Part Ten – Curses

"It wasn't like that," Tru replied. "We're changing things today. I don't want her in danger any more than you do."

"You're sure about that?" Harrison hissed. "I just can't think of any reason at all why you wouldn't tell me. Except that you just don't care."

"That's not true," Tru sobbed, tears starting to run down her face. Harrison paused a moment as he took in his sister's reaction. He hated to see her cry and felt terrible that he was the cause of it. But right now he was too angry to care enough to put things right.

"Give me one good reason why you didn't tell me," he demanded, his voice rising.

"Because I didn't want to see your heart break again," Tru snapped back as she brushed the tears from her face. "Because I didn't want to risk seeing the look on your face again that I saw when I found you with her body."

"I found her?" Harrison asked, his voice dropping to almost a whisper in his shock. It was not the answer he was expecting. But whilst his own tone had quietened, Tru was now giving as good as she had received.

"Yes you found her," she sobbed. "And I found you. And I didn't want to put that look of grief on your face again. It's bad enough I have to remember it but I thought that if you didn't know I wouldn't have to see that look again. You were never meant to know."

"You can't protect me from every bad thing in the world Tru," Harrison said quietly as his sister sobbed in earnest. He moved forward to put his arms around her.

"I can try," she cried into his shirt. "You don't know what it's like to remember. To remember everything no matter how many times you live through the day and no matter what it is that I change. You forget everything and start over with your memories of the day gone. I remember them. I remember seeing those I love dying and even when it changes I still remember. I can still see your body as clearly as we both saw Luc's. Just because you alive doesn't mean I don't remember you dying. It doesn't mean I don't remember the feelings I had when I saw you lying there."

"It's okay Tru," Harrison whispered, not knowing what else to say as the strain of her calling finally seemed to be reaching its breaking point. "It's okay."

"I had to lie to you," she continued as though he hadn't spoken. "I just couldn't bear to add even more bad memories to the ones we already have by letting you relive it again through me. I couldn't bear it."

Harrison held Tru tight as her sobs finally lessened and she stepped back from him. She looked ruefully at his shirt, damp with her tears.

"Feeling better?" Harrison asked as she reached into her pocket for a tissue. Tru nodded in response.

"I'm just going to go clean up a bit," she said, walking to the door.

"I'll wait here," Harrison replied. "And Tru, I do understand why you did it."

"You know I'd do it again?" Tru asked quietly.

Harrison nodded and bit his lip to keep from arguing again. He didn't like the idea of her lying to him again but now he realised how much pressure Tru was under he was resolved to cut her a little slack.

Tru accepted his response and disappeared out the door.

Harrison waited a moment before returning into the office. As soon as he stepped through the door he realised that both Davis and Cassie had heard almost everything. Davis was not even pretending to continue with the translation and Cassie was visibly pale.

"Is Tru okay?" Davis asked. He started to rise from his seat as if to go check on her.

"She's just gone to clean up a bit," Harrison said, shaking his head slightly at Davis's gesture to follow after her. "I think it's really starting to get to her."

"It has been for a while," Davis agreed. "She takes too much on herself as it is. But nothing can take away the memories. It's part of the burden of the calling."

"If she didn't remember she couldn't help anyone," Harrison commented. "But I think that she thinks that aspect is more of a curse than anything else."

"We'll have to make sure we help her out more to relieve some of the stress," Davis suggested.

"Yeah," Harrison agreed.

Tru came through the door at that moment and Harrison stopped speaking.

"My ears are burning," Tru said with a smile that was still a shadow of its usual brightness.

"All good stuff," Harrison said as he moved aside to let Tru get past and get a good look at the progress on the translation.

"So it's a curse on the vase," Tru read. "Does it say how to break it?"

"I think so but I can only pick out the odd words here and there," Davis sighed. "It's not easy to translate something when you don't know the language. We've just been trying to match the symbols but it could take weeks to find them all, and even then we might not have the answer."

"Here's an idea," Harrison said. "Let's just smash the ugly thing."

"That might be what is causing people to die," Davis said with a shake of his head.

"I don't know about the others but it was intact on the last rewind," Tru said. "Let's save that as a last resort, okay?"

Harrison shrugged.

"Let's split into pairs and take a computer between two," Davis suggested. "Me and Tru on this and Harrison and Cassie on the other. Put the vase between us and work on one side each."

Harrison nodded in agreement and sat back at the computer. He glanced at Tru in concern but she was soon busy scrutinising the vase and urging him to do the same. There was no time to worry about her just yet.

For the next few hours the four of them kept working at the translation but seemed to be getting no further with figuring out the entire mess. They had managed to find the symbol for dark on the vase and had speculated for a while that it was night time or lack of daylight that might trigger something. Cassie's bathroom had no windows in it but they had no idea about the layout of the rooms the other victims were in.

"Has anyone noticed that it's now later than the times of death of all the victims?" Davis asked as he sat back and stretched.

Tru glanced at the clock on the wall. He was right. The times of death had passed by without their even noticing.

