Guys...you might not like me for this...but I'm afraid I've got another super busy workweek ahead of me. I really had intended to write my heart out this week, but if it doesn't happen, please forgive me! I've got it all laid out how I want the next few chapters to go, so hopefully I can just go from there with no trouble. I wanted to go ahead an post what I have before I'm overrun with exhaustion(I know, I'm a little dramatic! ^_^ ) but I'll definitely try my best to post again in a few days. Hope you enjoy a little heart to heart with Ray and Keira! :D
"I talked with the doctors and they agreed to turn you over to us for a little while, Keira. Egon's on his way over with the car. We're gonna work on getting you checked out of here real quick, and then we'll..." Ray rambled on as he reentered the hospital room. He stopped when he noticed the silence that hung over the other two in the room. Keira still sat in the large bed, her knees pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. Peter sat in a chair next to her with his arms crossed, an uncomfortably bored expression on his face.
"…We'll try to get things figured out." Ray finished as he crossed to the bed. Keira nodded silently as he tried to give her a reassuring smile.
A few seconds later, a doctor and nurse followed Ray into the room and began the process of unhooking Keira from the IV and monitors she had been attached to. She watched the doctor with fearful silence as he checked the tight bandage around her left wrist.
"Looks like you get to go home with the Ghostbusters." The doctor said lightheartedly as he helped Keira to her feet. She nodded curtly and smiled tentatively at Ray and Peter who were waiting patiently by the door.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll be in good hands…" The nurse, who had shown Ray and Peter into her room before smiled halfheartedly at the possessed girl.
Keira turned and headed for the door but was stopped by the nurse who quickly handed her the blue vase of flowers from Matt.
"Don't want to forget those!" The nurse chided her. Keira silently took the vase from her and turned back towards Ray and Peter. The haunted look in her eyes didn't escape Ray's notice. He nodded at the doctor in thanks as the three of them left the room and headed on their way out.
Keira's heart pounded in her ears as she followed Ray and Peter through the sterile, white-walled hallways of the hospital. She was still a little woozy from the medication in her system, but she silently hoped it would keep Lucille at bay until the Ghostbusters could put a hand on her situation.
Keira stepped out into the bright afternoon sunlight and squinted to see the brightly painted hearse waiting by the front door. She paused as she stared at the vehicle, remembering the significance of it from Lucille's last memory.
"Come on, Keira. We've gotta get going." Ray said gently as he placed a supporting hand against her back. She blinked away the memory and followed them both to the car and slid in the back with Ray as Peter called shotgun. Egon pulled away from the curb as soon as their doors closed.
"Excited much, Egon?" Peter snapped. The other man ignored him as he silently focused on getting them back to the firehouse as fast as possible.
Keira stared around uncomfortably at the interior of the Ghostbusters' car, wondering why Lucille had chosen to focus on the car flying by the alley as she died. Keira had felt a tinge of anger in the back of her mind, possibly from Lucille each time she had re-lived the ghost's last moments. Keira couldn't help but feel the effects of the ghost's influence on her as she gazed around at the large car.
"Something wrong?" Ray asked, noticing her discomfort.
"In the dream, the last thing Lucille focused on before she died, was this car. I just can't figure out why that's significant to her, though." Keira said. Ray silently studied the girl, wanting her to say more.
"I mean, this car is pretty iconic. Maybe she was a fan." Peter said. Keira shook her head, dismissing the joking manner in his voice.
"I don't think it was a good memory she has of it. Right before I wake up every time, I can feel this desperate anger clawing at her. It's…really hard to explain…I know I'm not doing a very good job." Keira said shakily. Ray smiled at her reassuringly.
"At least you're talking to us now. Yesterday we couldn't get even that much from you." He said. Keira shrugged.
"Like I said, that was Lucille. Every time she's in control, she focuses on her own priorities. I remember…you came up to me in the library yesterday morning and then it was like she immediately shut me out, trying to get away from you." Keira said thoughtfully. Ray's eyes widened.
