The Witch's Ghost: chapter 2

"This is an interesting coincidence," Michelle smiled to Mystery Inc, she was surprised to see them, but was calmer than Atticus. "Where is Velma though?"

"She wanted to take another ride." Daphne pointed to the black car with them.

"*gulps* Okay, just stay calm and everything should be alright and I won't be able to embarrass myself in front of them..." Atticus whispered.

"Star struck, much?" Cherry teased with a laugh. "You'll never see me act that way."

Velma came to her gang with the famous horror writer.

"Wanna prove it?" Atticus asked her.

"Yeah!" Cherry smirked, nearly retorting.

Michelle came up to Ben with a hug, then they parted, looking at the kids. "Ben, this is my daughter..."

Cherry looked over to him, blinking slowly, she looked as nervous as a school girl with her crush looking directly at her in the hallway.

"Talk to him." Atticus whispered to Cherry.

Cherry gulped, she put her hands in her jacket pockets and looked up at the man. "H-H-H-H-H-Hi..." she felt like her tongue was in knots.

'Well, she got to say hi to him, that's a start.' Atticus thought.

Ben came down to her level with a smile. "Nice to meet you... Cherry..."

Cherry grinned nervously, then let out a squeaky laugh and fell over backwards on the ground.

"Well, she handled that well." Atticus thought as he saw her on the ground. He wasn't paying attention as the mystery inc was coming towards him.

Cherry twitched a little on the floor.

"Is she going to be okay?" Ben asked the mother.

Michelle picked her daughter up and dusted her clean. "Sorry about that..." she smiled apologetically to the author.

Daphne smiled to Atticus. "Hi there, you look so adorable!"

This surprised Atticus as he hadn't noticed Daphne, Fred, Velma, Shaggy or Scooby coming over.

"Um... Uh... M-My n-name is Atticus." the boy said, introducing himself to the Mystery Inc.

"Like, you remind me of myself when I was a kid," Shaggy chuckled.

"You mean when you got scared in English when we read the Crucible and you ran out of the classroom while wetting yourself?" Velma teased the member of the gang she secretly had feelings for.

"Like, yeah." Shaggy said.

Atticus was nervous, but Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby noticed that he had some muscles for his age.

Scooby came up to Atticus and looked at him, sniffing slightly. "Rhe's rong!"

"Wrong about what?" Ben asked, not understanding the talking dog.

"No, he said 'he's strong'." Velma corrected with a nervous smile like Cherry earlier.

"Huh?" Atticus said from confusion until he looked at muscles and saw why Scooby said that he was strong. "Oh, I keep myself in shape at least everyday, of course at a limited time, so I can have time for fun."

"Rool!" Scooby smiled.

"You must get a lot of exercise." Fred smiled.

Ben looked around his hometown, it sure had changed a lot, but in a crazier way than he expected. It wasn't the quiet little town he grew up in.

"This is a pretty popular spot." Fred remarked.

"Sure, we always get a few leaf peepers, but never like this... Circus..." Ben sounded slightly insulted.

"We should go see the mayor then, maybe he might know what's going on." Atticus suggested.

"Good point, there he is now." Ben looked ahead.

"Like, maybe he'll know a place to eat." Shaggy smiled hungrily.

"Reah!" Scooby agreed.

"With him being the mayor, the possibility is a 100% yes." Atticus said.

The Mayor was welcoming new guests, then looked with a smile to the author.

Cherry walked with Atticus. "My ankles keep poppin'."

"He's too old for you..." Michelle looked down to her daughter.

"Who said I liked him!?" Cherry got defensive as he face turned bright pink. "He's just a great writer and I wanna be like him someday, that's all! Maybe I'll produce his books into movies, huh?"

Atticus rolled his eyes, knowing where this was going and so he began to get Ben's attention.

Cherry groaned a little from her mother's teasing, then looked to Atticus. "What're you doing...?" she looked suspiciously to him.

"Um, Mr. Ravencroft, Cherry's ankles keep popping, so she was wondering if you could carry her?" Atticus asked him.

"WHAT!?" Cherry looked to him.

Ben stopped and looked over. "Well... I see nothing wrong with that..." He bent down and carried the girl. "Better?"

Cherry blushed deeply as she was being held in his arms, she didn't say anything, but squeaked, feeling even more nervous. Atticus then smiled and continued on to the mayor. Cherry glared down at him as she were being carried.

"Mayor Corey!" Ben called to the portly man.

The mayor looked over and smiled. "Ben, my boy! I'm glad you could come home to see this," He then noticed the rest of the group and Cherry being carried by Ben. "Oh, you brought friends, and their dog." Mayor Corey smiled.

"Rog?" Scooby looked around. "Rhere?"

The Mayor laughed. "The more the merrier."

"I'd love to stay and have a tour, but I have business to attend to find a place for us to stay, Cherry, turn on your phone, I'll text you later." Michelle smiled.

"Okay, Mom." Cherry said as she nearly buried her face in Ben's vest.

When Michelle left, Ben kind of smiled sickly, like he was stalking the already married with children mother.

"Um, Mr. Mayor, it isn't usually this crowded is it?" Atticus asked.

"It's great, isn't it?" Corey grinned. "Business is booming! Now like a few months ago when it was slower than maple syrup on a cold day."

"Hey, Ben!" an aged man walked by with a box of supplies.

"Hi, Mr. McKnight!" Ben sounded very happy to see him.

