Chapter 14
Inside the gloomy, foreboding, and overall creepy Larson Mansion, a grandfather clock somewhere in the house struck the hour of 4 AM. The grandfather clock usually added to the atmosphere of a haunted mansion, or haunted place, and it was something that while told the time, also sometimes signified doom, death, or when someone was about to get scared out of their wits, like in a horror movie.
For Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Scooby Doo, Scrappy Doo and their temporary companion Kelly Larson, they didn't have to worry too much about a grandfather clock. The reason this was accurate was because for the four members of Mystery Inc., and Velma Dinkley and Shaggy Rogers, who were somewhere within the house, live was like a horror movie, and for each of them, every day could be their last day on Earth.
A few moments after Fred, Daphne, Scooby, Scrappy and Kelly walked from the area near where the mausoleum was to the front door, they each took a moment to survey and take stock of their current situation. After a collective deep breath between the five of them, the members of Mystery Inc. and the Larsons daughter waited, while getting ready for someone to open the mansion's front door.
"I never thought I would say this, but I am glad to get back inside the mansion. Even if it is really scary, and even if there are gargoyles, and creepy stuff inside." Kelly remarked.
"A Gargoyle? Jeepers." Daphne replied, somewhat in shock at what the blonde young woman had said.
"Yeah, that's just one of the things I had to deal with during the time that I was looking for my parents." Kelly responded.
"Man, that sounds crazy; although if what we've found so far is any indication of what's going on around here…" Fred started.
"Why? What did you find?" Kelly asked.
"Believe me Miss Larson, you wouldn't believe us if we told you. Although I think we better get inside quick, before we get struck by lightning." Fred replied.
"Good idea Freddie, except for one thing: there's probably no one in the house, other then Shaggy and Velma. This means that we either need a key, or someone's going to have to figure another way inside." Daphne stated.
"Daphne, it's a good thing you said that. Because there just happens to be a key to the house under the welcome mat; actually my parents had a key made for me a while back, just in case of emergencies. And after they made the key for me, they let me do whatever I wanted with it, so I decided to keep it in a plastic bag under the mat." Kelly explained.
"That's an interesting way to store a key Miss Larson." Scrappy replied.
"Well, I'm a bit of a neat freak. I wasn't too crazy about having a house key that's all dusty and dirty; so I put it in a clear plastic bag. In there it should be same from any dirt, which is always a good thing." Kelly clarified.
"I can agree with that Kelly. I was that way when I was in Junior High; although the rest of the gang wasn't too crazy about me being a neat freak, and afraid of dirt." Daphne replied.
"That's for sure." Fred remarked with a bit of a chuckle, which caused the red head to frown and want to give the young man a piece of her mind.
"Let's forget about that for now. We need to get inside, and before we suffer at the hands of the ghosts of the mansion." Kelly explained as she reached under the welcome mat and pulled out the aforementioned clear plastic bag.
Kelly Larson then opened the bag, pulled out the key, and placed the key in the lock of the mansion's front door. In a few moments time, the blonde haired heiress had opened the door, and soon after that, Fred, Daphne, Scooby and Scrappy Doo followed her inside.
Naturally, a few moments later, and in the grand tradition of haunted houses, the front door of the mansion closed with a loud, deafening creak. About a microsecond after the door closed however, Scooby Doo ran towards the door and tried pulling it open, albeit with no success, which meant that he and his friends were trapped, at least for a while.
"Looks like we're not going to be leaving for a while." Daphne noted.
"Yeah, looks that way to me too." Fred replied.
"Roh no! Row rhat are re roing to ro?" Scooby asked.
"There's not much we can do Uncle Scooby. The door slammed and locked behind us; not to mention we have no idea on how long we're going to be stuck in here." Scrappy replied.
"Like you've got to be kidding!" a familiar sounding male voice shouted from across the room.
"Shaggy? Is that you, or is this house playing tricks on me?" Daphne asked, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, and if it did belong to one of their friends.
"If it is playing tricks on you Daphne, then I guess I'm one of the tricks too." A familiar female voice added.
"Velma?" Scrappy asked.
"Sure is, by the way: where are you guys?" Velma replied, with a question of her own.
"We're in the living room; we just got back inside the house." Scrappy responded.
"Great, hang on and Shaggy and I'll meet you guys." Velma replied.
Soon Shaggy and Velma had made their way across the mansion's living room, and before long had rejoined Fred, Daphne, Scrappy, Scooby and Kelly Larson. The six members of Mystery Inc. and their blonde comrade for the moment were all safe and sound, without any scratches, scrapes or bruises on any of the members of the group. While this was good news to all six of their ears and eyes, each of the six sleuths, as well as Kelly still had stories to tell regarding their experiences in the mansion thus far.
