Channel Zero (2016) s01e06 Episode Script
Welcome Home
1 In 1988, five kids went missing.
The Iron Hill murders.
The one they never found was Eddie.
You guys remember "Candle Cove?" It's back.
When the show stopped, the murders stopped.
Me and Eddie started playing cards one day, and this one game went on and on.
There was no winner.
You killed your own son? I didn't create "Candle Cove.
" Eddie did.
He's coming back through you.
You can't lie to the Skin-Taker.
Daddy.
[thunder rumbling.]
"His stories were what frightened people worst of all.
Dreadful stories they were, about hanging and walking the plank and the Dry Tortugas and the Spanish Main.
By his own account, he must have lived his life among some of the wickedest men that God ever allowed upon the sea.
" I don't think he's wicked.
Long John Silver is a rogue and a murderer.
He engineered the mutiny.
I get why he does what he does.
Why he kidnapped a kid? He looked out for himself.
Like us.
[eerie music.]
You grabbed on to some kind of darkness inside you.
They let it out.
And you helped me.
I didn't intend to kill anyone.
I couldn't have done it without you.
[sighs.]
Let Lily go.
What do you want? [dark music.]
[gagging.]
[static roaring.]
[static continues.]
[echoing.]
Daddy.
Daddy! [ominous music.]
Daddy! [insects chirping and trilling.]
Frances Booth was seen going in here almost an hour ago.
Broken branch.
And there's transfer on that stone.
Yeah, she went this way.
All right, well, look at you.
You know, my dad was always out here first day of hunting season.
Shit, you will make a good sheriff one of these days.
Once this is over, we'll drop the charges, and you will be reinstated.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What? This is somebody else's life.
I'm only one thing that matters now, and that's a dad.
You're also a mentor and a friend.
What about your friend Mike Painter? He turn up yet? He's not my friend.
At this point, I'm pretty sure he's our key witness.
Well, at this point, I'm pretty sure we're all witnesses.
[branch cracks.]
[insects buzzing.]
That's Alex Fry, Beth's kid.
Amy.
Frances, don't move.
Katie! Dane! What you're saying is insane! He has Lily out there in some kind of darkness that he made.
And now he wants me to go join him in it.
So, what, you're gonna open some door into his world? How? I don't know.
But I have a feeling he'll show me.
Listen, I held it against you all these years that you sent me away.
But I I understand.
I I forgive you.
Why do you say that? I may need you to do something for me later on today.
Now, you're gonna hate that I'm asking this, but park it in the back of your head, and if I ask you, then do it out of love.
[somber music.]
Where's our daughter? Is she here, Marla? - Lily! - She's not here.
What did you do with her? Guys, it's me.
It's Daddy.
I'm so worried about you.
I know that somebody's talking in your ear right now.
I know that, and I know that they're telling you what to do.
But right now, I need you to listen to me.
I got to tell you about your mom.
Someone hurt her.
Okay? Whoever it is that's telling you what to do, they hurt her.
Your mom's gone.
She's not coming back.
[brush rustling.]
So now I'm gonna protect you.
That's my job, and I'm gonna protect you.
And I know that normally you two are asking me for something, but this time, it's me, and I'm asking you.
[whispering.]
The three of us, we can be a family again, just us, together.
[brush rustling.]
Erica, I'm pleading with you to trust me.
And I'm I'm trying my hardest Do you know where our daughter is? Yeah, I yes.
Good.
So take me to her.
No, I can't.
Take me to her.
Just set aside your conviction that you're talking to a sick man.
I know that you think I'm delusional, but I'm not delusional.
Our daughter is somewhere only I can go.
I am the only person who can maybe get her back from where she is, and I need to go do that.
Tell me where she is! Mike, I can't physically stop you, but I'm not letting you out of my sight.
[tense music.]
[mouthing words.]
[foreboding music.]
[mouthing words.]
[exhales sharply.]
[suspenseful music.]
[panting.]
[ominous music.]
[gasps.]
Oh, God.
[panting.]
Alex, where did she go? Oh, come on, Alex.
[dramatic music.]
No, wait.
Wait.
- Let me go.
