Chapter 37, Billy chooses Ashley’s cabin

Daphne turned to Billy. “Okay. You choose.”

“Well Shaggy’s cabin is out. I don’t want to deal with the lectures in front of everybody.”

“So is it Ashley’s or Lori’s cabin we go to?”

Billy looked up at the girl he just met. She was a lot more perceptive than he expected a newcomer to be. He decided to first tell her the where. Then if she asked, the why. “I think it should be Ashley’s place. I’ve been there before for music lessons. So my parents know where it is.”

Ashley smiled. “I’ll be glad to have you. This way. She took a good look around and saw several choices.” She called Scooby up to her. “Scooby. I need the most direct way home. Can you do better than these trails?”

Scooby considered some of the areas he had explored. He could do better than those trails. The problem was how wise would it be. “I do. But several of those trail’s border on animal paths. Billy I and would have no problem. The rest of you will find it tight.”

“We better do it. So long as Billy will not be endangered by it, its better to have him back quickly.” She faced the rest of the group. “We are going to take one of Scooby’s shortcuts. It should cut a good bit of time off the trip back.”

Scooby led off.

The path soon shrunk so much they were **** to separate into smaller groups within the traveling party. Ashley stayed with Scooby. More to give the appearance of helping to guide the group to her cabin rather than any real need.

Lori and Shaggy fell back to the rear. They kept their ears open for human noises. Both the groups looking for Billy. And also the group looking to for Daphne. One group would be good to meet. The other group would at best be a terrible encounter. Certainly with a preteen present.

In the center group walked Billy and Daphne.

Ten minutes they were deep in the depth of the forest.

Daphne was starting to wonder if calling this an animal path was being too generous. There were certainly some points in which she was having time seeing any path at all. And that was after her mystery solving travels had sharpened her night eyesight. She had no clue how the others were handling it so easily.

A couple of times Billy had to pull her back where they needed to be walking.

Eventually she had to ask. “How do you do it? I’ve got pretty good night vision and I’m wondering at times if there actually is a path.”

“Easy enough.” The young child answered her. “I made the choice to try to become more at one with nature. Everything, plant, person, or other has a language of sorts. The more you try to accept your role within it rather than forcing your will on it, the more you will be happy. This is the path to wisdom for me. Neither I nor nature are supreme. It’s a partnership. A one on one version of what people should be doing on this planet to be honest.”

Daphne considered his words. For a girl who had spent a lot of time in stores during her youth, this was new. Choosing to walk away from things to appreciate nature was never a path even described to her in her youth. Her parents wanted her to appreciate wealth in the same way college students were expected to appreciate free beer and pizza. A lot. Perhaps there was something to this?

Billy paused a moment. It was almost as if he could see the confusion of her mind.

She tentatively spoke. “That sounds almost like a druid would sound. Is that the path you seek? Druidism? Wouldn’t your parents embrace that idea? Forgive me, but that sounds like it would fit in in this place.”

“You are forgiven. He continued to somehow seem older than his years. And yes, the modern druid idea is welcomed here. However, you make it sound like an organized religion. That is not what I seek. I am looking for a path in life. I know there will be changes. But I will I know what they will be unless I start my walk. Maybe I have too simple a view of it now. Only time will tell.”

Daphne had trouble not thinking this was one of Velma’s relatives. Frighteningly smart. “Again, please forgive me, but how the heck did you get this wise.”

“Just because we live on a commune does not mean we ignore education. The California educational system reaches even here. We just have our own teachers and way of teaching. We still pass any test we are required too. No everybody stays here forever. We want them to have the tools they need in life.”

Daphne went silent. She was learning more than she thought she could. Pity what brought her out here. Maybe she ought to have her friends visit here.

The discussion had taken them a while.

Meanwhile Scooby was about ready to break them out of his shortcut. They were almost there anyway. “Ashley?”

“Yes?”

“I do not know what you four had planned. But remember you have a preteen with you now.”

Scooby was not blind to what the humans did around here.

Ashley nodded. “Believe me, I know. He’s staying in the front room. We just have to keep him ignorant of what we doing before. And the stalkers.”

“Stalkers???” It took all his canine will power to not to shout that last word. “Somebody wants to kidnap Billy???” Whoever they were was about to learn so painful lessons about dog if they tried.

“Not Billy. Daphne. We may want your help on that. First, I think you should care about Billy’s safety. You two can go easily where us adults can’t. if that problem finds us, we will want you to get Billy out of there.”

