Chapter 10 (The Wrath of Francis)

Chapter 10 (The Wrath of Francis) is the tenth chapter of The Clearwood Murders: Episode I - The Wrath of Francis and the tenth chapter of the overall Clearwood series. It was written by Donald Newton and was published on June 6, 2020.

Plot
Andrew must race against time to save someone else close him. But will he succeed this time?

Full Chapter
INT. CLEARWOOD HIGH SCHOOL - ENGLISH CLASS - DAY

CRUISE: Before we end for today, I want you all to continue your research. You have until Friday to finish and hand it over.

THE BELL RINGS!

CRUISE: That is all. Have a good day.

The entire class gets up from their desks to hurry out to their next class. Cruise goes over to his desk as Iris follows him there. It's not until he takes a seat that he notices her.

CRUISE: Ms. Lilly. What can I do for you?

IRIS: Jeremy and I are almost finished. So I was wondering if we should turn it in early or not.

CRUISE: I know you and him are doing a good job. So I feel that you should wait until Friday to turn it in so that you two can polish it and make it the best that you can before turning it in.

IRIS: Thank you, Mr. Cruise.

Iris goes to leave. But she notices a toy nearby his desk. A toy for a little child. Cruise notices that she's eying the toy and chuckles over it.

CRUISE: That's for my little boy.

Iris smiles over this.

IRIS: How old is he?

CRUISE: He's five years old.

IRIS: Awesome. Are you married?

CRUISE: I'm not.

Cruise's mood suddenly changes from happy to sad. Almost like the subject is too emotional for him. But he continues on. Like he feels the need to tell Iris about this.

CRUISE: In all honesty, my son came about over something that his mother feels was a mistake.

Iris sees his eyes and how sad this is for him.

IRIS: I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring up a touchy subject.

CRUISE: It's okay. It actually feels good to talk about it with someone.

Sensing this thought, Iris takes a seat to listen to her teacher. Iris is somebody that you can talk to and she'll listen to you. Even if it's her teacher telling a student something private. She'll listen anyways. She always has your back.

CRUISE: His mother wasn't ready to have kids. She wasn't ready for a committed relationship. But I was. She didn't want our son. So I took him. I've raised him alone.

IRIS: You must be a good father.

CRUISE: Thank you. I try to be. Well, you should get going. Thank you for allowing me to chew your ear off.

IRIS: (as she gets up) Always here for that. Later, Mr. Cruise.

Iris leaves the classroom. Cruise turns to the toy and thinks about his son and the mother. There is just something about the look in his eyes that makes us question; What is really going on with Cruise's life and past? Does he have a secret? Is it important?

INT. CARTER RESIDENCE - BASEMENT - DAY

Andrew is sitting alone on the couch and watching TV. His cellphone rings. It's from ALICE. So he immediately answers.

ANDREW: Hey, Babe. Where have you been?

But instead of Alice's voice...

FRANCIS: Hello, Andrew.

Andrew's eyes widen with horror.

ANDREW: What have you done with my girlfriend?

FRANCIS: I'm keeping her around for a little game that I want to play with you.

ANDREW: Fuck you and your stupid fucking games. Leave us alone!

FRANCIS: Okay, then. If you won't talk...I'll just have to kill Alice.

ANDREW: NO! Please!

FRANCIS: Then listen to me. And listen to me closely. You got lucky last night. Let's see how lucky you are now. If you want a chance to save your girlfriend, you do as exactly as I tell you. You understand?

Andrew is very hesitant. He wants nothing to do with this. But he wants to save his girlfriend.

FRANCIS: Do you fucking understand?!

ANDREW: I do.

FRANCIS: Good. Now to find your girlfriend, you must go to Jayden's Park and go to the red shack. You know it. You've brought her there before. Be there in fifteen minutes or else she dies.

Francis hangs up. And with that, Andrew wastes no time and runs out of his house.

TWELVE MINUTES LATER

EXT. JAYDEN'S PARK - DAY

Andrew speeds into the parking lot and parks closest to the park. He jumps out and runs through the park to the wooded area. He passes through many sceneries (creek, plants, trees, etc) and goes deeper into the woods. He eventually finds the RED SHACK. But before he can run to the shack -- PHONE RINGS.

Andrew answers his phone.

ANDREW: Hello?

FRANCIS: You did good in getting here before your time was up.

ANDREW: Where is Alice?

FRANCIS: In the shack. But you are not to go in there...yet.

ANDREW: What?

FRANCIS: I told you I wanted to play a game with you. Notice the tablet on the door to the shack?

Andrew looks up to see a tablet showing a LIVE FEED of Alice tied to a chair in the shack. She is crying and begging for her life.

ANDREW: Please. Let her go.

FRANCIS: Play my trivia game and I'll let her live. You're a smart dork. I'll make it easy for you. Presidential trivia.

Andrew thinks for a moment. He knows a lot about the U.S. Presidents. He can do this.

ANDREW: (nods) Okay. I'll play.

FRANCIS: You have three questions: If you get two out of three right, Alice lives. If you get two out of three wrong...she dies.

This makes Andrew very nervous and scared. But he goes along with it.

FRANCIS: Who was the first Congressman to be elected President of the United States? Abraham Lincoln? James Garfield? or John Quincy Adams?

This one is hard. Adams was known for being a Congressman AFTER being President and was Secretary of State before becoming President. James Garfield was elected President as a Congressman. But Lincoln's biggest problem when running for President was that he served a short single term in congress without any prior or post-congressional political experience before he was President.

ANDREW: Lincoln.

FRANCIS: Wrong answer.

ANDREW: (confused) HOW?

FRANCIS: Lincoln was a FORMER Congressman. The answer is James Garfield. The first and only sitting Congressman to be elected President.

ANDREW: (horrified) Oh, shit.

FRANCIS: Next question; Who is the first American President?

ANDREW: Well, Washington was the first President. But if you want to know about the first natural born American born, that would be Martin Van Buren.

Francis laughs over this.

FRANCIS: I admire that. I'll give you this one. But you have one more question. And you must get it right to save Alice's life.

Andrew is very nervous now.

FRANCIS: Who was the first divorced President? James Buchanan? Ronald Reagan? or Grover Cleveland?

Andrew thinks about this. He remembers Buchanan being possibly gay. He remembers that Reagan was married to Nancy Davis, a fellow actor. Cleveland, however, had a child prior to his Presidency and got married while as President.

ANDREW: Grover Cleveland.

FRANCIS: I'm sorry. That's the wrong answer. It was Ronald Reagan.

ANDREW: He was married to Nancy Davis.

FRANCIS: Who was his second wife. Before he was married to Jane Wyman.

Andrew is horrified that he got the answer wrong.

FRANCIS: I'm sorry. But Alice must pay the price for your wrong answers.

Andrew sees Francis slowly approaching Alice on the screen. Alice starts crying in horror as Francis walks behind her. Andrew runs to the shack and barges in. Only to find -- ALICE'S DEAD BODY. Her throat had been slashed.

Andrew looks back at the screen. It shows Francis slicing Alice's throat. As it turned out, she was dead even before Francis called Andrew. He never had the chance to save her. Francis never intended to spare her life. Andrew collapses, sobbing over his girlfriend.

Deaths

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

Trivia

 * Another chapter where Francis is similar to Ghostface from Scream by using trivia to taunt his victims. However, instead of doing movie trivia, Francis uses American Presidents trivia.
 * Last appearance of Alice Worth, who is murdered off screen in this chapter.