But what’s next for Damien?

View a trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTQzg_5SvMQ

And here are some teasers about what’s to come for the Howards:

Can a young girl get her dad back? Or will she be influenced by someone she shouldn’t?

As the family home is rebuilt, it seems that things won’t be stable for long…

A trip around the world will eventually lead to the revelation of a murderous secret. But what is it?

Sounds like exciting stuff! Stay tuned to find out if the Howards will fall to pieces…

Jake begins to worry as the flames block off all exits. He had no idea that Damien would even consider killing anyone else- yet alone him. Despite panicking, he starts to feel very sad. The little boy he had loved so much. His first child. They had got on so well, until Georgia came along. He had killed her and was now burning his home down to stop anyone finding out, with his foster dad inside.  What could have happened to make him do such terrible things? 

As the fire spreads, anxious neighbours gather outside. Like Jake, they too are unable to get signal on their phones. They have no choice but to watch the diaster unfold… 

Kelley returns from school, and is horrified to see his home ablaze. But having seen Damien in Central Park during school hours, he assumes that his older brother played no part. He just wants his daddy to be ok. 

Jake realises that the only way to help Damien is to survive the fire, and get him through this darkness. However, as flames erupt all around him and his home bursts into flames, he makes another realisation. There is no way out of this. He’s trapped. 

Damien looks in at the chaos, tears streaming down his face and thinking about what he’s done. He didn’t understand… I knew it. No-one would… I had no choice. I love you dad. I’m sorry. He watches as the inferno finally corners Jake. There’s nowhere left to run. 

Jake stands among the flames, fully aware of his impending death. He accepts it, as it means he can finally see Georgia again- without any of this needing to happen. It’ll be so peaceful. Thank you, Damien. Thank you… 

Inevitably, the flames become too much and Jake falls to the floor. He’s with Georgia now.

It’s over…

Damien feels sick with worry. Trying to take his mind off things, he decides to go fishing in Central Park. However, it’s not long before the police are back on his mind and he can no longer concentrate. Packing up, he creeps back home…

Jake re-assures himself that he is doing the right thing. But now he’s been given extra time to think; as he cannot contact them. After trying to get a signal in the garden and failing, he returns inside to find the stairs blocked off. Jake’s mind starts to race. Was that Damien? Kelley’s at school, it must have been. Why? I don’t understand…

But as he thinks to himself, an all-too familiar noise makes him turn around:

Fire. The living room is on fire.

Outside, Damien mutters to himself. “I had no choice… no choice… I’m sorry…”.

What has he done?

Realising that Jake means what he says, Damien ponders what to do. He knew that his foster dad would not understand- all he had wanted was a family that loved him more than anything. Why could Jake not see this? Damien can’t work it out.

Jake stands at the other end of the room, unable to face Damien, who turns to watch him. The one person he had trusted, the one person he truly believed was innocent- this was the one who had brutually killed the love of his life, and had tried to kill the rest of his family. Jake wonders how someone can cope with that, and want to murder just to get attention. Jake can’t work it out.

Damien shouts out to Jake, begging him one last time. He is ignored. Panicking, he runs from the house, already deciding what to do.

If he goes to prison there will be no chance of ever being cared for. He would never be a big brother to Kelley, or ever fall in love. That would be a fate worse than death for Damien and he will not allow that to happen. He’s prepared to do whatever it takes to keep his secret safe…

What would have happened if Lucas killed Georgia? 

Jake tells Damien that he had wanted Georgia to stop having any more children, before having a breakdown about not knowing what really happened. Damien comforts him and Jake decides to go to bed early. However, going up there, he finds the ghost of Lucas in his room. Lucas explains that he can come back as a spirit, but when Jake asks why, he reveals that he has something to tell his son.

Lucas reveals that he snuck back to the house that night, and saw Georgia in the back room. He knew that Jake didn’t want any more kids, and came to the decision that she wasn’t right for his son. Seeing her fall asleep, he crept in and set the room alight, blocking the doorways so that nobody else could be hurt. After this revelation, Jake banishes Lucas’ spirit from the house and completely loses it. Damien supports him and he eventually sorts out his problems.

What would have happened if Leona killed Georgia?

