A Long Way Down Page #7

- Oh, JJ! The pact!

- Get Maureen. I'm gonna find JJ now.

Yeah. Oh, sh*t.

Have you... Have you seen JJ?

JJ is gone.

- Gone?

- Yeah, he's a prick.

He left over a week ago.

He didn't even serve notice.

That prick you're talking about, Paolo,

happens to be my daughter's friend.

And you'd do well to remember that.

You are called Paolo, aren't you?

It's just that it says Paolo's

Place outside and you

certainly sound Italian.

You look Italian and...

- Love your tats.

- Come on, Dad.

- Hello?

- Oh, er... yes. Hi, hi, hello.

- What?

- I'm looking for JJ.

- Who?

- John Julius.

Oh, JJ.

I hoped you wouldn't be up here.

You know, three people have killed

themselves from this building

between New Year's and today?

Sue Chalmott, housewife

and manic depressive.

Um, David Frommet, banker

who lost everything.

And, er, Ben Peterson.

He was only 15.

So, you're going to join them?

I kept to the pact, Martin, OK?

This, me, it's none

of your business now.

True. Why, though, JJ?

Why are you up here?

That's the thing, Martin.

I... I didn't lie to you.

- I don't know.

- You... don't know?

And that makes my reason

better than any of yours.

I wasn't aware that

this was a competition.

You see, all Jess needs

is to feel important.

Maureen, she needs to feel loved.

And you, you just... You

just need to grow a brain.

Fair enough.

See, you can solve your

problems, but me, I can't.

Just, Martin... Martin, stop.

Martin, just stop walking.

Three steps and I'm gone. Just...

Oh, God!

Look, I'm just... I'm just tired

of, er, of being

scared all the time

and not knowing why.

I'm tired of being...

Trying... Trying to change

and not knowing how.

You know, leaving my latest

sh*t band, moving countries.

Because however much I do change,

I'm left with me.

Sounds like you've got

it all worked out, JJ.

It's logical. The reason why you wanna

die is because you don't wanna live.

It's as simple as that, right?

I used to think like that, too.

JJ.

- And then there were four.

- Don't you get it?

I mean, we made it, all right?

We all made it to Valentine's

Day and nothing, OK?

Nothing, absolutely

nothing has changed!

But everything has changed.

- What?

- Everything.

We are standing in entirely

different positions,

for one thing.

I didn't ever want to be up here again,

JJ. I'm pretty sure none of us did.

He's right. You know,

it's sh*t up here.

I... I hope...

I think we still matter to you, JJ.

I mean, why else would you

pick Valentine's Day?

You may think you want to die,

but you knew we'd look for you.

We're not up here

because we wanna die.

We're here for you.

The Topper House Four.

We belong together. We're a team.

We're the worst team the world has

ever known and if I was picking,

none of you would have made it

onto the subs' bench, but still,

we're a team.

I know, it's not much, son.

But maybe we're a start.

You can't even see the bottom.

Hello?

Hello? Can anybody hear me?

We can hear you and

see you, Martin.

Bonsoir, Martin.

Where's the button for this?

Oh, hiya.

Maureen, is that

glitter on your face?

No, no, no... Yes.

Matty... Matty seems

to like glitter.

And we're having a kind of a...

Well, New Year's Eve party.

Maureen, you rager!

Jess, please!

I'm trying to keep the noise

down out here, OK? Shh.

It was Dr Stephen's, er...

Robert's idea, actually.

Yeah, he's been hugely helpful.

In return for me

joining his quiz team,

which has caused much controversy because

I was supposed to join another quiz team

and it's kind of complicated.

Sounds complicated.

I saw your Dad got promoted, Jess.

OK, we must have

better news than that.

Come on, somebody

say something. Martin?

Why don't you stoke up this party?

Why don't you tell us about some of

your most recent bedtime conquests?

Well, I'm often asleep by

10:
00, on my own, exhausted.

Are children famous for getting you up

early in the morning? I had no idea.

God, when did we all turn into

Little House on the f***ing Prairie?

I've missed you...

- All.

- You know, I, uh...

I got something to say.

My therapist...

Therapist? There we go,

that's some news.

Did you all know JJ is

now officially mad?

Er... Jess...

You see a therapist, too.

Yeah, of course, but all the best

people are mad, in my opinion.

My therapist

told me a story, a true

story about this guy

who survived jumping off

the Golden Gate bridge.

It's an anecdote,

it's not strictly news.

The moment he jumped he realised that

the only thing in his life he couldn't fix

was the thing he'd just done.

I mean, can you imagine those,

those five seconds as he fell?

The agony of that.

Well, to me...

It feels like I fell without

falling because of you guys.

I had my five seconds up on

that roof and not in the air.

Hmm. Five seconds.

We each gave each

other five seconds.

I like that, JJ.

And then five seconds turned into

a year, into a life sentence.

You people make me

want to kill myself.

Maureen, are you coming?

No, no, I'm just

talking to my friends.

It's almost midnight and we're

doing the Lambada, come on.

Maureen, where are you going?

Maureen!

Happy New Year!

OK.

OK, what just happened? Did Maureen just

make us look like we're the square ones?

Remember, you're the one who accused

her of having too many cats.

Time to sign off.

Happy New Year, Jess.

Happy New Year, Martin.

Happy New Year, Jess.

Happy New Year, John Julius.

We could go to a party, you know?

In case you were worried about

being upstaged by Maureen.

Well, that's just the

problem, though, isn't it?

I don't really want

to go to a party.

Yeah.

I think you've broken me.

- Don't smile.

- No?

- I will kill you...

- I know.

If you smile.

Come on. Up to bed, sleepy head.

There you go. Good girl.

There you go. Oh,

yes, there you go.

Is it midnight yet?

Yes, it is.

You made it. Another new year.

Here we go.

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