"So…you're present for some of the time this ghost is in control?" Egon asked, trying to follow the conversation and having missed out on the previous explanations she had given in the hospital. Keira nodded.
"For some of the time. Then it's like she gets a stronger hold over me and we completely switch places." Keira said.
"If you switch places…and you go back to relive her death over and over…how are you not dead from that?" Peter asked confusedly. Keira opened her mouth to say that she had no idea when Egon interrupted.
"If the ghost was to kill her before it has full control over her then that would probably result in a comatose state in which they're both trapped in between worlds. So this Lucille needs to keep her alive until she gains enough strength to overtake Keira's consciousness more fully."
Keira stared at Egon in bewildered silence as what he said sank in. How was Lucille gaining strength and how could Keira stop her before it was too late?
The car fell into silence as Egon continued to drive through the busy afternoon traffic of the city. Keira resorted to staring out the car window, not seeing any of what was in front of her as she worried more and more about the cold and fear spreading through her limbs.
It's already too late, Keira.
Keira held her breath as Lucille's weak but present voice echoed in her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut against the voice, but she knew that the medication was starting to wear off. She felt her hands tighten around the cool vase in her grip. Her heart started to pound painfully in her chest and with it, her left wrist throbbed underneath the bandage.
"Hey."
Keira jumped as the sound of her hammering heart was silenced by Ray's intruding voice. Her eyes flew open as she turned her head to see him grasping her left hand reassuringly. He stared back at her hesitantly for a moment before speaking again.
"It's alright." He said. Keira looked around and noticed that the car had stopped and that they were in a garage-like space and that the other two Ghostbusters had already gotten out of the car.
"You don't know…" She said, feeling her throat tighten with emotion. Ray's eyes turned pained as he squeezed her hand. Keira realized that he was trying to hold her attention from the still spreading frigidness in her limbs.
"Actually…I do. It's not exactly the best experience in the world, being possessed." He said, smiling at her knowingly.
"It's happened to you before?" She asked slowly. Ray nodded.
"I'm sure you read about a few of our adventures in the papers you picked out the other day. You must have heard about Vigo the Carpathian?" He started. Keira thought for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah…I thought the name sounded like something someone might name a dog." She said lightheartedly. Ray scoffed.
"Well, he was far more threatening than a dog, I'll tell you that. Tried to possess one of Peter's girlfriend's baby. When we wouldn't let him, as a last resort he possessed me for a few minutes." Ray said. He shook his head. "That wasn't easy to get over."
Keira stared at him in silence. He looked down at her bandaged wrist and once more turned her hand over to see her bare ring finger. When he looked back up at her face, she was crying.
"So what happened between you two?" He asked quietly. She bit her lip as another silent tear ran down her pale cheek.
"The sad thing is…I don't know. I don't even know what she did to him. If she arranged it the night before or if he actually came to the decision himself…I'm not sure. I just…he came to my apartment this morning and…" She stopped as she heard Lucille's mocking laughter in the back of her mind.
"Hey…it's gonna be alright." Ray said as he wrapped his arms around her. She stiffened slightly but when Lucille's presence died down a little bit at his touch, she leaned into his shoulder. "Maybe when we get rid of Lucille…he'll come back."
Keira closed her eyes against Ray's shoulder and shook her head.
"He won't. Not after what she made me say to him." She murmured. Ray held her for a few more minutes until she'd calmed down enough for him to help her out of the car and head up to the lab.
"There they are!" Peter said as they entered the room. He was leaning against the desk where Egon was working, a half-empty bag of chips in his hands.
"Here, we'll just have you sit right here on the couch…again…" Ray said as Keira took her place on the couch. He took the vase from her gently and set it on the counter nest to where Peter leaned. As soon as she'd sat down Egon swiveled around in his desk chair to face her, one of the PKE meters whirring faintly in his hand.
"What does that mean?" She asked as he stared thoughtfully at the device. His eyes raised to hers over the meter and he lowered the gadget to his lap.
"It means that the ghost is awakening. How long ago did they sedate you?" He asked. Keira grimaced.