“Makes sense.” He lowered his voice. “You think her and Shaggy?”

“Who knows. I see a chance in the future, maybe.”

“Then those stalkers better pray to the Dog Star they do not actually hurt her.” He raised his voice to slightly above normal and held up his paw. “Get ready”

The group stopped.

Scooby moved a branch out of the way. “We’re there.”

Everybody but Daphne recognized the place.

Ashley took the lead. “Right this way.”

They reached Ashley’s cabin. It wasn’t quite in the middle of the nowhere. But was clear you had to work at getting there. Most people who found it only found it because they were deliberately going there.

Ashley let them in. First she lit a few candles. Then she offered a quick tour. Based on the structures Daphne had seen so far, it was clear it was larger. There was a front room with a closet. A hallway branched off into several rooms. The kitchen and bathroom she expected. A bedroom was no surprised based on what she had seen of her. The fact it was so neat was. There was also room with a few instruments, a desk and a couple of seats.

Daphne lingered at the last one.

Ashley noticed. “I teach music to any resident that cares. Also I compose here.”

Lori smiled. Some of the closer residents have told tales of how her work has started from a near clash of chaos and ended a wonderous work of music.

They returned to the front sitting room.

“Now what?” Daphne wanted to know.

“Now I go get the sweatsuits I promised.” She went back towards her bedroom and did a bit of rummaging. She came out with a few sweat suits. “Okay. Lori, you shower first. Then I will. Shaggy, if we have time you can get a quick one. But let’s face it. You are not as messy as we are.”

“I can’t deny it. I’ll wait out here with Daphne and Billy.”

The girls giggled, then went to get to cleaned up.

That left Shaggy and Daphne sitting alone with Billy in the front room.

Daphne stared at the unsuspecting Shaggy. “Tell me, why is everybody acting like you are leaving?”

“Sad to say I am. My family is trying to reconcile me with my stepfather.”

“Don’t you want to?”

“Not really.”

Billy looked sad. Shaggy. I admit you are known for your cooking skills. Nobody ever talked about your relatives. I have to ask. Was there nothing good at all? Could they be so bad?

Shaggy shook his head sadly. “Billy. We love your devotion to nature and walking a life in peace with all you can. You know not all in nature is peaceful. Animals fight. Even those they should get along. Even those that would do much better to get along. Plants struggle for dominate when they really do not have too fight. True?”

Billy looked at him surprised.

“I do read more than cookbooks.”

Daphne watched between the two. She stayed quiet. There had to be more to Shaggy than what he appeared. Maybe she would learn more this way.

Billy took a deep breath. That is true. Conflict is everywhere. But must we embrace it?

The older male shook his head. “When your stepfather does so much to make it clear his hatred of how you are turning out, it is hard to be happy about. When the male figure in your life meant to build you up takes terrible pleasure in tearing you down, then you lose all interest in peace.”

Daphne had some trouble with this. For all their arguments, she and her parents had never reached this point. They disagreed. Often. But they still loved and supported each other. If her parents were in trouble, she would help. Even call her friends in if that would do the trick. She almost asked what happened. Then she decided that might be a question too far. She settled for another question. “Not even with your mother? Can’t you work with her at all?”

“No.” Shaggy sighed. “I know it’s wrong. But they have gotten me so upset that dealing with them is causing me more pain than the moments of feeling alone.”

Billy looked sad at this. For all his arguments with his own parents he could not imagine having so little faith in them. or desire to care about him. Then again, it could only be misunderstandings. His parents misunderstood the depth of his call. Could it Shaggy and his parents truly misunderstood each other that much. That saddened him more. He was not close enough to all of them that he could tell any one of them they had to be the first to change.

Lori came out from the back. “You know you’re not alone, right Shaggy. That we love you for more than your ability to cook.”

Ashley joined them. “Right. We love you here because you are a great person. Those that can’t see that are missing out. She turned to Daphne. Come to think of it, your clothes are getting kinda torn. We have a sweatsuit for you too.”

Daphne looked at her outfit. Truth be told it was starting to show more wear than it was built for. Running through the forest did it no favors. Much more and it would show more of her skin than she was ready to show while traveling through a strange place. “Thanks. I’ll be right back.” She went into the bedroom to change.

The local girls looked a little happier in their sweatsuits. Certainly cleaner. Lori had chosen a green one. Ashley chose the black one.

