lucas! come on.

it's me.

open up.

look.

i am sorry i am late, but i couldn't get away.

are you there? hey.

hey.

are you looking for lucas? uh,no.

i'll just come back.

well,he should be here.

his car's parked in his space and mine.

could you tell him that those parallel white lines actually serve a purpose? i had to park on the street again.

lucas! lucas somebody help! i don't know.

i just saw him lying by his car.

so tell me again what happened,ma'am.

hello? yes.

this is melinda gordon.

sure i remember you.

lucas? i'm so sorry.

um,yeah,ok.

thanks.

ok.

weird.

what was that? well,this guy from my high school, lucas marston, he died.

i never heard you talk about him.

was he a good friend? no.

not at all.

so why did i just get invited to his funeral? grace: there's haylie.

haylie,hi.

guest of honor here yet? i don't see him,but i've seen a couple people checking me out just in case i did.

honey,i think they were just checking you out.

i've literally heard,like,5 guys say how beautiful you were.

yeah.

meaning how much i've changed, but one thing has not.

hey.

i think they probably included you because they remembered you and maybe they liked you.

i was the kid who was caught talking to dead people,ok? they called me a freak,a mental case, and my personal favorite - meloony gordon.

catchy,i know, but not at the time.

all right.

so it was a drag, but then why are we here? well,because lucas always seemed like a nice guy and grace,too, but then again, maybe they were so into each other, they were too busy to be mean.

which one's grace? uh,pretty blond.

the one that got icy reception from haylie.

they used to be friends.

haylie,you know, she was lucas' on-and-off-again girlfriend.

i thought you said you didn't know these people.

oh,i knew of them.

everyone did.

you know,they were a power clique, superbeautiful and all best friends.

go.

let's go.

grace: i'll be right back.

oh.

looks like grace is with ryan now.

him i know.

really? how do you know him? he's a surgical resident at grandview hospital.

that is so disappointing when the person who's voted most likely to succeed actually does.

um guess i was right about why i was asked here.

melinda.

grace,hi.

uh,you met my husband jim,right? yes,hi.

and actually, i have a favor to ask hi.

that i hope you won't mind, but,um,if you're going back to grandview, would you mind riding with me? grace: the reason i called you was, you remember in high school how you said you could see ghosts? i never said that.

not if i could help it, and i still don't.

but do you believe that you can,um,see them,the dead? have you seen lucas? no.

so what is it like when someone is haunting you? i mean,are they around all the time, or do they just kind of come and go? i mean,what can they do to someone? you mean,to you.

look.

i-i found him, and there was blood, not just on lucas from where he'd collapsed but streaked across his car window.

i know it sounds crazy.

i'm so nervous.

grace? ahh.

oh-oh,god.

oh,god.

that is disgusting.

are you all right? melinda, the medical examiner said that when they found lucas he had been dead for hours, but i saw that blood appear, and ever since i saw it, i've felt something around me.

i can't describe it.

i'm not sure you have to.

because-because you know the feeling? yeah.

pretty well.

child,whispering: can you see us? eli: wait.

so the ghost smeared its own blood for grace to see? melinda: well,yeah,eli.

i mean,you've seen them move objects around.

it's pretty much the same principle.

the on the way home hurled itself against the windshield? ghosts can sometimes act out.

hey.

if i'm gonna hear ghosts, i might as well get the whole picture.

you know what? that surprises me because most people in your position,they just- you mean,who died and come back with bonus features? you know that many of us? melinda,i've written books upon books on subjects about a thousandth as cool as what's going on in my skull right now.

i mean, don't get me wrong.

this whole ghost thing, it's kind of creepy at times, but this,this psycho paranormal whatever is a trip.

glad to hear it.

how can i help? well,anytime that a ghost comes to you- no.

i mean,you.

loop me in.

how else am i gonna learn? can i use your computer? eli: who knew hamilton high was a feeder school for the ivies? after yale, mr.

lucas marston worked in the skiing industry.

he was a lift attendant.

he dabbled in real estate development.

his dad owns an apartment building.

