[COLD OPEN – POLICE ARCHIVES / NIGHT]
Detective Cross slips past a distracted clerk with a quiet nod. She moves deeper into the old Midtown police records.
The lights above hum low. Dust floats through the stale air.
She pulls out a worn box: "Midtown High: Closed Cases – 1985–1986"
She flips open the lid.
Photos. Folders. Blood-stained notes.
Cross reaches for one labeled:
"Subject 06 - Survived"
She opens it—
But the file's empty.
A single sticky note left behind reads:
"They're still here."
Her eyes widen.
-CUT-
Watchtower High Volume 1 Chapter 5: The Ones Who Watch
—————
[HAYDEN'S DORM / EARLY MORNING]
Hayden jerks awake, breathing heavily. He stares at the note from the last chapter again:
"You're not the only survivor."
Ty stirs in bed across the room, groaning.
He sits up and rubs his eyes then stares at Hayden. "You're not sleeping again, are you?"
Hayden his blanket off of him, and looks at the note one more time. "I can't. Not until I find out who left this note."
He stands up, and puts his shirt on.
"I'm telling you man, you're gonna get yourself killed trying to figure this thing out." Ty says.
"Then why don't you help me?" Hayden says while hopping trying to get his black jeans on.
Ty lays back down and picks up his phone. "Because i'm not crazy like you."
Hayden puts his gray Hoodie on, and grabs his phone.
"Instead of, "I have to find out who left this note here" You should be asking how they got in our room."
Hayden freezes for a second… then walks out the door.
[LIBRARY / AMBER & HAYDEN - EARLY MORNING]
Amber flips through the 1985 yearbook. She's dog-earing pages, scanning faces.
Hayden looks a little glum and takes down his hoodie over his head, "I swear, one of these days we're going to get caught in this library."
"It's like you're begging for the so called inevitable." Amber says while still looking down at the yearbook.
Hayden looks at articles and gets frustrated, he lets out a big sigh. "Listen, have you found anything yet? Anything at all?"
"Nope. But lets talk about what's strange. There were seven murders in 1985. But only six names were released to the public."
"Which means that the one wasn't released was was located within the school and thats how we found it. Pretty shitty place to keep something you want nobody to see." Hayden says.
Amber taps her pen against a page. "The school covered one up."
"But I don't understand, why would they do that?" Hayden asks.
"Because whoever survived… was probably never supposed to." Amber says
Hayden eyes widen. "You're suggesting the school is involved somehow? I mean I suspected it but I thought it was just a low blow theory…"
"Don't jump to conclusions we can't say for sure the school is involved, but this is the only conclusion we can come up with so we have to go for that." Amber says.
Hayden raises an eyebrow, then flips the page back and forth. "This girl here. Abigail Thorne. No photo. No Club. No records after sophomore year."
He pauses.
"She was erased" He said.
Amber looks very confused. "No what? That's impossible, every school should have-"
She looks at the name. "Oh… Shit."
"Listen, clearly this school is hiding things. What's a place in this huge campus do you think they'd keep things hidden?" Hayden asks.
Amber thinks long and hard, then lifts her head.
Flashback
The Sun seems to shining, while the sky has a soft shade of blue. We zoom down and see a red 2023 honda accord driving next to Midtown High, now seeing who's in the car, it's Amber Smith, wearing the same clothes she wore on chapter 1, and a lady driving the car.
"So, are you ready for your first day at midtown?" The lady asked.
"Yes Aunt Cass, i'm ready." Amber says.
"Now remember, stay out of trouble all right? it's what your mom would've wanted." Aunt Cass said.
"I just wish she was here to tell me that herself." Amber says.
"Oh, don't speak like that. Your mom loved you very much. When I seen her carrying you when I went in thag hospital room, you do not know how big the smile was on her face." Aunt Cass said.
"Yeah. You're probably right, I mean she wouldn't have left for no reason right." Amber says whilst looking to her window.
when Amber is looking out her window, we see that she has finally arrived at Midtown High, but not at the entrance, Amber sees a strange part of the campus, that looks old, and abandoned.
"Is that apart of the school?" Amber whispered.
"What was that?" Aunt Cass asked.
"Nothing… also I don't think we're at the entrance yet." Amber said.
"Seriously? This place is massive.." Aunt Cass said.
Amber took one last look at that part of the campus again before looking away as her Aunt Cass drove off.
End of Flashback
Amber turns her head to Hayden, "I think I might know a place.."
[GYM LOCKER ROOM]
Carmen sits alone, headphones in. Her eyes are locked on the locker across from her. Number 22.
It's been slightly ajar every day this week.
She stands up, puts her phone in her jacket. Opens the locker. Nothing. Just dust.
Then, as she closes it—
a photo falls out from the top shelf.
It's a Polaroid of her and Chelsea, taken from behind a tree.
Carmen's heart races. She flips it over.
"Cute smile. Shame about the scream."
"What the hell is going on…" She says.
Carmen nearly drops it.
Chelsea walks in behind her and sees her looking down at something.
"Everything good?" Chelsea says.
Carmen tries her best to calm down. She quickly spins around, hiding the photo.
"You don't look so good… did something happen?" Chelsea asks.
"Yeah, uhm uh.. i'm just. tired." Carmen says.
"Well lets get going then, if you're done with whatever you're doing." Chelsea says.
Carmen nods and shoves the Polaroid in her pocket.
