Looks of surprise and confusion on Ray and Winston's faces at seeing Peter up way well before his internal alarm clock would usually go off left them speechless as they stood in the kitchen doorway, the conversation they were having on their way from the bunkroom to the kitchen a moment ago forgotten. Venkman stood in the kitchen by the stove finishing up the breakfast he was making for himself and his three friends. One hand held a skillet while the other hand was attempting to fend off Slimer so he could finish the pancakes, bacon and sausages that were cooking. Hearing the two voices, Peter shot a quick glance in Ray and Winston's direction.
"Ray, a little help here please," Peter quipped, the hand that was fending off the class 5 nearly covered in the green slime of the little ghost. "I'd like to be able to finish this so we can all eat something this morning before taking care of a special bust."
Smiling, Ray headed over to the fridge and pulled out some left over chicken that the four men had eaten the previous night for dinner. "Hey Slimer, here ya go," Stantz said, dangling the chicken leg within Slimer's eyesight.
Slimer's gaze shifted from Peter's cooking to the food the engineer dangled from his hand. The 'tail' like part of Slimer's body began wiggling and with a lightening speed, the small ghost shot like a bullet from Peter's side over to Ray snatching the chicken leg from Stantz and just as quickly continued to dash off.
Ray looked at his slime-covered hand for a moment, smiling, before running his hand under the kitchen sink to wash it off. "You're up awfully early, Peter," Ray said as he dried his wet hand with a washcloth. "We have a hard enough time as it is getting you up when we have early calls, but now you're actually up on your own and of your own free will at this early hour?"
"Ray's right, Pete. It's only eight in the morning. You sure you're feelin' alright?" Winston asked, placing a mock hand on Peter's forehead as if taking his temperature. "Egon's still asleep in the bunkroom too. How's he been holding up? Is he doing any better concerning those dreams he's been having?"
Smirking at Winston and Ray's jokes about him being up earlier than usual, Peter lightly batted Winston's hand away maintaining his focus on finishing up the breakfast he was cooking. "Egon had another dream last night. I made sure to keep myself from not falling in too deep of a sleep in case he woke up in the middle of the night," Peter began to tell them. "I found him in here making some of his Mom's cocoa and he and I ended up having a talk about his dreams," he began to explain. "Turns out its been the same one the whole time." Turning off the stove, Venkman took the skillets off and headed out to the kitchen, Winston and Ray right behind him. "Every dream has had to do with his father being taken by the Boogeyman. I just can't get a grip on what might have even triggered these dreams to surface."
"Well, the last time he had these dreams was about six months ago, right?" Winston asked. "And before six months ago he hadn't had these dreams in years."
"Exactly, so if we could only figure out what triggered these dreams six months ago, than we might know what is triggering them now six months later and if the two events are the same," Peter said, nodding.
"So what can we do to help him get past this for good?" Ray asked, picking up the remote and turning the television on. The news station that came up had just gone to commercial break.
Peter began placing one pancake on top of another on a plate set in the middle of the table. "Well, I suggested to Egon that he spend one final night in the house to confront and face this fear once and for all."
"Which is the 'special bust' you just mentioned a moment ago?" Ray asked getting a nod from Peter in return.
"How did he feel about that?" Winston asked placing strips of bacon and the sausages each on their own separate plates.
Peter took the now empty skillet back out to the kitchen, filling it with hot water and leaving it in the sink to soak. "Actually, he said he'd give it a shot just so long as the three of us were with him."
"Well, gosh, of course we'll be with him through this whole thing," Ray said, prompting a brotherly smile from Peter and a quick hair ruffle.
"Of course we will, Tex." Removing his hand from Ray's hair, Peter gave a glance towards the stairs that led up to the third floor and to their sleeping quarters. "Where is Mister Mad Scientist anyhow? We better be careful he doesn't take away what's so unique about me," Peter said, starting to head for the stairs to go wake up Spengler.
Almost as if on cue, Egon came into sight as he descended the stairs. "Because of course we wouldn't want to take anything unique away from you Doctor Venkman," he told the psychologist.
