Here Comes the Shaggedy

  At home, Kelli disappeared into her room.

  Shawn strode to the refrigerator. “What do we have for lunch, Dad?”

  Before his father could answer, they both heard a shrill shout.

  “Dad! Shawn! Help me!” Kelli screamed from her room. “Help me! It’s the Shaggedy! The Shaggedy!”

  Dr. Andersen and Shawn darted down the short hall to Kelli’s room. She stood in the middle of the room, eyes wide with shock, both hands tugging at her hair.

  “Whoa.” Her dad uttered a low cry of surprise. The room had been trashed, completely torn apart. Her mattress was off the bed, tilted on its side. Big red footprints, still wet, crossed the carpet. Clothes were strewn everywhere.

  “Dad, look!” Shawn cried, pointing to the back wall.

  Scrawled in huge, red painted letters were the words:

  I’M COMING FOR YOU BOTH!

  Her hands still grasping her hair, Kelli turned to her father. “Dad, it’s real! It’s real! It’s the Shaggedy. This isn’t a joke!”

  Kelli’s dad moved to hug her. He glimpsed Shawn trembling in the doorway, his eyes locked on the scrawled message smeared across the bedroom wall.

  “Calm down, Kelli,” he said softly. “Calm down. Take a deep breath.” His expression turned to anger. “Those two boys from your school have gone too far this time.”

  Kelli took a step back from him. “But, Dad —”

  “This is breaking and entering,” their father said, gazing at the destruction. “This is a serious crime. I want you two to stay here. I’m going to deal with this.”

  He spun away and stomped into the hall, swinging both fists at his side.

  “Dad, wait!” Kelli called. “What are you going to do?”

  “Stay here,” he ordered. He stepped outside and slammed the door behind him.

  Shawn hesitated, but Kelli moved quickly. She opened the door and followed her dad outside. She watched him making his way to the trees at the back of the house. He was taking long, angry strides, his hands curled into fists.

  She hung back, staying in the shadow of the house. She knew he was taking the path that led to the school. Her heart pounding, she followed. She stayed far behind him, trying to walk in the shadows of the tall, tilting trees.

  He glanced back once. She ducked behind a low pine shrub. He didn’t see her. She followed him all the way to school.

  When he went inside, Kelli crept up to the classroom window. She could see her dad talking and motioning to Miss Rawls. He pointed to Zeke and Decker.

  Kelli realized she was holding her breath. She let it out in a long whoosh.

  A few seconds later, the school door opened and her dad appeared, followed by the twins. Kelli pressed herself against the wall of the building, close enough to hear everything.

  “Why aren’t Kelli and Shawn in school today?” Zeke asked.

  “Never mind that,” her dad said. “I think you know why I need to speak to you.”

  The boys glanced at one another again, then turned back to Dr. Andersen, their faces blank.

  “A joke is a joke,” Kelli’s dad said, keeping his voice steady and calm. “But this time you’ve gone too far.”

  “Excuse me?” Zeke squinted at him, his freckled nose twitching.

  “Huh?” Decker echoed.

  “I think you know —” Dr. Andersen started. But a frantic shout made him stop.

  “Dad! Don’t! Dad — please stop!”

  Kelli came running up to them, breathing hard, her face red, hair tangled around her head.

  “Dad — stop!” she cried again, grabbing his wrist.

  “Kelli, what is your problem?” he said. “I have to put an end to this once and for all. These two boys —”

  “No,” Kelli said, struggling to catch her breath. “You don’t understand. Zeke and Decker didn’t do it, Dad. I did it!”

  Kelli had to choke out the words. It felt as if her heart had leaped into her throat. She struggled to breathe as she confessed again. “I did it all, Dad. Zeke and Decker don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Her dad’s mouth hung open. Behind his glasses, his eyes were wide, locked on Kelli.

  Miss Rawls poked her head out the door. “Everything okay?”

  “These boys can go back inside,” Dr. Andersen told her, his eyes still on Kelli. “I’m so sorry for the interruption.”

  Zeke and Decker hurried back into the school, grins on their faces. Zeke turned at the doorway and made a face at Kelli, flashing her a thumbs-down.

  Kelli sighed and looked away.

