Franklyn Page #3

It's an art project.

- I'm sorry. I...

- Listen.

I...

I get to piss off my mother

and my tutors.

I get to kill myself every month

without dying.

I'm having a ball.

OK?

You know what, Mr Bone?

You should get yourself a job

as a social worker here.

Thank you.

For the coffee.

I followed Wormsnakes home

after his shift.

Snakes' neighbourhood suited

his personality down to a T.

Fractured. Infected.

Forgotten.

Meanwhile's slum quarter.

Jesus Christ!

Wormsnakes.

Get the f*** out of my apartment now!

Let's not make this difficult.

What do you want from me?

What do you want?

You're crazy. Know that, yeah?

Be polite. You owe me, remember?

For every single day of my four years.

My f***ing nose!

Now, then, the word on the street is

The Individual is coming to town.

You wouldn't happen to know anything

about that, now, would you?

No! No! I swear.

Uhh...

I don't believe you.

I need you to do a little favour for me.

I want you to tell The Individual

where he can find me.

How do you know...

How do you know he is gonna come

and find me?

I found you, didn't I?

I'm gonna be at this address.

And rest assured, he'll find you.

Just do yourjob.

What little faith I have...

...I have it in you.

You're a lucky man, Snakes.

You've got a stay of execution.

Understand?

I'll be waiting and watching.

Nice to see you again.

F***ing likewise, I'm sure.

I knew he'd deliver my message

one way or another.

Now all I had to do...

was wait.

So another in a long line of relationships

bites the dust.

And after all this... experience,

the same thing happening again and again,

I understand it all even less.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Hey. Hey. What did I say?

- Spoilsport.

- Whatever the subject, let's change it.

How about this?

I think I saw Sally again.

Yesterday.

This again? Technically, that's not really

changing the subject, is it?

- Who's Sally?

- Milo's childhood sweetheart.

I think I saw her

around a couple of months ago.

It felt like she was following me

or something.

This time, it was closer.

I'm sure it was her.

- Childhood sweetheart?

- When I was about seven.

See what I mean?

I think that's lovely.

See? Romance is not dead.

Come on.

Enough of the romantic bullshit.

- Thank you very much.

- Do you see what you're doing to me?

Oh...

I heard this story once

when I was a kid, or read it.

It was about a storyteller

who was so good at telling stories

that everything he made up became real.

Which would be an awesome superpower.

Exactly.

So the storyteller creates

a world for himself

where he's the king of the castle,

has a beautiful princess on his arm.

- The sun's-always-shining kind of stuff.

- Yeah?

And then, one day, he wakes up.

He looks around.

He kisses her on the cheek and...

...legs it.

Why?

I don't know.

Even though his life was perfect,

absolutely perfect,

he had the feeling he should be

somewhere else.

With someone else.

Anyway, the princess wakes up

and he's gone.

And that's it. I guess.

Does that make any sense?

No.

I'm going to open another bottle.

I take it that's how it ends.

It ends when you want

to stop watching it.

Well, that happens to be right now.

That was real.

Define "real".

You called the ambulance.

I had to. I'd have died, otherwise.

I can't let you submit this, Emilia.

- You know that.

- You're censoring me?

This is way more extreme

than the last one.

It's not finished.

What happened

to your Following project?

Two months following random strangers

around London with your video camera.

- Now you're going to throw it all away?

- The last guy saw me.

I even wore a wig to disguise myself

for a few days, but it didn't work.

It's over.

So is this.

I suggest you stop wasting

the emergency services' time.

- Come up with something more original.

- More original?

Shock and bad taste doesn't necessarily

equate with originality.

Like I said, it's not finished.

And how does it finish, Emilia?

With you dead?

The college sued?

I don't know.

Well, I bloody well do.

Bin this drivel.

Get back on track.

Or don't bother coming back.

When you're lost,

you're willing to believe anything.

In this city, every religion promised a

future, whether in this world or the next.

All you had to pay them with

was your faith and trust

and, despite the celebration,

the reverence and the prayer,

everybody ends up

in the same human mess.

Old.

Sick.

Unhappy.

Dead.

She'd be 16 now.

A young woman.

The Individual had robbed her of life

and, tonight,

I was going to relieve him of his.

You asked me how this finished.

I told the truth.

I don't know.

A broken doll.

A hollow girl.

Bereft at the loss of herfather.

But part of me left when he did.

Someone said, "It's about the people

you haven't met yet. "

Like the people on my tapes.

I'm not sure I like the sound of them.

The truth is...

I'm a little scared they might be like me.

I'm sorry, Mr Clunes.

That's the best I can do.

Get me down!

Hello.

I was just... um...

- Passing?

- Yeah.

Sally.

Wow.

It must have been...

- 20 years.

- 20 years, yeah.

But... I saw you on the street

the other day.

Oh.

At least... I thought it was you.

I got to thinking about you.

Quite a lot, I guess.

I just came to check the records.

I never thought you'd be working here.

Check the records?

Yeah, well, you know,

so I could try and contact you,

write to you or something.

Do you get a lunch hour?

Can you spare a few minutes?

Excuse me.

Sorry. We're not really open yet.

Er, yes, I know.

I'm sorry, but...

I was wondering if you could help me.

I'm looking for someone.

It's my son, you see.

He used to come here

a few years ago and I...

I just wondered if he'd been back.

OK. Well, do you have a picture?

I can put it on the board.

I do, actually.

Erm...

well, I only have this one.

- It's OK. I can do a copy.

- Thank you.

Do you recognise him?

I don't know. Maybe.

I couldn't say for sure.

He probably doesn't look like this any more.

No, of course not.

Look, I'm only part time.

You could speak to Bill. He's been

here the longest. He'll be in later.

Bill Wasnik.

Why don't you

put your contact details on there?

- Oh, yes.

- Do you have a pen?

I do. Yes. Thank you.

Great.

Thanks.

So when did you start teaching?

- Pretty recently.

- Yeah?

Suits you.

Thank you.

You look good with kids.

You were always good with me.

I know we were both kids at the time,

but you know what I mean.

Yeah, I think so.

How is your mum?

OK.

Still the same.

Away with the fairies.

When did you forget about me?

- Hello.

- Anne.

If you want to leave a message for Anne

or Martin, please speak afterthe tone.

Well, I should get back.

It's been really nice.

Could I... see you again?

Milo...

We could go for a drink or something.

- It's been so long, it's bizarre

luck you... - Yeah, but it's fate.

Thought you didn't

believe in all that stuff.

Look... I'm not taking no for an answer.

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