"Mum!" "How does this story begin?" "It begins like so many stories." "With a boy." "Too old to be a kid." "Too young to be a man." "And a nightmare." "A MONSTER CALLS" "It's got two fundamental constants." "E, the base of the natural logarithm system, it's a number, it's a number that emerges from asking:" "What is the mathematical function or thing which describes things where the rate at which they change..." "Now, if you do that mathematically, it will give you this fundamental constant." "Conor?" "Are you all right, Conor?" "You look tired." "Are you getting enough rest?" "Yeah, I'm fine." "'Cause if you ever wanted to talk..." "I'm fine." "Okay." "Everyone, eyes front." "Pi is the ratio of the circumference, and when you put it..." "Careful there, O'Malley." "You might fall." "Are you drunk or something?" "He'll have to get his slaphead mother to kiss it for him." "You're always off in your own little dream world." "What's there so interesting?" "Get off!" "You've been a good boy." "Remember, O'Malley, good boys don't talk." "Hey, Con!" "Hey, Mum." "What is that?" "It's a surprise." "So, this is a VCR?" "This is much better than a VCR." "It's your grandpa's old film projector." "There we go." " I wish you could have known him." " Who?" "Grandpa." "Even Grandma softened up around him." "Yeah, right." "Here we go." "What a bunch of assholes." "Why are they trying to kill King Kong?" "People don't like what they don't understand." "They get scared." "King Kong could just smash them all." "Break them into a million pieces." "Yeah." "Conor." "Mum?" "I have come to get you, Conor O'Malley." "Why don't you run, Conor O'Malley?" "Why don't you run for your mother?" "You leave her alone!" "I'm not afraid of you!" "I will visit you again on further nights, Conor O'Malley." "And I will shake your walls until you wake." "And then, I will tell you three stories." "You're going to tell me stories?" "I am." "I will tell you three stories, and when I have finished my stories, you will tell me a fourth." "I don't know anything about stories!" "You will tell me a fourth, and it will be the truth." "What are you talking about?" "This truth that you hide." "The truth you dream." " You will tell me your nightmare." " No." "Yes." "That will be your truth." "And if I don't?" "Con, I was asleep." "You should be in your own bed, Con." "Just five minutes." " That's not true." " Yes, it is." " Come on, Con." " Just five minutes." "I promise." "Five minutes." "Night, night." "I respect that." "But the last thing your father would want would be for him to be taken off to America to live with some strange woman and her strange child." "We have to discuss this now." "Hey, Con!" "There's the little man." "Where did you say you got these?" "From a very nice old people's home." "They're clearing it out to make flats, and I'll be the agent." "Your mother needs a cup of tea." "Green, no sugar." "I take mine black." "What do you think, Con?" "He loves it." " Go on." " Okay." "Go on, try something else." "Alright." "You can't just drift, Lizzy." "You have to make some decisions." "I am making all the decisions I can, and I will decide when I speak to Conor." "Go and help Conor with the tea or I'll literally go insane." "You and I need to have a talk." "I'm making tea." " Conor!" " I said, I'm making..." "We have to..." "I'm not the enemy." "I'm here to help your mother." "I know why you're here." "I'm here because 12-year-old boys shouldn't be wiping down counters without being asked to first." "You wanna do it?" "Less of your cheek." "She's always sick after the treatments." "She'll be better tomorrow." "And then you can go home." "She'll seem better tomorrow." "She needs to talk about this with you." "Talk to me about what?" " About you coming to live with me." " I'm never coming to live..." " Listen to me." "If your mother..." " There's no if!" "She'll be better and then you can go." "Lizzy?" "Lizzy!" "Oh my God!" "Hold on, hold on." "Where's the medicine?" "Conor!" "Conor!" "I'm here, darling." "Deep breath." "Conor, please!" "Please give me the medicine." "Hurry, hurry." "It's coming." "It's coming." "Here we go." "Deep breath." "Deep breath." "Deep breath." "Deep breath." "It's okay." "Just don't touch anything." "Trust me, I'll be doing my very best not to." "Our conversation isn't over, young man." "Oh, yes, it is." "Mum!" "What took you so long?" "It is time for me to tell you the first tale." "I don't need a tale." "I need a bus ticket for my grandma." "It