The screaming of a woman's voice could be heard from the other end of the street. The words were indistinguishable but the tone was clear. Every now and again a childs scream of pain and then sobbing could be heard, drifting through the cold night air. Eduardo looked across at the girl who meant more to him than anything else and asked in a quiet tone, “ You sure you want to do this chica?” A single nod was the only reply he got. Kylie never got this freaked out over anything. Even maggots. What was it that terrified her now? Janine and Egon handed out the proton packs and strapped two to their own backs. Curiosity had made them come along. As well as a concern over how high the P.K.E would be.
Now, standing outside the front door Kylie could distinguish the voices. Her mother’s was the one shouting abuse and the child’s, was her own. “ Come on,” She said when she realised that the others were looking at her. “ Let’s get this done.” Shoving open the door she trod onto the familiar bare floorboards, now covered with many inches of dust and grime. They creaked under her weight, the sound echoed around the building, the shouting stopped.
“ Should we split up?” Trust Roland to be thinking logically when her brain was scrambled with fear and her nerves felt like they were stretched across a knife blade. “ Yeah, that way we can bust and run, to the nearest snack bar. I’m starving.”
“ Garrett, do you ever think of anything but food?”
“ Shut-up, Goatee man.”
They all split up and went their own way. Each ghostbuster had an ever increasing sense of curiosity over Kylie’s past. Everyone wondered if it was linked with these ghosts. Tension clogged the atmosphere, making it thick and choking. Every mortal muscle and sinew was stretched taut under the stress. The ghost waited.
Ky was shocked at how little everything had changed. In her old bedroom things were just how she left them. A colouring book lay open on the floor. Crayons were scattered across a furry rug. On her pillow fudge sat waiting for her. She’d missed her teddy if nothing else. In other parts of the house there was no evidence of things being moved. Dishes were stacked beside the sink, the table was still half laid. Everything was similar, if not exactly how she left it.
She walked along a corridor. The bare walls echoed her footsteps as she went. None of the others had been along here as there were no footprints in the dust. She rounded a corner and cried out in pain as she banged her head on one of the low beams. Reaching up to rub it she brought her hand away red with blood. An evil chuckle sounded off in a room on her right. She turned to confront her mothers ghost.
“ Well, well, well. So this is how you turned out. A ghostbuster, Ha! Never mind. You are here now. You shall come with me.” The ghost sprang forward and grabbed Kylie, forcing her to scream in pain as her arms were yanked behind her back. She felt the coldness of metal against each wrist and heard the ‘snick’ of clasps being shut. Her P.K.E meter fell to the floor, it sprang into life showing readings that were going higher and higher. She turned to look at one wall of the room. An orange pinpoint of light gleamed. It gradually grew and grew before a trans-dimensional effect occurred. The light swept past Kylie, and she felt as though something was being torn from her. She shut her eyes and gritted her teeth against a pain that was no longer emotional, but was taking it’s physical toll. Her blaster and trap lay on the other side of the room, out of reach, there was nothing to do but endure.
Opening her eyes she looked around. Beside her a glass bubble floated patiently. Inside it a blue winged butterfly fluttered against it’s imprisoning walls. She felt weak and ill. Pain was shooting up her arm from where the spirit twisted them behind her back. All noises seemed muted and as though a barrier was between her and the rest of the world. Footsteps came thudding along the passageway and the rest of the team stopped in the doorway aiming their blasters. “ Shoot,” her mother hissed, “ And I will drag Kylie with me into the trap.” Eduardo looked over at Egon. “ Don’t worry, as long as Kylie is a mortal that is a physical impossibility. Just be careful.” They fired. Kylie felt nothing other than a tingling sensation overcoming her body. Vaguely she heard the words. “ Throw the trap Janine!” There was a blinding flash of light and then nothing.
The ghostbusters stood gaping at where Kylie had been. Eduardo spun round and glared at Egon. “ I thought you said it was a physical impossibility man!” Egon's face was stone hard and absolutely furious. “ It is. There’s only one explanation. Kylie was a ghost, and a traitor.”
“ What?!”
“ She was, is, probably working for Surt.”
“ You mean Mister “Destroy the human race” Surt?” Garrett’s answer was an affirmative nod. “ Why that little,” By now all the ghostbusters were seeing red. “ And to think we actually trusted her.”
“ To think I loved her.”
“ So, do we cram the little cow into the containment unit or what?” Egon answered in a monotone voice. “ The containment unit.”
Although it was pitch black in the trap it didn’t mean that you lost the ability to hear. Their harsh words were tearing Kylie to shreds. She didn’t know how it happened, but it wasn’t her fault. How could they do this to her? She would be put in the containment unit, never see the outside world again. Why did her life have to start and end in that hell hole of a house? Ghostly tears slid down her cheeks. There was a clunking noise, then a hiss as they were transported down into the containment unit. “ Part 1 is complete.” Said her mother. “ You are the key to opening this hellish place from the inside. Surt will be pleased. With that Kylie was dragged deeper and deeper into the guts of this strange dimension, dragged further and further away from the world she once knew and loved. The others were probably thinking it was a fitting end for someone who, in their eyes, was a traitor.
A Traitors end? :-