'There is certainly a world beyond our normal consciousness from which neither space nor time divides us, but only the barrier of our sense-perceptions... this threshold is not immovable.' ~William F. Barrett

They pulled up in front of an old, victorian house. The stone stair way was crumbling and the shutters were falling from the windows. 'Okay is it just me, or does this place look like no one has lived here for years?' Patty asked as they were pulling on their proton packs.

'It does look pretty deserted.' Abby agreed. 'Erin, is this the right place?' She wondered.

'This is the address the guy gave me so...'

'We should probably knock.' Holtzman suggested, jumping up the first step.

'Holtzy, hang on.' Patty said coming after her.

'What, I'm just going to knock.' Holtzman said, reaching the door and knocking three times as the rest of the group joined her.

'This place is kind of creepy.' Abby said, looking around at the chipping paint and the cobwebs covering every corner. Nothing happened after a few moments of standing in silence so Holtzman knocked on the door again, slightly harder. After the second knock, the door opened gently by itself, swinging on it's hinges into the dark entrance room. They looked at each other before looking back at the door.

'That's strange.' Holtzman said. 'Maybe the ghost wants us to come in?'

'I don't like this at all!' Patty said, turning to Abby and Erin. 'I think we should leave, this don't feel right.'

'We can't leave Patty.' Abby said. 'There's someone here who needs our help.'

'Oh really? Where are they then?' She asked. 'I don't see nobody.'

'Why don't we have a quick look around and if no one is here we can leave.' Erin suggested.

'Why do we even have to look?' Patty protested.

'Because...' Abby sighed. 'Holtzman is already inside.'

'Damn it!' Patty said. 'Fine, let's get this over with.' She stormed into the house behind Holtzman.

-x-

The inside of the house was just as bad as the outside. It looked like no one had been living there for years. Old furniture was covered in dust and the curtains were pulled firmly closed. 'Man this place is dusty.' Patty said, looking around. Abby and Erin were right behind her, thinking the same thing. Something odd was going on here. 'Holtzman!' Patty yelled, 'where are you?' She called back after only a second;

'I'm in what I can only assume should be the dining room.'

'Come on.' Abby said, walking towards the sound of Jillian's voice. The dining room was in even more disarray than the other rooms. There were stacks of papers on the table and in every corner an old machine.

'This looks like your place Holtz.' Erin joked.

'What is all of this crap?' Patty asked, blowing dust off of a stack of books. 'It's junk.'

'You think everything is junk my love but this,' Holtzman switched on one of the machines, 'is far from junk.'

'It still works?' Abby walked over to Holtzman and studied the machine. 'Is this what I think it is?' She said, looking at Holtzman. Her eyes were on the machine and the machine only. 'Holtzy?' Abby touched her shoulder and their eyes connected. 'Is this?'

'Yes, Abby, it is an early, a very early, version of the machine we were trying to build.'

'That means...' Erin stepped forwards. 'This is Nathan's place.'

'He must have called us.' Patty said. 'Lured us here.'

'But why?' Erin asked just as a disembodied voice floated around the room.

'Because I missed you, that's why.' the voice said. They all jumped and looked around the room. Jillian and Abby recognised the voice immediately.

"Nathan.' Abby called. 'Where are you?'

'I'm around.' He said vaguely. 'I really missed my dear friend Jillian.'

'Can't say the feelings mutual.' Holtzman said, holding onto her gun a little tighter.

'Come on now, you just found my machine and there's lots of research to look through. I'd love a second opinion.'

'Not going to happen.' Abby said, stepping subconsciously in front of Holtzman.

'I wasn't speaking to you Abigail. I know Jillian enjoyed our time together.'

'You were trying to cause the end of the world.' Holtzman reminded him. 'That's not a good thing Nathan.'

'It wouldn't have been the end of the world, you were always so dramatic.'

'Being cautious isn't dramatic. You would have caused a lot of damage.' Abby said.

'But if Holtzy would have helped me, I know we would have made it work correctly.' He said, sounding angrier by the minute.

'Don't call me that Nathan. And even if I thought I could do it, I wouldn't help you. You're insane.'

'Coming from you.' He said.

'Look man.' Patty stepped in. 'You need to either show your crazy ass or we're out, okay?' She shouted. There was no response so Patty turned to the rest of the group. 'Come on, let's get out of here.' They agreed, heading for the door which Erin had left open, only for it to slam closed in their faces.

'Oh dear.' Abby said, turning back into the room.

'Nathan, how did you do that?' Holtzman said, stepping back into the middle of the room.

'Did I forget to mention what I'm currently working on?' He said with joy in his voice. 'Harnessing the ghostly ability to move things with my mind, or with the help of an invention.'

'Telekinesis isn't a ghostly ability dumb-ass!' Abby yelled. 'Now open this door!'

'Only, if Jillian agrees to help me.' He bargained.

'No way.' Abby answered for her. 'We can just as easily blow the door open Nathan, you're just wasting our time.'

'Wasting your time...' Nathan chuckled. 'How about a real ghost to fight then?' He said as an eerie laugh filled the room. A dim blue light began to glow from the top of the stairs.

'Nathan, what did you do?' Holtzman asked, worry in her voice.

'I figured out how to make my own ghosts.' He said.

'Nathan...' Holtzman said. 'We talked about that, I remember, we decided it wouldn't work.'

'Well, I had a whole year in prison to work on the design of the machine. I figured out the one thing we were missing.' As they were talking the figure of a woman came gliding into view. She looked old, dressed for another time, as she studied them.

'How are you controlling her?' Erin asked.

'That's for me to know and you to never find out.' He mocked before instructing the ghost. 'Attack.' She did as she was told, sending a burst of energy towards the ghostbusters. It hit them full force and sent them flying back into the wall.

'Oh that hurt.' Abby said, sitting up. 'Power up ladies.' She said, pulling her proton blaster out of her pack and getting to her feet.

'This bitch is going down.' Patty said, joining her. Erin and Holtzman were close to follow. They all aimed for the ghost, sending out beams of energy in the direction of the entity. Their beams were met with another blast of ghostly energy, colliding in the middle. There was a great flash of light as the powers merged.

'Guys, we need to leave, right now.' Holtzman said, panicked.

'Why, we need to finish off the ghost.' Patty said.

'No, that's not a real ghost, it's one of Nathan's experiments. We won't be able to destroy it with the tech we have.' She confirmed. 'We can keep firing at it but I assure you nothing will happen.'

'I'm inclined to believe Holtzman on this one.' Erin said, agreeing as they step back towards the door.

'Okay, you guys keep her busy and I'll kick this door in.' Patty said.

'You got it Patty.' Abby said, firing at the man made ghost.

'It's no use Abby.' Nathan said from, wherever the hell he was. 'She is made from something you cannot even imagine, my mind.' He sounded vert proud of himself.

'Oh so she's crazy too.' Holtzman said, helping Abby by firing straight after her shot ran out of juice.

'How's that door coming Patty?' Erin asked, moving around for a better angle.

'Almost there.' She said, and with one final kick the door flew open and the sunlight poured in. 'Got it! Come on guys.' She stepped out onto the porch and encouraged the others to follow.

'You know this isn't over Jillian.' Nathan said as they exited the building. The ghost faded into nothing as they left, never looking back.