Scooby Doo! Meet Ellie Machine

The House of the Nightmare Witch (Part 2)

I gasped at what Scooby revealed. That's who she was on the phone with?

"Like, no way! Velma would never work for Mr. E. Would she?" Shaggy asked. I sighed but didn't say anything. "I don't know. People change. She was pretty mad at us for leaving her behind. But- what's that, Mr. Trapples?"

Fred held up his old teddy bear as though it was talking. I couldn't help another sigh at his antics but stayed quiet. Talking to Mr. Trapples was Fred's way of coping with losing the team. It's better than what I've been doing at least.

"Mr. Trapples thinks we should check it out, just to be sure," Fred said, standing up. Lead the way, Scoob," Fred told him, and the guys rushed out of the house. "Another car ride. Yippee," I muttered sarcastically, picked up the bear- because I know Fred was going to run back to get it- and followed them back to the van.

I climbed in with Scooby in the back and we took off back to the clearing. We each grabbed a flashlight and started making our way through the trees. "Hey, there's the liquid from the house! We should follow it," I said. "Good idea, Ellie. C'mon Mr. Trapples!" Fred exclaimed and led the way. I trailed behind a bit, keeping an eye out for the witch. I jumped when I realized Shaggy was right next to me.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to, like, scare you," he apologized. "Oh, uh, no worries," I told him. "So, uh, Mr. Trapples? How long has that been going on?" he asked with a light laugh. "That's always been a thing, but it's become worse in the past month. It's his way of coping, I think," I explained. "Makes sense," he said. "Yeah. Probably healthier than climbing into a bottle, too," I muttered sarcastically. Shaggy remained quiet at her remark. "Why alcohol?" he asked quietly. "Like, of all things, you went to alcohol."

I nodded. "Um, well when I came home after everything that happened, I saw this old bottle of whiskey my dad liked. It burned, a lot, and it took some getting used to. But I would drink and for some reason, I'd start thinking of you guys, and all these memories we had between us. And as I drank, they'd flood me. I guess I just wanted to relive the past and not think about the present or the future."

Shaggy remained quiet, and I couldn't even try to meet the gaze burning into the side of my head. "So," he started again. "You've been staying with Fred this whole time?"

I nodded. "He was with me at my dad's funeral. I tried Staying in my house at first, but I guess I get a little violent when I'm drunk because whenever he checked on me, something was broken, and I had bloody knuckles. I haven't been back in that house in about three weeks. And it's why Velma didn't reach out again."

Shaggy frowned. "What happened with Velma?"

I let out a humorless chuckle. "I'm surprised she didn't say anything. "She came to see me after we were in the cave. I had downed most of the bottle by then and was drunk off my ass, and like I said, I get violent when I'm drunk. I freaked her out so bad that she never came back. Now that I think about it actually, we haven't had a conversation since then either."

"Look over there!" Fred called from the front. Our attention snapped to the old Russian house surrounded by a shroud of trees. "Do you think they're in there?" I asked as the two of us caught up to Fred and Scooby. Scooby sniffed the air. "I smell hot dogs."

"Okay," Fred said with a nod. "They're here. Let's go in."

We all crept up on the house and managed to get inside where we saw Velma and Marcie huddling together, a familiar gold piece in Velma's hand.

"The third piece of the Planospheric disc. We found it," Velma had said. "Yeah. Too bad you won't be keeping it," Shaggy spoke up. We all stood at the door, glaring at her. Betrayal ran through me. I knew abandoning her and leaving was harsh, but turning to Mr. E.?