"Keira, what's wrong? This is your favorite restaurant…" Matt sat across the table from Keira, studying her worriedly. She had barely touched her food, and had spent most of the meal staring into the distance, her face set in a permanent frown.
"Did they not make the steak how you like it?" Matt asked as he took another huge mouthful of his own meat. Keira looked down at her plate and forced a few pieces into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully.
"I'm just worried about tomorrow. Cindy called for the Ghostbusters to come in to check out the library." Keira said as she sipped at her water. Matt set his fork down and stared at her.
"Why, what happened? Did someone see something?" He asked, interested. Keira nodded.
"I felt something. And without thinking, I brought it up to Cindy and she immediately got it into her mind to call them. I can't believe she did that…" She mumbled, putting her face in her hands.
"So you get to meet them? Gosh…I've dreamt about that for years!" He exclaimed. Keira flashed him a wary glance and then resumed picking at her food with her fork.
"I don't know what I'm going to say to them. I mean, they seem to be pretty well renowned here in New York, but I missed all the action from the past several years. So…I feel like they'll be expecting me to gush over them and talk about how much I appreciate what they've done…but I wasn't here so I don't know what I'll…"
Matt reached across the table and took her hand which had been fiddling with her engagement ring.
"Keira…they won't expect you to do anything. They're professionals. They've been doing this for close to ten years now, I think." Matt said reassuringly. "They'll probably ask you some questions about the library and what you saw."
"But I didn't see anything! Like I told Cindy, it was probably my overactive imagination. You know how often I'm reading." She said. Matt smiled and nodded.
"That's how we met, of course I know. I can still feel that bruise you gave me when you ran into me walking through the park with a book in your hands." Matt said, grinning. Keira felt herself blush and her heart trilled as she went back to eating.
"It's just…hard to imagine or even entertain the thought of the many ghosts and monsters they've apparently faced…that kind of thing only happens in stories…" Keira mumbled. Matt was silent for a long time.
"You forget, I was here when everything happened. You wouldn't take my word for it?"
Keira glanced up to see that Matt's face was as serious as she'd ever seen it in the several months she'd known him. She sighed and looked away after a moment.
"Matt… I don't know…"
"The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man stepped on my car!" He blurted out.
Keira stared at him, biting her lip in an attempt to hold back her laughter. Matt raised his eyebrows and continued.
"And then New Year's Eve, I stood outside on my balcony waiting for fireworks and the Statue of Liberty walked right by my apartment building! You try and tell me things like that don't happen."
Matt stared at Keira in expectant silence, waiting for her to reply. When she didn't, he shook the brown curls from his forehead and looked back down at his plate. He picked up his dinner roll and took a furious bite out of it. Keira sat in silence watching him rage eat his dinner. After a moment she shifted in her chair and swallowed hard.
"I'm sorry, Matt. I didn't know you praised them so highly too. I guess I really shouldn't be so quick to make assumptions about them." Keira raised her gaze to Matt's face, waiting for him to say something, but it took a few more minutes until he'd even look at her again. When his blue eyes finally landed on her, his walls fell down and he smiled back at her.
"You're still new to the city. It's weird to hear all of these stories about busting ghosts and whatnot, and I'm sure if I were in your position I wouldn't believe them either. But I think once you meet them tomorrow, you will." Matt smiled.
Keira smirked back up at him and then glanced down at her half-finished dinner in front of her. She could feel butterflies welling up inside her as she considered of the possibility of there actually being ghosts roaming in the world, unseen by the living.
"I'll just point them in the direction and as long as they don't ask me to do any more than that, I think I'll be fine." Keira said softly, half to herself. Matt raised an eyebrow then chuckled.
"That's what I like about you. You're so eager to get attention away from yourself."
"Here they come!" Cindy squealed almost excitedly as four men entered the library. Keira's eyes widened as she recognized their beige tacky uniforms from the television commercials. They each wore strange backpack-like equipment on their backs, and seemed to be geared up for anything.
"Ms. Drummond?" One of the men called out. Keira jumped as his voice echoed throughout the library, disturbing some of the college students studying at the tables. Cindy gave Keira an encouraging smile and then waved the four Ghostbusters over to the main desk.
"Hi, how are ya?" The man who had called out said as he shook Cindy's hand. His voice was still obnoxiously loud, and by the smirk on his face, he seemed to realize it.
"I'm doing fine, Dr. Venkman, thank you! Thank you so much for stopping by! It's been a while, hasn't it?" Cindy said, her voice slightly higher pitched than normal. Keira resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the clearly flirting librarian. Dr. Venkman glanced up to see that Keira was studying him with a hesitant glance.
"What's up with her?" He asked jokingly. Cindy looked back at Keira who blinked and took a shy step backward.
"This is Keira Jackson. She's the one who saw the ghost." Cindy said. Dr. Venkman reached across the desk to take Keira's hand in his.
"You poor thing. You must have been scared out of your wits." He said gently. He kissed her hand and Keira felt her breath catch in her throat.
"Venkman, that's enough." Another man, slightly shorter than Dr. Venkman stepped forward and offered Keira an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. He's a bit melodramatic."
"Obviously." Keira said lightheartedly.
"Keira, this is Dr. Stantz." Cindy said as he quickly shook her hand as well. Keira nodded to him and then turned as another man, this one taller than the others walked up behind Dr. Stantz. "And that's Dr. Spengler, and Mr. Zeddemore."
Each of the other two men both nodded to Keira as they were introduced.
"Hey, she doesn't know who we are? What, have you been hiding under a rock these past few years?" Dr. Venkman quipped loudly.
"This is a library, Dr. Venkman. I'm sure everyone would appreciate it if we'd use our inside voices." Keira said smartly. Dr. Venkman stuck his tongue out at her.
