Mystery Incorporated, the Untold Memories
Velma No. One: Ghosts
She shivered in her hospital bed. She was never one to be too scared of anything, but this was something new. This wasn't something she could unmask into something that she understood, this was a whole new thing entirely. Her whole life she devoted to knowledge and he pursuit of science as well as her friends, family, and mysteries. Everyday she would learn more and most might say she probably had the ins and outs of her condition memorized, but they never had to go through it. They never had the internal fear spread throughout their entire being. In this matter, her knowledge was useless. Memories were floating through her, begging her to recall them to the surface of her mind.
Xx
She was four and she was moved to Ms. Wilkins class. She was incredibly shy being a preschooler cast into the first grade. She quietly took her seat next to a red-headed boy and opened her math book up to the page Ms. Wilkins had instructed. She tucked an awry curl behind her ear and as she did so caught in her peripheral vision a young boy sitting one row over from her own. He was peculiar looking, much different he seemed than the other six year old boys in her new class.
This boy had shaggy blond hair with the faintest traces of a darker color running through them. Some of the hair hung over his eyes but she was almost certain they were brown. He appeared to be looking out of the window, so she was positive he couldn't see her even though she was directly in his line of vision. He wore a baggy green t-shirt that seemed slightly too big for him and his brown jeans were a bit too long and she could see that they were wearing out underneath his heels. Maybe he had an older brother? Her face grew a slight shade of red when she heard the teacher ask her a question about what number they were on in the book. Thankfully she had the skill to both observe and listen and quickly told Ms. Wilkins that they were on question nine in the book.
The shaggy haired boy was blushing and he read the question for their teacher. The teacher had called him Norville, an odd name she thought, but then again, her own name was not exactly common. A bell rang and she noticed the children going for lunch pales or money so she assumed that the bell had announced lunch time. She slid down from her seat, not quite tall enough for it yet, and grabbed her lunch pale from the shelf above her coat rack. She was slightly embarrassed at having to stand on a chair to get it, but she was even more embarrassed when she found herself standing next to Norville in the two separate lines.
She didn't look at him as they made their way on down the halls to the cafeteria, she was far too worried that he would see her slight blush that still remained on her pale cheeks. When they arrived, she was relieved when he went into the lunch line and she directly into the cafeteria. She saw a red-headed girl wave at her and a blond-boy sat next to her. The red-head waved her over and she sat down with them at their lunch table.
"Hey, I'm Daphne," the red-head said to her, "And this is my friend Freddie. We have another friend named Shaggy, but he's getting lunch right now. Are you new to Coolsville? I don't remember seeing you around and I see lots of people 'cause my daddy takes me with him when he goes around town sometimes and he's a big business guy."
"I'm Velma, I just moved from the upper part of Coolsville is all. My parents work towards the center of the town so they wanted to be much closer. Also they say there are better schools here in the center." Velma explained.
"Hey, there's Shaggy!" Fred said, waving Shaggy over. Velma looked and gulped silently as she saw the very same boy from her class. He looked nervous for a second, but came over anyways and sat down next to her. Daphne introduced her and she found the boy looking at her quietly. They invited her to go to the playground with them and she was delighted to find that they enjoyed mysteries too. She worried for a moment that the shaggy haired boy, oddly enough called Shaggy, didn't like her much at all, but when she looked over at him, he smiled and for once, even though she was only a child, she felt like she had known him forever and always would enjoy his company in a certain way that only the best of friends could.
Xx
She was fourteen years old and they were out on the road again for the summer, all five of them. She enjoyed her friends and the time they had together, especially when they solved mysteries together. It was just something they'd always done and every case made their friendship seem better and stronger. She looked around at them, Fred was driving as always and smiling as Shaggy and Scooby told jokes and wrestled in the very back of the van. Daphne was laughing and painting her nails with precision she'd trained herself to be able to reach even though they were on rocky roads.
Shaggy looked over her shoulder from the back of her seat, taking a break from the rough-housing with Scooby. He smiled and told her how much he liked the drawing she had done of the five of them in front of the tree house they had first built when they were eight. She thanked him and smiled to herself. The van stopped and Fred had announced they were at their destination and she smiled to herself and put her sketchbook in her bag. Even though they couldn't tell now, she had a feeling that great things were going to happen this summer. She was with her friends and she had never been happier since the day they first invited her to play Mystery.
"Velma, you coming?" Fred called out from a few yards away.
"Yea!" She called out, stepping into the next three months of the most blissful time of her life.
Xx
She was twenty and this was the present. The memories warmed her, but only slightly. She was terrified and her friends were a distant memory of times that had long since passed her. They hadn't heard from her two years and probably had no idea where she was or that she was even hospitalized for the past six months. She grimaced as she turned over in the bed to look at the monitor. Her heartbeat was going steadily, but to her it felt like all it was doing was dropping lower and lower into oblivion. She heard the door open slightly and assumed the nurse had come to do her daily examination. Oblivion seemed perfect at the moment. A hand touched her shoulder as she gazed out the window. It was firm but familiar.
She turned herself over, the excruciating pain flowing through her entire body made her flesh quiver and she gasped slightly. Her vision blurred for a moment from the movement, but when she opened her eyes fully, she saw it was not the nurse, but three individuals that seemed like ghosts to her in her new life. Ghosts she had moved all the way into the depths of Italy to avoid.
"Hey," the red-headed woman said in a quiet tone, "I'm Daphne." She smiled as she played on the first time that they had met. A moment passed before she spoke again. "Vel, we're sorry." Her eyes watered like she might cry and then a tear made its way down her cheeks. Fred stood next to her, guilt that had been suppressed, Velma suspected, for two years arose to his face.
"Like, we never meant for you leave. I never meant for you to leave." Shaggy told her, sitting down on the bed beside her. She shook her head slightly, as if not believing them. Two years ago, she had left and she was perfectly positive it was what they had wanted her to do. The things they all said, all that happened after what they had done, leaving felt like the solution to everything. She was the root of the problem at least that's what she had made herself believe.
"Velma, you have no idea just how wracked with guilt and worry that we've been ever since you left." Fred said. "We had no idea where to even look, everywhere we went we thought we saw you on the street or in the shops, but every time it was someone else and every time we felt like we'd let you down all over again. We are so sorry."
She felt her tears coming, but she didn't register them. She was too busy focusing on her long-forgotten world that had finally resurfaced to her. "You made me feel, like I was the only person who could be so happy and lucky for a long time, but then things changed. We all changed. You turned my world around then, made me feel responsible -"
"Vel-" Daphne started, but Velma raised a shaky hand.
"No, I've waited two years. You made me feel like I had ruined the group. You turned me away and so I came here hoping to salvage the friendship the three of you still had with each other. I wanted you to stay friends, even if I wasn't a part of the picture. Now you've come back and you want me to be your friend again?" The tears were flowing down her cheeks and she couldn't tell what she was feeling inside. They all looked down except for Shaggy. He instead, wiped the tears away from her face and gave her one kind smile before lifting her chin with his finger and giving her a small kiss on the forehead.
"You weren't so bad you know." Was all he said before kissing her again, only this time on the lips. Velma her world spin and the tears seemed to dissipate from her mind as she her thoughts swirled to focus on what was currently happening. He pulled away and gently whispered, "I love you," before standing and leaving, Fred and Daphne still standing looking very guilty and very much afraid.
"So do you forgive us?" Daphne asked. "We really want you to come back home, we weren't just saying that. We need you." Velma smiled and nodded. For the first time in a long time, she felt her feelings stir. She felt like she was going to be alright.
AN: Total garbage, I know, but please review anyways?