Author Note: Hey guys, I'm back! I know I said I would be taking a break from longer, more nuanced stories, but I miss it. I will say that I probably won't update more than once a week, but I will try to commit to uploading at the same time each week, at least once a week. I'm really excited for this next story, and I can't wait to see what you all think!
Some notes before beginning:
- This will focus on the first person perspective of each member of the gang; in other words, each chapter after the prologue will be told in alternating viewpoints. The chapter will be titled after whoever is narrating the story.
- This story is told in succession of my previous three stories. You don't necessarily need to read the other ones, but it does help if you have because I may reference them from time to time.
- In that vein, the ships are going to be Fred x Daphne (my OTP always) and Shaggy x Velma. I have really enjoyed experimenting with Shelma in my previous one-shot, and wanted to expand on that here.
- On a more fun note, I have a Tumblr now! It is dedicated to discussing and posting all things Scooby Doo. For some reason the doc manager keeps erasing the link, but my URL name is xxiamaclichexx. I'll post the link in my author profile, too. If you want to ask me questions regarding my fanfiction here or just check it out to view the fun Scooby memes and whatnot, that would be great!
And I think that is everything! I hope you enjoy the prologue. It begins similarly to "Of Monsters and Meddling Kids," which establishes the mystery before we meet the gang, and it is modeled off the formulaic structure of the SD franchise. I look forward to hearing your thoughts as you read along! - iamacliche
Chapter 1: Prologue
The sun sunk lower and lower above Coolsville, appearing as though it melted against the sky with vibrant swirls of tangerine and scarlet shades. Consequently, daylight was fading away, but nine-year-old Lilly didn't mind; she liked how the streetlights began to twinkle on as the darkness slowly blanketed around her while she chased her friend, Holly, through the streets. As the daylight waned, the two girls were threading their way through the streets of Coolsville; Holly was kicking her soccer ball with control and precision, and occasionally, she would pass it to Lilly, who would swoop towards the ball eagerly, but never managed to manipulate the ball with the same skill and confidence as her friend. No matter how quickly Lilly jumped towards the ball when Holly dribbled it to her, she almost always missed it, and the ball would clamber into a neighbor's bush or against the passenger door of a car parked in the street. Every time Lilly missed the ball, she felt her cheeks flame with embarrassment. It was no secret that everyone at school thought Holly was better of the two girls at everything, and lately, it was beginning to grate against Lilly's self-esteem. Even though she genuinely enjoyed being friends with Holly, she wanted to prove that she too could be the best at something, but at this rate, it appeared that soccer was off the list for Lilly.
Holly and Lilly wound their way down Holly's street, which looped past Coolsville Elementary School, which was where they both studied. Both girls' parents restricted Holly and Lilly from moving any further down the street since they were still young; plus, everyone who lived in Coolsville knew that while Coolsville was mostly safe, "things" could still happen at any given moment. Coolsville was often a host for mysteries and criminals for reasons that no one had yet to understand. However, Mystery Incorporated were often quick to solve the cases, so for the most part, people felt safe and secure, and they even celebrated the teen sleuths as mini celebrities. Lilly and her mom had even met Shaggy Rogers and Scooby Doo at a fast food burger joint just outside of town back when Lilly was in the first grade, and everyone in her class had oozed with jealousy when she reproduced the waxy, dirtied burger wrapper that Scooby had slobbered and eaten off of, and which Lilly had quickly and boldly extracted from the garbage can as proof of meeting the duo. Even though Lilly's mom was one of the many Coolsville civilians who felt safe amongst Mystery Inc., she still had a strict rule for allowing her daughter to play much past the city's limits.
That's why when the girls reached the confines of the school, both stopped and began to turn around so that they could race back down the street, retracing the path they had just run. Holly paused, and eyeing Lilly, she arched her leg back and kicked the ball, causing it to sail in a perfect arc towards Lilly. Lilly narrowed her eyes, focused and concentrated as the ball hurled towards her. She leaned back on her ankles, prepared this time to show her friend that she was capable of being just as talented, and as the ball fell towards Lilly she jumped and swung her leg, but her feet missed connecting with the ball by a mere few inches. Dejected, Lilly eyed the ball as it rolled down the street, away from the street and closer and closer to the woods that surrounded the school.