is time for me to tell you the..." "Where do you think you're going?" "I will be listened to!" "I am as old as this land and..." "What do you know about anything?" "I know everything about you, Conor O'Malley." "No, you don't!" "If you did, you'd know I don't have time to listen to stupid stories from a stupid tree that is just a dream." "A dream?" "What is a dream, Conor O'Malley?" "And who is to say that it is not everything else that is a dream?" "Never mind." "I came to see you because I thought..." "You thought I might have come to topple your enemies." "Slay your dragons." "Or at least help me with my grandmother." "But all you want to do is tell me stories." "Stories of how I toppled my enemies." "Stories of how I slew dragons." "Let me tell you a tale of when I came walking." "Let me tell you of the end of a wicked queen and how I made sure she was never seen again." "Go on, then." "Good." "What do you see?" "Nothing." "There are leaves in the way." "Use your imagination, Conor O'Malley." "What do you see?" " I see a spark." " Yes." "And?" "No, it's water." "It's watercolor." "Keep looking." "Wow!" "Wow, indeed." "Long ago, before this was a town, with roads and trains and cars, this was a kingdom." "Here?" "We don't even have a Tesco." "It was a prosperous kingdom with a wise king who had won peace for his people, but peace had come at a price." "The king had lost all three of his sons in battle to giants." "To dragons." "To armies of men led by great wizards." "This is all sounding pretty fairytale-ish." "You wouldn't say that if you heard the screams of a man killed by a spear." "The queen was unable to bear the loss of all their three sons, leaving the king alone in despair with the company of his only remaining heir, his orphaned grandson." "The child was raised as a prince, winning the love of the kingdom with his gallantry and good heart." "His people loved him." "Our future king!" "He was nearly a man when his grandfather took a new wife." "The king felt ill and rumour began to spread that she was an evil witch, that she was bent on taking the throne for herself by poisoning the king." "A few weeks later, the king died." "The prince was too young to take the king's place, so, by law, the queen would rule for another year." "The future was uncertain." "The prince, meanwhile, had given away his heart." "She was beautiful and smart, and though only a farmer's daughter, the kingdom smiled on the match." "The queen, however, she was rather enjoying being queen." "And what better way to remain so than to marry the prince herself?" "What?" "That's disgusting!" " She was his grandmother!" " Step-grandmother." "And still a young, beautiful woman herself, don't forget." "The prince, however, didn't like the idea either." "He took the farmer's daughter and they rode away into the night." "They stopped to rest under the branches of a yew tree." "That's you!" "The next morning, the prince awoke." "'Arise, my beloved', he said." "But the farmer's daughter did not stir, which was when the prince noticed the blood." "Blood?" "Someone had killed his beloved in the night." "What?" "'The queen!" "', he cried." "'The queen has murdered my bride!" "'" "The villagers, full of fury and vengeance, rose up at the crime." "It was then that I came walking." "The queen was never seen again." "Good!" "She deserved it!" "Now, I don't suppose you can help me with my grandma." "The story is not yet finished." "I took the queen and carried her far enough away so the town's people would never find her." "To a village by the sea, where she began a new life." "But she killed the farmer's daughter!" "How can you save a murderer?" "You really are a monster." "I never said she killed the farmer's daughter." "I only said that the prince said it was so." "The prince never fell asleep that night, but waited for the farmer's daughter to be lost in her dreams, and then began his real plan." "What?" "He knew her death would start a fire that would consume the queen entire." "That's a terrible story!" "And a cheat!" "It's a true story." "Many things that are true feel like a cheat." "Kingdoms get the princes they deserve." "Farmers' daughters die for no reason." "And sometimes witches merit saving." "Quite often, actually." "You'd be surprised." "So, the good prince was a murderer and the evil queen wasn't a witch after all?" "No, the queen most certainly was a witch and could well have been on her way to great evil." "Who can say?" "Then Why'd you save her