Let me go! - Be here when she comes back.
Wait.
Wait.
Don't touch her.
[scraping and clicking.]
What the hell is that? My brother.
Stay with Lily.
Be here when she comes back.
[gagging.]
[retching.]
[scraping and clicking.]
[body thuds.]
[solemn music.]
[birds trilling and chirping.]
[foreboding music.]
[static crackling.]
[thunder rumbling.]
[static crackling.]
[door creaking.]
Eddie! [doorknob clicking.]
[doorknob clicking.]
[door creaks.]
[crackling.]
[ominous musical flourish.]
[hissing.]
[door creaking.]
[leather creaking.]
[distorted growling.]
[distorted grunting.]
[distorted howling.]
[bang.]
[heavy thudding.]
[grunting and yelling.]
[howling.]
[panting.]
[flames crackling.]
[distorted moaning.]
[suspenseful music.]
[moaning.]
[distorted grunting.]
[distorted howling.]
Mike.
What is all this? [distorted panting.]
It's my room.
[distorted panting.]
Where's Lily? [distorted gasping.]
[groaning.]
Look.
It's Jawbone.
Yeah, we met.
That's not his real name.
What's his real name? Skin-Taker.
Skin-Taker.
He's not really my friend.
He's part of me.
He keeps me company.
He'll keep you company too when I go home.
Where's my daughter? Inside.
Show me where.
[roaring.]
[crying.]
[suspenseful music.]
I want to go home.
Let us go.
Lily can go.
Not you.
I made this place for both of us.
It's your turn to be here.
No.
No taking turns anymore.
You killed me! You owe me.
I go home.
You stay here.
Listen to me.
This is not a dream.
It's real.
And if you ever hear it calling you, don't listen.
Do you hear me? [whispers.]
What did he say to you? Let her go or Or no deal.
[distorted whisperings and groanings.]
[somber music.]
[insects and birds chirping.]
Lily.
Lily.
Sweetheart, look at me.
Are you okay? Sweetie.
[sighs.]
Sweetie.
Are you okay? It's okay.
It's okay.
[dark ambient music.]
Don't go yet.
Why not? I want you to stay.
We belong together.
We shared everything.
Shouldn't we share this? You're scared of what I'll do out there.
[ominous music.]
Look at me.
[growling.]
You left me here.
You want to stay with me? [snarling.]
Let me go.
We never finished the game.
The game? The card game that never ended.
We never will.
Why not? We've got time.
It's not like I'm going anywhere.
What's your trick? There's no trick.
I promised to stay, and I will if you win the game.
Bye, Mike.
Do you know why it never ended? I was cheating.
Every time my stack got too low, I slipped a high card to the top.
I figured you were too.
I wasn't.
Come on.
Finish the game with your brother.
He came a long way to see you.
Okay.
[tense music.]
[distorted moaning.]
[birds chirping, brush crunching.]
[distorted moaning.]
[dark ambient music.]
[pensive music.]
[grass crunching.]
[door rattling and clicking.]
Where's Mike? Still there.
[line buzzes.]
[phone beeping.]
Hello, my daughter's been hurt.
So has my husband.
She was unconscious when I found her.
I I don't know what happened.
No, I don't I don't know.
I don't think so.
Yeah, she needs to see a doctor.
Can you yeah, the address, it's, um Your stack is getting smaller.
In the world you created, the cards fall your way.
I'm shocked.
It's our world, Mike.
Your world.
What about you? What will you do out there in a world you don't know anymore? I know it.
I go into it.
But without a real body, I have to hide like a monster.
Out there, I'll be you: the guy everyone trusts.
With their children.
[foreboding music.]
All these years, while you were waiting for your lost little boy to come back, it was me he was talking to.
Me he relied on.
Me who gave him comfort.
Not you.
What's amusing? You look like a person with a conscience and a moral center.
I can only imagine what's actually hunched in that head of yours Some withered, chicken-hearted thing, starving for purpose.
Honey, I'm as sharp as a razor blade.
[ominous music.]
Get out of my way.
I took care of him.
I'm his mother now.
You gave your son away.
