Chapter two is here. Warning: this chapter probably detracts completely from The Labyrinth, but the connection will be made as the chapter continues. Thank you very much for the review, alorindanya :) Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, nor do I own Tru Calling.
Somewhere in a darkened room, a soft whirring could be heard. If one looked closely enough, they could probably tell that the whirring was actually the vibrating function of a mobile telephone. As it was early morning, and still dark however, the soft thuds against the wooden tabletop could be mistaken for anything.
Sitting up quickly, the young woman who went by the name of Tru Davies mashed her hand against the moving device in alarm, before realising that she had just broken the screen on her mobile.
'Damn...' she cursed as all senses were brought back into consciousness. Picking up the fragments of the casing, she opened the curtains, welcoming in the early morning light that threatened to pour through the entire room. Through the shattered glass of the screen, Tru could make out one message from her service provider.
"One Missed Call: Harrison Davies," it stated in bold lettering.
Tru shook her head. It was typical of her brother to wake her up so early. The two were supposed to be meeting with Lindsay, Tru's best friend, later on, but knowing Harrison, he was ringing her about some sort of poker bet he had on with his friends, and would be asking her for some money for his debts. Turning the television on to catch the latest news out of mild interest, Tru began getting changed for the new day.
The landline rang once before Tru picked it up, knowing that it would be her brother.
"Hey, Tru, sister, friend, wise one..."
Tru grinned. Flattery was one of her brother's specialities.
"Hey Harry, what's up?"
The two had an uninteresting talk. Tru had been right – Harrison had indeed asked her about something to do with gambling, and he had wondered if she had perhaps known the lottery numbers for the day. Tru had informed him that it wasn't a "rewind" day, laughing at her brother's disappointment. Ever since she had told Harrison about her "gift", she had been asked time and time again if he should choose a particular card or horse to bet on that day. The only problem for Harrison was that Tru was too busy saving lives to pay any attention to which horse had crossed the line first.
Tru's "gift" was certainly an unusual one. A gift was generally something that was admired, and was a focal point for building one's talents. A gift was being able to sing with a raw talent, or being able to cram a whole year's worth of work into a single night's revision for a huge exam the next day. Whilst these were considered great and promising, Tru's gift was nothing short of a miracle.
Since taking up the job advised to her at the local morgue, Tru had discovered that she could talk to the dead, or more specifically, they could ask for her help. She would expect to be asked for help, but it would come as a shock every time, because not all of the dead asked to be saved. If a body asked for help, Tru was propelled back in time, and from what little details she had gathered from her previous encounter with her dead victim, she had the day, or half day in some cases, to try to alter the line of cause which would lead to their death, to try to save them instead. Tru often succeeded with some help from her brother, and her college Davis, who was the head of the morgue, but every time she failed to save somebody from death's clutches it always weighed on her conscience. Yes, Tru was definitely a miracle worker.
Another call interrupted her thoughts, and she answered the landline, guessing already who it was.
"Hey Davis," she greeted her colleague with a friendly hello. Davis could understand her predicaments when someone asked for Tru's help, and always did his best to aid Tru in her quest to save a life, or lives in rare cases.
"Hey Tru," Davis's tired voice could be heard on the other end. "Listen, I'm sorry to ask this, but something's come up, and we could use your help down here."
Tru wondered whether "help" meant expecting someone to ask for her help any moment. She told Davis she could be there in ten minutes, and called Harrison back to tell him to apologise to Lindsay. She grabbed her keys, accidentally knocking off an expensive glass vase from the mantelpiece as she rushed past.
"Damn..."she swore again. This wasn't her day. She hoped that no one would ask for her help today, because judging from events so far, it wasn't going to be a good morning.
Scraping up the remains of the vase and scooping them into the dustbin, she made a mental note to warn her collector of the sharp objects and made a run for the bus.
Arriving at the morgue a little later than what she would have hoped, Tru ran inside the entrance only to run into former boyfriend and friend Luc. He worked as a forensic photographer, and even though feelings between Tru and himself were still bittersweet, he acknowledged her presence with a friendly smile. She returned one, and apologised for running straight into him.
"We've gotta stop meeting like this," he joked before disappearing out of the entrance.
Tru laughed and headed down the main corridor, where Davis then greeted her. His beard was the giveaway, as Tru could spot him from ten miles away with it.
"Hey Davis, what's up?"
"I tried your cell," he explained, "but it seemed to cut off connection."
Tru explained about the previous destroying of the mobile phone, and seated herself at the computer adjacent to the door to Davis's office. He helped himself to a sandwich out of the fridge, and started to explain why he had brought her down. Apparently some records had gone missing from the computer's database, and with Tru being the technical wiz kid that she was, it was up to her to fix it. Truth being told, Davis probably could have fixed the bug himself, but Tru got the feeling he enjoyed some company around the dank death-ridden crypt.
It took Tru the better part of the day to fix the problem, as it first appeared that the records had been completely wiped, but it turned out that they were sitting in the trash can waiting to be recovered.
"Strange," Davis mused. "Who would delete the records?"
The two mused over it, and discussed their schedules for the evening. Davis seemed to be affected badly by the sandwich he had eaten, and had to run to the toliets to bring up the remains of the stubborn sandwich. Poor Davis didn't seem to have much luck when it came to fresh sandwiches. Laughing, Tru hoped that she could still make some sort of supper arrangement with Lindz and Harry, as it seemed that Lindsay, being the secretive yet excited friend, had something important to tell her.