[TEACHER'S LOUNGE / KENSLEY & PRINCIPAL HAWTHORNE]
"You've kept this school's history under wraps for years. Why come forward now?" Principal Hawthorne asked.
Ms. Kensley looks down and says, "Because it's happening again."
Hawthorne's narrows his eyes. "You don't know that—"
"I do know.
And if we keep pretending it's not real… we'll be oulling students out of body bags again." Kensley says.
She slams a faded photo onto the desk.
It shows a young kensley in uniform— standing beside a tall, masked figure at a Halloween school party.
Except…
The mask matches the one from the recent murders.
"He was here. Back then. Watching." Kensley said softly.
"Kensley.." Right as Hawthorne was about to speak, someone walked in the room.
The door creaked open. A man with black hair, gray sweater, baggy black pants and brown shoes walked in. "Sir, you called me?" The man said.
"Yes, Mr. Witherhall. I will be with you in a moment, I am currently discussing something with Ms. Kensley." Principal Hawthorne said.
"Right. Of Course." Witherhall said.
Witherhall walks outside the room, he narrows his eyes, and walks towards the outside of the teacher's lounge.
[SCHOOL COUNSELOR'S OFFICE / TY'S SESSION]
Ty reluctantly sits across from a man, the name bolded on his desk says "Counselor Ramirez."
"You've been quiet in class, Tyrell. And absent for two days last week." Ramirez says.
Ty doesn't saying anything for a second until he looks down. "I'm just… tired."
"You sure it's not what happened to your roommate?" Ramirez asks.
Ty flinches.
Ramirez puts his pen down and looks at Ty. "Look kid, I just need you to talk to me. You're not in trouble. But if something's going on… something dangerous…"
Ty's jaw clenches.
"It's not that I don't want to talk to you, things are just.. getting out of hand. and i'm not the one you should be watching." Ty says in a lower voice.
Ramirez looks confused, "What do you mean you're not the one I should be watching?"
"You wouldn't understand." Ty gets up and walks towards the door.
"Hold on Tyrell, our session isn't over." Ramirez says.
Ty leaves either way, Ramirez just sighs.
[EVENING / AMBER & HAYDEN – ABANDONED GREENHOUSE]
They sneak through the rusted-out door behind the old science wing. Amber's been digging—again.
Inside we see broken tools, shattered glass, and…
A burnt school journal, hidden in a wall crevice.
"Uhm, Hayden. Come look at this." Amber says.
Hayden flashes his phone flashlight on where she's looking.
"Do you think there's something important written in it?" Hayden asks.
"Only one way to find out right?" Amber says while grabbing the journal.
Amber flips through it. Pages are torn out, but a few remain.
One line says:
"They keep picking the girls who walk alone..."
"They? who's they..?" Hayden asks.
Amber flips through the pages again:
"He wears the same black mask every time."
Hayden and Amber narrow their eyes.
Amber flips through the journal one last time:
"They don't believe me. Not even the counselor."
"This belonged to the last survivor?" Hayden asked.
Amber doesn't answer. Instead, she flips to the back.
A half-burned name:
Abigail T—
[Night / Dorms – Carmen and Amber's Dorm Room]
Carmen locks her door, shivering. She stares at the photo again, then shoves it in a drawer.
Then—her phone buzzes.
It's a text from an unknown number:
"I saw you in the locker room."
Another buzz:
"You're next."
She drops the phone, breathing hard.
Outside her window…
The Black Mask watches.
Then the door creaks open, She gasps. Grabs her shoe and holds it up, ready to attack. But then, it's just Amber. "Why're you holding that shoe up like you're about to hit me with it?" She asks.
Carmen has a sigh of relief, "You need to look outside the window, I think it's the kille-" Carmen opens the curtains to her room and sees that there is nobody outside.
Amber goes over too look but is confused. "Are you ok?" She asked.
Carmen stays silent for a bit, "Yeah… i'm doing fine."
[HAYDEN'S ROOM – LATE NIGHT]
Hayden returns to his room. Ty's asleep. Everything seems normal—
Until he notices a sheet of paper slid under the door.
He picks it up.
"You're asking the wrong questions. Start with the faculty."
On the back is a list:
• Ramirez
• Kensley
• Walker
• Hawthorne
• Witherhall
Hayden doesn't even bother to look outside and check who it is, he just falls on his bed. "…What the hell did you all do?" Hayden says to himself.
——————
HAYDEN'S VOICEOVER:
"It's not not just us students anymore.
The teachers are hiding something.
Something they buried… and now it's crawling back up.
They say history repeats itself.
But here at Midtown High…
History kills."
[END OF CHAPTER 5]
Hello guys, Author here(You don't have to read this, this isn't apart of the Chapter.
I just wanted to say that thanks for the support on my novel and for those who actually like it and read it, Never in a million years did I ever think that I would be writing my own novel ESPECIALLY wirh a consistent schedule, I know my novel hasn't really gotten that much attention, but I soon will make more things for my novel to gain more attention, such as a Tiktok account(which I will be introducing in the next chapter) and more things, maybe even a youtube account. There are a lot of things I want to try, and I just have to say this entire thing just gets me so exited, doing what I love every week, it makes me feel exited everytime I get up and starts coming up with new ideas. For the people that like my webnovel, please. Share it with your friends, because I have a dream to some day make this into a tv series, but I cannot do that without help, and support, then again. Thank you for reading, Goodbye.