Chapter 11
"Mickey's Denial"
The prospect of possibly someone within the Disney Ranks being responsible for the hauntings at River Country seemed completely unbelievable to me. But, if Fred and Daphne had their suspicions, what was I to argue with them? Scooby and Shaggy, despite their own issues at times, never argued with them. When we arrived at Team Disney the next morning, we found an argument with the main mouse himself.
"Someone within my ranks is behind the hauntings at River Country?" Mickey asked as he took out a bottle of cheese spray from a cabinet in his office. "Highly unlikely, ha ha. I mean, who would want to jeopardize the culture of this company?"
"Mickey, we have every reason to believe that whoever is behind the hauntings must not want you to expand," Fred said. "I mean, the writing is on the wall."
"Look, ha ha, I'm sorry you got hurt, Ms. Blake, but Ranger Wordlow is a highly respectable employee. If he doesn't want to leave River Country, that's his problem, ha ha."
"Forget me," Daphne said in an annoyed voice, stepping forward and leaning on Mickey's desk. "What about the FBI agents dying from brain eating amoeba fighting those two kraken? One of them died last night and another died this morning."
Mickey didn't seem to care about the ones dying, just the bottom line.
"You know," Fred remarked. "I hate to say it, Mickey, but you aren't really the same mouse I grew up on or any of us grew up on."
"I'm a business mouse running an entire resort, ha ha, what do you expect me to do?" Mickey asked as he sprayed cheese spray on a breakfast sandwich he was eating.
"You could at least listen to what we are trying to say," I sighed. "I mean, what if there are more ghosts in other areas of the park? Like that Discovery Island for example?"
"Discovery Island? Ha ha, there's nothing but jungle over there. You wouldn't even make it through."
Just then, there was a knock at the door and in stepped Donald's girlfriend, Daisy Duck, dressed in a purple business suit.
"Um, Mickey?" Daisy asked as Shaggy and Scooby could only admire her looks. "Do you have a moment?"
"Do I look like I have a moment, Daisy?" Mickey remarked, forcing her to take notice of us. "Come back in a while, ha ha."
"But I need to approve your stories for What in the World?"
"What in the World?"
"It's our local news show, everyone who works at Disney World is required to watch it," Mickey answered. "Can't be an employee without knowing what the guest is going through in the real world, ha ha."
"Mickey, can you please approve? I've got to start filming in 10 minutes."
Taking the stack of papers, Mickey reviewed each and every one of them. Suddenly, he looked at one story that caught his eye, in a negative way.
"What's this?" he asked, looking at a particular story in question. "FBI Agents die fighting brain eating monsters at River Country? Are you trying to scare my employees, Daisy?"
This made Daisy incensed.
"Mickey, how many times must you do this to me? You know that we can't be in denial of all that is happening."
"What? What's going on here?" Shaggy asked, just as Scooby was about to start playing on a piano in Mickey's office. "What's this about scaring?"
"Nothing," Mickey answered hastily. "I don't want employees scared to the point of wanting to quit, ha ha. And get away from the piano!"
The high pitched squeal in Mickey's voice caused Scooby to back away from the piano.
"As far as the employees are concerned," Mickey continued, lowering his voice a little bit. "I want them to stay here, so I don't want any brainwashing of how we translate what goes on both in and out of this company, ha ha."
I could tell that both Daphne and Fred were incensed at how careless Mickey was being about the whole situation. Daphne could also start to feel nothing but sympathy for Daisy, being a reporter herself back in the day.
…
"Like, what is with that mouse?" Shaggy asked as we left Team Disney to return to River Country. "Why isn't he listening to what we are saying to him?"
"Reah," Scooby added. "Rhy Ron't Re Ret Re Ruse Rhis Riano?"
"Because he's possessive about his possessions, that's why," I said.
"Either way, if Mickey says that there are ghosts on Discovery Island, we should check it out," Fred declared. "I've got a hunch that maybe Discovery Island and River Country have one thing in common: they are abandoned, run down and haunted."
"Do you think we can get access?" I asked. "Because Discovery Island has been closed to the public for over 20 years."
That was the question going through Fred's mind and it was indeed a good question. How would we be able to get onto Discovery Island and make it part of our investigation? If there were spirits on Discovery Island, then both it and River Country are both connected in this investigation.
…
Soon, we arrived back at River Country where we saw Beau and Clarice standing at the entrance with a look of dismay on both of their faces.
"Beau, Clarice, what is it?" Fred asked. "What happened?"
"Another agent died this morning," Beau sighed. "Brain Eating Amoeba from those Kraken. That makes it 3 agents to die in the line of duty."
"Sorry, Beau," Daphne sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"That's all right, Daphne. How's your ribs?"
"Still painful, but I can't be kept off the investigation. The doctors wanted me to stay in the hospital, but Fred wouldn't let me."
But Fred quickly changed the subject.
"Guys, are you aware of any spiritual activity coming from Discovery Island?"
Both Beau and Clarice gave each other a pair of confused looks.
"Where?" Beau asked.
Both he and Clarice would find out soon enough.
…
