"Who Ya Gonna Call?"
It was a dark and stormy night. The delicious, enticing blackness that lay beyond drew the two unsuspecting innocents into its deadly lair. Away from safety, away from comfort, towards an unspeakable unknown. An unknown that held any number of dangers and any number of rewards. The thick, ebony emptiness caused a somber and frightening mood. Surrounded by darkness the participants in this evening’s exploration could not possibly determine how vast or how confining the space was, in essence obliterating any boundaries that could have existed. Any boundaries except those imposed by the fear that emanated from anyone dropped in this type of situation. A fear that encompassed them not so completely as to impede their investigation but to serve as the precise reason for it - for continuing on in an attempt to discover what exactly it was that was out there.
Whether it be the truth...or something else.
The young woman adjusted her glove with a sharp movement, providing not only more mobility of her hand, but also allowing her the comfort of something familiar - a normal act performed in an abnormal situation. Her companion looked up at her with wide, questioning eyes, wondering just how they were to proceed. A small pinpoint of light cut into the blackness from the flashlight she held. It did not provide the reassurance it was supposed to nor did it do much to illuminate their surroundings. The shadows dwarfed the beam as well as the two curious people. This is simply to alleviate our fears, she remembered. Even though her larger fear was that her partner in this ridiculous scheme would become even more frightened after the fact as opposed to doing nothing at all. Well, she thought, it was her idea. Taking a deep breath and giving a slight nod to her partner, in crime you could say, they embarked on their adventure.
“Do you see anything?” She whispered into the air behind her, knowing full well that her companion, though small in stature with shorter legs, was close at her heels.
“I think so.” came the hushed reply.
Reaching what she instinctively knew to be a door frame the two decided to cover both sides of the entrance. Pressed against the wall she gave the signal with her left hand, counting to three, and rushing over the threshold.
“I got your back,” she called as she swept high and her partner took the low end. Her special night-vision glasses allowed her the instincts of a cat with, perhaps, not the agility.
“I see something!” her associate hissed, “Over here!” Rushing to the spot she raised her weapon.
Signaling again they both prepared to pounce... “Now!” she indicated. Her colleague leaped on the offender and caught the apparition in her gathering net struggling to contain it.
“I’ve got it!” she cried in triumph. “Look!” It was indeed a sight for the taller participant. What she could see of it, that was, considering it was almost invisible.
“Good job. Let’s go drop it in containment before we try again for the rest.” Sneaking back through the darkness they deposited the offending ghoul in a vault before setting out again to complete their job.
“That was a nice catch.”
“Thank you.” the younger of the pair beamed and seemed very pleased with her progress. As well as her prize, which was now making angry, growling noises from its new prison.
“Be quiet in there!” the elder called out. “All right. One more and then I think we’ll call it quits for tonight. What do you think?”
“Okay.”
Heading out into the blackness again, the two associates moved with stealth to capture another detestable creature.
“This way.” whispered one.
A second later they heard a loud knocking from somewhere in the distance. Confused, the two hid in the darkness that, first an enemy, was now a companion. Soon, the noise grew distant and disappeared altogether. Thinking it was wise to be careful, but safe to continue, they stepped forward to complete their mission for the evening.
“Shhh. Do you hear it?”
“What?”
“I think it’s hiding over there.”
“I see it!”
“You do?”
“Yes. Get ready....one...two...three!”
Pouncing on the surprised and infuriated being, they managed to grab it in their net and haul it back to the lock-up. Swinging the door shut, the taller member of the group brushed her hands off and smiled, “I think it’s time we called it a night. Our work is done.”
“Awww.” the one of shorter stature couldn’t hide the whine of disappointment that crept into her voice, “Do we have to?”
“Ye-es.” She smiled, “We have to. Come on.”
Suddenly there was another knocking sound. More insistent than the one they had heard earlier. They decided that it was time to investigate and they could spare a few minutes before they turned in for the night. Sneaking over to the origin of the noise they discovered a main entrance. Without preamble the older partner peered out the view port next to the gateway and, discovering nothing present, decided it would be wise to open the door. She soon found...
* * *
...that a member of the local law enforcement department was nosing around the front of the house to see if anything was amiss. Sighing, the girl pulled her sunglasses up to the top of her head, leaned against the door frame and, while frantically pulling off the stretchy “ghostbusting” gloves and shoving them into her pockets, asked “Is there anything I can do for you, Officer?”
He clicked off his flashlight that looked big enough it had to be powered by a car battery or a small home appliance motor walked up to the front door. She tried to appear nonchalant and attempted to show that her heart had not been beating fast at all due to the rush of adrenaline that had so recently surged through her veins. While calming herself with the fact that this was a cop and no, serial killers did not have the courtesy to knock on the door she waited for an answer to her question.
