Chapter 13

"Mom!" Joe shouted, not standing up yet in case there were more to come. Right after that, another bowling ball zoomed inside the broken window into their kitchen. "Van, are you all right?!"

"Mm-hmm," Vanessa mumbled, still shocked. "Your mom…"

"I know, I know. Stay here, Van, I'll check on Mom. She might have been hit but don't stand up yet, in case the attacker is still outside," Joe said, kneeling beside Vanessa.

"Attacker? But Joe, it's probably just mistakenly thrown by some kid or something. Instead of the usual baseball, it's probably just some kid," Vanessa said, confused.

"I've thought of that too, but it's better to be safe than sorry," Joe responded. Still kneeling, he took Vanessa's hand and led her to the corner. "Stay here," he said then partially stood up. He could see his mother's figure hiding behind the kitchen counter. "Mom?"

"Joe?" Laura stuck her head out slowly. "Vanessa?"

"She's fine," Joe said, advancing to his mom. "Are you okay? Were you hit?"

"No, honey. I screamed because I… I was surprised and… shocked! Where did those balls come from?" Laura stood up and checked the floor. The first bowling ball had rolled into the corner, amidst the shattered pieces of glass. The other one was only a few feet away from the other.

"I'm just going to check if someone purposely threw those on us, or just some kid mistakenly did, which I doubt," Joe said, peering into the broken window. "Van, you can stand up now."

Vanessa stood up cautiously, checking if she had any cut or bruise. She looked at Joe then at Laura, "Oh! Mrs. Hardy, you have a cut!" She rushed over to Laura who had a cut, bleeding, near her ankle.

"I must have gotten it when the glass shattered," Laura said, limping to the bathroom.

"I'll help you," Vanessa said, accompanying Laura.

Joe, meanwhile, continued on having his lookout by the window. It couldn't have been some kids. It's pretty dark already. Plus, no kid could throw a bowling ball that strong. And twice? No way.

Joe got a flashlight and headed outside. He looked around the house, but saw nothing. He continued on looking and finally found something near the broken window. He headed back inside to get a pair of thick gloves to get the paper he found among the broken glasses by the window. He put on his gloves and carefully separated the glasses from the plastic-covered paper. After getting it, he went inside.

Laura and Vanessa were already sitting on the couch. Vanessa was placing a bandage over Laura's cut.

"Other than that, were you hurt, Mom?" Joe asked, concerned.

"No, Joe. Don't worry," Laura gave here son a small smile and then noticed the paper he was holding. "What's that?"

"Found it by the window," Joe replied. Still wearing the gloves, Joe opened the folded paper and saw that the small paper has a red leaf design at the lower-right part. "Recognize this, Van?"

"That's… that's the same paper found by your locker!" Vanessa said, surprised. She finished bandaging Laura's cut and rushed to Joe's side. "Don't tell me…?"

"Yes. It does have something written on it also," Joe said, exhaling heavily, looking down on the note. "Put, Out, Turn, Human."

There was silence then…

"Like the other one, the words are computer-typed, same typeface and size," Joe said, sitting on the couch.

"So Frank's wrong… That this could probably be nothing," Vanessa said, crossing her arms, a worried looking on her face.

"I guess so. Could this be part of the prank we're talking about?" Joe asked Vanessa.

"Excuse me, but maybe you can fill me in?" Laura asked, looking from Vanessa to her son.

"When my locker blew up before, Frank found a note, just like this, inside. Covered with plastic and same paper. It also contained some words inside, with the same typeface as this, if I'm not mistaken," Joe told Laura.

"And at first, we all thought it was a group prank by some students but Frank said that it could be just nothing," Vanessa continued. "We thought that he could be right. Maybe someone just wanted to fool us for nothing."

"But I'm doubting that now," Joe said, placing the note back, inside the plastic. "I'll just go keep this in my room. I'll tell Frank about it when he comes back from his date with Cal." He stood up and went up the stairs.

"Want me to call the glass window repair shop, Mrs. Hardy?" Vanessa asked.

"Oh, that's nice of you, Van," the petite mother said. "But wait, I think that's Fenton now."

They heard the sound of a car nearing. Laura pushed aside the curtains of their living room window and peeked outside. "It is Fenton."

The front door opened and Fenton Hardy, an older version of Frank, as many have said, entered the house just as Joe was going down the stairs.

"Hello, everyone," Fenton, who was wearing his business suit and carrying a small attache case, said.

"Hi there," Laura said, getting up and hugging Fenton.

"What happened?" Fenton asked, seeing Laura's bandage. He placed his arm around his wife's waist, led her back to the couch and sat down.

"Tell him, Joe," Laura said, resting her head on Fenton's shoulder.

Joe filled Fenton in, starting from the note found in his locker to the bowling ball.

"And you found nothing else outside?" Fenton asked, a frown forming.

"Nothing else," Joe replied.

Just then, the phone rang. Vanessa, who was nearest to it, looked at Laura, who nodded, and then she answered the phone.

"Hardy residence," Vanessa said.

Joe, who was deep in thought, was suddenly alerted when he saw Vanessa's face turn pale. He went closer to her and heard her talk back to the caller.

"Slow down… yes… they're here." There was a long pause and then, "Okay, okay. We'll come there right away. Yes, Cal. We'll be there. I know you'll find this hard to do but just stay calm while waiting… Okay," Vanessa hung up the phone and said with a shaking voice, "Frank was hit."