A Long Way Down Page #4

Jess, tell me, was that

what drove you up there?

Jennifer's disappearance?

It must have been so painful.

I can see you're getting upset.

You must have felt so alone.

I said, "Talk to Maureen", b*tch!

Many apologies. As you can see...

Why didn't you f***ing

listen to me?

I told you to f***ing listen to me!

Jess! Jess, come back.

- It's you.

- Hey.

I was just checking to see

if you're... You're OK.

Yeah.

Never better, champ.

That, er... That right?

Are you gonna keep following me?

Do you know where you're going?

Yeah. I know where I'm going.

I'm going where I always go.

Yeah?

Can you walk beside

me, not behind me?

'Cos my arse isn't my best feature.

Yeah, you, er...

You mentioned that.

This is where she parked it.

- Parked what?

- Mum's car.

My car.

Well, it was gonna be my car

when Jen went to university.

Found the car.

Didn't find her.

You know, just... Just gone.

Perhaps she learnt

how to be invisible.

Must be tough.

My dad organised this

nationwide search.

He really, really got

into it, you know.

Mum...

From the beginning

just gave up hope.

Anyway.

At least I don't have cancer.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You don't have cancer, do you?

What?

I can see it. I can tell.

If I look healthy, it's because of

the drug regimen I'm on right now.

I've never seen you

take a single pill.

Well, the drug regimen

is pretty minimal.

JJ.

I'm a professional liar. You're

not even a competent one.

It just... It just

came out, you know.

And once it... came out,

I couldn't take it back, so...

You were going to

jump, weren't you?

You weren't just delivering pizzas

and then you got too polite?

Yeah, I was...

I was going to jump, yeah.

Why?

Why, er...

It's a simple enough question, JJ.

You're a paedophile, like Martin.

Oh.

What are the chances of that?

Four suicidalists, one roof,

two of them paedophiles.

That's practically a convention.

Look, I know I

shouldn't have... lied.

It's just, cancer seemed...

easier.

- You're a strange guy, JJ.

- Huh.

F*** it, I'm stranger.

I like coming and hanging out at the

place where my sister disappeared.

Hmm. Look.

What?

Swifts.

You know my favourite

thing about swifts?

They nest on the wing.

They're born and then they're fed.

And from the moment they

leave their birthplace,

they don't come down for two

years until they're ready

to create other baby swifts.

Oh, my gosh.

You're a birdwatcher.

That's why you wanted

to kill yourself.

No, no, I understand now.

- Oh, yeah?

- Yeah, yeah.

Good, good.

One elephant.

Two elephants.

Three elephants.

Four elephants.

One elephant.

Two elephants.

Three eleph...

My first band was called Gepetto.

We were a grunge band after

grunge had long been forgotten.

Timing has never

been my strong suit.

We came third in the Idaho

state Battle of the Bands.

We got our pictures in the paper

and I was recognised in the mall.

For me, that was fame.

But fame like this, like

the Topper House Four...

Suicide again, then, is it?

Hi, Gladys.

Those press still about?

Yeah.

In a mere three weeks,

we'd not only not died,

but we'd been on the front

pages of all the tabloids

and led many people to believe

again in the existence of angels,

or, at least, Jess had.

We even had questions asked

about us in Parliament,

though that might have been

just to embarrass Jess' dad.

It was Martin who

suggested getting away.

He said we'd be like

Butch and Sundance.

Jess reminded him that didn't

work out so well for them.

But it seemed like a good idea.

Get away and hope that

by the time we got back

we'd be forgotten and the world

would be a kinder place.

To us, and for us.

I wish I had thought life a

better option than death,

but I didn't, and wishing

wasn't going to fix it.

To quote one of Gepetto's songs,

"I don't mind the pain,

it's the hope that kills me."

Yeah, we were pretty deep.

OK, fiver says one of us punches

one of the others before

the end of the holiday.

- Punches?

- Like kicks or slaps or tickles.

One of us will use physical

violence against one of the others

- before the week's out.

- OK.

This holiday is going

to be a disaster.

Oh, I hope so.

So, who's looking

after Matty, Maureen?

No one. She's just left

some food in the fridge

and some wet wipes by the bed.

I'm sure the break will do

you both the world of good.

- Yeah, that's what Dr Stephens said.

- Yeah. Yeah.

- He's taken him for a week's observation.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Your boarding pass, Madam.

- Yeah, go ahead.

Your boarding pass, with

your flight details on it.

You were handed it at check-in.

This?

And your passport.

OK.

There you go.

Thank you very much.

Maureen? Maureen!

- Uh, no, sorry. You can't go backwards.

- Maureen, stop.

Please stop, Maureen.

Please, please stop.

It's just a trip, that's all.

Just a trip, till all this

press nonsense blows over.

- It's for the best.

- This is all... It's just all too much.

I mean, I don't know you.

And I don't travel

well. And I've...

I've never been on a 'plane before.

- You've never been on a 'plane before?

- Shut up, Jess.

Maureen, if you're afraid of

flying, I've got these tablets.

I'm not afraid of

flying. It's just, I'm...

I didn't want to be in the papers

and I didn't want to be on TV,

and I don't want to be

here now. I just...

I just want to go back

to my old life, OK?

But your old life wasn't

very good, Maureen.

Look, we made a pact.

This is the final call for

Flight CA432 to Tenerife.

Will all remaining passengers

please make their way to Gate C38

- immediately.

- It's gonna be fine.

Come on.

- To a really good holiday.

- To life.

Good afternoon.

My name is Angelo and

I will be your waiter.

Well, sometimes I will.

Other times I will be theirs.

It's just a joke. Real, but a joke.

Hello, Angelo.

So, you're from England? How nice.

Yeah, you knew that, Angelo.

You just talked English to us.

I did, I did.

Is he always this

clever, your husband?

He is not her husband.

Let me guess.

- You're all lovers, right?

- What? No.

- Yes, yes.

- Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we are, right here.

I bring Vaseline and Maureen

always brings a dildo.

You know, someone told me a

joke about Vaseline once.

But I can't entirely remember it.

Well, Maureen, you must keep

drinking till you remember.

Yeah.

- We're happy. Good.

- Me, too.

Oh, the sun is so fierce.

And the sea's so sparkly and blue.

Oh, Maureen, tell me that

you've seen the sea before.

Yes, I've seen the sea before.

Are we going in?

- No.

- Of course we are.

- We're not in our swimming costumes.

- Oh, underwear will be fine.

- You don't see... No, no!

- Come on.

No!

Come on, grab her!

Come on, grab her!

- Hi.

- Hey.

- Hi.

- Hey.

Maureen just called me

up on the hotel 'phone.

Surprised to have her own bathroom.

- She thinks this place is the height of luxury.

- Yeah, it is kind of cool, huh?

Cheapest place I've

stayed in for 20 years.

Yeah?

It doesn't feel strange, does it?

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