Transformers Prime: Phasma Phasmatis, A love story

Chapter one: The Library at Gallows Hill

*KRRRIZZZ!* This is Chad Walters your on Ghost Seekers! We're here at the Salem public library in the neighborhood of Gallows Hill! In the infamous town of Salem Massachusetts! "Chad said as he adjusted the arm that held his night vision camera to his face. It was the 8 exciting episode of his video podcast "Ghost Seekers" He and his friend Bill and Cody were semi-pro ghost hunters that travelled the country to supposedly haunted places to try to find evidence of paranormal activity.

They were a motley crew of mid-20'ers, and they carried with them a cavalcade of ghost hunting equipment, EMF meters, thermal imaging cameras, Audio recorders among the few.

"Dude stop shaking the camera!" Chad griped at Cody "and don't forget to turn on the night vision!" He said as the view on the camera turned to a pale green, where Chads eyes were now lit up like candles.

"Supposedly this library sits on the very site where they hung accused witches during the Salem Witch Trials. There have been reports of whispers and books dropping for no reason! Some have even reported seeing the apparition of a young girl in Puritan wear prancing around these hallways!" Chad said as he panned the camera around the old library.

Through all the rambling and supposed "Hushing" Of each other, Elyssa Vandermeyer tried to read. Her spirit settled on top of one of the larger bookshelf in the main reading area. She settled on reading her favorite story by William Shakespeare, "The Taming of The Shrew" Then again she loved anything he put out or even her favorite Poet John Wilmot. She could read their works over and over and she did. She figured this was her 2 millionth time to read "Taming of the shrew". Then again being a ghost for over 300 years in a library that's all she did was read. Elyssa had read each book in this library at least a 1000 times. She loved the classics, but didn't really care for the newer Authors like Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe and Leo Tolstoy. She did find them readable, even if she didn't agree with the content.

She absolutely hated H.P Lovecraft, it was too scary for her. There was once a Lovecraft reading group that met here in the late 1970's. Elyssa made it a point to cause some kind of disturbance during the readings, whether it was causing the lights to blink on and off, causing a few books to drop or in the most severe case passing through a person. This was extreme as it caused her to always fall weak for a couple of days and only cause the person she was phasing though a cold shiver.

As a ghost Elyssa needed a fair amount of concentration to do the most menial things. Such picking up a book and turning the pages. She hated the new binding they were doing with the newer plastic cover books, It took most of her concentration to hold the book to keep it from snapping shut. Once miscue and the book shut and she lost her place, it could get quite irritating especially if the book was a real page turner!

She did read the Harry Potter series, but she could only read that book series once. It wasn't that she didn't like them; in fact she thought they were an enjoyable read. They just left her with a bad feeling, of memories long past. Then again reading a book about the joys and trials of being a wizard and a witch would be more enjoyable if Elyssa herself wasn't executed for being falsely accused of being a witch. The young men investigating their library told the truth about Gallows Hill, for it was here in July of 1692 that Elyssa Vandermeyer hung by the neck at the age of 13 during the events now known as the Salem Witch Trials.

"Are you here! Can you hear me? If you are here please talk with us!" Chad called out repeatedly in an effort to try to talk to her. Elyssa knew for the past 100 years that she was a Ghost and something might be preventing her from passing over. Of course it was all a mystery to her, no matter how many books she read on Ghosts and the afterlife. She tried many times to talk to the living. Each time she was met with either fright or ignored. Some people would often misinterpret her. Now most of the time since "Ghost Hunters" have begun to grown in numbers she mainly just ignores them.

The questions by the Ghost Seeker were now becoming very annoying as she tried to read her book in peace. Until finally she shouted out in frustration,

"Yes I can hear you good sir! I'm trying to read!" She yelled looking down at the young men.

OF course with their equipment, all they were able to capture was a tiny snippet of what broke through the eternal plane, and it was usually broken up and said in a hushed tone. What they used was a device used among Ghost Hunters called an Ovilus, or more commonly known as a 'Ghost Box'.

