Chapter 12
In the middle of a dark and stormy Ohio night, inside an ancient looking stone mausoleum on the grounds of the Larson Mansion, which was home to at least for now, a deceased millionaire named Franklin Larson and his also deceased wife April, as well as their currently alive daughter named Kelly, Fred Jones and Daphne Blake were having one of the scariest experiences of their lives.
Granted, they had been through some frightening things before, especially when they traveled to Oak Haven, Massachusetts and Moonscar Island, Louisiana. But those two places had nothing on the experience they were currently going through in the aforementioned Larson Mansion mausoleum. Specifically speaking, the man who had hired them to come investigate his home, was now dead and was attempting to literally scare the duo to death.
While Fred and Daphne were trying to figure out how to avoid a ghastly fate, mainly becoming zombies, or ghosts, or whatever the deceased millionaire had in store for them, the other members of Mystery Inc. were trying to avoid the same fate. Specifically, Scooby Doo and his nephew Scrappy Doo had made their way through the grounds, and were now at the edge of what they guessed was the Larson family cemetery, considering the two Great Danes were standing in front of hundreds of old gravestones and grave markers.
"You know Uncle Scooby, I'm not that scared of ghosts, but I have to admit, this place is really creepy" the one time police dog and younger of the two Danes remarked.
"Reah, rook at all the ravestones" Scooby Doo replied.
"Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy inquired.
"Res Rappy?" the elder Great Dane answered.
"Do you think we're going to find out what happened to that Mr. Larson and his wife?" Scrappy asked, not realizing that the aforementioned millionaire was dealing with Fred and Daphne in his own way at the moment.
"Ri don't rknow Rappy, rut I rnow re ran rind roth of rhem" Scooby replied.
"I know we can too, although with all the creepy stuff that's probably going on around here, I'm wondering if Kelly Larson's ok." Scrappy responded.
"Ri rhope ro roo, recause rhe reemed really rice rhen Reddie, re and Rhaggy ralked to her realier" the elder canine replied.
"You talked to her Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy asked.
"Rell, rort of; ractually rhe ras really rattracted to Rhaggy and Fred, rut rhe rid ray rhi ro re" Scooby replied.
"That's cool Uncle Scooby, so why did she come to see you, Fred and Shaggy?" Scrappy inquired.
"Recause re rhought rher rather ras roing to ry and rurder rher and rher rother" Scooby replied.
"You're kidding!" Scrappy said, not quite believing what his uncle was saying.
"Really, rhe ractually raid rhat" Scooby responded.
"Wow! If she really said that, and her mother's disappeared, then that could be evidence of a crime. Come on Uncle Scooby, let's find Kelly Larson, she might be able to help us solve this mystery!" Scrappy declared, in an almost Fred like tone of voice.
"Rut rhy Rappy?" Scooby inquired, in his usual cowardly manner.
"Because Uncle Scoob, if we can find Kelly, then she can testify against her father in a possible trial. I still have friends in the police department I served in as a member of the K-9 unit, and I might be able to help put Mr. Larson in jail if I knew more about Kelly, and what Mr. Larson planned on doing to her and her mother." Scrappy explained.
"Rell rin rhat rase, rhat are re raiting ror?" Scooby replied, now somewhat buoyed by what the younger Doo had told him.
"That's the spirit Uncle Scooby! Come on, let's head back to the house, because unless I miss my guess, that's where Kelly Larson probably is right now" Scrappy responded.
"Right!" Scooby barked in agreement.
However, the two Great Danes would not get to the house right away, as they, like Fred and Daphne, were about to have their own problems with the supernatural forces of Larson Mansion. Meanwhile, the aforementioned daughter of the temporarily deceased millionaire and his wife had resumed her search for her mystery solving idols, and was now halfway through the living room, and very close to the entrance to the Mansion's garden.
Once she opened the large glass door to the outside, Kelly Larson took mere seconds to get herself out of the haunted house and soon she was among the plants and flowers that her mother and the mansion's gardener had so carefully kept blooming. The blonde haired beauty took a few moments to take note of her surroundings and noticed that the rain was beating down on her like it was coming out of a garden hose, especially since it was an outdoor garden.
"Ugh, why did my mom insist on having an outdoor garden? It's pouring out here and me without a jacket" Kelly said, bemoaning her current situation.
Indeed the rain was pouring down on the young woman, which would result in her being soaked to the skin in a manner of moments. However, considering that she was walking through a garden, shade from the rain was available in numerous places, which gave left her with a broad smile on her face.
