Ghostbusters: Regeneration

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Dongan Hills, Staten Island

Melissa turned her coupé onto the spacious driveway, smoothly pulling up to the rightmost of the two garage doors. She was pleased to have made it here quickly and without incident. Not only did she have limited time before work but she had never driven on the roads around here before. When she was last in this neighbourhood seven years ago, the only vehicle she owned was a pedal bike which she rarely even used. The house she had grown up in was only one street away, so she had almost always walked here.

As she stepped out of the car and took off her sunglasses, she was overwhelmed by an unexpectedly large wave of nostalgia. She had come to this house almost daily in her youth so it was natural for memories to start re-emerging from the recesses of her mind. However, this nostalgia was accentuated by the fact that the entire place looked exactly as she remembered. The paved curving footpath, the lush lawn and shrubbery, and even the upmarket welcome mat outside the front door completely matched her years old memories. The property was likely still being maintained by a staff of groundskeepers and cleaners.

Gazing up at the large and homey two-story house - remembering how it had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a dedicated dining room, and even a study - made Melissa realise how much she missed suburban living. Not only was this property about ten times the size of her apartment in the West Village, but it was also situated in a leafy, sleepy neighbourhood the likes of which simply did not exist in Manhattan.

She approached the house's front door, getting as far as mounting the porch. It then dawned on her that, given how little had seemingly changed here in seven years, her old entry point would likely still be her best option for getting inside.

She circled around the side of the house, unable to detect any activity through the ground and first floor windows, until she came to the exterior basement entrance. The two sturdy wooden doors with metal handles awaited her as they always had. The question was, did she take the time to knock and wait for a response or just let herself in like back in the day?

To save time and additional awkwardness, she quickly decided on the latter. She pulled on the handles, finding the doors unlatched just like the old days. Opening them up all the way, she then began down the interior steps.

'Hello, it's only me!' She called out, falling into her old habit of turning and pulling the doors closed before she had fully descended the stairs.

She then turned and began to head down the remaining few steps, finally setting eyes on the basement. Unlike the exterior of the house, which had seemingly not changed an iota in seven years, this space was almost unrecognisable to her. The well-lit lounge-like chamber that had contained little more than a TV, a couch, and a computer desk had been replaced with what appeared to be a dimly-lit workshop.

The ceiling lights were off, leaving much of the space in shadow. Four wall-mounted monitors, which hung above a large computer desk on the opposite side of the room, shed a low-level pale glow across most of the chamber. Numerous gadgets adorned both the large table in the centre of the room and the wall-mounted shelving, many of which were emitting light. Some of these devices were clearly intended for the purposes of illumination and decoration, such as a small lava lamp which was plugged into a nearby electrical outlet. However, several of the other, more mysterious contraptions were emitting, blinking, or glowing in red, green, or blue hues. Combined with a high-end looking computer tower under the desk, which itself had elaborate neon lights built into its case, Melissa surmised that there was probably more electricity being used in this single room than in her whole apartment on an average day.