The Playful Sister

Translated from Japanese by Saya


A Cryptic Story.

While watching a rented Japanese horror movie with my older sister, I told her something I learned off the net.
"Japanese people tend to get scared of female ghosts more than male ghosts, so that's why Japanese horror movies tend to centre around female ghosts."
My sister responded with an uninterested "uh-huh."

A few days later, when I came home from school, I glimpsed someone in white dress in the sitting room through the half-glass door.
I thought, "ah, sis is home," although I hadn't seen her shoes at the front door.**

I thought that was weird and looked inside the sitting room but she wasn't there anymore.
And she wasn't in her room either. I went to every room looking for her but she was nowhere to be found.

I was feeling slightly uneasy as I went to my own room.
I took off my school blazer to hang it up, but just when I got to the closet, the doors suddenly opened and, "Boo!" my sister jumped out from the inside.

As I fell and landed on my bum from the shock, she looked down at me with a triumphant gleam in her eyes.
"Did that scare you? Hahaha!" She laughed at me!

Little Devil! She probably did it because of what I told her about female ghosts before.
And at the time she was acting as if she wasn't the least bit interested!

"But why did you change clothes? The dress you were wearing before was much nicer."
 She had changed from the dress into jeans.
But she again pretended as if she hadn't the slightest idea what I was talking about.



----- Those sweet memories come flooding back to me as I look around my sister's room.
That winter, she met with a car accident and passed away.

She looked rather aloof on the surface, but had an endearingly playful, mischievous side to her nature.
That sweet, adorable sister is no more.

But one thing is sure: my sister is still watching over us.
She never comes to me directly and show herself fully, but sometimes I catch little glimpses of her -  still wearing that beautiful white dress she wore on that day.


------------------
** Japanese people leave their shoes at the front door before entering the house.

Comments

Dozing zombIE said…
i dont think that ghost is her sister... heck. most probably that ghost is what causing her sister's death.
~桔子~ said…
I think what the Author saw at first was her sister's doppelganger (sign of imminent death of her sister)...so that's why the sister died soon after that, but also wearing the white dress.
@Dozing zombIE: That's what I thought too!

@桔子: Your theory is very interesting too! Thank you!
This story is really great. I didn't fully understand it at first, but I could tell something was quite off..
But when I read the comments, it all became clear. I've got the goosebumps right now haha! Thanks a lot for translating this one!
Btw, I'm a little late at saying this, but I'm really happy to know you're back, Saya-san!
Anonymous said…
Also, if the (original) girl in the white dress had been her sister, the shoes would have had to be somewhere. After all, you can't really change into jeans without taking off your shoes, can you?
Nunu. said…
Hi Saya-san.

My first thought was: What a sweet story. I love it.

And then, I recall that in the story, the sister was wearing jeans, and the apparition he glimpsed was wearing a dress. So.. it's not really the narrator's sister that keeps appearing after the sister's accident. But the same apparition that the narrator saw before.

People say that we shouldn't talk so openly about ghost especially at night, because "something" is always listening or if we're really unlucky, the particular ghost in the conversation is the one listening. And it will then haunt us. I wonder if this was the reason the ghost kept appearing in front of the narrator. Because it overheard the conversation between the narrator and his sister.

But no matter what, the narrator believed it was his sister. And that made him happy. So, in a way, it still is a sweet story. :)

This is a good one, Saya-san. Thank you for the story.

-nunu-
@Medicine Melancholy: Hello again!
I think it's a good story too and I'm happy I can share it with you! It's indeed scary when you imagine that the ghost in white is possibly not the sister but some other evil entity...
Thank you for your comment and take care! :D


@weirdinglanguage: haha you're right. I thought perhaps the sister hid the shoes herself as part of the prank though. I dunno.
Thank you for commenting!


@Nunu: Oh! It's always refreshing to hear a different opinion!

I also think that the ghost overheard the sister and the narrator's conversation at the beginning and decided to haunt the sister... and I thought it was the ghost who caused the sister's death. But perhaps not!
Perhaps the ghost was a good ghost who is trying to comfort the narrator!

You must be a really kind-hearted person, Nunu. My dirty mind could not have come up with such a theory as yours. XD
Thank you for always taking time to comment! It's a great pleasure to me. <3
Anonymous said…
What if those sweet memories is not even real ?.

What if her is sister really an aloof person and the one who did the prank is also ghost ? :く
Flufzi said…
Hi Saya-San,

I think this ghost is the reason that the sister died (probably caused it) but that leaves me with the following puzzle. Why was the spirit showing itself to the narrator and not the sister (if it caused her death)? Does this mean the narrator is being lined up now and that when they stop seeing the spirit then it's about to turn on them? That would be a little scary!

Good to have you back!
- Flufzi
Banila said…
The author had 2 sisters. An older one and a younger one. I am guessing that the younger one died a long time ago so the author gradually forgot about her.

It is also a bit odd that the author kept on catching glimpses of his/her older sister wearing that beautiful white dress. It looks as if it was the first time the author saw his/her sister wearing that dress prior to the incident where his/her sister played a prank on him. Does that mean the older sister never wore that white dress before? In that case, who is that white figure?

I like the idea of doppelganger too.
Enodia said…
Sorry for the narrator, but that isn't their sister D:
Nice story!
I have thought that something was off, because the story seemed too "normal" for a cryptic story, with the "no shoes" blatantly hinting that the white-dressed girl is no his sister.

And then a realization struck me XD

Anyway, that picture is beautiful! Is that from a movie?
aiyie2freak said…
This story is both beautifully sweet and creepy.
K said…
Hi Saya-san
First I want to say nice to meet you......,and I think that story make me insomnia but just for a while. Thanks.
Anonymous said…
初めまして。
僕はインドネシアの高校生です。
このようなの怖い話が好きです!
実はもう数年前からこのブログへ読みに来たんです。
お疲れさまです、さやさん(^^♪
I'm not real said…
Off: Taking off your shoes is not a japanese thing btw. We do it too. NOT taking off is a (stupid) american thing. Or i just assume every hygienic person would take off their shoes to not make the house dirty, not sure which nations don't do it besides americans.
Unknown said…
There is no new story???
Unknown said…
This story is really great.