then?" "Because what she was not, was a murderer." "She hadn't poisoned the king." "He had merely grown old." " Did the prince ever get caught?" " No." "He became a much beloved king who ruled happily until the end of his long days." "Oh, yes!" "I don't get it." "Who's the good guy here?" "There is not always a good guy, Conor O'Malley." "Nor is there always a bad one." "Most people are somewhere in between." "So how is all this meant to save me from Grandma?" "It is not her you need saving from." "There are always two sides to a story." "How many of you know the saying:" "'Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you'?" "Next time, when someone says something to you..." "Good, you're home." "Your mum's upstairs." "She wants to talk to you." "What?" "Your father's flying in on Sunday." "Dad's coming?" "From America?" "Go on." "She is waiting." "And pack a bag." "You're coming to stay with me for a few days." "Go on!" "That tree is amazing." "It's been here for thousands of years." "What do you think?" "I think Grandma is trying to turn me into Tina Turner." "She must be a fan." "Why am I going to stay with Grandma?" "Are you going back to hospital?" "Come here, Con." "This latest treatment's not doing what it's supposed to." "So they're going to adjust it, try something else." " That's all?" " That's all." "Are you sure?" "I'm sure." "Because..." "You could tell me, you know?" "There." "Everything will be fine, Conor." "You'll see." "...and bang, right into his side." "Where are you going?" " Don't touch him." " With such a punchable face?" "I said don't touch him." "O'Malley and I have an understanding." "I am the only one who touches him." "Isn't that right?" "Now tell me, why is it every time that I turn around, you're there looking at me?" "Getting a bit odd, don't you think?" "Sorry, that was a bit harsh." "Life's not really going your way today, is it?" "I have a house to show." "I'm trusting you here alone until your father shows up." "I'm not five years old." "This is the correct time." "Not the one on your phone, or on the computer, not even on the news." "It was my mother's, your great-grandmother's." "Perfect time keeping for over a hundred years." "Conor, pick up your rucksack!" "I don't want your father to think I'm keeping you in a pigsty." "Not much chance of that." "Now, when you go to the hospital, your father may not notice how tired your mum is getting." "So we have to make sure that he doesn't overstay his welcome." "Not that that's historically been a problem." "No eggs." "You've already had eggs twice this week." "If you get hungry, there's spinach in the fridge which you can steam." "Yes, sure." "Don't touch anything." "I'll do my very best not to." "Get in!" "Dad." "How you doing?" "You look tired." "I'm fine." "Mum's on this new medicine." "It'll make her better." "She goes into hospital once every two weeks and they pump the medicine into her bloodstream." "She is sick for the next few days, but she is better again." "Your sister's doing better." "Half-sister." "Yeah." "I'd still love you to meet her." "I've been talking with your grandma about bringing you out to LA." "You want me to come to LA?" "Yeah, absolutely!" " You would you like that, wouldn't you?" " Yeah." "We were thinking over Christmas." "You can be back here in time for school." "So you mean just for a visit, then?" "Yeah, but it would be great." "I don't want to live with Grandma." "It's an old lady's house, with old lady's things." "You can't touch anything or sit anywhere." "You can't leave a mess for two seconds." "Conor..." "I want to have my own room in my own house and my own things." "You wouldn't have that in America." "There's barely enough room for us." " I don't care!" " Conor, listen." " She is so strict." " Your family, your life, your friends..." " Her house is like a museum!" " All of it is here." " It'd be unfair to take you out of it." " Unfair to who?" "Conor." "Doesn't look like your grandma's home yet." "She sometimes goes back to the hospital after I go to bed." "The nurses let her sleep in a chair." "Just because she doesn't like me, doesn't make her a bad person." "She says you're all start and no finish." "Well, she is entitled to her own opinion." "How long are you here for?" "As long as I can be." "What does that mean?" "We don't have a lot of money." "And Americans don't get a lot of holidays." " You're not American." " But I live there now." "I'll come back whenever I need to." "And you are gonna come