Daphne came out a few minutes wearing a purple sweatsuit. What she did not seem to be wearing was a bra and panties.

Shaggy looked like he could see this. He just did not say anything.

Daphne saw this. “I would have burned them if I could. I want nothing from the clothes they saw me in. I’d have burned the top layer too. The only reason I did not burn it is I did not want to damage Ashley’s cabin.”

“Thanks for that. if you want, I’ll bag it and burn them for you.”

“Will you? Thanks. I would really like that.”

Lori sat them all down. “Now that we are changed, let’s talk about your escape. I don’t know if we mentioned it or not, Shaggy, but her eyes lit up when we told her you had a van.”

“And that you were leaving early in the morning.” Ashley finished.

He looked over at Daphne. “Don’t you have a ride?”

“No. I came with the people I am now trying escape from. Besides, they would not be going my way.”

“Where you headed?”

“East. Going to arrange a meeting with my friends.”

He thought a moment. “Right now I’m headed to Ohio. The meeting with my family is supposed to be in some obscure town there.”

“Right now?”

“I told you my expectations.”

“There is a possibility I might have something for you after that. You made it sound like you had no plans to stay around there no matter how it went.”

“That’s a safe assumption.”

“I have some friends. I won’t say its anything like this. But we don’t lead boring lives either. We even have helped people when we could.”

Shaggy thought for a moment about that. “Something to look into later, maybe. Once you see what they think.”

Daphne nodded at this. “Makes sense. So what’s the plan now?”

Lori answered that one. “Originally to wait until morning, get Scooby and possibly some other local help. Scooby is here already. I did not plan on Billy for that matter.”

Daphne considered Scooby. “I have to say he seems different than any dog I ever met.”

Scooby looked up. “I’ll take a look around back. Keep an eye for problems.” He looked at Billy. “You know we should be getting you back to your parents soon.”

“Good idea.” Ashley told him.

Shaggy was about to comment on her last observation when he thought he heard something. He went to the window to take a peek. It was a noise he might have ignored if they had been closer to the rest of the cabins.

“I’ll take this.” Ashley said. She turned to Daphne and spoke very seriously. “Scooby is his best friend and companion. He started out as a therapy dog and showed himself far smarter than that. To be honest Shaggy had decided his was the life of an unloved wanderer when Scooby found this place. Over the years he convinced Shaggy that there could be more to his life. Sure, we here have giving him the human element. But there was a time when his life was so low that he pretty much stopped caring.”

Daphne listened carefully. She took a look at the man looking out the window. “Let me see if I follow. Shaggy sounds as though he was close to suicidal.”

He spoke up then. He trusted them if they felt she needed to know his story. But that was too much. “No. Not suicidal. That would be quitting. I never quit. There are few things I will not face. But I will never quit life. Or at least living.”

Already Billy had to resist rushing up and giving Shaggy a hug this conversation. Even a preteen like him had lived long enough to know he would not be in the mood for a hug.

Daphne thought for a moment. “Sounds like he had stopped nearby. On a walk with Scooby they stumbled across this place. Probably the private areas. Putting the pieces together with other things I’ve heard tonight, I get the idea this happened when he was younger. Over the years he became part of this place. He found the happiness he deserved. She frowned. And now his parents want to pull him way from this place and back to the pain they caused him?”

Shaggy did not answer. Daphne understood the situation better than he expected. Almost scarily so.

The other two women looked at each other. “Exactly. You have no idea how much a bunch of us want to go with him for support.” Lori confirmed. “I’m worried something will snap him back to that scared kid we first met. Seemed scared of everything but food and Scooby.”

Daphne tried to imagine such a life. Frightened and almost friendless. No real purpose in life other than avoiding the certain pain he was fleeing. She honestly did not know what to say. She was certain now that she needed to contact her friends.

Shaggy started to turn from the window.

The noises came again. This time they were approaching. He started to whisper. “Ashley, are you expecting company? Couple of males?”

“No. I told everybody I was going to be away most of the night. A few of the more eager I did tell I was being your goodbye gift. They agreed to try again another time.”

The couple of males description worried Daphne. “Describe them please.” She fought to keep any fear out of her voice.

Shaggy waited for them to step into the moonlight again. “Couple of preppies that look like they lost several fights with the forest. Both are tall, dark haired and not looking happy. They also look like they are looking for something.”

