AN: Sorry for people who are requesting for Nancy Drew, but I have no clue about her background or anythign about those series so yeah, no point in me writing Nancy Drew, so sorry. And sorry for the wait in update. I tried reading it over to fix the mistakes. If I missed something, sorry in advance. Enjoy:)
"Air!" Frank said relived as his head popped out of the hole that he had dug.
A wide smile was plastered on his face as he looked around his surroundings. He could just make out the pine trees that engulfed their cabin just yesterday, and today he could just see about half the tree from the middle to the top.
A curious look and then a smirk crossed his face. When his dad gets here, boy will he be lost.
Frank carefully used his numb hands to widen the hole a bit and then he rubbed the snow so it would turn into a hard piece of ice. There was no way he wanted to dig that massive hole again. Him and Joe had to dig the hole somewhat slanted so they would be able to climb. It had gotten a little easier once they got something solid to stand on as soon as they reached the roof of the cabin.
After he made sure that their makeshift tunnel wasn't going to collapse on him, he traveled down their long tunnel to get back into the cabin to announce to his brother of their success.
Moving his shoulders around in a slow rotation, Frank stretched his muscles out, feeling the strain of the day and half that they have been stuck in the cabin. Now that he could see their rainbow to freedom, he could let some of his guards down, but they were still a long way to home.
Home. The word brought him such a great longing. He missed his dad, even though his dad was rarely at home, but he was always there whenever Joe and him needed him the most… or at least he tried his hardest when it was just not possible for him to be there. He missed his Aunt Gertrude, even though she could be a nitpicker at times, but she did it because she loved them so much. He missed his friends, and his beautiful blond-haired girlfriend, Callie Shaw, but the person he missed the most was his mom. He missed his mom so much. Although Joe was almost attached to the hip with Mom, he was just as attached. It was just because he was the oldest, so it made more sense that Joe was more attached to Mom while he was with Dad while they were younger.
The word still brought such a longing.
Frank carefully stepped out of the tunnel and entered the cabin, immediately spotting his younger brother curled up in a ball on the couch.
He had the exact same thought in mind. Digging that tunnel had taken a lot out of them, but he didn't want to stay in the cabin any longer. He had no clue how stable their makeshift escape hole was, but he didn't want to find out once it has collapse with them inside it.
Quickly moving to his brother's side, Frank shook Joe's shoulder. His movement caused the couch to squeak.
Joe gave out a small moan of complaint, but didn't wake up.
Frank rolled his eyes. Joe never seemed to wake up when he wants him to.
"Come on Joe… GET UP!" Frank yelled out loud.
He snickered as Joe jumped out of his position and fell onto the floor.
When Joe looked around, still in his sleepy daze, his face turned to a glare when he realized that Frank was laughing at him.
"Ha…ha…ha… very funny…" Joe said sarcastically as he pushed himself back up to sit on the coach.
Giving out a long yawn, Joe rubbed his eyes tiredly, putting his head in his palms.
"Is it my turn to dig yet? Barely seemed like I slept at all." Joe said, looking at Frank suspiciously like he was being duped.
"Well if you call 'FREEDOM' a dupe, than you might as well not know me as Frank Hardy because your big brother doesn't tell a lie when it comes to something like this." Frank said as he saw the slow recognition of shock and then the wide Joe Hardy smile was plastered on his brother's face.
"Are you SERIOUS! We're out!" Joe almost shrieked as he jumped up in excitement. "Come on let's go, LET'S GO!" He said as he grabbed onto Frank's wrist to drag him towards their tunnel.
Frank chuckled, pulling Joe back.
"What are you waiting for, for us to be snowed in again?" Joe said with a hint of fear.
Joe tried to hide the fact that he was a little claustrophobic. Always one to run around and act crazy, being shut off inside four walls was a little too much for him to handle for this long of a period of time.
"No… We just need to get some supplies incase we don't reach the car, and if we do reach the car today, I think you would think it necessary to have the keys to the car." Frank said with a matter of fact tone. "Besides, we have a lot of time to get out. I doubt it is going to collapse on us now."
"Okay..." Joe said skeptically.
All he wanted to do was get out there, and fast.
Frank noticed the way Joe was acting, and he automatically knew why. It could have been brotherly instinct, but then again Joe wasn't the kind of person who hid his emotions well.
"It's okay Joey." Frank said, reverting back to Joe's baby name before Joe decided that he got to old have such a babyish name. "We're going to get out of here out. Just help me get some warm clothes into…."
Frank turned around, spotting what he was looking for.
"…In this backpack, and I'll get us some food and water." Frank said as Joe quickly headed towards their luggage.
Frank bent down with a sigh. If only he could take away the worry, but he couldn't. That was the hardest part about loving somebody.
He picked up a box of protein bars and opened the box, pouring the bars into his backpack. Pulling out a few more other easy to eat food items and eight bottles of water, he zipped the bag up, putting the straps on his shoulders.
Before he got up, he grabbed a few Quaker chocolate chip chewy bars and 2 bottles of water.
"Here, eat and drink this so we don't' have to carry more up." Frank said, handing Joe the Quaker bar first.
Joe was in the middle of zipping up his winter coat, but he took the Quaker bar anyways.
