Lost Souls
By Zoinks
ergirlz@yahoo.com
http://uk.clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/docmagoos

Disclaimer: Okay, these characters do not belong to me. Even though I feel that in a way they do. I mean, I'm the one who stays up long nights thinking about the lives of these people. I'm the one who bases my daily routine around what each of these people would do at any given moment. I'm the one who lives my life vicariously through these people. It only seems right that I should gain ownership to these chicos and chicas. (Obvisiously this is only a joke. I'll admit that ER is my fav show, but I can't say I eat, sleep and drink them. I mean, c'mon, their only imaginery.)

Special Thanx: I have to thank my pal Sirzorchincarrot (Sir Zorch in Carrot) for giving me the idea for this fic. If it wasn't for him, this probably would have turned into another fanfic that portrayed our fav docs as idiots (see all of the other stories I have written!) Also, thanx to Splash for listening to my rough draft. It takes a lot of patience to hear the same story, as many times as she does, in a row.

Please: Any comments, questions, suggestions, or ideas? E-mail me at ergirlz@yahoo.com Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Summary: This story place takes place in a cemetary. The cast includes Benton, Carter, Corday, Chen, Green, Weaver, Romano, Malucci, and a special 'ghost' star. I would give this story a pg-13 rating, just because the language gets a little rough (I was listening to a "Rough Riders" cd when I wrote this!)

John quietly walked through the cemetary. Peter was at his side. The two blindly made their way through the darkness towards Lucy's grave. It was a dark, quiet night. A light breeze left some much needed relief on what was a seemingly airless day. However, the wind, mixed with the already chilly air and somewhat unpenatrable dark made the creepy atmosphere of the graveyard seem creepier. John swallowed hard as they stumbled upon Lucy's grave. But, instead of being met by a stationery, gray stone, they found Mark, Elizabeth, Kerry, Jing-Mei, Dave and Rocket. The flashlight Jing-Mei was holding cast a white light on her even whiter face. She was clutching Dave's shoulder fiercly with her free hand. Rocket and Kerry were also holding flashlights, both looking paler than their usual selves. Elizabeth's head was buried in Mark's chest, while Mark stood as still as the others with an exasperated look on his face.

"Wh-wha-what's everyone doing here?" John stuttered. He choked on the words as he caught a glimpse of Lucy's epitath.

It was Rocket that spoke up, "Tonight's Halloween," he said somberly.

"And?" asked Peter.

"And, what?"

"And, what does it being Halloween have to do with anything?"

Now it was Kerry's turn to talk. She saw the questioning looks on the faces of John and Peter and understood why they may have been confused. She looked at them and with her voice low (actually, it was as loud as she could make it at the moment without letting out a bone-chilling shriek), "We were at work, and a drug overdose came in. It was a teenager who took too much exstacy at a party. We were all talking about how Lucy took charge of the Halloween party at her dorm a couple years ago, and how some students almost wound up dead. It brought up a lot of other memories of her and we felt we should come see her."

"How long have you been here?" asked John. He was relieved that he and Peter weren't the only two in the lonely cemetary. In a place like this, the more people around, the merrier.

"Too long," Dave mumbled, still staring into the darkness.

"Alright, what's going on?" Peter demanded. He had noticed the weird expressions on his colleagues' faces and realized that something was wrong. The looks he saw were the same ones he saw when the power went out in the ER while a rapist was on the loose. He remembered the harried looks on the staff's faces.

These expressions were of the same type. The group all exchanged nervous glances. Peter could tell that there was something terribly wrong.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked again, this time in a much stronger tone of voice.

"We, a, we..." Kerry began.

"It's a, well, um..." was Jing'Mei's contribution.

"We saw Lucy," Dave blurted out.

"Yeah," said Peter, "I'd hope you'd see her grave, I mean that is what you're here for isn't it?"

"That's not what he means," Jing-Mei quietly replied.

"Well then what exactly are you talking about?" Peter barked.

"She means we saw, Her, we saw Lucy!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "We were all just standing here," she continued, "and we heard a whispering voice say: 'You came to see me on favorite holiday, and I'm touched. Thank you.'

"It was really her, or her voice, her whisper."

John's face flushed with anger, "Very funny," he shouted.

"John, why would we lie about something like that," Elizabeth said. "It was Lucy. I'd know that whisper anywhere."

"She's lost John," Mark added, "It's almost as if she has never made the transition between life and the afterlife."

"So what," John asked, "you're calling her a lost soul."

"Never," Kerry replied, "Maybe she just came back to Earth for Halloween, this is her favorite holiday."

Peter looked at Weaver, and then at the rest of the group, "Do you think she came back to haunt us?"

"Oh, honestly Peter, I thought you had more sense than that," Rocket said acidly. Taken aback, he replied, "It was just a thought."

"SSShhhh," Dave hissed, "I hear something."