i overheard someone at the wake saying that he was the handyman.

so if you know so much about the ghost, why are we bothering with the obituary spin? well,because lucas' background is just a starting place.

i mean,the truth is,i didn't get a good look at the ghost.

that alone can tell you something.

chockfull of antioxidants.

no,thanks.

so you think the ghost miss popular mowed down the night of her friend's wake was somebody random? no.

there's always a connection, but if the ghost that i saw on the road was lucas,why wasn't he at his own funeral? soaking up the kind words.

yeah.

something like that.

maybe the words people said under their breaths weren't so kind.

call me crazy,but when a perfectly healthy,bright, but underachieving 29-year-old suddenly keels over, i smell drugs.

i haven't seen the result of the tox report, but they're saying it was an overdose.

grace,don't do this.

we don't have anything to feel guilty about.

we know what we did.

i have to scrub up, but we'll talk.

no,we won't, not about this.

more light,please.

would somebody get that out of my eyes,please? are you ok, dr.

hellar? yeah.

then why don't you close up? right.

all right.

stitch and dress.

ok.

we're good here.

nice work,everybody.

whoa,whoa.

what the hell? the wound's closed.

where's this blood coming from? whoa! oh,my god! no.

what's going on? i'll get dr.

dugan.

aah! i'll take over.

jim,voice-over: ryan comes tearing out of there.

the nurse i spoke to said there was blood everywhere.

what happened? i don't know, but when the surgeon comes back, no more blood, patient is fine.

the blood has to mean something.

thanks.

and why don't you not go to work right now? as much as i love playing hooky with you, i have to go.

oh.

you forgot one of your tear sheets.

wait a minute.

we're putting a 6-burner stove in the nursery? it's for the garage.

i was thinking that we could convert it into a guest house, you know, for a live-in sitter or for our mothers.

i mean,it's a good idea, but,uh,i mean, converting the garage now.

aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves? because i'm not getting pregnant? hey.

no,no.

because when you do, we'll still have 9 months.

i mean,let me run the numbers a little bit, think about it,ok? ok.

sure.

ryan: lucas' death,well, it freaked us both out, i have to be honest, but what happened at the hospital- i think it was a ghost.

did you feel anything strange, a chill you couldn't explain, after lucas died? ghosts.

we're talking ghosts now with- ryan,i asked melinda for her help.

look.

a suture must have ruptured.

i made a mistake,ok? it happens.

i've been stressed.

i work crazy hours, and my best friend from high school just died.

so you and lucas were still close? we were fine.

i am happy to finish my coffee and go back to my life because i am not afraid of the d dead, but you came to me,and an innocent person lost a lot of blood because you have something you need to resolve with either lucas or someone else.

who else would it be then? i haven't seen the ghost, so i don't know who it is, but when a ghost doesn't reveal themselves, it's for a reason.

either they're hiding something, or they have a project in mind, like torturing you.

why don't you try to not say that like you enjoy it? i don't, and i don't like seeing souls linger, but that's what they do when they're trying to finish something.

well,you're casting an awfully wide net there.

i don't know what lucas did for the last 10 years when he was supposed to be building a career,a life.

you want to know? ask haylie.

she waited around long enough for him to get his act together.

all i know is that he o.

d.

ed at 29, so if you want to know what he didn't finish, why don't you try everything? and he's got no one to blame but himself.

oh,my god! you're bleeding.

ryan.

i need another napkin.

what was that? you found him.

you were there when the police came.

are they sure his body wasn't moved? what are you talking about? grace,let's go.

come on.

i've had enough.

ok.

we don't need your particular brand of help,ok? i wouldn't be so sure about that.

ah.

hamilton high, 1998- big hair and big dreams.

oh,wait.

that's not you! no,it's not,but will show you lucas.

the guy who died? he's so cute.

yeah.

died or was murdered by his friend.

i saw it in a vision, but i only got a piece of the story.

ich is not exactly the story ryan's telling? no.

he seems pretty keen on blaming lucas for his own death.

he said he was a real screw-up and that if i doubted him i could talk to haylie.

well,color me doubtful.