As the ball rolled and bounced through the grass, Lilly and Holly pursued it, with Lilly closest to the ball and Holly just a few feet behind. When the ball finally stopped to rest against a tree on the outskirts of the woods, Lilly dribbled it between her feet for a minute, pausing to peer between the trees. She could hear Holly panting as she attempted to catch her breath from behind.
"Lilly!" Holly called out sharply. "Maybe we should just go home now. It's getting dark, and my mom's gonna want me home soon. Plus, we have school tomorrow!"
Lilly knew that Holly was right, and that Lilly's mom would most likely want her home, too. Whenever something scary or unusual did happen in Coolsville, it was typically at night, and even though Lilly's mom had the mindset that nothing would happen to her and her family, she still required Lilly to be home by the time it was dark outside, just to be safe. But this time was different; how was she supposed to prove to Holly that she was good at soccer too if she hadn't even made contact with the ball yet? She didn't want to go home before she had proven herself to her friend.
"But it isn't too dark yet!" Lilly spread her hands around her to indicate that the two girls still had some daylight, even though she had to admit that it was becoming darker and darker; she had to squint just to see Holly as they had been running through the street. "And besides, I wanna hit the soccer ball just once when you kick it to me!"
"Maybe you aren't gonna hit it, Lilly! We'll be out here all night because you can't hit the ball," Holly cried as she kicked at a blade of grass absentmindedly.
Lilly's cheeks felt warm, which always happened when someone at school said something mean about her and she felt angry or hurt. "Are you saying I suck?!" Lilly screeched, stabbing an accusatory finger at her friend.
Holly shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "Well, you haven't exactly hit it yet, right?"
Lilly's nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed as she folded her arms across her chests defiantly. "Well, I'll show you then!" she retorted. Without warning, she took a running step towards the ball and kicked it with a mighty swing, fusing all of her anger and frustration into that one kick. To the astonishment of both girls, the ball sailed into the air and hurtled quickly down the street, but it flew up the road and past the restricted boundaries that both girls' parents had forbidden the girls to cross.
Holly casted a glare at her friend, and she huffed, "Great! Now you've done it- we aren't allowed to go past the school, and my ball is going to be lost forever!"
Normally Lilly would have apologized and offered to walk home with Holly, but she was still embarrassed and hurt from Holly's remark earlier, and she still wanted to prove that she was capable of being good at something, too. Lilly eyed the ball as it rolled further and further down the street, and she laughed at Holly, who's eyes were beginning to brim with tears.
"What are you, chicken?" Lilly mocked. "I'm no scaredy cat! I'm going to go after that ball. I don't know why you're so worried about some stupid rule, anyway; nothing is gonna happen to us just for going past the school!"
Without waiting for a reaction from her friend, Lilly took off, her sneakers squishing against the grass as she ran. She could hear Holly running and begging her from somewhere behind her as she ran, and Lilly grinned. "Good," Lilly thought. "Let her chase me; I'll show her that I don't suck at anything!"
The girls followed the ball as it flew down the street. Lilly felt her blonde hair swing back and forth in its ponytail as she neared the ball, and everytime the ball would reduce speed, she would kick it, causing it to roll further and further down the road and farther and farther away from the girls' restricted play areas. By now, the daylight had dissipated, causing the evening darkness to swallow up Lilly and Holly as they chased the ball through the city. Occasionally, Holly would shoot a string of insults to Lilly when she would kick the ball, but mostly Holly would cry and beg Lilly to stop before the two found themselves in trouble with their parents. Sometimes Holly would attempt to interject the ball before Lilly could kick it further away, but the running was causing her to tire, and Lilly always managed to beat her too it first. "Finally, I'm better at Holly in something!" Lilly marveled to herself.
