Death Becomes Us by Aphrodite

This is my first Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Fanfiction! So please be nice.

Disclaimer: Are you reading this? Are you reading this on a FAN fiction site? Yup that means I am a fan and not the owner/real author, otherwise it would be extremely rich author fiction site and you would be paying me lots and lots of money to read it! Oh well ^_^ I don't own anything in the story that you recognize but I do own 16 different first volume Nancy Drew books from 1930-1936! (yup its true, they are old, wooden and very fragile, but way way way different from the version of the books you can buy now!)

The air was so heavy and damp, and I can smell something musty. This is my first thought when I woke up. The next was the cramping sensation in my neck, arms, and legs; I can feel pins and needles racing up and down all of my extremities. Slowly I force my eyes open and see, nothing. Its pitch black, and I try to force myself into a sitting position but my wrist and elbows are tied together, and there is something over my head blocking my upwards movement. There is a foggy cloud impeding my thoughts and I can't seem to shake it loose.

'Where am I?' I can't place what I was doing before waking up. I am confused and a little blank. I move around the best I can and realize I am in a trunk. There is a heaviness starting to build in my chest, pushing a startling pressure from my heart outwards into my limbs. I am panicking; I can feel it, but no matter how I try I can't fight back the terror.

'Scream, scream.' I think over and over but I can't make my mouth work. I don't know what to do; the pressure on my chest is immense. 'I can't breathe.' I force my breath in and out. My head feels like it is going to explode along with my heart, I start praying that it will indeed explode.

'Dear God, please let this end.'

The terror is so intense now, that it feels like that's all there ever was. It's not the fun giddy sort of scared I usually associate with horror movies or a good King book but real intense fear. It's whole consuming and it pushes all thoughts out of my mind except the fear itself. Somewhere in the back of my mind I take note that my body is rolling around the trunk as the car starts up and starts moving. I also am vaguely aware that there are items in the trunk with me, but none of this is important at the moment. I cannot see past the fear.

My fingers flexing themselves, almost manically, behind my back come across something soft and fuzzy. My fingers clutch the soft item like a safety net, trying to hold onto something real. I realize slowly, kind of like a second thought that I was holding my little girls stuffed bunny. It was her favorite toy until last year when she turned eleven and she was 'too' big to carry stuffed animals around. Her dad gave it to her in the hospital when she was born and I couldn't bear to throw it away just yet so I kept in it the trunk, trying to talk myself into taking it to GOODWILL.

"I'm in my car. I'm in my car' the thought, along with the feel of my daughters beaten and tattered toy start calming me down. The pain in my chest starts to lift and my head starts to clear. I take my breaths slowly and start to pray out loud. A simple prayer most of us learn as children in Sunday school but it helps to push the rest of the panic out of my mind.

"Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name."

I can feel the car starting to slow down.

"Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven."

Now the car door is opening and I can hear dry twigs and leaves crunching under what must be a heavy boot,

"Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,"

The trunk is being unlocked and slowly it opens. I watch, reciting my prayer.

"and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil."

I see the silhouette of a man, almost comically dressed in all black with a ski mask pulled over his head.

"For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory"

My eyes, still wide open watch as he pulls a hunters axe over his head.

"for ever and ever."

He starts to swing the ax down and silently I send all the love and energy I have out to my family,

"Amen"

I see the axe arc and hit me in the middle of my chest. The pains almost dull, so I clutch the bunny a little tighter and close my eyes for the last time.

'

Nancy Drew was spending her last night in River Heights with her dad, and family housekeeper Hannah. Tomorrow she would be flying down to Charleston, SC to meet her mother's second cousin, Geoffrey. Geoff's wife, along with her car, has been missing for five days and the police have no leads, nor were they looking for any. It disturbed Nancy to know that the police didn't even look for suspects. They assume she ran out on her husband and family.

Nancy didn't know much more than the basic details, but she and her good friend George Fayne, was meeting Geoff tomorrow evening for dinner in North Charleston.

"I haven't seen Geoff in almost 12 years but what I can remember of him he is a good guy. He joined the navy as soon as he graduated high school and is close if not past retirement age. But he's a lifer, loves the Navy and I can't see him retiring before they make him. He will be both an asset and a liability in your investigation Nan. He is whip smart and will be able to answer any questions you have but he also will want to get too involved I think. He loved Linda fiercely and when a man loves a woman like that, and some how looses her, it breaks him and he doesn't feel whole anymore. Often they feel like revenge is the only way to get back what is missing. It doesn't, nothing does but it's hard to get that through for the first couple of months."

"You make it sound like she's dead Dad, she could just have ran off, like the police thought. We shouldn't jump to conclusion. When you do that you can't look at the whole picture, just like the police. You always told me that Dad." Nancy smiled widely at her father. The three were sitting down in the Drew family home, eating an amazing Lasagna Hannah had prepared that day.

Carson shook his head. "I know Nancy but I knew Linda before I had even met your mother, we went to Elementary school all the way through high school together. Your mother and I were the ones to introduce her to Geoff. She wanted children so badly. She had four miscarries before very late they had an unexpected surprise. She loved her little girl more than anything. I know Linda and she would not leave her family willingly."