to LA for Christmas." "In your cramped house, where there's no room for me." "Conor!" "Why did you come?" "Conor, wait!" "Conor, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" "There's still loads of time!" "As destruction goes, that was remarkably pitiful." "Now, I have come to tell you the second tale." "Is this as bad as the last one?" "It ends with proper destruction, if that's what you mean." "It's about a man who thought only of himself, who wasn't as generous as he should have been." "A man who gets punished very badly indeed." "Stories aren't real, though." "They don't help anything." "Stories are wild creatures, Conor O'Malley." "When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?" "Oh, yes!" "Okay." "Go on, then." "Good." "150 years ago, the future came." "Factories grew in the landscape like weeds." "Trees fell, rivers blackened and the sky choked on smoke and ash." "But there was still green if you knew where to look." "On the edge of this town lived a stubborn man" "Who refused to change." "He dealt in the old ways of medicine, herbs and barks and concoctions brewed from berries and leaves." "Villagers only ever called him the apothecary." "The what?" "The apothecary." "An old fashion name for pharmacist." "Why didn't you just say?" "There was also a young parson in this village, an enlightened man and a kind one who just wanted the very best for his congregation." "He preached against the apothecary's use of the old ways, and the apothecary's foul temper and greed made certain some of these sermons fell on eager ears." "Much as he tried to keep on helping the community, his business sank, which only made him grow bitter." "On the parsonage grounds there also lived a yew tree." "That's the hill where you live." "The yew tree is the most important of all the healing trees." " Why?" " Its berries, its bark, they thrum and burn and twist with life." "It can cure almost any ailment." "Really?" "Anything?" "Anything that can be cured, if mixed by the right apothecary." "The apothecary wanted the yew tree very badly." "But in order to harvest these things, he would have to cut it down." "And this, the parson would not allow." "The parson had two daughters who were the light of his life." "He was a caring, loving father who'd have done anything for their sake." "But one day, both little girls were struck by a terrible sickness, and nothing the parson did helped." "No cure from the more modern doctors, no prayer, nothing." "There was no choice but to approach the apothecary." "'Will you not help my daughters?" "', the person begged." "'Will you not save two innocent girls?" "'" "'Why should I?" "', said the apothecary." "'You have driven away my business with your preachings and you have refused me the yew tree, my best source of healing.'" "'You may have the yew tree', said the parson." "'I will preach sermons in your favor.'" "'I will do anything if you would only save my daughters.'" "'You would give up everything you believed in?" "', said the apothecary." "'If it would save them, I would give up everything.'" "'Then there is nothing I can do to help you.'" "The very next day, both of the parson's daughters died." "What?" "That night, I came walking." "Good!" "He deserves all the punishment he gets!" "Indeed." "It was shortly after midnight that I tore the parson's home from its very foundations." "The parson?" "What are you talking about?" "The apothecary's the evil one." "He was greedy and rude, but he was still a healer." "The parson?" "What was he?" "A man of faith without faith." "Belief is half of all healing." "Belief in the cure, belief in the future that awaits." "Your belief is valuable, so you must be careful where you put it, and in whom." "Tell me, Conor O'Malley." "What shall I destroy next?" "What?" "It is most satisfying, I can assure you." "Come on!" "Tell me!" "What should I destroy?" "Snap the chimney?" "The chimney!" "Next!" "Throw away their beds!" "Smash the furniture!" "Break the windows!" "Windows." "Break them yourself." "C'mon!" "Harder, Conor O'Malley!" "Come on!" "Harder!" "That's it, that's it!" "Yes!" "Feels good, doesn't it?" "Yes!" "Grandma." "Grandma." "Grandma." "Grandma, please..." "Grandma." "How do you like them sunny side up?" "What are you doing here?" "What do you think?" "Grandma called very early this morning." "She's gone to the hospital to see your mum." "She has had a bad turn." "I need to see her." "We'll see what happens today and maybe you can visit for a little