"Glad you could finally join us, Spengs. I was about ready to tell Slimer you had a cupcake hidden in your bed to get you up and moving," Peter countered already getting himself comfortable in the usual banter he and Spengler shared.
"Well you can rest assured that I would never change my sleeping habits to mimic that of yours, Peter."
"And what exactly is wrong with my sleeping habits?" Venkman quipped placing both his hands on his hips in mock irritation.
Egon merely shrugged. "Speaking of which, Peter Venkman is actually up before twelve? This is certainly an event to take note of," he remarked, a smirk curling in one corner of his mouth.
Rolling his eyes, Venkman gave a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Yeah, yeah, we know, it's the breaking story of the morning. Eat up before I let Slimer wolf down your portions."
Egon began to pull his chair out from the table when he suddenly heard a very deep, gruff, rough voice come from the television. Keeping his hand on the back of the chair, he turned in the direction of the voice as he watched the TV spot advertising a movie recently out on DVD. Peter, Ray and Winston also turned in the same direction curious to know what made the physicist go nearly white as a sheet.
The TV spot began to describe what was without a doubt every child's worst fear . . . the BOOGEYMAN. The advertisement unfolded a brief synopsis of Tim's trauma as a child and what he needed to do to determine once and for all if this creature was real or simply a figment of his imagination. Watching the TV spot with wide and frightened eyes though, Egon Spengler knew the Boogeyman was no figment of the imagination and was indeed a real, supernatural creature.
"I think that's enough TV for one morning," Peter said taking the remote from Ray, turning it off and tossing it onto the couch.
Winston walked up next to Egon, who still looked pretty shaken up. "Egon? You okay buddy?"
"Yes, Winston, I am perfectly fine," Spengler responded as he slowly began
Ray put a hand on Egon's shoulder. "Are you sure, Egon? Because during that whole TV spot you went really pale and nearly white as a sheet, which is something I have rarely seen happen to you. Does this have anything to do with your dreams?"
Egon looked from one friend to another and sat down in his chair with a sigh. "About a week ago I saw the display for that movie in the window of a video store near the firehouse. I had remembered seeing TV spots for it as well when it was first released to theatre's back in February." Peter, Ray and Winston sat down in their own chairs eager to hear the rest of Egon's story. "I didn't dare try and go see it in a darkened movie theatre. I figured I'd have more control over my surroundings here at home where I could simply reach over and turn on a lamp if it got too scary than I would in a movie theatre." Egon absently put some pancakes and a few strips of bacon on his plate before continuing. "I had been having the same dreams when the movie was first released to theatre's, but because enough time had passed those dreams ended up going away . . . until this movie began being advertised for DVD release. I wasn't sure about the exact plot of the movie, only that the main character, Tim, had been traumatized as a child by the Boogeyman. I figured if there was anyone I could relate to it was this character. So I made myself get up enough courage to go inside and pick up a copy to bring home to watch." Egon lowered his head a little on his final comment. "I only got halfway through the movie before I had to turn it off and take it back to the video store to return right away."
The other three remained silent for a moment, looks of sadness on their faces that a friend and someone they had all come to think of as family, even if not by blood relation, put himself through something like this without the backup of his friends. Finally a hand put on top of his caused Egon to lift his head to find his three friends giving him empathetic smiles and the hand on his belonging to Peter.
"This advertisement and you renting the movie is what triggered this new set or phase or dreams than?" Egon simply nodded. "And the dreams you were having six months ago in early February were also related to this movie too?" Again Egon only nodded. Peter let out a sigh. "Spengs, I know that you wanted to defeat this fear on your own, but if you had told us we could have sat down and watched it with you and you wouldn't have been alone."
"I realize that now Peter, which is why when you suggested last night that I spend one more night in the house that I grew up in while still in Cleveland that I said I would only if you, Ray and Winston were with me as well," Egon told him.
Releasing his hand from on top of Egon's, a smile spread across Peter's face. "Well than what do you say we finish up this food before Slimer scarf's it down for himself, gather up the equipment and take a little road trip to Cleveland?"