[COLD OPEN – 1985 / MIDTOWN HIGH – NIGHT]
Flickering hallway lights. Rain hammering the windows. A girl runs barefoot down the same dorm hallway we saw in Chapter 1.
She's crying. Bleeding. Her hands are shaking.
We hear a deep breathing sound. Mechanical. Raspy. She slips in the blood-stained corridor and screams—
A man in all black walks towards her, "Don't scream. They wont hear you…"
CUT TO BLACK
Watchtower High Volume 1 Chapter 4: Shadows Still Lie
[SCENE 1 – PRESENT DAY / SCHOOL ARCHIVES – MORNING]
"Kensley?? Like our Math teacher Ms. Kensley..?" Amber questions.
Hayden looks at the name one last time. "Theres no doubt about it. It says Kensley, but there isn't any confirmation it's actually her name though, do you know how many Kensley's are in this world?!"
"We can't take any risks we need to go off of evidence.." Amber says.
Hayden looks glum and puts his hand on his chin. "Listen, I found old faculty records in one of the boxes but I put them away."
Hayden takes the faculty records out of the box and gives them to Amber. "Lets see if we can find anything through that."
Amber finds a faded file titled:
"Incident 112-A / Confidential – Night of October 3rd, 1985"
It's mostly redacted. But one name isn't:
Samantha Kensley – Student Witness
"Kensley was a student here…" Amber whispers
"What? What did you find??" Hayden asks
Amber shows him the paper and Hayden's eyes widen.
*RIIIIIIIIIIIING*
The Bell rung.
"I guess we wont be skipping lunch anyways.." Hayden says.
[Cafeteria - Afternoon]
Hayden and Amber are seen walking together in the Cafeteria, people look, whispering to each other.
Carmen waves at Amber, signaling her to come to her table. "I'm gonna go sit with my friends, lets talk later alright?" Amber says to Hayden.
"Alright, i'll see you" Hayden says while waving and walking away."
Hayden sits across from Ty. The cafeteria is buzzing louder than usual, but their corner feels quiet. Ty's barely touched his food.
"Dude, why didn't you tell me you liked Amber? You guys are already a thing??" Ty says.
A confused Hayden says "What?" *Realizes* "What me and her walking in the cafeteria at the same time? That was nothing."
"Does that explain why you two waved at each other?" Ty asks.
"Dude just shut up." Hayden says.
"Alright, Alright." Ty calms down.
"Also, you know the cops think you're making it up, right?" Ty says.
"What? So you're saying you think I tried to stab myself in my sleep??" Hayden exclaims.
"I didn't say that. I'm just saying… The cops aren't believing your story. Cause what 16 year old runs after a confirmed serial killer?" Ty says.
"One that doesn't get held back by fear." Hayden says.
"Don't ever say that again that was corny. Also, you're acting different now. Like… obsessed." Ty says.
Hayden looks at Ty for a long beat. Something's different about his friend. Not colder… just distant.
"If I stop being obsessed, then i'll get burned out." Hayden says.
We zoom into Amber and her friends who are 5 tables behind Hayden and Ty.
"Who was that guy you were walking with?" Carmen asks.
"Hm? Oh that was Hayden Reeve, we were just… getting to know each other." Amber says.
All the girls at the table stare at Amber. "Ok seriously it's not like that."
"Mmmmmhmm" They all said.
Amber shakes her head clearly embarrassed, "I'm getting my food."
[SCHOOL ROOFTOP – AMBER & HAYDEN — MID EVENING]
Amber and Hayden meet where no one else goes—above the noise, above the lies.
Amber stands near the edge with her arms behind her back and a file in her hand. She looks at a building on campus that the sun is being reflected on.
Hayden opens the door to the roof and calls our for Amber. "You shouldn't stay to close to the roof."
Amber turns around.
"I read an article online that a 13 year old girl fell off a building rooftop just by being close to it." Hayden says.
"What are you worried about me Mr. Reeve?" Amber says while smiling.
Hayden laughs. "Nevermind you can fall for all I care."
Amber gets away from the edge. "Alright then lets be serious." She says.
"What are we discussing? Is this about Ms. Kensley?" Hayden asks while crossing his arms.
"After lunch was over I went back down to the Library and I found something else." Amber says
Hayden seems intrigued. "What'd you find?"
"Kensley lied. She was a student during a string of murders in the 80s. Same dorm. Same pattern."
"Girl, Girl, Boy, Boy?" Hayden asks.
"Yes exactly." Amber says.
She tosses him a file. He scans it quickly.
"I guess this rules out the possibility of her being The Killer, or I guess its more appropriate to call them The Watcher now." Hayden says.
"Yes she may not be The Killer-" Amber gets cut off
"But she is connected" Hayden looks up at her.
"And either that, or she survived the first Watcher." Amber says.
Hayden puts his hands on his chin.
"What're you thinking? you're doing that thing again where you put your hand on your chin." Amber asks.
"What're the chances she gives us information?" Hayden asks.
Amber doesn't even take time to think, "Extremely Low." She says immediately. "We can't just go up to her and ask about her dead friends 4 decades ago. We need more evidence to confront her." Amber says.
Hayden thinks long and hard.
"Y'know, there's also the possibility that we go to the polic-" Amber is cut off
"No way. We do this ourselves." Hayden says.
"Hayden.." Amber sighs.
"No we don't need them Amber, we've already found more information than them, more information they couldn't even find." Hayden says.
"I hear what your saying but regardless of that fact, eventually we are going to need to get the police involved and you know that." Amber says.
Hayden puts his head down. "Lets just go inside."