while this afternoon." "I can see how upset you are." "I didn't mean to." " I don't know what happened." " Worse things happen at sea." "What does that mean?" "Aren't you going to punish me?" "What could possibly be the point in that?" "I gotta say, champ, this is really just amazingly thorough." "Buried treasure!" "These must be those..." "The home movies your mum used to send to me when I moved away." "Why did you move away?" "We were young." "Too young." "We had big dreams, and..." "What kind of dreams?" "Well, your mum wanted to go to Art college." " Really?" " Yeah." " She didn't go, but she wanted to." " What happened?" " Because Mum got pregnant with me." " Hey." "Mum never regretted having you." "You were only ever good news." "And I know that for a fact, because the one thing she regretted was marrying me." "Why did she marry you, then?" "Because I'm handsome." "Your mum was amazing, and she still is." "And we were in love." "I mean, I still love her." "But, you see, the..." "Love isn't enough." "It doesn't carry you through." "So, you didn't get happily ever after." "No, but that's life, you know?" "Most of us just get messily ever after." "That's alright." "But I'm happy you turned out like her." "Mrs Chandler." "Education is really important!" "You're telling me what to do." "I'm pulled in every direction." "Are you going to take him out of school then?" "Thank you." "I'm gonna go and find something to eat." "You want anything, kid?" "I want you to stop calling me kid." "Fair enough." "I'm sorry, Lizzy." "Who was that man in the suit?" "Just..." "Nothing." "What happened this morning?" "Nothing." "It's fine." "I just had a bit of a bad reaction." "But there's one more thing they're going to try, it's a medicine that's had some really good results." "Why didn't they try it in the first place?" "Because this is something you take when the other stuff hasn't worked the way they want it to." "Does that mean it's too late?" "No, of course it doesn't mean it's too late." "Are you sure?" "I believe every word I say." "Belief is half of all healing." "Belief in the cure, belief in the future that awaits." "Yeah." "You know that tree that I'm always going on about?" "Yeah." "Well, this drug is made from trees like that." " It is?" " Yeah!" "Seriously?" "All this time, we could have gone out there and just chopped it down." "But not that one." "That one's our friend." "Where are you?" "I'm here." "So can you do it?" "Can you make my mum better?" "If your mother can be healed, the yew tree will do it." "So that's a yes?" "You still don't know why you called me." "I didn't call you." "And even if I did, it was obviously for my mum." " Was it?" " Why else?" "To listen to idiotic stories that make no sense?" "It is not yet time for the third tale." "But soon." "And after that, you will tell me your story, Conor O'Malley." "No!" "No, not this!" "That's just a nightmare!" "No, please!" "That's not my truth!" "That's just a nightmare!" "Nevertheless, this is what will happen after the third tale." "I want to know what's going to happen with my mum." "You waste the precious time that is given to you." "Wait!" "Where are you going?" "You're a tree of healing." "I need you to heal!" "And so I shall." "Conor, I'll come back." "I promise." "And you'll come to LA for Christmas." "I don't want to leave Mum on her own for Christmas." " This medicine your mum's taking..." " it's going to make her well." "No, Conor." "It probably isn't." " Yes, it is." " No, it's a last ditch effort." "It'll heal her, okay?" "I know it." " It's the reason it came, it has to be." " Reason what came?" "The monster." " Conor, what?" " It comes at 12.07." "At first I thought it was a dream, but..." "Conor, stop it." "It's a dream." "I'm sorry you have to face this, but you have to be brave." "Do you understand?" "C'mon." "C'mon." "I'll be back as soon as I can." "What if it's not fast enough?" " Conor, listen..." " it's okay." "What's okay?" "Just..." "You don't have to." "Look." "Can you see?" "Can you see?" "Can you wave?" "Can you see him?" "Look, then we wave to Grandma." "Hello, Grandma!" "Con, can you say hello to Grandma and Mum?" "Hello, Grandma!" "There we go." "Mummy's heard this one a lot." "Okay, you ready?" "Con, look, sit, come sit here." "Con, look." " Hello, Grandma." " Mummy and..." "There we go." "We're doing you a picture, Grandma." "And then mix it together." "What colour is that?" " Brown." " Yeah!" "It's a nice sludgy brown." " But we have