Chapter 9 (The Figure of Death)

Chapter 9 (The Figure of Death) is the ninth chapter of The Clearwood Murders: Episode I - The Figure of Death. It was written by Donald Newton and published on May 14, 2021.

Plot
The teens plan a party as the town prepares for a curfew.

Full Chapter
EXT. OLD BEAMER HOUSE - DAY

Clarence arrives at the OLD BEAMER HOUSE. The house is still abandoned and covered with burns from the fire that took place fourteen years ago.

Clarence gets out of his police car and takes a look at the old house. Flashbacks hit him as he remembers the fire and the death of Phillip Beamer.

Clarence pulls out his cell phone and texts McKinley.

CLARENCE ON TEXT: I'm here.

He immediately gets a response.

MCKINLEY ON TEXT: I'm inside the house.

Clarence sighs.

CLARENCE: (to himself) Of course, he wants me to go inside.

Clarence walks up the porch leading to the front door. He opens the door and walks in.

INT. OLD BEAMER HOUSE - DAY

The house is dark and abandoned. Plenty of stuff was left behind from being burnt.

CLARENCE: John?! I'm here! Where are you?

No response.

Clarence proceeds to look around the house for McKinley. But there are no signs of the Principal in the old house.

Clarence checks the kitchen. Nothing. He checks the family room in the back. Nobody there.

CLARENCE: Where are you, John?!

Suddenly -- FOOTSTEPS FROM UPSTAIRS.

CLARENCE: Upstairs? Really?

Clarence walks upstairs and looks around. He checks the Beamer's youngest daughter's old room.

INT. BEAMER DAUGHTER'S BEDROOM - DAY

To much of Clarence's shock and surprised -- The bedroom looks clean, decorated, and nice. Like the fire never touched this room. As if a little girl still lives in this bedroom.

CLARENCE: What the hell?

Haunted by this, Clarence moves on to another room.

INT. ELIJAH BEAMER'S BEDROOM - DAY

Clarence walks into Elijah's room. Like everyone other room and unlike his sister's room, Elijah's bedroom is burnt and destroyed.

Clarence senses something about Elijah's closet and feels the need to check the closet. He opens the closet door to find -- THE REMAINS OF ELIJAH BEAMER.

CLARENCE: (startled) Oh, Jesus!

It's clear that nobody checked the closet in the aftermath of the fire and that Elijah died in the fire with his father. But he was never found.

Clarence backs away from Elijah's bedroom in shock.

CLARENCE: (shouting) JOHN?! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!

Clarence pulls out his phone and, rather than texting, presses the CALL button to McKinley's phone.

RING! RING!

Clarence spins around to the ringing that is coming from the MASTER BEDROOM. The door slightly opened.

SOMEONE'S POV.

An UNKNOWN PERSON (The Figure) watches from a hidden spot as Clarence walks into the master bedroom. The Unknown Person, therefore our view, carefully and quietly, follows Clarence as he walks into the master bedroom.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - DAY

Clarence walks into the master bedroom and follows the ringing to a closet. He carefully and slowly reaches for the closet door and opens it. He finds -- THE BLOODIED AND MUTILATED BODY of JOHN MCKINLEY.

CLARENCE: Holy shit! John?

Before Clarence can do anything else -- The Figure sneaks up behind him and covers his mouth with a doused rag. This render Clarence unconscious.

EXT. PARKING LOT - NIGHT

Keith's car is the only car parked in this deserted parking lot. Even from outside the car, you could hear the loud rock music playing from inside the car.

INT. KEITH'S CAR

Keith and Lorraine are heavily making out in the car. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps can be heard coming from outside the car despite the loud music being played. Lorraine stops the kissing to hear it.

KEITH: What's wrong?

LORRAINE: I heard something. Like somebody walking close by.

Keith turns off the music and listens out for the footsteps. But they have stopped.

KEITH: I don't hear anything.

LORRAINE: I could have sworn that I heard someone walking around outside the car.

Keith sees the concern look on Lorraine's face. She looks terrified over it.

KEITH: Would you like me to check it out?

LORRAINE: Please?

KEITH: (nods) Okay.

LORRAINE: Thanks.

EXT. PARKING LOT - NIGHT

Keith steps out and observes the parking lot and it's surroundings. There is nobody nor nothing out here. If someone were really out here, they would have no place to hide. Who could have made those footsteps?

Just as Keith is about to give up, he hears -- FOOTSTEPS. He turns around to where he thinks he hears the footsteps. But nothing. Suddenly -- THE FIGURE appears out of nowhere and tackles him to his car.

Having seen this from inside the car, Lorraine screams out loud.

LORRAINE: (screaming) KEITH!!!

Hearing her screams, the Figure turns to the car. This horrifies Keith.

KEITH: (to Lorraine) GO! GET OUT OF HERE!

Without hesitation, Lorraine jumps into the driver's seat and starts the engine. Meanwhile, the Figure proceeds to stab Keith multiple times in the chest, killing him.

