Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys or any of the canon book characters, and am making no monies from this story. Any Original Characters belong to the author(s).
Note: This story was written in 2003, so technology was not as advanced as it is today. People still used landlines, and texting, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat were still in the future or in their infancy. Co-written with RokiaHDA, who wrote back then under the name of Aspen.
Thank you for the feedback, Cherylann.
Ghost of November Past
By EvergreenDreamweaver and RokiaHDA
Chapter 21
"Now this, dude, is the part I like about investigating, you know? Secret rooms – secret passages, hidden accesses….Much better than the 'fall off the cliff, fall into the ocean, get kidnapped' thing that's been happening all too often!" Matt grinned happily at Frank as they set out for the parking lot.
Frank returned the smile. He did love Matt's enthusiasm!
"I can't believe how Joe found that door! I mean, even if I walked over it, there's no way I would have noticed anything odd about it, you know? And Joe's like, wham! there it is! How did he do that, anyway?" Without waiting for a reply, Matt chattered on: "How long do you think that room's been there, unused, just WAITING for one of us to come and find it? Waiting to reveal its secrets, man! This is like radical, dude; isn't it just about the most exciting thing that's ever happened to you, Frank?"
Frank chuckled. "It's pretty exciting, Matt, yeah." He tried to keep his laughter within bounds; he was having a hard time keeping from falling to the ground in hysterics. Matt was such fun – you'd never know the guy was four years older than Frank himself…he was such an adrenaline junkie!
"What do you think we'll find in there, anyway? HEY, do you think maybe that that's where the missing jewels are hidden? Maybe that's why the room was hidden in the first place, to hide the 'cursed' jewels! Oh, dude, do you think maybe we should get a shovel, too, as well as the flashlight? What if they're buried in the floor, or something?!"
At that point, Frank simply lost it. He couldn't hold back any longer. He burst into laughter – loud, unrestrained whoops of laughter.
Matt glared for a moment, flushing – and then reluctantly began laughing too. "All right, okay, I guess I did sound pretty crazy, didn't I?" He whapped the younger man on the shoulder lightly. "Give me a break, man! This is new to me, remember? It's just so exciting!"
Frank managed to get himself under control, and wiped tears from the corners of his eyes. "It's exciting for us, too, Matt. Really, Joe and I don't find hidden rooms all that often – it's pretty special when we do. I'm sorry…" he broke off to chuckle again. "And you could be right, you know…maybe that is where the jewels are hidden; it would be a logical place to look, anyway. Although I suspect it's just the remains of a storm cellar that ended up as a furniture storage area. That would make quite a find for us, huh?" He opened his car and removed a large flashlight, snapping it on briefly to make sure the batteries were okay.
Matt grabbed one of his cameras from the back seat, and checked the flash, then pulled the strap over his head to leave his hands free. "Okay, let's go!" He followed Frank back to the mysterious hole in the ground.
Except that, when they returned to the site, there was no sign of a hole in the turf. The ground was even; the grass was in place, looking as if it had never been disturbed!
"Dude, where'd it go?" Matt stared around in confusion. "How did it get closed up again?"
Frank frowned. "I can't imagine…Joe? JOE!" he yelled, suddenly. "Maybe Joe came up already, but if he did, where'd he go? JOE!"
There was no reply.
"This is really spooky," Matt whispered. "What if those guys came back while we were gone, Frank – and did something to Joe?"
"We would have seen or heard something," Frank assured him – trying to reassure himself at the same time. He knelt down, searching for the hidden edges of the turf-covered board. When it swung open, Frank scrambled for the ladder, closely followed by Matt. They dropped onto the hard-packed dirt at the bottom of the ladder, and Frank switched on his powerful flashlight. "Joe? You here?" Hearing no answer, he set out down the cramped passageway with Matt tight on his heels.
The small room at the end of the corridor was empty save for the furnishings – no sign of Joe anywhere. The trunk was closed, its hasp still in place; the armoire was shut, and no one occupied the chair. Frank scanned the room carefully; he could see no other way in or out of it, except for the door they'd entered by.
"Joe?"
They continued to stand there, looking around, but there seemed to be no sign of Joe. It was as if he'd simply vanished into thin air. Frank began to get an extremely unpleasant sensation in the pit of his stomach, and he swallowed nervously. He could hear Matt's tense breathing beside him; sounding loud in the underground room. What if Matt was right, and someone had managed to kidnap Joe in that short span of time when they were gone? "Maybe we should check outside again."
"Okay, dude."
They turned to leave the room, Matt in the lead. Just as Frank was exiting, he heard something behind him that made him stop in his tracks: a soft bumping, thumping sound. He whirled around.
"Joe?"
Silence again, for a few moments, but Frank wasn't about to leave, now. He waited tensely, and at last was rewarded by another thump – this one much lighter than the first. Tap…tap. And the elder Hardy knew now that the sound was coming from the trunk!
"Matt, give me a hand here!" Setting the flashlight down, Frank knelt in front of the trunk, pulling his knife from his pocket. He pried at the hasp, then he and Matt together yanked hard on the lid, prying it up and flinging it backwards against the wall.
