Scooby Doo! Meet Ellie Machine

Epilogue

I entered the empty house I used to call home. They had long since removed the body of my father, though no one bothered to remove the blood stains on the tile.

Fred had just left town yesterday, with only the clothes on his back, some cash, and his stuffed teddy bear, Mr. Trapples. Before leaving, though, he said I was welcome to stay at his house.

After his and Daphne's discussion by the cliff, Daphne didn't want anything to do with mystery solving... or me. She kicked me out, before I could even tell her about my father. In this moment, the only person who knew was Fred. I hadn't seen Shaggy since we unmasked Mayor Jones, not even to see him off to military school.

I felt bad for not seeing him. But I couldn't face him. I couldn't face losing the love of my life, and my best friend. All in one day, I lost everything.

I looked to the blood stains on the floor, right by the front door. Someone needed to clean it up. I walked to the kitchen and got out the cleaning supplies, knelt by the puddle of dried blood, and started scrubbing.

I had been asked to identify the body, as a formality. When the coroner pulled the sheet over the body, I didn't react. I didn't have any emotion left. But he was covered in scratch marks, and his eyes had been gouged out, though the cause of death had been blunt force trauma. I only knew one person sick enough for that... Professor Pericles.

His funeral had been last Friday, the day before Fred left. He had stood with me as we lowered the casket into the ground, next to my mother's grave. It was said in his will that was what he wanted.

At the thought of my mother, I shuddered. She was still a mystery to me. All I knew was that she knew too much, and that's why they all had to leave. On a certain level, I was angry at her for that. If she wasn't so damn smart, we wouldn't be in this mess.

I looked down at the blood. I hadn't even sprayed it, so the dried blood coming up.

A sudden flash of rage went through me, and I let out a scream. I threw the sponge in my hand, and I kicked the bucket out of my way. As I screamed, hot tears poured from my face.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that I had to grow up without a mother, it wasn't fair that I had to lose my friends, and my boyfriend, and my father all in one day, it...

It. Wasn't. Fair.

I lost everything that made me happy.

I looked towards the liquor cabinet my father had stocked full. I approached it and grabbed a random bottle. It was whiskey. I opened the bottle and sniffed it. The scent of alcohol filled my nose. With a shrug, I took a swig.

It burned my mouth, and I fought to spit it out, but I muscled through it and swallowed. I panted slightly, more tears filling my eyes. But then I felt a warmth in my chest. It was a sensation I had only felt a few times before, when I was truly happy.

Memories of Shaggy and Scooby and the gang filled my head, and I smiled. I smiled for the first time in a week.

But soon the warmth was gone. I wanted it back.

I took another swig, this one going down easier. Even more, clearer memories filled my head.

Celebrating Fred's birthday at his house; he had set up traps around his birthday cake, and the ones to get to it first got the first slice. Shaggy and Scooby won it by a landslide.

The warmth left again, and I took another, bigger sip of the whiskey.

When Shaggy got Scooby; I remember the strange, gangly kid from my kindergarten class walking around with a dog that was up to his shoulder, and thinking, 'wow, that kid is so cool to have a dog in school!'... That's how we became friends.

Tears filled my eyes as I took a couple of more sips.

Getting ready at Daphne's house for the eighth-grade dance. She was so excited and dancing around, and perfecting everything because she was going with Fred, the tallest kid in their grade. This was before Shaggy's growth spurt.

I let out a sob. I hadn't realized I was crying. I took the whiskey bottle and walked into the living room. I looked at my dad's chair, and sat in it, crying harder than before. My hands shook, and I could barely hold the bottle. After one more sip, I set it on the ground, and curled up in my dad's chair.

Our movie nights filled my head, and how he would hold me when a scary scene came up in a horror movie, or how he would laugh at a comedy. Movie nights used to be my favorite.

There was suddenly a knock on the door. I jumped up, picking up the bottle of whiskey and taking another sip, and I went to answer the door. I frowned when I almost lost my footing but didn't bother. I opened the door.

Velma stood there; her arms crossed. Her eyes widened at my appearance. "Ellie?" she asked, shocked. I smiled, and I hugged her tightly. "I missed you Velma," I said. She pushed me away. "Have you been drinking?" she asked in a furious shock. I looked at her, confused. Why was she the one that was mad?

"Yeah? So what?" I asked. "Well, drinking is terrible for you at your age, and you're underage, so it's illegal," she emphasized 'illegal' but I chose to ignore it. Instead, I chuckled. "Who cares?" I asked with an over dramatic shrug. I turned and walked deeper into the house.

"Velma, I lost Shaggy, and Scooby, and Fred, and Daphne, and now my father," I called to her, pointing to the dried pool of blood I had tried to clean. She gasped. "Ellie, what happened?" she exclaimed.

"Oh, that's right," I said and took a swig as I turned around. "Yeah, Pericles killed my dad, like, the night we arrested that Jones guy. Y'all already left except Fred, so he helped me plan the funeral and bury him," I said, smiling. Fred was so sweet.

"So, you're on your own?" Velma asked. "Yep!" I said happily. "No rules, no family, no friends, I'm free as a bird to do whatever I want. So, I started with a nice big drink because who cares? Who's going to tell me 'no'? What future am I preparing for? There's nothing for me out there," I ranted to her.

"I can tell you 'no,'" she said. "No, nuh-uh," I snapped, pointing to her as I drank some more. "You're the reason we lost Daphne at least. She kicked me out. She wants nothing to do with us, 'cause you wanted Angel to tell her little secret. I wanted to tell anyways, but noooo 'give her the benefit of the doubt' and all that bull," I ranted. "You're the last person who gets to tell me what to do."

Her eyes welled up with tears. "Oh, hey, no, no," I said softly, swinging my arm around her. "Don't cry. Here, have a drink," I said holding the bottle of whiskey to her.

She pushed me away. "No, I will not have a drink with you! Come stay with me for a while, Ellie, my family and I can help you," she offered.

I scoffed and drank. "What, with sage burnings and spell chanting?" I asked, rather harshly but hey, I said what I said.

"We can give you a home," she said. "I don't need a home," I told her. I gestured around the house. "This is mine! I get to live here. My father left it to me in the will, and Destroido is paying for it. How sweet is that?" I asked.

Then, I picked up a lamp. "So, I get to do things like this," I started, and threw the lamp at the wall. "... and Destroido pays for it."

Velma sighed and shook her head, taking a few steps back. "Ellie, you're going to a dark place. I get that you're grieving. Let me help you," she said again.

I sighed. "Don't you get it? I don't need help!" I yelled at her now, drinking again. "Well, I refuse to be a part of your downward spiral," she said with a sigh, and backed up some more. "My offer will still stand. You can always come stay with me and my family. Think about it," she said, and she walked to the door.

"I'm sorry about your dad," she said, and left. I glared after her and drank some more whiskey. Then, I threw the bottle at the door she just walked out of. "Screw you!"

I felt the rage consume me, and before I knew what I was doing, the couch pillows were all over the floor, more lamps were broken, and the couch was tipped over.

After my rage fit, I was panting, and I sat in my dad's chair again.

Then, I fell asleep as more tears fell from my eyes, curled up in my dad's spot, knowing he won't come back, but wishing he would. Wishing they all would.