"My name is Melinda Gordon." "I just got married, just moved to a small town, just opened up an antique shop." "I might be just like you." "Except from the time that I was a little girl," "I knew that I could talk to the dead." "It's all right, honey." "Earthbound spirits, my grandmother called them, the ones who have not crossed over because they have unfinished business with the living, and they come to me for help." "To tell you my story," "I have to tell you theirs." "It's Andrea." "Melinda, hi." "Um... look, I'm sorry to call you this late, but there is something very wrong over here." "What?" "Some very weird stuff, and-and" "I wouldn't have bothered you if I could have figured it out myself." "I heard that." "Hello?" "Hello?" "I don't see anybody here." "Well, something was here, trust me." "Tell me everything you did tonight." "All right." "After we closed, I exercised for an hour and a half, ate a salad, and read the new Stephen Hawking book until I fell asleep." "Fine, ate a pint of cherry garcia and watched survivor." "Aha." "Maybe you're being haunted by your conscience." "Seriously, Melinda, this thing scared the hell out of me." "You're used to this stuff, but I am not." "Did anybody else in the building feel anything?" "Not that I've heard." "Has anything weird ever happened here before even though it didn't feel like it at the time?" "The water takes five minutes to get hot." "Does that count?" "Five minutes?" "You are so lucky." "Well, is there any chance this could be just like a random thing, like a... like a drive-by haunting?" "No." "These things are almost never random." "Unless this place wasn't haunted to begin with, it probably means that you brought something home with you somehow." "Great." "A take-out ghost." "Don't worry." "We'll get through this." "Do you have any more ice cream?" "Hey." "How you doing?" "Tired?" "No, not really." "I'm, just..." "I have this kind of sense of dread." "You know, like someone's watching me." "Then it goes away and I feel fine." "I'm kinda freaked out." "Don't worry, okay?" "Okay." "Thanks." "Are you all right?" "Are you okay?" "It was such a quick look." "You know, he was..." "He was tall." "Brown hair, early thirties, scratches all over his face." "He was moving backwards, like he was being sucked away." "And he was shouting." "None of this means anything to me." "He saw me." "He knows that I can see him." "Good." "Maybe now he'll figure out it's you he's supposed to be haunting." "Thanks." "But I don't think so." "He seemed pretty focused on you." "What do you mean, focused?" "You know, maybe you should come and stay with Jim and I tonight." "Is he gonna hurt me?" "No." "I didn't see anything like that." "It was more like... desperation, fear, like he was confused." "Things to look forward to when you're dead." "Come on." "Just stay with us." "We'll watch a movie or something." "It'll be fun." "No." "Not a chance." "I am not gonna be chased out of my own home, small and drafty though it may be." "I am woman." "Hear me roar." "You know, I've heard you scream, and it is not inspiring." "Thanks a lot." "Nevertheless, I'm staying put." "But promise me you'll call me if anything happens." "Do not show him that you're afraid." "It makes him stronger." "Okay." "I'll be fine, all right?" "See you in the morning." " I'll sleep with the phone by my pillow." " Okay." "'Night." "All right." "Bye." "I am not afraid of you." "Do you hear me?" "So just-- just get out of here and leave me alone!" "I am never, ever setting foot in that place again." "Hey, you're good to stay here as long as you want." "You hungry?" "You want some food?" "No." "Thanks, Jim." "What are we gonna do?" "Why is this... whatever it is, after me?" "I need to be with you when the spirit comes again, see if I can figure out what he wants." "Well, if he's after my last pint of cherry garcia, he can pry it out of my cold, dead fingers." "Hey, Andrea, it's okay to be scared." "You don't have to make jokes." "Who's joking?" "He's here." " He fell down." " Who fell?" "Andrea." "He's gone." "He definitely knows you." "I got a better look at him this time." "Oh, this is right after college, we took a train trip to Europe." "No ghost boy in here." "Yeah." "Well, that takes us through the 90's." " I liked your hair in college." " Right." "I'd rather be chased by the haunted hiking boots than look like that again." "Blech." "Oh." "That's when I was at the D.A.'s office." "You never talk about that." "You know, it seems like two lifetimes ago." "I don't even really remember who I was back then." "Were you happy?" "I don't know." "I mean, I thought I had everything I wanted, but there was always something missing." "I could never quite put my finger on it." "Well, it looks like the search for it's been fun." "Ah, but the search is not over, my friend." "Oh!" "That's him!" "There he is." " Are you sure?" " Yeah." "Totally." "God, that's Dennis." "Dennis McMartin." "I can't believe it." "That guy was only in the office a couple months." "What do you remember about him?" "Uh... god, he was, uh, kinda quiet, you know?" "Shy." "Cute." "Um, he quit to take a trip around the world." "We had so many conversations about