"I'm sorry. It's all because of my silly cold that the hospital sent you that telegram," Yatsuko, the mother of Satsuki and Mei Kusakabe, apologized to her husband. "The grief it must had caused all of you. I hope all of you can forgive me."

"It was simply a bureaucratic mistake. I'm sure it wasn't terribly traumatic for either of the girls. It just means that you'll be home next weekend," Tatsuo, her husband, reassured her while fanning himself off. "They understand."

"I wouldn't be all surprised if they suffered more than we know. In particular Satsuki, because she's so smart and sensitive," Yatsuko said thoughtfully.

"Hmm...you could be right," her husband chimed in, nodding his head. She then excitedly said,

"You better be careful when I get home because I'm planning on spoiling those girls rotten for a..." suddenly a knock on the door was heard.

"Come in," Tatsuo called out. The door opened and two police officers came into the room. "Can I help you gentlemen?" he asked, feeling very confused.

"Are you Mr. Kusakabe?" asked one of the police officers.

"Yes, sir," he responded respectfully.

"Can we talk to you in private, outside in the hall?" the second officer asked.

"Um, yes," he responded as he got up from sitting on the bed.

After he walked out of the room with the two officers, he shut the door and asked,

"What is this all about? I'm not in any trouble, am I?"

"No, sir, not at all." They both took off their hats and one told him in a sad tone, "We regret to inform you that your youngest daughter has passed away. Her body was found a pond earlier this evening. Apparently, she fell in and drowned. We are terribly sorry."

Tatsuo stared at them for a minute and finally asked in disbelief,

"What are you talking about? Is this some kind of joke? Given the condition my wife is in right now..." he was cut off.

"Mr. Kusakabe, we are afraid this is not a joke. We never make light about these kinds of situations. You see, it seems that your daughter was walking from home all the way to the hospital to deliver this to her mother." He handed Tatsuo the corn on the cob that Mei was carrying when she ran away. It read 'for mommy' on it in kanji letters. "It appears that she hit her head against a rock right when she fell in as she was found floating face down in the water."

"What!?" Tatsuo said in disbelief once again.

"There was no one around to hear or help her and the log that she was crossing was very narrow and slippery. Your eldest daughter even identified the sandal we found shortly before recovering her body from the pond." He then handed him the little pink and yellow sandal that had been retrieved. The doubtful father stared at it for a second, and then insisted,

"No, no, no. Both of my daughters are staying over at our neighbor's house. They haven't even left the place..." he was cut off yet again.

"And as for your eldest daughter, we are still trying to locate her. She was last seen about a few hours ago when she identified her sandal, while running off into the woods. Again, we are terribly sorry. Our greatest condolences. We know this is a lot for you to take in right now..."


(Dark Sinister music starts to play)

There are many kinds of spirits in the spirit world, such as forest spirits and even death spirits. Only certain people can see the death spirits. They have to be near death or already dead. Death spirits can be mistaken as forest spirits since they both dwell in the forest.

Flashback

Tatsuo's voice: "That's where you're wrong. I believe you are being completely truthful about this. But I also believe that you met the King of the Forest, Mei. And meeting him is a sign of good luck. But there's no guarantee that you'll see him all the time."

Mei is seen attempting to run across a wet, slippery log to the other side. Suddenly, she loses her balance and slips into the pond below. She screams, still holding on the corn on the cob and hits her head against a rock at the bottom. Her unconscious body floats face down still holding on to the corn. One of her sandals is seen floating down the bank of the pond.

Kenta's voice: "Somebody found some sandals by the lake half an hour ago. There's no way she could get passed all of those people without somebody noticing."

Echoed: "THERE'S NO WAY SHE COULD HAD GOTTEN PAST ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE WITHOUT SOMEBODY NOTICING."

Upon being represented the sandal, Satsuki immediately recognizes it and runs off into the woods and is never seen nor heard from ever again. Soon after, Mei's body was recovered from the pond, still hanging on the the corn on the cob meant to be given her mother, while missing a sandal.


This felt like a horrible dream for the poor man, it did not feel real at all. His head was spinning around what felt like a million miles an hour from shock and disbelief.

"But-but this must be some kind of terrible mistake! You've got the wrong man! First the hospital sent a telegram saying that my wife's condition is getting worse and couldn't come home and now this!? Both of my daughters alive and well at my trusted neighbor's house!" he exclaimed in shock and great disbelief.

"Sir, calm down. We very much wish this were the case but sadly, it's not. If you still don't believe us, you can come identify the body in the morgue. Perhaps you should call your neighbor and get the whole story from her," the officer finished saying.

Tatsuo put his fingers through his hair while shaking his head in denial and walked away from the officers, still not believing what he was just told. Both of his daughters were totally fine when he left them with Granny, their neighbor and family friend. And now he was just informed that one of them is dead and other one is missing.

He walked back into the hospital room, only to see that the bed that his wife once laid in was now empty. A nurse was straightening the bedding. She then noticed Tatsuo and looked over at him then said,

"Again, we're terribly sorry for the loss of your wife."

Not paying any attention to what he said, he looked over at the corner of the room and saw the old sheets wadded up with small blood stains on them. His wife suffered tuberculosis and would often cough up blood. Then he remembered what happened less an than hour ago...


Flashback

After Satsuki informed her father that a telegram came regarding her mother, he called the doctor and was told that his wife was dying. That's why the father visited his wife alone and didn't bring the girls with him. He didn't want his daughters to see their mother die. That's what the phone conversation was about, since it was off screen.

"Code blue! Code blue!" cried out a nurse who was attempting to regulate Yatsuko Kusakabe's heartbeat, who had moments ago violently coughed up more blood. Several other nurses along with the doctor were trying to help as well. A nurse was lead Tatsuo out of the room and said hurriedly,

"I think it's best that you wait outside, sir." She then ran back into the room.

As they were still trying to help her, the dying woman looked out the window towards the tree in front. She weakly said to the hospital staff, who were still frantically trying to save her,

"I'm not sure, but I could had sworn that I saw both of my girls up in the treetop laughing."

These were her last and final words. She then fell into completely cardiac arrest as the hospital staff were now attempting to resuscitate her. They were unsuccessful. The doctor put his stethoscope up to her chest and listened for a heartbeat, but heard nothing, just dead silence. He walked out of the room and met Mr. Kusakabe in the hall and grimly said,

"I'm so sorry, we did all that we could do, but we couldn't save your wife. She's gone."

Tatsuo stood there in utter silence, not even knowing how to react one bit. Finally, he said,

"I-I understand. Thank you, I know you all did the very best you could do in order to try to save her. Thank you very much for that, sir," the now widowed man said blandly.


However, he didn't believe this had actually happened, so in his now delusional mind, he imagined his wife's presence and was soon informed about the unexpected deaths of both of his young daughters, Satsuki and Mei. At this point, he completely lost touch with reality and was never the same.


Author's Note

Studio Ghibli has denied this being the case dozens and dozens of times again over the years, but I personally see too much evidence pointing into the direction at Totoro being the God of Death. True or not true, they will continue to deny this no matter what. I would not be surprised if Studio Ghibli had storyboards of this or a eerily similar ending hidden somewhere far away from public view. Other theories say this beloved film was secretly about a girl was murdered. Either way, we will never know for sure...