[GYMNASIUM – PE CLASS]
Carmen jogs around the track. A girl around the same height as her with talk hair and gym shorts with a half zipped jackets and wearing headphones runs up next to her.
"Hey Chelsea!" Carmen says.
"Hey! I didn't think you were in my Gym Class." Chelsea says.
"Really? I guess i'm only that talkative around Amber." Carmen says.
They both laugh.
"Hey uh, do you ever feel like we're being watched..?" Carmen says quietly.
"Uh, this is gym class. Pretty sure Coach Reigns has cameras in his eyebrows." Chelsea says jokingly.
Carmen doesn't laugh.
"Girl if you seriously feel like you're being stalked.." Chelsea says.
"No its not that." Carmen says.
She looks to the bleachers. A figure in a black hoodie sits there.
Watching. Not Moving.
When Carmen blinks, they're gone. She purs her hoodie over her head and tries not to think about it much.
[POLICE STATION]
Detective Cross lays out all the victims on the board. 5 pins, one red pin in the middle stands out.
Hayden Reeve – Targeted. Survived
Detective Cross is joined by a younger officer that takes a look at the board.
"Hey uh, you've been in this room for hours, maybe you should get something to eat?" The Officer says.
Cross doesn't say anything, she keeps anaylzing the board.
"So what do you think we're missing?" The Officer asks.
"The Motive. Whoever this is, they're escalating. Breaking patterns. Choosing who lives. He killed 3 people in less than a week." Cross says.
"Maybe that Hayden kid might know something, He ran after the killer twice now right? surely he must've found something that leads to who it might be, or maybe even a description?" The Officer says.
Detective Cross looks at the officer, than stares back at the board.
She circles the name Hayden again.
[AFTER SCHOOL - LATE EVENING ]
We see a door with shaded glass that is labeled: Detention Room
Someone opens the door, and we see Hayden Reeve sitting all the way in rhe front facing the wall.
Hayden turns his head to see who entered the room, widen eyes he says, "Ms. Kensley?"
Kensley walks towards the front desk of the room and places down a big binder and folders, she opens one and reads out, "Hayden Reeve, detention for skipping curfew. I was reading your file earlier today, and its said here that you skipped one of your classes, what do you have to say on that?"
Hayden looks worried, "I was at the Nurses office."
"Well its said here that multiple students saw you and Amber Smith walking in together in the cafeteria, so were you just both at the nurses office?" Kensley asks.
"Yes… we were." Hayden says.
"You just hesitated so that means you're lying. Tell me where you really were or else the school is going to have to suspend you." Kensley warns.
"Ok. You want to know where I was? I was at the Library." Hayden says.
"Excuse me? You should know that the Library is most definitely off limits!" Kensley says.
"Let me finish, want to know why I was there? I find it odd that I get in a life or death situation twice at a prestigious school that is supposed to have high security. So when someone tries to kill me and I find out this isn't the first time this school has had murders, what curious person wouldn't want to figure it out? I saw old articles, I know you're one of the students that survived the previous Midtown Murders in the past, from The Watcher."
Kensley drops her pen and looks like she just seen a ghost. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into.."
"Elaborate." Hayden says.
"I have seen kore blood in these halls than you ever will. I watched my friends die! and if you keep going down this path… You might not make it to graduation." Kensley says while picking up all her stuff and walking out the room.
Hayden has a big sigh. "Did I push too hard?"
Hayden looks at the camera in the top corner of the room and narrows his eyes.
[MIDTOWN HALLWAY - LATE EVENING]
Amber and Carmen talk quietly by the lockers, we zoom in on their conversation.
"Hey Carmen, do you ever feel like there's something off about this place?" Amber asks.
Carmen glances over Amber's shoulder, she turns her head around to see if anyone is watching, then leans in. "Yeah. I feel it every night. Especially when I'm alone."
Amber looks for a second with widen eyes, "I thought that you didn't think much of this place like that."
"It's just.. lately I feel like someone has been watching me, I can't shake the feeling." Carmen says.
"Listen i'm here with you if you need anything ok? You shouldn't feel scared. Also I have something to ask you.." Amber says.
"Ask me what?" Carmen questions.
"Do you know anything… about the original Murders here?" Amber asks.
Carmen goes pale for a second. Her Voice lowers. "My mom went here. She used to have nightmares. Said she saw "the black mask" in her dreams."
Amber is truly curious, who would do such a thing and kill all these people? She's just more determined to find out.
[BOY'S DORM / HAYDEN'S ROOM – LATE NIGHT]
Hayden lies in bed, wide awake, flipping through and old yearbook Amber gave him.
He finds a group photo. One face looks hauntingly familiar.
Samantha Kensley – Student Body Vice President – Class of '85
Suddenly—the lights flicker.
A knock at the window.
He stands up, walks towards the window, opens the curtains.
Nothing there.
But when he turns back, his door is slightly opened, and there's a note on his bed that wasn't there before:
"You're not the only survivor."
Hayden quickly opens his door to see who had left this, he looks to the left, no one there. He looks to the right, no one there..
He just stares at the photo and then slams the door shut.
[UNKNOWN LOCATION]
A wall of photos. A fresh one is pinned up—Amber Smith, taken from the rooftop earlier that day.
The Killer's hand scribbles three words beneath her picture:
"She knows too much."
He lowers the pen…
And we see behind him—a Midtown High teacher's badge.
But not whose.
Hayden Reeve(Voiceover):
"This school has blood in its foundation. Some of it's fresh. Some of it's old. But it's all still bleeding. And I'm starting to wonder… Maybe the killer never left. Maybe… they just changed faces."
[END OF CHAPTER 4]