"Yeah, that's great Dave, try and scare me," John spouted off, "you know what, you are the biggest asshole I ever met. How could you find this funny? All of you, what's wrong with you people? You think death is a joke? You find it so damn hilarious that my med student is dead because I'm a bad teacher. You really are an asshole, Dave, I can't believe people are even friends with you. Why would anyone even want to associate with someone like you. You're no good. You definitely aren't funny. I mean, I know you think that you are the funniest man on this planet, but you're just a smart-ass..."

"Hey dickhead," Dave cut-off Carter with a recognizable amount of authority in his voice, "If you'd shut up a minute, maybe you'd wake-up to the fact that we are dead serious. I hear a voice, and I'm not just saying that to be funny. I'm serious."

Jing-Mei stepped forward, "I hear it too, John," she said meekly.

The wind rustling through the trees had stirred up some leaves nearby. The appeared to dance around in a circle, as if they were oblivious to the events taking place within the cemetary. The air had grown colder due to the significant increase in breeze blowing across the graveyard. Kerry shivered as she looked at Lucy's tombstone. "Oh my God!" she cried.

This grabbed everyone's attention. The all turned their attention towards Kerry who stood still, staring at a crack running from the top to part way down the middle of the tombstone. "I, I think she's escaped," she stuttered.

"Great," Rocket piped up, "Now we got a soul that left eternity to roam around the Earth."

"No," John said in terror. He was finally warming up to the idea that his med student had disregarded the rules of death, (like staying in the coffin) and was out and about to roam the world and possibly haunt him for the rest of his life.

"She didn't just bust out of her resting place for no reason," Mark interjected, "We all know Lucy. She broke out tonight to tell us something, and the least we could do is listen to her."

"Unless she's been out for awhile," Rocket offered, "I mean, what if she's one of those lost souls you always hear about? You know, the kind that roam around until they finally feel at peace."

"Ooooohhhh, aawwwoooooo, oooooooooohh,"

"Was that a wolf or the wind?" Peter asked. He tried to contain his nervousness, but it wasn't everyday he stood in a cemetary next to a grave that housed a ghost.

"Neither," Elizabeth said in voice as low as a whisper.

"What do you mean?" John asked. His words were loud and rushed.

"That was the same sound we heard the last time," Corday answered.

"The last time, what?" John had a feeling he knew the answer, and almost immediately wished he hadn't asked the question, for fear he was right. Elizabeth's answer confirmed his suspicions. "The last time Lucy came," she quietly said.

Before John could say anything, the ooh's and aawwoo's began again. The group grew silent. The noises faded silently and were instantly followed by a raspy voice. The voice was hoarse, and it sounded like a whisper.

"I'd like to talk to all of you," the voice began.

Everyone remained silent. They did not know what the voice was going to say, they weren't sure that they wanted to hear it, but they were to shocked and scared to move. Paralyzed with fear, the co-workers remained still as the voice, which they had by this point all realized belonged to Lucy, began to speak. It said, "Dr. Romano and Dr. Corday, thank you very much for trying to save my life. I know that you tried very hard and I appreciate it, I just wish you'd have done a better job. Ha ha ha," Lucy's voice laughed, "also, Dr. Weaver, that chest cracking hurt like hell, I know because I've been there to see if Paul checked in yet," Lucy's voice was still laughing, but no one else was.

She continued, "Dr. Carter, I want you to know that I tried my hardest to please you. I know I never did, but I tried. I know you wanted for me to be more independant of you, but apparently I wasn't ready for that, I mean look what happened. I never thought becoming a doctor would kill me. There's a joke in the dorms, 'if you're aiming to be a doc, at some point you're gonna die, if you kill a patient, your advising doctor will kill you, and if a patient kills you, well, your dead no matter how the surgeon slices it.' I never thought that saying made any sense, but now I understand it. I'll be watching over County though, looking out for you guys. I can re-live through all of you at what might have been my life."

With those final words, a wind gust swept across the cemetary and the voice was gone. No one knew what had happened, but they were all equally shaken by it. This was no joke, somehow, Lucy was back from the dead and her promise to watch over them, seemed a little more like a promise to haunt them until they, themselves were dead.

"Dr. Carter, we have an mva pulling up. Dr. Carter, John, do you hear me, wake up," John looked up to see Haleh's dark eyes staring directly at him. "Will you get a move on, we need you in trauma 1, now!" Haleh barked orders at him as he rubbed his eyes and stood up.

It was then that the sweat began to pour off his face. His palms felt clamy and his heart raced. It was only a dream he had. Lucy was in her coffin, safe and sound. He was here at County General, where he belonged. It was also still September. He had just had a nightmare. Thankfull to not have actually lived through a night where Lucy returned from the dead, John grabbed his lab coat and headed for trauma 1. It was time to start saving lives.