Untitled Ghostbusters Fic

Prologue

  It was freezing. At least, to Lee it was. The young woman walked down the New York sidewalk with her coat pulled tightly around herself. She wasn't used to the cold, not this cold. Oklahoma never got this cold. She tried her best to hold herself tightly while not squishing the small cake she'd bought on her walk home. She could see her building coming up on the street. " Thank goodness. " She thought to herself. She hurried along the rest of the way towards her building's entryway. She pulled off one of her gloves and pushed in the door code. 6740. A small clicking noise followed her input. She grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. Stepping into the hallway she relished in the warmth from the heater against her face.
       The building was, less than desirable. All the way down the hallway the wallpaper could be seen peeling off the walls. Numerous stains adorned the carpet, Lee tried not to imagine where they'd come from. And the smell of mildew and mold permeated Lee's nostrils as she entered the building. It was a disgusting building. Unfortunately, it was all Lee could afford. Waitressing didn't pay well.
       She walked down the hall and approached the elevator. She pressed the call button and waited in silence. The elevator clunked in the wall as it attempted to make its way down. She closed her eyes and let out a groan. " Please don't be busted again ." she thought to herself. A few seconds went by and still the elevator doors didn't open. She sighed and turned away from the elevator and began to walk towards the stairwell. When suddenly Lee heard the beautiful sound of the elevator buzzing open. She turned around and quickly jumped into the elevator. She pushed the button for the twenty-second floor, and the doors slowly closed in front of her.
       The elevator reached Lee's selected floor and buzzed again as its doors slid open. Lee stepped out into the hall and walked down towards her apartment. Reaching the door, she took her keys from her pocket and unlocked it. She opened the door. "Alone on my birthday, how fun." She mumbled to herself as she walked in and dropped her keys on the small table beside the door. She shed her jacket and tossed it onto the couch. Then she set the cake on her desk and turned around to shuffle through her bookcase. Running her fingers along her books, she wondered what to read to distract herself. She looked over the titles. The Mothman Prophecies , Chariots of the Gods , Dianetics , but nothing seemed to stand out to her. She slumped down into her desk chair and glanced at the clock. 9:00. She moved her eyes to her window and stared out over the New York skyline. The Statue of Liberty stared silently back from its pedestal in the New York Bay. She sighed.
       New York was supposed to be where she would thrive. Looking out over the city only reminded her of how badly she had failed to. She had dreamed of coming here since she was a graduate student. Her last few months at Padova she had thought of all the wonderful and exciting things she'd do once she arrived in the Big Apple. The job she would get at a university, teaching her passions, the beautiful apartment she would buy. But within her first few weeks in the city she had had her senses knocked into her. She'd gone from university to university and every one of them had practically laughed at her. New York University politely declined to speak to her, Barnard never called her back after her interview. Columbia had told her they hadn't allowed parapsychology research since some jerks managed to get the entire department shut down in 1984.  Her dream of teaching had slowly crumbled.
       Another sigh escaped Lee's lips. She looked away from the window and down at the tiny cake she'd bought for herself. " A tiny cake for me to eat alone, how depressing" She thought to herself. She glanced down at her desk and opened the top drawer. Reaching in she shuffled through old papers until she found what she was looking for and withdrew a frayed and weathered copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein . She flipped through the first few chapters and began reading. Lazily she opened the box containing the small cake, picked it up and took a bite. Mindlessly she chewed her cake and read through the novel.
       After about half an hour from her kitchen she heard her phone begin ringing. She set down her novel and hurriedly tried to finish chewing her cake. She swallowed as she stood from the chair and nearly choked as she tripped over her desk chairs legs. But she caught herself on her desk and pulled herself back up. Coughing, she stumbled forward into the kitchen and grabbed for the receiver. She picked up the phone.
       "Hello?" she said. "Hi Graylee!" an excited voice responded "Happy birthday sweetheart!" Lee let out another low sigh and rubbed her temple. "Hi mom. "She said, sounding exasperated "Thank you." "Sorry to call you so late." her mother responded, sounding somewhat exasperated herself "Your father and I have been busy with the county News Years party. How was your birthday? Did you do anything special in the big city?" Lee clenched her teeth at the question. "All I did was work. I had a long shift at Jerry's." She said. Her mother was quiet for a moment on the other end of the line. "Anything else?" her mother asked. Lee could hear worry in her voice and suddenly felt bad for complaining to her mom. "I did buy a little cake for myself on the way back to my apartment" she continued, trying to sound more enthusiastic. "Well that's nice to hear, sweetheart" her mother responded, still sounding a bit worried. "Have you had any luck at the schools?" "Not yet." Lee responded "I'm still working on it." Lee glanced towards the clock."Mom it's kind of late and I have an early shift tomorrow so I should probably go to bed." Lee said quietly. "Oh of course, honey. Sorry I don't mean to keep you." her mother said  "I love you, so does your father. We'll call you again soon okay?" "Sure, love you guys too. Tell dad I said so." Lee responded. The sound of the dial tone hit Lee's ear and she returned the handset to the base. Again she sighed.
       Slowly she returned to her desk. She picked up the now empty cake box and threw it towards her kitchen trash can. It missed the can and Lee watched it fall to the ground with a soft thud. She grumbled and leaned her head back. She used her foot to open the drawer in her desk, picked up the weathered copy of Frankenstein , dropped it in the open drawer and pushed it shut. Looking up she again glanced out the window. Out in the bay she could see the Statue of Liberty. She looked back down and suddenly shot her head back up to look out the window again. The statue seemed to be bobbing up and down in the water. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. " I really am tired ." She thought to herself. Shaking her heard she pushed the thought of a walking statue down. Turning and dragging her feet, she made her way to her bedroom.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
     The weight of her shift was beginning to set in. She slumped down into her unmade bed and pulled her shoes off. Leaning back into the mattress, she pulled her blanket up over herself and enjoyed the warmth against the cold New York winter. It didn't take long before her eyes began to droop. And before long she was sleeping soundly

