---
Scarlett quickly realised that Alfie was missing. She sighed, going to find him, knowing the zombie thing had freaked him out. She'd got him a water gun hoping it would help with the whole fear issue. She bumped into Eddie, who steadied her by grabbing her arms.
"Whoa, where you going? The kitchen's that way," he spoke, pointing. "And what is that?" He was staring at the water gun in her hands.
"Alfie. He's freaked about the whole zombie thing. So, I'm bribing him out from under his bed," she explained.
Eddie nodded, "smart."
"Yes. I'm the Velma of this group. We all knew that," she joked.
"Who would I be then?" Eddie asked, following after her.
Scarlett smiled, "Scooby."
Eddie scoffed, shaking his head, "I am not the dog."
Scarlett stopped, turning to face him, "Logically, you'd be Fred."
"Wouldn't that make you Daphne?"
"If we were dating, sure. But also my role in the group isn't gonna be defined by a man," she responded.
"My bad. But we did date," he voiced.
"Did, Eddie. Besides, I'm obviously a Velma, duh," she corrected.
"But hotter."
"Velma is plenty hot in the live action, thank you very much," Scarlett argued, brushing over the fact Eddie had called her hot.
"Listen, Scar, I was thinking..."
Scarlett cut him off, "One sec. Gotta deal with Alfie." She pushed open his door, knocking over everything blocking it. "It's me Alfie, a non-zombified Scarlett."
She flicked the light on, walking towards where he hid under the bed.
"I come baring gifts," she spoke, holding it so he could see it.
He scooted himself out of the bed, as Scarlett rambled on about zombies, trying to calm him down.
"Realistically, Alfie, zombies are decaying, their ears and eyes go pretty quickly and so will nerves, I think. So, would their nose. They'd just be walking around with no senses until they die from hunger. You'd be safe. Just shove them out of the way and run."
Eddie had walked in after her, watching her ramble animatedly, hands waving as she explained it. He felt himself smile as she spoke. She glanced back to him, making him snap out of it, nodding along.
"She's right."
Alfie quickly freaked out when air moved through the vent in his room. He yelled out, squirting the water at the vent.
"It's just wind, Alfie."
He denied it, claiming it was zombies. Scarlett tried once more to convince him otherwise. She watched as Alfie ignored everything she said, and sat on his bed, water gun in hand.
"Right. Let's just go, Edison."
Sibuna, now including KT, and down an Alfie, made their way into the cellar and into the secret room. They were looking for anything on reawakening rituals, hoping it would give them some clue as to why Robert Frobershire-Smythe was undead.
Fabian found something pretty quickly, basically telling them that if the wrong person woke Robert he'd be awoken to serve the underworld. The book said very little after.
However, the group were quickly faced with an issue when Victor entered the cellar, wanting to come into the secret room because of one of the fake clue they planted.
Scarlett sighed, "shit."
"There's no other way out," Eddie exclaimed.
"Only through the secret tunnel," Scarlett whispered.
"Secret tunnel? Perfect lets go!"
"You need a protective amulet to get through. It's booby trapped. Long story short, big beam of light, and then nothing cause you're blind. Remember when I polished an apple by accident? It's cause I got blinded."
Eddie nodded. He glanced around.
"He's putting in the code," KT warned.
Scarlett's eyes fell on the vent, "Eddie." She pointed at the vent. He picked up on what she was suggesting swiftly as he knelt down.
"Worth a shot." He leaned closer to the vent, whispering into it. "Alfie."
A loud shout echoed through the house. They'd successfully scared Alfie. There were yells throughout the house. Eddie paused as they were leaving, going through Miss Denby's bag.
"Eddie, what the fuck are you doing?" She asked.
"The letter."
"What letter, dipshit?"
"It might prove she's not who she says."
"For fuck- Eddie, we're a bit short on time," she hissed.
When he didn't budge, she went through the door anyway, moving to leave the cellar. He didn't follow.
The others gathered in Fabian and Eddie's room, Scarlett laying on Eddie's bed, throwing the American football he had in the air out of boredom and anxiety.
Eddie walked in not too long after. Scarlett sat up.
"You okay? We thought you'd been Victored," KT questioned.
"No, but, um, hold onto your hats because according to this a Miss Harriet Denby has been a long-term resident of the Lakehouse Clinic," Eddie explained.
"She must have escaped," Fabian suggested.
Scarlett moved towards the end of the bed, not wanting to stand, "So, starts every horror movie ever. Well, Halloween. Oh my God, who's the Laurie of the group? It's definitely not me."
"Patricia," KT spoke up.
"I could see that," Scarlett agreed.
"Guys," Eddie exclaimed, bringing their focus back.
Scarlett scoffed and rolled her eyes, "All you're telling us is Denby can't do the dead to undead ritual."
"She escaped the Lakehouse Clinic," Eddie tried. "That's pretty big."
"So, we call the clinic, tell them we have their patient, anonymously. She gets taken, no more ritual, no more history. Win win," she told. "Velma."
"Get off my bed."