"Well now that we're all together again, let's see if we can make some sense of this case at all." Fred remarked.
"Good luck Freddie, because no matter how many clues we have or whatever we've found so far, I don't think I can make heads or tails out of this one." Daphne replied.
"Well let's see if we can make some sense out of things anyway. Like for starters, wait til you hear what happened to Shaggy and me." Velma stated.
"OK Velma, go right ahead." Fred replied.
"Well, for starters during our exploring of the house, we checked out the upstairs. While we were investigating, we found a room that didn't look very weird at first, but then we found something that for once made me speechless." Velma remarked.
"Like what Velma?" Scrappy asked.
"Like a closet with a skeleton, hung from where you usually hang up clothes. And speaking of which, the skeleton seemed to be fully clothed believe it or not." Shaggy replied.
"Jeepers!" Daphne declared, with a look of horror on her face.
"Like yeah; in all the spooky or haunted places I've ever been in my life, and in all the scary situations I've ever been involved with, that might have been the scariest thing I've ever seen." Shaggy replied.
"Man, that must have been a horrible fright Shaggy. What about you Scrappy, what did you and Scooby find?" Fred asked, turning to the group's pair of Great Danes.
"Unfortunately we didn't find a thing. Although we did run into Kelly while she was doing her investigating. Or rather afterwards I guess." Scrappy replied, turning to Kelly Larson to see what she found.
"They sure did. As for me, I went into my parents' bedroom after you guys split up to investigate the mansion; and while in there, I found that both mom and dad weren't in their bed. Not only that, but after I left their room, I went outside and investigated the mansion's garden." Kelly responded.
"Wow, what happened after that Kelly?" Scrappy inquired.
"Well after that, I had a run in with a gargoyle in said garden, and then when I was running away from it, I ran into Scooby and Scrappy." Kelly replied.
"And then together, the three of us headed for the mansion. But what about you guys?" Scrappy wondered, looking over at the red head and the blond young man to see what they had found out.
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you Scrappy, but I guess we better start at the beginning." Daphne replied.
"Right; first off, we investigated the mansion's library, and found a secret passageway leading from the mansion to the Larson family mausoleum." Fred started.
"That's new; I didn't know about any secret passageway that led from the library to the mausoleum. Although I've been living in this mansion since I was born and there are still things I don't know about this place." Kelly stated.
"I bet; and that's not all of it. While we were in the passageway we came up against some ghoulish figure: specifically a zombie. Thankfully we were able to outrun him easily, and eventually we found our way to the mausoleum like Fred said, plus while we were in the passageway, we ran into a group of bats that were flying around our heads as well." Daphne replied.
"Incredible, what happened after that?" Kelly asked.
"Well Miss Larson, I don't think you want to really hear this part. I mean I don't think you want to know what happened next after we were in the mausoleum." Fred replied.
"Fred, I'm a big girl. I can handle whatever you tell me, trust me." Kelly responded.
"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I would be way richer then I am now." Daphne replied, in a whispered tone of voice to the blonde haired heiress.
"I bet you would Daphne." Kelly replied, chuckling a bit as she spoke.
"Anyway… if you really want to hear this, then I guess we better tell you. Miss Larson, when we were in the mausoleum, we spotted a trail of blood coming from one of the coffins; when we lifted the lid off of the coffin though, we saw something unspeakably horrible." Fred explained.
"Like what?" Kelly asked.
"Well Miss Larson, when we opened up the coffin… we found…. Well, we found a corpse." Fred said simply.
"Good gracious, whose corpse was it?" Kelly asked, with a hint of curiosity in her voice.
"Well, since you asked. It was the corpse of your father Miss Larson." Fred explained, although he secretly wished he hadn't said what he said.
"My father? Dead? H-how can that be?" Kelly asked, with a bit of a stammer in her voice and tears beginning to stain her cheeks.
"We don't know Miss Larson. Although we do know this, we think it was most likely fake; because after we saw the bloody corpse, we found Mr. Larson's ghost hovering above us, wanting us to leave the mausoleum and the grounds for good." Fred replied.
"I don't understand. I overheard my father planning to kill my mother, so if he's dead, then does that mean he killed her and then himself?" the blonde heiress questioned.
"I'm not sure Miss Larson. But if you did hear this, then what we have to do is find your mother." Fred responded.