"Maybe it's over?" Cassie suggested as she rubbed her eyes slightly with the strain of staring at the vase and the screen for hours.

"It doesn't make sense," Tru said. "Why would it suddenly stop?"

"None of this makes sense," Harrison pointed out. "Maybe we just got a lucky break here?"

"I don't buy that," Davis replied with a shake of his head.

"Me neither," agreed Tru. "We're just missing something."

"My company?" a voice joked from the doorway.

Tru turned to glare at the intruder. Jack Harper stood leaning against the wall near the door. It was becoming an unnerving habit of his. For someone who knew his presence was unwelcome he had been dropping by on a regular basis.

"Get out," Tru demanded as she stood up.

"Nice vase," Jack commented as he walked further into the room. "May I?" he reached forward to pick it up as if to study it.

"What do you want Jack?" Tru asked, stepping back slightly so that she was further away from the smirking man.

"I want this day over with," Jack said as he replaced the vase and moved to the other side of the room. "I really don't like the multiple rewinds and this one is getting very tiresome. Especially since Davis isn't playing along now. Did you have a nice trip out of town? How's the family? Oh wait that wasn't today was it? Today you decided not to go visit your sick relative. Shame."

Tru caught Cassie's questioning look at Harrison and his silently mouthing later in reply. It looked like Cassie hadn't been told about Jack. She was so busy taking in their reaction she didn't realise Davis had stood up behind her. Harrison however had noticed and she caught his quick shake of the head at Davis and turned to see that her co-worker and confidant was looking as furious as she had ever seen him.

"Your sick," Davis spat at Jack as he moved around Tru. "You heard Tru, get out."

"Such manners," Jack tutted, though he did take a step back towards the door. Tru and Davis matched him pace for pace in an effort to keep him from coming back into the room. "Can't I stop by and see my old co-workers and friends once in a while?"

"You were never a friend," Davis replied with another glare.

"Well not with you perhaps," Jack smirked. "But Harrison here was a friend, right?"

"Not the word I'd choose," Harrison said.

Jack shrugged and smiled towards Cassie. "I see you have another little recruit too. I don't believe we've been introduced."

Harrison stood up and manoeuvred himself in front of Cassie who was looking more confused than ever. "Stay away from all of us," he ordered.

"I see you're over Lindsay already," Jack smiled. "This one's much more your level. You work in a diner right?" He turned to Cassie with one of his most friendly smiles.

Tru opened her mouth to again demand that Jack leave. It was bad enough he was following her around the city. She hadn't realised he was following her brother as well. He was far more devious than she had thought. He knew enough about Davis and his family to send him on a wild goose chase out of town. He knew who her brother was dating and where his girlfriend worked. She didn't know where he was getting all his information but it had to stop and it had to stop now.

She didn't have time to speak though. While she had been trying to process all the implications, Harrison, who had a minute ago been silently cautioning Davis, had decided not to take his own advice and swung his fist at Jack with a force that knocked him off his feet.

"Harrison!" Tru cried out. She vaguely heard Cassie's voice echoing her own as her brother grabbed Jack and spun him around to take another shot at him. Despite the fact that Jack outweighed her brother by some pounds at the moment pure rage seemed to be driving him and he retained the upper hand.

His mistake was when he stopped and Jack recovered quickly enough to lever her brother off of him and pushed him across the room, straight towards the desk with the vase sitting innocently on it.

Time seemed to slow down as Tru, Davis and Cassie all rushed towards the vase that toppled to the floor and shattered before they could reach it.

As it hit the floor a black mist seemed to rise from the pieces and hover in the room. The still legible markings glowed golden on the pieces of pottery. Tru felt a chill down her spine as she looked at the strange phenomena.

"What is it?" Harrison asked from where he lay on the floor.

"I don't know," Tru replied. Davis shook his head in confusion. Even Jack looked surprised.

"The mist seemed to move with a life of its own and it moved first towards one of the group and then another. One by one it edged closer and closer. Cassie scooted back on her chair as it moved in her direction. Harrison stood up and moved towards her protectively. Of all of the people in the room Cassie was the only one who had previously been a victim. Tru watched as the mist moved back again and moved towards Jack. She half hoped it would take him next but then silently scolded herself for the uncharitable thought.

"I think it's confused," Davis said. "It can't seem to make its mind up who to go for."

"I vote Jack," Harrison said with another glare in his direction.

"Maybe it only gets activated when the person is alone," Tru speculated. "It'd explain why no one has seen anything and why we can sit here all this time with it and nothing happened."

"But I was on my own when I was bringing it here," Harrison pointed out.

"You were out in public with it," Tru argued. "You might have been on your own but you weren't alone."

"So what now?" Cassie asked as she watched the mist come back in her direction. "We can't all just stay here forever and wait for it to go away. What if it just goes towards someone on their own outside of this room?"

"How about we send Jack out the room and test that theory?" Harrison suggested again with an evil grin at the nervous looking Jack.

Tru rolled her eyes. As tempting as it was to use him as a guinea pig they really couldn't. She looked at her counterpart again and saw that he was as nervous as she had ever seen him.