that." "He was gonna give up the whole suit-and-tie thing and... god." "Now he's dead?" "Do you remember where he lived?" "Uh, Manhattan, but that was a few years ago." "I don't" " I don't understand." "I mean, why is this guy haunting me?" "I never did anything to him." "Well, he's obviously trying to reach you for some reason." "Let's find out why." "You guys are too good to me." "That's what couches are for." "Is there gonna be a chocolate on my pillow?" "Not unless the cat throws it up." "Listen, if anything happens, you just yell." "You might want to sleep with the light on." "Are you kidding me?" "I'd arrange stadium lighting if I could." "I am woman, hear me roar." "Hey, I'll make the jokes, thank you very much." "Melinda." "I don't know what I would do if I didn't know you." "I can't imagine going through this alone." "Hey." "Don't even think about it." "We're gonna get through this." "You know, there's plenty of room here on the floor if you guys wanna crash down here with me and" "No?" "'Night." "She's really shaken up." "Yeah." "I just feel so bad for her, you know?" "She's never been targeted like this by a spirit." "Yeah, not like us old pros." "Pros, maybe." "Old?" "Never." "Do you think that we've done enough?" "What about?" "You know, in life... so far." "Do you feel like we've... done enough?" "Ask me in 40 years." "Well, if I can still hear you then." "I was just looking through Andrea's photo albums today, and she's just done everything." "You know, traveled the world, had an important job in the big city." "She's interested in everything." "And yet she is now sleeping peacefully" " on our living room couch." " Yeah." "All roads lead to Grandview." "That was good." "Well, you can't compare her life to ours anyway." "Who knows where you're gonna be in five years." "Yeah." "I wonder sometimes." "I just" "I don't know-- feel a little trapped." "No... of course not." "I mean by what I can do." "It just feels like nothing's ever gonna be... any different no matter where we are or what we do." "I think you're right." "I don't think it's gonna be any different." "It's gonna be you and me... in love." "Grandview or Egypt." "And I can't think of a bigger life than that." " Melinda." " Don't be afraid." "I'm not dead." "Honey, what's up?" "Why would a ghost say he's not dead?" "Sometimes they don't know." "They can't believe it they're in denial so they don't cross over." "But he must have died pretty recently, right?" "I can't tell yet." "Okay, so this is a home number, phone in the city, and an emergency contact, brother Charles." "Works at a gas station over 59." "All right, guys, I'm gonna start calling the morgues." "That number's been disconnected." "I'm gonna try to track down the brother." "I'll see if I can find another family member." "And, uh, which of us is actually gonna be making a living today?" " Yeah." " Okay." "Hi." "God." "I am..." "I am so sorry." "I... oh, yeah, that's okay." "I'm knocking things over all the time." "Can you tell me if a Charlie McMartin works here?" "You're looking for Charlie?" "Yeah... kind of." "Well, you shoulda called 'cause Charlie doesn't work here anymore." "I tried his place and just got his machine, and no one answered here." "It gets busy sometimes." "Look, I really need to see him." "Do you know where he is?" "What for?" " Do you know Charlie well?" " Yeah, he's my boyfriend." "Oh." "Uh, that's great." "I'm an old friend of his brother" "Dennis." "Oh." "Right." "Good." "I thought you're probably too tall for Charlie." "Andrea Moreno." "Libby Grant." "Got a customer." "Excuse me." "Libby, do you know where either of them are?" "The thing is, Charlie's not really my boyfriend." "I figured if I kept saying it, it might come true, but he quit a couple weeks ago." " 10 bucks and a quart of 40-weight." " Sure." " Do you know why?" " Uh, not really." "About the time his brother came in to see him." " Dennis?" " Yeah." "Here you go." "Charlie hadn't seen him in a long time." "Didn't seem like they liked each other very much." "Dennis wanted him to go on some trip, some guy thing." "Did he go?" "You ask a lot of questions." "I'm not trying to put you on the spot here, but no one's heard from Dennis in a really long time." "I have a feeling that things may not be very good for him right now." "I don't know if Charlie went." "I haven't talked to him since he quit." "I've left messages." "When was that?" "A week and a half, two weeks ago." "Is there any other family?" "Charlie takes care of his father, but he doesn't talk about those kinda things." "He's a hard guy to get to know, believe me, I've been trying." "Have you spoken to the father?" "I drove by the house once, but no one came to the door." "I'm sorry, but I really should" "I'm sorry." "Look, um... here's my cell." "Please get in touch with me if you hear from Charlie." " Sure." " Thanks." "Is it a bible passage?" "Not from any bible I've ever heard." "That is so weird." "I ran every database on Dennis." "It's like he was a phantom." "The parents?" "Libby said she thought Charlie was taking care of his father." "Came up with tons of listings of people with the same last name." "No luck." "So Dennis leaves his