"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend." -Henri Bergson

Biff

I woke up to find an empty pillow next to me. I looked around my bedroom and noticed that Hope's gym bag was gone. She probably couldn't sleep. When I got downstairs and maneuvered around the chaos that was our kitchen, I found the note that Hope had left.

Biff,

Went to The Gym because I couldn't sleep. See you soon.

Love,

Hope

P.S. I decided on the Renaissance style crown molding rather than the traditional one. Love you.

I couldn't help but laugh at her note. I knew her well. Of course she would choose the more artistic molding style. I was glad that she would be at the gym to open up, before Eve got there, that way I could spend a little more time on the design work in the farmhouse. It was definitely an on going project. But thankfully my father was lending us his construction knowledge.

Hope and I had a lot on our plates right now and a lot on our minds. The wedding, the farmhouse, the gym, the Hardys, even Tony and his new girlfriend. Akacia seemed nice enough, but there was still something a little...off about her. The way she acted around Joe was really weird. She acted like she was afraid to even go near him.

Lately Hope had been really worried about him, I was too. Joe appeared to be holding up, but I knew that he was still traumatized by what he had gone through the past year and a half. Of course we never ever mentioned any of that, or tried to confront him about our worries. Joe's temper was almost as bad as Hope's and I didn't want to feel the wrath of his anger, I'd already gotten a taste of it a few months before.

Just then my cell phone rang, and to my unfortunate surprise it was the police.

...

Phil

After Hope left the gym I decided to take a run, at least on the treadmill that is. You see running really helps me to think, not educationally wise per say, but emotionally. I knew that we were all worried about Joe. He had been through a lot, and now with Vanessa and their new baby boy the pressure was getting higher to protect and support them. But of course my good judgement told me never to talk to him about it, or I would have to face his infamous irritability.

After a nice long run, I decided it was about time to open up. I knew that Eve, the receptionist would be in soon. So I pulled out my set of keys and opened the front doors, then I noticed something really strange. Hope's truck was still out front in the parking lot, and her gym bag was laying on the pavement next to it. My first instinct was to call Biff, but I decided it was best to call the police first.

"Hello?" came a voice on the other line, I recognized it immediately as Officer Con Riley. He was a good friend of the Hardys and often helped them out on their cases. Over the years I had grown to know him better and knew that he always managed to find a way to help the Hardys, even if it wasn't exactly legal sometimes.

"Officer Riley? It's Phil, Phil Cohen, I think you need to get down to The Gym...right away."

...

The police arrived only a few minutes after I had spoken to Con. I tried my best to explain that Hope had left the building well over an hour ago. However they were not completely convinced that she was missing yet.

"Maybe she had to make a phone call, or she forgot about an appointment, or she saw a friend," one of the police officers suggested. I just frowned.

"Now I very much doubt that she would leave her car and gym bag in the middle of the parking lot officer," I said pointedly. Eventually they all agreed with my logic and decided that Hope Peters had been abducted and was now officially missing.

A short woman with dark, curly, brown hair approached me. I had only met her once or twice, but I knew she was really good friends with Hope. From the few times we had talked I knew that Eve Becket was a fairly friendly young lady, who had moved to Bayport only a little under a year ago. Apparently she had known Hope from New York, where Hope was originally from. Now she worked at The Gym as the receptionist.

"Phil? What happened?" she asked, her eyes wide, as she walked up to me.

"Uh, well we don't really know," I replied wrapping an arm around her shoulder, "Don't worry the Hardys and Biff'll find her."

"Find her? I thought you said you didn't know what happened," she said looking puzzled and worried.

"Well, I-I think Hope was kidnapped Eve."

She just stared at me in disbelief. After comforting her further I told her it was probably best to go home, The Gym wasn't going to be open today. She took my advice and walked off slowly back to her car, still in shock. All I could think of was how was I going to explain this to Biff?

However my question was quickly answered when I saw Biff's green truck speed into the parking lot and come to a screeching halt. He jumped out and ran full speed towards me. Now Biff is a really good friend, but still he was huge, and to an admittedly small guy like me, he was crazy intimidating. Biff was usually fairly level headed and calm in stressful situations, but when it came to Hope he almost always took on the temper and stubbornness of a bull.

"Phil what happened!?" he bellowed at me. But before I could answer Officer Riley stepped between us. Whew. Good timing Con.

"Biff, don't get too worked up, but we have every reason to believe that Hope has been kidnapped," Con explained cooly. Biff just stood there mouth open, face in shock. I didn't really know how he was going to take this. You see again when it comes to Hope, Biff is totally unpredictable. But to my relief he stayed even tempered.

"Okay," he said quietly lowering his head in deep thought, "So what do we do now?"

Officer Riley looked back at me with a worried look on his face. I knew what he was thinking. What do we do now? All I could think of was to call the two people I knew best who could catch the culprit. Frank and Joe Hardy.

A/N: Ah! Short chapter! Sorry, the next one will be longer I promise! Thank you kindly for your reviews! I appreciate the few I get each chapter immensely! By the way, check out my poll...