Part One

Jack Skellington: HEHEHEHEHE! Happy Halloween, everyone! Or should I say…Merry Christmas! Yes, indeed, Merry Christmas. For the tale that I shall share with you this merry holiday season is quite a haunting one, if you know what I mean. *pause* "You don't," you say? Well, certainly by now, you've heard of the almighty mortal heroes known as the Ghostbusters. They've saved the world four times in a row from the likes of Gozer the Gozerian, Vigo the Carpathian, and the Enforcers of the Seventh Circle. However, on the Eve of Christmas, they will face a very spirited force of the supernatural.

On the night of Christmas Eve, the activity within the Ghostbusters' firehouse headquarters was filled with zest from the small group of members there. J.G. Stantz, Diana Zeddemore, and Meagan Tully were caroling altogether, while decorating the interior of the firehouse with lights around everywhere – including the fire pole, a Christmas tree by the window in the upstairs bedroom, and a Christmas reef hung outside on the door. The only two who weren't doing much caroling were Sean Spengler and Kimberly Venkman – one was too busy checking the amount of electricity used within the lighting decorations, while the other appeared to be in a very poor mood that evening.

The reason behind Doctor Venkman's lack of joy came from the phone call that she received from her boyfriend, Jonathan Barrett, who told her that his flight from Florida to New York had been delayed for the night, due to a heavy snowstorm that was reported of coming in through the New York area. She expected to have a nice candlelight dinner at her favorite restaurant, Gusteau's; instead she was forced to stay inside the firehouse all night with her fellow co-workers until the snowstorm had passed.

Kimberly sat alone by her desk, her head rested upon one hand while the other was used for tapping a pen repeatedly on the surface of her desk. Not once did she feel isolated from her friends, who were working together in decorating the new Ecto-2K with Christmas lights and reefs. In the midst of working, Meagan glanced her way and took notice of how woeful she looked. An idea sparked within her imagination as she took off the Santa hat she wore while decorating and rushed over to Kimberly.

Needless to say, Doctor Venkman was taken by surprise when she felt the hat go over her red-haired head and heard Tully shout joyously to her, "Merry Christmas, Dr. Venkman!"

Venkman glared at the happy Junior Ghostbuster and pointed to her head. "Take this thing off me right now, or you're gonna be having it pumped from your stomach on Christmas morning!"

Nearby, Diana heard Kimberly's vicious demand and stopped working long enough to walk over to her and ask, "What humbug is in your butt, Venkman?"

"The one mailed in by the T.V. weatherman." Kimberly snapped. "This crazy snowstorm has completely ruined my Christmas, man. J.B.'s stuck in Tampa Bay and I'm stuck here with you commercialized freaks all night."

Spengler approached with a clipboard and Droid phone in hand and informed, "The snowstorm won't last for very long, Kim. They're predicting that it will end around seven o'clock in the morning."

"So you'll have all of Christmas day to spend with Mister Barrett, Dr. Venkman." Meagan pointed out.

"Gusteau's will be closed on Christmas Day – what good will it be then when I can't even have a romantic dinner at the finest restaurant in Manhattan?"

From across the room, J.G. jokingly shouted by the roof of the Ecto-2K, "There's always Burger King, Venkman."

"Good idea, Jay. How 'bout I throw you a Whooper right now?" She held up her fist as she responded with her classic sarcasm; but Stantz didn't appear too intimidated by it.

"Chill out, will ya?" He told her. "I'm not with Alexis tonight, and you don't see me going stir crazy."

"That's different – your idea of romance with her is stripping her half-naked and seeing how many pins you can stick in her skin before she feels one of them!"

"Hey, Spengs was there, too!"

Kimberly, Meagan, and Diana shot awkward glances toward Sean, who just lifted his full hands in protest and said, "Science is crazy sometimes."

Diana shook her head in disgust, turning her attention back to Kimberly. "Well, that certainly had to take your mind off of J.B."

"It actually did," admitted Venkman, "but I'm still pretty pi…"

Before she could blurt out the rest of that obscenity, the phone sitting at the empty desk of Christina Melnitz began to ring. Stantz climbed down the ladder that he was standing atop of and rushed to the phone, picking up the receiver and speaking into it. "Season's Greetings from the Ghostbusters! How can we be of assistance?" J.G. listened to the voice on the other end, which sounded serene and almost harmonious for a male. He informed him of a haunting at a mansion in the Uptown area of Manhattan – 155th Street in Washington Heights, to be more precise. "Okay, thank you, sir. We'll be there as soon as possible."

As he hung up the phone, Kimberly slammed her hands down over her desk in frustration and yelled, "Oh, terrific! Now we have a bust on Christmas Eve to take care of! Jay, have you forgotten there's a snowstorm happening right now?"

"The snowstorm is very light right now. It won't pick up intensity for another couple of hours, Venkman." Spengler stated, after taking a quick glance at the forecast details on his smart-phone. "Plenty of time to drive by and handle the situation, before we get caught in the blizzard."

"Still, dress warmly." Stantz cautioned. "The heat from the Packs can only keep us thawed for a limited time."

"Great." Kimberly said in a dull tone. "Even if there was actually a humbug in my butt, I'm sure an hour in the chilly winds would freeze it out." As she headed towards the Ecto-2K with the others, she threw Meagan's Santa hat off her head and down on the desk, where it sat alone and isolated – much like its last occupant. However, just as the Ghostbusters sped away in the Ecto-2K, the hat began to sparkle in red and green colors, as it disappeared like magic from the unoccupied desk.

Jack Skellington: Is it truly magic? Or a haunting in disguise? You shall find out in the next part of the story.