hmm.

my favorite color.

ha ha ha! are you calling haylie? are you kidding? the girl was so perfect in high school, there's not crack in her demeanor.

she would never open up to me.

come on.

you are not still afraid of the popular girl? hardly.

besides,eli is a very experienced grief counselor, and he wants to learn,so let him melt the ice queen.

i spent a third of my life as lucas' girlfriend, give or take our many breakups, and even in death, who does he go to? grace.

look,haylie.

it isn't just grace.

lucas is haunting ryan,too.

were they rivals? lucas and grace, i mean,they were closer to each other than to anybody they were actually sleeping with.

come on.

ryan know this? well,i'm sure.

they never hid it.

they'd be on the phone for two hours at a stretch.

there was something unhealthy about it.

that wasn't exactly helping his battle with drugs.

he took antianxiety medication, but i never saw him take anything else.

i've treated a lot of addicts.

they're very secretive.

he wasn't always.

it wasn't always so hard for him to be happy.

you make it seem like something happened.

what was it? i wish i knew.

i think that ryan and grace do because senior year, the 3 of them, they went to look at some colleges.

they were gone for 4 days, and when they came back, lucas was never the same.

melinda: haylie gave you her keys to lucas' apartment? you're a quick study.

what can i say? people trust me.

i'm a professional.

it sounds like to me that lucas was still in love with grace and ryan knew it.

i'm not sure this was about grace.

it seems like lucas was more haunted than haunting.

so the question is,who or what was haunting him, and is it the same spirit that's haunting ryan and grace? shouldn't we be,like,wearing latex gloves,carrying flashlights? knock yourself out.

no need.

these will do the trick.

benzodiazepine- a little dose will help you get some sleep.

a larger dose will help you with anxiety.

supersizing can kill you.

whoa.

oh.

what is it? looks like family, maybe a sister or niece.

lucas was an only child.

grace: oh,my god,lucas.

oh, my god,oh,my god,oh,my god! grace,grace, shut up! oh,my god! what are we gonna do? what? what is it? the 3 of them they killed a man.

that's it then.

the ghost was telling you he was murdered,not lucas.

he didn't tell me anything.

i got a vision from his picture, but i still don't know who he is, and if he wants me to know the truth, then why isn't he coming to me? maybe he wants you to come to him.

for someone who's gift is in their ears, you're not a very good listener.

eli? this wasn't just for pictures.

the victim kept i.

d.

in here,too, which i'm sure lucas trashed in case anyone found it.

there was something in this sleeve for a very long time.

haylie said something about a road trip fall of your senior year.

she mentioned something happened and oktoberfest in cambridge.

well,that gives us a definite weekend.

that,a partial name and address, and it sure looked like he had a child with someone.

his widow.

that's my next step.

what if i took that step for you? i think i'm up to it if you think it could help.

yes.

that would help a lot.

ok.

ok.

hey.

no,no,no.

no.

it's not even 3:00.

no.

oh,look.

i got to go cover for sully.

i really got to go,and i'm gonna be late,so don't wait up.

hey.

what's wrong? well,i just kind of thought we could- i mean,if we're gonna get pregnant,you know, we have to have sex! we got that covered,right? today.

it's just i've been tracking my cycle, and there's this window, and it's basically closing tonight.

right,and that's - that's why you've been playing hooky from work.

well,it's not the only reason, but we did agree that we would try,so you're right.

we did,we did, but,i mean,honey,do we have to schedule our sex life,you know, or convert a garage to have kids? it's just so much pressure.

you're right.

you're right.

hey.

i want you, i always want you, but it's just we got so many stresses in our life.

let's not make this another one,all right? yeah.

can i help you? mom? hi.

my name is eli james.

i'm sorry i didn't call before i came over.

yeah? i'm sorry.

i just- i'm here because- male ghost: that's right.

you've seen her.

that girl grew up without a father.

ahh,ahh.

because? tell her you have something of theirs.

i'm sorry.

tell her.

tell her now.

i'm just - ok.

no,no.

i have something of yours.

i mean,i have something of your husband's.

