DAYS: BEN AND CIARA’S WEDDING EXPLODES!
■ Ciara and Ben’s perfect wedding goes awry when a bomb explodes after the happy couple is pronounced husband and wife, causing complete chaos at the church. “Everything comes crashing down, separating the two of them,” explains Victoria Konefal, noting that Ciara goes from “her highest high to her lowest low in a matter of seconds. The girl is on the epitome of an emotional roller-coaster ride.”
Adding drama to the situation is that Ben is nowhere to be found when the dust clears. “After they look though the rubble all they can find is Ben’s shoe,” reveals Konefal. “As an actress, I wanted to keep this shoe as a running theme. I asked the writers and the directors if it was okay for Ciara to carry the shoe with her everywhere, because it’s all she has of her husband. She barely married him. They were married for 30 seconds, and he got ripped away from her in this tragic way. So she clings to the shoe for dear life. It’s like the shoe represents Ben’s soul and the hope Ciara has that he is alive and well somewhere.”
Shawn reveals that the explosion was no accident — someone planted the bomb in the church. “Immediately, Ciara thinks it’s Claire,” says Konefal. “Claire wasn’t at the wedding, but she knew all about the wedding details. And Ciara kicked her out of the wedding party. Ciara thinks Claire might have been behind this out of spite; that she might have done this to get back at Ciara for marrying Ben in the first place, because Claire has never really liked Ben. It’s very evident to Ciara that Claire is the main suspect.”
Ciara tears off to accuse Claire, who denies any culpability. “It’s huge,” promises Konefal of the pair’s fight. “Ciara has never wanted to hurt anyone more in her life than Claire in that moment. All of Ciara’s morals kind of go out the window. Ciara is a peaceful person and doesn’t like to resort to violence, typically, but Ciara is ready to rip Claire’s head off.”
Shawn and Hope arrive, and Ciara promises Claire that she will find out the truth and make her pay. “Ciara has a chip on her shoulder the size of a boulder, and she doesn’t really care about a rational explanation. She doesn’t care that she doesn’t have any proof,” says Konefal. “She’s holding onto the hope that he might not be [dead], but there’s the inevitable doom surrounding this because of the unknown. Ciara has no idea where Ben is. Her thoughts are very clouded. The stakes, for her, have never been higher. And she’s going to use every tool in her arsenal to find out what happened to Ben.”
Meanwhile, Belle and Shawn start to suspect that Claire may indeed have had something to do with the explosion. But when they go to question their daughter, she’s nowhere to be found. At the same time, an unseen person has moved Ben’s body. But is he dead or alive?