Jake reveals that he had wanted Georgia to stop having any more kids, before a knock on the door interupts the conversation. It’s Leona, and she is in floods of tears. She tells Jake that she was the one who started the fire, because she wanted another child. When Jake asks why she couldn’t just get pregnant instead of murdering another child’s mother, she makes a revelation. A few hours before the murder, a doctor told her she couldn’t have any more children- due to being pregnant without knowing and miscarrying.

She explains, crying heavily, that she was in such a state that night and, while hiding it well, was dying inside. She was desperate for another child to raise alongside Anastasia, and knew that Jake would probably let her have Alex due to being unable to cope from grief. Jake tells her that he understands- it does take a while but he does forgive her. She dries her eyes and is told to go and sleep. However, tragedy strikes when Leona tumbles down the stairs- and dies. Jake and Damien get Alex and Anastasia back with them and together they build their relationship.

What would have happened if Jake killed Georgia?

Jake admits that he didn’t want any more kids, thus highlighting his motive. As he tries to walk off, Damien stops him. ‘Don’t lie to me, dad. That’s not what’s bothering you. I saw you. You killed her. And now it’s tearing you apart.’ Jake confesses to everything, breaking down in the kitchen. He wanted Georgia dead because he was desperate not to neglect the children he had. He decides that it was not a strong enough motive to kill her, but explains that on the night he didn’t know what he was thinking. As the Neurotic he is, Jake runs off. Damien follows, but cannot keep up and his father disappears from his sight.

Hiding in the moutains, Jake looks out across the beatiful Sunset Valley, in a state of complete despair. Unable to face his family knowing they will find out the truth, he slowly turns away and starts walking toward Stoney Falls. Looking up in the sky one final time, he wishes that his beloved Georgia was still here with him. But she isn’t, and Jake knows that it’s because of him. Wiping a tear from his eye, he slowly walks toward the lake and disappears beneath its surface…

I think that if Damien had not been the killer, I would have chosen Leona, as it would have been touching to see Damien and Jake raising the three children and building their relationship.

So, the murder mystery has been solved at last, as Damien confesses all.

But throughout the story I placed several clues that may have led you to him. Did you find them? The post points them out in case you missed them the first time round. So, here they are. Not all of them are exactly ‘clues’ but they may have been little hints…

- First Clue. In ‘A Buried Secret’ it suggests that Lucas does indeed know something: ‘Lucas passes away, taking any knowledge of Georgia’s death with him.’ This could have led you to wonder who Lucas would cover for, but is not a clue as such.

-Second Clue. ‘So who do you think killed Georgia’ reminds us that nobody knows the real Damien, while the others all have descriptions of their personalities. This makes it sound like he is the most capable.

-Third Clue.  In ‘Tension, Troubles- and Truth?’ , there are possible signs that Damien regrets what he has done: ‘Damien wishes that she had never died- Georgia wasn’t that bad. Sure, his dad was ignoring him in favour of her, but for the first time in his life he had felt loved.’

-Fourth Clue. This was probably one of the bigger clues in the mystery. In ‘Tension, Troubles- and Truth?’, it also states that ‘As he finishes his meal, Damien quietly dashes over behind him. This is one of Damien’s talents- he’s good at avoiding people’s ears.This reveals that he is good at sneaking around undetected, and that this is how he wasn’t caught on the night of the fire.

-Fifth Clue. This one was not on the blog itself, and, while it doesn’t really seem to be much help in the investigation, may have been a really simple way of guessing who started the fire. In one of my promo videos on YouTube, the thumbnail clearly shows Damien:

Well there we have it- the clues behind the mystery all revealed and explained. However, if you have any more questions you would like answering, feel completely free to leave a comment and I will get back to you with the answer!

Jake sways where he stands, rooted to the spot. 

‘You… you what?’ 

‘Dad… I killed her. It was me. I started the fire that night.’ Damien is angry- Jake won’t understand. He won’t understand what things were like. Or why they were like that. Yet here he is revealing everything. It just all comes spilling out- finally, honestly. Truth. 

‘No… No.’ Jake does not want to believe it. He can’t believe it. ‘I believed you. All this time… you were the only one I believed.  When you told me you had been out that night I genuinely thought you were telling me the truth. I.. Why?’ 

