Script: Karma High
Karma High Script #1
Fade in ...
Scene: Karma High School (Piper High school)
Wind whispers throughout the flagpoles. The bell rings in the distance.
Students scatter across campus, talking, laughing.
Then the laugher muffles.
Amara stands at the front gate, frozen. She blinks back into reality.
Scene: Hallway: morning
Lockers slam, the camera tracks Amara as she walks down the hall, the world slightly out of sync, every sound echoing too long.
Then she spots them.
Kayla. Mya. and Jenna
The bullies, same snares, same tone
Kayla: “Didn’t think you’d come here”
Mya: “Guess she likes being a victim.”
They laugh.
Amara doesn’t speak, just stares. Her eyes flicker with something colder than anger.
As she walks away, the lights above her buzz and dim, one by one.
Scene: Classroom: day
Amara’s desk is apart from everyone else’s. She draws in silence, the three girls sketched In her notebook, but each face is marked with a different symbol: a flame, a tear, and an eye crossed out.
The page bleeds with ink, literally. It drips down the edge, she touches it.
Scene dims and close up on Amara head down, a faint voice.
Distorted, whispers from nowhere.
“They owe you”
Her eyes snap up. (teacher’s voice sounds far away, underwater)
…End of day.
Scene: Montage next day...
Jenna’s phone alarm goes off to wake her, but she first hears her name whispered in her dream which jumps her awake to just her alarm going off.
Maya opens her locker to find a photo of herself sleeping, no one knows who took them.
Kayla mirror cracks when she tries to fic her hair: her reflection doesn’t move with her.
Each shot is colder, quieter. The air feels heavy.
Amara passes them in the hall, calm.
When she blinks, the hallway flickers dark for half a second, as if they react to her.
Scene: Girls bathroom after school
Kayla mya, and Jenna huddle around the sink whispering.
The room hums faintly, like something electrical is in the walls
Jenna: “I think she cursed us.”
Mya: “Curses aren’t real, she just--”
The lights flicker out before she finishes. The mirror catches one flash, 3 distorted faces.
Then silence.
Drip
Drip
Drip
The lights flicker back on, empty.
Only the sound of running water. The camera pans to mirror: all 3 girls reflections remain, but the room is empty. Just the sound of running water remains.
Scene: Hallway – Next morning
Police tape seals off the bathroom, students whisper, and phones record.
Amara walks through the halls calmly, close up on ear buds in and music blasting through headphones
Music fades in completely and a voice is heard through the song the voice screeching says “ they never learn”
Her reflection in the glass smiles faintly
She opens her locker to find inside a note.
It reads: “Do you feel better now?”
She stares at it. For a moment, guilt flickers. Then it’s gone.
Amara (softly) “Karma always does its job.”
She closes her locker. The camera holds on her face (unreadable expression)
The lights above flicker, then go out completely.
BLACK SCREEN.
Whisper: “Your turn.”
TITLE: KARMA HIGH
FADE OUT.
Why I Wrote the Script This Way:
Okay, so when I was writing Karma High, I really wanted it to feel creepy and tense without being over the top. Like, I didn’t want it to just be “oh scary girl appears, goes on a killing spree etc.” stuff. I wanted the suspense to build slowly, so the audience is kind of on edge the whole time.
The opening at the front gate, was meant to help make you feel like Amara is frozen in her own little world. Everyone else is moving, laughing, socializing but she’s not there yet. as if you get stuck in her head for a second.
The hallway scene with Kayla, Maya, and Jenna, I kept the dialogue super short because I wanted the actual scenes to carry the tension. The flickering lights, the echoing footsteps… all that which makes it scary without saying “boo.” In the classroom, the notebook with the ink “bleeding” is just a visual way to show that Amara’s thinking about revenge. I didn’t want to have her go on a monologue about it, I just wanted it to be obvious, but a bit subtle.
The montage was my favorite to write. Each girl experiencing her own creepy little thing throughout different times of the day (alarm whispering names, mirrors cracking, photos appearing) as if karma is hitting them one by one. It’s supposed to feel like the school itself is turning against them.
in the bathroom scene is the scary peak, I guess. Flickering lights, the distorted reflections, and the dripping of water, all that was put together to make you feel like something is off, even though nothing actually appears touching them or even interacting with. The horror is implied, personally finding way creepier.
Although, the ending was a bit tricky. I wanted the audience to feel uneasy, so I left it open with the note and whisper. Amara is calm, almost smug, but you’re left thinking, “wait… what might happen next?” , never knowing her next move.
Honestly, I wrote the script more so with visuals first, then the dialogue. Every scene, sound, and prop is there for a reason. I kept asking myself, how can I make this tense without showing anything graphic? and that’s how the script came together.
