Despite being uncharacteristically scared out of her wits, Melissa managed to avoid Beau in her mad dash to get as far away from the zombie as she could. Shaggy and Scooby, however, weren't so lucky. Crashing into the sweat-soaked gardener they knocked him down.
"Like, are we glad to see you," Shaggy panted, sprawled over the man's legs.
"What are you doing out here? Ruining more of my flowerbeds?"
Clutching her sides in an attempt to get her breath, Melissa circled back intent on apologizing again.
"If you want to plant something there's like, a dead guy following us," Shaggy exclaimed, getting to his feet.
"Reah, read guy," Scooby agreed.
"Dead-where? I don't see anything"
The bushes started to rustle making the group pause, breath caught in their throats only to sigh in relief when the rest of the gang, Simone and Lena stepped into view.
"What's going on guys?" Velma asked in concern, "We could hear you screaming all the way to the house"
"Oh, it's you guys," Shaggy practically melted with relief, Melissa had to hold him upright, "Like it was terrible, that pirate Moonscar was nothing but bones then, then he got worse like a zombie!"
Scooby mimed a demo crashing against Velma dramatically.
"Melissa?" Daphne turned expectantly.
"They aren't kidding"
"Where did all this happen?"
"Come on," Melissa took a calming breath, "We'll show you"
...
"Well," Fred declared kneeling on the edge of the giant square hole, "There's nothing here now, are you sure you saw a zombie?"
"Gee Fred, I dunno," Melissa rubbed her chin, "We were chased by a wailing madman with skin falling off his bones what do you think?"
"Reeked of reath," Scooby added.
"Then Scoob and I ran into him," Shaggy pointed to the ever-stoic Beau.
Velma spun on her heel, "What were you doing out here?"
"My job! I was doing some planting went to get a drink and came backm to find these two"
"What are you planting? Elephants?" Velma snarked, "That hole is huge!"
Muttering angrily, Beau stalked away.
"There's something suspisious about that gardner"
Not really, Melissa crept to the edge of the group. Horrible scare aside she was still itching to explore.
"If we're all through here, maybe we should get going?" Fred glanced at the sky.
"Get going? No way, this place gets more interesting by the minute"
"But it is getting close to sunset and the ferry doesn't run at night," Simone warned.
"We do!" Shaggy gulped.
"We have plenty of rooms, you could stay for the night"
"Really?"
"I couldn't let you leave without offering some of our famous southren hospitaity, that is, if Lena doesn't mind some extra guests"
"Sure thing, Miss Lenoir, I'll start dinner," Lena turned to head back to the house.
"Rinner?"
"Why didn't you say so?"
Fred pulled the van to the front of the house so that they could unload their luggage. Bags in hand, Lena showed them to their rooms. All were nice abelt, dated looking. Velma was first, then the boys, Fred, Daphne and finally her. Once Melissa was left alone she flung open her suitcase and grabbed her coat out of it.
"Is it warm? Yes! Am I going to sweat wearing this? Yes! Do I want to be incredibly nosy? Yes!" she talked to herself as she pulled on the leather duster, tied her scarf around her neck, and made sure her hat was secure. It might have been overkill but she was her mother's daughter and had learned to always be prepared.
Opening the door she slunk through the hall, and downstairs unheard or noticed. That's odd, some of the steps sounded strange. Crouching, she noticed a thin separation, A door? But because it was the central staircase she couldn't open it without being noticed so she pressed on slipping outside. She didn't have very long to explore maybe an hour and a half so she had to be quick. The landscaping had been cleaned up, all was still except for the legion of cats, some of which she noticed had notable defects. They're inbred, poor things.
The island was spookily still, pin-drop quiet, the sun continuing to sink below the horizon. Melissa snapped a few pictures, of cats, odd-looking trees, and the sun wandering until.
"Huh?"