‘She.. you… After Alex came along and mum was pregnant with Kelley, I started to realise how far apart me and you were drifting. I just wanted us to be happy, without anyone else stopping us. It didn’t seem like there was any other way… I wanted it to be just you and me. Things could have been so much worse that night. They almost were.’ 

‘Damien.. What do you mean? How could they have been worse? You trapped your own foster mother in a room and burned her alive! How could that be worse?!’ Jake’s temper was rising now, he just could not work out why and how Damien could have gone through with this. 

‘That night… I did go out. But only for a little while. I went to the cemetary, but I didn’t do any fishing. I sat there, and all these ghosts drifted past me, and I started to think… what if it was just me and you? What if there were no kids, no mum, no Leona? What if? Then, I came up with a plan, and quickly came back home. I stood in the bushes, looking through the window. I saw mum give her phone to Leona, and it gave me another idea. I hoped that Leona would come downstairs to return it, but she never did. I also hoped the kids were in there with her. But then I saw that she was asleep and I just crept in, started the fire, blocked off the exits, and ran upstairs. I actually almost got caught. You walked past me, and as you did I dashed upstairs, hoping you wouldn’t remember whether you’d seen me or not. Luckily for me it was the latter, and you believed that I had passed out on the floor.’ 

Jake could not believe what he was hearing- was this Damien saying he had planned to kill Leona and the kids as well? The kids? ‘Damien… are you saying that you wanted them all dead. Even Alex and Kelley? Two defenceless children??’ 

‘I… yes. I don’t know what happened to me that night, I felt different to how I had ever felt before. I didn’t hate them- any of them. But I was desperate not to be left out. I just.. wanted everyone else gone. I didn’t really care where, but this seemed the only way. I wanted them all gone.’ 

This was almost too much for Jake. ‘How could you?? They were your family!’ 

‘I know, and that is partly why I hated them. They were so kind to me, yet they were leaving me out of something I’d always wanted to be a part of. Ever since I went into that care home all I’d wanted was a family to call my own. The day you and mum adopted me was the happiest of my life.’ 

‘How could you keep something like this to yourself for all this time? It’s been months. Months, Damien. I’ve gone through hell, suspecting everyone. Leona, my father- I even began to doubt my own innocence. Do you know what that’s like? Do you?’ 

‘No, I don’t. But I didn’t keep it to myself. Grandad Lucas knew. I told him, the night he went up to Stoney Falls. He made me promise not to say anything- to even blame him if it came to that if it meant saving myself. I couldn’t do that, so here I am telling you.’ 

‘But you could kill your mum and intend to kill three other people as well, two of which were children? They’re not safe with you, Damien. Nobody is. I’m calling the Police, and telling them exactly what you’ve just told me.’   

‘No- Dad. Please. Please don’t. I’m begging you. Please… I’m begging.’ 

‘It’s not me you should be begging. It’s the Police. And you’ll be speaking to them very soon… ‘ 

Please, Dad!’ 

‘I don’t ever want to see you again. Your mum would be ashamed, she’s better off dead than living with a foster son like you! Get out!’

 ’I saw you’

Jake is rocked to the core by this revelation. He thought his secret was well-kept- but it seems he was wrong.

‘Damien, what are you talking about?’ He panics, wondering exactly what his foster son means. Is his secret safe no longer?

‘I saw you. talking to yourself up at Stoney Falls. You wanted her gone. She was having too many kids. You were glad that she couldn’t have any more now, you selfish old man. You think the killer did you a great favour- or maybe that was you as well, looking after number one- as always.  Seems everyone goes there to think about mum, eh?’

‘You what?’

‘Er.. nothing. Forget it dad.’

‘No. You’ve said it now. Who was thinking about her up there before?’

‘Well I didn’t want to say, but.. Grandad Lucas. Just before he- just before he died. He told me…’ Damien’s voice shakes ever so slightly as he speaks- perhaps Lucas’ death hit him harder than people thought. . It had always been  Lucas who had that bond with Jake, and Jake who had that bond with Damien. But there had never been any sign of a bond between Lucas and Damien. It shocked Jake that his foster son was confided in about this but not him.

‘Do you know why? What exactly was he thinking about And why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I- He…’

‘Did he kill Georgia? Did he kill your mum?’