uh,honey,can you go check on the dinner? yeah,yeah.

i'll be out back.

i don't understand.

you said these photos of my husband were in your friend's apartment? how-how could that be? i was hoping you could tell me.

well,i don't know any lucas, and tim's wallet was with his body.

this was all that was missing.

didn't you find that strange? mister,i had a toddler and dead husband.

worrying about a few photos wasn't at the top of my list.

i'm sorry.

i am,too.

sorry he died out on that road alone,pitch black, rain pouring down.

the coroner said that he'd severed an artery so it was probably fast, but define fast,you know,if you're tim.

what did they tell you about the accident? just that.

it was an accident.

there were no other skid marks from another vehicle, the road was slick.

he just wiped out.

who found him.

a little lady drived her little husbhud to work.

what wouldn'ldgive e them.

girl: are you ok,mom? hi,honey.

it's ok.

ok.

so how did your friend get these from my husband unless- unless hew as there when he died.

you said you didn't know lucas.

do you know these people? they'd be older now.

no.

hold on.

him.

him i know.

him? that's lucas.

no.

he said his name was mark.

you met him? when? he came by the house a few months after my husband's death, said he worked with tim once and that he owed him some money.

seemed like he didn't have much, but he sent what he could over the years.

wait.

over the years? every once in a while, i'd get a cashier's check for 50 bucks, a few hundred.

well,i cashed them.

i thought he was a buddy, you know,took pity on us, and frankly,we needed the money,so i never realized that it was,um,sort of male ghost: blood money.

eli: you should have heard it.

this guy sounded so bitter, like a big hunk of bitterness in the front row seating in my frontal lobe.

yeah,but it sounds like lucas was haunted for years, but why not grace and ryan? i mean,they were there,too.

who says they weren't haunted this whole time? maybe they just dealt with it better.

no.

it was new for grace.

she was scared.

she kept asking what a ghost could do.

because she thinks it killed her friend, and she just realized they're next.

grace: can't you just drive me back to the city tonight? lucas' sendoff is tomorrow the people that couldn't make the funeral are flying in.

"his sendoff.

" i hate that phrase.

you said "memorial" sounded geriatric.

is there anything i can say right now that won't piss you off? you could tell the truth.

yeah.

we all could have,but we didn't.

we made a choice to get on with our lives.

don't you feel it? he is with us! he was with lucas all the time.

grace,the man died 10 years ago,ok? it's ridiculous.

crazy people believe in ghosts.

ryan.

no! they brought them in about an hour ago, and ryan was pretty banged up, and they're giving him a full body scan, but he was lucky.

grace had some contusions, but his side took the brunt of the roll.

how did she seem? i didn't talk to her, but they said she was really shaken up.

grace.

please.

make him stop.

so i was just kicking and screaming, and this policeman took his hand, and he just dragged it along the windshield just to show me that it was just mud.

it was mud.

do you know what i thought it was? blood? yes.

i've seen it,too.

i know about the guy who died 10 years ago.

so it was him all along? how did he die? we took a road trip.

i don't know.

i mean,we were just going to see some colleges so we're at this party,right? and ryan knew this guy up in binghamton, and he invited us to a frat party, and we should have just stayed there, but we promised our parents that we would head home.

and lucas was supposed to be the designated driver, but he ended up just being the least drunk, and that was not like him.

he was always so responsible.

he was a really good guy.

and he was driving superslow when this guy on a motorcycle just came up behind us.

this guy's practically on our fender what's he doing? grace: he wants you to speed up.

but the road, it just-it curved, and it was so foggy, and i guess that the guy just got stuck and it pissed him off, and that's when he decided to try to take us on.

you ok,lucas? yeah,sure.

slow down,slow down.

slow way down.

just teach him a lesson.