"Welcome home, have a T-shirt before my store sells out, you can wear it to the concert tomorrow." Mr. McKnight offered.

"Concert?" Ben asked.

Fred looked ahead with a smile. "The Hex Girls."

"You've heard of them, Fred?" Daphne asked him.

"Just now." Fred pointed to the banner ahead for the Autumn Festival.

The name McKnight seemed to have caught Atticus's attention, especially in memory of Atticus remembering that his father told him that he had a brother that had that same last name. He put that aside for a sec to look at the banner. "'The Hex Girls performing a concert here in Oakhaven'." He read.

"A local group," Mr. McKnight smiled. "I know you'll like 'em... Spooky..." He looked to Ben when he said that. He looked down to Atticus, something seemed familiar to him about the boy.

Cherry took out a T-Shirt and read it aloud since Ben's hands were obviously full. "'I saw the Oakhaven's Witch's Ghost and Lived'?"

"Ghost?" Shaggy and Scooby were already scared.

"Looks like there's a ghost in YOUR own backyard, Ben." Velma remarked.

"Not only that, but it's his own ancestor, the ghost of Sarah Ravencroft." Corey informed them.

"Why would the ghost of Mr. Ravencroft's ancestor want to haunt Oakhaven?" Atticus asked him.

"Oh, it's witch nonsense." Ben looked down to Atticus.

"What can I say, Ben?" Corey shrugged. "Ever since we built our puritan village, her ghost appeared many times."

Velma cut in and had an idea of why Sarah might be haunting the village.

"How did you know?" Corey sounded surprised to her.

"Mystery Inc specializes in ghost hunting." Cherry said to him.

"Oh, I see." Corey sounded impressed.

"Yeah, they have solved many mysteries and have never failed." Atticus said.

Ben decided to have them look around the village.

"Reminds me of when I was a kid in school and they had pilgrims tell us about Thanksgiving." Cherry looked around as they were witnessing what life was like in the 1600's.

"When did this all go up?" Ben asked.

"About six months ago." Corey replied.

Velma liked it. "This is amazing, Mayor!"

Daphne went to corn husk dolls with Fred, she FOUND them cute. Atticus began to explore around while looking at all the things they had. Cherry got down on the ground, seeming to walk a little better this time.

"Hey, look, guys!" Shaggy called to Scooby, Cherry, and Atticus as he put himself in head stocks. "I've been a ba-a-a-ad boy!"

This made Scooby laugh while Atticus and Cherry giggle.

There was a puritan woman with a churner and she looked over to the four of them. "Wouldst thou like to churn?"

"Huh?" Scooby wondered if she was talking to him.

"Like, it's your turn to churn the butter, old buddy." Shaggy encouraged him.

Scooby went and did that, then turned the butter churn into a guitar as he pretended to play it and made moves like Chuck Berry in Johnny B. Goode. And where everyone enjoying this as they laughed while Scooby was pretending to play the butter churner like a guitar. Velma was talking with Mayor Corey about the 'ghost'.

Ben didn't like to hear it though, he was very defensive of his ancestor and claimed she was a healer. Cherry looked around, then took a sit in the autumn leaves, smiling and thinking of simpler times when she was a kid. Atticus joined her remember of the simpler times when he was a kid as well.

"I remember how my brother had to put the leaves in the back of a small truck and he'd throw me into the leaves when he'd put them in the trunk, then we'd drive off to clean our yard," Cherry smiled. "Fall was always my favorite season... Better weather, Halloween, my birthday..." Those were happy memories for her.

Corey and Mr. McKnight walked with Ben and Velma as he told them about the history and things they collected from Sarah.

"How about a book?" Ben asked. "You know how long I've been searching for Sarah's journal to clear our family name."

"Sorry, Ben, nothing like that." Corey frowned.

"Nothing like what, sir?" Atticus asked, coming in from the corner.

"Ben's convinced himself Sarah Ravencroft has a book in which she had medical talents before she was arrested for being judged as a witch." Corey explained.

Ben was really hoping there was one and looked to the kids. "It's really important to me."

"I can understand. The book must be like a long-lost family heirloom." Atticus said.

"It's the only way to prove her innocence." Ben looked down to him.

"We'd like to see a puritan pizza joint," Shaggy spoke up. "We're starved."

"Reah!" Scooby agreed as his tummy grumbled.

Atticus somehow knew that Scooby and Shaggy were going to be wanting to know of where the nearest food place was.

"Don't worry, boys," Corey smiled to them. "We've got the best restaurant in all New England. It's back town, I'll walk you."

"Do you kids want to go?" Ben asked the group. "Or do you want to see my studio?"

Normally Cherry would vote for eating, but she sounded more interested in the studio. "Studios are fun..." she said, rather dreamily again.

"I would like to come to to your studio too." Atticus added.

"Shaggy, we'll meet with you later!" Velma called to the leaving Great Dane and cowardly teen.

"Mayor, tell Jack anything they order is on me!" Ben called out, making Shaggy and Scooby very happy.

"You're gonna regret that offer, Ben." Daphne chuckled as they walked off to see his studio.

"Why's that?" Atticus asked.

"It's Scooby and Shaggy at diner to eat all they want, what do you think Ben's bills are gonna be like?" Cherry glanced back at him with a joking smile.

"Let's with how much those two eat," Atticus said beginning to think of what Ben's bill would be and then got an idea of what the bill would be like. "Oh, my."