URGENT: A Discovery - 10 Points For Best Answer?

Question

I am writing this story. It is a very long story, but basically after their mother dies, siblings Sue and John hide her in the basement. John becomes increasingly obsessed with the thought that Sue killed their mother, and in punishment decides to make her believe she is going mad.

He writes messages on her bedroom mirror while she is asleep: IT WAS YOU or CAN YOU SEE NOW? It works and before long Sue is pushed to breaking point and having nightmares of their mother. Trust begins to break even quicker between the siblings through, and suspiciously, Sue does something that means she discovers John as the writer of the messages.

When she confronts him, he admits it, but threatens to call the police. She tells him he is in this just as much as she is, and he relents. Then I:

a. don't know how to finish it,
b. don't know how Sue can find out it's John.

PS: I don't want Sue to catch John in the act. Could it be done another way?

Answer 1

Wow, that sounds great! Ummm . . . I'm not a mystery author, I can't ever come up with creative ways for discovering stuff. Sorry, I hope you come up with the perfect ending!

Answer 2

By chance she sees a letter that he wrote to someone at the same time she sees a message in the mirror and notices that the handwriting is the same.

Alternately, she sees some homework project he did long long ago where he was using some "funky" lettering ... the same that appears on the notes on the mirror.

As to how to finish it ... is this a feel good thriller or a dark commentary on man's inhumanity to man?

Or more simply: Does Sue or John triumph in the end?

If John triumphs, Sue ends up alive in the basement with her mother, locked up, realizing that she will never be found.

If Sue triumphs, she must utterly triumph ... that is, she must end up being cleared by the police and he must be found utterly guilty and/or dead.

All of this assumes that Sue (who is presumably the protaganist) did not kill Mom. That is, she may have been a party to hiding the body, but she didn't do the deed.

Clearly, one way to have her triumph would be for her to discover that John actually DID kill Mom so that the crime becomes murder and not merely tampering with evidence and/or fun with a corpse.

And of course a third possibility is for Sue to die but have the "last word" on John where he ends up "going down" for the crime that he tried so hard to hide.

Answer 3

a. i'm not sure how you should end it. maybe have a reconciling, with everybody coming clean, and restoring trust. maybe have a symbolic burial of the mother, and the siblings having to leave town because it will look suspicious. that way the story is more or less ended because everything is resolved, but it leaves it open so if a sequel is in your mind, you have the opportunity.
b. what if john keeps a journal has confessed his actions either to a friend, or on paper, and sue comes across that. or if he's writing on the mirror in marker, sue could find the marker in john's room while cleaning or something, that will make her suspicious.

Answer 4

She might recognize the handwriting on the mirror. How about a note from a printer at a library or work or someplace else she can't easily identify but does?

One day she's emptying a trash can and discovers a note that hasn't been torn or wadded up and it's obvious to her what he's been doing. She does however find out that he's been using a computer at the nearest public library. So, she goes to that library and writes a suicide note. She gives him a little too much to drink one night after supper. He falls asleep with a little over .08% blood alcohol the police later find. She gets him to the garage, puts him in the car, closes the door and starts the car with the suicide note in the car. She then goes inside, takes a sleeping pill and goes to bed. The next morning, when the pill has worn off, she goes to the garage, "discovers" the body and calls 911. In the meantime, she has cleaned up the house so there's no evidence of her dragging him to the garage, and she has left the botttle of whatever booze she gave him on the kitchen counter and a nearly empty glass on the table next to the chair where dear brother liked to watch TV.

She gets away with it.

Answer 5

Don't mean to offend you buddy but, it seems incredible to me that with these type of skills that you have, you can't finish it.

This has the making of a huge story or even a book.

I would say that a good Idea to first, have your story tell that she finds out that it is him through a dream/nightmare in which the mom is writing this, then she turns around and her face turns into John's face.

To finish it, I would have her do something to the brother at the end, showing that it was really the mother that did it through her own daughter, while she was asleep.

Answer 6

b. sue being the paranoid girl that she destroys the mirror and discovers the marker with her bothers name pasted on the marker used for the writings hidden behind the mirror. she holds it and keeps it and confronts the brother. they exchange words and brawled. sue tried to call the police but john stops her. john tried to knock her out but sue managed to go to the kitchen grab a knife and as john was about to attack her she stabbed him and killed him. sue was upposed to bring him down to the basement but discovers the body of the mother lost and goes up to check the body of her brother only to find out the body was lost. we then realize sue was really mad and everything that happened was just the inner working of her mind

Answer 7

oh have sue be the bad one and she is a serial killer and as time goes by leaves clues that lead to her brother and only him.

Answer 8

It's called writers block your going to have to figure that one out. Its not my story.