Chapter 10 "Somebody's Watching Me" A little later
(Song Suggestion: Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell)
Janine
With the mayhem and disarray in City Hall created by the ghosts and spirits, I was able to snoop around a little. Meghan and her officer took this opportunity to be lip-locked to each other in a dark corner because they thought it was the end of days. I fingered my lucky coin in my pocket.
"Maybe it was," I contemplated nervously.
As a result, I returned to her desk to call down the holding cell to discover that the Ghostbusters were already booked and put in temporary confinement.
"Oh my poor Guys," I cried inwardly,"God knows the treacherous and savage type of people that were in the jail with them."
Shutting my eyes in frustration, I deliberately spun around in Meghan's chair to take a minute to clear my mind. At once, it returned to last night when Egon and I were happily intertwined together in my bed. With my active imagination, I could feel his arms wrapped around me tightly as I reminded him that I loved him. Then we gazed at each other again,lip-locked for a while then watching the light, love, and happiness dance among the eyes of the other.
"This can't be the end. I have to find the Ghostbusters," I determinedly decided, opening my eyes.
Steadily, I rose from the chair and then commenced walking around. Of course, I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for, but I strolled around aimlessly. I saw a sign indicating that the jail was in the basement. Admittedly, it was easier for me to snoop around undiscovered with the clutter into secure areas produced by the ghosts and goblins. I descended the stairs and found the jail area quietly and unsuspiciously. Fastening the door to the stairwell behind me, I vigilantly crept around until I found a fat man sitting on a chair behind a desk, looking angry. There was a hallway with a white "jail" sign on it and a right arrow behind him.
"Success," I fortuitously thought, striding to the man with the most pretty smile on my face. He didn't look pleased to be at work with the bedlam, or maybe because the ghosts woke him up from a nap. As I approached the man, a dank smell came from him, and I tried to hide a frown when I observed it.
"Hello, can I see the Ghostbusters," I sweetly questioned, batting my eyelashes a little at him. Distressingly, he was apathetic to my attempts to flirtatious actions and inquired with a scowl on his face, "Are you their lawyer?"
"Yes," I lied, sticking my chin in the air a little.
"Uh-huh, and what firm are you a part of?" The man scrutinized me from head to toe before rudely questioning.
Another security officer came over as a blue ghost flew overhead, screaming. Mouth agape, the sitting chubby man explained gruffly to me, "Look, lady, we have some serious shit going on right now. It's not time for an obsessed fan to pretend she's their lawyer."
"For the record, I work for the Ghostbusters. I am their secretary," I yelled at him, losing my patience.
"Go sit down and wait. He wasn't doing anything but sitting at a desk. I don't have time for this right now," the man spat out angrily and followed the other guard.
"Only the Ghostbusters can decode this problem," I angrily quipped and spun around on my heels.
Defeated, my head hung low as I retreated to the main floor while biting my lower lip to prevent me from sobbing.
"What could happen next? Were the guys ok? How can I help them?"
Time crept by as I watched mass hysteria in the streets. People and ghosts came in and out of city hall, but no Ghostbusters. An hour later, I overheard that the boys spoke to the mayor from the security guards. Persistently, I flirted with them for more information until I heard a familiar voice call, "Janine! What are you still doing here?"
Egon's husky voice was tattooed in my brain forever. Correspondingly, I sprung up from the bench and ran toward him as he gawked at me in incredulity.
"Thank God you are ok," I hugged him tightly, then responded, "Seeing if there is anything I can do? I can't leave the team and...you."
"It's not safe," Egon urged, touching my cheek fondly with his right hand, " We don't even know what we are up against yet. This is an incredibly hazardous situation."
Stubbornly, I put my hands on my hips, folded my arms across my chest, and glared at him for almost a full minute.
"This is not the time to be stubborn, my Angel," my boyfriend gently scolded with a wry half-smile, and I impulsively kissed his lips. His lips pressed against mine gave me relief from the angst about worrying about him being imprisoned. We kissed for a moment, ignoring our surroundings.
"Wh-where is everyone," I stammered with watery eyes as I searched his face afterward.
"The police escorted the others to the firehouse to retrieve Ecto One and their packs about twenty minutes ago. They should be back shortly," Egon elucidated, putting his arms on my waist, "I have been sick with worry about you, Janine. I wish you would have followed my directions."
"I can't leave you here," I whined in a high-pitched voice that accentuated my accent, " Earlier, I overheard some officers say that you had a meeting with the Mayor; tell me what happened."
