what a ghostly scene - kate schmidt

(7)

the school halls had always felt eerie. the early mornings and lack of school spirit often caused it. lisa was used to zombies roaming the corridors, in the form of sleep deprived teenagers. however, the prospect of actual zombies, carrying knives and axes, doing hall monitor duty, didn't bring lisa too much joy.

the group crept through the halls, buzzing with both adrenaline and fear.

simon led the way, diverting into a store closet, and presenting a 'lost and found' box to mystery inc.

he dumped the box on the linoleum floor, and they delved in, like predators hunting prey.

''alright, we have to decontaminate'', josh announced, ''you can't have any of sam's blood on you''.

''well, not much i can do about that'', sam deadpanned. lisa couldn't imagine how sam felt in that moment, although she was grateful that she wasn't in her position.

each member of the ghostbusters scavenged a rather eccentric assortment of clothing items, but fashion choices weren't exactly their priority that night.

deena and sam slipped away to a science lab down the hall, as the others took the bathrooms.

''rub-a-dub-dub time!''

lisa wondered how simon could stay so positive in a time like this, as she followed kate into the girl's bathroom.

lisa began to clean sam's traces from her hands, as kate got changed in one of the spray-painted stalls.

''do you really think this is going to work?'' kate's voice interrupted the silence. lisa assumed she was talking about the plan they had constructed on the way to the lion's den.

lisa took a second to think.

''i don't know''.

''lisa...''

upon hearing her name, lisa looked away from the mirror that she had been lost in.

''can you help me?''

lisa wasn't someone who was ever sure of her feelings. her head and her heart were in different universes.

nevertheless, she did know two things that night: her chances of survival were being tampered with, and that deep down, the one person who could throw blankets over her barbed wire, was kate schmidt.

so, she pushed open the stall door.

she was faced with a shirtless kate, who wore an unreadable expression.

''make sure my back is clean''.

their eyes locked. like magnets being pulled together. like those brown eyes were made to look at those green ones.

kate reluctantly turned around, feeling like if she broke eye contact, her world would collapse.

lisa gently moved kate's bob from her back, carefully checking for any red smudges.

''i think you're all good''.

kate gave the girl opposite her a small, grateful smile.

''isn't this so insane? we went from competing against each other in spelling bees to fighting dead maniacs together?'' lisa wore a sad smile as she reminisced on her and kate's long, rocky history.

''yeah, and we hated each other every day in between'', kate reminded her.

lisa raised an eyebrow. ''im not convinced'', she let out a laugh.

''no, but seriously,'' kate swiftly moved past lisa's comment, ''what if...''

''what if tonight's it for us''.

a million thoughts tried to hijack lisa's mind, but in that moment, all she saw was her.

she felt heat rise to the surface of her cheeks, as her palms became sweaty, and her knees went weak.

time moved in slow motion.

a short-lived moment of realisation.

before lisa could piece together a single thought, it happened.

a kiss.

it was fire before it was sweet. it was hard for lisa to believe that she was kissing kate and not fulfilling her entire life's purpose.

kate. the girl she had loathed for as long as she could remember. the girl who laughed at her defeats and scowled at her triumphs. the girl she had spent her entire life competing against.

the girl she never stopped thinking about.

a cage of butterflies had burst open.

every movement felt effortless, like it was what they were put on this planet to do.

a combination of adrenaline, sheer euphoria, and their impending doom, meant that the girls could not keep their wandering hands away from each other.

each moment that they spent away from one another's skin was dismal. cold.

heavy breaths filled the air. nothing else mattered.

as fuel was added to the fire between them, lisa temporarily forgot the events of that night; what had already happened, and what was to come.

as kate found herself between a brunette and a toilet stall door, she was hit with the worst pain imaginable.

reality.

''lis'', kate's voice was muffled by a mass of brown hair, ''we should get going''.

''yeah'', lisa said, disappointed. she untangled herself from the other girl, but still didn't dare to break eye contact.

''to be continued?''

''to be continued''.

lisa followed kate out of the bathroom, dreading what was on the other side of the door.

the pair were met with simon, ''no'', he said in disbelief, although he didn't look too surprised.

''calm down'', kate warned before simon exploded with excitement.

''i knew it!''

the girls gave each other a shy smile, despite being as comfortable as they were with each other, a few minutes prior.

sam and deena were next to do the walk of shame, shuffling into the scene hand-in-hand.

''wait, wait, wait, wait, wait'', simon began, ''did you...all go to pound town?''

despite the overwhelming number of irritated looks, lisa sniggered.

''me too!''

silence fell over the scene, as that final joke was made.

after a few knowing looks, they knew what they had to do.

it was time to face the evil.