Episode three
Synopsis
The last of three detailed, exciting and emotional episodes
her family away. Lauren’s ties suddenly snap away and she shoves Amanda to the ground as she attempts to run. Amanda manages to knock Lauren back to the floor, leaping on top of her and plunging the knife down next to her in a missed attempt. The knife gets knocked out of reach, so Amanda strangles Lauren in an attempt to kill her. But in her struggles, Lauren grabs a nearby loose pipe and smashes it across her head. Amanda falls to the floor, killed on impact.
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Sat in shock for a moment, Lauren looks over at Amanda’s body, and realises that the police will have been called by neighbours. She’s forced to pull herself together, cleans up evidence of her being there, and leaves. Lauren runs out of the house and slows down as she walks down a dark alley. The flashing lights and sirens of a police car speed past, but Lauren goes unnoticed.
The following morning, Lauren stands at a distance from her birth parents’ house, certain that the police will arrive soon. But she sees that Frank is leaving the house with packed bags, pleading with Kathleen, who wants him gone. As they argue, the police arrive, and Lauren watches as her birth parents are told that their daughter Amanda is dead. As she watches her parents react in devastation, a tear roles down her cheek, and she turns and walks away for good.
After killing Amanda, Lauren’s freedom is at risk. Still shaken, she calls Ethan, asking if they can meet. She explains to him what’s happened and he takes action to protect her. Calling Chris, Ethan tells him that Lauren needs to disappear. Destined to live the life of hiding that her mother faced, Lauren now needs to change her identity. The next day, Lauren and Ethan arrive at the airport, Lauren hands over her passport, which shows her photo next to a new name. With a relieved look on their faces, they disappear into a crowd of people, hand in hand.
note left by Ethan, containing a sweet message and a new phone number, with a smile, she keeps the note. About to check out and go home, Lauren realises that she left her bag with her passport behind at the Porter house. She leaves to get her bag, but suddenly, Amanda turns up with the bag, looking manic and angry. Amanda grabs her arm, but Lauren pushes her away and Amanda stumbles, causing a bag of cocaine to fall from her coat. Sympathising with her, Lauren suggests that she gets help, but Amanda aggressively says “fuck you” and storms away. Elsewhere, Frank is seen still seeing his other woman at her house, while Kathleen searches through his things at their home, finding evidence of his affair, she bursts into tears, smashing a photo of her family.
As the sun sets, Lauren heads for the airport, but receives a call from Amanda, crying for help and sounding panicked. Feeling concerned, Lauren gets her address and makes a detour to her house. Lauren approaches Amanda’s unkempt house, noticing that the door is ajar. There’s no one to be seen, but she’s surrounded by trash, broken items and the sound of loud music as she walks through the dark halls, calling out for Amanda. Looking at the drug den-looking living room, Lauren’s face fills with fear, when suddenly Amanda appears behind her, smashing her across the head with a lamp.
Eventually, Lauren wakes up on the living room floor, realising that her hands and feet have been tied up. She sees Amanda, lent over a table, snorting a line of cocaine. Lauren starts to wriggle and scream, but it’s muffled by the blaring music that fills the house. Amanda hears her and turns around, appearing paranoid and emotional, she looks at Lauren with glassy, unfocused eyes, taking out a knife. With tears rolling down her cheeks, Lauren continues to try to wriggle free. Amanda leans over her with the knife and tells her that she won’t take
Kathleen and Frank stare at Lauren with confusion and ask who she is. Lauren tells them that they’re her parents, but Amanda, hysterical and angry, refuses to believe Lauren and wants her parents to deny what’s being said. Kathleen tells them both the truth, while Frank remains silent. Looking ashamed, she tells Lauren that she wanted to find her, but if they wanted to save their family the shame from trusting a woman that ran away with their baby, they were never going to tell the police, and were going to have to pretend that a different baby was the same one they were expecting months later. So they flew to Romania, and illegally adopted a two month old orphan; Amanda.
Frank insists that Lauren isn’t their daughter anymore, and they don’t want to know her. Feeling hurt, Lauren bites back by hinting at his affair as she hands him his phone. Frank suddenly backhands Lauren across the face, stunning everyone into silence. Lauren looks at him with disgust and runs out of the house. Kathleen chases after her, begging her not to leave in floods of tears, but Lauren realises that this isn’t her real family.
Lauren melts down as she processes the fact that she has a cold, unfeeling family. Not belonging anywhere, she gives up and decides to get drunk. Spending the night downing drink after drink in a number of bars and clubs, meeting strangers along the way, Lauren tries to forget her problems. But amidst the fog and flashing lights, she thinks that she sees Ethan and follows the man outside, only to find that it’s not him. Lauren realises the mess she’s gotten into and leaves, ending up sat in an empty park. She decides to call Helen, and tearfully apologises to her for leaving, planning to return home the following day. She stumbles back to her hotel, and collapses onto her bed for the night.
The next morning, she wakes up to find a