Knowing that she couldn't stay under the shade of a tree for very long, Kelly reluctantly continued on, past the numerous other plants, shrubs and foliage that populated and was growing in the Larson family's garden. But soon she would discover that she was not alone, for as she walked past a series of rose bushes, she could swear that some one or something was following her.
At first she looked behind here to see if this fact was indeed true, however after a few minutes, she scratched her head with a somewhat bewildered look on her face, and then resumed looking through the garden.
Kelly Larson had been walking for a few minutes when yet again she felt the distinct possibility that someone could very well be following her. In this case, she peered over for a few seconds at a gargoyle statue that her mother had bought many years ago; the statue sat in silence (as statues usually did) next to a large fountain with two cupid figures atop it.
The two figures of the mythological being who according to legend shot arrows at people, causing them to fall in love had a very unusual feature. In this case, the feature was that the mouths of the two figures each had a small water spout, out of which poured gallons of the clear liquid into the rest of the fountain, naturally collecting at the very bottom.
Of course Kelly had a particularly good reason for looking at the statue. In this case it was because she could swear that the ugly looking statue's eyes were moving; however, there were more factors then that which went into the young woman's decision to look behind here.
In addition to the eyes moving, she could swear that the statue was beginning to get up from its position near the fountain and was beginning to walk towards her. But of course that couldn't be true, because statues are usually stone and typically don't move very much since the time they were originally sculpted.
"Hmm…" Kelly thought aloud, turning back to where the statue was, and taking a brief look at it.
"I could almost swear that gargoyle was alive, and breathing. But I know that's not possible, or is it?" the beautiful blonde thought to herself.
Again she brushed it off as nothing and resumed walking through the vast garden, hoping to navigate her way through the flora, hopefully getting closer to the mansion. After she walked for a few minutes, she began feeling yet again as if she was being watched; realizing that she wasn't going to stop worrying about someone following her until she confronted whoever or whatever it was that was behind her, she turned around and checked to see if the interloper was friend or foe.
After turning around, Kelly Larson saw that the same ugly gargoyle statue that had been sitting near the cupid figurines only a few minutes before was now eye to eye with the blonde budding detective. Naturally this was very surprising, and would be surprising to anyone in Kelly's position; although considering she lived in a haunted mansion, she was used to these sorts of things for now.
"H-how on earth is that statue looking at me? It's just made of stone; stone is a material that is not organic, so it can't be alive and it doesn't have human eyes, or whatever kind of eyes that thing is looking at me with" Kelly said, stammering a bit over her words.
The statue seemed to grin at her, possibly even blinking its eyes at her as she stood scratching her head at the sculpture, which was a mere 50 inches away from the young woman. No matter how long she looked at the mythical stone figure, it seemed as if it was taunting her, perplexing her, trying to frighten or scare her off and away from the garden.
But despite all of that, Kelly Larson didn't weaken, or stray from her intended task, mainly to get through the garden and back to the house. She naturally hoped she would be able to get back to the grand estate before it was too late, to warn her friends about what was going on in the mansion and to make sure they would depart before they were kept on the grounds for an extended period of time.
However, someone didn't want her to accomplish this task, or rather something. Once she began walking again, she could feel as if the statue was still following her, watching every step she was making. Somewhat angry, she turned around to face her pursuer and looked straight into the gargoyle's face, but this time she was going to make sure that it wouldn't follow her any longer.
"Look, I don't know what you think you're trying to do. I don't know if you're trying to make me crazy or whatever, but there's no way you're going to stop me from doing what I came into this garden to do. And that's to get out of this garden and back to the mansion, so out of my way!" Kelly declared. However, she was stopped in her efforts as the gargoyle began roaring slightly and also started backing her up, while also trying to cut off her escape in the process.
"N-now don't c-come any closer, I warn you: I've had training in several forms of martial arts!" the blonde young woman explained, raising her hands in a manner that signified that she was ready to attack the creature.
Clearly the gargoyle was not impressed with what the young lady was trying to do, and attempted once again to frighten her by roaring and raising its arms in attempt to drive the blonde young woman away. But of course, that wasn't going to stop the young woman; in fact, it barely even registered to her, so she attempted to try and leave the garden yet again.
This time she was able to walk about a hundred feet through the garden, but soon was stymied yet again by the mysterious, now alive gargoyle. However, Kelly Larson was getting seriously tired of the winged creature's tricks, and was now ready to do something about it; in this case, she decided to use some of what she learned in her high school's debate team, which she was the captain of.
"All right, so you're still trying to stop me from leave the garden, that's fine. But let me ask you something Mr. Gargoyle, what will that get you? Will it get you kudos from your fellow supernatural creatures? Will it make you a better creature? Just what will scaring me off do for you?" the young woman said, in a manner similar to how a candidate would speak during a presidential debate.