There was a grate in the ground. A small, circular grate before her but she had a thing for squeezing through small entrances. It was a brittle-looking thing that popped into her hands with ease, setting it aside she repelled into the mysterious space finding an ancient seeming cave. Unlit torches waited on the wall on either side of a large cat statue in front of which was a weathered table with objects she could't place. Directly below her was a stone dial with the lunar cycle carved into it.
Strange. Hanging in the air, she snapped some pictures before dropping to the ground. On either side of there was a connecting tunnel that led to someplace else on the island but it was the door that caught her attention, grabbing a flashlight she embarked down the dark tunnel path. Above the sounds of the outside were replaced by steps, rustling curtains, and the creak of floors.
I'm under the house, the stairs!
With that mystery solved, she went back the way she came, closing up the grate behind her in time to see the group of bully cats scamper by.
"Mew"
"Oh, poor kitty"
A kitten, a scrawny gray kitten with no back legs trembled under the nearby brush. It hissed as she picked it up.
"Hey, it's alright, I'm not going to hurt you"
The cat blinked its blue eyes at her before contentedly purring. With the utmost care, Melissa settled the tiny underfed thing into an empty pocket and hurried back to the house, creeping up a back staircase and into her guest room.
"Let's get you taken care of, hmm?"
...
Meanwhile, in their room, Scooby rested his front legs on the windowsill watching an owl curiously. Behind him, Shaggy opened his suitcase. Identical green shirts are lovingly packed in neat rows. On top of these was Christina's old stuffed dragon. With a soft smile, Shaggy picked it up, careful of the loose stitching he pressed it to his cheek, inhaling the rosy scent of Christina's perfume before setting the toy on the bed.
"Maybe I should dress for dinner, eh, scoob?"
Outside the howl hooted.
"Like me that's who"
Scooby wasn't paying attention, instead, he mimicked the owl perched in the tree. First by licking his leg, then by forcing his eyes wide as he could, and finally he tried to rotate his head with no luck. Instead, he clapped his paws on either side of his head staring blankly at Shaggy.
"I could sure use a trim," Shaggy decided looking at himself in the mirror, "Much better,"
"GET AWAY" a ghost in a Confederate soldier uniform wailed reaching toward them menacingly.
YIKES,"
"GET AWAY!"
Spooked the boys bounded across the hall, barging into Fred's room and leaping into his arms. Caught by surprise, Fred staggered into the hallway where he fell causing Shaggy and Scooby to crash on top of Simone. Drawing the attention of the others.
"Get this beast off of me!" Simone ordered harshly, face scrunched in disgust at the sight of Scooby.
"We're terribly sorry," Fred apologized.
"Reah, rorry,"
Simone waved the dane way as Fred helped her to her feet.
"Fred! What on earth on you doing?" Daphne demanded at the same time Melissa asked, "Are you okay, boys?"
"Scooby and Shaggy-" Fred fumbled to explain.
"S ANOTHER GHOST!" Shaggy shakily opened the door to their room shielding his eyes fearfully, "In here"
"I don't see anything," Daphne replied glancing around the room.
"In the mirror its like, some civil war guy"
"There's nothing in the mirror now guys," Fred declared.
"There's nothing behind the mirror either," Velma ran her hands along either side, "Wait a minute," she crouched behind the antique, "There's something under this dust," she blew it away, making Scooby sneeze and Velma fall against the wall, glasses askew.
"Rorry"
"That's okay Scooby, hmm, seem to have lost my eyeglass cleaning cloth"
Scooby took the glasses from her, cleaning them with his tail.
"Thanks Scooby, hey look at this, Property of Conial Jackson T Pettigrew 8th Loudiana, that sounds like civil war regiment"
"There were confederate barracks on this island," Simone admitted.
"Maybe you guys saw something after all"
"Ghost pritates, ghost soilders, what's next?"
"Dinner" Lena chipperily announced from the doorway, "Judging by all the screamin' up here I think you two must be starvin'"
Their terror was instantly forgotten. After all, it couldn't get any worse.
Could it?
...
I would've been contemplating running away at this point as a kid.
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