Chapter Six

"Freddy it's getting late. I think you know that we have to call Ronnie and let him know."

"Let him know what Vel? I mean we hardly know ourselves."

Fred lets out a breath of exasperation, and runs his fingers through his hair down to the scalp.

"Vel, this -" he stops, unsure of where he was going with the conversation.

He knew that they would have to tell Ronnie, which was disappointing, how could a father forget his child? The whole situation made his skin crawl, his teeth and head ache just at the thought of it. In the end though, he knew Velma is right.

"Fine, I guess we'll call Ronnie."

Fred listen in the background as Velma tried to explain everything to Ronnie. After about two minutes, she hung up and exhaled.

"I feel like he doesn't believe me. She puts her phone down and says, "He said though that he's going to call around, make sure we're right."

Scooby walks towards the door and runs his paw over it.

"Uhh, I'm gonna let the dog out."

Fred leashes the dog and leads him out. He didn't want to discuss the matter any further, why should he? If Ronnie said he would figure it out, then he would. Velma had called after him, but her words of warning fell on deaf ears. Fred surged forward, Scooby in front sniffing flowers in seek for the right spot.

Night is falling, but Fred and his Dane kept moving forward unaware of a striking, bold presence lurking behind them in the oncoming shadows.

Norville braces himself in a tree, hopping from the next one to the next to keep up with Freddy and his dog. He had noticed that the boy and his friends haven't been visiting for some time and he felt disappointed, tired of waiting for their arrival. He had grown accustomed to them being there, and had learned from the things they've forgotten there over night. When moving towards the nearest tree, Norville misjudges his next step. His hand reaches for a nonexistent branch, grasping leaves and a handful of air. His legs try to stabilize him, but his footing is misplaced, his back reels, his hands cast behind him.

Scooby stops, detecting something gone wrong and barks. Fred tries to hold him, his hands bone white, as he grips hold of his pet's leash. Norville falls from his nest, landing flat on his back with a thud. Scooby suddenly becomes uncontrollable, barking and fighting, straining his master. Freddy's heart speeds up when he realizes Scooby's intention, his strong motive to run. He let's go of the dog's restrain in order not to be dragged, and watches him bleed into the night. Fred looks over at the fallen form, his mind racing. When he turns to run, the husky voice calls out to him.

"Wait! I won't hurt you. I'm a friend."

Fred stops, and peers over to where the unknown figure has fallen. He sits up, his hand rubbing his head.

"Man what a fall," he gathers himself, a beastly man on all fours.

"What are you?" Freddy asks, drawing closer to him.

"What?! Don't you mean who?"

Freddy is upon the man, and he holds out his hand to help him up. "Sorry. I meant who. You said you were a friend."

Norville gets to his feet with Fred's help.

"I am a friend. My name is Norville, you can just call me Shaggy."

Shaggy, Freddy thought, chewing on his words, once digested he would mull it over properly.

"You've taken a pretty bad fall - come on I'll take you back to the place.

Norville knew that once his form was revealed by the light, he would have to explain himself. Nothing excited or scared him more than the idea. He knew though, that if things were to take an unexpected turn, he could lose out on the hope of having friends, and of course, he simply didn't want that.