"THE GHOST"
Treatment by William C. Martell
After years of courtship, ex-gold medal gymnast KATHY LAM's
boyfriend CHARLIE finally pops the question. After a sumptuous
meal in San Francisco's best restaurant, Charlie orders champagne
and slides a beautiful diamond engagement ring on Kathy's finger.
"Till death do us part..."
A half hour later, Charlie is shot by a stray bullet in a
Tong war assassination. Dead in Kathy's arms.
Police Detective JOHN WOOLRICH tells Kathy they will find
the killers, but the truth is: San Francisco's Chinatown is a
closed society. A mysterious world where ancient Warlords still
control the streets.
After the funeral, Kathy is despondent. Her life is behind
her, he future is non-existent. She is suicidal. Wearing only
her engagement ring and Olympic Gold Medal, she slips into the
bath tub and slices her wrists. Killing herself.
Rushing down the tunnel towards the light.
Awakening in an all white room. A hospital? Then the
beautiful face of MICHELE WOO hovers above her. "Is this
heaven?" "Yes. You have died." "Are you an angel?" "Yes. Your
guardian angel." "You remind me of my mother." "I am older. Your
mother was twenty-five when she died." "Charlie... is he here?"
"Yes. But you aren't ready to see him." Kathy drifts to sleep.
Awakening in an all white room. A gymnasium? Kathy moves
to her feet. Michele appears before her. "You were a gymnast at
age twelve." "Yes. A Gold Medal winner." "Can you still move?"
Kathy does an amazing gymnastic exhibition. She's still got the
moves. "Very good," Michele smiles. Kathy drifts off to sleep.
Awakening in an all white room. Michele appears. "You
studied martial arts..." "Yes. Self defense." "Can you still
move?" Michele asks as she throws Kathy a pair of swords. Kathy
does an amazing two sword kata, swinging, flipping, spinning,
slashing. Afterwards, she is tired and drifts to sleep.
Awakening with a scream. A killer headache. Her room is
red, engulfed in flames. The pain subsides. A figure stands
before her... "Who are you?" "I go by many names," SATAN smiles,
"If you don't do as I say, I will make the pain worse. Do we
understand each other?" "Yes." "Inside of you, there burns a
rage. A rage against the men who killed Charlie. Is this true?"
Kathy reluctantly admits as much. "You took this rage out upon
yourself... ending your life... giving your soul to me." "No!"
"Yes. Now you are my plaything." "NO!" "But I am reasonable.
I was an Angel, once. I offer you a chance at heaven, a chance
to be with Charlie once more. Are you interested?" "Yes. Oh, God
yes..." "Please don't use that kind of language around me..."
"Sorry." "I will send you back to Earth as a ghost. By day, you
can be seen. By night, you will be invisible. You will hunt
down and kill those who killed your Charlie. Using your rage on
them, not yourself. If you disobey me, the pain in your head
will increase. If you do not kill these men, you can never get
to heaven, never see Charlie again. Understood?" "Yes." Satan
disappears, and Kathy drifts off to sleep.
Awakening in a hospital. The DOCTOR smiles at her. "We
thought we'd lost you. You've been in a coma for five months."
When Kathy is ready for discharge, they give her back her purse
and personal items. All bills have been paid by a Mr. Devlin.
The name on Kathy's driver's license: Kathy Nam-Yin. The
address is wrong, too. "This isn't me. There must be some
mistake." "No mistake," the Doctor tells her. "That's what you
had when they brought you in. It's your photo on the license."
Kathy goes to the address on the license, an apartment.
Inside, all of her things... plus an ancient trunk. Locked.
A week later she wakes up with a terrible headache. Satan's
voice echoes through her skull. He tells her where the key to
the trunk is. She opens it. Inside is a black bodysuit, a mask,
and weapons... lots of weapons. Satan tells her where to find
one of the men who killed Charlie: A restaurant in Chinatown. A
vision of BILLY CHOW flickers before her. "You will kill this
man, or I will make the pain worse. Do we understand each
other?" "Yes." She puts on the bodysuit, straps on swords,
grabs the mask...
Kathy enters the Chinese Restaurant dressed to kill in a
sexy outfit. It's late. The place is almost empty. But voices
echo from upstairs... a private room. She gets past several
armed guards by claiming she's a call girl, "Billy's probably
gambling, and wants me there for good luck. Want to know where
he rubs the dice before rolling them?" The guards let her past.
At the door to the private room, Kathy puts on the mask...