What this small box like device did was take electromagnetic readings and match them against a built in database of words. It supposedly called out words that ghost said while communicating through it. It was controversial as it was seen as an electronic Ouija board, Ghost found it annoying as it rarely got their words right.

"DID YOU HEAR THAT! I Heard it ! Did you hear it!"Chad giddily yelled as if it were Christmas.

"Trying….to…..read…." Was all the recorder got, And they played the sound bit over and over.

"What are you trying to read? Are you lonely? Talk to us!" He kept repeating.

"You're annoying!" Elyssa called out.

"I caught something else! It said 'anointing!' Can you hear it!" Chad squealed out as Elyssa rolled her eyes.

"Fine!" Alyssa growled as she pooled the feelings of frustration and focused on moving the book. She swept the book off the top shelf as it sailed off and hit Cody in the head.

"I GOT HIT BY A BOOK!, I GOT HIT BY A BOOK! HOLY COW I GOT HIT BY A BOOK!" Cody squealed as he nearly wet himself in joy.

"I need to go for a walk…" Elyssa said as she floated from her perch and flew out of the confines of the library. Unlike other ghosts, Elyssa wasn't confined to just the library. She found with effort she could fly and move effortlessly in a limited range around Salem. She found she couldn't leave past the borders of Gallows Hill that led to the county line. But anywhere from there to the center of Midtown Salem was fair game. She didn't travel much for fear of getting lost like once in the 1860's. If it weren't for the help of some recently deceased Civil War soldiers, she might never have found her way back to Salem.

She looked out in the night air as the full moon still hung in the air, unlike the full moon of last month there was no rain and it was a crystal clear night. She found for some mysterious reason that she could take a semi solid form during these times and only during the country road that ran in the middle of Gallows hill leading to the country line. She would often go for a walk along this stretch of road, and every so often, a kind driver could see her and offer her a ride. Even though she knew how it ended with her vanishing as soon as she got near the county line, she still enjoyed the brief amount of company.

The first hundred years of the afterlife were hard for her, but she grew accustom to her afterlife, and to seeing the living walk among their lives. She was happy for the ones that found the rest they got when they passed, and she wept for those that found damnation. She didn't hear it or see it, but somehow she just knew. She was resolved to her own afterlife and was content to wait. She knew one day she found be granted the peace she long craved for. Elyssa flew low over the ground, landing softly on the country road she began to walk as slowly she took a translucent form.

Not far from her in the skies above Salem, Cosmos had just finished a 10 hour shift of monitoring the Decepticons and the various human communications. He logged the chatter he found to be pertinent to the hot words he was given. He hung in low orbit above the Earth as he passed various satellites and space junk. Occasionally he would see a shooting star but not often. He logged his time and flew back to base to refuel. As he reentered earth's atmosphere he made it a point to hover near some houses and follow a car or two, if anything just to mess with the humans. It brought him a small chuckle as he could hear their frantic calls and texts of, "DUDE I JUST SAW A UFO!"

He didn't want to risk being seen flying into his base so he flew to the outskirts of town as he transformed and took the road into town. His thoughts soon wandered to his friend Annie Oakley. He looked her up and saw she lived a long and fruitful life before passing away. When he thought he got over his sadness it would eventually creep back on quiet moments like this. Part of him wondered if he felt guilty for not making a harder effort to visit. Cosmos simply took for granted how short human lives were. His proximity alert soon sounded as he registered the visual of a young person walking the road. It was late out almost 3 a.m, what was this human female doing out here by herself? He remembered what Optimus said about avoiding human contact, but the thoughts of Annie still weighed heavily on Cosmos's mind. He was compelled to stop at least and offer this human a ride.

Activating his holomatter avatar that was the form of a unassuming male with dark brown hair and thick black frame glasses, he slowed down as he rolled his window down.

"Hey I can give you lift if you want." Cosmos offered.

