When Ghouls Grow Up

Chapter 9: Let the Night Fall

Shaggy had his hands over his eyes. "Scoob, ol' buddy, ol' pal. Please, like, tell me what I think just happened didn't, like, happen." He swallowed heavily.

Scooby could only blubber out a incoherent whine as a response. He scrambled behind his bed and peeked over the side. "R-r-rarerolf! (W-w-werewolf!)"

"Not so loud!" Scooby turned around and clenched his fists, his eyes still closed. "And please tell me you're just joking. Or did Winnie just burst in on us or what?" He hiccuped again out of nervousness.

"Raggy?" Scooby stepped from behind the bed cautiously. He traipsed up to the man with a nervous grin. "Raggy, rar roo rokay? (Shaggy, are you okay?)"

Shaggy opened his eyes slowly. When he saw his hands were normal, he began laughing nervously. "Oh, thank heavens."He turned to the mirror on the dresser and felt his face. His eyes were still full of anxiety, but he looked completely normal. "I, like, though we had a problem there for a moment, Scoob." He gave a long nervous laugh, which resulted in another hiccup.

"Yeeeeeeeeee-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

Staring back at Shaggy was a wolf man, but not the form he initially remembered. With an extended snout brimming with fangs, clawed hands that actually looked menacing, and a long, bushy tail waving behind him, there was little else than horror in the room.

Shaggy and Scooby both began screaming. They began crashing into stuff as they ran around the room, both trying to get away from Shaggy's new image. Beds, chairs, and even rugs were flying as they continued making the ruckus.

Soon, a knock came at the door. "Mr. Rogers, are you all right in there," Miss Grimwood's voice could be heard calling. "It sounds like you're having quite a scare of a time, and some of the parents are concerned in case you might actually have drinks on school property."

Shaggy crashed into Scooby, and they both tumbled across the floor. The werewolf quickly sat up. "Oh, um, nothing, Miss Grimwood. Everything's, like, fine." Shaggy swallowed. "You don't need to worry about a thing."

"Are you sure, Mister Rogers. Your voice sounds different. Are you coming down with a could?"

"Uh, NO! Shaggy covered his mouth with one hand. "I mean, yes. It is, like, that time of the year and all."

"I suppose it is getting to be a bit nippy. Do you want me to fetch you a lozenge and some tea?"

"Okay, let's, like, try not to panic, Scoob," Shaggy told his canine companion. "All I have to do is, like, hiccup, and everything will be solved." He sucked in a large breath and tried to force it out as a hiccup. He froze as his breath got caught. "Oh no, Scoob. I must have, like, scared the hiccups right out of me."
"Roh No!" Scooby placed his paws on his cheeks as his eyes grew wide. "Rut roo re roo, Raggy (What do we do, Shaggy)?"

"Mister Rogers, I'll be taking your silence as a yes." Miss Grimwood's heels clacked on the hallway floor as she walked away from the room.

"Oh, this is not good, Scoob. Like, not good!" Shaggy grabbed the great dane with his clawed hands and swallowed heavily. "I can't, like, be a werewolf. I'm a normal guy! Not to mention with what the girls' fathers are, like, expecting now, what can I do?"

"Run?" Scooby shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, you've got that right, Scoob." Shaggy pulled his hands away from the dog and moaned into them. "As soon as Drac and Frankenstein and, like, the others find out, we're done for. Completely done for."

"Ro. Run! (No. Run!)" Scooby pointed towards the window. "Rindow! Rump! Run! (Window! Jump! Run!)"

"Run away?" Shaggy looked at the window. "I don't know. But, like, what about you?" He turned back to face his friend. "You mean to stay here? Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Rah! (Yeah!)"Scooby nodded. "Rell, raybe. (Well, maybe.)"

Shaggy began biting on his nails. "Well, it shouldn't, like, be that big of a deal." He began listing things out on his fingers and pacing. "Just make sure that you, like, keep Sibella away from Jackie, keep Winnie away from football, and whatever other combination of two things you think could cause trouble, keep them away from each other." He swallowed. "Oh, this is just, like, not good, Scoob. Not good at all."

The knocking returned to the door. "Mr. Rogers, I have your tea ready."

"Zoinks!" Shaggy jumped nearly into the ceiling. "Um, bye, Scoob." He turned tail and ran out the window.

"Mr. Rogers," Miss Grimwood forced the door open, "I realize that lozenges tend to smell funny, but you honestly need to quick blubbering and take your-" She looked around. "Why, Mister Doo, whatever has become of Mister Rogers?"

"Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuum." Scooby tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Running?"

"Running? As in outside?" Miss Grimwood walked over to the window. "I admit that a good run might help him get over his cold, but outside at night?" She scoffed. "He best be careful, or he'll catch his death of pneumonia. Awful way to die." She turned to Scooby. "If anything, I'd prefer going by means of a poisoned cup of tea. Simple, clean, and almost no suffering."

Scooby swallowed heavily as his eyes ventured to the teapot that Miss Grimwood held.

Shaggy panted as he reached the borderline of the forest. He held his chest as he took a deep breath. "That was, like, too close." He turned back to look at the school.

"Oh, um, Mr. Werewolf! It's still a bit early, for you to be leaving the party, isn't it?"

"Zoinks!" Shaggy turned on his heel and scanned the nighttime for his accoster.

"Pardon me." Mr. Squirm wriggled across the ground. "I didn't mean to startle you. I thought werewolves had a spot-on sense of hearing, though."

"Like, Mr. Squirm?" As his eyes adjusted, he could see that massive worm was getting quite close.

