Chapter 10 (The Figure of Death)

Chapter 10 (The Figure of Death) is the tenth chapter of The Clearwood Murders: Episode I - The Figure of Death. It was written by Donald Newton and published on May 14, 2021.

Plot
As Kris and Nick go through problems, the Figure secretly infiltrates the party.

Full Chapter
INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Kris, Jenna, and Andrew are hanging out and drinking together.

KRIS: (to Jenna and Andrew) He actually threatened your relationship?

ANDREW: He did. Blamed me for bringing Jenna along to the old school. Said I put her in danger.

JENNA: When it was me who offered to go in the first place.

Scott approaches them.

ANDREW: Hey, Scott. Are you just getting here?

SCOTT: Yeah. I was in debate rather I wanted to come to this party or not.

KRIS: Well, I'm glad that you did. Drinks are in the kitchen. Enjoy yourself.

SCOTT: Right.

Scott walks off. Andrew seems concerned about Scott.

ANDREW: I hope he's okay.

KRIS: I'm sure he's fine.

AUBREY (16) approaches Kris.

AUBREY: Kris, I didn't know that you and Nick broke up. When did that happen?

This confuses Kris, Andrew, and Jenna.

KRIS: What are you talking about? We haven't broken up?

Aubrey realizes the truth...

AUBREY: Oh, no!

This disturbs Kris.

KRIS: Aubrey, what is going on?

Aubrey cannot speak. She's too shocked and horrified. All she can do is point towards the back door.

Kris, Jenna, and Andrew move over to the back sliding glass door. They are shocked to find --

EXT. BACKYARD - NIGHT

Nick with his arms around ANOTHER GIRL. They seem flirty and too close for comfort.

Kris is getting emotional seeing this. Nick finally sees that Kris has caught him. Busted!

NICK: Kris, no! This isn't...

Kris is not having any of it. She walks off. Nick runs after her.

NICK: Kris, wait!

INT. KRIS'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Kris walks into her bedroom and slams the door shut. She sits on her bed to cry. But Nick storms in.

NICK: Kris...

KRIS: Go away, Nick!

NICK: Listen. I can explain.

KRIS: No. No, you can't. You can't explain your way out of this.

NICK: Listen, Kris. She's just an old friend. We have history.

KRIS: So because you two have history together, you feel that you can put your arms around her and flirt with her?

NICK: That's not...

KRIS: Did you forget about me?

NICK: No! I just...

KRIS: You just nothing! You can't justified what you did. Now get the fuck out of my room!

NICK: Kris, please, let me...

KRIS: (pissed) GET THE FUCK OUT!!!

NICK: Fine.

Nick leaves, slamming the door behind him. Kris buries herself into her pillow and proceeds to sob.

INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Nick comes down the stairs. Andrew and Jenna are nearby.

ANDREW: What the fuck...

NICK: (interrupting) Leave me alone, Carter.

Nick grabs a full bottle of hard liquor from the counter and walks out the back door.

ANDREW: (turning to Jenna) What the fuck is his problem?

JENNA: I don't know.

Cole approaches them.

COLE: Have any of you seen Paige? She was supposed to get some weed from the attic.

JENNA: Did you check the attic?

COLE: I did. But she's not there.

JENNA: Weird.

COLE: I think she bailed on me.

JENNA: That's not like her to do that.

COLE: Whatever. Come on, Andrew. Let's get wasted.

Andrew is uncertain of this.

ANDREW: Uh, well.

He turns to his girlfriend, not wanting to abandon her.

JENNA: It's okay. With Kris emotional right now, I think I'll take over hosting duties until she comes back down. You two have fun.

ANDREW: Alright. Thanks, babe.

Andrew and Jenna kiss each other before separating. Andrew and Cole walk off together.

INT. BRIDGES'S OFFICE - NIGHT

A drunken Charlie and Brett walk into Mr. Bridges's office. It's loaded with expensive stuff. LARGE FLAT SCREEN TV, high-tech computer, and a mini bar with full bottles of hard alochol.

