The Sister

If somebody knows what happened to Elise,

if anyone has any idea where Elise might be,

we beg you to please get in contact.

There must be somebody who can help.

'Three years ago, I lost my little sister, Elise.

'She went out one night to a party, and she never came home.'

They're digging up the woods.

So, who was that? Er, Bob.

'You might remember Bob as the expert

'on all things that go bump in the night.'

'Call me back when you've given it a listen.'

'I'm not dead!'

Is she breathing? Stand back! Stand over there.

What did you do?!

We have to move it. I can't...

And what about Holly? Oh, you stay away from Holly.

If you're here, do something.

You sure you don't mind? Why would I mind?

I dunno... Some people might.

You should talk about her. I talk about her all the time.

You think about her all the time.

Oh...

I dunno.

It's not a words thing.

I'm not good with words.

I just...

I just like feeling like she's around.

Does that make sense? Yeah.

I talk to her sometimes. Yeah?

Quite a lot, actually.

When mum's getting on my nerves. Problems at work. You.

She was the first to know about you.

Ah!

Seriously. I told her, "I met this bloke today.

"He was like an abandoned puppy that needed rescuing."

Wow... You were probably right. Yeah, I know.

So... do you feel rescued?

I do. I feel rescued. Good.

PHONE DIAL TONE

'Hi, you've reached Holly.

'I'm sorry I can't take your call right now,

'but if you leave a message,

'I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Bye.'

BEEP Babe, it's me.

Er...

I don't want to seem an old woman,

but it's... ten past nine, and you said...

Listen, I hope you're OK.

Just give me a call to let me know you're OK.

DOOR BANGS I'm so sorry!

Jesus Christ. Where have you been? With Dave Sarkissian.

He swears he's about to make an offer on those bloody retail units.

You said seven o'clock! I know. I know, I'm sorry.

I've been texting. I bet you have!

It's not funny. Too bloody right, it's not.

I lost my phone, by the way. Lost it where?

If I knew that, it wouldn't be lost, would it?

Honestly, what a night. Dave Sarkissian's late,

then he goes on for hours and hours and hours.

By the time I get away and...

Are you OK?

I'm good. I was just a bit worried.

And I knew you wanted to have this talk, so...

Yeah.

So...

..are you still OK to do that? We can wait.

No, it's fine. Now's... good.

So, yeah... I got my period.

I had a good feeling.

I thought, this time, it would take.

"Take". Jesus. What a word.

And there's the money. Oh, the money doesn't matter.

We'll get the money. We can...

I... I dunno. We can keep trying.

Honestly?

I'm not sure I can.

Oh, OK.

I mean, every time, it feels like...

I don't know. Bereavement's probably too strong a word.

I know it's stupid.

Because they were never real.

They were never really there.

But you were hoping so much.

It was like you could feel them.

It's like you've lost something.

Does that make sense?

It does, yeah. It makes sense.

And I just... I can't keep putting us both through it!

Just hoping so much, then losing them.

I just can't do it. SHE SOBS

If you want to stop, we can stop.

But if you just wanna, like, just take a breath,

we can do that, too.

We can go on holiday. Go to Greece.

Bit of sun. Drink Retsina. Throw up in a bidet.

We can do whatever you like.

All I care about is you.

I just want you to be happy.

It's the only thing I care about.

'Ooh La La' by Goldfrapp

Hello, gin and tonic. Please?

Well, thank you!

Mate! How are you? I didn't know you were coming.

Oh, I know. Neither did I, really.

What made you come along?

Erm, well, I was meant to go to this other thing I was invited to,

but my ex-girlfriend was going with her fiance, and... yeah.

So, here I am. Billy No Mates. Right. Ouch.

Yeah, well. Er, cheers.

To be honest, I'm not even sure I like parties.

I don't think anyone does. Not really.

Do you know what helps with that?

Not liking parties? No. What?

Drugs.

Yeah?

All right.

So you do believe it all? You really believe in ghosts?

Like, actually believe.

It depends what you mean by "believe".

About 80% of the recently bereaved experience what's called

a "post-bereavement hallucinatory experience".

Eight out of ten people

will see the ghost of a person they lost.

Their mother, their father, their wife, their child.

Now, they could be experiencing an objective phenomenon.

Or it could be purely psychological.

Or it could be something in-between, who knows?

Either way, the question is not whether ghosts exist -

of course they exist. They're part of our experience.

We see them, we hear them. We sense them.

The only question is...

..what are they?

We ask only to be reassured, about the noises in the cellar...

and the window that should not have been open.

So, where does all this come from? How did you get into it?

Ah, the most predictable way possible, I suppose.

Yeah, what's that? When I saw one.

One what?

One what do you think?

HE EXHALES DEEPLY

What? Actually?

Actually.

Shall we head back then? Back to the party, show our faces?

'Over And Over' by Hot Chip

'Seriously?' He's a professor at Copenhagen.

Basically, reproduces poltergeist phenomena,

right there in his lab.

Things levitate, fly across the room.

It's like... It's like he's built a room

inside a kind of electro-magnetic chamber.

'Here we go, ladies and gentlemen, is everybody ready?

CHEERING

'Five... four... three... two... one...'

CHEERING

Happy New Year!

Hello. Hello.

Erm, boss, before we step inside... Is everything OK?

I, er...

I actually know the missing woman's family.

OK. Well, the sister, really.

She and I were in the same year at school.

Is it gonna be a problem? Absolutely not. No, not for me.

Then I think we're probably good, don't you?

OK... Cheers, boss.

So, Mr Redman,

I expect you'll have gathered why we're all here?

We're investigating the disappearance of Elise Fox.

So, if you wouldn't mind taking us through

exactly what happened that night?

Absolutely, please. Of course.

So, what took you to the party?

Ah, the host. My boss. It's sort of an annual fixture.

He invites all the other DJs and their staff

and basically... everyone in his village.

It's sort of a thing. Annual thing.

Since the '80s, I think.

And while you were there, did you see or speak to Elise Fox?

Not that I know of. That you "know of"?

Well, there's... there's, like, a million people there,

so, all night, you're like, "Hello this, excuse me that,"

so, you know...

I could've, you know, whatever, said hello or something.

But if I did, I don't... I don't know.

So, how come you're, er... Leaving?

Yeah.

Oh, it's, er... it's my ex, Richard.

Your ex. Yeah. Although...

he's not actually getting that message.

He thinks we're more like Ross and Rachel.

Oh, right. Yeah.

But we're not, we're more like Rachel and Gunther.

OK.

Let's go over there.

Happy New Year. Happy New Year.

Er, Bob, this is Elise. Elise, Bob.

Hello, Elise. Happy New Year. Happy New Year.

So, where are you two thrill kids headed?

Just y'know... home, really.

Home? Oh, come on. The night's young, surely?

There must be somewhere local we can grab a drink?