When the girls finally found themselves outside of the suburbs of Coolsville, they paused, doubled over with exhaustion and puffing from the effort of chasing each other and the ball. Lilly felt the sweat pooling down her back and on her forehead, and she wiped her wrist across her face to stop the sweat from stinging and beading in her eyes. Holly marched over to Lilly and aggressively ripped the ball out of her hands.
"Great! Look what you did, Lilly!" Holly shrilled. "We're so far from where we are allowed to play! My mom is gonna freak!"
"Relax, Holly," Lilly sneered. "She doesn't have to find out. We'll just hurry up and go home from here."
The girls turned towards the street wordlessly and began walking. Since both were too tired to continue kicking the soccer ball, Holly tucked it underneath her arm. As they walked, the two began talking about how they dreaded waking up for school the next day, and their previous arguments and disagreements had already been forgotten.
As Lilly was speaking about how she really, really didn't like a boy named Carl in their class after he had dismantled Lilly's art project, Holly put her arm on her friend's shoulder to silence her and pointed towards a car parked in the street. "Hey, I don't remember passing that car while we were running, and it looks weird," Holly said.
It was true; the midnight black 2017 impala was in rough shape, and Lilly also could not recall passing it when she and Holly had been running earlier. The car was covered in crater sized dents, as though a giant had smashed it with his fists. Additionally, the front of the car was steaming, which was evident from the mist that wafted out from underneath the hood. Lilly squinted, attempting to see if anyone was sitting in the front seat and had been hurt, but it appeared vacant. She took a timid step towards the vehicle, but Holly grabbed her by the shoulders, causing Lilly to stop in the middle of the street.
"What are you doing?!" Holly hissed. "My mom always says to stay away from strangers!"
"But I'm not even going to talk to anyone!" Lilly pointed out. "Besides, what if someone got hurt in a car accident? I'm just going to look inside and make sure everyone is okay."
"Maybe we should just find an adult and tell them what we found, Lil," Holly said. "I don't like this."
Lilly's laugh sounded acidic as she eyed her friend's pale face and trembling hands. "What are you, chicken again?" Lilly said. "C'mon, I'm gonna see what's inside that car!"
Lilly stepped briskly towards the car, leaving Holly rooted in place somewhere behind her. "Fine," Lilly thought. "Let the scaredy cat stay there. I'm gonna tell everyone how I found this car tomorrow in school, and when they hear how Holly was too scared, then I'll finally be better at her in something!"
As Lilly neared the car, her imagination ran rampant imagining various scenarios of what she would find inside. Maybe a bank robber had crashed the car into a tree, and she would find a suitcase full of money tucked in the back seat. Then she would be a mystery solver, like Mystery Inc., and maybe she could even be on the news and be interviewed like the gang were after they had solved a case. Her heart raced and she smiled subconsciously, but when she found herself standing beside the driver's door, her palms began to sweat for no reason, and she swiped them against her thighs. She could hear Holly screaming at her to stop, but she didn't care; she needed to be the one to open the door and find the stolen suitcase full of money. Lilly grasped the door knob and yanked it open, surprised when it opened without resistance. She was about to spin on her heel and gesture towards Holly that she had found nothing, but her neck began to tingle and her heart began to gallop in her chest when her eyes fell upon something in the passenger seat of the car.
"What!? What did you find?" Holly asked, as she watched Lilly from across the street.
Lilly opened her mouth as she stared into the passenger seat, but no words came out; she felt as though she was in this recurring nightmare she had where a ghost was chasing her and no words would come out of her throat, no matter how hard she gasped and yelled.
"Lilly? Are you okay?" Holly asked.
But Lilly couldn't even begin to convey the chilling scene that was before her; she could feel the blood draining from her face, and tears began to stream down her eyes. She felt her heart hammering in her chest and her ears began ringing and it felt as though the world around her was tilting and spinning, and no matter how much she squeezed her eyes shut, she couldn't erase the image before her from her mind, and Holly was screaming and crying to Lilly, but Lilly felt as though her cries were emitted from miles and miles away, and all Lilly could do to reply to Holly was slam the car door and run down the street, emitting a bloodcurdling scream that could be heard throughout the surrounding neighborhoods of Coolsville as she raced home.