The End | {BOOK 5}

21| Haunted Cartoon

We met up with the boys inside Cousin Simple's room. He was lying in his bed, and Daphne reached out to touch him. There was a 'squishy' sound when she made contact.

"Oh, no!" she cried.

"Wait, wait, wait," Dean said. "No, the dummy bodies don't show up until later."

I knelt next to the bed, touching Cousin Simple's body.

"Dean, this isn't a dummy. This is blood."

I held up my hand, showing the blood covering my palm. Pulling back the blanket revealed several pools of blood around the body.

"He's- he's dead. Like- like, really, actually, dead," Sam stated in surprise.

"Jinkies!" Velma cried.

"Jeepers!" Daphne added.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy chimed in.

"Ruh roh!" Scooby joined.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean finished.

There was a beat, and then Fred grinned happily.

"Well, Gang, it looks like we've got another mystery on our hands!"

"Are you kidding me, Fred?" Sam asked. "Dude, someone's dead. A little respect."

"Yeah, Fred," Dean added. "He can be such a jerk."

He leaned closer to Daphne and I rolled my eyes.

"Right, Daphne?"

"Not really," she replied.

She and Fred exited the room.

"Nice nightgown, by the way," I smirked at Dean.

"It's a sleeping robe!"

"We should look for evidence..." Velma addressed Shaggy, Scooby and Sam.

"Huh?!" Scooby asked her.

"Like fingerprints or fluids."

"Uh huh!"

"Fluids?" Sam echoed.

Velma, Shaggy and Scooby left the room, heading after Fred and Daphne.

"Dude, this is not the way things went down in the episode," Dean hissed, grabbing the front of Sam's jacket. "I remember everything that happened in Scooby Doo and no one ever got stabbed in the back and ended up in a pool of their own blood."

We all looked over at the body that was covered back up in the blanket.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay," Sam nodded. "Um, so, if that guy can die for real in this cartoon, that means we can, too."

"It doesn't matter if we die. Scooby Doo could die! And that's not happening, not on my watch! I'd take a bullet for that dog."

"Yeah, okay, dear," I told him.

We headed over to join the Scooby Gang, the room dark except for the occasional flash of lightning.

"There has to be a logical explanation for what's going on," Velma was pointing out.

"Besides a ghost hunting us down to collect an inheritance?" Shaggy queried.

"Yeah, what he said," Scooby chimed in.

"What would a ghost need with money?" Daphne asked.

"Precisely," Velma nodded. "And besides, there's no such thing as ghosts."

As she talked, Velma moved around the room, passing in front of a large window. Through it, lightning continued to flash, illuminating the silhouette of a man approaching.