The scaly and winged creature began scratching its head, slightly confused as to what the young woman was talking about. However, the creature wouldn't be confused for long, as once it realized what was going on, it started roaring and trying to scare the young woman once again. But this time Kelly didn't bother to try and reason with the creature, this time she merely decided to run, lest she be captured by the gargoyle.
While running, Kelly Larson decided to use this time to utilize another one of the talents she learned in school. In this case, the talent that she decided to make use of was the skills she had learned as the captain of her high school's girls track team; seeing how she was an excellent runner, she managed to run at a fairly blistering pace, and within five minutes was out of the garden.
Not wanting to stop running(and who could with the way she was going), she kept up her pace and soon had found herself in front of the family cemetery, which was attached to the garden that she just left. After slowing down, Kelly Larson looked around for any sign of her friends, to warn them of what was happening and what terrors she had faced thus far.
After a manner of mere moments, she found herself smiling as she spotted a pair of very familiar Great Danes walking amongst the gravestones. Even though she had been running like an Olympian only a few minutes ago, she desperately attempted to catch up to the two canines, as she didn't want to explore the mansion and the grounds by herself any longer.
"Scooby! Scrappy! Wait up!" the blonde haired young woman cried out; hoping the pair of dogs would slow down so she could find the two of them.
"Uncle Scooby, did you hear something?" the younger of the two Danes asked, turning to his elder for advice.
"Ri rhink ro Rappy, rut rid rou?" the older Great Dane answered, with a question of his own.
"I think I did Uncle Scooby, and it sounded like someone familiar" Scrappy replied.
"Reah, rome ro rhink of it, it rounded rike… Relly!" Scooby responded, before realizing the voice belonged to the young woman whom he, Shaggy and Fred had already met earlier in the evening.
"Kelly? Hmm… actually Uncle Scooby, it might indeed be her, maybe we should slow down and see what she wants" Scrappy remarked as the two canines conferred for a few moments before deciding to halt their progress for a few moments.
Seizing the few minutes that she had, while Scooby and Scrappy were standing still, Kelly Larson hurriedly walked up to the two Great Danes. Albeit huffing and puffing all the way, considering she was still attempting to catch her breath from running so much.
"Scooby, Scrappy, boy am I glad to see you two!" Kelly declared happily.
"What's the matter Kelly?" Scrappy inquired, while the blonde young woman leaned down to pet the younger canine on the head.
"Scrappy, you would not believe the night I've had so far. First, I thought I heard some noises while I was sleeping, then I woke up and decided to see if my parents were OK. Then, I found my mom and dad both missing from the bed they slept in." Kelly replied.
"Row, rhat a rary right" Scooby responded.
"Yeah, it was Scooby; and then, I saw a couple of, well I think they might have been ghosts inside the house. And then, to top it all off, I just gave the slip to a creepy gargoyle, who was a statue, but then he became alive and started chasing me!" Kelly explained.
"Man, that must have been something. But, there's one thing I don't understand Kelly" Scrappy replied, with a curious look on his face.
"What's that Scrappy?" the blonde asked.
"You said both your parents were gone right?" Scrappy inquired.
"Right, why?" Kelly answered.
"Well, I was in your parents' bedroom about a half hour before you were in there, judging by what you're saying. Now, Shaggy, Uncle Scooby, Daphne, Fred and Velma were all there, and they all saw that Miss Larson had disappeared, but Mr. Larson was still there, trying to get us to investigate the disappearance of his wife." Scrappy replied.
"Wait a minute, dad was in there with all of you… but mom had disappeared?" Kelly queried.
"Right again" Scrappy replied.
"Hmm… this just doesn't add up. How on earth did mom disappear, but dad was still in there with you guys, and then when I get there, dad was gone." Kelly remarked to herself, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
"Rait Relly, raybe rhat rou raid about rour rad roing romething to rour rom ras raccurate." Scooby replied.
"Uncle Scooby's right Kelly, maybe your dad killed your mom, and then vanished, or somehow caused himself to vanish." The younger Great Dane suggested.
"But if that's possible, then where is he? You guys heard the storm, plus the power's out now, all over the mansion, and the grounds, not to mention every structure in a 50 mile radius. And there's something else too, not only is the power out, but because of the storm, the roads surrounding the estate are probably flooded and impassible too." Kelly replied.
"Right again Kelly; so that leaves us with one question, how did your dad get rid of your mom and then vanish as well? If the power's out and the roads are flooded as well I mean." Scrappy said, pondering yet another piece of the puzzle.
