"You'll need to keep an open mind over this." "Suspend your disbelief." "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it myself." "There are times when I still don't." "This is him before everything unravelled." "He was happy then." "He didn't need to use it." "If he did, it was only when he was alone." "Don't let the bugs bite, if they do, squeeze them tight." "Best boy." "Door, Daddy." "There's nothing in the dark that's not there in the light, OK?" "Let's try and close it for tonight, see how we go." "I never got the chance to ask him when the bad stuff kicked off." "If something in particular triggered it." "Maybe he can't remember himself." "Or the memory of it is too scary to think about." "He's not big on talking about anything personal." "In that way, at least, he's like any other boy." "Stop lying to me..." "What the hell were you thinking, throwing that?" "!" "You could have killed us!" "Maybe it doesn't matter where it starts, anyway." "Only where it ends." "Can't you read?" "Under 14s only." "Couldn't Victor look after him?" "He's at work, isn't he?" "He's cutting it fine again." "As ever." "He knows it's today." "I reminded him this morning." "Yeah, er... we'd best... press on." "Apparently when your son first went to secondary school, he was a real high-flier." ""Bordering on exceptional", his year teacher said." "Well, our divorce derailed him for a while." "Yeah, but that was, what, four, five years ago?" "He's a bright lad with real potential but he's running out of road." "Why were we not told about all this before?" "Well, that's why I've called this meeting, Dr Jarrett, to do just that, to alert you to our concerns." "Mister." "I'm a surgeon." "Only physicians are called doctors." "Right." "No other personal problems we should be aware of, are there?" "Girlfriend issues, drugs, cyber bullying...?" "Well, there is something going on with him." "He was a head-banger when he was small." "If he was frustrated or frightened, he'd just crawl to a wall and bang his head on it." "That was light years ago." "Light years." ""Change the narrative."" "Where do they get this crap from?" "Management-speak for dummies." "No, he's right." "We need to intervene, like he said." "We need to do something." "Now I can't reach him." "I've tried." "He just shuts down." "Could send him back to the psychiatrist." "Maybe he could get through to him?" "You can't outsource it this time, Ed." "You need to take him on yourself." "You need to tackle him on it." " What, like he's gonna listen to me?" " Yeah, well, if you stop pussy-footing around him trying to be his friend, he might." "You're his father." "And that's your "Get out of jail" card." "Do you wanna stop off somewhere, grab a burger?" "It's not like you to pass up free nosh." "So, erm, where were you?" "The report meeting?" "Just leave that a minute, OK?" "There's stuff we need to talk about." "He says you're getting behind in your college work." "Seriously behind." "What's this about bunking off again?" "Thought we were through all that." "Even on the rare occasions you do show, he says you're disengaged." "Disconnected." "I said, put it away!" "Turn the damn thing off and put it away." "Your GCSEs were lacklustre, to say the least, and if you've any hope of decent A-levels you'd better shape up." "Stop bunking off whenever the feeling takes you." "If you're not at college all day, what do you do?" "Where do you go?" "If you wanna screw up your future, then that's fine, you're going the right way about it." "You are fast-tracking it." "We agreed to stop the therapy on condition you delivered your end." "Focus on your studies." "Stop copping out, smoking dope and the rest of it." "I've other responsibilities now, other mouths to feed." "Your step-brother, twins on the way." "Look, you're not a kid any more." "Shit happens." "You can't just go round it, you have to... you have to go through it, you have to deal with it." "Every turn in the divorce, we made you the priority." "We put you first every turn." "Same school, same house, same friends." "If your life were a cake, only one slice got changed... and I..." "I am through apologising for that." "Can't you do something about him?" "I can't find his dummy." "Things are gonna change now, OK?" "And until they do, the bank is closed." "Forget your allowance, forget your driving licence, your mobile bill..." "God." "Darling." "Shh." "It's OK, sweetheart." "Shush, shush." "Darling." " You can't have closed it properly." " Yeah, it's my fault, of course." " I'm just saying to you." "Ssh." " Well, don't." "Now is not the time, OK?" "Accidents happen." "No-one is to blame." "Are you hurt?" "Shush, shush." "Where the hell do you think you're going?" "!" ""This is the Pellway Therapy Centre."" ""Please leave your name and number after the tone."" "Ross Brodie." "Can I help you?