It's just like in my dream, Velma thought, lying on her beach towel in the heat of the sun.
In front of her, Daphne and Fred were hitting a large beach ball from a shop on the beach back and forth. The light wind kept blowing it off course, and Velma giggled as Fred lunged for it and fell face-first into the sand. The ball bounced away to a group of English girls in bikinis, who caught it and threw it back at Daphne as Fred sat up and rubbed sand out of his eyes. Daphne called thanks, and then ran back to Fred as one of the girls started eyeing him up. Velma laughed at Daphne's face- she had to admit, the two of them were a strange pair!
Velma pulled a book out of the beach bag next to her, but put it down after five minutes. The sun was so soothing, and she started feeling sleepy… so sleepy…
"What is your name?"
Velma started. She was suddenly standing on this same beach in the caressing moonlight. The beach was deserted, save for her and another girl.
She gasped as the girl turned and faced her.
A scintillating blue sundress, floating in a light wind… Thick, fluttering chestnut hair… Blue eyes flecked with grey, placid and piercing at the same time… Slightly tanned, porcelain-like skin, flawless and tranquil…
Velma felt a strange sense of déjà vu looking at the girl, as though she had seen her before in the dream of a dream.
Or as someone else…
"V-Velma."
"Velma. I have something I must ask you to do…
"Come back here at three in the morning tomorrow. I will show you something, but while I have the chance, I will explain something that you have been puzzling over… Your friend's absence last night.
"I called him from his bed, at around five past three. I asked him to come to me, on this beach, which he did. I believe he fell on the stairs, causing those bruises you noted. I tried to show him something, the thing I must show someone, but I could not. I ran out of time and had no choice but to leave him alone on the beach.
"I ask that you come here for three in the morning, to ensure that the same thing does not happen twice. I am bound by strict rules, but I can show you what I must show someone within those rules…
"Just come at the appointed time, and make sure you are there. Oh, and while I'm here…"
She smiled at Velma, a beautiful smile not just so because of her radiant beauty.
"The beach is ten times better in the moonlight."
Suddenly Velma jolted awake, looking up into a slightly cloudy but overall blue sky. Daphne walked over, shaking sand and water out of her hair.
"You've been asleep for ages! Have a nice time? We're going back to the hotel, Freddy's beat, even though he's saying he's not, and I want to take another look at his bruises. I wonder how he got them?"
Velma was about to say, but caught herself just in time.
"Maybe he was working on the Mystery Machine; you know how he tends to get some kind of injury when he's fixing it."
Daphne laughed.
"Oh yes… Well, are you coming? Shaggy and Scooby are, they tried the all-you-can-eat offer at one of the beach stands…"
Velma glanced up and saw the figures of a lanky boy and a dog running across the sand being chased by a plump man in an apron.
"They do tend to over-eat…"
Velma hurriedly collected her things and stuffed them in the beach bag. Daphne's eyes narrowed: Velma was normally much more careful with her things.
"Uh, is something wrong, Velma?"
Velma shook her head, but as she walked back to the hotel her mind was filled with images.
The beautiful girl on the beach… Fred looking away determinedly this morning… Daphne's confusion at her scrappy packing…
Velma sighed and put the beach bag on her shoulder, walking back to the hotel with the same air of being preoccupied that Fred had had this morning.
She was abruptly pulled out of it when she walked into a sign saying "Welcome to New Elounda Bay".
"Ow!"
Daphne helped her up and picked up her glasses, which had fallen to the floor.
"You're like Freddy now! Just promise you won't go out at three in the morning as well!"
Velma laughed, but inside she thought, Better not… That's not a promise I can keep.