Chapter 18

The Hardy family helped the Doctor and some of the nurses search the hospital for Joe but after 2 hours of searching he was nowhere to be found. Fenton and Laura didn't want to give up but decided that Frank should go home. He protested wildly but Laura calming him down told him that if Joe went home then somebody should be there. Frank saw the logic in his Mother's wisdom and agreed.

The Hardy home seemed so empty and lonely when Frank unlocked and opened the kitchen door. The dinner dishes were still on the table holding the remnants of their meal and Frank shuddered when he came to the spot where he saw Joe struggle free from his fathers grasp and fall. There was a bit of blood on the tile still. Joe's blood.

Frank might have been a smart, and logical thinking 13-year-old but he was also scared, and young emotions overpower logic and brains every time. Tiptoeing over the slightly bloodied tile he raced up the stair and dashed into Joe's room. He flung himself onto Joe's bed and buried his face into his younger brother's pillow.

All Frank wanted was to know that his brother didn't hate him. He wanted his younger brother back safe and sound. Please Joe! Come home. At that moment closer than Frank ever could have imagined Joe was slipping through the streets wearing too big, borrowed clothes he had found in the hospital. The weather had turned a bit chillier as the storm was still hanging over Bayport and Joe shivered as the wind started to pick up.

Storm made it dark outside and it was rapidly getting darker as it was starting to turn from evening into night. The feeling of danger was still going strong and made Joe hide in a bush or behind a tree every time a car drove by. He peeked out from behind the bush as the car went down the street and turned left. Letting loose a sigh of relief that his hurt 12 -year-old brain didn't fully comprehend he went back onto the sidewalk only to be picked up by a car's headlights a moment later.

Joe continued to walk not daring to look behind him. He continued to walk unable to duck behind a tree since he knew that he had already been seen and to do so now would have been suspicious. When the car didn't pass him, he chanced a look behind him. The headlights blinded him for a second before he was able to decipher who was in the car. Terror struck Joe as he discerned that it was the smoking man who had been at the hospital earlier.

The smoking man stopped the car, leaving it running got out of the car and called to Joe

"I'm not going to hurt you." The man sounded sincere enough, but Joe didn't want to find out. Not waiting to hear more Joe turned and ran off down the sidewalk before veering off the sidewalk, disappearing into the darkness and a forest that spread across 3 miles of Bayport.

The man ran after Joe but the darkness swallowed Joe up, so he walked back to his car and drove to down the road searching for the boy he desperately wanted to find. When he finally admitted defeat, he knew that there was only one thing left to do. He had a change of heart when he was at the hospital and saw Joe with the most awful expression of fear on his face that the man knew no child should ever have.

Cursing lightly as he knew what he was about to do surely signed his death warrant he got into the car and drove away. He pulled up to the Bayport Police Department 10 minutes later and sighing he got out and walked through the front door. He walked up to an officer's desk and noted that it read Bennington. The younger man who must have been in his late 20's looked up from his computer and smiling asked

"Can I help you sir?" The man was suddenly overcome with a desire to live and if he told them everything he was going to be killed by his boss. So, shaking his head his eyes full of shame at his weakness he turned and muttered

"No, no sorry to bother you." Cole Bennington frowned after the retreating man and turned back to his computer.

TBC

A/N Ahhhh! I am so sorry for this mega late chapter! I was just sitting at my computer last Thursday doing my homework when my Mom came into my room and asked me if I wanted to go with my big sister to my aunt's lake house and spend a couple of days up there with my sister, my cousin, and my aunt. I was like heck yeah! So, that's where I was until Sunday.

We had so much fun! Oh, and THANK YOU ALL for your concern about us being sick. We are all better now!

EXACTLY: that sounds like a cool story line! My b-day is August 20th. When's yours? I absolutely think that Aunt Gertrude would tear the kidnappers heads off! They would get scolded so badly by her that they would at once amend their ways and let them all go. LOL

Alright I got to go for now everyone. BY YOU AMAZING, STUPENDOUS, MARVELOUS, WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHOM I LOVE ALL OF! 😊 😊😊😊😊