Motioning to the door outside of the building, he explained as we departed. Shortly after, Ecto-One pulled up to the corner, and the others exited the vehicle. Ray handed Egon his uniform to change into as I realized that I wanted to give Egon my lucky coin. As the others primed for the battle with the unknown, I removed it from my pocket, and I held it out towards him.
"I want you to take this," I advised, handing him my precious treasure from my Dad because we were alone for a moment.
"What is it," he examined it intently.
"It's a souvenir from the World's Fair in Flushing Meadows in 1964. It's my lucky coin," I emphatically answered, my accent showing.
"I shouldn't take it. We might not be coming back," Egon sadly replied.
"Take it anyway, I have another one at home," I said, smiling, tears coming to my eyes as he embraced me one last time until Peter started to tease us. He and the others would need as much luck as possible.
"I love you so much, Egon. Come back to me," I requested tearfully.
"I will, Janine. I love you more than you can know, and this will not stop us from being together. I won't let it."
Although Egon attempted to conceal his fright as he spoke, there was fear in his brown eyes. My love was so brave, and I adored him for it. As we embraced lightly this time, I whispered that I loved him again.
"Janine, Didn't your momma tell you not to get involved with no Ghostbusters? Begone!"
Peter interrupted our last embrace, and Egon restlessly gazed at me before turning away. Next, my heart gradually fell into pieces as I viewed him assisting the others in preparing for the fight of their life.
"Please, Lord, let them be successful," I prayed to myself," Please allow Egon to return to me so we can be together."
By and by, the Ghostbusters entered Ecto One, and I inspected them with a solemn expression and held my right hand up. When Ray drove away, Egon turned to look out the back window at me, and I commenced weeping after blowing him a kiss. I viewed Ecto One fade into the background of chaos until I could not see it any longer.
Dana Barrett's apartment was several blocks away, so I purposefully walked there.
Ray
My thoughts were as scrambled as three eggs on a breakfast plate at Denny's as I drove Ecto One to Dana Barrett's apartment or, as I called it "Spook Central." The tension was thick in the car as we all contemplated the impending catastrophe of the scenario, and we were just as horrified as all of the New Yorkers in the city. We didn't know exactly the situation that we were about to face, but we hoped...maybe...knew we were the ones to halt this demon or supernatural being from coming. Meanwhile, Egon was studying the PKE meter and the readings in the back of the car, and Z blankly observed the city from the window. Even Peter was contemplative as he lit up a smoke and handed it to me.
"Thanks, Pete," I replied, after a long deep drag, and he nodded.
Arriving at Dana's apartment complex less than ten minutes later, we reluctantly exited the vehicle that people surrounded as the sky grew menacingly dark. I wondered the time at random as it had been a lengthy day, but I didn't think it was night yet, although it appeared to be. My watch verified it was close to four-thirty in the afternoon as the wind seemed to pick up rapidly.
"OK, whatever happens, let's remain professionals," Peter announced as we put our proton packs on and other gear. He enjoyed the crowd's attention and played to it before we commenced the big journey into the threatening-looking building.
"That is Venkman for you," I thought, extinguishing my cigarette by stomping on it with my foot and shaking my head back and forth.
A cacophonous crack of thunder pierced our ears as suddenly the concrete broke under our feet. Everyone began to scream, and l even a police car's siren blared in the background as we fell back into a hole. Fazed but not beaten, we stood up as someone shouted, "There they are!'"
"There's no way we could have been prepared for that," Venkman remarked, a little shaken up.
The hordes of people energetically cheered as we made it to our feet, respectively.
"Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters," they chanted repeatedly.
We tenaciously charged into Spook Central only to find the elevator broken, and we had to climb to the twenty-something floor. Consequently, we huffed and puffed as we ascended the large staircase. The only Buster in shape was Z, so it didn't disturb him, and it irritated me a little bit, to be honest. I felt like my heart would cease beating and that my legs were like lead when we finally made it.
"Twenty-two, is this it," I questioned breathlessly, and Pete nodded. As I was out of shape, I panted heavily.
"Art Deco, very nice," Egon drily commented in a voice that can only be described as deadpan.
We trekked slowly through her destroyed apartment up some stairs just in time to see Dana and Louis turn into dogs in the background of a temple.
"Dana," Peter impassively yelled.
In front of us, hidden by clouds of smoke that appeared randomly, was a bright temple.
"How in the hell did that happen," I thought, "this temple?"
Amazed, we all gazed at it for a while in wonderment.
A tall, slender woman materialized to pet the two enormous terror dogs with red dogs on each of the columns in front of the temple.
"It's Gozer," Egon confirmed to the left of me.
