"That's a pretty dumb name to choose." I tell Mac as we walk by the Olympian's main ballroom. It's October 31 and there's a virtual army of tech guys and decorators transforming the ballroom into a gothic nightmare for the casino's annual Halloween party.

"What's wrong with the Carnival of Souls, Ollie?" Mac replies, a little offended at my question. "It's the perfect theme. One of my net guys dug it up. It's an old legend about a haunted amusement park…."

"I know. Mac, I've been there."

"Was that while you were…" He hesitates to say the D word.

"No, before that, with the League."*

* - In Justice League of America (1st Series) 145 - DT

"Bad place?"

"Just a little. We all nearly died there. Naming a party after that place just doesn't seem too smart."

"You're paranoid, Ollie."

"You know, I've been told that."

By the time the party had started, my concerns seemed unwarranted. The club had been going for a couple of hours and nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" Mac is saying to the gathered crowd over a house mic. Everyone turns to where we are standing.

"OK, This is the moment you've been waiting for. The Witching Hour." It's about 10 minutes before midnight. "I'm sure you've been wondering what's under the sheets I'm standing next to."

Mac's standing next to a large sheet which is covering three large objects. Some genius has drawn a ghost face on the sheet. He gestures and the sheet lifts.

"Ta-Da!!!" The Chambers of Fear! Enter at your own risk and face your nightmares." Mac continues and then the crowd cheers and laughs. "But to assure you how safe it is and because it's my party, I'll go first."

"Wow, that's brave," Rebecca says sarcastically to Guy and I as we watch Mac make a big production of entering one of the chambers. "Video and scary music. That'll…

She's cut off as Mac comes barreling out of the chamber a second later. I'm about to laugh at his bit, but then I see his face. It's white as… Well, for lack of a better term, it's white as a ghost.

We reach him as he's yelling at a worker. "What the hell was that?"

"What happened?" Rebecca asks, masking her concern in a professionally brusque manner."

"I saw a ghost, Rebecca."

"Who? Casper?" Guy asks, more for the joke to lighten the mood than to be a jerk.

"I'm not kidding, Guy. When I was in there, I saw a real ghost. I saw my father."

The booth is dark when I enter. A second later, there's a light in front of me and out of the light steps a figure.

"Hello, Ollie," the figure says, his identity still obscured by the light. But then again, I don't need to see him to know who it is.

"Barry." Yeah. That Barry. Barry Allen. I was talking to the ghost of Barry Allen, the Flash. We'd been close when he was alive, but not so close as he & Hal.

"Ollie, I don't have much time, here's what you…." His voice which had been almost panicked, slows for a second as he seems to be listening to something. "Ahh… Never mind, it's being dealt with. So how's life? Pun intended."

"It's good, Barry." I answer awkwardly. And it is awkward for me since, I've returned to the living and he's still dead. "I saw Hal recently, he was here. In Vegas."

"I know. Sometimes, when you're up here, you get to see your loved ones. You how people sometimes say somebody up there's watching out for me? Well, sometimes, for some people, its true."
I didn't know that, since unlike Barry, I didn't make it to Heaven, but ended up in Purgatory. I pause for a minute before continuing.

"Do you know why I got sent back?"

He pauses then as if considering his options. "Yes."

"Well?"

"It was…." He never finishes the sentence as suddenly he fades a way and is replaced by an image of an old Scooby Doo cartoon.

"Damn. See you around, Barry."

As I exit the Chamber, I see Rebecca is out as well, mumbling something about her grandfather with a look of absolute wonder on her face. She stops, when he shows up.

I don't even need to look over to see why she's stopped. It's the Phantom Stranger. There's just a way the feel of a room changes when he's there. He's one of the good guys, I think, but he scares the crap out of me.

"What happened, Stranger?"

"Do you remember Count Crystal, Oliver Queen?

"Yeah, the guy from the Carnival. He got taken by that demon, right?"

"Yes, but he is still in the spirit world and he attempted to use your evocation of his Carnival to re-enter the world. He failed, but it caused a breach. Fortunately, the breach was filled by good souls until it could be sealed."

At that moment, Guy bursts out of his Chamber and heads straight for the Stranger, grabbing him by his lapels.

"Bring her back, you ghostly son of bitch! Bring her back!"

My heart twists a little when I realize he must have seen Ice in the chamber. Tora Olafsdotter may have been the only woman Guy has ever really loved. Maybe the only person period.

"I cannot, Guy Gardner." The Stranger replies in an uncharacteristically consoling voice. "Tora Olafsdotter has gone back to her rest, having served to help here."

Guy glares at him and then slumps looking down. "I'm sorry, Stranger." Guys says as he looks up. But the Stranger is already gone.

We finally pour Guy into a bed at about 3:30. I stumble back to my room and pour a drink from my minibar.

The cellphone on my bed beckons to me. After seeing Guy's heartbreak, every fiber in my being (and with the influence of a lot of alcohol) wants to call Dinah. I want her to tell me she's still here, even if we're not really together. To know that unlike Guy, I have a chance. But I don't since Dinah nearly blew out my cell phone from Gotham last time I drunk dialed her on a Sunday morning.

But it's what Barry said, or didn't say that ends up sticking with me. The fact that there's really a plan as to why I was sent back, makes me feel better. I don't know what it is, but so long as someone's got a plan, I can live with it.

THE END