job, drops everything, starts a new life, and leaves no trace of himself?" "We know he went to see his brother, and we know they went somewhere together." "St. John." "Do you remember him being religious?" "Not really." "I do remember him volunteering at a hospital and doing some pro bono work at a senior center." "Wait a minute." "Maybe it's a hospital." "There's a St. Johns hospital over in Bay Ridge." "Yeah, but he's dead." "Maybe he's in the morgue." "Family doesn't know that he's dead, his body's unclaimed." "What do the numbers mean then?" "Could be numbers they use to I.D. dead bodies." "Oh, god." "Do we really have to do this?" "No." "We could just let him haunt you for the rest of your life." "I'm sorry." "We just can't give out names." "No, I understand." "My husband's a paramedic." "I just thought maybe you could tell us if there were any unidentified or unclaimed bodies in your morgue." "I don't know." "We're looking for a friend of mine." "It's really important." " You can see me." " Not now." "Sorry." "But nobody'll tell me what happened." "Please." "You know I hate coming to hospitals." "Nothing's coming up." "I'm sorry." "Uh, will this help?" "It's like an I.D. number." "This is a unit number." "Three west, 28-B." "That's intensive care." "Thank you." "Mm-hmm." "His name is Dennis McMartin." "I used to work with him." "Family?" "Relatives?" "He has a brother, but we haven't been able to find him." "No one missed him?" "We did." "Couple of park rangers brought him in." "He was found by a hiker up on Saddle Mountain." "Looks like he fell a good distance." "Head trauma, at least some brain damage." "And from the looks of his clothes and the abrasions on his knees and elbows, he crawled a long way before he passed out." "No I.D. No backpack." "We took him in as a John Doe." "Did you have to resuscitate him at any point?" "Why do you ask?" "I was just wondering how close he came to dying." "As a matter of fact he did die." "Several times, total flatline." "But we brought him back with the paddles." "And there was nobody else found with him?" "Nope." "Just like he dropped in from the sky." "Who else should we notify?" "We're still looking for his family." "We need to stick close by in case he flatlines again." "Dennis has been coming to us when he dies, then going away when they bring him back?" "This is a first for me too." "I'm gonna call Jim and get a search going." "Your guy didn't register with the station, which is something all climbers are required to do." "Maybe he didn't know that." "What your guy probably did was climb dead man's ridge, which is a no-no." "We have people getting hurt and killed up there all the time." "Not supposed to be on that side of the mountain." " You started a search yet?" " Search for what?" "For who?" "We think his brother might have been with him." "Nobody's told me anything about that." "I'm telling you now." "You sure?" "You got proof?" "I can't go calling search-and-rescue out on a wild goose chase." "I need to know for sure if somebody's up there and really needs help." "I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job." "I'm just asking you." "Trust me." "I'm sure the guy's brother is up there." "What if it was your brother, your son?" "One of my guys found this up near the ridge." "It was going to lost and found." "That's him." "That's his brother." "He is here." "This is ranger Neher." "We're gonna need a chopper." "Copy that, we will be airbone in about 10 minutes." "You're right Mel, he's here." "They're putting a search party together." "Thanks." "Jim, that's great." "I'll see you at home." "Okay." " Drive safe." "Bye." "Hey." "How you doing?" "How's Dennis?" "I just came from there." "No change." "Do you think he's gonna make it?" "I like to have hope." "You know, you seem like a really nice person." "Thanks." "So do you." "I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you're also incredibly beautiful." "Are you flirting with me?" "Yes." "Would that just be totally inappropriate?" "In every way possible." " Ah." "Okay." "Hey." "What'd I miss?" "Code blue. 3 west." "Dr. Peltier." "Code blue. 3 west." " Tell them to stop." " Where's your brother?" "He's up on the ridge." "They'll never know where to look." "Is he alive?" "I left him alive." "I have to show you." "Tell me." "I can't I have to" "Don't let them bring me back." "Tell them to let me go." " I can't do that." " Please, my brother will die!" "Clear!" "Don't let them bring me back." "I'm broken." "I can't help in that body." "Clear!" "What is going on?" "He wants to die." "You want me to delay resuscitating my patients so you can talk to his spirit guide or whatever that is?" "I'm not sure if that's what I'm asking." "I'm just trying to talk to you about this." "You want me to risk his life!" "I'm asking for a matter of seconds to save someone else's life." "No." "Anything else?" "Doctor," "I know how this sounds, but Melinda's telling the truth." "Dennis's brother is still on that mountain." "The park rangers found his backpack." "I think the park rangers are better equipped to find him than my comatose patient is." "Make fun of me if you want." "I know you're doing all you can do to help