Elyssa opened the door but as she touched the handled she felt a tiny electrical shock. This was very curious as she hadn't felt anything, ever. Normally she would be repelled at the first sign of turbulence, but she felt a feeling of calm and curiosity she hadn't felt in a long time.

She climbed in his seat and instantly she knew there was something different about him. She was intrigued but not scared. She looked at the gentleman as he smiled and drove off.

"Hi, "Cosmos said "Where can I take you?"

"I-I live off throckmorton ave, Last house on the left." She said. As she couldn't take his eyes off of him. For one thing unlike other humans he seemed to have a slight illuninescent aura about him. Cosmos in turn started to register different reading about the girl. She looked normal enough. She wore a black dress with a wide white collar and a white cloth cap sat atop her head as her brown wavy hair fell around her shoulders. She had very pale white skin and light pink lips that could curl into an impish smile.

Elyssa noted that he must be an excellent driver as he didn't once take his gaze off of her as he drove. The silence between them seemed like an eternity as they sized each other up. Elyssa trying to figure out what made him different, and Cosmos was trying to run diagnostics on what she was. He was for sure registering a unique energy signature from her, something definitely not normal for a human.

Unbeknownst to them a deer darted from the forest clearing and on to the road. Cosmos already preoccupied with his passenger barely noticed the animal in time to swerve. He knew the girl didn't clasp on her seatbelt and with the swerve she was going to go flying inside the cabin and possible through the window. He quickly acted to raise his arm to cover her and brace her. What happened next all but proved their assumptions about them.

As he went to make contact the air around them sizzled and cackled as energy clashed upon energy. Even as a ghost Elyssa still maintained a residual energy signature, this is why she caused EMF meters to spike in readings. This energy is what allowed her to exist in the spiritual plane. Cosmos on top of giving off energon signatures carried a residual amount of cosmic radiation from Solar winds through his time of travelling in space. It caused them both a nasty jolt as Elyssa yelped and tried to fly away. She found the energy spike caused her to gain a brief physical form as he bounced off the window and felt legitimate physical pain for the first time in over 300 years. She fell back on the chair and tumble as the swerve caused Cosmo to tumble and flip twice off the side of the road.

Cosmos himself felt a nasty jolt as he touched her; He had contact with humans before and never before had he ever experienced something like this, nor had he ever heard of any Autobot ever reporting something like this. They both looked at each other with surprised looks and it was another good minuet or two before someone finally spoke.

"You're not human are you?" They both said at the same time.

"What are you?" Cosmos said "No human gives off an energy signal like that!"

Elyssa rubbed her head and adjusted herself in the cabin," When you touched me, you shocked me! , and it's not possible for me to feel anything!" She said forcefully

"Why is that? Is there something wrong with you?" Cosmos bit back.

She blinked as those words stung a bit, if he wanted the truth she was going to give it to him," Yes you idiot!, I am different. I'm DEAD!"

Cosmos blinked as he tried to process that piece of information, she just said she was dead but she's here talking to him. " H-How can that be!, you're not making sense!"

"Have you lived with your head in the ground? I'm a ghost! Now what makes you so special!"She demanded to know.

Cosmos made a sound in between a groan and a growl, He could hear Optimus's voice in his head telling him not too, but if she wanted the truth she was going to get it. "Okay, I am not human because I'm not from this world. This form isn't me, your actually sitting in me.."

From the look on her face he knew she required more explanation, I look like a car but I can turn into a large robot. She blinked as the explanation seemed more outlandish than hers, Still she remembered a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

"There are more things in the heaven and earth Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

"If what you say is so, then show me!; and I'll show you what I mean." She challenged.

Cosmos agreed as he figured how else this could this night get any worse. "Ok, just hold still and trust me. "He said as he transformed with her in the cabin. Before she could protest or even scream. She felt herself trussed about and soon found herself outside and off the ground. She then saw she was in the hands of a large metal man. She blinked as she saw his real form and realized he was telling the truth.

