Chapter Text
There was a colossal downpour of rain, drizzling and flooding the streets of down town New York. Various patches of ice were beginning to form on the pavement due to the epidemic of cold weather moving in from the west. It was a typical New York morning, and again the Ghostbusters had been called out for a paranormal investigation. They had been issued to the Public Library, a hotspot for paranormal phenomenon and various undead entities. Ray Stantz, with his head titled back in the seat, reluctantly sat in the Ecto 1 vehicle, his feet tapping lightly in the bed of the car. He was positioned in the driver side, his hands attached firmly to the steering wheel. The Ghostbusters had gone inside and woefully left their main man in the vehicle to keep it running. Ray watched as plops of rain streamed down the windshield, leaving trails of evaporation in their midst. He had always admired the way rain came and went, its cycles of unending change and how it blotted out the sun. Suddenly there was banging on the door, and Egon’s rapturous face appeared at the passenger side window.
“Ray! Ray we got something incredible!” His fogged up glasses slipped down his face, the onslaught of rain blurring his normally sharp features. He lifted up a smoking trap device and opened the car door, filling the compartment with a voluminous fog. Ray coughed a few times before he could adequately respond.
“That’s great Egon… now please put that in the back before I get second hand smoke!” Egon complied and placed the trap in the backseat, and Ray could barely make out the figures running straight towards the vehicle. The back door opened and Peter, along with Winston, clamored inside, soaking wet and shivering. “How was the catch boys?” Ray said salaciously, trying not to laugh at the shivering comrades in the backseat.
“Ah, it was… f-fun. Lots of spirits, and not the alcoholic kind.” Peter responded, his legs quivering. “Let’s get this show on the road before I turn into an icicle please!” Ray put the Ecto 1 into drive and the sirens started to blare. He drove on silently, turning his head around occasionally to peer at his friends. Why had they made him sit in the vehicle, he still didn’t know. But he was grateful to have been out of the freezing rain. They arrived at the fire station and Ray parked the Ecto 1, grabbing the trap from the backseat. It would be best to put the beast up in the confinement chamber then to have to worry about it later. He headed downstairs and opened the device up and successfully squared away the ghost, wondering what the ghost had looked like. Maybe he had been similar to slimer, oh man that would have been a sight to see! Ray then heard footsteps coming down the creaky, wooden stairs and saw Egon out of the corner of his eye. The tall, gregarious man had a clipboard in his hand and was dutifully making notes.
“Whatcha working on, Spengler?” Ray asked, turning to face Egon.
“Nothing too serious. Trying to work on mathematical telemetries to improve the PKE’s reading capabilities.” He placed his pencil down on the clipboard, peering over the rim of his glasses. “Putting the ghost back into the containment facility, I see. Thank you, I was going to do that later.” He gave a brief smile and went back to jotting down notes. Ray noticed that Egon hadn’t removed the rain soaked clothes from earlier that day. They clung to him heavily, and the wetness from the rain made the ream of his hair slick and curly. He chuckled and went over to the scientist and pinched the rung of wet clothing, gaining Egon’s attention.
“Hey Speng, you uh. Forgot to get these clothes off.” Egon looked down and appeared surprised, almost as if he had forgotten all together what he was wearing.
“I forgot, heh. I’ll go get changed. Here, hold this.” He placed the heavy clipboard into Ray’s open grasp and walked upstairs, his shoes slopping against the wooden surface. Ray looked down at the notes, barely able to make out what the miniscule handwriting said. There was a mention of the PKE meter and how some of the readings were barely off, almost by decimals. Here and there were some eloquently drawn spectres of ghosts, a beautiful lady ghost with wispy blonde hair. Another was a ghost of a man whose eyes looked sunken, hauntingly dark and devoid of light. It was shaded as if it were a shadow. He had looked into those ghosts. Nasty ones, not to messed with. Had connection with demonic entities.
He felt a hand touch his shoulder. It was Egon, dressed in his usual business casual. A sweater vest and a black tie with a coat slung over his shoulder. He took the clipboard back, and began to write again, this time more furtively.
“I don’t mean to pry, Egon,” Ray said cautiously, gently moving his hand towards Egon’s drawings. “but what’s with the ghosts? I have never seen you draw anything like this before.” Egon gave an expression of uncertainty, as if he was internally debating what to say.