Dennis, and I respect that." "All I'm asking for is a chance to do the same." "This is not a magic show, miss Gordon." "There are protocols." "There are strict medical procedures that have to be followed." "It's very cut and dried and clear." "There is nothing cut and dried or clear about my world or yours." "You just don't get it." "Why don't we just take a breath for a minute, okay?" "I've got work to do." "He's really not a bad guy." "He's just always been this way." "If he doesn't see it, then he doesn't believe it." "That was Libby." " She needs to see me." " Okay." "I found this last night." "I woulda called you, but it was pretty late." "This is Charlie's handwriting." "Oh, my god." "They were both up there with him." "Look, did Charlie ever talk about his dad?" "He mentioned him once." "When?" "The night he quit." "Charlie was talking about his brother and how much he resented him." "Said he left him holding the bag." "Charlie and Dennis were supposed to take turns going to college." "Dennis was supposed to get his degree and then come back and take over his dad's print shop so that Charlie could go." "But Dennis didn't come back." "He came to work in New York, which is where I met him." "Charlie had to try to run the business by himself, then he lost it." "He tried to go to college, his father got sick." "So he had to take dead-end jobs like this one." "Guess he blamed Dennis." "He just, uh... he just looked so sad." "I thought that maybe I could make him a little happier if he ever gave me the chance." "Libby, we... we found Charlie's brother." "He's in the hospital." "He's in a coma." "What about Charlie?" "We don't know." "He could be hurt, or his father could be hurt." "One of them would have had to stay behind." "Look, I" " I have to get back to the hospital." "But" " thank you so much for this." " No, wait." "I have to do something." "Just tell me how I can help." "I promise as soon as I know anything," "I'll call you, okay?" "I think they found the money in his right-hand pocket and the keys were in his left." "You really look stressed." "Andrea, you can't neglect your own health." "Why don't we do a quick exam while you're here." "If you'd just remove your top..." "Will you get lost?" "Where's your sense of humor?" "I could never get away with this stuff when I was alive." " It's not like she can hear me." " Go away." "Who are you talking to?" "Never mind." "Even ghosts can act like eighth-graders." "What's up?" "Stuff they found in Dennis's pockets." "Dr. Peltier gave it to me to look through." "I gave this to him." "I threw him a going-away party." "We didn't know him very well, but we felt like we should do something." "I cannot believe he'd still have that." "God, you know, I really envy you, traveling around the world." "Everyone says you've already been around the world." "You know, it's like, uh... it's like when you know someone is about to watch a great movie they haven't seen before and you're almost more excited that they are about what's gonna happen next, you know." "I think this guy had a thing for you." "Dennis." "Dennis, can you hear me?" "We know your dad is up there with Charlie." "We're gonna find them, okay?" "I had the biggest crush on you back then." "You didn't know that, did you?" "You were so mysterious... and quiet... and smart." "I was so lost." "I-I couldn't show it to anyone." "And I could see that you were lost too." "But the difference between us was that... you had the guts to do something about it." "You saw that it was time to move on and you... and you changed your life." "And it made me see that... that I had been standing still." "You gave me the courage... to go forward again." "So thanks for that, Dennis." "For what you did for me... without even knowing it." "Hey." "Look." "Dr. Peltier." "What?" " Uh..." "Um, he was crying." "Now, that is just an accumulation of fluid." "It doesn't mean he's responding to you." "How do you know he's not feeling something?" "I don't know, miss Gordon." "All I have is my medical training and 15 years of experience, but" "I know that's no match for the things you know." "Not an exact match, no." "Code blue!" "Get them outta here." "And clear!" "Freeze me up." "Let's go again." "And clear!" "Dennis?" "Dennis, don't do this!" "Call it." "We lost him." "We have to find my family." "Hey look, we're gonna be there now in half an hour." "And you might have a lead on the location, right?" "You okay?" "I will be." "Is he here?" "Ask him, why'd he come to me?" "It... it took a while." "A while for me to know what was happening." "I had the feeling of waking up..." "I was looking down on someone." "I was watching 'em work on me and I wondered why because..." "I felt so good." "Light clear-headed." "I remember thinking" "I didn't wanna go back into that body." "I never wanted to give up this feeling I had." "Then..." "I remembered my brother." "He was still up there with my father." "I had to help." "No one could see me or hear me." "I tried to move." "I tried to pull the tubes outta me." "I couldn't do anything." "I started to panic." "And then I thought of Andrea." "Her face just came into my head." "How kind she was to me at work... how good she