"Oh, Hello…" She said simply. "You are a big fella aren't you?"

"I told you; now tell me what a ghost is?" He asked with a child like curiosity.

Elyssa smiled as she floated out of his hands and flew slightly around him, She appeared in her ghostly transparent form to him. "Humans have a soul, when they expire they move on to the afterlife, but sometimes the souls stays behind here on earth because something is keeping them from passing over. She giggled as she began to fly around and then through him. What surprised her most was she could fly through him and felt no ill effects like when she flew though a human.

Cosmos chuckled at he saw the girl fly effortlessly around him. She looked like a whisp are she flew around and then stopped in front of him and floated in the air before him.

"How is it you can see me?" She asked "Few humans can see me or even talk to me like you."

"Well for starters I can sense the energy you give off!, what I am reading is that and I can translate that energy into an video and audio pattern." Cosmos said." My name is Cosmos, what about you?"

"My name is Elyssa Vandermeyer. " She introduced with a smile. "Would you like to be friends?"

Cosmos smiled underneath his face guard as his arm touched the back of his head in a head scratching motion. " I think I would like that very much Elyssa!"

He drove her to the Library where they sat in the parking lot and just talked. They talked about many things; Elyssa told about her life in the library for the past 200 years and the years before that in the location of her former house, He talked about his life with his people on the planet of Cybertron. She talked about a love of books, and then he talked about his adventures with the Autobots. What they both instantly agreed on, was how lonely their lives were prior to tonight.

Dawn broke in the morning sky as dew drops covered the ground. The Autobot and the ghost had been taking straight that they lost track of time. Still both were pleased to know that both weren't leaving Salem anytime soon. Sadly Cosmos had to report to his monitoring duties. He would have to have an enrgon flush on the way out.

"It's time for me go to work, but can I visit you in about 10 hours when I'm done" Cosmos said.

Elyssa nodded eagerly, "I'll be here!, keeping the readers in line, I'm rather famous here for keeping the books mark-free!" She said proudly. She then saw off to the front of the library, the three ghost hunters emerging from inside.

"Oh good!, They're leaving!" She said with a huff in her voice "Those guys were quote annoying last night with all their chattering!"

"Who are they?" Cosmos asked

"They are called 'Ghost Hunters', they are people who fuddle about trying to prove the existence of ghosts like me!" She said with the annoyance growing in her voice," I can communicate with them if I try, but with their poor equipment they don't get all of what I'm trying to say. Still I'm not sure what they would do if they actually saw me!"

Cosmos chuckled as he thought of an idea." Hey watch this when you get out! I have a way to mess with them!" He said as he saw a smiled beam across her face.

Flying out of him and near the ghost hunters who were on camera reporting on how things in the library went dead after 3 a.m and went into a long soliloquy on how this spot was where the ghosts of the dead were trapped. Elyssa floated by them and stuck her tongue out at them, knowing full well they were unaware of her, when off in the distance Cosmos drove around the side of the building and transformed into his UFO mode and hovered over the library. Elyssa nearly spilt her dress in laughing as they screamed when they saw the UFO hovering in the air.

"LOOK ! LOOK ! Chad screamed as he pointed in the sky at the UFO "It's a UFO! It's a UFO! Get the camera!"

"Cody nearly pulled his hair out as he realized all the batteries were drained on the camera batteries. " The batteries are dead man!"

"Then someone get a camera phone!" Chad yelled as they all got out their camera phone and hit record, but as soon as they did Cosmos jetted off in the sky. The only thing the camera phones did record was the faint laughter of Elyssa.

NEXT TIME: Cosmos begins to learn the paranormal history of Salem and he finds there are like Elyssa than he thought, as Elyssa reveals the last moments of her life and what lead up to it. Plus during a late night drive through Salem Cosmos and Elyssa stumble across one of the Northeast's more infamous specters, and He's a long way from home.