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Ssh, ssh, ssh." "Every turn in the divorce we made you the priority." "You're not a kid anymore." "If your life were a cake, only one slice got changed." "We should phone Ed again." "Maybe he's turned up now." "He'd have called if he had." "Come to bed." "Come on." "Taking off like that." "What the hell got into him?" "What if you or Christopher had been hurt or...?" "There was a time I used to know everything he was thinking, even before he did." "Do you think it's about Faith moving in with us?" "Well... a new baby brother to contend with, and now his step-sister?" "He's 17 years old, Hannah." "You climb into the sandpit with him, you stoop to his level." "He needs boundaries." "Discipline." "Today proves it." "We tried the softly, softly thing." "Come on, Christopher." "My best boy." "And now his father's finally stepping up, we must follow through, too." "Hallelujah!" "He's back!" "Where have you been all this time?" "Your mother's been off her head with worry." "Could you not have rung, texted?" "No battery." "Leave it to me, OK?" "We'll be fine." "What you did today... the way you lit off after the accident, abandoning your mother and brother." "What sort of person does something like that?" " Dad was there." " They're not his responsibility." "Starting now, you're getting your act together." "Whatever's going on with you at school..." "College." "It's a sixth form college." "It's over." "As of now, all the crap ends." "No more zoning out on your computer games, skulking round town doing God knows what." "And before you say I'm not your father, I've no right to lay down the law, my daughter's coming to live in this house, and I'm her father, and that gives me the right." "She's been through enough these past weeks, losing her mother..." "If her life were a cake." "Isn't this to be the baby's room?" "You can't keep him there with you forever, can you?" "Hang about." "Now I get it." "All that shit about me pulling my finger out at college, before I screw up my future, screw up my chance of uni." "So my room's freed up." "Problem solved." "Isn't there some rule?" "The last one in is first out." "From now on, I make the rules." "I've taken a back seat with you, but that's also gonna change." "Your mother may be blind to the guilt trips and the "poor misunderstood" crap you pull, but I'm not." "It's tiresome and immature." "So do us all a favour and get over it." "Get some sleep." "Your packed lunch." "It's in the fridge." "You are going in today, to college?" "Call them." "Check if you want." "You gave it me as a present." "Remember?" "You found it on that beach in Dorset that weekend." "When we went just after your dad left." "When the seagulls came and nicked our packed lunch." "Yeah." "And it rained all that first day, remember?" "You did those magic tricks in the BB to keep us amused." "Is it to punish me?" "When you act out and..." "Is it to punish me?" "For Victor... the baby?" "They were precious to me, too, those years we had together." "After the divorce, before I met Victor." "You know that." "But..." "I couldn't put my life on hold forever." "And when you're ready to get on with yours, you can do it, knowing that you don't have to worry about me." "I'm not alone anymore." "It was for the best." "I did the right thing." "Duty calls." "OK, so Hardy wanted to explore the complexities of what it means to be human." "How did he do that?" "He did that by revealing the internal lives of his characters." "Those emotional forces that govern all our actions." "His recurring themes were what?" "Sex?" "Yeah." "Among other things, like, er, loss and betrayal." "The whole spectrum of human suffering." "His work reflects his cataclysmic sense of tragedy..." " Hey, Bro." " Hi." "Come on." "Oi!" "Finished your homework?" " Time for piano practice, then." " We're going to play Minecraft." "Just throwing good money after bad for lessons if you don't practice." " What time's Dad home?" " Late." "Tonight's his outpatients clinic." "Something in particular you wanted to see him for?" "Doesn't it weird you