Darla's Camp Scare

chapter 8

Soon, they were all at the docks, Fred was of course, the only one really excited while Atticus and Mo tried to have supportive and encouraging smiles.

"Hey, campers," Fred greeted. "Who's ready to have fun?"

Luke gave a thumb's up as he was the only camper next to Darla who showed actual excitement.

"We're ready." Darla smiled.

Deacon used his inhaler while Trudy hid under her hood.

"Like, an extra hour of sleep sounds fun to us." Shaggy spoke up.

Scooby leaned against his shoulder, then his eyes widened. "I'm up, I'm up..."

"So, what's on the schedule?" Patch asked Fred.

"Okay, gang, here's the plan," Fred took out a clipboard. "An hour of canoeing, two hours of fishing, followed by a half hour of swimming!"

"In there?" Daphne gestured to the creek which looked very gross and sublime.

"Ugh, it's like when Hexxus tried to take over FernGully..." Cherry shuddered at the sight.

"We can't swim in there." Colette said.

"Hey, why don't we go up to Big Moose Lake?" Luke suggested. "That lake is sweet!"

"Oh, no," Fred dismissed. "Not Big Moose Lake. We can't go up there."

"Why not?" Trudy queried.

"Because Big Moose Lake is haunted." Fred replied to scare them.

"Oh, brother." Atticus rolled his eyes.

Of course, Shaggy and Scooby were the only ones really scared.

"I'm out." Shaggy said, about to leave.

"Wait a minute," Velma held him back. "How can a lake be haunted?"

"Yeah." Mo added.

"Many years ago, there was a camper named Neil Fisher," Fred began to explain. "The other kids picked on him all the time, so he spent most of his days swimming in Big Moose Lake. In fact, he spent so much time in the water, he grew gills and fins. He became the Fishman and he haunts Big Moose Lake to this day."

"Okay, that story sounds absolutely ridiculous." Patch said.

"Is that true?" Shaggy asked.

"Of course not," Mo scoffed. "He just doesn't want us to go to Big Moose Lake."

"Guys, we've got a perfectly good lake right here." Fred reassured.

"It looks like Hexxus had his whole toxic reign over here!" Cherry replied sharply as she recalled one of her few adventures without Atticus.

"That settles it then, we're going to Big Moose Lake and that is final." Atticus said.

"I totally agree." Daphne firmly agreed after a frog on a lily pad was swallowed up by the disgusting lake.

Fred watched as everyone was going to the other and bigger camp, which made him hang his head slightly sadly. "We're going to Big Moose." he muttered in defeat before following after the others.

With that, they traveled to the bigger and better camp much to Fred's chagrin.

"This is going to be fun." Colette smiled.

"I certainly hope so." Patch smiled back to her.

"I know so." Colette smiled.

Patch laughed and ran with her. Colette laughed as they ran gleefully together around the campground. Fred looked out to Camp Big Moose, feeling very wrong about being here, but when Daphne came beside him with a smile and held his hand, he smiled back to her and they decided to explore. Scooby and Shaggy were now fishing in the gleaming sunlight.