He looked amused at the sight and asked, “May I ask what you’re doing here, Miss?”
“Just a little ‘Ghostbusting,’” she threw off casually, crossing her arms and half-smiling. She followed his eyes to find that her charge for the evening, in full ghostbusting garb had her face practically pressed against the skinny window adjoining the front door. Her small, four-year-old size sunglasses were slipping down her nose, her winter gloves still on, she carried a huge flashlight in her left hand and a butterfly net in her right. Mortified, yet attempting to remain cool, the older girl smiled again and returned her gaze to the man standing on the porch in front of her. She was surprised that he wasn’t laughing yet, but he seemed as determined to retain some sort of dignity in light of the situation as the girl did.
“ ‘Ghostbusting,’” he mused, “Miss, do you live here?” he asked.
“No, sir. I’m baby-sitting this evening for this young girl’s parents. May I ask what’s wrong?” she attempted to look concerned, but was fairly unsuccessful, blushing at the circumstances instead.
“Well...it appears that the parents of the people who live here called and said that someone was moving around in the house who shouldn’t be.”
The girl sighed and asked, “Are you sure?”
“Why don’t I radio in and check. It’ll take just a minute.”
“Okay.” She turned to her young partner “in crime” and suggested, “Why don’t you go get ready for bed, huh?” The little girl stared up at her through her “Ghostbusting” glasses and giggled.
“No, I wanna wait ‘til Mommy and Daddy get home.”
“But-” she was cut off when the dog chose that moment to run out the front door and through the policeman’s legs. Leaping out to catch her, the girl chased her through the garden and, picking her up, brought her back inside.
Taking a deep breath she was about to attempt to get the little girl to go to bed when the cop said, “It’s like I said, Miss. The parents of the people who live here called and said that somebody was moving around in the house who shouldn’t ‘a been.” He paused, “But, since we know that you’re the baby-sitter...”
She didn’t hear the rest of his sentence as she looked up and saw a familiar car slightly speeding down the road with a frantic-looking mother ready to jump out of the moving vehicle. “Those are the parents.” She sighed again which seemed to be becoming a habit of hers. Great, they’re never going to hire me again. She turned around quickly to find a grinning and mischievous-looking four-year-old who didn’t appear at all in the mood to go to bed after all this excitement.
She hustled the girl off to get changed and, seeing that the officer was heading down to the driveway to talk to the parents started to close the front door. Then, something caught her eye: it was another cop coming from around the corner. Oh, my God, she thought, they’ve covered both entrances! I’m in deep trouble. She shut the door and headed into the other room when she heard noise behind her. That’s strange, she wondered, is that laughter I hear?
Pivoting toward the hallway, she discovered not only that both the adults were laughing hysterically, but that they seemed pleased to see her. Frightened they had lost it completely she attempted to apologize, “I’m sooo sorry. I didn’t think when we were going through the house...I mean, she wanted to hunt for ghosts...it was meant to be a game-”
She couldn’t find the words, let alone speak coherently, watching the father grip the wall for support and grab his stomach, nearly doubling over in laughter. “...ghostbusters!...” he kept mumbling while trying to catch his breath, beet red in the face.
“I know you’ll probably never want to hire me again, I mean my first time baby-sitting for you and all.” She attempted to start over.
“No, no, no...” said the mother while slowly regaining her breath after laughing so hard. “This is great, we’ve never heard of anything like this before-” She broke into another fit of amusement.
“Mommy, Mommy,” the little girl, not at all ready for bed, yelled, rushing into the room, “Guess what we did!”
The baby-sitter then attempted to explain everything that happened, feeling her humiliation grow exponentially by the second. As the parents calmed down, the two girls went into detail describing their brave hunt for ghouls and things that go bump in the night.
“I just didn’t think,” said the older girl, “That we would end up being the things making the bumps.” They all chuckled again at that.
“Well, I think it’s time we got you to bed, little Miss” the little girl’s mother said, “You must be worn out after all this commotion.”
“But can’t she stay?” pleaded the child about her ghostbusting associate. “It was so much fun.”
“Not tonight, sweetheart, maybe another time.” The girls said goodnight to one another and promised to see each other again, soon. Afterwards the baby-sitter turned to the father who was ready to take her home.
“I just have one question,” he said, “This being your first time sitting here, what can you possibly do to top this?” His eyes smiled as he said it and she felt relieved that he wasn’t mad.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she nonchalantly tossed out, “Maybe next time we can get the fire department to come.”
The End?
Lisa Game, 1999
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