out?" "Having two of them kicking inside you?" " Why on earth should it?" " They get hiccups, too." " They do, you said." "And they fart." " Jack." " Everybody farts, don't they?" " Maybe they do it in sync, being twins." "Enough." "Enough, I said." "Go start your practice." "It's supposed to be Wednesdays he comes." "Every second Wednesday and the first weekend of the month." "It doesn't have to be set in stone, does it?" "He reeks of weed." "I can smell it on him." "And I don't want Jack exposed to his excesses." "Excesses?" "Well, you said yourself the other day, he's out of control." "You're not responsible for how he's turning out, Ed." "You think you are, but you're not." "And divorce is hardly a novelty these days, is it?" "Talk to him." " Is it OK to see Mrs Jarrett?" " You'll make her day." "I think she's presentable." "Thank you." "You have a very important job..." "Can you change the channel?" "We're missing our cookery programme." "We need to change the channel for our cookery programme." "You know the way." "The starlings are back." "Thousands of them." "Turned the sky black." "I'd like to have seen that." "How are things at home?" "Which one?" "It's happening again, Gran." "Tell me." "It's like it... takes me over." "Makes me do things." "You have to control it." "You must." "Your grandfather lost control and..." "And what?" "Why won't anyone ever talk about what happened to him?" "The past is best left in the past." "Except it's not in the past." "Is it?" "I even look like him." "How come Dad didn't get it?" "Told you." "It skipped a generation." "Often the way with these things." "Went to see him yesterday." "To talk to him about it." "Try, anyway." "You know how he is." "He only sees what he wants to see." "All families have secrets." "And this is ours." "Anything you need?" "Coffee or...?" "I have to go." "Never use it in anger." "That way you can control it." "Only use it for good." "Only for good." "Please, we need to change the channel." "She never listens." "With a little bit of olive oil." "OK?" "And then, you just pick it up and you pour it into the spices..." "It's on!" "It's on!" "I'm just washing my hands." "Please, God, not again." "Here we go." "You all right?" " Hey." " She's here..." "He told me later that what happened would have happened, even if I'd never come into his life." " There's your sister." " I'm not so sure." "I think we all touch each other's lives in ways we may never know." "I remembered lilac was your favourite colour, see?" "Heating comes on at... seven till ten in the mornings." "Five o'clock till nine at night." "If you get cold, we've got a spare fan heater we can..." "It's fine, Dad." "Come here." "Losing your mum to cancer." "You've been down and back." "When you moved up north with your mother," "I know we didn't see each other as much as..." "Then the baby came and..." "I was needed here." "You were always in my thoughts and prayers." "Always." "I love you." "I never stopped." " If you need a hand with..." " I'm good." "This is a new start for us." "So, erm... when was the last time you two met?" "Two years ago." "At your wedding." "Prettiest of all the bridesmaids, bar none." "A lot's happened since then." "Not at the table." "I spoke to your head of year at the college, erm..." "Mr Blake, is it?" "It's Blakeston." "He said to take the time you need before you start." " Whenever you're ready, he said." " I am ready." "Four A-levels she's taking." "Predicted A-Stars in all of them." "Good job you didn't take after your old man?" "Well, college is a ten-minute bus ride away." "Your brother can show you the way, show you the ropes there." "Step-brother." "Half-brother, step-brother, we're all the same family now, aren't we?" "Amen to that." "Shush, shush." "You sure you don't want a lift?" "No trouble." "I'm good, thanks." "Text me how you get on, if there's any problems or... you want a ride home, no... trouble." "Here you go." "It's coming next week." "Can you even ride a scooter?" " I passed my test last summer." " Yeah, yeah, that's right." " What's good?" " Hey." "Who's the newbie?" "You're not gonna introduce us?" "My step-sister." "Faith." "Jamie." "Azfal, Malik, Kylie." "Hi." "So, er..." "Faith, you seen any of his magic tricks yet?" "Hey, man, show her." "Sick, innit?" "I know that one." "It's on YouTube." "You put a hole in the side of the cup and then you use your thumb to..." "Is it static?" " He never tells us." " Apparently it's a trade-secret." "It's