Daphne did not like any of what she heard. She absolutely hated how he ended. Only Billy’s presence gave her the self control for her not to say the first thing on her mind. “It’s them.”

Her tone told every adult present precisely who she thought it was. The stalkers.

The looks on the other’s faces made it clear they all got the message.

She then continued in an almost panicked whisper. Only Billy’s being there prevented her from showing her fear. “Quick Ashley. Tell me there is a back door I haven’t seen.”

She shook her head. “Never needed one.”

Lori considered the situation. She looked around with what she had to work with. “I have an idea. Ashley. You have a black sweat suit on. Slip out the door for help. More important then help, we need to get Billy out of here.”

“I want to help.” Billy said.

Lori fully expected Billy to say this. She also fully expected Billy’s parents to bring back some horrible **** if she let Billy get involved. Peace and love be damned. “No, Billy.”

“Why? People tend to listen to wisdom.”

Lori really hated to teach this lesson so bluntly. But she did not have the time to be as tactful as she wanted. “Billy, people here listen to wisdom. We tend to be more open to it. And even then we do not always agree. These two come from a different mindset. They are closeminded and the only answers that matter are the ones they decided before they came to the commune. Any other opinions, or truths for that matter, are completely unimportant to them.”

Now the child looked really sad.

“I’m sorry to have done this to you like this, but I need you to go. We need you safe. Let’s all talk more about this with your parents and camp elders later.”

Billy continued to look sad for a moment. Then his face calmed. He reached for his inner strength. “I must face truths, even when I despise them. When do I leave?”

“Now. But not alone. Scooby will go along with you to make see you get back someplace safely. Scooby, take him to the kitchens. Somebody will be there to spread the word he was found. We should have told somebody a while ago. You and Ashley need to leave now before there are not enough shadows for you to do it.”

“On it.” Ashley left.

“Come on Billy. We need to get going.” Scooby told him.

The dog and the child left.

Those in the cabin all watched to make sure those leaving quickly disappeared into the shadows.

They did.

Daphne asked the obvious question. “What about the three of us?”

“That’s easy. You two are going to make out in my bedroom.”

“WHAT??” It would have been hard deciding who sounded more surprised.

She continued on. “I will move the candles so all they see are shadows. They will think all it is are a pair of locals and move on. I’ll hide behind that big chair.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Let’s look in there. She probably got tired of wandering the forest.” One of the stalkers said.

“Makes sense.” The other agreed. “It’s not like she spends most of her days running around or anything.”

Daphne suddenly thought making out was the greatest idea since fashion catalogues. She grabbed him and started kissing him. Her French kisses could impress the French.

Shaggy responded. Then he ran his hands up and down her body. Then he reached her ass. He slipped them under the back of her sweatpants and squeezed them.

She moaned. Who know fooling people could be such a turn on? She ground against his cock a little. She broke her kiss to tell him “Keep going. Make it look real. Touch me like this is why you came here tonight.”

He slipped his hand up her sweatshirt to feel her soft breasts. The way she whispered that pretty much gave him a boner. If this wasn’t meant to be an act, he would roll her over then start pushing down her sweatpants as he pinned her.

Daphne had almost forgotten it was act as she kissed him hard. She had not forgotten how hot he looked fucking Ashley. His hands touching her breasts thrilled her. She wondered if she should try to seduce him while they were on the road. Or at least make it clear to him that she wanted him to take her.

By this time clothes were starting to be moved out of the way.

The two stalkers approached the cabin.

She pressed her nipples into her hands. She could feel him start to leak cum in his pants as she moaned. Never mind if. She was beginning to want this for real. Distraction be damned. It had been a while since she had been laid.

Let’s check in here. One stalker was heard to say.

“Look at the shadows. It’s obvious it’s just a pair of hippies going at it. Nothing we care about. We are looking for two scared sluts and a hippie. You think two of them would take the time to screw with us this close?”

“Yeah. You’re right about that. Let’s double back. We have to have to check someplace else.”

Lori lifted her head a bit after a minute.

They were gone.

“Okay you two. Time to stop.”

Shaggy and Daphne did not appear to hear her. Or want to stop.

Almost any other time this would turn her on and she would watch discreetly. Not now. They had places to be. Lori pulled on Daphne until she separated them.

Scooby returned while they were calming down from the high the near sex induced.

“Good. You’re here.” Lori said. She looked out her window.

The sky was getting lighter.