The Ghost slams into the room, killing five bodyguards
before they can shoot her. One of the Tongs pulls a gun, but she
kicks it out of his hands, flipping onto the table, kicking dice
into the face of another Tong... and killing Billy Chow with her
sword, "For Charlie." The other Tongs raise their hands... but
one hits a beeper button, alerting the guards outside.
The Ghost has to fight her way out of the restaurant.
Sliding down the stairway bannister, using her gymnastic skills
to evade the guards and avoid being shot. She kills most of
them... Almost kills an innocent WAITER, but catches herself.
Chased onto the street by a pair of Guards, the Ghost runs
through a maze off alleys. A tense, exciting foot chase. The
Guards chase her to a dead end... but she has disappeared.
At night the Ghost is invisible.
In her apartment, Kathy washes the blood from her hands...
noticing that the stone of her engagement ring has turned red.
She is engaged to Satan, now. How many more people will she have
to kill before she ends up his bride... his plaything for
eternity? She breaks down, crying.
Detective John Woolrich investigates the restaurant
massacre. The Waiter gives him a description of the Ghost.
Kathy visits Charlie's grave. Goes back to her old
apartment... someone else lives there. Her old life is gone.
A week later Kathy is shopping when Satan's voice echoes
through her head. The world around her turns to Hell. "You have
done well, my little play thing." "The killer is dead. Release
me. Send me to Heaven so that I can be with Charlie." "So soon?
The man who ordered the assassination still walks the earth.
Have you no hatred for him?" A flickering image of DAVID LO-PAN,
a Tong lieutenant appears before her. "You will kill this man,
or be trapped forever in my Hell... Never see your Charlie again.
Do we understand each other?" "Yes. Yes!" Kathy yells in the
store. Other shoppers give her strange looks. Is she insane?
Kathy goes home, opens the trunk, pulls out the mask...
Lo-Pan has a penthouse bachelor pad in a Tong controlled
building on Gough Street near Japantown. The only way in has
metal detectors and armed guards.
Kathy enters the building across the street, takes the
elevator to the top floor, stairs to the roof. Using a cross
bow, she fires a rope across to the penthouse roof. A wheel-rig
zips her down the rope - street 24 stories below!
On the penthouse roof, she waits for darkness... eating a
sandwich from her pack. Relaxing.
Night. Kathy puts on the mask. She is invisible.
Lo-Pan is attractive, elegant... a Chinese Cary Grant.
Sipping his martini, he bids his two BODYGUARDS goodnight and
leads his GIRLFRIENDS to the bedroom. In the bedroom, the
curtains flutter in the breeze. "Who left the window open?" Lo-
Pan pulls open the curtains... but the Ghost isn't there. He
closes the sliding glass door and the curtains. But feels that
something is wrong. Pulls his gun, tells his Girlfriends to be
quiet. Studies the room. A pair of shoes poke from under the
curtains on the far side of the room. Lo-Pan creeps up to the
curtains, gun ready, yanks them aside.
No one there. Just a pair of shoes.
Whack! Whack! The Ghost rolls from under the bed and fires
two arrows at Lo-Pan before he can react. Lo-Pan staggers
towards her, gun blazing (it takes three arrows to kill a man
according to Chinese legend). The Girlfriends scream. The
Bodyguards in the next room come running.
The Ghost flips over the bed, spins, fires the third arrow.
Thwack! Bullseye. Lo-Pan goes down.
But the Bodyguards attack. No time to re-load, the Ghost
uses the crossbow as a club. Spinning, rolling, grabbing a sword
from her bag and attacking. Sword against guns. An amazing
fight with the screaming Girlfriends on the sidelines. The Ghost
kills both of the Guards, but one of the Girlfriends hits the
alarm button... Steel doors roll over the sliding glass, trapping
her inside the building.
The Ghost runs in the hallway... has to fight Guards all the
way to the elevator bank.
In the lobby, all four of the building's elevators begin
descending at the same time. Six GUARDS stand between the
elevators, waiting to kill her. The doors open one after
another. Each elevator is empty. The Guards jump in the
elevators and all four cars go up to the penthouse.
In one of the elevators, the Ghost drops to the floor and
battles a Guard. A confined, messy fight. She wins. Hits the
stop button, and sends the elevator back to the lobby. Takes off
her mask, puts on her street clothes from her bag.
Kathy walks out of the building.
