Chapter 1 (The Figure of Death)

Chapter 1 (The Figure of Death) is the debut chapter of The Clearwood Murders: Episode I - The Figure of Death. It was written by Donald Newton and published on May 14, 2021.

Plot
A fun night for four teens turns deadly when their party is crashed by the Figure.

Full Chapter
EXT. BERKMAN RESIDENCE - NIGHT

The BERKMAN home is a beautiful two story upper-class house in a large gated property in the middle of nowhere. A family with money lives here. The lights are out inside the home, indicating that nobody is home.

The gate opens and an expensive black car drives through the entrance. The car is being driven by somebody that is obviously drunk judging by the car swerving around. Despite the driver being drunk, the car is parked safely in the driveway.

The car's occupants exit out of the car, revealing the driver to be AARON BERKMAN (17), the homeowner's son, his girlfriend MAYA SHARPE (17), and their friends JESSIE DUPREE (17) and ROBBY RANSON (17), who are a couple themselves.

All four are either drunk or on their way to being drunk.

ROBBY: Dude, you sure we won't get caught?

AARON: My parents don't come home until tomorrow afternoon. My sister is at her boyfriend's house for the night. We're good.

Aaron uses the car remote to lock and secure his car as they head for the front door. He uses his set of keys to unlock the door before opening it. The group walk into the house and closes the door behind them. The lights turn on inside the house.

We ZOOM away from the house to find a SHADOWY FIGURE standing across the street from the house, watching as the group of teens stroll through the large house.

EXT. BACKYARD POOL PATIO - NIGHT

The backyard patio lights turn on and reveal a beautiful blue flowing swimming pool and a hot tub next to it. The group of teens come out, with the boys wearing shorts and the girls wearing bikinis.

Robby lets out a loud "WHOOO!" before making a CANNONBALL JUMP into the pool. The others laugh over this. Jessie dips her legs into the pool.

JESSIE: Oh, my God. It's freaking cold.

Jessie doesn't have time to get use to the water. Her boyfriend comes out from under the water, grabbing her, and pulling her in. Jessie screams as she's pulled into the water.

Robby and Jessie come up to the surface. Jessie splashes water at Robby.

JESSIE: Robby, you dick!

Robby laughs and splashes her back. They begin to playfully splash at each other. Meanwhile, Maya points her finger at the hot tub to Aaron, who nods in agreement.

Aaron and Maya walk over to the hot tub with their glass bottles of beer and steps into the hot tub together. They find a spot and sits back together, drinking their beers. Aaron puts his arm around his girlfriend, who leans her head on his shoulder.

MAYA: Thank you for tonight.

AARON: The night isn't over yet. Perhaps, we can make it even memorable?

Maya smiles, understanding what her boyfriend is asking of her.

MAYA: We'll see, babe.

Maya turns to Aaron and they smile at each other. They begin kissing, which turns into a make-out session.

Robby and Jessie are now embraced together with Robby holding Jessie and spinning around in the pool. He suddenly stops.

JESSIE: Why'd you stop?

ROBBY: I've got to go to take shit.

JESSIE: Okay.

AARON: (from the hot tub) Don't shit in my pool.

ROBBY: I'm going. I'm going.

Robby swims to the ladder and climbs out of the pool. He grabs a towel and wraps it around himself before heading inside.

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT

Robby enters the bathroom and sits on the toilet to do his business.

EXT. BACKYARD POOL PATIO - NIGHT

Jessie is swimming in the pool by herself while Aaron and Maya are still in the hot tub.

JESSIE: I need another beer.

AARON: There should be some in the kitchen.

Jessie swims to ladder and climbs out of the pool. She grabs towel and wraps it around herself before heading inside.

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

Jessie opens the refrigerator and grabs some beers. After closing the refrigerator, she hears -- FOOTSTEPS. She spins around towards the dark room by the kitchen.

JESSIE: Robby? Is that you?

Curious, Jessie places the beers on the counter and walks into the dark room.

INT. DARK ROOM - NIGHT

It is very dark and scary inside the room. Jessie can't see anything. She attempts to turn on the lights. But the lights won't turn on.

JESSIE: Weird.

Jessie takes another look around the dark room. But, once again, she doesn't see anything. The footsteps are no longer heard either. Maybe it was just her imagination.

Jessie shrugs and turns back to the kitchen. But she stops and -- GASPS.

A DARK FIGURE swings a KITCHEN KNIFE across her throat. Jessie attempts to scream but can only gasps due to the throat slash cutting off her attempts to scream. Jessie grabs at her blood gushing throat and drops to the floor. Jessie is dead.

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT

Robby flushes the toilet and washes his hands, having just finished using the toilet. After washing his hands, he uses a towel to dry his hands off.

Robby opens the door to leave. But before he can -- THE DARK FIGURE pushes him, covering his mouth, and stabs him in the stomach. Robby screams. But his screams are covered by the Killer's hand over his mouth.

The Killer slices the knife across the side of his stomach, causing Robby's organs to fall out of the large open wound.

The Killer releases his grip on Robby, who falls to the floor. His blood creates a pool on the floor. Robby is dead.

EXT. BACKYARD POOL PATIO - NIGHT

Aaron and Maya are still relaxing in the hot tub together.

AARON: I think I'm going to take a dip into the pool.

MAYA: Alright.

Aaron gets out of the hot tub and goes over to the deep end of the pool, which is on the opposite side of where the hot tub is.

Maya watches from the hot tub as her boyfriend prepares to jump into the pool. As Aaron begins his dive into the pool, a weird FLESH RIPPING sound is heard, and Aaron yelps in pain. He falls funny into the pool.

MAYA: Ouch! What the hell?

Maya quickly jumps out of the hot tub and rushes over to the deep end of the pool to check up on her boyfriend.

MAYA: Aaron, are you okay?

Maya sees Aaron's body float up to the surface, face first, with a HUNTING KNIFE sticking out of his back. His blood starts to color the blue pool water red. Aaron is dead.

MAYA: (horrified) AARON! OH, MY GOD!

Maya realizes that somebody is at the end of the yard, standing behind where Aaron was standing when he went to dive -- THE DARK KILLER.

The Killer is wearing a WHITE BALACLAVE MASK with WHITE GHOSTS with a black hooded jacket over his head, black pants, and black boots. We'll call this Killer "THE FIGURE." (Like how Michael Myers is called THE SHAPE)

Horrified, Maya runs to the back door. She attempts to open the door. But it's locked. The Figure pulls out another hunting knife. Maya abandons the door and proceeds to run for a gate across the yard.

The Figure throws his knife, which flies across the yard, and lodges into Maya's back. She screams in pain as she falls onto the ground. The Figure begins walking to her.

A crying Maya attempts to crawl away. But she is too injured to succeed. The Figure makes it to Maya. He pulls the knife out of her back, which makes her yelp in pain. He turns her on her back so that they can face each other.

Maya is terrified by his appearance.

MAYA: (crying) Please!

The Figure ignores her pleas and raises the knife up, ready to deliver the fatal blow. Maya realizes that she is about to be killed and screams in horror.

The Figure slams the knife down to her. We CUT TO BLACK. Her screams fade out into echoes to the black screen. It is obvious to us that Maya has been murdered.

Deaths

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

Trivia

 * First chapter of the Clearwood reboot.
 * First appearance of the Figure, the story's main antagonist.
 * First and last appearances of Aaron Berkman, Maya Sharpe, Jessie Dupree, and Robby Ranson.
 * First chapter to have a murder.