Work Text:
THE GHOST GIRL
FADE IN
- EXT. RAILWAY TRACK - SUMMER AFTERNOON
As MAKOTO, a 17-year-old Japanese school girl walks down the hill to the train tracks, she spots the ghostly figure of REI, a 16-year-old Japanese girl dressed in the same uniform as MAKOTO, walking by the tracks in the distance. Her eyes widen and she runs over. REI’s back is turned towards MAKOTO. MAKOTO reaches out her hand but hesitates.
Slowly, REI turns toward MAKOTO as the amber signal gets louder and louder.
FLASH TO WHITE BEFORE REI’S FACE IS FULLY REVEALED
A girl’s giggle can be heard.
- INT. EMPTY CLASSROOM - AFTER SCHOOL
MAKOTO wakes up to the gentle breeze coming in through the window. She sits beside the window. MAKOTO looks around groggily, noticing that everyone has already left. The only person left in the classroom is REI, who is sitting in the seat in front of hers.
REI notices MAKOTO’s gaze and smiles, standing up in the process. Her leg is covered in barely noticeable bruises, and her arm is wrapped in bandages. REI’s hair flutters gently with the wind, MAKOTO blushes and looks away. REI gently taps on MAKOTO’s shoulder and directs MAKOTO’s attention back to her.
The two girls chat about something inaudible, their expressions full of smiles. After the brief exchange, REI pulls MAKOTO up and runs out the door holding her hand.
- EXT. RAILWAY TRACK - DUSK
MAKOTO and REI wait for the train to go by, holding onto shopping bags and empty drink containers. REI scrolls through her phone’s photo album with a smile on her face. Her album is filled with pictures of their shopping trips together. MAKOTO’s gaze drifts towards REI unconsciously. MAKOTO tries to reach for REI’s hand and blushes when REI holds onto MAKOTO’s hand. REI turns towards MAKOTO and flashes her a quick smile before turning her attention back to her photos. MAKOTO wants this moment to last forever.
MAKOTO opens her mouth to confess her feelings but her voice is drowned out by the sound of the roaring train. REI made no reaction.
- EXT. RAILWAY TRACK - DUSK
The train goes past and everything is silent again. REI breaks the hand-holding and walks forward, leaving MAKOTO alone on the other side of the track. MAKOTO stays still. Noticing MAKOTO’s absence, REI stops in the middle of the train track and turns her head around in curiosity. MAKOTO gazes at REI with expectant eyes. REI smiles and says something to MAKOTO, but her words are inaudible to the viewers. From the way her mouth moves, she says something along the lines of “you are my friend”.
MAKOTO’s gaze falls down with a disappointed expression. MAKOTO gives REI a sad smile back and runs towards REI as if nothing has happened. In the now dark blue night, the figures of two girls keeping each other company is visible.
- INT. CLASSROOM - DURING SCHOOL TIME
The busy classroom is filled with the muffled sounds of people chatting and laughing. Sitting by herself, MAKOTO draws on her sketchbook. On her sketchbook is a portrait of REI. MAKOTO sets her pen and admires her drawing, blushing a little in the process. MAKOTO hears REI’s giggle from across the classroom and looks up. On the other side of the classroom, REI is chatting with a male classmate with a smile on her face.
The male classmate says something and they both laugh, a slightly red tint sweeps across REI’s cheek. MAKOTO clenches her fist in jealousy and scribbles all over REI’s portrait.
- INT. SHOE LOCKER - MORNING BEFORE SCHOOL
REI opens her shoe locker to change into her indoor shoes. She discovers that her shoes have thumb tacks placed into them. Distressed and disgusted, she takes the tacks out and throws them away into the garbage can. MAKOTO stares at her from a distance.
BEGIN MONTAGE (the focus is on the garbage can):
– REI throws away hateful letters
- REI throws away a vase (in Japan, placing a vase on someone’s desk means they want the person to be dead)
- REI digs through the garbage can to find her shoes
- REI dumping out the garbage placed in her backpack
- MAKOTO throws REI’s shoes into the garbage can
END MONTAGE
- INT. EMPTY CLASSROOM - DUSK
REI, covered in bruises, slides open the door to the classroom and a dirty blackboard falls on her head. Alone in the classroom, MAKOTO is writing something on REI’s desk. REI stares at MAKOTO in despair and begins to cry. MAKOTO runs over to REI and holds the weeping REI in her arms.