[horn honking[ well,come on! what,you want to join our party? ryan! ryan! whoa,whoa,whoa! did you see that? oh,my god! you got to stay in the car.

please.

he must have been thrown.

here we go.

come on! come on! ryan.

come on.

oh,my god! oh,my god! his leg is half off.

oh,my god! grace,grace,shut up.

what are we going to do? there's nothing we can do.

a phone.

a phone.

we'll call 911.

he's dead, and you're drunk, and we're all drunk.

i'm not drunk.

tell that to a breathalyzer.

ryan,what are you saying? i'm saying this never happened.

we didn't hit him.

there's no evidence.

it's his own fault! ok,ok.

so we'll tell the cops that.

listen.

you want your life ending on this road tonight,too? what we did, it haunted lucas.

and you.

you said you felt it, an angry presence.

yes.

ever since lucas died.

but not before? no.

not that i don't think about it all the time.

the blood.

there was so much blood.

i cannot stand the sight of it.

your fear of blood, did you ever talk to lucas about it? yeah.

he was the only one i could talk to.

lucas? you can skip the blood and tell me what you want.

i know it's you.

i never said i was anyone else.

no.

i guess you didn't have to.

you just let their guilt do the work.

ryan's guilt has a ways to go.

he'd do anything to cover this up.

let me help you.

we could talk to them together.

they wouldn't listen to me when i was alive.

why would they listen to me now? you could have told the truth at any time.

no one was stopping you.

no.

you're wrong.

for years,all it took was one word - grace.

what's this gonna do to her? i mean,i know you still love her.

you think i don't know how often you two see each other, how often you talk? leave her out of this.

look.

if you do this,you're not just taking me down with you.

grace was there,too.

i didn't come asking for permission this time.

i didn't back down.

i made my decision.

how do you think that went over? why don't you tell me? the one night that ruined my life gave him everything-grace- because i couldn't stand the darkness between us- a career because one man's death drives another's decision to save lives, as if ryan cared about anyone else but himself.

you have to stop blaming him for something you did.

i know what i did on that road, but i didn't do this.

i didn't kill myself.

i wasn't a drug addict.

whose life do you think would be a lot better with me gone? are you saying ryan killed you? i'm dead,aren't i? eli.

i know how ryan killed his friend.

now we know that lucas was on some pretty hefty happy pills.

you mean, antidepressants.

yes.

they were in his apartment, but he also had a prescription for some pretty hardy tranquilizers.

now there's contraindications, meaning that's a very bad combo.

he had to go to two pharmacies and two doctors to get them filled.

how do you know that? i'm a doctor.

i called a few drug stores in hamilton.

you're a ph.

d.

, not an m.

d.

i'm not named dr.

hellar either, but they didn't need to know that.

ok.

so we know that he gave his best friend drugs.

did he have any idea that the combination would kill him? i should have changed.

it is this guy's memorial.

it's just a get-together with old friends.

besides,i don't think we'll be staying long.

you're not the only one who's crashing the party.

let's go.

why? just and i think in his own way he loved every single person here, and what i think that he would want the most is for all of us to move forward, to find the things that he was still searching for with the people that we love.

grace and i are doing that.

we're getting married.

and when i say that we lost our best man, i mean it in every sense of the word.

we all did.

to lucas.

to lucas! to lucas! want to do something, or should i? we should go outside and talk.

look.

i know what grace told you, and there's a statute of limitations, even on obsessive guilt.

you might want to restart the clock from the time that you prescribed the medicine that killed your friend.

tell me you didn't give him those drugs.

grace,he came to me,ok? because he wanted to come clean.

he told you that? yeah.

he brought me up to speed on the plans that the two of you made together.

i met with him because he had inherited some money and he wanted to put it into a trust account for that man's daughter.

he figured he could do some good, maybe get some peace.

you couldn't let him have that,could you? you would rather see him dead.

ah,no.

grace,wait! you think you're the only person that cared about him? he was my best friend.

i was just trying to make things ok.

that's all i ever did.

grace,it was our mistake that he was driving that car.

it was our fault.

that's the big secret that we never discuss.

what happened that night,lucas? i think you know.

you were so responsible, such a good guy until ryan: the party at binghamton.

he's here,isn't he? since seventh grade, we were best friends.

on the first day of high school, he introduced me to the girl that he'd met over summer, and every single day, i fell harder for her.