"Strange, your voice sounds different." Mr. Squirm adjusted his glasses. "Almost as if you were someone else, entirely, like-" He paused. "Mister Rogers?"

"Um, like, hey." Shaggy rubbed the back of his wolfish head, as his gaze shifted towards the forest. "I wasn't expecting to meet you here."

"Nor I you, Mister Rogers." Mr. Squirm's glasses widened. "However, I was under the impression that you were human, not a werewolf. I suppose this changes things."

"Oh no, man. You've, like, got it all wrong." Shaggy pointed to his chest. "I am human. Well, like, usually." He grimaced.

"Oh, I see. Some form of spell has you." Mr. Squirm nodded seriously. "Tell me, was it by chance Miss Gretel? Or maybe even Miss Grimwood? Our headmistress certainly is a pain, isn't she."

"Like, no, it wasn't either of them." Shaggy forced a grin in the darkness, unsure whether the worm could actually see him or not. "I've sort of, like, had this curse for a while."

"Quite." Mr. Squirm was staring off into space behind Shaggy. "Still, if you are seriously considering running off into the woods, I would have to tell you that is ill-advised. You never know what's out there in the swamp, especially considering that dreadful dragon is still out there... somewhere."

"R-r-r-really?" Shaggy's fangs began to clatter. He did his best to keep his smile. "Still, if I stay here..."
"Yes, I suppose changing species in the night could be detrimental to your career." Mr. Squirm did a shoulderless shrug. "Very well, I'm spectacular at keeping secrets. You couldn't possibly imagine how much I keep to myself."
"Um... like, sure." Shaggy waved cautiously. "I better, like, be going, now." He turned and ran into the dark forest.

Making sure that he could no longer see even the rooftop of the school, Shaggy soon sat down, panting. Of course, with the dark of the swampy forest combined with the mist and the nighttime black, he might not have even been that far from the school.

"Oh man." Shaggy sighed, taking hold of his knees. "This is, like, not my day."

"I wouldn't say it was quite your night, either." Two branches swung down, grabbed Shaggy, and dragged him into the air.

Screaming, Shaggy flailed against his wooden attacker, but more branches simply came to their aid, ensnaring the wolfman almost completely in wood, leaving not much more than his face uncovered.

"Oh, don't struggle so much. That'll only get you scratched up, and I'm afraid I don't have any antibacterial lotion to prevent infection, either." The bark in the tree assimilated itself to look like the face of Alister. "Oh my, you certainly do look to be having a bad hair day."

"Alister?" Shaggy stared at the bark. "What are you, like, doing out here, man?"

"Well, I'm not really 'here', per se. I can simply create a few avatars at night." Alister smirked. "Honestly, it's wonderful what all can be found under children's beds and inside closets, or else a bogeyman could never make his scream quota."

"Yeah, great." Shaggy flexed against the branches. "But do you honestly, like, have to keep me like this?"

"Do you honestly have to run away from the school?"

"What kind of question is that?" Shaggy tried biting at the tree limbs, but they simply dodged out of the way. "Like, just look at me?"

"True, I suppose that this would be a little distracting. It doesn't help matters that one of your students is also a werewolf." Alister laughed. He quickly furrowed his brow and glared at Shaggy, though. "But in all honesty, I do still have a job for you, and it doesn't look like you're quite doing it."

"Like, man, could you chill out." Shaggy swallowed heavily. "You might not, like, be allowed to kill me, but I have, like, five monster dads back at the school, who will kill me, if I don't raise their daughters right."

"Hmm, true. That is a lot of stress." Alister nodded, which looked quite odd on a tree. "I suppose a physical education teacher does deserve a vacation, and let's not forget that you have two disciples who could cover you for the time being." He rolled his eyes. "All right. I suppose I could give you a few weeks off. But I want you back before the first of December. I have the feeling that the coup will take place on the day of the first snowfall."

Shaggy raised an eyebrow. "Like, what makes you think that?"

"Why isn't it obvious?" Alister's upper torso extended from the tree and twisted around, holding his hands quite dramatically as his eyes closed. "The day of the first snowfall. Such crisp innocence, such delicate beauty, such an air of renewed hope and joy." He opened the eye nearest Shaggy by a slit. "Would it not be perfect poetic irony to ruin the Christmas dreams of the attending students at such a time?"

"Uh... sure." Shaggy sighed. "Anyways, could you, like, let me down? These branches are, like, really starting to hurt."

"Why of course." All of the branches immediately let do of the furry man. "I'll be sure to send Elizabeth with meals, seeing how I doubt you're much of a swamp gourmet."

Shaggy flapped his arms wildly. "Like, hold on a minute, I meant on the ground. On the ground!"

"Didn't I tell you not to trust me?" With a faint laugh, Alister's figure on the tree disappeared.

Screaming, Shaggy landed on the forest floor, headfirst, emitting a raucous howl."

Back at the school, Winnie and her father had just stepped out of the door, when they heard a howl.

"Well, that sounds like my pickup calling." Mr. Werewolf chuckled.

"Strange, I thought Uncle Quincy was picking you up." Winnine placed a thoughtful finger on her cheek. "That sounds like Cousin Lester."

Finally! I got another chapter done.

Anyways, though it won't affect the story much, I remember someone asking me about the members of the council of ten. They are: The Goblin King, The Fairy Princess, The Grim Reaper, The Stork, The Bogeyman, Cupid, Mother Nature, Father Time, Santa Claus, and The Easter Bunny. I did think that Sandman might have been a better member, but Santa Claus and Easter Bunny are both representatives of Christian holidays, making them better counterparts. And the Tooth Fairy just didn't fit in.

Hope you guys are still liking the story.