~*~*~*CHAPTER ONE*~*~*~

Running Into a Mystery!

It was a dark and foggy night – as usual – as the Mystery Machine strolled down the gravelly streets of Estonia. Inside, Daphne and Velma chattered excitedly over the events that transpired in the day, while Shaggy and Scooby lounged in the back. All around them, on the floor, was piles and piles of sausages, of which the two ate through at an alarming rate.

"Boy, oh boy, I've never had sausages like these before!" Shaggy exclaimed between bites. "They don't quite make wieners like these in the US, right Scoob?"

With Shaggy distracted by eating, Scooby took the opportunity to eye a sausage idly dangling from Shaggy's right hand.

"Rat's right!" Scooby replied, before devouring the sausage with a snicker. Shaggy turned his head to take a bit of the wiener, but wound up grinding his teeth, as there was nothing to bite into. The rest of the gang heartily laughed in response as he gave Scooby a dour look, though Scooby didn't seem to pay him any mind.

The laughter was cut short, however, as a brown-haired woman ran in front of the van. Even with a gray hoodie masking some of her face, it didn't hide the bewildered expression in her eyes. Luckily though, Fred hit the brakes just in time to come to a screeching halt and spared the woman. The gang gave a collective sigh of relief before filing out of the van.

"Are you all right?" Daphne asked. "You could have gotten yourself hurt, running out like that!"

"No! No, I'm not all right!" the woman shouted hysterically. She clenched her hands at both sides of her face, before continuing. "Those people are CRAZY!"

"Whoa, whoa, what's going on?" Fred questioned as he grasped the woman's shoulders, to try to calm her down.

Gritting her teeth, the woman pivoted herself, before raising a shaking arm to point in the opposite direction. "M-my friends and I were traveling to a party when our car broke down. Nobody had a working cellphone, so instead we walked over to the nearest house – the one over there!"

"Jinkies!" Velma exclaimed. "What happened after you got there?"

"It's insane – THEY'RE insane!" the woman replied between panicked breaths. "They seemed like nice people, at first, and greeted us warmly. But once we got inside, they...they—"

"Rey what?" Scooby quipped.

"S-some monster just ran right into the middle of the dining room and took my friend, Rolf!"

"M-m-monster?" Shaggy choked out. He then promptly jumped into a Scooby's arms. However, Scooby was so frightened himself, that he dumped Shaggy onto the ground and jumped onto Fred!

"That's not all!" the woman interjected.

"Rit risn't?" Scooby whined.

"I thought that maybe it was some sort of weird little prank, but I got worried when I heard a scream at the back of the house! So I asked the woman of the house what was going on, but she said it was nothing to be concerned about," the woman explained. With a frown, she continued. "I didn't believe her, so I got up to investigate it myself. However, when I did that, the woman grabbed my arm and said...said that she would make me into a fine roast like she did with Rolf!"

"Yoinks!" Shaggy shouted, before passing out.

"What did you do after that?" Daphne asked.

"The rest of my friends and I decided our best chance to get out of there was to split up! Someone was chasing me, but I soon found a window and barely managed to escape!"

"It's okay now," Fred said, seemingly not minding that there was still a shivering Great Dane in his arms. "We'll get you out of here."

"No!" the woman protested, shaking her head wildly. "I need to go back and make sure my friends made it out okay!"

"She's right, Fred. It'd be wrong to leave someone behind when we could help." Daphne added.

"Y-you're not suggesting that we go back there, are you?" Shaggy (who had since woken up again) asked nervously. However, everyone seemingly ignored him, as they continued talking.

"We ARE renowned for solving this kind of thing." Velma said. "By the way, we never got your name, Miss...?"

"Helstein. Sandra Helstein." the woman responded. "Thank you guys so much for this!"

"Well, Sandra, it seems that we've got a mystery on our hands! Let's go, gang!" Fred said cheerily.

Everyone started to file into the van again, although both Shaggy and Scooby had to be carried in, as they had both passed out again.

A little while later, the gang (along with Sandra) stood at an eerie door of a shady-looking house. With as many people as they had with them, Fred felt no fear at all as he raised an arm to knock at the door. After a short pause, a middle-aged woman with rosy cheeks answered the door.

"Good heavens!" she cried. "It's so late! Whatever are you doing here at THIS hour?"

"We're here because this woman over there said that she was over here earlier and was looking for some friends she left behind." Daphne answered.

The woman scrunched her brows over at Sandra, seeming genuinely confused over the whole matter. "What are you talking about? I've never seen any of you in my life!"

"That's a lie!" Sandra exclaimed!

"No, no, I assure you that's the truth." the woman said with a shake of her head. "But why don't you all come in? I was just setting up for dinner."

No sooner than she said those words, Shaggy and Scooby both passed out once again.