"Oh my God." Matt's voice was hushed with shock. Inside the container huddled the figure of Joe Hardy, eyes closed, barely breathing.
"Joe! What happened? God – Matt, let's get him out of there, right now!" Together, Frank and Matt lifted Joe from the trunk and laid him on the floor.
Joe was ashen-faced, obvious even in the dim light, and shaking; his breath coming in shallow, uneven pants. He tried to take in a deeper breath, and gagged, beginning to choke.
"Come on, we've got to get him out of here!" Frank said sharply. "He needs to be up where there's more air!" He dragged Joe's arm across his shoulder and heaved his brother to his feet, half-carrying him down the cramped little passageway to the ladder. It took both Matt and Frank to get Joe up that ladder and out into the fresh air, where they stretched him on the grass, and then waited anxiously.
Joe lay still for a few moments, dragging in sharp, gasping breaths. He was still shaking; holding desperately onto the ground, digging his fingers tightly into the turf beneath him, as though he was afraid of falling...or being dragged away. Frank knelt beside him, watching him closely; unsure what he could do to help, other than let Joe catch his breath. Matt hovered behind Frank's shoulder, his eyes wide and startled in his thin face.
"Take it easy, bro," Frank murmured, patting Joe's shoulder gently. "You're safe now; it's okay."
Joe opened his eyes briefly, and managed a smile for his brother, but he didn't attempt to speak yet. It was obvious that he was exhausted from his ordeal.
Frank waited, outwardly patient, but inwardly frantic to know what had occurred. "Joe, who did this to you?" he asked, at last.
Joe coughed a few times, and finally sat up, clutching at Frank's shoulder for support. "Em-emily," he grated.
"EMILY!?"
"Yeah, but – Frank, I really don't want to talk about it right now, okay? I just want to go home…I'm really wiped. I promise, I'll tell you guys all about it when I'm feeling a little better….Just – let's just wait, for now." Joe looked up at the somber-faced Matt. "Matt, could you drive my car home? I don't feel up to it, right now."
"Sure, man – no problem."
"Joe, you sure you wouldn't like us to take you to the hospital?" Frank suggested gently.
"No, no, no hospital." The younger Hardy shook his head adamantly. "I'll be fine; I've got my breath back now, and I just need to get away from this place for awhile, okay?" Seeing Frank's worried face, Joe managed another shaky smile. "Okay, okay, I'll explain a little bit. Look, here's the gist of it: Our friendly neighborhood ghost locked me in the trunk, and I was pretty sure I was going to suffocate before you found me – and right now, I'd just like to forget about it for a little while…okay?"
"Well – if you're sure you don't want to see a doctor." Frank helped Joe to stand, and guided him towards the parking lot, with Matt on Joe's other side. He was still worried, but the fact that Joe was breathing normally now, and seemed steady on his feet, was encouraging. He eased his brother into the passenger seat of the Saturn, and waited while Joe fished out his keys for Matt. "See you back at the house, Matt."
"Right, dude. I promise not to wreck that little beast on the way home!" Matt flashed a tentative smile, and headed for the Aztek.
###
"Frank – let's not mention this to Mom, okay?" Joe had been quiet for most of the trip, but now he spoke, eyeing his older brother as they neared their home.
"I don't see how we can just totally ignore the fact that you were nearly suffocated, doofus," Frank scoffed. "I'm willing to downplay it, if you insist, but she's going to know something's up; to be quite candid, bro, you've looked better!"
"Yeah, well, maybe so, but I know one thing for certain; we are not going to tell her that a ghost shut me in a trunk!" Joe huffed. "For one thing, it's kinda embarrassing, and for another, I don't want to scare her with ghost stories…even if I thought she'd believe it!"
"You can't have it both ways," Frank argued. "Either you'd scare her with the tale that a murderous ghost locked you in a trunk, or she wouldn't believe you, and therefore wouldn't be scared."
"So we leave the ghost out of it, and downplay the rest," Joe said, with finality.
###
"You were WHAT?" Laura frowned at her younger son with frustrated concern. "Locked in a trunk underground? Joe, for heaven's sake…are you sure you're all right?"
"I'm good, Mom. Really." Joe hugged her. "Just kinda tired, that's all." He tried for a grin. "Don't you think Frank would have hauled me off to the hospital if he'd thought there was anything seriously wrong with me?"
She didn't look convinced. "He would unless you talked him out of it."
Frank cleared his throat. "I'm right here, you know…you don't need to talk about me like I'm somewhere else—"
Laura laughed a little, although concern still warred with humor in her eyes. "I really wish you – both of you – all three of you," she added, including Matt in her stern glance, "would be more careful when you go poking around in old cellars and places like that!"
"Mom, jeez, we're not babies, come on!" Joe flushed.
"I didn't say you were babies, I just said to be careful," Laura admonished. "Now, that being said, come and have dinner; it's all ready."
After dinner, Matt went down to the basement to gather up his photos from the night before, and announced that while he was down there, he intended to call Macey after she finished the night's performance in London. "So don't expect me back up here for awhile, you guys – I've got serious cell phone minutes to use up, here!"
