"All families have secrets and this is ours." "You have to control it." " Your grandfather lost control and..." " And what?" "He was obsessed with the idea that he could move objects through thought control." "Looking back, the signs were all there." "We just didn't see them, or we didn't want to see them." "You think we can do this brother and sister thing?" "We have to." "We were all set on a collision course." " We didn't see it coming." " This can't happen." "Ever." "The thing about Azfal is he'll chat up anything in a skirt." " Thanks for the heads-up." " I did a wrong thing, a bad thing." " What kind of bad thing?" " I didn't mean to," "I didn't mean it, I didn't mean to!" "I need you to believe me." " I can't be alone with it any more." " All right, fine." "Prove it." "Now do you believe me?" "Just... just give me a minute, OK?" "Leave that!" "Leave that." "I need time to process this." "It's... a lot to calibrate." "When you say you did something bad, how bad?" "Like when you trashed your dad's house?" "If I'm to help you, I need you to be honest with me, and that means 100%." "I need to know when this happens, how it happens and under what circumstances." "We need to involve your father now." " He has a right to know." " No!" "You promised." "Call me in the morning." "We'll work out how to move forward." "Erm, you said your... your grandfather had it, too." "What's the story there?" "It killed him." "Jesus Christ!" "Remember what I said about seeing is believing?" "But what if believing what you see means doubting every concept, every principle your life is based on?" "And once you let doubt like that in, what unknown hell will it lead you to?" " Yes?" " Is he with you?" " No." " Have you tried calling him?" "Obviously I did." "He's... he's probably staying over with a mate." "I'm sorry to disturb you." "Sorry." "Who was that?" "Work." "Just through here." "What's the deal with him?" "A sub-something haemorrhage, they said." "They won't know until he comes around whether there's brain damage." "If so, how much." "You were there when he had the accident." "I saw you." "So much for being in the library." "Is that why you didn't stick around to help?" " He's your frien..." " Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" "!" "You're not who I thought you were." "Not even close." "And that thing you said... about doing the bad stuff... put "selfish arsehole" on top of the list." "Never use it in anger." "Only use it for good." "Only for good." "Oh, my God..." "What sort of tests of these, anyway?" "She didn't go into details." "Any time you're not comfortable, if you want to bail, we're out of there." "We have to start somewhere to get the answers that you need." "Or that we both need." "Nice place." "Yeah, funding issues, apparently." "Still as you can, OK?" "Any movement disrupts the brainwave frequency." "You probably have me down as some sort of wacko that chases poltergeists and... ghoulies and things that go bump in the night." "Am I right?" "Right, this detects any unusual fluctuations in the electromagnetic field." "Hence the protective casings round the cameras." "It's never easy when two worlds collide." "Trying to convince my colleagues in the... scientific community that human consciousness can alter the physical world, has been something of a bumpy ride." "But then again, given that it challenges every known law of physics and thermodynamics, it's hardly surprising." "Right, I think we're set." "OK." "Relaxed as you can." "Right." "Four dice in the tube." "It will rotate and jumble them." "I want you to pick a number and make all four dice fall showing that number, OK?" "Number six." "Again." "Preclude the factor of chance." "Again." "Again." "Again." "Good." "Moving on..." "Right... 16 lights." "They'll move in a clockwise rotation." "I want you to change the direction of the lights so they move in an anticlockwise direction." "OK?" "OK." "All over." "Just relax." "Are we done now?" "Why don't you er... pop out and get some air?" "You know er... give us a chance to review." "Work out the next step." "Have you any idea what we've just witnessed here?" "I mean... we're not talking about bending a few spoons." "This is a whole different league." "His parents are divorced, you say?" "Disruption of family life, hormones, turbulence of puberty." "It's textbook." "You know, time and time again," "I've maintained that adolescence is the optimum time for psychic phenomena to manifest themselves." "OK... we need to run more tests." "More advanced this time." "And we'll invite the scientific press." "You know, Nature, The Lancet, all the science and neuroscience journals, the whole bloody lot!" "A live... demonstration of psychokinesis." " It's a game-changer." " And what about duty of care?" "Where does that come in?" "I brought that boy here for your clinical input." "To help me give him the support he needs." "You brought him here because... he challenges your entrenched world view of scientific probability." "That puts him beyond your help." "Until he learns not just to accept his gift but to celebrate it, he'll never harness its full potential." " That's what I can offer him." " Come on." "It's what he can offer you, surely." "I've read about your