REI leans against MAKOTO and sobs uncontrollably, unleashing all of the stress that has built up in her recently. MAKOTO lets out a small smile holding onto REI.
- EXT. TRAIN TRACK - NIGHT
On the same day, the two girls walk home in silence.
MAKOTO stops walking as the slide bars begin to slowly come down. MAKOTO reaches out her hand to pull on REI’s wrist as she keeps on walking.
REI pulls her hand away from MAKOTO and continues to walk across the track. After she makes it safely to the otherside, REI turns around to face MAKOTO with a dark expression.
MAKOTO opens her mouth to say something but is interrupted by the train rushing by.
After the train passes, REI has already left without waiting for MAKOTO.
Under the starry night sky, MAKOTO watches as REI walks home by herself, her silhouette disappearing the further she goes.
- INT. SHOE LOCKER - AFTER SCHOOL AFTERNOON
The next day, the school is quite busy right after school, students are chatting and laughing with their friends. MAKOTO opens her shoe locker to find a letter addressed to her. She opens it out of curiosity and finds a short passage inside. On the page is simply written “ You did this to me. ” in red ink.
MAKOTO’s eyes widen in terror as she recalls REI’s dark expression last night. MAKOTO immediately starts to run，hoping to find the missing REI as soon as possible. She mutters words of apologies as she bumps into passersby.
- EXT. TRAIN TRACK - HOT SUMMER AFTERNOON
The sound of the ambulance blares in MAKOTO’s ears as she froze to take in the terror in front of her. The now lifeless body of REI lays in a pool of blood, her white uniform drenched in red. Her face is now a bloody mess but her expression is calm.
MAKOTO’s vision begins to blur as the heat mixed with the scent of blood gets to her head. She begins to breathe harder and harder. The quiet murmur of onlookers gets louder and louder until MAKOTO’s body gives in and she collapses.
CUTS TO BLACK
The sound of the MAKOTO’s head hitting the floor can be heard.
- INT. SCHOOL ASSEMBLY HALL - DAY
A memorial is held for the deceased REI. A picture of a smiling REI is at the centre of the stage surrounded by bundles of flowers. On the stage, the principal is speaking in solemn words of grief.
Sitting together to the side, a family dressed in black weeps and cries in silence for the loss of their daughter.
Sitting with the rest of the students, MAKOTO has her head down in silence, her eyes slightly puffy from her crying. MAKOTO clenches her fist on her lap and starts to shiver uncontrollably.
CUT TO BLACK
Suddenly MAKOTO is alone in the assembly hall. In front of her stands REI in her uniform.
REI looks down on MAKOTO coldly， reaches out her hands to grab MAKOTO’s neck and chokes her.
MAKOTO snaps back to reality, her uniform skirt wet with a mixture of tears and sweats. She looks over to REI’s family with an expression full of guilt.
The principal announces that the service is over and all of the students stood up and began to chat amongst themselves in low voices. MAKOTO stands up and waits for everyone to leave before walking over to REI’s family.
MAKOTO bows to the family and speaks to them. Their conversation is inaudible. The mother says something back before hugging onto the unexpecting MAKOTO. MAKOTO hesitantly hugs back.
- EXT. TRAIN TRACK - HOT SUMMER AFTERNOON AFTER SCHOOL
MAKOTO walks home alone in silence. As she waits for the train to go by, she sees the ghostly figure of REI on the other side of the track, her back turned towards MAKOTO. Unconsciously, MAKOTO reaches out her hand but is blocked by the running train.
After the train passes, MAKOTO can finally see the ghost clearly. Now in the middle of the empty track, the ghost REI is in her school uniform with no sign of injuries or blood on her. MAKOTO can’t believe her eyes, she runs over but stops when she gets to the edge of the track. REI, finally noticing MAKOTO, turns around and smiles, reaching out her hand to pull MAKOTO onto the tracks and not letting go.
- EXT. TRAIN TRACK - HOT SUMMER AFTERNOON
A mess of emotion, MAKOTO starts to cry and mumble words of apologies to REI. REI uses her hand to swipe MAKOTO’s tears away. The amber alert gets louder and the slide bars come down, but MAKOTO is too focused on REI to notice.
REI smiles with satisfaction and pulls MAKOTO into a hug as the fast train begins to approach them, making it impossible for MAKOTO to escape the tracks.
The train rushes into them and leaves nothing but an empty track behind.
In the empty train tracks, a girl’s giggle can be heard.
CUTS OUT