Too late. Police on the scene. Detective Woolrich spots
her, "Don't I know you?" "I don't think so," Kathy hides her
bloody hands, tries to escape. Woolrich won't let her. He asks
if she saw anything suspicious. "No. I was visiting my friend in
227." Woolrich takes her name and address off her driver's
license. "I swear we've met before." "Maybe in a past life."
Woolrich smiles. Kathy leaves... knowing that her crossbow and
sword are at the crime scene, with her fingerprints on them!
At home, Kathy washes the blood off her hands. Breaks down.
Woolrich runs the prints. They lead to a dead woman. Must
be some screw up... the prints are no good.
But Kathy haunts him. He KNOWS he's seen her before.
Woolrich shows up at Kathy's apartment. Asks again if she
saw anyone suspicious. Shows her the police sketch of The Ghost.
"Wearing a mask? This could be anyone." Woolrich nods to the
trunk. "What's in that?" "Um... Nothing...." He opens the
trunk! It's empty. Then Woolrich notices her red ring.
"Engagement ring?" "No." He flirts with her. At first she
rebuff's him, but he's charming, funny... and she's so lonely.
He asks her to dinner and she accepts.
After dinner, he walks her home. They kiss.
The Satan's voice begins echoing in Kathy's head. "Not
now..." She tries to remain composed and see Woolrich off.
Doesn't work. Acting strange, twitchy, she pushes Woolrich out
of her apartment. He's worried that the kiss was too much.
She's worried that she was acting crazy.
Satan: "Open the trunk." "It's empty." "Do it!" Kathy
opens the trunk. Inside is the mask, a wedding invitation, a
bouquet of flowers, and a silenced automatic. "The flowers are
for the bride, the gun is for the groom." "I can't do this
anymore." "You are my plaything. You will do as I say." Wham!
A killer headache drops her to the floor. "Yes. Yes," she
pleads. The headache subsides. "You must be careful. It will
be day. You will be visible." "I will be careful."
A beautiful park with wooden bridges, streams, a pagoda.
The wedding is about to begin. Kathy, dressed to kill, must take
a seat and wait until the wedding begins before the GROOM steps
forward. A festive occasion. A beautiful bride. Kathy can't
bring herself to put on the mask. To make this woman a widow.
She looks at her engagement ring - a ring of blood.
WHAM! A headache strikes. Satan's voice echoes. "Kill him!
Kill him! Kill him!" Kathy puts the mask on, struggles to her
feet, walks down the aisle following the Bride. Pulls her gun.
Suddenly, everyone at the wedding party has a gun! From the
BEST MAN to one of the BRIDESMAIDS to many of the GUESTS.
The Ghost kills the Groom, tosses the flowers into the face
of the Killer Bridesmaid, kicks the Best Man in the face and
takes off. But the Wedding Party has turned into a Shooting
Party. A massive shoot out. The Ghost is visible. No escape!
The Bride breaks down, crying over her dead Groom... another
ghost waiting to happen.
The Bridesmaid and a group of armed Guests (bodyguards)
chase the Ghost through the park. Two Guards grab motorcycles,
and roar after her. There is a fight on the wooden bridge, a
chase through the trees, and the Ghost finally reaches the
street... With a dozen armed Wedding Guests right behind her!
The Ghost grabs the bumper of a passing car and is pulled
down the street to safety... But the two motorcycles give chase!
The Ghost fires at the cycles as she is drug along the street. A
moving gunfight. The Ghost finally shoots both cyclists, lets go
of the car bumper and rolls to her feet. The mask comes off, but
she's a mess. Dress torn to shreds, bruised.
Once home Kathy runs to the bathroom mirror, searches her
head under her hair... finds the scar. Knows where the voices
are coming from. She's not crazy, she's remote control. Kathy
takes off her red engagement ring - inside is a tracker chip!
She throws it away. She is no longer Satan's future bride.
On the TV news - a man is convicted of trying to assassinate
the President because "Satan told me to". He heard voices.
Doorbell. Woolrich is on her doorstep. "What happened?"
"A man has been stalking me. He beat me up. That's why I'm
afraid to get involved with you." Woolrich helps her inside,
cares for her. "What's this man's name?" "Mr. Devlin... Last
time he beat me up, he paid my hospital bills."
Woolrich starts tracking down the mysterious Devlin,
starting at the hospital. His romance with Kathy blossoms.
Kathy starts living again... no longer just a ghost. She
has a chance for a new life with Woolrich, but only if she can
stop the voices in her head. Woolrich gets a lead to Devlin.