“I’ve been visited by a… an entity. For the past few nights.” Ray looked at the man incredulously, hoping that the scientist was merely joshing him. Egon peered down and pointed at the shadow figure. “It has no name, and only come in my dreams.” It was eerie listening to Egon describe the entity, a shiver running down Ray’s spine. Imagining something like what he drew appearing in one’s dreams was very unsettling, especially in regards to the manner it was drawn. Fast, broad strokes. Almost panicked, like someone walking up from a dream, or nightmare. Ray placed a warm hand on Spengler’s forearm, squeezing delicately. “I was intrigued by its presence. It did not engage me, merely stared at me and dissipated.” His eyes slanted close, a grim look crossing his features.
“Sounds like a demonic entity, Egon. We should go research your ghost. See if we can confront it or get rid of it.” Egon nodded and walked towards the stairwell to the level floor with Ray trailing behind.
Peter and Winston were seated at the front desks, looking over some paperwork with Janine when they got back up the stairs. The two glanced the couple over and made some small talk, chatting nonchalantly about the catch they had done earlier that day. Ray decided that going out in the Ghostbusters uniform would draw too much unwanted attention, so he went up to his room and changed into some proper attire for a public library. Ray met back up with Egon and left in the Ecto 1. They arrived later at the library, and parked the vehicle on the sidewalk.
“We should start with folklore and make our way to the supernatural section, Ray.” Egon stated as they made their way up the concrete slabs, hurriedly trying to escape the rain. They entered the library and passed large tomes of books, towering over them in hulks of red and green. Finally, the two ghostbusters arrived at the Folklore section and went their respective ways. Ray trailed down a section with large, thick books adorned with golden lettering. It appeared to be 19th century literature- definitely something here would give them a clue into finding what was haunting Egon’s dreams. He picked out a small, red book among larger ones. There was dust encasing the cover, and he hastily brushed it off with the front of his palm. It read, “Supernatural Entities and their Respective Qualities.” Ray turned to the first page and looked for shadow people. There was a chapter detailing the folklore behind shadow people.
“Shadow men are reclusive spiritual entities that visit those who are haunted. There are certain stigmatisms that are correlated with these supernatural visuals. It is said that shadow men who hide under the bed of those that they choose spare them while killing others. It is also linked with sleep paralysis, as the victims are paralyzed and have no motility or speech. There is also a figure referred to as the Shadow Man, an entity that is a solid black mass with a black hat…” Ray stopped reading for a moment to take in all the information. So this mass, haunting Egon, was a shadow man. And it supposedly lived under his bed? It was preposterous. He had to get some more information out of Spengler to confirm this, his dreams had to have some meaning.
Ray found him standing at a large section of books, intensely staring at an open page of text. His eyes appeared to have glossed over, and his glasses low on his nose. Egon’s body was rigid and did not respond to touch, his muscles stiff and unmoving. “Spengler?” Ray asked hesitantly, gently gliding a hand across his back. Egon sprung into life, his eyes darting around.
“Ray?” He turned his head to look at the baffled man. He looked as if he had seen a ghost. Not that he hadn’t already… “Sorry Ray. I blanked out there for a second. Did you find anything pertinent to my shadow compadre?”
Ray breathed in a little, and lifted the red book up to Egon’s point of vision. “Yeah. Apparently your friend is a shadow man. And he hides underneath people’s bed when they are dreaming. Tell me Speng… what happens in your dreams?” There was a moment of silence before Egon spoke, and as he was about to talk he put the book back on the shelf.
“I’m going to explain as thoroughly as I can recall. I’m in bed, and you guys are asleep beside me. I can’t move, nor speak, but I can move my eyes around, as you mentioned sleep paralysis. Then the figure appears at the doorway… It makes no movement, only stands there and observes me. Rather unsettling, but nonetheless I find no harm in its presence.” He finished the remark by taking a seat in a little alcove situated by the shelves of books. His appearance had taken a pallor, sheen white, and his gaze haphazard, not focused on anything. Ray went up to him and knelt on one knees, trying to get Egon’s attention.
“You can’t let this thing get to you, Egon. We’ll figure this out, I know we will. Now, let’s get back to headquarters. I have a feeling that our buds can give you some input into what to do.” Ray got up, and wrapped his arm around Egon and dragged him back to the Ecto 1, and then to HQ.
They gathered in a group around the dining table, with Egon the center piece at the end of the table. He had given his story to everyone, and the gang had surprisingly taken it well. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for them to encounter ghosts, but this was something strange even for regular entities.