You aren't anyone's mother.
[shrieking.]
[screaming.]
[screaming.]
[gunshot.]
Marla, get back.
[groaning.]
[panting.]
[screaming.]
[moaning.]
I got you.
I need an ambulance a quarter-mile north of Road 21 by the southwest quarry entrance.
Copy that.
Ambulance en route.
[dark ambient music.]
Good game, Mike.
How about one more? I wish I could, but I have someone to be.
Eddie Let it go.
The people who hurt us Their children It was a long time ago.
Not for me.
You can do good in the world.
I have been.
Good-bye, Mike.
I'll answer any questions the best I can.
There's still a lot we don't know and might never know.
The state task force still hasn't issued their report, and it might be some time.
But at this time, I can say that in addition to the murders earlier this year of Daphne Bell and sheriff's deputy Simon Grove, Frances Booth was responsible for the deaths of Eddie Painter, Gene Hazel, Jacob Booth, Carl Cutter, and Sadie Williams.
So after almost 30 years, our town can finally begin to heal and close the door on the tragedies that happened here in 1988.
Any further comment on the speculation that children may have been involved in the Yolen murder? The investigation is still open.
Anything you may have heard is unsubstantiated.
In the meantime, I would ask that you refrain from speculation.
Respect the privacy of our former sheriff, Gary Yolen, and his children, as they go through their own healing process.
[solemn music.]
Oh, that scar will be something.
Oof.
Thank you for getting me at the hospital.
I I don't want to press.
But don't you think it would make sense for you to come stay with us? Oh, no, I Ah, this is my home.
I live here, and I'll die here Close to my boys.
Oh, there's a blue jay who's just begun to come here.
[moaning.]
I hope he oh! - Careful.
- He isn't gone.
I put out the special seed.
And he began to just fly around here Oh, right.
[static hissing.]
[seafaring music.]
[serene music.]
Hon, come outside and see the birds.
[police radio droning.]
All deputies please respond.
Marla? [ominous music.]
[somber music.]
Good-bye, Mike.
[dark ambient music.]
No! No, no.
No! We're supposed to be together.
I'll stay.
But so will you.
The Iron Hill murders.
The one they never found was Eddie.
You guys remember "Candle Cove?" It's back.
When the show stopped, the murders stopped.
Me and Eddie started playing cards one day, and this one game went on and on.
There was no winner.
You killed your own son? I didn't create "Candle Cove.
" Eddie did.
He's coming back through you.
You can't lie to the Skin-Taker.
Daddy.
[thunder rumbling.]
"His stories were what frightened people worst of all.
Dreadful stories they were, about hanging and walking the plank and the Dry Tortugas and the Spanish Main.
By his own account, he must have lived his life among some of the wickedest men that God ever allowed upon the sea.
" I don't think he's wicked.
Long John Silver is a rogue and a murderer.
He engineered the mutiny.
I get why he does what he does.
Why he kidnapped a kid? He looked out for himself.
Like us.
[eerie music.]
You grabbed on to some kind of darkness inside you.
They let it out.
And you helped me.
I didn't intend to kill anyone.
I couldn't have done it without you.
[sighs.]
Let Lily go.
What do you want? [dark music.]
[gagging.]
[static roaring.]
[static continues.]
[echoing.]
Daddy.
Daddy! [ominous music.]
Daddy! [insects chirping and trilling.]
Frances Booth was seen going in here almost an hour ago.
Broken branch.
And there's transfer on that stone.
Yeah, she went this way.
All right, well, look at you.
You know, my dad was always out here first day of hunting season.
Shit, you will make a good sheriff one of these days.
Once this is over, we'll drop the charges, and you will be reinstated.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What? This is somebody else's life.
I'm only one thing that matters now, and that's a dad.
You're also a mentor and a friend.
What about your friend Mike Painter? He turn up yet? He's not my friend.
At this point, I'm pretty sure he's our key witness.
Well, at this point, I'm pretty sure we're all witnesses.
[branch cracks.]
[insects buzzing.]
That's Alex Fry, Beth's kid.
Amy.
Frances, don't move.