"Death afraid is he?" Harrison smirked. "Death comes to everyone right?"

Jack glared back and seemed to rally himself.

Tru groaned slightly and rubbed the back of her neck which was starting to ache from staring up at the mist above them.

They had still not decided what to do when a few minutes later the mist seemed to split into five separate forms each smaller than the original. Each of the entities then drifted apart and moved slowly towards the five people in the room.

Tru gripped hold of Davis's arm and saw across the room that Cassie had done likewise with Harrison. Only Jack stood alone. His face was once again betraying his unease.

The mists moved closer and closer and Tru shivered as she felt a chill run down her spine.

Then suddenly the mist reached her and started to swirl around her. She vaguely noticed the others were in similar positions before she felt blackness descending and fell to floor unconscious.

Tru woke with her body aching all over. Her head was pounding with the mother of all headaches and she felt nauseous. She struggled to sit up and felt the room spinning around her. It was a minute before she could focus enough to see the others in the room lying prone on the floor.

She looked at Davis who was the nearest to her and moved cautiously towards him. She searched for a pulse and was relieved to find it steady and strong. He groaned slightly as he too started to wake.

"What happened?" he muttered as Tru helped him to sit up.

"I don't know," she replied before turning towards Harrison and Cassie who were starting to come around too.

"I feel like hell," Harrison groaned. "And not even a night out to remember for the trouble."

"Glad to see you're all right," Tru smiled.

"You're going grey," Harrison said as he pulled himself up.

"You've been sending me grey for years," Tru joked as she turned to see if Jack was all right. There was no sign on him there. She wondered briefly what had happened to him before realising that he had probably just woken first and left them on their own. It was typical behaviour for Jack who prided himself on not interfering with people's lives, unless of course it was for his own purposes.

"I meant literally," Harrison said. "Check it out." He reached out and tugged lightly at a lock of her long hair. Tru frowned as she looked down and saw that instead of the usual rich brown colour the lock of hair was indeed grey. She looked at Cassie who she could clearly see also now had a grey lock of hair amidst her raven tresses.

She looked at Harrison and although it was not as obvious as his hair was light in colouring she could make out a little grey there too.

Davis meanwhile had moved to a mirror and confirmed that he too was sporting some grey in his own hair.

"The victims each had white hair," Tru said in a distracted tone. "It must have been because it split to attack each of us. Instead of pure white hair and death, we each have a bit of grey and were knocked out."

"Do you think it's over?" Cassie asked with a glance towards the broken shards of pottery.

"I hope so," Tru replied. "But just to make sure I think we should make sure it can never be put together again."

She walked across the room and ground her heel into some of the pieces. Davis, Harrison and Cassie joined her and within a minute there was nothing but dust remaining of the vase. No markings to glow with an unnatural light and no sign of the black mist re-appearing. Tru fetched a brush from the cleaner's store cupboard down the hall and swept the dust into the trash can.

Once that was done they all sat back down and Davis turned to Tru. "So how was Europe?" he asked.

"Order some takeout and I'll tell you all about it, again," she replied with a tired smile.

Davis turned to the phone and ordered the food. When he had done Tru opened her mouth to speak but Davis interrupted before she could start.

"You don't have to take everything on your own shoulders anymore," he said quietly as he looked at her intensely.

"Davis is right," Harrison agreed. "You've got us to help you. And if you'd been on your own today you know what would have happened?"

Tru shivered again as she realised that without the others, even Jack being there she would probably have been the next victim of the vase's curse.

"I know that," Tru said quietly. "But it's not easy to put those you love in danger."

"Well I'm usually prone to trouble anyway," Harrison laughed. "So you've no excuse there."

"I'll help too," Cassie offered. "You've saved my life twice now. It's the least I can do to thank you."

"Thanks," Tru smiled at the dark haired girl.

"We know it's your burden," Davis said. "But just try to remember we're here for you."

"I will," Tru replied with a grateful smile. "So who wants to hear about Europe? 'Cos I've been back so long rewinding I'm starting to forget."

Everyone laughed along with Tru and she felt the pressure of her own personal curse lift slightly as she resolved to store this happier moment in her memories.

Author Notes:

A few points which I thought I would note here.

1. Jack's rewinds. I have no idea if he rewinds to when he last woke up or to the time that Tru woke up. For the purposes of my stories he rewinds to the time Tru woke up.

2. Phones on planes. I always assumed there was an emergency phone on planes and decided to use that for the story instead of having Tru at the airport in Europe which would mean looking up flight times...pure laziness on my part. Apologies if I am wrong about that fact.

3. The markings on the vase. Nice and vague and from a book I have about how to read Egyptian Hieroglyphs. I couldn't find an exact symbol for curse though, hence the vagueness.

Well that is the end of this story. If you enjoyed it please considering checking out myuser profile for my other Tru Calling stories. There are six, to date, including this one. Three completedand three just starting out.

Thank you for reading this far and I hope you enjoyed the story.