Chapter Three

Thirty minutes later Tru was still no closer to figuring out what to do about the problem of having her own personal ghost haunting her.

Davis was thrilled to be in the presence of a spirit and was bombarding Alan with questions that Tru was required to relay back to him.

No, he didn't know if heaven or hell existed

No, he hadn't seen a light

He couldn't remember if it had hurt when he died

No, he hadn't seen Elvis

Harrison meanwhile was trying to coax Tru into participating in his idea of taking Alan to a poker game. Tru repeatedly told him that Alan wasn't interested in doing any such thing. But Alan himself was delighted at the idea and knew the perfect place if only the two of them could convince Tru of the wisdom of their idea.

Tru rubbed the bridge of her nose where she could feel the tension of a headache starting.

"I need some air," she finally said and stood up to leave. Davis looked disappointed but remained in his seat. Harrison and Alan stood up to follow her. She groaned quietly as Harrison again starting asking if she could loan him some money. Then again, she reasoned; if she gave him the cash at least he would be out of her hair for long enough for her to get shot of the spook. She headed down the block to the nearest ATM machine and withdrew twenty dollars. She handed it to Harrison who looked delighted but didn't seem to be in any hurry to carry on to wherever it was he had originally been going before stopping by the morgue.

Tru looked up at the autumn sky and seeing that it was clear, walked over to the nearby park. She wasn't surprised to see that Harrison and Alan were following behind her.

"So about the poker game…" Alan began.

Tru rolled her eyes skyward. It was like having two Harrisons plaguing her. Though at least Alan had no need of money now.

"We need to figure out why you're here," she said as she sat down on one of the benches in the park. "Somehow I don't think it's for financial gain at a poker table."

"I think I need you to help me move on," Alan suggested thoughtfully.

"But I don't know the first thing about how to get you to move on," Tru pointed out. "This hasn't happened to me before."

"Maybe you need to find him a house to haunt?" Harrison suggested.

Tru turned to him to see if he was serious or not. It was difficult to tell from his tone but one look at his face revealed that he was far from serious. His next words confirmed it. "You could open it to tourists for them to see him do ghostly tricks or something."

"What am I?" Alan asked in a disgusted tone. "A performing seal?"

"He doesn't seem to like that idea," Tru laughed. "I wonder if we should try asking at a church or something."

"I think that'll have to wait a minute," Harrison said with a nod up the path. "Look who's here." Tru followed his concerned gaze. Her day had just got a lot worse. Jack Harper had decided to pay her an unwanted visit.

"Who's he?" Alan asked as the man spotted the party and moved in their direction.

"Evil incarnate," Harrison unintentionally replied with a glare at Jack.

"Nice to see you too," Jack greeted him with a cold smile.

"I really don't have time for you today Jack," Tru said as she stood up.

"You've already won today's round," Jack said with a frown. "Why so hostile?"

"What do you mean won?" Tru asked. Her stomach lurched. Maybe it had been her imagination but she thought that Jack's gaze had swept over Alan as well as herself and Harrison. Could Jack see Alan too?

"Well Mr Smythe here seems none the worse for wear today," Jack laughed. "I was too far away to make it myself."

"You can see me?" Alan asked in astonishment.

"Yeah," Jack replied with another frown.

"Looks like I'm not just your personal ghost eh Tru?"

"Ghost?" Jack asked. "You're kidding right?"

Tru shook her head. "Until now, we thought I was the only one who could see him."

Jack reached out his hand and passed it through Alan. He did a double take and tried again.

"Do you mind?" Alan snapped as Jack reached out a third time. He withdrew his hand and ran it through his hair.

"A real ghost," Jack shook his head. "I'd heard about this happening but never seen it myself."

"Everyone's heard of ghosts," Harrison pointed out. "Now you've seen him why don't you get lost."

"I don't mean ghosts in general," Jack clarified. "I meant rewind ghosts. Your time of death must have been before our day restarted."

"You relive days like Tru?" Alan asked.

"Yes I relive days just like Tru does," Jack answered.

"Not exactly like Tru," Harrison pointed out. "Tru saves lives while he…"

"Restores the balance," Jack interrupted with an easy smile towards Alan.

"…kills people," Harrison finished with a glare.

"Back up a minute," Tru cut in. "You've heard of this happening before?"

"Just a rumour," Jack shrugged.

"From who?" Tru pressed on.

"No one you know."

"But someone I might like to know," Tru countered. "I've only known you rewind. Are you telling me there are others like us?"

Jack shrugged and would not be drawn further.

"Fine," Tru sighed. "So can you at least tell us why the day rewound if I can't save him and he's already dead?"

"Can't you guess?" Jack asked with a disturbing grin.

"No I can't guess," Tru snapped. "Why is he still here?"

"Anyone would think you didn't like my company," Alan said in a mock hurt tone.

"Because you have a chance to save him," Jack replied.

"He's dead," Tru pointed out, rather unnecessarily.

"But that doesn't mean he doesn't need saving."

"Get to the point," Tru demanded, her patience nearly gone.

"His body may be beyond your help but what about his soul?"

"What?" Alan asked. "My soul is just fine."

"Apart from being lost," Jack replied. "You're dead, but because of the way you lived it's not clear where you should go next. You're not a saint but not a devil either."

"You should know about the latter," Harrison couldn't resist adding.

Jack ignored him and turned to Tru.

"You're sure about this?" she asked.

"As sure as I can be when I only have a rumour to go on myself."

"So he's here as a ghost until he does some good deed to secure a place in heaven?" Tru looked at Alan. How hard could it be?

"Or until he does something bad and secures his place in…" his voice drifted off.

Tru looked at Alan who, despite being a ghost, was looking rather paler than before.

"Don't worry," Jack said to Alan in a comforting tone. "We're here to help you."

Tru sat back down on the bench. It was too much to take in and now it looked like Jack was going to be hanging around as well. Even worse, she had no doubt that the man who had set up Luke to be murdered would have no qualms about consigning the spirit of Alan Smythe to hell.

It seemed like every time she thought she was getting a handle on her calling something else happened to make her job more difficult. First Jack undoing her work and hindering her efforts and now a ghost appearing and altering her calling again.

She had spent a year saving lives. She was even starting to get used to it. But for saving souls she felt herself to be the least capable person for the job.


A/N - So now you know what it was I had planned for the help the ghost required from Tru. More to come for this story of course. But do let me know what you think of the idea of a second type of calling for Tru. I accept anonymous reviews so even if you are not registered here you can let me know what you think of this particular idea.

Incidentally I have, I think, corrected all the parts where people who can't see or hear the ghost are answering things he has said. If I inadvertently do that again do let me know so I can fix it. Writing a three way conversation in these circumstances can be tricky.