Kathy steals the information.
That night: No voices in her head... she opens the trunk on
her own. Pulls out the weapons, puts on the bodysuit, the
mask... And goes to meet her maker.
The address for Devlin is a vacant lot. A dead end?
No. The tunnel of light... is an actual tunnel. The secret
entrance to Devlin's lair. The Ghost creeps inside the lair, but
sets off an alarm. She has to fight Security Guards.
Finally she makes it into the white gymnasium.
Where her Guardian Angel Michele waits with a sword. "Why
have you come here?" "I want my life back." "Too late. You are
dead. The person you once were is gone, only the Ghost remains."
Kathy attacks. An amazing sword fight, using the gymnastic
equipment. Kathy knocks Michele to the floor, and raises her
sword for the death strike. "Tell me how to stop the voices! How
to stop being a Ghost!" "The only way out is to give them a name.
A replacement. You were my way out, Kathy." "Then why haven't
you left?" Michele looks away, "I have no place to go. No
friends. No family, except for my niece... and she's a Ghost."
Kathy lowers her sword. This woman is her aunt.
Fire burns inside her head. Satan's voice echoes. "Put
down the weapon, or the pain will increase." "No." Kathy turns
to face Satan... Mr. Devlin. Devlin cranks up the pain, but
Kathy keeps moving towards him, sword ready. She is stronger.
Her will to live more powerful than his will to torture. "Stop
or I will kill you." "If you kill me, you will never get the
control chip out of your head." The headache disappears. Devlin
smiles. The Devil has the power to assume a pleasing form.
Devlin controls a top secret government agency that
assassinates those who are un-arrestable, unconvictable, or above
the law. When Kathy threw away her life by killing herself,
Devlin fished it out of the trash heap. The first man she
killed, Billy Chow, WAS the man who killed her fiance... But Lo-
Pan and the Groom were part of a smuggling ring that is bringing
Chinese weapons of mass destruction into the USA for sale to the
highest bidder. "Now the smuggling ring is broken... But we were
too late. They delivered a nuclear device to a terrorist cell
inside the USA."
Devlin offers Kathy a deal... A deal with the Devil... Take
one last assignment and he'll remove the chip from her head.
Kathy counter-offers: "Let Michele help me, and set her free,
too." Devlin reluctantly agrees to this. Doesn't tell them this
is a suicide mission. Two Ghosts against two dozen terrorists.
Kathy and Michele grab weapons and a pair of motorcycles and
roar off into the night to attack the terrorist cell.
The terrorists are in an abandoned factory in the China
Basin section of the city. Kathy and Michele roar in on their
cycles, starting a John Woo style shoot out. The two Ghosts
blast away, almost killed several times. The last three
TERRORISTS (including the LEADER) run to the nuclear device...
prepared to set it off.
Michele sacrifices herself to stop them... gets shot.
Kathy faces off against the Leader in an amazing martial
arts battle. She is wounded, but manages to kill the Leader
SECONDS before he would have set off the bomb.
Kathy cradles Michele. "Can you move?" No, Michele answers
as she dies. A tender moment.
Wham! A sound behind her! An ARMY OF MEN rush in!
It's Devlin and a "Clean Up Team" to take away the nuclear
device and mop up the lose ends. This has been a top secret
assignment, and not a trace of evidence can be left behind.
Devlin puts wounded Kathy in an ambulance, climbs inside.
On the way to the hospital, Kathy is weak, but says she's
held up her part of the deal. Will he take the chip out of her
head? Let her walk away a free woman. A human and not a ghost?
"Yes. Your life as Kathy Nam-Yin is over. You will never go
back to that apartment, never see your friends from that world
again. You will have a new name. A new life." Kathy nods.
"But," Devlin continues, "first you must give me a name. A
replacement." "I don't know anyone." "You MUST give me a name,
or our deal is off." Tears as Kathy says, "John Woolrich."
Devlin smiles... Kathy blacks out.
Kathy wakes up in an all white room, a Doctor over her. "Am
I in heaven?" "No. Seattle General Hospital..."
Kathy's driver's license calls her Kathy Lee-Han. The
address is a fashionable apartment. Inside are all of her
things. All of her personal belongings from her past two lives.
She is free! She has been given a chance to start over with a
new life! She smiles, happy, strong once more.
Then she sees the ancient trunk in the bedroom.
THE END.
"The Ghost" c 2010 by William C. Martell