  “Please explain,” her father said softly.

  Kelli shrugged. “I did everything. I wrote that message on my backpack. I put the water and the note in Shawn’s locker. Last night after you went to bed, I took your shovel and I dug the two footprints under Shawn’s window. Then I stood outside, whispering his name. Then … then …” Her voice cracked.

  “Then you trashed your own room?” her dad demanded.

  She nodded. She fought back the tears that began to form in her eyes. She was determined not to cry. “Yes. Before we went on the boat ride. I trashed my own room and wrote the thing about the Shaggedy on my wall.”

  She kept her eyes down. She didn’t want to see her dad’s expression.

  She waited for him to explode. But he remained quiet. “Why?” he asked in a whisper. “Kelli, why?”

  She was the one to explode. “Because I hate it here so much. Because I miss Marci and my other friends. Because they’re all totally forgetting about me. They don’t even text me. It’s like I’ve disappeared.”

  “I … I don’t understand,” her dad said. “You wanted to scare Shawn?”

  “I … I thought …” Kelli cleared her throat. “I thought if I could scare Shawn really badly … If I could make Shawn think the Shaggedy was real and that the Shaggedy was coming to get him … If I could really scare him … I thought you would see how terrified Shawn was, and you would take us all back to New York.”

  She slowly raised her eyes to her dad. His stare was angry and intense. But he didn’t say a word. He mopped sweat off his bald head with one hand. And kept his gaze unblinking on her.

  “I guess it was a really stupid plan,” Kelli murmured.

  He nodded. “Yes. Very stupid. And very harmful to your brother.”

  “And harmful to my room,” Kelli joked, trying to get him to end his intense stare. “It will take me hours to get it back together.”

  “Well, you’ll have plenty of time for that,” her father said. “You’re grounded forever.”

  Kelli shrugged. “What difference does it make? I don’t have any friends here, and there’s nothing to do anyway.”

  Her dad pointed to the path. “Just go home and clean up your room. I don’t want any more attitude from you. And be sure to apologize to your brother.”

  Kelli turned and slumped away, her head down, her mind racing with angry thoughts. Yes, she had messed up. She knew she had messed up badly.

  Oh, well, at least that’s the end of the Shaggedy, Kelli thought. That’s the end of scaring poor Shawn.

  She was wrong about both.

  “Let’s stop right here by these mangrove trees,” Miss Rawls said.

  Kelli walked near the front of the line of kids, beside Shawn. Those trees are totally creepy, she thought. Their roots stuck up from the ground and spread over the dirt. Slender tendril-like branches hung from their lower limbs like legs.

  “Those trees look like they could walk away,” Kelli murmured.

  “Stop making everything scary,” Shawn scolded. “Haven’t you tried to scare me enough?”

  Shawn was right. She had acted terribly. And selfishly. He had good reason to be angry with her.

  She knew it was her job to make it up to Shawn, to make sure he got over his fear of the swamp.

  Once a week, Miss Rawls and Mrs. Klavan, the other teacher, walked everyone in the school to the river. The idea was to explore and to learn to identi
fy the plants and animals in the swamp.

  Even though it was morning, the air felt steamy and hot. The heat seemed to radiate from the marshy ground. As if we were walking on top of hot coals, Kelli thought.

  Miss Rawls raised a bunch of papers in one hand. “Does everyone have a worksheet?” she called. She waited for everyone to pull them out of their backpacks. “Make a check mark in front of the plants you identify. And people, don’t wander too far. Stay in groups, okay? Mrs. Klavan and I don’t want to be searching the trees all day.”

  Kelli and Shawn studied their worksheets. “Four-petal pawpaws,” Kelli murmured. “They shouldn’t be too hard to find.” She read the names of the other two plants out loud: “Golden aster and swamp lily.”

  Kids split into groups and began walking in different directions, following the paths through the tall, swaying reeds and low pine shrubs.

  “Let’s follow the path away from those weird trees,” Shawn said, pointing.

  Kelli gazed at the sandy path. It curled around the shore of the river, back into a thicket of slender flowering trees. The river water sparkled under the morning sun. The slow current made a trickling sound as it rolled past them.

  Shawn swatted a big fly off the back of his hand. “Ow. It bit me.”

