Note: I'm so sorry that this isn't a good story! I tried to get some rest but it definitely backfired. So instead, I find myself once again exhausted and typing whatever thoughts pop into my head.

Chapter 6 A New Damsel in Distress

The next day, without the knowledge of anyone else, Fred snuck back to the empty mansion. He didn't like the thought of putting any other member of his team in harm's way, so he had decided to come alone and try to solve the mystery. He carefully slipped the key in the lock and entered the house. The floorboards were creaking upstairs and Fred quietly crept up to see who was there. He looked in the room that seemed to be the source of the noise and saw something that made him breath a sigh of relief.

It was Stephen Marks, alive, and tied up. Fred walked over, prepared to untie him, when he was struck abruptly in the back of the head. As soon as he regained conciousness, Fred found himself bound just like Stephen, who was squirming around right next to him.

Standing before them was the specter, holding a sharp, shining knife.

Fred gulped. This was exactly why he didn't want anyone else to be here: this phantom was insane. It was going to kill him.

Meanwhile, Daphne was growing more anxious by the second. This was the same feeling she'd gotten when Fred had been kidnapped at the old lighthouse last month. Daphne paced up and down in her room as she dialed Fred's number on her phone and prayed that he would pick up.

Luckily he did.

"Fred Jones," she shouted, "you'd better tell me where you are right now!"

There was no answer. Instead, there was the sound of cloth being moved around and Daphne assumed that Fred had accidentally answered the phone while it was still in his pocket. Obviously he wasn't aware that she was listening in, but she decided to keep eavesdropping and make sure that everything was okay with him.

"What are you going to do to me?" Fred asked to someone else in the room. This mystery person obviously frightened him.

"Exactly what I'd said I'd do to anyone who continued to trespass," the other person answered. Daphne recognized the voice immediately as that of the phantom that had been haunting Marks' house.

She hung up the phone, having heard enough, and ran to her car, freaking out slightly. She called Velma.

"Hey, Daphne, what's up?" Velma asked.

"Fred's in trouble," she blurted out, sounding hysterical. "Velma, we have to go help him. He went down to Marks' house by himself and got caught by the ghost. It's going to kill him. We have to go there now! We have to save him."

"Daph, take a deep breath." Daphne followed these instructions. "Okay, now I'll go grab Shaggy and Scooby and we'll meet you over there. Don't worry, we'll save Fred."

Daphne hung up and choked on a sob. She fought against the tears that were threatening to spill out, but it was pointless. In mere minutes, she was crying so hard that it was almost impossible to see the road in front of her. Fred, you stupid idiot, she thought. Why'd you have to go endangering yourself like that? Almost immediately she knew the answer: it was to protect the rest of them.

"Fred, why do you have to be so perfect?" she asked bitterly as though he could hear her. "If that phantom doesn't kill you before we get there, I will. How could you make me go through this?"

She reached down and held the charm hanging from her necklace, recalling what he had said when he gave it to her.

"...I just thought that this necklace was kind of a reminder that I'll always be here for you, whenever you need me. So next time you get kidnapped by a ghost, just look down at that charm and know I'm doing everything I can to get you back."

Daphne sighed and then laughed humorlessly. "Now I guess it's my turn to save the damsel in distress."