‘Dad… He…’

‘I knew it! He couldn’t stand me being happy could he? I bet he told you straight away, and you both kept it on me! And then just to rub it in after he died, he confessedby carving it in her gravestone. The coward! And you didn’t even care? You just covered for him this whole time!’ Jake was shaking with rage, and was overwhelmed by a feeling of deep hatred, burning right thought him like an inferno.

‘I wanted to tell you some other way, but…’

‘You didn’t though! You lied to me! You lied to all of us. I’ll never forgive you for this. Covering up your grandad’s lies? You may as well have killed her yourself-’

‘I DID!

IT WAS ME!!’

The Howards were once a very lively household. From left to right we have…

Jake- even as a teenager, with four siblings to supervise while his parents were busy, still managed to do well at school at slowly build his Chess skill, hoping to one day become a Grand Master.

Leona- as a little girl she found it hard to get on with all her siblings, but was close to her brother Jack. Although she was shy, she did well at school and made many friends. Was also known to be violent though as she always had a temper.

Jack- as a twin he found life confusing, but got on well with his sister Leona, and they stook up for each other. Jack enjoyed painting and, like his dad Lucas, playing the guitar.

- I’m afraid I cannot remember this girl’s name. However, as Leona’s twin sister she managed to excel at school and impress her parents. She is now Sunset Valley’s most famous business-woman.

Connor- although a little slow, he was popular with both kids and adults. He loved fixing things and despite almost dying one night, was a brave boy. His ambitions to join the army led him a long way when he grew up.

Becky- with five mouths to feed you’d think she would be rushed off her feet. However, she tied her love for her family in with her passion for Cooking, and managed to do a good job at both! She also had time to spend with her husband.

Lucas- he always loved to play the guitar. When his grandad David died while Lucas was just a child, and after the horrific death of his brother who was the same age as hin, he was inspired to lean how to play. This ambition eventually paid off, and he became a rock star.

Three of these- Lucas, Leona and Jack- are currently involved in our murder mystery plot. But, with Jake and Leona’s siblings supposedly getting on with their lives elsewhere, could one have them returned to bump off Georgia? Apart from the occaisional contact via phone call, not one of the three were in touch very often. This could also explain the confession carved into the murdered mum’s gravestone…

For all we know, Damien could have mistaken Leona’s sister for her that day- they were twins after all…

Kelley runs off, leaving Jake to ponder his actions. The truth about that night will be revealed at some point, and he knows that when it does, things will get very difficult. He stands in the back garden, thinking. He had been desperate to stop Georgia having more kids- it wasn’t that Jake didn’t like the ones he had, but he was terrified they’d have more and result in him failing as a dad. He regrets the events of that night deeply…

Worried- and feeling guilty, Jake goes back inside for breakfast.

As his dad slowly eats his cereal, Damien has an idea that may cheer him up. Jake has been worrying too much about the fire, and who started it and Damien just wants them to be a family. The murder was horrible and tragic, but it’s been several months now and Jake has only had time for that gravestone. Damien wishes that she had never died- Georgia wasn’t that bad. Sure, his dad was ignoring him in favour of her, but for the first time in his life he had felt loved. Cared for. Wanted. He didn’t feel any of these things now. He begins to wonder about Jake’s whereabouts that fateful night.

As he finishes his meal, Damien quietly dashes over behind him. This is one of Damien’s talents- he’s good at avoiding people’s ears. Along with fishing of course.

Jake stands by the kitchen table, unsure of what to do next. He wants to tell someone, but it’s too hard. He wouldn’t want them to get suspcicious. Damien watches his foster dad with intrigue, before deciding to make him jump.

Damien shouts and waves his arms in the air, making Jake nearly jump through the ceiling. He had been thinking again, without a thought to any sounds in the house around him. He didn’t even know Damien was there, and gets angry at being disturbed.

“I didn’t know you were there! Do you want me to have a heart attack? Do you want me to die like your mother?”

“No- I just thought you needed cheering up, since you have no time for me anymore!”

“I’ve- I’ve had a lot to think about Damien. I’m sorry, it’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. It’s just that-”

“I know what you did, Dad.”

“I- what? What are you talking about?”

“I know what you did.

 I saw you.”

- TO BE CONTINUED…