  “I’m sure you were delicious,” Kelli said.

  “Look. I have a red bump.”

  She grinned at him. “Want me to kiss it and make it better?”

  “Shut up, stupid.”

  They followed the path. It led away from the water, through a wall of tall reeds. Kelli heard a scraping sound. Soft thuds. The footsteps of small animals darting along the bottoms of the reeds. Swamp mice?

  She and Shawn stopped when they heard a louder sound. The crackle of dry leaves. Heavy thuds on the ground. They froze and listened.

  And cried out when the tall reeds parted. And Zeke and Decker pushed their way onto the path in front of them. Their white-blond hair glowed in the bright sunlight. Their faces were red, angry.

  “You’re not supposed to leave the group,” Zeke said.

  Kelli glanced around. “We didn’t realize we’d wandered off so far,” she said.

  Despite the heat, the twins wore dark blue hoodies, hoods pushed back, over their denim cargo shorts. They moved to block the path.

  “What’s up with your dad?” Decker demanded. “What is his problem, anyway?” He spit the words angrily.

  “Well …” Kelli didn’t know what to say.

  “Why did he accuse Decker and me like that?” Zeke asked. “Why did he pull us out of school and say we did things to scare you?”

  Kelli swallowed. Her mouth suddenly felt dry. “It was all a big mix-up,” she said. “Sorry —”

  “Mix-up?” Decker said, squinting at her. “What’s a mix-up? When someone’s father drags you out of school for something you didn’t do? That’s a mix-up?” He tensed his fists at his sides.

  Kelli felt a shiver run down her back. I didn’t think these guys would be so angry.

  “I … I’m sorry,” she said. “Really. Please accept my apology.”

  They exchanged glances. Zeke’s scowl faded. “Okay,” he said finally. “Apology accepted.”

  Shawn interrupted. “So does that mean you won’t try to scare us about the Shaggedy anymore?”

  Zeke stuck his face up close to Shawn’s. He ignored Shawn’s question. “Want to see the coolest place in the swamp?” he asked.

  “N-not really,” Shawn stammered, shoving his hands into his shorts pockets.

  “Come on,” Decker said, giving Shawn a gentle push. “Follow us. It’s not dangerous. It’s way cool.”

  “Way cool,” Zeke echoed. “Come on. You’ll like it. Hurry. Before Miss Rawls sees us. This place is amazing. Trust us.” He smiled. “Now that we’re friends, we’ll show it to you.”

  Decker nodded. “Yeah. Now that we’re friends …”

  The path curled away from the river. But Zeke and Decker led Kelli and her brother off the path, into the underbrush of vine tendrils and fat vine leaves.

  “Where are you taking us? This is pretty far,” Kelli said.

  Decker bumped her from behind. “You’ll see. You won’t believe it. It’s wild.”

  “Miss Rawls will be looking for us,” Shawn said. He tripped over a thick vine tendril. Decker caught him and kept him from falling.

  They squeezed through a thicket of tightly tangled trees — and found themselves gazing at a part of the river they hadn’t seen before. A spit of sand stretched out into the water, curving to form a perfect circle.

  “That’s it,” Zeke said, suddenly excited. “See? The sand forms a circle. And inside the circle is Monster Hole.”

  “Huh? Monster Hole?” Shawn’s voice cracked. Kelli put her hands on his shoulders.

  “That’s where we saw it,” Decker said. “That’s where we saw the Shaggedy for the second time.”

  Kelli squinted at him. “The second time?”

  Both boys nodded. “The first time was when he pounded on our neighbor’s door,” Zeke said. “After that night, Decker and I kept watch. And we saw it again.” He pointed. “We watched it rise up from the water right there.”

  Shawn made a gulping sound. “You’re joking, right? You’re not serious?”

  Zeke raised his right hand. “I swear.”

  “He just popped up in the water,” Decker said, “with all this gunk pouring off him. Like mud and leaves and stuff. He wiped it out of his hair, and he started to move toward the shore. To right where we’re standing.”

  Kelli studied the two boys. They didn’t appear to be joking. Were they making the story up as they went along? They were so serious. So intense.

  Could they be telling the truth?

