That day was gray, cloudy and overcast, and it was a bit windy. It sprinkled a bit, but not too hard. No birds sang in the trees, and the city was relatively quiet for once. Almost too quiet. It was just utter silence, but no one really cared. The few rays of sun that shone through the clouds were dull and gray.
A bagpipe player was playing the tune 'Amazing Grace'. And Dr. Peter Venkman thought it was the right tune to add on to the dreary mood he and the other Ghostbusters had been feeling for the past few days.
Dr. Ray Stantz, who was usually the cheery one, looked down at the ground with his two different colored eyes full of unshed tears. His wife, Jenny Moran-Stantz, put her on his shoulder to comfort him. And their adult kids, Ryan and Raina, stood near by.
Winston Zeddemore had eyes full of unshed tears as well. He tried concentrating on something else, but he could only think about how sad the song the bagpipe player was playing was. His wife, Tiyah Zeddemore stood by with their kids, Tiana and William.
Peter stood by his wife Dana Barrett-Venkman, his twin kids Maleah and Pedro, and his stepson Oscar. He ran his hand through his graying hair. Over and over he thought about it, but he still couldn't believe it.
He and the others just couldn't believe it.
Dr. Egon Spengler was...gone.
It was still hard to believe. Janine Melnitz-Spengler stood near by with tears running down her face. Violet, Julian, and Daniel, her and Egon's kids, were standing beside their mom as they couldn't believe it either. Janine was fiddling with the finger that had a small, gold, wedding ring on it.
The Chicago Ghostbusters had shown up for the service. Well, the guys made them as it would be a sign of respect. Special Agent Melanie Ortiz, the FBI liaison to the Ghostbusters, had shown up as well.
The mayor had shown up as well cause he wanted to pay tribute to the fallen Ghostbuster. None of Egon's siblings had shown up, no surprise, cause they had disowned him. And Janine, Jenny, Dana, and Tiyah's families had shown up as well.
Ray couldn't believe his closest friend and brother was now gone. But he knew that Egon had been really sick for the past few years. Egon had unfortunately fallen ill with a rare disease called autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis. And even more tragic was that Egon had lost the ability to walk, but he thankfully and secretly relearned to. That Christmas after Egon had gotten sick, he had surprised the guys by showing them that he was walking again. They were of course overjoyed.
Winston remembered a few nights ago when they said goodbye. Janine had just called saying that Egon had been taken to the hospital cause he wasn't doing so well. The guys immediately knew Egon wasn't gonna live much longer because he had been getting weaker.
When the 3 Ghostbusters entered the room, Egon was not doing good. The doctor said he wasn't gonna live much longer. Peter said his name, and Egon weakly opened his now pale blue eyes. The guys told their dying friend and brother how much he had meant to them. Egon told them how much they had meant to him.
And then his heart had stopped...
Winston snapped out the memory and back into reality.
Ray was remembering all the adventures the 4 of them had had together. It had been fun, but dangerous and stupid. But dangerous and stupid was what they did.
A lone tear ran down Peter's face as he though of his friend. Yes, he and Egon hadn't always gotten along, and they argued a lot, but they loved each other to death.
Janine thought about the day when she had first seen Egon. Peter had been interviewing her for the receptionist job. Janine wasn't sure if she was gonna take the job. Until Egon walked in. When she saw him, she thought he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. She developed a massive crush on him.
Then after years, sometimes ghostbusting took up time, the two of them got together, got married, and had three kids Violet, Julian, and Daniel, who were now adults.
Peter, Ray, and Winston had all gotten married and kids of their own. The kids were all now adults now and were really good Ghostbusters.
The casket was in front of them. It was covered with an American flag. Even though Egon had never done any military duties, like Winston, or law enforcement, the mayor had called him and the other Ghostbusters 'American heroes'. So the mayor requested the casket be covered with a flag, as ghostbusting was a form of serving the people.