Joe, admitting that he was still feeling pretty tired, trudged upstairs to his room. He had homework to do, though he wasn't sure what sort of job he could do on it; still, he was obliged to make the attempt. He settled himself on his bed, propped up against the headboard, and opened a textbook. He heard Frank talking on the phone in his own room – probably to Megan, Joe surmised – which reminded him that he needed to call Vanessa. But how do I tell her about what happened? I told her I'd keep her in the loop, but this is a loop I'm not sure I want her involved with!
Before he could bring himself to make the call, Frank appeared in the doorway.
"Think we better talk this over before it gets any later, bro," he suggested. "Tell me what happened, okay?"
Joe heaved an exasperated sigh and set down his book, realizing he couldn't put it off any longer. "Okay. Well, you and Matt left, and I opened the trunk. There were old-fashioned clothes in it, girls' clothes, and I took some of them out…." He paused. "Were they out when you found me?"
"No." Frank shook his dark head. "It was just like it was when we first found the room."
"Odd…okay, well, after I took out the clothes, Emily showed up. She said 'those are mine,' and I tried to assure her that I wasn't going to hurt them, and I'd put them back. But she was seriously pissed—"
"Because you took her clothes out of the trunk?"
"No…sheesh, give me a chance to tell you, huh? She was mad because she said I was 'protecting the deceiver' – namely, YOU, Frank! She said since I was protecting you, that I'd have to pay the same price you did."
"I'm gonna be shut in a trunk?"
Joe made a stifled sound of frustration, then chuckled a little, realizing that Frank was making these comments in an attempt to lessen the tension of the moment. "She may have other plans for you; she didn't get specific. Frank, if this…person…is a ghost, she's an insane ghost! She's definitely a few slices short of a loaf!"
"Nobody ever said a ghost had to be rational, I guess," Frank mused, smiling. "I'll say this, she's sure determined!" He sobered. "Joe, we almost lost you today! If Matt and I had been a little slower….How the heck do we stop a ghost, anyway?" he demanded. "What am I supposed to do, give myself to Emily and let her kill me, to keep her from hurting anyone associated with me, or something?"
Joe glared at him. "Now who's shy a few nuggets in his Happy Meal? There's no way I'm letting you sacrifice yourself, so you can just stop that nonsense right now! In fact, if you mention it again, I'm gonna smack you!"
Frank looked a little taken aback at that, and paused before he answered. Then, finally, he murmured, "Joe, we're talking about her and thinking about her like Emily's a real person."
"Yeah. I know." Joe sighed. "We are. Face it, Frank, she's real. She's real and she's got power. She's nearly killed both of us, you more than once!"
"Ghosts," Frank whispered. "There just can't be….But there is."
Joe nodded silently.
Footsteps on the stairs alerted them to Matt's presence, and a few seconds later, the young man poked his head around the doorjamb into Joe's room. "Guys? I'm beat – think I'll hit the sack."
"Did you get to talk to Macey?" Frank inquired, with a grin.
"Oh yeah—" Matt's beatific smile was swallowed up on a yawn. "Hey—" he added, "you'll tell me tomorrow what happened at the lighthouse, won't you?" He gave the brothers a shrewd look. "I know you were discussing it, dudes."
"Promise," Joe assured him. "We didn't mean to exclude you, Matt, really. I'll catch you up on everything tomorrow. Goodnight – See you in the morning."
#####
"Murderer…."
Frank opened his eyes and looked around, brown eyes gazing intently at the woman who stood before him. Emily…dressed in a gown of silvery white, with her pale hair done up on her head. She looked more queenly than she had at any other time he had seen her. Frank swallowed nervously as he watched her.
"I didn't," he averred, trying to get her attention, to make her hear what he was saying. "I wasn't even alive then. I don't know you. I found the coin."
"Liar!" The ethereal figure moved towards him, her hand outstretched. Frank felt something drop onto his head and slither downwards about his body, something silvery and soft, that he couldn't seem to shake away. He gulped again, feeling whatever it was begin to tighten about him, to grow and wrap about him, holding him motionless.
Emily smiled sweetly as she neared him; Frank felt a gentle caress fall on his cheek, and closed his eyes as cold lips touched his own.
"Why don't you remember me, Elliott?" she whispered. "It's Emily…your 'sweet Emily.' I haven't forgotten. I will never forget!"
The soft, silvery ribbons tightened even further about Frank, wrapping him cocoon-like in unyielding, inexorable bonds.
"You insisted you loved me, wanted me, would have me, whether I would or no," the soft voice chanted. He felt the cool hand move down his cheek to touch his lips. "You loved me to DEATH, dearest Elliott! And now, I'll love you, too…."
Frank opened his eyes, desperately trying to summon the words to argue with this implacable presence, to convince her of his innocence. But before he could make the attempt, she leaned forward, hovering in the air before him, and kissed him again – oh, those cold lips!
"I will love you to death, as well."
The cords constricted, cutting off all circulation in his body, all ability to breathe, all ability to think coherently. Frank let out a strangled cry as he struggled against the constraints which held him immobile – one final gasp before he fell back, and was enveloped by the darkness.