years of professional contempt and ridicule, the professional humiliation, and now... hallelujah!" "You're vindicated." "You get the recognition you deserve." "If he's old enough to have sex and join the army, he's old enough to determine his own future." "No, not on my watch." "He's way too fragile to make a life choice like that." "Let me be clear about this." "If you go public with this, I'll come after you." "I'll impugn any last shred of credibility you still have." "Social media, scientific journals," "I'll shout it at stark-bollock-naked from the rooftops if I have to." "I'll claim you deliberately rigged his test results for your own mercenary motives." "That they're nothing more than trickery and fraud." "In short, your so-called career will be over." "I'll bury you." "Wasted trip, I'm afraid." "Sorry about that." "Divergences of opinion on ethics." "Among other things." "Trust me, she's not the way for us to go." "So now what?" "I do another performing monkey act for another nut-job?" " I'm not a fucking freak show." " Look, I'm new to this, all right?" "Give me time." "We'll get there." "I've got your back." "Not sure you chose the best day." "The doctor thinks she's had more mini strokes, which is why she is so weak." " But she'll be all right?" " She's a fighter, this one." "Talk to her." "If anyone can get through to her, it's you." "Gran?" "Squeeze my hand if you can hear me." "I saw the starlings again." "Thousands of them." "Like a cloud of smoke, except it was alive." "I know you said I should control it, and I've tried, Gran, I have." "But if it's genetic then... it's part of you, isn't it?" "It's programmed in your DNA." "It's who you are." "I know how it ended for him now." "Is that why you never told me before?" "In case I ended up the same way?" "Was he afraid he might hurt someone?" "But what if he already had?" "Hey." "He's awake and talking..." "and out of intensive care." "Thought you'd wanna know." " Catch you at home." " Faith, wait" "I'm gonna sort myself out." "I am." "Whatever." "I think that's when he really knew, that like his grandfather he might never control his power, that no-one around him would ever be safe." "And the thought filled him with terror." "What's that thing they say?" "There is no greater fear than fear itself." "If you'd like to come through this way." " Thanks." " Cheers." "Sorry." "Bloody lists went on forever." "Take a seat." " Has he called?" " Care home have." "It seems he visited my mother." "Stayed there most of the morning." "I erm... never thought I'd hear myself say this, but..." "I think he should come and live with you." "Just for the foreseeable future, anyway." "Just because he was AWOL for one night?" "Come on, it's more than one night." "He's barely at home." "He's barely at college." "It's because he... he needs more than I can give him." "Did he tell you that erm..." "Victor's daughter Faith lives with us now?" "Yeah, well, I think that... something might be going on there." "Hormonal teenagers living in close proximity." "Yeah, but if they weren't living in close proximity, they wouldn't be tempted, would they?" "She is his sister in all but name and..." "Victor's..." "He's very protective of her..." "I got that loud and clear." "He didn't tell you, did he?" "He came to see me." "Informed me that our son was now totally out of control." "So he smokes a bit of weed every now and then!" "Who doesn't at his age?" "And the coup de grace... he said he might have the same mental health issues as my father." "You believe him?" "Does that man know nothing of adolescent behaviour?" "He does his best with him, Ed, he really does." "They just need some time out from each other, that's all." "I'll..." "I'll talk to Beth." "OK." "Thank you." "Come on." "He's grown up." "Yeah, they do that." "Do you ever regret it?" "The way things turned out for us?" "Well... people often say they regret the things they haven't done." "Don't they?" "The opportunities they let pass by." "I think it's the reverse." "Maybe I should've let it pass by." "You?" "Well, I..." "I suppose I regret how... unforgiving I was." "And I gave you cause." "Anyway... the bed we now lie in?" "Yeah." "And our son has to." "Call me, won't you, when you've spoken to Beth?" "Take care." "16 lights..." "OK." "OK, it's all over." "You said your grandfather had it too." "What's the story there?" "It killed him." "Edward Jarrett." "Hello?" "Jack?" "The builders are finally making progress." "The plaster in the bedroom hasn't dried." "It's taking forever." "Max's going and he's got asthma!" "Do you really think if we keep having this conversation it'll come out the way you want?" "It's this Outward Bound school trip thing to the Lakes." "I vetoed it." "One of them came back with a broken collarbone last year." "It's not worth the risk." "Contractions?" "No, they just keep kicking each other." "Jack never talks about the twins." "Have you noticed?" "It's not real to him yet, is it?" "Or he doesn't want to think about it." "Maybe he knows his life is about to change." "That you are gonna have your hands full with them." "24/7." "Hence the point of getting extra help." "Yes, but everything's still gonna revolve around them." "I mean, he's used to having you all to