"Right. So um…where did you see the apparition?" Dr. Spengler pressed, pulling out a small blinking device and switching it on with a small whirring noise.
"Well, I didn't actually see it but…I felt something." Keira stammered. The four men all looked at her waiting for her to explain.
"She says that there was a breeze down there, which is odd since it's been such a hot summer and we don't turn on the air condition system because it's a rarely used section." Cindy said quickly.
"That's all?" Dr. Venkman said, sounding a little offended. Keira glanced at the other three Ghostbusters and cleared her throat.
"I told Ms. Drummond that I don't believe in ghosts so I chocked it up to my imagination. That's probably all it was." She said quickly. The four Ghostbusters stared at her in silence then exchanged knowing glances with each other.
"You're new here, aren't you?"
"Mr. Zeddemore, I've only lived here for a few years, yes. I've been educated on your adventures, but in my personal experience, this doesn't sound like anything on that level. But since Cindy called you here, you may as well go down and check." Keira said. The more she talked, the larger the Ghostbusters' smiles grew. When she was finished, she glanced up, noticing that none of the men had moved after her dismissing remarks.
"Why don't you show us where this happened?" Dr. Spengler suggested. Keira's eyes widened and her shoulders slumped.
"I don't think…"
"Too scared?" Dr. Venkman said tauntingly. Keira frowned at him and then turned away, leading the way across the library to the downstairs room. She could hear the four men, laden with their heavy equipment scurrying to keep up with her stride. Her heartbeat quickened the closer they grew to the stairs and when they finally reached them, she stopped and turned to face the four men.
"Something wrong?" Dr. Stantz asked. Keira gestured down the stairs.
"I was right down there." She said. Dr. Stantz blinked at her and she sighed as she realized that he was still waiting for her to lead them down to the lower level. He flashed her a knowing smile as she spun around and trotted down the stairs and towards the shelves where she had heard the laughter the day before.
"I think I was standing about here-ish, talking to myself as I read over some of the articles I found about…you all…in the newspapers. And then, as if reacting to what I said, I heard a laugh." Keira explained, taking her finger and wiping a line of dust from one of the shelves next to her.
"Where did the laugh come from?" Dr. Spengler asked, waving his weird device over the shelves around them. Keira turned and waved her hand in the general direction behind her.
"It sounded like it came from that back corner, I think." She said.
Dr. Spengler nodded thoughtfully and headed in that direction followed by Dr. Stantz. Keira slowly followed, not wanting to be left behind. The two men in front of her were silent as they moved through the shelves. Keira was thankful she had worn her black flats to the library that day, instead of her short heels that she favored most of the time. She found herself clenching her hand in her dark navy skirt, as she held her breath in expectation.
Finally the two men stopped in the corner next to a few filing cabinets. Dr. Spengler stared down at the device in his hands, his face etched with thought. He glanced up at Dr. Stantz.
"Slight temperature drop. But other than that, I'm not getting anything." He said bluntly.
Keira exhaled slowly and prepared to lead the men back up to the ground floor of the library. That's when she felt a breeze blow her blonde hair from her shoulders. She gasped and turned around.
"Gotcha."
Dr. Venkman grinned at her laughingly, fanning a large book in her direction. Keira groaned and slumped against the shelf beside her, embarrassed.
"Dr. Venkman, I appreciate you attempting to lighten the mood, but it's not working." She said. He smirked.
"Call me Peter, please." He said.
"No."
"Come on…" He persisted. Keira stiffened and then turned back to where the other man, Mr. Zeddemore had joined the others.
"I think I'm going back upstairs. You're welcome to stay down here and look for as long as you need. Just come and get me or Cindy if you need anything." She said with a small smile. Then she turned and walked back towards the stairs, not pausing for fear that she would make herself hear something else.
"Well, she's an odd one, isn't she?" Peter said as he stared after her. Egon glanced up at him with a frown.
"Leave her alone, Venkman. She's already expressed her disinterest." He said.
"Anything?" Ray asked, reading the PKE meter over Egon's shoulder. Egon shook his head.
"Well, we might as well make a sweep of this whole bottom floor. Can't hurt anything, can it?" Winston suggested. Ray smirked.
"Maybe we can check back on the secret passageway. You know, to make sure no one else has accidentally discovered it." Ray said, heading towards where the bookcase had hidden the passageway to the underground room where they had captured the Grey Lady.
"I'm still a little jealous that you guys tackled this place without me." Peter whined.
"No you're not. You were exactly where you wanted to be that night. You chose to stay behind with Ilyssa." Ray retorted. Peter smirked.
"Oh yeah."
Upon reaching the bookcase that hid the secret passage, Egon reached his arm towards the back of the shelf to make sure his carefully concealed lock was still in place. When he was satisfied with what he discovered he shifted the books on the shelf back into place and nodded.
"Everything is still in working order. No one should be getting through there anytime soon." He said. Just to confirm his suspicions, he switched the PKE meter back on and his eyes widened at what showed up on his display. "Ray…there's something close."
"What is it?" Winston asked, reaching for his thrower. Egon studied the screen of the meter making calculations in his head.
"It appears to be only a singular entity… but the classification is still unclear." Egon's voice lowered as he moved through the shelves tracking down the source of the energy.
"So maybe the girl's not crazy?" Peter piped up, looking around sharply.
The four Ghostbusters were startled as a hoard of books flew from a nearby shelf and struck them.
"Hey!" Winston exclaimed as he caught a book and threw it back in the direction it had come from. The book stopped in midair and was hurled back at Winston who ducked to avoid it.
"Guys…I think we found our ghost!" Ray said excitedly as he powered up his particle thrower. "Let's get to work!"