-Scene D(The burnt house)

(18.10.2014)
(Relu)

Second day at noon.

The sky is light blue and cloudless, the sun is bright.
Seagulls are singing and you can hear the surf breaking
against rocks.
Far from town, Amala and Andra are standing by themselves on
an isolated cliff, well hidden behind a rocky hill.
They just stumbled upon a lonely house built on the tip of the
grassy cliff and overlooking the sea.
Theres no one there and the house has been completely
destroyed by a fire. Only the ground level remains and parts
of the walls but you can clearly see that there was an upper
level.
Aside from the oceans noise, the place is very still and very
silent.
Amala: What the hell is that?
Andra: Its a house.
Camera shows more of the burnt remains details.
Amala: I never knew there was a house here.
: What is it doing so far
from town?
Andra: Its weird...
Andra starts to walk then runs towards the house.
Amala joins her near what's left of the main entrance.
They slowly follow the main corridor, looking around.

The house's structure is just like any of the town's houses.

It has easily recognizable rooms delimited by partial walls.
Its size and the amount of debris suggests it was a two level
building. There is no roof and the sky is clearly visible.
Amala: Why would someone build a house
here in the first place?
Amala looks at the set of stairs leading to an inexistent
upper level.
Amala: What a lonely place.
: Do you think this is where "he"
came from?
Andra: It's possible.
: He did come from nowhere after all.
: And this is nowhere.
They continue investigating, peering inside the blackened
rooms.
One of the rooms seems to have been an office of some sort
with a destroyed desk and a bookcase.
Amala sees something glistening there among the ashes and
picks it up. It is a shattered framed photograph, almost
completely covered with indelible black. She tries to brush it
off to no avail.
Only the lower part of the picture was preserved but you can
see it is a family picture. The hands and arms of a couple are
gently resting on the shoulders of the child at the center of
the picture. Their heads were cut off by the fire and
therefore invisible.
(Talking to herself)
Amala: Is that you, Skull Kid?
: Did you do that too?
A shrieking pierces the ambient silence and startles Amala.
She looks around with wild eyes and rushes to the source of

the noise.
At the back of the house, Andra is sprawled on the ground
with her hands to her mouth.
Amala: What's wrong?
(Points nervously in front of her)
Andra: L..Look!
Amala enters the back most room. Everything is black here too
and heavily covered in ash. There's what appears to be a bed
and some furniture. Maybe the parents' bedroom?
But something stands out more than the rest. At the center of
the room lies a dark uneven mound that catches the eye.
Amala slowly walks to it and opens her eyes wide in surprise.
There are two burned corpses there, holding each other. The
fire was such that they only appear as black skeletons now.
Amala's first reflex is to grab a nearby stick and poke at
them, fascinated.
Andra stands up and starts shouting at her.
(Angry expression)
Andra: The hell you're doing?
Amala: But they're dead...
(Slams the ground with her foot
in disapprobation)
Andra: You are NOT going to disrespect
the dead in front of me.
: What is wrong with you?
(Bored expression)
Amala: Sorry, sorry. Sigh.
(Tosses stick to the side)
(Keeps looking at the corpses)

(After a pause)
Amala: Something very wrong happened here.
Andra approaches while holding herself.
(Sad expression)
Andra: How can you not be disturbed
by that?
Amala: I don't know
: It's not much different than seeing
a big, fat, ugly bug.
(Looking away)
Andra: That's disgusting
Amala looks at the picture she was still holding in her hand.
Andra: What's that?
(Hands the frame)
Amala: I think we found the Skull Kid's house.
Andra looks at the frame.
Andra: You mean these are his parents?
(Looks at Andra)
Amala: Yeah.
Andra: Then he's a kid who killed
his own parents.
Amala: We don't know that.
: Maybe it was an accident.

(Shakes her head)

(Looks at Amala)
Andra: No, it was arson.
(Hands back the frame)
(Amazed expression)
Amala: Huh?
: How do you know?
Without hesitation, Andra points her finger to the right side
of the room.
Andra: Here's your proof.
Lying neglectfully on the floor, an empty can of fuel stands
out, half buried in ashes.
Andra: That fire didn't break out
by itself.
: It was helped.
(She turns towards the corridor)
: Also, do you notice those black
traces on the ground, under the
debris?
(Amala turns to see)
: It's kinda hard to see, but that's
the path the fire followed.
: It goes all the way to the entrance
and inside the rooms.
: The ground can't ignite because
it is not flammable.
: Hence something was used to burn it.
: I bet there are other cans around.
(Listening carefully)
Amala: ...
Andra: One last thing.
: The windows.
: They're all opened.
Amala: I noticed that too.

: But what about it?

Andra: Fire needs oxygen to grow.
: When breaking out in an enclosed
space,
: it tends to propagate towards
the nearest sources,
: in that case, the outside air, beyond
any open window.
Andra crosses her arms in deep thought.
Andra: It all goes to show that fire
was intentional.
: It was deliberately set to destroy
as much as possible.
(Sad expression)
Amala: That's horrible...
: How about the people inside?
(She motions to the two corpses)
: They look like they were sleeping...
(Sad expression)
Andra: I have no idea...
: How could they not react
when their own house was burning?
: It's beyond me...
(Looks at the family picture)
Amala: Do you think he did it?
(Side glances at Amala)
Andra: You mean that disturbed kid?
(She looks at the corpses with a
serious look and her arms
still crossed)
: We can't say for sure but who else?
: After all he did those last
two days, I wouldn't be surprised.
: And if he did do that...
(She pauses)

: then we must fear him, because

his insanity is something we can't
mesure.
(Sad expression)
Amala: Sigh.
The two girls stand for a moment in silence, processing their
discoveries. The seagulls are still singing, oblivious to the
dark scenery. Waves rock back and forth against the cliff.
Andra: There's one last thing I noticed.
Amala: What is it?
Without responding, Andra moves away from the two corpses and
walks back the way they came. She then stops at the center of
the house. Amala joins her.
Amala: So?
Andra: Whenever you investigate a burnt
building, your first goal is always
to find out the fire's starting point.
(She glances at the floor)
: Look.
Under the debris, we can clearly see that a circular area on
the ground is much less covered by ashes.
Amala: What? You think this is the
starting point?
Andra: Yeah.
: It has to be.
: The whole ground surface was burnt
except this spot.
: And the gap wouldn't have this round
shape if it was not the case.

Amala: But wait, I don't get it.

: The whole house burnt down.
: Even if you stood here, you would
still die.
: It doesn't make sense...
Andra: Exactly, it doesn't make sense.
: If I were to start a fire,
I would have done it by the entrance.
: It either means the culprit has
superpowers...
(Thinking)
Amala: ...
(Wild eyed as the answer dawns on her)
: Or there's another issue.
(Looks at a mound near her)
Andra: ...
: But we can't search for it.
: There's too much heavy debris.
(Looks in the same direction)
Amala: If only we could find out
what happened here.
Andra: ...
: Would that really help us though?
Amala: We should go back to town
and try to ask about the people
who lived here.
: I'm sure it will help.
Andra: I hope you're right.
: There's nothing more to see
here, anyway.
: Lets go.
: I don't like this place.

Both girls walk out some distance away from the house and
Andra starts to run towards the way they came from.
Amala briefly turns one last time to face the building,
letting Andra get ahead of her.
Amala: ...
: I feel like I've been here before.
And then runs away.