The guys had requested that Egon be buried in his uniform. They thought it would be appropriate, so the embalmers had dressed Egon's body in his jumpsuit, boots, gloves, and elbow pads. And they of course put his glasses on, along with his wedding ring.
Peter still couldn't believe their tall guy, the 'brains of the Ghostbusters', was now gone. Peter had always thought he would be first one to die, but he was wrong.
It was then time to give the speeches. Peter decided to go first, He went up in front of the casket to say his words about his beloved friend.
"First of all, I would like to say a few words about my best friend." Peter said, "Yes, he and I bickered a little bit, and I annoyed him and messed with him a lot, but I loved him to death. After all, he was like the brother I never had. Along with Ray and Winston of course, but I always felt really attached to Egon. He was always there for me. I always alone as kid, and he was too. He adopted me, and I adopted him. He was what kept me from running when things got sketchy. He was what kept us together. He had also risked his own many times to save us, which I think is really selfless. He also always refused to admit that he was sick. That might've been one of the only things he and I had in common: being stubborn." Peter's eyes began welling up, and his voice began to crack. "And I really hate to see him go. For the past few days. I've been in denial, but I know it's true. But I still can't believe it."
Peter turned to the casket and placed his hand on it. "Rest in peace Spengs." he whispered softly. Then he walked back to Dana with tears running down his face. Dana wrapped her arms around him to comfort him.
Winston went next. He walked up in front of the casket and didn't say anything for a minute. Then he began.
"Like Peter said, Egon was the best friend anyone could have. Yeah, sure, he didn't smile too often and rarely showed emotion, but he was a lovable person. He always surprised us in ways we couldn't even imagine. Heck, I still remember that time when Peck shut off the containment unit, Egon got so mad he went ballistic and tried to throttle Peck to death. I have to admit, I never knew Egon had a temper like that. It showed me never to mess with the smart ones cause they have pretty scary bad sides. But it also showed me that, like all of us, he's human." Winston went on as tears welled up in his eyes as well, "We're all human. We can't avoid death, even though Peter, Ray, Egon, and I have done it a million times. And Egon was always willing to risk his life to save us. And I...I...I...I owe him my life..."
Winston walked away as the emotions and realizations were too much for him to bear. Tiyah put her arm around him. William and Tiana did the same.
Ray took a deep breath and walked up. Out of all the Ghostbusters, he might've been hit the hardest. He and Egon had always had a special bond. A bond that could never be broken, no matter what.
"This..." Ray began hesitantly, "This is really hard for me. For all of us. Egon and I had really special bond. Heck I remember the first day I met him. It feels like yesterday we began the Ghostbusters. Egon was always bad at lying, but good at keeping a secret. And he was always doing dangerous stuff. So was I. We got along great. We all did. Well, most of the time. I could never imagine the day he would die. Heck we've almost lost Egon many times before, but now...it's real. I keep telling myself 'it's not real. This can't be happening'. But it is. It is real. And I really wish it weren't."
Tears ran down Ray's face as he walked away. It was just too much for him to bear. Jenny wrapped her arms around Ray and rubbed his back. Ryan and Raina did the same.
Janine went next, but she was in such shock that she fainted. Daniel quickly caught his mother and helped her stand up. Then he, Violet, and Julian all went up to say a few words about their father. After the speeches, a few of Winston's friends from the Marines came up and took the flag off the casket. Sealed on the black lid of the casket was a shiny red and silver no-ghost logo. It symbolized what Egon and his friends had down for a very long time.
"Now, all rise for the 21 proton gun salute." Pedro announced. Maleah and Oscar then brought over three proton packs for Peter, Ray, and Winston.
"21 proton gun salute?" the mayor questioned, "Isn't that dangerous?"
"Well, we decided that when one of us dies, we do a 21 proton gun salute in their honor." Peter said, "It's more than appropriate."
"Alright, just don't burn down the entire city." the mayor said.
"And don't cross the streams." Violet said, "You know how many times Dad's told you that."
"We know Violet, and we won't disrespect Egon's orders." Ray said as he, Peter, and Winston turned on the packs.