"I thought Gozer was a man," Z inquired, standing on the other side of Spengler.
"It's whatever it wants to be," Iggy responded, baffled, inspecting her like she was a new type of fungus.
"Well, it has to get by us first," Peter encouraged and then encouraged me by saying, "go get her, Ray."
When I introduced myself matter of factly, Gozer inquired if I was a god. After I answered negatively, she zapped us with energy from her fingers and almost threw us off the rooftop. We were hanging off of the edge of the roof dangling, holding on for dear life.
"It's weird how life seems to flash in front of your eyes when you are about to die. Cliche, but true," I thought as we helped each other stand up. That is when Z angrily snapped, "When someone asks you if you are a god, you say 'yes?"
Nodding slowly, I felt frightened.
After we recovered from our general terror, Venkman took control of the situation and commanded us to unsheath our particle throwers from our proton pack and prepare to fire on the androgenous supernatural demon in front of us. Gozer did an aerial somersault over our heads and then landed behind us.
Gozer flat out disintegrated in thin air, and we didn't know why. We were too astounded to speculate until the building rocked back and forth, and a large decorative part of the building came flying down at us.
"Look out," Spengler yelled as we scurried underneath a small shelter.
Our enemies' throaty voice reverberated through the empty night air, questioning us to choose our destructor. As Peter explained to the others, a vision of the Stay Puft Marshmallow man popped into my head as the most harmless thing that could wound us.
"The choice has been made," Gozer declared.
Peter argued with an unimpressed Gozer the Gozerian, and we heard a distinct pounding sound coming our way. Scanning behind me, I observed the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man transpiring from thin air and stepping behind the buildings at 2 Columbus Circle buildings. Vehicles came to a screeching stop in the usually busy streets as other chaos ensued. Also, one could hear police and ambulance sirens blaring, people yelling in confusion and horror, and cars crashing into each other. The pandemonium from below was tumultuous and quickly reached from the rooftop, causing my panic to increase. I felt extreme concern about the whole situation and my pulse raced as if I was running a sprint.
"Uh oh, we are toast," I thought horror-struck as my teammates, particularly Peter, confronted me about my choice, and in a tiny little boy voice, I explained.
"Nice thinking, Ray," Venkman sarcastically quipped as we moved to the edge of the rooftop to view the larger-than-life Stay Puft Marshmallow man.
" I have done it now," I thought as we faced our destroyer.
Lucy
At the end of my late afternoon class, I walked out of my mid-term at NYU to hear a ferocious pounding that caused the concrete road to shake. From earlier, the beautiful blue sky transformed into a dark sky with foreboding clouds, and people were running everywhere.
"What the hell," I commented, feeling the earth tremble underneath me.
"Thump, thump."
Some cars crashed on the sidewalk next to me and in the street. I also noticed that some tall buildings had a thick slimy residue as I stepped around the city carefully.
"What is going on? Surely, Ray and the others know about this already," I thought as I went to the nearest payphone booth, and I put a dime in the slot then dialed the phone number to the Firehouse. Oddly, there was a strange clicking sound when I did, then silence. Again, I attempted to call but without a different result.
"Something is amiss," I thought as I saw ghosts chasing people around the area. I said a prayer for the Ghostbusters and Janine's safety and for their victory for whatever was headed our way. I knew it wasn't good.
As the ground quivered with the pounding noise, I headed to the subway station to go to my second job near Central Park at a child care center. It was difficult to walk when the ground was moving. Despite everything, the subway lines were still running, so I hopped on a train to Central Park. There weren't as many ghosts flying around, so I figured I was safe, maybe.
Climbing the stairs to exit the subway, I peered at the sky to see ghosts terrorizing the city's citizens. People were yelling and screaming as they did. A green Slimer had about twenty hot dogs in his mouth near an abandoned hot dog stand, and I felt my stomach somersault, causing me to feel sick.
Next I saw the giant object that shook the earth with its steps as it headed to a high rise Central Park apartment complex.
"A Stay Puft marshmallow man," I exclaimed, "What the f—!?"
Before, I wasn't scared, but when I saw a Godzilla-sized Stay Puft marshmallow man, I screamed in horror, stunned for a long time.
"It's the end of times," I thought, barely able to comprehend what I saw, " What is a Stay Puft marshmallow man doing in New York?"
"Ray?! Didn't he create a miniature model of him for a project as a Boy Scout?" I mumbled to myself, shaking in fear as the realization sunk in, " Damn it, Ray, what have you done?
"I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior," I prayed out loud, sobbing, as I fell to my knees, "please forgive all of my sins."