"How am I supposed to know? I was the one knocked out…" She said hurriedly. Winston, who had entered the room sometime since she'd arrived, scoffed at her quick retort.
"Looks like you've met your match, Egon. Queen of bluntness." He said jokingly. Egon shot him a deadpanned glance before turning back to Keira with the meter.
"It's been a few hours. Long enough to have worn off by now." Ray answered for her. The other three Ghostbusters glanced at him and he shrugged. "You're not the only one who talked to the nurses, Venkman."
"And you haven't felt her presence ever since then?" Egon asked, turning back to his desk. Keira's gaze followed him as she stared at the many different devices he had laid out on the desk.
"Um…on the drive back here I did start to feel something. And then I heard her, but it was kind of faint…" She said. Egon nodded as he turned back to her with a headset on and a bright light shining in her face.
"Makes sense." Egon said as he moved closer to the couch, staring at Keira's face. "What color are your eyes?"
"Um…blue." She said, trying not to squint against the brightness of the light.
"They were green yesterday…" Egon said thoughtfully.
"Because of-" Keira started to answer him.
"Because of the ghost, right. But you were yourself when you left yesterday, am I correct?" Egon said, turning her face slowly as he inspected her eyes.
"Yeah…" She said, looking uncomfortably at Ray where he stood with Peter and Winston who were watching with slight humor in their faces.
"What did we do that could have caused the ghost to finally give up her control to Keira again?" Ray asked, stepping closer to the couch. Egon turned to him, switching the light off and removing the headset.
"I'm not sure what it was exactly. It could have been the stress test we put her through or even the exposure to the little bit of positively charged mood slime we had left," Egon gestured to the small bowl of pink slime in a cabinet next to the desk.
"Well, if you made me hold a bowl of goopy, disgusting slime for ten minutes straight, I'd probably be a little uncomfortably too." Peter said drily. Keira frowned, looking in confusion between all of the men surrounding her. She was having second thoughts about trusting their weird science experiments until a thought struck her.
"She said something about an electric shock." She blurted out. Egon turned back to her while Ray, Winston and Peter all froze confusion. Keira fumbled to continue her explanation as all four pairs of eyes locked on her face.
No, Keira…
Keira snapped her mouth closed and felt Lucille's cold presence start to twine through her veins.
"She's…she's awake…" Keira said worriedly. Egon quickly leapt to his feet looking for something on his desk while Ray moved to the couch next to Keira.
"Okay, okay…so…a shock, you said?" Ray asked quickly, trying to keep her mind preoccupied. Keira blinked against her fading vision and nodded. She could feel a tightness in her chest as Lucille tried to mentally force her back.
"…Um…what can we do?" Winston asked hesitantly as he and Peter both watched the scene unfolding in front of them. Ray glanced up at the other two Ghostbusters as he tried to keep Keira calm.
"Well, you could go back to her apartment and get her a change of clothes." Ray turned to Keira and smiled at her comfortingly. "You don't want to be in your pajamas all day, do you?"
"I…I guess not…" She answered slowly. She looked up at Winston and Peter. "I don't have my purse with me…I don't know how you'll get in…"
"We have ways." Winston smiled. Keira told him which apartment it was and he gestured for Peter to follow him as he headed for the stairs. Peter hesitated, still leaning against the counter with the bag of chips in his hands.
"You sure you'll be alright?" Peter finally asked as Ray glanced at him. Ray looked once more at Keira who was still trying to resist Lucille's icy presence.
"Yeah, we're good here." Ray answered confidently. Keira shrunk against the back of the couch worriedly, not returning his assurance. Peter set the bag of chips on the counter and patted Ray on the back as he headed across the room after Winston.
"We'll try the shock blast…I don't know how effective it was yesterday but that might have been what Lucille was referring to…" Egon said as he turned around with the small dots that he placed on Keira's temples.
"Are you sure it'll work?" Keira asked as Ray told her to lie down flat on the couch. He stood up and moved to the desk to help Egon set up the experiment.
"We'll see." Egon said. Keira's heart sank as she felt Lucille's anger finally burst through her barrier.