"Um, except for one thing Fred: Mr. Larson's ghost, or whoever that was told us that Mrs. Larson was dead." Daphne added.
"Not my mother too!" Kelly Larson replied, feeling a little flushed as she spoke.
"Miss Larson, are you alright?" Fred asked.
"I-I don't know. I-it's just that now you say my mother's dead too; and I know my father did it before he died somehow." Kelly answered.
"I'm not sure about that Miss Larson." Fred replied.
"You're not sure? You just said my father and mother were dead, and now you're not sure?" Kelly responded, her voice raised a few octaves as she spoke.
"Well, upon further examination we think that corpse might be fake." Daphne replied simply.
"Hang on a second, if my father's dead, and my mother's dead, and you guys apparently saw my father's corpse, why do you think the corpse was fake?" Kelly asked, wiping away the tears with a tissue she retrieved from a nearby box of tissues.
"Well first, why would there be a corpse of your father, if there was also a ghost?" Fred stated.
"And second, we also found a projector in the mausoleum; actually Freddie found that one to be honest. Although when you add those things up, it without a doubt equals a fraud; in other words, someone wants to stop us from getting that money, and whoever it is, they're not above attempted murder, scaring us to death, and making this mansion seem like it's haunted to accomplish their goals." Daphne replied.
"But who, and why? Who would want to stop you guys from getting the money that's promised to all of you if you stay the night here?" Kelly inquired.
"That's what we don't know at the moment." Daphne answered.
"Although, we do have some suspects." Fred replied.
"Really? Like who?" Kelly inquired.
"Well, like the members of the staff. The butlers, the maids, any one of them could want to stop us from spending the night here." Fred explained.
"Right, and there's a definite possibility that they're not alone. It's possible that your parents might be involved with this somehow as well." Daphne added.
"My parents? Why would they want to stop you guys from spending the night? Wouldn't they want to give away a million dollars to each of you?" Kelly wondered.
"Right now Miss Larson, we're not sure who we can and can't trust. There's a million reasons, pardon the pun, why someone would want to prevent us from staying the night here, and right now we've got to examine all possibilities as far as who the culprit is." Daphne replied.
"The only question is how are we going to find out who the guilty party is?" Velma pondered.
"Well, during all the mysteries I joined you guys for, Fred always made some kind of trap. Or there was some sort of trap that was set up to catch the bad guy; and Shaggy and my Uncle Scooby are usually used to capture the villain. Or sometimes one of them would drive out the villain, resulting in his or her capture." Scrappy explained.
"True, very true Scrappy. The only problem I foresee is that there might be more then one villain in this mystery. And whoever it is, they're going to be a lot different then our usual cases; partly because whoever's trying to stop us might resort to bodily harm." Velma replied.
"Right; whoever's trying to scare us away means serious business. So we have to all be very careful the rest of the time we're here." Scrappy answered.
"Don't worry Scrappy, like Scooby and I will be on our guards for sure. And I'll make sure to keep a very close eye on Velma especially." Shaggy replied, pulling the bespectacled young woman close to him, which she seemed to enjoy,
"And Daphne and I will each keep our guard up as well. Right Daphne?" Fred asked, pulling the redhead close to him, just like how Shaggy pulled Velma close to him, mainly so that he could protect her from any danger.
"Right Freddie, and I know you're going to keep a close eye on me as well." Daphne replied, smiling all the while.
"I'm glad you guys are keeping an eye on each other, but I hope someone keeps an eye on me as well." Kelly said, looking a bit nervous at the moment.
"Don't worry Miss Larson, if something has happened to your parents, we'll all watch over you. After all, that's what friends are for." Scrappy replied, looking over at the rest of the gang, who all produced bright smiles before looking back over at Kelly Larson who was also beaming a bit.
"Thanks guys; you know you six are the best friends a girl could ever have. I mean seriously, with all the stuff that's been going on around here tonight, most of my other friends would have split long ago. But you guys stuck around, and aren't going to get scared off by some ghost or monster; that's true friendship, and quite frankly, I'm glad I'm a fan of you guys." Kelly explained, before walking over to each member of the gang and hugging them in a gesture of friendship.
When she came to Scrappy Doo however, the blonde haired beauty picked up the diminutive Great Dane and hugged him, at least for starters. The blonde heiress then delivered a friendly smooch on the young pup's cheek, which made him once again blush, and made his cheeks feel warm, which he liked.
"Thanks Kelly, you're really cool you know that? I mean I know I said that before, but you are really cool. You're a good friend, and I would be very happy if, well if you were my owner." Scrappy remarked, before putting his hand to his mouth.