"How else, he's tricky; he owns communications companies, so he probably used one of the gadgets in the mansion to pull off the deed." Kelly replied, adding her own theories.
"You might be right Kelly, which means there's only one thing to do: get back to the house, find your dad and call the police." Scrappy responded.
"Lotsa Luck Scrappy, I tried calling the Edwardsville police earlier, the phones are out too. Which means we'll have to stay here for the rest of the night and try and solve the mystery." The blonde haired beauty replied, drumming her fingers on her chin as she spoke.
"Hmm… that is a puzzlement. Well, I guess we don't have any other choice then to crack this case. But first, we've got to figure out where the rest of the gang are." Scrappy explained.
"Right, if something sinister's going on around here, we might need their help." Kelly responded.
"Rut rhere are rhey?" Scooby thought aloud.
"Well, let's see: when we split up, Shaggy and Velma decided to investigate upstairs; while the two of us decided to investigate the grounds outside the house; and Fred and Daphne decided to investigate the downstairs portion of the mansion." Scrappy explained.
"Rall right on Rappy" Scooby replied.
"Thank you Uncle Scooby. Now, the problem is that because the grounds are quite immense, we have a lot of ground to cover, so it might take a while to find them." Scrappy remarked.
"Roh great, rust great" the elder Great Dane replied.
"What's the matter Uncle Scooby?" the younger Great Dane responded.
"Re right rind rome rhosts or ronsters rhere. Ractually rhe ronger re rearch, rhe rore rhance of rinding romething rary" Scooby answered.
"Don't worry Uncle Scooby, I don't think we're going to find any ghosts or monsters around here. Now come on, let's get back to the house and look for Fred and Daphne." Scrappy replied.
"Rokay Rappy, rif rou insist." The elder Great Dane responded.
With those words, the two Great Danes and the Larsons daughter began walking towards the house in search of their missing comrades, and hopefully in search of a solution to a mystery as well. Meanwhile, inside the mausoleum, Fred and Daphne continued plotting their escape, hoping somehow that the two of them wouldn't be buried in two of the building's coffins themselves.
"Help! Help! Let us out of here!" the blond and the red head cried out, as both of them began banging on the large door of the Larson family mausoleum.
"Try as you might Mr. Jones and Miss Blake, you'll never escape from here!" the deceased patriarch of the Larson family declared, laughing menacingly at the young adults misfortunes.
Realizing the spirit might be correct, the pair decided wisely to save their respective breaths and conserve any air that they might need for the future. Of course considering they were locked in an ancient mausoleum, with several dozen coffins inside, they figured that they would need a lot of air.
Not to mention the fact that the pair's air supply could run out any second; of course, there was always the possibility that they could be spending a lot of time in the mausoleum, which meant that conserving air could take on a whole new meaning. Staring in sheer fright at the horrible sight of the ghoulish Mr. Larson, Fred and Daphne knew that they couldn't hold him off very much longer.
Added to that, they both knew they had to figure out a plan to defeat the ghostly millionaire somehow, someway before they both perished. Neither of the two young adults seemed to have any ideas, and both of them were staring dumbfounded, mouths agape at the ghoulish, white, undead figure of the man, or former man floating several hundred feet in front of them, above the very coffin he had once been inside.
"Freddie, we've got to do something, Mr. Larson's cornered us; we have no way out of here!" Daphne said, starting to tear up as she spoke. Clearly she knew how hopeless the duo's current situation was, and clearly she knew what could happen to her and her companion if they couldn't figure a way out of the mausoleum.
"I know Daphne, I know. I want to get out of here just as much as you do; I want to stay alive, I don't want my life to end here in this creepy mausoleum." Fred replied, holding onto the red head's shoulders before pulling her into a hug.
"I don't want to lose you Freddie, I don't want to die!" the red head said, through tear filled eyes.
"I know Daphne, but how can we keep this up? We have no clue as to how we can get out of here; it'll take a miracle for us just to get out of this whole situation." Fred replied, holding the red head close, as she rested her head against the young man's chest.
At the moment, Fred Jones and Daphne Blake knew their situation was incredibly, incredibly hopeless, they knew they had to escape from their possible tomb and soon. But how? And could they think of something before they became ghosts themselves? As the old saying goes: it's always darkest before the dawn, and soon Fred Jones and Daphne Blake were indeed going to have their own dawn, both literally and figuratively.
Author's Notes: I'm a stinker aren't I? I have to admit though, I'm a sucker for a good cliff hangar and I decided to end this chapter with yet another one; I don't know how many more chapters I'm going to make this story, but rest assured, the conclusion will come before you know it.