Lorraine steps on the gas, driving off, which causes Keith's dead body to flop onto the ground and leaving the Figure just standing there. He's not even that mad that Lorraine escaped.

EXT. ROAD - NIGHT

In the rurual part of Clearwood, we find that there is not many homes and vehicles around. Basically, it's the middle of nowhere. The Carter's SUV is the only vehicle on the road. Loud music is playing in the background.

EXT. BRIDGES HOUSE - NIGHT

The Carter SUV arrives outside Kris's house, which is crowded with other cars. The party has started. Loud music is played from inside the house. Teenagers are already drinking and having fun.

INT. BRIDGES HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT

Andrew and Jenna walk into the kitchen with bags of food and sodas. Kris is by the counter, pouring drinks. We find Brett and Charlie already getting their drinking on.

KRIS: (to Andrew and Jenna) Hey, guys.

JENNA: Hey. Where's Cole, Paige, and Nick?

KRIS: They are all on their way.

Speak of the Devils; Cole, Paige, and Nick all arrive at the same time.

KRIS: Told you they'd be here.

COLE: Sorry, we're late. I had to wait until my Mom was busy with her latest man to sneak out. I then had to take the bus before meeting up with Paige and Nick.

NICK: I'm surprised that your mom even pays enough attention to you, considering all of the men that she's "hosting."

COLE: I know. You'd think she wouldn't give a shit if I was out or not. But apparently she does.

KRIS: Let's not talk about our home problems. Let's party and have a good time.

EVERYONE: YEAH!

Kris and Nick walk off to host the party, Andrew and Jenna walk off to socialize, Brett and Charlie walk off somewhere as they continue to drink heavily.

Cole and Paige are the only ones left of our main group in the kitchen. Others in the kitchen are nameless teens getting drunk.

PAIGE: Kris still has some weed hiding in the attic. What do you say we borrow some and get high?

COLE: Sure. I have to go to the bathroom first. Why don't you go get the weed and we can smoke together when I get done.

PAIGE: Sure.

Cole and Paige separates. Cole heads for the bathroom by the secondary stairs to the second floor next to the door to the garage, which Paige goes up.

INT. ATTIC - NIGHT

The attic door opens and Paige walks into the dark attic. She switches the light switch. The light comes on -- But then immediately DIES.

PAIGE: Well, shit. (shrugs) Whatever.

Paige pulls out her phone and uses the phone's flashlight as a source of light. She walks through the dark attic and looks through the boxes that are stacked around.

PAIGE: (to herself) Now where are you?

Paige eventually gets to the very back, where she finds a big box. She opens the box and starts looking around in it. There is a lot of stuff inside.

SOMEONE'S POV

Through the POV of an UNKNOWN PERSON (THE FIGURE), we go up the stairs to the attic. We see Paige in the very back with her back facing us. She is unaware of this person's presence.

BACK TO PAIGE

Paige accidentally bumps into a stack of boxes, which causes the top box to spill out items.

PAIGE: SHIT!

BACK TO THE FIGURE

The loud SPILLING and CRASHING of boxes drowns out the sounds of the Figure closing and locking the attic door.

BACK TO PAIGE

Paige finds a brown paper bag.

PAIGE: There you are.

Paige opens the brown bag, revealing to have marijauna stashed inside. She takes the bag.

PAIGE: Let's go have some fun.

Paige turns around to see -- THE FIGURE.

Paige is startled by him.

PAIGE: What the fuck?

The Figure stares at her, cocking his head.

PAIGE: Who the fuck are you?

The Figure continues to just stare at her without responding. He pulls out his knife. Paige realizes that this is the Killer.

PAIGE: No! Please, don't!

The Figure goes to stab her. But Paige ducks and dodges this. As she ducks, she elbows the Figure in the stomach, which makes him groan in pain.

Paige starts running for the attic door.

PAIGE: SOMEBODY HELP!!!

Nobody can hear her due to the loud music blaring downstairs. Paige attempts to open the attic door. But it's lock. She doesn't have time to unlock the door as the Figure jumps at her.

Paige avoids the Figure again, running for the window. She attempts to open the window. But its stuck.

Just as Paige is able to open the window, the Figure grabs her from behind. He notices on the wall is a broken metal hanger that has a sharp edge to it.

PAIGE: HELP! PLEASE! STOP!

The Figure picks Paige up and swings her to the wall, impaling the back of her head into the sharp metal hanger.

Paige gasps -- Then dies. Paige McCoy is dead.

The Figure stands there for a moment to admire is creative work. Then he walks away.

Deaths

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

Trivia

 * This chapter reveals that Elijah Beamer, Phillip Beamer's son, did, indeed, die in the fire. Clarence finds his remains when he was lured to the Old Beamer home by the Figure.
 * Final appearance of Keith Curtis and Paige McCoy.
 * Final appearance of John McKinley (corpse seen).