"Scrappy, did you just say what I think you said?" Daphne asked, sounding a bit surprised at the young Dane's comment.
"I'm sorry Daphne, it's just that… well, I really like Kelly, she reminds me of you in a way. And with you guys running around solving mysteries, you guys might not be there to help me or cheer me up. All in all, Kelly's a neat person, and while you guys are awesome, I think she's really the perfect friend for me. Basically I'm saying that maybe, maybe it's time for me to make a new start; maybe this is the place for me, hanging out with Kelly and her parents hopefully and her family." Scrappy explained.
"Scrappy, I never knew you felt like this. I mean I know you, Scooby and I traveled around having adventures for a while, but you always seemed to have fun with us. And then when Daphne joined us for a while, you said you enjoyed having adventures and solving mysteries." Shaggy replied.
"I know Shaggy, I know. But now that I'm a graduated police dog, I need to settle down, maybe have a stable home for a while, maybe get my thoughts together, that kind of stuff." Scrappy answered.
"Well Scrappy, if you really feel that way, then after we solve this mystery, we can talk about seeing if you can stay here. If you really want to that is…" Fred remarked.
"It is what I would like Fred, and don't worry, I'll still visit you guys every once in a while, and I still would love to solve mysteries with all of you. Besides, solving mysteries and hanging out with my Uncle Scooby is really fun, and I would love to continue to do it, but just not on a regular basis." Scrappy replied.
"We understand Scrappy, and you know, we might have to think about settling down as well. I mean with Fred and Daphne as writers, and then me with my NASA job and owning the bookstore, plus Shaggy and Scooby working with me and helping me out there, not mention them owning a restaurant. All in all, we need to think about our futures; heck, we might even want to have kids someday, and the last thing we want or need is us running around haunted houses with kids in tow." Velma explained.
"Like you're right Velma; and there's a few other jobs that I've been thinking about as well. And you know, maybe we can have kids someday; like for example, I would love to have a son or a daughter." Shaggy remarked, before putting his arm around Velma.
"I'd like that too Shaggy, although I think a daughter would be nice." The bespectacled young woman replied.
"I think thinking about the future is a great idea. I mean it's exactly like what Velma said, we can't run around solving mysteries forever; we'll definitely have to think about retiring someday soon." Fred remarked, putting his arm around Daphne as he spoke.
"I really like solving crimes and mysteries. But you're right Freddie; although, maybe someday, if we do have kids, maybe we can pass along what we've learned to them, and maybe there will be a new generation of meddling kids in the future." Daphne replied, chuckling a little as she spoke.
"Maybe, maybe." Fred responded.
"For now though let's not worry about the future, let's talk about the present." Daphne replied.
"Right; because we've still got to solve this mystery. And we've still got to find out what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Larson." Fred answered.
While Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy and Kelly Larson discussed their plan of action, whatever that might be, the group of mystery solvers and their blonde comrade heard the distinct sound of thunder outside the mansion. Normally the thunder wouldn't be such a big deal to them, but this time it was a very big deal because it was about to lead to all manner of hell breaking loose inside Larson Mansion.
"Jeepers, listen to that storm outside. Sounds like it's barely let up at all from when we got here." Daphne remarked.
"Yeah, it certainly seems that way." Fred replied.
The thunder that boomed outside the mansion however was not going to be the only thing that Mystery Inc. was going to have to worry about very soon. A few moments later, the loud thunder was accompanied by a distinct fluttering sound; Fred and Daphne figured they had escaped the strange sound when they escaped the passageway and made their way into the mausoleum, but as usual, they were wrong again.
"Jeepers! Not again!" Daphne declared, as she and the others witnessed a large flock of bats entering the living room.
"Zoinks! Bats!" Shaggy added, with a terrified tone in his voice, as he attempted to swat away the winged creatures.
"Jinkies, where did they come from?" Velma replied, grabbing hold of Shaggy's arm as she spoke.
"Like who knows, and who cares. Let's just hope they fly the coop, and soon!" Shaggy declared.
So far, Mystery Inc. had experienced bats, and thunder, but that wasn't it, not by a long shot. A few moments later, the team of intrepid sleuths began to hear yet another rather unpleasant sound. In this case, it was the distinct sound of moaning and groaning, which seemed to terrify Scooby Doo and his friends, as they stood in the living room.
"I really, really hope that's your stomach Shaggy." Daphne quipped.
"Like I hate to disappoint you Daphne, but that's not my stomach." Shaggy replied.