Katie! Dane! What you're saying is insane! He has Lily out there in some kind of darkness that he made.
And now he wants me to go join him in it.
So, what, you're gonna open some door into his world? How? I don't know.
But I have a feeling he'll show me.
Listen, I held it against you all these years that you sent me away.
But I I understand.
I I forgive you.
Why do you say that? I may need you to do something for me later on today.
Now, you're gonna hate that I'm asking this, but park it in the back of your head, and if I ask you, then do it out of love.
[somber music.]
Where's our daughter? Is she here, Marla? - Lily! - She's not here.
What did you do with her? Guys, it's me.
It's Daddy.
I'm so worried about you.
I know that somebody's talking in your ear right now.
I know that, and I know that they're telling you what to do.
But right now, I need you to listen to me.
I got to tell you about your mom.
Someone hurt her.
Okay? Whoever it is that's telling you what to do, they hurt her.
Your mom's gone.
She's not coming back.
[brush rustling.]
So now I'm gonna protect you.
That's my job, and I'm gonna protect you.
And I know that normally you two are asking me for something, but this time, it's me, and I'm asking you.
[whispering.]
The three of us, we can be a family again, just us, together.
[brush rustling.]
Erica, I'm pleading with you to trust me.
And I'm I'm trying my hardest Do you know where our daughter is? Yeah, I yes.
Good.
So take me to her.
No, I can't.
Take me to her.
Just set aside your conviction that you're talking to a sick man.
I know that you think I'm delusional, but I'm not delusional.
Our daughter is somewhere only I can go.
I am the only person who can maybe get her back from where she is, and I need to go do that.
Tell me where she is! Mike, I can't physically stop you, but I'm not letting you out of my sight.
[tense music.]
[mouthing words.]
[foreboding music.]
[mouthing words.]
[exhales sharply.]
[suspenseful music.]
[panting.]
[ominous music.]
[gasps.]
Oh, God.
[panting.]
Alex, where did she go? Oh, come on, Alex.
[dramatic music.]
No, wait.
Wait.
- Let me go.
Let me go! - Be here when she comes back.
Wait.
Wait.
Don't touch her.
[scraping and clicking.]
What the hell is that? My brother.
Stay with Lily.
Be here when she comes back.
[gagging.]
[retching.]
[scraping and clicking.]
[body thuds.]
[solemn music.]
[birds trilling and chirping.]
[foreboding music.]
[static crackling.]
[thunder rumbling.]
[static crackling.]
[door creaking.]
Eddie! [doorknob clicking.]
[doorknob clicking.]
[door creaks.]
[crackling.]
[ominous musical flourish.]
[hissing.]
[door creaking.]
[leather creaking.]
[distorted growling.]
[distorted grunting.]
[distorted howling.]
[bang.]
[heavy thudding.]
[grunting and yelling.]
[howling.]
[panting.]
[flames crackling.]
[distorted moaning.]
[suspenseful music.]
[moaning.]
[distorted grunting.]
[distorted howling.]
Mike.
What is all this? [distorted panting.]
It's my room.
[distorted panting.]
Where's Lily? [distorted gasping.]
[groaning.]
Look.
It's Jawbone.
Yeah, we met.
That's not his real name.
What's his real name? Skin-Taker.
Skin-Taker.
He's not really my friend.
He's part of me.
He keeps me company.
He'll keep you company too when I go home.
Where's my daughter? Inside.
Show me where.
[roaring.]
[crying.]
[suspenseful music.]
I want to go home.
Let us go.
Lily can go.
Not you.
I made this place for both of us.
It's your turn to be here.
No.
No taking turns anymore.
You killed me! You owe me.
I go home.
You stay here.
Listen to me.
This is not a dream.
It's real.
And if you ever hear it calling you, don't listen.
Do you hear me? [whispers.]
What did he say to you? Let her go or Or no deal.
[distorted whisperings and groanings.]
[somber music.]
[insects and birds chirping.]
Lily.
Lily.
Sweetheart, look at me.
Are you okay? Sweetie.
[sighs.]
Sweetie.
Are you okay? It's okay.
It's okay.
[dark ambient music.]
Don't go yet.
