a young teenage girl (MC = main character) rides a bus home from school. it’s downpouring, so the roads are extremely slippery. she frowns while looking out at the rainy roads and listening to music through earbuds. there’s still a ways left to get home, so she closes her eyes and enters a half-asleep state. memories of her day start.

[show scenes of her bored in class and gazing out the window, making a sad face after seeing an airplane go by (wants to be a pilot but has little chance of it), having trouble focusing, being called on suddenly and feeling embarrassed for not knowing the answer and not paying attention, eating lunch in a lonely area by herself (make location some sort of symbolism?), watching other groups of friends and not understanding why no one talks to her/she can’t talk to anyone, dreading going to her part time job, and wishing to escape to another world or have a break from life.]

then the bus suddenly jolts with the sound of panicking passengers following it. with a hard hit to the head, she is knocked out unconscious. during the aftermath of the collision with the [tbd], she is rushed to the hospital.

[some sort of time change indication here – show small glimpses of the new whimsical setting? might be a good contrast from dark and gloomy opening scenes]

MC lies in a [comfy place]. she slowly opens her eyes, squinting and confused. she sees a crescent moon in a soft pink evening sky, and as she sits up and looks around, she realizes she is in a happy place/imaginary world she used to imagine and dream about as a kid (my old dream world…?), which brings a small smile to her face (“man, it’s been a long time since I’ve been here”). she wonders if she’s dreaming (am I dreaming?), but then realizes that although she is here in this familiar world, she is all alone. 

ah… well, maybe this isn’t so bad. finally, an escape, she thinks. she gets up and looks around again. if this is like the lucid dreams I used to have as a child, does that mean I can make anything happen? she closes her eyes and wishes for [object – choose carefully, potential to create important symbolism with it]. it appears before her eyes, seemingly out of thin air. she is surprised for a split second but it quickly vanishes and is replaced with a comforting nostalgia that reminds her of her vivid childhood fantasies [not sure if I want to include this or add limits as to what she can do in this alternate universe.]

from this point and continuing for a while, her mood is completely different from what it had been up to this point. she is cheerful, smiling, and happy as she basks in the comfort and simple joys of her childhood [this particular point will be important for self-revelation, and right here it is revealing the theme]. after tiring herself out, she lays in the grass and gazes at a blue sky full of clouds with a smile still spread across her face. she closes her eyes with her arms spread wide. she remarks on how finally, her mind is quiet and peaceful, and she drifts off to a restful sleep, which is interrupted when a voice says [MC]?

she opens her eyes and sees a familiar figure peering over. it is her best and only friend from her childhood that moved away a few years prior, [insert name]. her eyes widen and she says [insert name]?! then they hug and say how much they missed each other.

MC’s friend sits next to her in the grass and they start catching up like no time has passed since they were last together. MC tells her friend about opening her eyes and suddenly returning to this world. she tells her that she felt like something important happened, and remembers a dull thud at the right side of her head, but doesn’t feel the pain now and is confused about why it happened. she admits that she doesn’t really know what the situation is – if is just lucid dreaming, which she believes the most strongly, or if she was transported to the dream world. then she says, “wait, I knew something was strange. how are you possibly here? you never knew about this place.” to which her friend smiles softly and responds, “it’s not important right now. you’ll find out soon.”

then she gets up and says she has to go, to which MC responds “bye…” with a confused expression.

she gets up as well and walks towards a treehouse she lived in in this imaginary world as a kid. she wonders to herself about what her friend said, and tries to think again about how she got here and figure out if she’s dreaming. she remembers a foolproof trick she used to use as a child to test whether or not she was dreaming, after doing so, she is still in the world and realizes she is not dreaming after all. this causes her to take on a more serious and pensive mood as she continues to try to figure it out. 

eventually, it rains and she remembers looking out the window of the bus at the rain  before it crashed. she remembers the pain in her head coming from the severe collision of her head against the window, and becomes more concerned. “what’s happened to me then? am I dead? no, how could I possibly be dead… I mean, I guess it’s possible, but I don’t really know. this is all so confusing (stuff like this)”

[show time passage]

MC is having fun in the dream world again, but the condition of herself in reality is weighing on her (if she is alive or not). she spends more time with her friend [need to decide if the world is filled with more people]. [need to flesh out this part of the story more] 

around this time somehow introduce elderly man (opponent) – he asks her where he is (“excuse me, miss, could you please tell me where I am?) (alternative option- she bumps into him)

before she thinks of a way to respond, she turns to look at him and gets a sense that he is a real person dreaming or stuck in this world like she is. he asks “miss? hello?” when she spaces out, to which she apologizes and says “you’re not from this world, are you?” to which he takes it the wrong way and is offended/impatient, to which she apologizes and he says nevermind and walks away.

[time passage] 

she reflects on her encounter with the old man a bit and still finds it strange. she meets with her friend again and tells her about it. the friend doesn’t react too surprised though, which prompts MC to ask again how she came to this world. her friend smiles sadly again and says, “to be honest, I’m kind of sad you don’t already know this… it’s going to be a painful thing to tell you.” [frame of concerned MC] “actually… I died recently.” [need to flesh out details of how/whether to include this at all] MC is very shocked and begins to question if she is dead and if the old man is possibly dead too.

[somehow arrange for MC and opponent to meet again]

they have a conversation about how they’re both confused about where they really are and what’s happened to them, so they are able to support each other and bond over it. they start to get to know each other and form a friendship. MC admits that even though she knows it might be bad that she’s stuck here, she is happier here and doesn’t want to leave. opponent expresses understanding but tells her about his own experiences to encourage her to find her way back to life [include the fact that he is old and thinks he will die soon, provide some of his wisdom during this part]

she goes to sleep again that night, only to find that she wakes up in the hospital in the real world. she learns of her injuries/coma(?) [tbd] and how much they may or may not impact her in the future. she is upset about the news and doesn’t really know what to make of it. but when she falls asleep that night, she returns to the dream world for the last time (but as a dream instead of a coma).

[battle scene here – MC feeling hopeless about her future, opponent calms her down and talks sense into her – he debates with her about what she should do. this scene should go somewhat deep so that opponent can see her mental state and MC can have self revelation. include some sort of advice from him about growing pains and childhood vs moving on to illustrate points related to the theme]

MC wakes up again. this time, her family member [tbd] is sitting by her bedside. they are reading a newspaper and don’t realize she woke up. in her mind, she is confused again and tries to orient herself, and then she sees a familiar face on the newspaper. her family member notices she is awake asks how she is. she asks if she can see the newspaper and her family member hands it to her. sure enough, the familiar face is in the obituaries section and it’s her old grandpa friend from her dream. she bursts into tears and her family member hugs her. (maybe add a shot of something to symbolize old man)

[more time passes this time, shown with various scenes (PT? aging? new hobbies? better family relations? tbd). she recovers and seems happier in her life.]

while walking down the street one day, she sees a [bird, plane, changing leaves, something that the old man could’ve told her about] and remembers the old man telling her about it. she smiles at [whatever it is] and says thank you.