Nancy dipped her head down and sat silently at her dad's proclamation. She knew her Dad meant well but sometimes people to do things so out of the ordinary from what was thought of them that anything really was possible. She didn't want to pin one explanation on the issue before assembling all the facts.

"Either way Dad, I plan on finding out what happened to Linda." And Nancy was determined to do just that.

Frank Hardy was in one hell of a pickle. He was suppose to meet up with Joe for dinner at the hotel but the woman he was interviewing was a talker, and trying to hint for him to take her to dinner. Frank resisted checking his watch for the third time while trying to keep somewhat of an ear onto what the woman was saying. Frank and Joe were in Charleston, SC to help try and find out what happened to a woman, Linda Hamilton. The police were under the impression that she ran out on her family. Her and her husband have apparently been arguing about him retiring at the end of the year instead of extending his enlistment. They think she got tired of being second fiddle to his career and took off.

Her co-workers at Smith and Wesson Law Offices, where she worked as a paralegal, thought something happened to her. One of the ladies knew Fenton and gave him a call. Fenton was out on another investigation and sent his two sons in his stead. Frank wasn't sure what he thought had happened to the young woman but he knew that something didn't add up.

Him and Joe had been there just over 12 hours and interviewed seven of Linda's co-workers and friends and all of them said the same thing. That if Linda was to run off and leave her husband, there would be no way she would leave her daughter, Shelly behind. The little girl was everything to Linda. Joe had been taken to look at Linda's desk while Frank had started the interviews. Joe had told Frank that the desk was covered in pictures of her daughter, and drawings the little girl had made. Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary. She even had a file on her desk with a post it note attached to make sure she filed it with the court in the morning when she came into work.

'Who writes themselves reminder notes if they don't plan on coming back to her desk to perform the task. It just doesn't add up.' Frank thought as he once again resisted the urge to tell the woman to shut up. IF she was telling him useful information it would be different but she was just blabbering useless office gossip and Frank was getting hungry.

"I'm sorry Ms. Turtleton but I have to be going. Do you mind if we finish this conversation later?" Frank flashed her a smile and she melted a little.

"It's Grace to you and that's fine, we could always finish it over dinner." The woman could have easily been Frank's mother but it didn't distract from that fact that she was devilishly gorgeous. Frank flushed red.

"I have plans to meet my brother, maybe some other time Ms. Turtleton." Frank stood up and offered his hand. Grace pouted for a second before lifting herself up also. Smiling her intertwined both of her hands around Franks and moved in close to his ear.

"I look forward to it, Mr. Hardy." She whispered into his ear before drawing her hand and body back. She flashed him one last smirk before sauntering out of the room.

'I think I will kill Joe for leaving me alone with her.' Frank, still red, gathered up his notes and folders and stuffed them in his messenger bag before heading out.

Frank found Joe sitting in the small café the hotel housed with someone else. Frank couldn't tell who it was but they had a broad back and spiky blonde hair. 'I know that back.' Frank thought as he approached the table.

Joe looked up and grinned, "Hey Frank, look who's in town!" Joe indicated the man to his left who had stood up and turned around. Frank Hardy smiled brightly and reached out to embrace the man.

"Biff! It's been forever since we last saw you! What are you doing in Charleston? Last we heard you were in San Francisco working your way up in ranks in the Army." Biff returned Franks embrace before sitting back down at the table.

"Yeah I am on leave at the moment. We deploy for Iraq in three months, so I decided to take some time for me before I go and entered into the Charleston County Charity Boat Competition. Luckily I got my leave dates so here I am for the next two weeks."

Frank looked Solemn. "Iraq huh? That's too bad." Biff shook his head at Frank's statement.

"It's not all that bad. The fighting over there has decreased greatly and its what I joined the Army for, to be able to help people; in my country and in others. But let's not talk about that now, I am here for some fun and get to see two of my best friends that I haven't seen in three years."

Frank forced himself to change the subject also, "So boating still huh? Your craft any good?"

"Are you kidding? It is amazing. He took me out to see it this afternoon and its pristine." Joe interjected.

Frank raised an eyebrow, "You were suppose to be trying to get a hold of Linda's husband this afternoon, not goofing off." Before Joe could retort the waitress showed up and took their orders. Joe waited, as patiently as he could, for her to finish and walk away before responding.

"Goofing off? I was not goofing off, I was enjoying the company of a long friend while you whittled the hours away chatting it up with Ms. Legs Turtleton. I called his office this afternoon and he said that he will meet us tomorrow night. He has to meet some detectives of his own at Café Tois at 6:00 and we can meet him then. "

Frank decided to ignore the jab about his interview and focus on the end of Joe's situation. "Tomorrow night? That's fine, we can try and talk to the lead detective tomorrow morning and then YOU can go and finish the interview with Ms. Turtleton. I don't think I can do it."

Joe laughed and the trio settles down to eat the dinner the waitress was placing on the table.

Ok that's what I have so far. I wasn't going to post this story until I finish another story in a different Fandom but I found I couldn't keep my thoughts on the other story because this one was pushing itself in the way. So I had to start it. What do you think? It will be a Frank/Nancy story but it's going to be mostly focused on the mystery. Thanks for reading!

Question of the week: How much wood does a wood chuck, chuck, if a wood chuck could chuck wood? My guess is three pounds, any other guesses?