CHARLIE: Check this place out.

BRETT: I see Kris's Dad has some good shit here.

Brett heads for the mini bar and takes a bottle of whiskey.

BRETT: (to the bottle) Come to Daddy...since Kris's Daddy doesn't deserve you.

Brett opens the bottle and starts drinking out of it. Meanwhile, Charlie turns on the TV and finds that there is a video game set up on.

CHARLIE: No fucking way, dude! I love this game.

Charlie finds the controller and starts playing the game.

CHARLIE: Come play this game with me, Brett.

BRETT: You go ahead.

Brett sees a door by the window. But he's too drunk to realize that it's just a door leading to outside.

BRETT: I'm gonna see whats in this door.

CHARLIE: (not paying attention) Cool.

Brett opens the door and steps outside as Charlie plays the video game.

EXT. BRIDGES HOUSE - SIDE OF THE HOUSE - NIGHT

A drunken Brett is confused by his surroundings.

BRETT: How did I get out here?

Rather than going back inside, Brett just walks on into the dark.

EXT. BRIDGES HOUSE - BACKYARD - NIGHT (POV)

Through the POINT OF VIEW of the UNMASKED FIGURE, we walk through the backyard, which consists of many teens partying. As the unmasked Figure walks through towards the side of the house, many teens turns to him and either nods or raises their cups of alcohol to him, knowing who this is without realizing the evil of this person.

EXT. BRIDGES HOUSE - SIDE OF THE HOUSE - NIGHT (POV)

The Unmasked Figure's POV takes us to the side of the house. But upon seeing Brett, who doesn't see the Unmasked Figure, the Figure steps away to hide himself from Brett.

With the Figure's view, therefore, our view, focused on Brett drunkenly wondering around the side of the house, we don't see what the Unmasked Figure is doing with his hands off screen.

The Unmasked Figure finally reveals to us that he has just put on black gloves to prevent us from seeing his hands as he wields a knife.

The Unmasked Figure slowly approaches Brett, who is still unaware of his presence.

Brett finally turns around and faces the Unmasked Figure. Knowing who exactly this is, Brett doesn't realize the danger that he is in and smiles at his friend.

BRETT: Hey! Great party! I think I'm getting drunk now.

The Unmasked Figure reveals the knife to Brett.

BRETT: What are you doing with that thing?

The Unmasked Figure starts to approach him with the knife.

BRETT: What are you doing?

Brett finally realizes the truth.

BRETT: Oh, my God! It's you! It's...

Before Brett can reveal the name of the Unmasked Figure -- HE IS STABBEED IN THE CHEST! Brett gasps in pain.

We CUT TO ANOTHER SHOT:

The Unmasked Figure, whose face we don't see in the dark, pulls the knife out of Brett's chest. Brett attempts to run. But he's too hurt to go fast. The Unmasked Figure immediately stabs him in the back. Brett shrieks in pain. But not loud enough to get anyone's attention.

This is a risky move by the Figure. Anyone from either the front yard or backyard could walk in on this murder scene.

Brett falls to the ground, facing the killer...whose face we still don't see in the dark. But we get a close up shot of -- HIS GREEN EYES. The same eyes that belongs to the Figure that murdered Principal McKinley.

BRETT: Why?

The Unmasked Figure doesn't respond. He just simply stabs Brett in the heart. It's the fatal blow. Brett briefly gasps and fades away. Brett Stuart is dead.

The Unmasked Figure hears other people starting to come their way. So he quickly hides Brett's body in the bushes against the house.

People from both the front and backyard walk through the side of the house. The Unmasked Figure greets them with hand gestures, which the teens happily return, unaware of what just happened out here.

The Unmasked Figure disappears into the front yard.

Deaths

 * CD = Chapter Death (Deaths in the chapter)
 * SD = Story Death (Overall deaths in the story)

Trivia

 * First time the Figure murders a victim unmasked.
 * Final appearance of Brett Stuart.