brown here." " That's true." "What can you see?" "What's that?" "What are those?" "What are these?" " The eyes." " The eyes, that's it." "Life is always in the eyes." "If you get that, you'll be a proper artist." "Yeah." "Look." "This is how we draw the eyes in." "This is where the eyes catch the reflection." "Then we see the life in the eyes, see that?" "Do it again." "It's life." "Maybe if we take a pencil, and you can draw on there..." "Do you want to try it?" "Show me how you do it." "Look, Con." "That's his hair." "And this is his eyebrow." "There's the eyes." "Oh, look, there's his mouth." "There's his mouth, he's very angry." "Can you see?" "Look at that!" "And then we start to make a face." "And then..." "There's our monster." "There's the monster." "Look at the monster." "Very slowly." "That's it." "It's a thirty-minute exam this morning, and this is all the stuff we've been doing for the last two weeks." "So, if you've done your revision, there won't be any surprises." "In a moment I'm going to ask you to turn your pages over and there will be no talking for the next thirty minutes." "I want total silence in here, because you're going to be using your brains, not your mouths." "So, thirty minutes, starting now." "Good luck." "I think I've finally figured you out." "After all this time." "All that you are looking for is someone to kick your head in." "But you know what?" "I'm not that guy anymore." "Goodbye, O'Malley." "I no longer see you." "Now you are invisible to me too." "I hope your mum gets better." "What took you so long?" "It is time for the third tale." "There was once an invisible man, who had grown tired of being unseen." "It was not that he was actually invisible." "It was just that people had become used to not seeing him." "One day, the invisible man couldn't stand it anymore." "He kept wondering:" "if no one sees you, are you really there at all?" "What did the invisible man do?" "He called for a monster." "I don't even know what to say to you, O'Malley." "You sent him to hospital!" "His parents are threatening to sue." "It wasn't me." "What was that?" "It wasn't me." "I'm not invisible!" "I'm not invisible!" "If you want to be seen, this is not the best way." "I'm not invisible!" "Did you hear me?" "I'm not invisible!" "School rules dictate immediate exclusion." "But how could I do that and consider myself any kind of teacher?" "Go back to class." "We will talk about this one day, but not today." "You're not punishing me?" "What could possibly be the point?" "Let me give you an example of emotional wellness." "You know how difficult it is sometimes to say no, right?" "How good it feels when you finally find the courage to say it." "Why is that?" "Aren't you coming?" "I'll be right here." "What did you do to your hands?" "This is the talk, isn't it?" "Everybody wants to have a talk lately." "Con." "Look at me." "I spoke to the doctor this morning." "The new treatment, it's not working." "The one from the yew tree?" "Yeah." "How can it not be working?" "Things have just moved really fast." "Faster than they thought." " But how can it not be working?" " I don't know." "It has to." "So what happens now?" "What's gonna be the next treatment?" "I'm so sorry." "I've never been more sorry about anything in my life." "It's okay that you're angry, Con." "It really is." "I'm pretty angry too, to tell you the truth." "But, Con..." "Con, are you listening?" "One day, if you look back and you feel bad for being so angry you couldn't even speak to me, you have to know that that was okay," "that I knew." "Because I know everything you need to tell me without you having to say it out loud." "And if you need to break things, by God, you break them." "Break them, good and hard." "And I'll be right there, Con." "I wish I had a hundred years." "A hundred years I could give to you." "Wake up!" "Wake up!" "Wake up!" "Wake up!" "Wake up!" "I don't care what time it is!" "You lied!" "Wake up!" "Wake up!" "Wake up!" "I need you now!" "You will do yourself harm if you keep that up." "It didn't work!" "You said the yew tree would make her better, but it didn't!" "Fix her!" "Make her better!" "Conor!" "You were the one who called me, Conor O'Malley." "If I called you, it was to save her!" "It was to heal her!" "I did not come to heal her." "Yes, you did!" " I came to heal you." " Me?" "I'm not the one who needs healing!" "How many times do I have to tell you?" "My mum's the one who." "Help me." "It is time for the fourth