“It was just standing there, watching you?” Winston asked, his grip on his coffee mug tightening. He took a sip of the still steaming liquid and cleared his throat, eyes peering over the rim. “Must have been scary, damn.” The gang nodded along with him, and suddenly the room got eerily quiet. There was a shadow amongst them, and the lack of control all made them worry that something bad was going to occur if the creature was not dealt with properly.
“well, folks, we have got to solve this problem before Egon starts to get nightmares. And let me tell you, he isn’t sleeping in my bed.” Peter spoke, a half-sided grin etched across his features. Everyone gave out a little laugh, thankful for the little bit of comic relief provided by their resident comedian.
“Maybe we should go and try an experiment tonight. Just an observation of Egon… see if this entity materializes.” Ray stated, looking around, and caught Egon looking at him warily. “I’ll keep an eye on him. Let you know if he comes around while he’s asleep.” All of the Ghostbusters agreed, and set off to do their respective tasks as the 2 prepared for what was to come later. Ray went upstairs into their collective bunker room and pulled up a chair, placing it beside Egon’s bed.
“Ray… can I talk with you, as a friend?” The tall scientist sat on his bed and closed his eyes, his expression meager and tired.
“Of course Egon! I’m always here, if you need to talk.”
“I have a feeling this entity has the potential to harm us.” His sallow eyes peered over the rim of his glasses, his normally eccentric blue eyes dulled. “The way it careens into the room, how it stands near my bed and stares at me endlessly. I don’t normally have the capacity to say this but… I’m scared Ray.” At first, Stantz didn’t know what to say. Egon hardly ever spoke about his feelings, or emotions for that matter. It was a highly unusual situation, and the man couldn’t offer very much (as there was not much to do about it). So Stantz did what he felt was appropriate in this context, and grabbed Egon’s hand, noting how calloused and rough it felt beneath his.
“I won’t let it hurt you Egon. I’ll do my best to try to keep our team safe.” Ray strengthened his grip, and felt his heart beat rapidly when Egon gently intertwined their fingers, gently placing his head on the other man’s broad shoulder. It was such a touching moment, and Stantz could feel his cheeks burning hotly.
“I should get to bed, Ray. It’s getting late.” Ray nodded, looking towards the sunset dissipating in the distance. Egon left the room briefly, and returned in his night gown, his sporadic hair tamed slightly. It looked quite well on him, and Ray watched as he got under the covers and closed his eyes.
“Don’t be afraid, my dear friend. I’ll be right here if you need me.”
A pulsating sound echoed in Egon’s ears as he lay in his bed, completely unable to move his limbs. He recollected that this drilling sound was his heart beat, and it was fastidious and thrumming. There was a tightness bubbling in his abdomen, and suddenly Egon realized he was suffocating. His chest struggled to move, air quelling in the bowels of his diaphragm. He struggled for breath, unable to draw in lungfuls of vital oxygen. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it. The shadow. Its dark form moved quickly, darting out of his peripheral sight. It was a large entity, towering over many objects in the room. It was peering over him now, the thing absorbing all light that contacted it. Its delicately long limb reached out and wrapped its fingers around his neck, squeezing with a dull pressure. Pinpricks began to form in his eyesight, god he was going to die, with this sickly grotesque shadow hovering over him…
“Egon…” it whispered, its dark form unmoving. “Wake up…”
Ray was watching Egon ruse here and there when he noticed that Egon’s body started to tense up, his muscles on his arms flexing and chest heaving steadily. He quickly went over and started to try to wake him up, shouting his name and shaking his shoulders.
“Egon! Wake up!” Ray yelled, giving his friend a few slaps across the face. Egon’s breathing became more shallow, and finally his eyes shot open, the whites of his eyes pinpricked with tiny ruptured blood vessels. At first the man was silent, unmoving. His lips trembled and Ray sensed sweat sheened beneath his night gown.
“It came. In my dreams. It tried to kill me.” Egon’s eyes watered and silent tears slid down his cheeks in waves. Ray was dumbfounded as he held the man in his arms, running a hand down the curve of Egon’s back.
“I don’t think I saw it Spengs. I was watching you the entire time. It must be targeting you, specifically.”
“It must be. It felt like I was dying, Ray. This thing, whatever it is, wants me to suffer and harm me through my dreams.”
There were no more words exchanged after that. It was a long, silent night, with Egon lying beside Ray, comforted by the fact that he had earned such a wonderful and caring friend. There was much to deal with in terms of the shadow entity, and they were bound to figure it out. But as for now, it was time for comfort… and Egon didn’t mind that.