Why not? I want you to stay.
We belong together.
We shared everything.
Shouldn't we share this? You're scared of what I'll do out there.
[ominous music.]
Look at me.
[growling.]
You left me here.
You want to stay with me? [snarling.]
Let me go.
We never finished the game.
The game? The card game that never ended.
We never will.
Why not? We've got time.
It's not like I'm going anywhere.
What's your trick? There's no trick.
I promised to stay, and I will if you win the game.
Bye, Mike.
Do you know why it never ended? I was cheating.
Every time my stack got too low, I slipped a high card to the top.
I figured you were too.
I wasn't.
Come on.
Finish the game with your brother.
He came a long way to see you.
Okay.
[tense music.]
[distorted moaning.]
[birds chirping, brush crunching.]
[distorted moaning.]
[dark ambient music.]
[pensive music.]
[grass crunching.]
[door rattling and clicking.]
Where's Mike? Still there.
[line buzzes.]
[phone beeping.]
Hello, my daughter's been hurt.
So has my husband.
She was unconscious when I found her.
I I don't know what happened.
No, I don't I don't know.
I don't think so.
Yeah, she needs to see a doctor.
Can you yeah, the address, it's, um Your stack is getting smaller.
In the world you created, the cards fall your way.
I'm shocked.
It's our world, Mike.
Your world.
What about you? What will you do out there in a world you don't know anymore? I know it.
I go into it.
But without a real body, I have to hide like a monster.
Out there, I'll be you: the guy everyone trusts.
With their children.
[foreboding music.]
All these years, while you were waiting for your lost little boy to come back, it was me he was talking to.
Me he relied on.
Me who gave him comfort.
Not you.
What's amusing? You look like a person with a conscience and a moral center.
I can only imagine what's actually hunched in that head of yours Some withered, chicken-hearted thing, starving for purpose.
Honey, I'm as sharp as a razor blade.
[ominous music.]
Get out of my way.
I took care of him.
I'm his mother now.
You gave your son away.
You aren't anyone's mother.
[shrieking.]
[screaming.]
[screaming.]
[gunshot.]
Marla, get back.
[groaning.]
[panting.]
[screaming.]
[moaning.]
I got you.
I need an ambulance a quarter-mile north of Road 21 by the southwest quarry entrance.
Copy that.
Ambulance en route.
[dark ambient music.]
Good game, Mike.
How about one more? I wish I could, but I have someone to be.
Eddie Let it go.
The people who hurt us Their children It was a long time ago.
Not for me.
You can do good in the world.
I have been.
Good-bye, Mike.
I'll answer any questions the best I can.
There's still a lot we don't know and might never know.
The state task force still hasn't issued their report, and it might be some time.
But at this time, I can say that in addition to the murders earlier this year of Daphne Bell and sheriff's deputy Simon Grove, Frances Booth was responsible for the deaths of Eddie Painter, Gene Hazel, Jacob Booth, Carl Cutter, and Sadie Williams.
So after almost 30 years, our town can finally begin to heal and close the door on the tragedies that happened here in 1988.
Any further comment on the speculation that children may have been involved in the Yolen murder? The investigation is still open.
Anything you may have heard is unsubstantiated.
In the meantime, I would ask that you refrain from speculation.
Respect the privacy of our former sheriff, Gary Yolen, and his children, as they go through their own healing process.
[solemn music.]
Oh, that scar will be something.
Oof.
Thank you for getting me at the hospital.
I I don't want to press.
But don't you think it would make sense for you to come stay with us? Oh, no, I Ah, this is my home.
I live here, and I'll die here Close to my boys.
Oh, there's a blue jay who's just begun to come here.
[moaning.]
I hope he oh! - Careful.
- He isn't gone.
I put out the special seed.
And he began to just fly around here Oh, right.
[static hissing.]
[seafaring music.]
[serene music.]
Hon, come outside and see the birds.
[police radio droning.]
All deputies please respond.
Marla? [ominous music.]
[somber music.]
Good-bye, Mike.
[dark ambient music.]
No! No, no.
No! We're supposed to be together.
I'll stay.
But so will you.