himself." "We do not want him resenting them from the get-go." "If he had someone here for company... male company, I mean, kick a ball around with or... hang out with." "He has you for that." "You know how full-on work can get." "Some days I'm barely here." "Hannah came to see me at work." "Seems things are a little fraught at home right now." "We've got two boys, they get on well with each other." "This could be a win-win for everybody." "If you want your son to live with us, just say so." "Don't dress it up like it's all for Jack's sake." "I've turned my back on him long enough." "And I'm to blame for that?" "No, it's not about blame!" "He's a teenager!" "He can be unpredictable." "I know how hard that is for you to deal with." "Look, you can't insulate us all from life." "Like Jack and his damn field trip." "'Cause that's no life for him." "Or the twins." "Or any of us." " Sweetheart, come on." " No." "We have to be able to talk about this stuff." "Just don't." "Beth... come on, look." "The dishwasher needs to go on." "Just rinse the plates first." "Ed!" "Oh, God!" "Ed!" "Ed!" "They're coming!" "Ready?" "It's all right." "It's all right" "I've got you, I've got you." "It's all right." "I'm here." "OK?" "All right?" " Hey." " Hey." "State of you." "Come on." "Come on." "Right." "How's Azfal doing?" "He's getting there." "I can come... if you want." "To the funeral." "You'd do that?" "Medicinal." "Must we go through this again?" "Today of all days." "All I ask is you keep an open mind." "He's not some crank I plucked off the internet." "He's appointed by the Bishop, trained at the Vatican." "By putting it off, you're putting the boy at risk, can you not see that?" "I asked him about that night." "All he remembers is you waking him from a bad dream." " The rest..." " Is what?" "Ignorant black man getting all voodoo on you?" "For God's sake." "Because he has no memory of it, it doesn't mean it didn't happen." "Do you think I'd make it up?" "I think... you saw what you wanted to see." "You've always seen the worst in him." "Always." "Why is that?" "It was dark." "He had a bad dream." "You'd been up most the night with the baby." "You were half asleep yourself." "Now, let it go, Victor." "I mean it." "Because if you don't..." "I'm not sure where that leaves us." "So what do we do with her ashes?" "There's nothing in her will about where to do it." "I know she meant well... but all that stuff she went on about... how like my father you are..." "You're not him." "Not even remotely." "Come here, you." "Letting it go, like you asked." "Going with your version." "My version?" "I was half asleep, it was dark, I mistook what I saw." "It won't work if you're only doing it for my sake, Victor." "I'm doing it for us." "For the family." "I was tired." "I made a mistake." "Leave it there, OK?" "Please." "I'll put the kettle on." "When was the first time you realised you had this er... power?" "Your very first memory of it." "Been there since forever." "Since before your parents divorced?" "And... after the divorce?" "After they remarried, started their new families... is that what triggered the bad stuff?" "When you lost control of it." "So... when you have one of these episodes, it's... anger that triggers it?" "To the point you ever feel violent?" "Have you ever directed that violence towards anyone?" "He pulled through." "When I ask you once... how you felt when you lost control, you said "ecstasy"." "Do you remember?" ""Ecstasy"." "And from the ancient Greek "eks", meaning "to be apart from", and "tasi", which means "yourself"." " The point is?" " Well, isn't it that feeling and where it could lead to that you're afraid of?" "History doesn't have to repeat itself." "Your grandfather." "Another source of the word "ecstasy" means "to remove oneself"." " From what?" " The trigger points." "Danger." "_" "Shush, bedtime." "Come on." "I was the chosen one." "I got more than a note." "He didn't do it in person." "He is a boy, after all." "But it was me he trusted with his secret." "Everything that that happened, from his first memories of it to the day he walked out of all our lives." "So... you know it all now." "Why this is best for everyone." "You and me can't ever happen." "I get that now." "It has to work this time, for Mum." "Her marriage, I mean." "And as for Dad, well... what he doesn't know can't hurt him." "Just think of me now and again, yeah?" "Faith... remember the deal." "He sends us emails from time to time from various internet cafés, saying he's OK and not to worry about him." "And life went on." "As it does." "You're gonna go, you're gotta go." "Hold him." "Fantastic!" "Where's it gone? "I want to go to bed."" "Are you eating it?" "You can't eat it..." "A year or so later, I caught something on YouTube." "So I went to check it out." "I had it in mind to say hello, you know... reconnect with him." "But he looked happy." "Come on..." "I told you already." "I just figured if I keep nagging you..." "Come on..." "There are times, aren't there, when we all wonder, "is this it"?" "Is life no more than a random collection of events that just happen to us?" "Or are there unseen, unexplained forces at work, beyond our understanding?" "That perhaps, after all... we are immortal."