At around eleven o'clock, Tru had made arrangements with Lindsay and Harrison for a late dinner at the local restaurant.
"You owe me one, sis," Harrison had said mockingly, obviously a little miffed about the fact that he had to stay up late just for a dinner with his sister and ex-girlfriend.
Tru laughed, hung up the phone, and was putting on her jacket when her co-worker burst in with a trolley. A trolley bringing in the latest case for the quiet morgue.
"We got one, guys," he explained.
Tru's co-worker wheeled the trolley into the medical section of the morgue, built for examining the bodies before they were identified and put on record. Davis washed his hands and readied himself. Tru, being the curious person that she was, even though Davis had let her off her shift early as a thank you for helping with the computer, decided to help Davis with his inspection.
Davis lifted the body bag away so that the person's face was revealed. Tru gasped. The young girl lying there couldn't have been much younger than Tru herself. She had long dark hair, creamy white skin, which still looked charming and pretty even though it was covered in lacerations, and was of a slim build. Even from an amateur's glance, it was obvious that the girl had been in a car wreck, as her body was in bad shape.
"We got ID?" Tru asked, rather shakily. As used to dead bodies as she was, she couldn't get over the horror of this particular one.
The co-worker handed her a wallet. Inside there were a few small pictures, probably of the girl's family, some money, an insurance card, and a laminated identification card.
"Sarah Williams..." Tru read aloud. She read and reread the date of birth. The date would make it so that the girl had only turned sixteen today. Tru was horrified at the thought of such a young girl losing her life on her birthday.
"Tru." A voice jerked her out of her reverie. "You want to see if there's anyone you can call, to identify her?" Davis asked her softly. After years of working at the morgue, Davis still felt rather sick at the thoughts of some of the deaths, and felt sympathy for Tru.
Tru nodded and took the wallet into the small office to the side of the medical examination room to see if there was a home contact number. Flipping over one of the small pictures, she could see a telephone number scribbled on the back. Ignoring the cold dread that seeped into her stomach at the thought of breaking the news Tru dialled the number, and waited with a held breath for an answer.
"Hello?" The voice belonged to a male, probably Sarah's father.
"Mr. Williams?" Tru asked, still feeling rather ill.
"Yes?" He asked politely.
"Mr Williams, I'm afraid I have some bad news..."
Tru watched the horrifying scene from the office, not feeling up to watching from up close. The man who had turned out to be Sarah's father had arrived accompanied by a small toddler and a middle-aged woman. The young boy was in tears, and his screams sent a chilling sensation down Tru's spine. It wasn't fair.
Sarah's father had hugged the woman, who Tru assumed was Sarah's mother, and had persuaded her to take herself and the infant back to the house. He stood sobbing by his daughter's body, unable to come to terms with his loss. Davis stood in the backdrop of the room, not making any noise so that the man could be alone with his grief. Finally, the man gave an almighty sniff, and started to walk out of the morgue. Wanting to say something, anything that might help the devastated man, Tru ran out of the office.
"Mr. Williams, I just wanted to say I'm so truly sorry for your loss." Tru started, feeling very foolish already. Heck, there was nothing she could do to help the situation, but Tru felt too uncomfortable to just stand watching the tragedy unfold.
The man surveyed her through soulless, watery eyes.
"Thank you, miss Davies." He croaked. He then walked out of the entrance, fresh sobs making their way through his vocal system.
Tru, feeling very depressed, started walking back to the medical room to see if she could help Davis in any way. A bright chirping noise halted her in her tracks. Pulling out her mobile telephone, she answered it.
'So it still works, that's a start...' Tru mused.
"Hey, Tru, where are ya?" It was Harrison. Tru apologised about letting him and Lindsay down again, and explained about the recent guest to the crypt.
"All right, but Lindsay has something to tell you, she couldn't wait any longer."
Tru waited as Harrison handed his phone to her best friend.
"Sorry Tru, but this couldn't wait. I'm getting married!"
It took several moments for Tru to absorb this.
"Wha-what?"
"I know! It's a bit hasty, but I love him so much, and I just feel like the time is right, you know?"
Tru glanced at the clock. It was past twelve midnight. Not really feeling as though she was in the right mood to listen to her friend's happy news, she apologised to Lindsay and hung up.
'She's gonna hate me for doing that,' Tru thought, a hint of regret pushing at her insides. Brushing it aside, she walked into the medical section.
"Anything new?" Tru asked, trying to switch her mind back to professional.
"Not yet, but I still haven't finished the examination. Why don't you go ahead home and get some sleep? You look bushed." Davis suggested kindly.
"Thanks Davis, I think I'll take you up on that offer." She started heading out of the door.
"Tru."
Tru spun around and faced Davis.
"What?"
Davis gave her a questioning look.
"I didn't say anything," he said, shaking his head. He walked out to the small office intending to collect a folder to record the latest body.
Shaking her head, and deciding that she was tired, Tru headed for the entrance again.
"Tru." Definitely not hearing things, Tru spun around and headed over to Sarah's body. She was lying as still as any dead person could, her skin still deathly pale.
Suddenly Sarah's eyes shot open, and her hand grabbed Tru's arm. Tru didn't have time to yelp in surprise.
"Help me!" Sarah whispered.
Tru stepped back in shock, and the room started spinning. Memories of the day raced past, before she sat up in bed, breathing deeply.
Her mobile telephone was vibrating on the small desk next to her bed. The screen was intact. Still trying to breath normally, Tru answered the phone, knowing immediately who it would be.
"Hey, Tru, sister, friend, wise one..."