was to everyone around her, and I just kept thinking of her, and... it was as if the thought itself pulled me away." "I couldn't control anything." "Just felt like I knew where I was going." "I was screaming at her." "Andrea!" "She couldn't hear me." "I didn't know what to do." "I felt myself being pulled back." "And I didn't wanna come back." "I was cold in that body, in pain, and I didn't wanna feel any of that anymore." "I remember wanting to cry." "I would go to sleep for a while... and then feel that pull again." "I kept coming back to Andrea." "I didn't even know how." "I just had to get to her, somehow." "He wanted to get through to you." "Thought maybe you'd help." "He barely said a few words to me the entire time we were in that office." "I guess you made more of an impression than you thought." "This is air support 9." "We have visual contact." "Your search party is in sight." "Air support, air support, this is ranger groundleader." "Do you copy?" "Ranger groundleader, we copy." "Stay on course." "We're headed west, the upper trail." "Monitor channel 3 open." "We'll call you when we get to the ridgeline." "Let's go, guys!" "Move it!" "Move it!" "Keep your distance." "Keep spacing going up the hill." "They're going the wrong way." "But this is where they found you." "I crawled from another trail, up that way." "You know what?" "You're going the wrong way." "Excuse me?" "How do you know that?" "Tell him, we always took the back way up to dead man's ridge." "That's the way they always went, the back way." "You people don't belong here." "Why don't you head back to the trailhead and wait there?" "We'll let you know when we find something." "Look, I'm going." "Do what you want." "You know, A., she's my wife, and B., she's right." "It doesn't matter how, but I'm telling you, she's right." "Have a little faith." "Deal with it." "You're close." "My father used to bring us here when we were kids, whenever we were getting out of control and he wanted us to bond." "That's why you brought them up here again?" "Yeah, halfway up Charlie slipped and I went off the ridge trying to grab him." "He fell down there." "Charlie?" "This is air support 9er." "We have climbers on the east slope." "Hey, there he is." "Hey, buddy," "You're gonna be okay." "Where's his father?" "Where's your dad?" "I never kept a promise my whole life, but I promised I scatter his ashes on this mountain." "It's a place where he was always so happy and tried to make us happy." "Guys, right here, he's reponding, he's got a pulse and he's breathing." "He could have internal injuries but he's stabilized." "I don't think it's spinal." "How did you" "Make sure they take care of him." "It's looking good." "If you're looking for the brother, he's over there." "You okay?" "Not sure." "What the hell happened when Dennis died in that room?" "How did we lose control like that?" "We found his brother alive and well." "That's all that really matters." "What would have happened had I delayed resuscitation?" "Would it really have made a difference?" "Look, you live in a world where you can sometimes influence life and death, and" "I respect that, but sometimes it's just out of our hands, at least on earth." "Are you telling me people come back after they die?" "Do you know a Dr. Norris?" "He was my intern." "He died last year." "He wants to say thank you." "What are you talking about?" "About the time he was scared." "A patient had died on him." "You knew how upset he was and you told him," ""you'll save many more people than you'll lose, and no one can save them all."" "That's what got him through it." "I barely remember that." "Oh, he never forgot it, and he wants to give that back to you now." "He wants you to know that you were like a big brother to him." "I was?" "Look how surprised he is." "Tell him" "I'm sorry he never knew how much I got from him." "He's a great teacher." "He's saying you're a great teacher." "This can't be happening." "It can't be." "And he's sorry that he couldn't say goodbye." "He was my best intern, even though he couldn't keep his mind off of the girls." "I had high hopes for him." "You have no idea how hard that was for him to say." "Hey, tell him..." ""what you can see is only half of what there is."" "If you ever want to talk more about this," "I'll be there." "Thank you." "I should never have left." "Charlie was the smart one." "He had the brains." "I should have come back and taken over for him." "You came back now, son, when it counts the most, when you had the most to give up." "You did good, Dennis." "I've been waiting all this time for the two of you to make things right with each other." "Will you tell my brother that everything's good with me now," "that, um..." "I'm okay." "Tell him that, uh... he's free to take his shot." "Tell him that I'll always be looking out for him, me and the old man." "Come with me now." "Everybody's waiting for you." "Who?" "You'll see." "Will you tell Andrea that I had a crush on her too?" "I will." "Are they gone?" "Yeah." "Wow." "Never been this close when it's happened." "You know what?" "He wanted you to know he has a crush on you too." "Great." "Well, that's another one that got away." "Come on."