joe's coughing.
The green and white gas nearly clouded his vision until he saw Joe laying still on the ground.
"No, no." The gunfire ceased, leaving only ringing in his ears. "Joe." Frank shook his shoulder to try and wake him up. "Come on, buddy." He spoke as he started to feel himself fade as well.
Frank let out a weak and halfhearted cough, and turned to look at the door. Through the thinning gas, it was clear that the door was shut. He left it open. How? He wondered, but his attention was redirected back to Joe. He'd worry about the door later.
"Joe, get up." He slurred, and his head began to fall. In his last moments of consciousness, he repeated Joe's name, softly getting weaker, and weaker, until he was completely unconscious.
I woke up crying out, covered in a cold sweat. I was breathing as hard, like I had just been running a marathon. I lifted up a shaking hand to shove my wet hair out of my face. That felt so real, so undeniably real.
I should call them, make sure they're okay. I began to search my bed sheets for my phone, frantic as ever, and then light spilled into my room.
"Nancy, are you alright?" Dad asked.
"Yeah… Yeah. It was just a nightmare." I told him, but I felt like I was trying to reassure myself more than him.
"Just a nightmare, sweetie. Get some rest." He slowly shut the door, and was going downstairs to probably resume his paperwork.
I grabbed my phone from off the nightstand and dialed Frank's number. One ring, two rings, three rings. I felt myself get more and more tense as each cycle went by.
"Mm…hello?" Frank answered groggily.
"Frank!" I cried out, flooded with relief.
He seemed to wake up entirely. "Is everything okay?"
If he's worried about my wellbeing, he is alright. "I was more worried about you, to be honest."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"I had a nightmare. And, it was you and Joe…and Fenton, and your mom…" I had a hard time getting the words out. I rarely have trouble with my words, so I guess I'm pretty shaken up.
"Hey, don't worry. It was just a nightmare." Frank reassured me. "Joe is fine, I'm fine, Dad's fine, Mom's fine. Get some rest, it's one in the morning. I'll call you when I get into California, okay?"
"Yeah…okay." I nodded my head even though he couldn't see me. "Talk to you later." I hung up the phone, but there was nagging feeling inside of me that told me something terrible is going to happen to them.
I shook my head, scolding myself for having such a terrible thought. I flipped my pillow to avoid laying in any left over sweat, and shut my eyes. Everything is going to be fine. Admittedly, I had trouble falling back asleep. But when I did, no other nightmares came to me.
My one and only author's note: I first started writing this story and publishing it to this website in 2011. After stumbling upon this story years later, I've decided to revise my old works and republish it (and actually finish it) after reading the reviews for my previous edition. While it has been five-going-on-six years since I first published this, I have never returned to writing. While my skills have naturally improved over time, I am still lacking in many areas. But, nonetheless, I am returning to continue (and finish) off my most reviewed story. Thank you all!
- Formerly Authoress-in-progess, now Authoress-near-progesss