"Jinkies, then I hope that's not what I think it is." Velma added.
"Reah, re reither." Scooby agreed.
At that exact moment however, outside of the mansion, there was another tremendous flash of lightning and thunder, which seemed to light up the entire living room, as well as most of the other rooms on the first floor of the mansion as well. However, there was something else that the gang had to worry about, besides the thunder; while they stood in the living room, Fred and Daphne witnessed an unspeakably horrible sight, as they saw a grotesque looking creature walking from a corridor that led away from the living room, into said room.
"Jeepers, what is that?" Daphne asked, with a terrified look on her face, and in her voice.
"If I had to guess, I would say that's a zombie. But that's impossible." Velma remarked.
"Why is that impossible? It's walking right into the living room, whatever it is." Shaggy replied, with an audible gulp.
"I g-guess you're right Shaggy, I guess it is possible." Velma responded nervously.
Soon the thunder, bats, and zombie were about to be joined by another horrible sight. As another thunderclap flashed thought the night skies, Scooby and company heard the unmistakable sound of what seemed to be roaring. But of course that was impossible, or was it?
Mystery Inc. was about to receive the answer to that question as the roaring continued, and before long the gang witnessed a strange winged creature flying into the living room, via a fireplace which the gang had already seen when they entered the house. The gang was quite perplexed by this, after all, when they came into the mansion, the fireplace had a roaring fire going in it. But now, the gang saw the fireplace was empty, except for the strange winged being flying right towards them.
"Zoinks! Like duck!" Shaggy declared, as he took hold of Velma's arm before the two of them ducked down in order to avoid the winged creature.
"Good grief! That looks like the gargoyle that was chasing me earlier!" Kelly said with a shriek, before ducking herself to avoid the flying being.
So far Mystery Inc. had to deal with bats, thunder, a zombie and now a gargoyle. But as they say, the worst was yet to come for the intrepid youngsters and their canines. Once again, there was a tremendous flash of lightning outside the great mansion, and with it would bring the final supernatural foes that Larson Mansion had to offer.
After the lightning flash outside the house, the gang began to hear the distinct sounds of chain rattling, and moaning. Both of those things were usually indications of people who usually had already passed on, who were ready to make a comeback in the world we all know and make our home; but for Scooby Doo and the gang, these noises were going to result in the final challenge they would have to face, before they could collect their massive payday for this very difficult mystery.
"Jeepers, what's going on?" Daphne asked, holding onto Fred's arm as she spoke.
"I don't know Daphne, and I don't know if I want to find out either." Fred replied, with a bit of a shaky voice.
Fred was a bit shocked that he was speaking in a manner like the way he was currently speaking. Although when faced with creatures and spirits like the ones in Larson Mansion, the blond haired unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. could certainly see why he sounded terrified of what was to come.
Suddenly, as Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy and Kelly Larson watched creatures that would belong more in a nightmare then in real life, everything that currently was in the house seemed to become much clearer. The gang of young sleuths and their newfound friend had stunned looks on each of their faces as they watched two spectral beings enter the living room, one each from either portion of said room.
The first spectral being had the appearance of a well dressed woman, with dark brown hair, a dark blue dress and blue heels. While the second spectral being had the appearance of a well dressed businessman, also with dark brown hair, wearing a pinstriped business suit, dark grey slacks, and brown loafers.
To Scooby Doo and his friends, these beings looked like phantoms or ghosts, at least on the surface. But deep down, they knew that these beings wanted their heads, or at least wanted to get rid of them in any way possible; the two specters looked to also have smiles on their faces, which perplexed Mystery Inc., although maybe this was a sign of things to come for them, or maybe not.
What did these specters want? Why were they in the living room in the first place? Why were they smiling, and why were they haunting Scooby Doo and his friends anyway?
Those questions would all soon be answered, although maybe the cowardly Great Dane sleuth and his friends might not want them answered. Because the answers they were going to get could very well lead to all of their retirements as detectives, or something much, much worse: their deaths.
Author's Notes: I couldn't really think of much to say here, but the story will get resolved in the next couple of chapters I can promise that. Although believe it or not, I think I typed this chapter up in like two or three days; I guess it was because the weather where I live was nice and sunny this weekend, that might be what caused that to happen, or maybe not.
Anyway, I have a few things in store for Scooby Doo and his friends in the last couple chapters of this fan fic. And possibly some surprises as well; all I can tell you is to keep checking out my account and see what I post. Oh, and I'm working on other fan fics as well, believe me I have a wealth of ideas that I haven't gotten to yet, although I will definitely work on them soon.