___________

       A sudden booming noise shook Lee awake. She bolted upright and looked around. Another boom shook her apartment. She fumbled around and grabbed her glasses of her nightstand. Shoving them onto her face, she quickly stumbled out of bed and into her living area. She could hear police sirens blaring down in the street. " What the hell is going on? " she thought to herself. Peering out the window she was met with an unbelievable sight. "Holy SHIT !" Lee exclaimed to her empty room.
       The sky seemed to be swirling and had turned a ghastly pinkish color. And out in the bay the Statue of Liberty had disappeared. Its pedestal sat empty. It was now instead walking through the Lower East Side, directly past her window. Another resounding thud hit the ground as the statue passed by her window. She watched it walk past and disappear. " Shit shit shit shit !" She said to herself as she frantically put her shoes on. She grabbed her keys and coat and flung her apartment door open. Slamming it behind her, she nearly forgot to lock it. She took off and swung herself around as she caught her mistake. Once locked, she raced down her hallway. She stopped in front of the elevator and repeatedly slammed on the button. Bouncing on her feet she waited impatiently for the elevator to descend. Lee decided it wasn't coming fast enough for her and took off running past the elevator, and instead made her way to the stairs. Throwing the stairwell door open she began her descent from her twenty-first floor apartment, taking the stairs as quickly as she could. Flight after flight she went down until finally she hit the ground floor door. She yanked it open and ran down the hall, out the front door of her building.
        The statue was about two blocks down the way now, being led and trailed by a police motorcade. She stared in amazement. The sound of music rang through the air and seemed to be resonating from the statue's crown. It was moving inland. The street was filled with people staring up at the statue, pointing and exclaiming excitedly. A buzz of energy filled the streets as the crowd watched the statue. " What the hell is going on ?" Lee wondered. A man bumped into Lee as he ran forward, following the statue. "Hey!" She shouted at him "What's going on?" The man didn't stop, but turned his head towards her as he continued to run. "It's those Ghostbusters! Again!" he yelled.
       " Ghostbusters? What the hell is a Ghostbuster ?" She thought to herself. She'd sworn she had heard it before. Maybe from a diner patron. She couldn't remember: And she didn't have time to ponder the question. The statue was quickly disappearing down the street. She set off down the sidewalk, fighting through the sea of people crowding the sidewalk, along after the statue. What was going on, she wasn't quite sure, but she was determined to find out.

   ___________

       Lee still couldn't wrap her head around it. Despite her belief in the paranormal, what she had witnessed still left her in such awe that she lay awake still thinking about it. The entire Statue of Liberty, lifting itself from its pedestal, and walking through the streets of Manhattan. She rolled over in her bed and looked at her clock. 2:00 AM. She needed to go to sleep. But she couldn't rest. Ghostbusters. Men that fought ghosts and captured ghosts in New York. How? How had she not heard of them? How did she not know? She couldn't stop thinking about them.
       Standing in the crowd, she'd heard citizens buzz about the Ghostbusters. She'd managed to pick up tidbits of information from eavesdropping in the crowd. Apparently this wasn't the first time the Ghostbusters had saved Manhattan. Something happened back in 1984. She didn't hear much more than that. But she was determined to learn more.
       She sat up in her bed and stared out her bedroom door. Silently she plucked her glasses from her bedside table and put them on. She got up from her mattress, her blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and shuffled into her living room. Weary eyed, she stared out of her living room window. Looking past the buildings and over the harbor. The Statue of Liberty sat back atop its pedestal in the dark water. Returned safely after its trek across Manhattan. She turned away from the window and crept back to her bed. Lying down, she vowed to head to the library first thing after her shift tomorrow. She would scour everything she could. Books, newspapers, magazines, old photos, anything. She had to know more. She had to.