  “The Shaggedy climbed out of the swamp,” Zeke said. “He was huge. I mean, like the Incredible Hulk from the comic books. Only he was covered in lizard skin.”

  “He stomped onto the sand,” Decker continued the story. “Zeke and I hid behind those trees over there. And we watched the Shaggedy climb onto the shore. He had huge webbed feet. He walked over to that tree, and he grabbed a squirrel off a tree limb. Just reached out and grabbed it in his huge hand.”

  Shawn made the gulping sound again. Kelli saw that he was trembling in fright. She knew she should shut the boys up. But she wanted to hear the end of the story.

  “He ate the squirrel in one bite,” Zeke said. “I’ll never forget the sound the squirrel made when the Shaggedy bit into it. It squeaked. Did you ever hear a squirrel squeak?”

  “It ate the squirrel,” Decker said, “and squirrel juice ran down the monster’s chin. It licked its big lips. Then it turned and thudded back into the water on its webbed feet. It just kept walking until it sank under the surface, and it didn’t come back up.”

  “That’s where it came up,” Zeke said, pointing into the circle of river water again. “That’s where we saw it. Decker and I … we’ve been kind of obsessed ever since. You see why?”

  “No,” Kelli said. “I don’t see why. I think it’s just a story that everyone in this town repeats.”

  Actually, Kelli didn’t know what to believe. Ranger Saul had told her about the Shaggedy. And these two boys talked about nothing else. But the monster couldn’t be real. It couldn’t.

  She kept her hands on Shawn’s shoulders. “Look how he’s shaking. What’s the big thrill from scaring him with a dumb monster story?” she demanded.

  Zeke’s blue eyes flashed. “You think it’s a dumb story? Seriously?”

  Kelli nodded. “Yes, I do.”

  “You think it’s all made it up?” Decker said.

  “Yes, I do,” Kelli repeated.

  “Well, why don’t you go check it out for yourselves?” Zeke cried.

  He and his brother lowered their heads and charged at Kelli and Shawn. Butted them hard — and sent them flying into the water.

  The river was deep here. Kelli and Shawn splashed down hard. They both sank below the surf
ace, then came up thrashing and gasping for air.

  “That’s for sending your father to accuse us!” Zeke declared.

  Kelli and Shawn struggled toward shore. But the river current pushed them back.

  “Oh, wow. Here it comes!” Decker shouted, gazing past them. “The Shaggedy! It’s right behind you!”

  Kelli froze for a moment. She started to sink. Taking a deep breath, she spun around in the water.

  Nothing there.

  Zeke and his twin had tossed back their heads, laughing hard, slapping high fives.

  Shawn had his face in the water. He was stroking hard, struggling to reach shore. Kelli wrapped her arm around his waist to help him move forward.

  She climbed out first, then turned to pull him onto the sand.

  “What’s going on here?” Miss Rawls came running from the trees. Her eyes were wide with shock. “Did you fall in?”

  “These new kids were goofing around,” Zeke answered quickly. “They were wrestling each other and they fell in.”

  “Zeke and I were helping to pull them out,” Decker chimed in.

  Liars, thought Kelli. She tugged a limp vine tendril from her hair. Then she squeezed water from her T-shirt, knotting it in front of her.

  A group of kids had gathered to watch.

  “Kelli and Shawn, you were very careless,” Miss Rawls said. “I’m very disappointed in you both.”

  Kelli saw the wide grins on the faces of Zeke and Decker.

  “Oh no!” Shawn cried suddenly. He was staring at Kelli’s legs. “What are those things?”

  Kelli’s legs itched like crazy. She glanced down. She saw several fat black worms stuck up and down both legs.

  “Leeches,” Miss Rawls said. “You’ve picked up some leeches, Kelli. They suck your blood.”

  Kelli couldn’t help it. She opened her mouth in a scream. “I can feel it!” she cried. “I can feel them drinking my blood. Ouch. Oh, ouch. It hurts!”

  Miss Rawls motioned with both hands. “Come over here. Mrs. Klavan and I will pull them off.”

  Kelli limped over to the two teachers. They squatted down and began removing leeches from Kelli’s legs. Each leech made a sick popping sound as its sucker was loosened from her skin.