too sick, bruv." "Know what I'm saying?" "You know what?" "Do the shoelace one." "Check this out." "Go on, bruv." "She wants to see." "Go on." "Insane, Bruv." "Do the other one." "Dynamo!" " What's your first class?" " Psychology." "But I've got register at the office first." "Admin's down the corridor." "Catch you later." "Do you hate her?" "My mother?" "For taking your dad off yours?" "I mean, I get it if you do." "I..." "Maybe back in the day, I did." " And now?" " We are where we are." "Do you... hate your... stepmother for going off with your dad?" "I have my moments." "Hate the sin, not the sinner." "Dad text me that after he left." "It's easy to say." "My God." "Look." "It's so beautiful." "Yeah." "Come on in." "So, what, it's been..." "er... a year now since we..." "So what's been going on?" "That's new." "Yeah." "I'm all hi-tech now." "Just for my records, training, etcetera." "Your mum's had the baby, I take it?" "A boy." "And things OK with your stepfather?" "Victor, isn't it?" "And your dad?" "How about college?" "Things working out better now?" "So... everything is A-OK." "Yet here you are." "I..." "I want to be more in control." "I get angry sometimes." "I lose it." "Do things." " What kind of things?" " Just stuff." "Like what?" "Do you try using any of the anger management strategies we talked about?" "She's having twins." "Beth." "My... my dad... my stepmother." "Wow." "Babies on all fronts, then." "You used to say that you were... stuck... like a stalled engine, you said." "Do you remember?" "And... you know, here we are a year on." "Most guys your age are focusing on things outside the family." "Hanging out with friends, figuring out their future..." "My step-sister's moved in with us." "She's started at my college and..." "Is she your age?" "You like her." "Like... you know, more than a sister?" "And what, you think that that's unnatural?" " Well, it can't go anywhere, can it?" " Do you want it to go somewhere?" " Don't want it not to." " You told her how you feel?" "Told anyone?" "You used to be able to talk to your grandmother." "Not about this." "What about your dad?" "Give him a chance." "Why not?" "Build some bridges." "Maybe even think about moving into his place for a while." "It would take the heat out of things at home for a bit." "I don't know." "He might surprise you." " Ooh!" " Sorry." "Did I...?" "You scared the hell out of me." " What time's Dad home?" " Six." "Yeah." "Wait for him in the study if you want." "Is Jack about?" "He has karate on Thursdays." "That is seriously good." "There's something we need to, erm... er... yeah, the way you drift in and out whenever you want." "It has to, er..." "Contact is every second Wednesday and the first weekend of the month." "That was the arrangement." "In a month or so, the babies are gonna be here, and I'll have my hands full just getting through the day without..." "They say the demands of twins can have an adverse effect on other siblings and any spare time we have, it has to be for Jack." "I don't want him feeling like he's been replaced." "Well, it's not like you had no choice, is it?" "When your father left, we asked if you wanted to live with us but you were adamant to stay with your mother." "Well, she was alone." "And now she's not." "She's moved on, like the rest of us." "The only person who refuses to..." "You're an adult now." "It's time to take responsibility." "Join the real world like the rest of us." "Are you stoned?" "Stoned is old school." " No-one says that anymore." " I'll take that as a yes." "If you wanna go off the rails, that's your choice, too." "But I'm not having you do it here." "God knows why Jack looks up to you, but he does." "Stoned synonyms." "Blasted, blitzed, bombed, fried, high, loaded." "Some of these could be about booze as much as they're about weed." "But you get the..." "Ripped, spaced out, strung out, wasted, zonked, smashed, trashed, blasted, hammered, tripping, whacked..." "You just can't help yourself, can you?" "Do you have any idea how you make him feel?" "How you hurt him, acting as you do?" "He thinks he's failed you as a father." "Now I'm not standing by while you put him through this any more." "He doesn't deserve it." "Key." "I'll tell your father you called by." "Please think about what I said." "Without question, having twins..." "Just want you to relax and take a deep breath..." "Aaagh!" "That's when it really kicked off." "He'd tasted his power now... and he wanted more of it."