tale." "No!" "No, please!" "Get me out of here!" "It is time for your nightmare." "I need to get back to my mum!" "She is already here." "No!" "Mum, get out of here!" "I'm fine!" "It's all right." "There's nothing to worry about." "Mum, run!" "Please, run!" "Mum!" "Mum!" "Conor!" "Mum!" "Mum!" "Mum!" "Conor!" "Mum!" " Don't let me go!" " I won't!" " Conor!" " Mum!" "Conor!" "Mum!" "Conor!" " Here is the fourth tale." " Help!" "Here is the truth of Conor O'Malley." "Here is your nightmare." "Mum!" "Mum!" "Mum!" "Mum!" "This is when I wake up." "This is when I always wake up." "The tale is not yet told." "Get me out of here!" "I need to see my mum!" "She is no longer here, Conor." "I couldn't hold on to her any more." "Conor!" " Speak the truth!" " No!" "Speak the truth or you will never leave this place." "What truth?" "I don't know what you mean!" "You must tell me the fourth tale, Conor O'Malley." "You must tell me your nightmare before it is too late." "Yes!" "Tell me, Conor!" "Tell me the truth!" " It'll kill me if I do!" " It will kill you if you do not!" " Speak the truth!" " No!" "The truth, Conor O'Malley!" "Tell me the truth, boy!" "No!" " Speak the truth!" " No!" " Speak the truth, boy!" " I want it to be over!" "I can't stand knowing that she'll go." "I want it to be finished." "I let her fall." "I let her die." "That was brave, Conor." "You finally said it." "Why didn't it kill me?" "I deserve punishment." "I deserve the worst." "Do you?" "I've known forever that she wasn't going to make it." "She'd keep telling me she was getting better all the time because that's what I wanted to hear." "And I believed her." "Except I didn't." "And I started to think how much I wanted it to be over." "I couldn't stand how alone it would make me feel." "A part of you wished it would end, even if it meant losing her." "I let her go." "I could have held on for longer, but I always let her go." "And that is your truth, Conor O'Malley." "I don't want it to be, though." "Now it's for real." "Now she's going to die and it's my fault." "And that is not the truth at all." "You were merely wishing for an end of pain." "Your own pain." " It is the most human wish there is." " I didn't mean it, though." "You did, but you also did not." "How can both be true?" "How can a prince be a murderer and be loved by his people?" "How can an apothecary be evil-tempered but right-thinking?" "How can invisible men make themselves more lonely by being seen?" "I don't know." "Your stories never made any sense to me." "Because humans are complicated beasts." "You believe comforting lies while knowing full well the painful truth that makes those lies necessary." "In the end, Conor, it is not important what you think." "It is only important what you do." "So what do I do?" "What you did just now." "You speak the truth." "That's all?" "You think it's easy?" "You were willing to die rather than speak it." "I'm so tired." "So tired of all of this." "Then sleep." "There's time." "Are you sure?" "I need to see my mum." "We will both see her tonight." "Will you be there?" "Yes." "It will be the final steps of my walking." "How does the fourth story end?" "Sleep." "Sleep." "Sleep." "Thank God!" "Conor!" "Conor!" "I've been out of my mind trying to find you." " There was something I had to." " No time." "We have to go now." "Damn it!" "Grandma." "I'm sorry." "About the sitting room and... and everything." "It doesn't matter." "It doesn't matter." "You know, Conor?" "You and me..." "We are not the most natural fit, are we?" "No." "I guess not." "I guess not either." "But we're going to have to learn." "I know." "You do know, don't you?" "Of course you do." "But there is one thing we have in common." "Your mum." "That's what we have in common." "It's okay." "I see you found him." "Thank you." "Hello, my darling." " Ma?" " Yes, I'm here." "I'm here." "Can you feel my hand?" " And Conor's here, too." " Is he?" "Here is the end of the tale." "I'm afraid." "Of course you are afraid." "It will be hard." "It will be more than hard." "But you will make it through, Conor O'Malley." "You'll stay?" "I will be right here." "What do I do?" "Now all that is left is for you to speak the simplest truth of all." "I don't want you to go." "I know, my love." "I don't want you to go." "How does the fourth story end?" "It ends with the boy holding on tight to his mother." "And by doing so, he can finally let her go." "Conor." "This is your room now." "I've been making it ready." "Thank you." "A MONSTER CALLS"