and nothing happened for so long no,man.

i'm good,thanks.

until that stupid frat party at the end of the road trip.

who was that? here you go,lucas.

thanks,man.

later,i tried to act like nothing happened, and i realized that we all were and that lucas knew and that's why he was drinking.

it wasn't like him.

it was our fault.

we did this to him.

leaving that guy on the road, i wasn't just protecting myself.

i was protecting all of us, and when my best friend came to me, falling apart after 10 years, i just tried to do the same thing.

i tried to save him or at least,that's what i thought i was doing.

i didn't come asking for permission this time.

ryan,a man died because i was drinking, because we left him there like he was some kind of animal.

ahh,ahh.

because i told you to.

look.

the guy was gone.

there was nothing we could do.

he had a wife and a kid.

i can't live like this anymore.

really? how are you gonna live in a 10x10 cell? look.

as your friend, i am begging you, please stop torturing yourself.

if i don't do this, i think i'm gonna die.

i can't get out of my head, i can't sleep, i can't think.

you still seeing your shrink? i'm done with all that.

whatever decision you make,i'm behind you, but don't make a decision like this without a clear head.

look.

you said you haven't been sleeping.

i'm gonna give you something,ok? yeah.

you just take a couple of days.

do that for me, all right? yeah.

i told him don't mix those pills with anything.

i swear, and when i found out that he o.

d.

ed- ask him.

please,melinda.

if lucas is here, ask him if that is true.

he told me.

but it wasn't the pills.

it was the silence.

i remember now.

late at night every night.

i hadn't slept for so long.

the pills my shrink had prescribed to me, they weren't helping, they didn't do anything, so what harm could a sleeping pill do? i woke up again.

it had to have been hours since i took the first one.

why wasn't i sleeping? i went out to my car to get headphones.

i had neighbors, and next thing i know i'm standing over my own body.

i saw grace.

she looked so sad, even before she found me.

i needed to make them understand.

the sadness,it just doesn't go away.

lucas may not have realized it, but i think he was trying to save you.

from what? from making the same mistake he did.

he was afraid that if you kept your guilt a secret it would ruin your life the way that it ruined his.

lucas,i'm sorry.

we are both so sorry.

i didn't see it coming.

my girlfriend, my best friend.

did you? you saw everything back in high school.

you were always so quiet, taking it all in.

you're asking me? what a difference 10 years makes.

what i see now is that it was an accident- the crash,your death, all of it.

you made a mistake.

it's time for you to move on and let your friends do the same.

mrs.

graber,these are the two people i told you about.

this is grace, and this is ryan.

i hope she can forgive them.

they're going to the authorities, they're taking responsibility.

maybe that will help.

i don't think she wants revenge.

i think she wants to know what it was like for her husband in those final moments.

maybe she'll take comfort in knowing he wasn't alone.

all those years, you held it in for grace, for both of them.

it's all i could think about my whole adult life.

well,now you can just let go.

but what comes next? the light.

what's that like? i don't know.

d- doesn't that s- scare you? the light doesn't scare me.

no,no,no.

i'm talking about the unknown.

i'm just like anyone else.

of course it scares me.

yeah.

but it's ok to be scared.

wow! take care of them, will you,all of them? i will.

you're all right, meloony gordon.

don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

hey.

what are you doing? i lost your tear sheet, so i'm kind of winging it right now.

no.

i mean,i thought we were gonna wait until i got pregnant because then we would still have 9 months.

yeah.

yeah, that was my plan.

very logical, but,uh,didn't seem to make you very happy.

it's not you.

it's what i do.

silly fears and anxieties, stupid things that ghosts say.

like what? what? that there might be a price for me to pay for what i do, putting myself in places where i might not belong.

what kind of places? the unknown death.

you know,that's exactly why we do this.

yeah.

this project, all of it.

i was wrong, you were right.

why? because of what you do.

every day,you know, you believe.

we should believe that the right thing is gonna happen no matter what, so we just keep pushing and pushing until it does.

what if it doesn't? well,then we push some more.

where did you learn to be so brave? where do you think? she's right here.