"I'm not very hungry, but I guess I understand your point." Joe said, opening the wrapper on his bar.
He used to like these things, but right now, everything sort of tastes like sawdust. His head was pounding but it wasn't like he was going to tell Frank. Frank would start worrying, and they'll never get out if Frank was going to mother him about something that could be handled once they went home to some aspirin.
The two ate in silence until Joe broke the silence.
"You think that Mom and Dad know that there was an avalanche?" Joe asked out of curiosity.
"I don't know, maybe. You know Dad. He always researches stuff before he goes anywhere."
"Well what if we start leaving and Dad starts coming, and he finds the cabin is gone?"
"Well then we'll just have to call him once we get in range or once we reach a phone."
"Well what if it's too late?"
"Then we have to pass him to get out if he's coming in."
"What if he chooses another route or doesn't follow the route at all. You know, there are terrain cars and stuff."
Frank felt like there was a pulsing vein coming out of his forehead.
"Well…" Frank said with his teeth grinding together to hold his anger back. "Then we'll just wait for him to come home."
"Well what if…"
"Stop with the WHAT Ifs!" Frank shouted in irritation.
It was just too early… or late? And he was too tired to have to put up with his younger brother.
"Just asking." Joe said with a smirk.
He didn't know why but it was kind of fun to rile up his uptight brother. He wasn't stupid, Dad was probably not coming for a while and he probably didn't even hear about the avalanche. They would be long gone at home by that time.
Frank pounced on his brother when he realized he was being suckered.
"Why you little brat!" Frank said with Joe in a headlock.
"Let go of me!" Joe yelled with a laugh. "UNCLE! UNCLE! UNCLE!"
"There's no uncle here to save you." Frank said with a smirk on his face.
He gave Joe a noogie on the head, but stopped when Joe protested in pain.
"Shoot, I am so sorry. Are you okay?" Frank said in concern.
He wasn't sure what to do, and was afraid to touch Joe.
"It's okay." Joe said, lightly rubbing his head while his face scrunched up. "You just sorta touched the bruise on my head."
"Do you need some aspirin?" Frank asked, automatically unzipping his backpack to grab his first aid kit.
"Yeah, probably. Man, my head felt like someone was screaming non-stop in it since I don't know…" Joe said but stopped as he realized what he had just said. "I mean… since you touched my bruise!"
Frank had one eye-brow raised, and then his face turned into anger that concealed his concern.
"You mean your head has been hurting and you still egged me to let me let you dig the tunnel?" Frank said with disbelief, but then again that was something his brother would do.
Joe gave a small smile with a shrug.
Frank rolled his eyes, giving Joe two pills which Joe quickly swallowed. Thinking it was better to get out of the cabin before he should yell at his younger brother's foolishness, he held his anger in to Joe's amazement.
"Are you out now? We should better get going before our tunnel collapses or something." Frank said which sparked a hint of fear in Joe.
"Yeah, let's go." Joe said as he put his backpack on that held some extra clothes and blankets.
"You go first okay."
"Why? So whatever is out there can eat me up first?" Joe said for laughs.
"Absolutely, your big brother is so set on saving his own butt to risk his younger brother's life like that." Frank laughed.
Truthfully, Frank knew that Joe was scared of being in the cabin any longer and knew it probably made Joe feel better to get out as soon as possible.
"Well why me?" Joe asked as he starred to climb.
The bantering was helping to ease his fear of being in closed, unstable areas such as the tunnel. He wanted to get out of there fast and his legs were working at their fastest without accidentally causing a cave in.
"Well brother of mine, you see, you are smaller than I and if I was to fall accidentally, then I would feel better to know you aren't under me." Frank said as he grunted to pull himself up a steep part of the tunnel.
"Well…grunt… I guess that makes sense because I don't think I wanna be smelling your behind." Joe said as Frank grabbed a handful of loose snow and threw it at Joe.
"Hey!" Joe complained as he stepped onto a turn that led them to the top of the roof. "Frank! I see light! We're almost out!" He said excitedly.
Joe heard Frank snigger at him but he didn't care. He was almost out, and he could hardly wait to breathe in the fresh, cold, mountain air.
He sped up his climbing speed and was leaving Frank way back behind him.
"Hey! Wait up kiddo." Frank said out of breath.
He was still dead tired from digging and climbing before having to climb again.
Joe didn't even hear what Frank said or if he did, he didn't acknowledge it because just 5 feet away from him was full of no limitations or restrictions.
When Joe put his hand onto the solid ground above his head, he couldn't help yelling out, "Freedom!"
Without warning, Joe felt pressure being put on his hand.
"Are you so sure about that?" An unknown voice said above him.
Unexpectedly, Joe was dragged up out of the hole by his collar, and before he could do anything about it, Joe heard a small explosion as the tunnel collapsed on itself.
Joe gasped in shock as his face paled at the sight in front of him. He didn't even acknowledge the fact that the person responsible for their plight was right beside him. The only thing he could see was the hole being filled up with his brother in it.
As the shock settled in, Joe desperately clawed at the ground beneath him.
"NO! FRANK!"
AN: Thanks a lot for reading my story, and some honest opinions would be much abliged :) (hehehe, I heard that world in some book. Always wanted to use it). Well hoping for some reviews because...:
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