"What?"
"You've lost sitting on my bed privileges," he informed.
"For what? Being smarter than you?"
"For being a smartass, Granger," he argued.
"Oh my Go-"
"Off."
"Make me, Freddie Kruger," she challenged.
He took a step forward, moving to grab her arm and drag her off the bed. She retaliated by throwing the American football at him before he successfully grabbed her arm.
"Fabian, a little help," she shrieked. "Or Patricia."
"No." Both spoke at once.
She glared, letting Eddie pull her off of the bed, and onto the floor. She lay there, not moving.
"The floors actually super comfortable, thank you so much. This is exactly where I want to be," she muttered, glaring up at Eddie.
Alfie then came in, "I just have one question. Are Victor, Sweet and Denby zombies?"
"No," they all answered.
"Oh. Then I may have made a small error in judgement."
"Small?" Scarlett laughed.
"Says the one on the floor," Eddie spoke up.
She moved to kick him.
---
It was bad news for all of them when the clinic still had Harriet Denby at Lakehouse. Meaning, Miss Denby was definitely lying about who she was.
Mara and KT had dragged Scarlett with them to the toilet, discussing Joy's crush on Fabian and how they couldn't believe she didn't tell them. They also theorised perhaps she changed her style for him.
"Okay, first, we all knew. It wasn't a secret to anyone but Fabian. Second, let her dress how she wants. Maybe she's doing it for herself. She's discovering her style, branching out, and moving out of her comfort zone. Plus she looks cute," Scarlett defended.
It was then Joy walked out of one of the toilets, "My new look has nothing to do with Fabian. I just- I just wanted to be more like Amber, or you KT, Scarlett. People know who you are. You stand out, you're not like me and Mara."
"Thanks," Mara scoffed. "I know who I am, I don't need other people to."
"Well, I don't like who I am," Joy admitted.
Scarlett moved forward, "And this is where I step in. Joy, experiment, change your style, bleach your hair, and shave it. Whatever, I don't care. You do you but don't you dare for a second dislike who you are. You're Joy fucking Mercer. You're smart and kind and drop-dead gorgeous and I would date you, so would half this school if that's what's bothering you. You are a motherfucking Queen."
"We already miss Amber. We don't want to miss Joy as well," Mara added.
Scarlett nodded, "Love yourself, bitch. Affirmations. We start tonight."
---
Yet again Scarlett was being dragged about, this time to Lakehouse Clinic. They were trying to sneak out so Denby wouldn't catch them going past the gatehouse to leave. However, Scarlett, who was currently trying to remember a hundred different things and figure out how school was going to work alongside another mystery, forgot her bag, which had Miss Denby's bag in it. She went back for it, only to be stopped by Miss Denby.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Jesus, you sure know how to do a jump scare," Scarlett exclaimed. "You'd be perfect in a horror movie. Sorry, that sounded mean."
Miss Denby only laughed. Scarlett wasn't sure how it happened but she ended up in the Gatehouse, Miss Denby pouring her some tea. After finding the bag on her.
"Am I like a prisoner?" Scarlett asked.
"Oh, no, you're my guest."
"Okay, great."
There was a pause between them before Miss Denby broke it, "It's wonderful to see such rich imagination in my students but we musn't get carried away or interfere with things that don't concern us. Like my bag for instance. I'm sure Mr Sweet would wonder why you stole a teacher's bag."
"Do you want the truth, Miss?" Scarlett began.
"That's all I'm asking."
"Okay, so, I know you probably won't believe me and I wouldn't either. But basically, I found it in Anubis House. I don't know how it got there or why it was there but I assumed you left it or someone else took it or something. So, I thought I want to go on a hot girl walk anyway, so I'll take the bag to Miss Denby, walk around campus for a bit and then go back home. And I know it sounds like a lie. I know but there's no way for it to not if that makes sense," she ranted.
"Right. Where did you find it?"
"It was just lying around near the cellar door." She shrugged. "My friends will be worried. Thanks for the tea."
"Why don't you call them? Let them know you're perfectly well."
She gave it a go.
"Can't get through."
"You're lying and this time I want the truth, Scarlett."
---
Scarlett sighed, trying Eddie. She knew he would find it weird she was ringing him of all people there, given their past, so she hoped he'd at least hesitate.
"Granger, where are you?" He asked over the phone.
"Look, I know you guys are at the dance, but I won't be able to make it. I'm stuck here finishing some crocheting," she told, remembering the very failed attempt at trying to crochet from that summer that she had told Eddie about.
"Your what?"
"Anyway, nice speaking to you, I guess. I'll speak to you later. Bye."
Miss Denby hung up the phone.
"I hope you're telling the truth, Scarlett. You know lying to me would be a bad idea."
"I know. And I don't know if you've been told but I put a lot of effort and my energy into school. I wouldn't risk that. I want to be an engineer."
"Okay. Now scurry along. We can't have you out past curfew, can we? I'm sure such offenders would be punished. Severely."
"Probably. Thanks again for the tea."
Word Count:
[1837]