"Tell us when you're ready William." Winston said to his son.
"Ok Dad." William said. He then lowered his hand, signaling to the guys they could fire. The three Ghostbusters fired their packs. As they did, they thought of all the busts they had done over the years and the life of adventure: fighting gods, traveling to alternate dimensions, finding out that there were alternate versions of ghostbusters out there, and a whole lot more. They had also had their share of possessions, getting abducted, and getting slimed, and a whole lot of other things. After the final blasts, the trio turned off their packs.
The priest then began saying the prayers and sprinkled some holy water on the casket. Afterward, the casket was lowered into the ground, and the hole was filled with dirt. After the burial, everyone left. Janine began crying again, so Violet, Julian, and Daniel led her away to comfort her. Jenny and Tiyah followed to see if they could help. Ryan, Raina, William, and Tiana followed. But Peter, Ray, and Winston stayed put.
"Come on kids," Dana said, "Let's leave your dad, Ray, and Winston alone with Egon right now." She, Maleah, Pedro, and Oscar followed. Peter, Ray, and Winston stood by the grave.
Winston sighed heavily, "I still can't believe it."
"Nor can I." Peter replied.
"It's feels like yesterday we just started the Ghostbusters and fought Gozer." Ray said.
"Yeah. Where has time gone?" Peter asked.
"Who knows?" Winston said.
"I always thought I'd be the first one to die, not Egon." Peter said looking at the grave marker, "But what did he do to get really sick to the point he couldn't even walk the die from it? Nothing. I don't understand."
"I guess some people have bad luck. Considering what all he'd been through already." Ray said.
"Yeah, but I still can't believe he's gone." Peter said.
"Me too. But I have a feeling we'll see him again someday. He'll probably be watching over us and protecting us." Winston said.
"Maybe. Come on, let's go call a toast to Egon Spengler, the smartest and on occasion, most stubborn, guy in the world." Ray said.
"You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up in a second." Peter said.
"Ok, but don't stay too long man." Winston said as he and Ray walked away.
Peter stood alone by the grave. He then knelt down, put his hand on the grave marker, and began to talk.
"Spengs, just to let you know, I love you like a brother and I always will. As much as I've annoyed you, the truth is...I've had nothing but respect for you. It's the truth. I'll miss you like crazy, and I know I'll see you on the other side."
Peter then stood up and walked away to join Ray and Winston.
A few weeks later, Peter was taking a walk through the city to clear his mind. He then stopped at a crosswalk, and began to think about the events that had happened over the past few weeks. He shook his head in order to not think about it.
The cross signal lit up, and Peter walked across the street. All of a sudden, a car came speeding down the street toward where Peter was standing. Peter turned his head and his eyes widened in fear. He was in such shock that he couldn't move. The car continued speeding toward him. He thought this was the end. this was how he was gonna die.
All of a sudden, Peter felt an invisible force slam into him and push him down just as the car sped past him and hit a lamppost. Peter was in shock. Something, or someone, had just saved his life. But who?
About half an hour later when the police showed up to the accident, Peter was being questioned by an officer. He told him everything that had happened. And as Peter was explaining, he looked across the street and saw Egon, wearing his ghostbusting uniform, standing there. Peter's eyes widened in shock as he saw his deceased friend. Egon then smiled and waved at Peter. A car then past in front of him, and he was gone.
Peter stood in shock at what he had seen. He then realized that it must've been Egon's spirit that had saved him. Later on that night, he called Ray and Winston and told them what he had seen. Ray and Winston said that while they had been out for a walk, they had seen Egon too.
After Peter hung up the phone, he thought. He then smiled, knowing that Egon was still out there, and that he, Ray, and Winston all had a guardian angel watching over them.
"Egon, wherever you are buddy, thank you for saving my life." Peter said in his head.
The End.
In memory of Harold Ramis, 1944-2014.
We love and miss you like crazy Harold!
R.I.P. to one of the greatest writers, actors, directors, and of course, Ghostbuster, ever.