Dougie's purple bass is gathering dust in the corner of the living room.
Danny's red eyes are gathering bags on the sofa in the living room.
He doesn't sleep anymore, not since Tom told him Dougie was going down the same road as his sister. He's waiting for the phone call from the police announcing Dougie's death.
He doesn't tell Tom this. He tells Tom he's having a creative streak and songs are pouring out 24/7. This is a lie not even worth arguing because the lyric book is in the same place as it was the week Willow kicked the bucket and spilled the shitty water of her life all over the carpet of theirs. But Tom doesn't press it because he gets the same fucked up dreams as Danny.
He also avoids the subject of the empty Monster cans covering every surface of the house, and refrains from telling Danny that if you want to stay up, coffee is a better source of nightmare avoidance.
Harry finds the burnt remains of the newspapers in the Poynter's fireplace and questions Dougie's mum about it.
She shrugs and drowns Harry's concern out with alcohol.
Harry asks Dougie with great trepidation because God knows what could set him off in a tempter tangent these days.
Dougie shrugs and lights another cigarette.
Finally, Harry asks Jazzie because she seems to have a talent for noticing things that others don't.
She looks at him and says, 'They all lied about Willow so I burned them to death.'
Harry pats her head and backs away and calls Tom. Tom, he says, This little girl is not okay.
Tom replies, What can we do about it?
Harry falls silent and realises they can't do anything. They can't look out for Dougie's little sister because she's just like her older siblings are/were. She makes little piles of secrets and hides them in creative places for nobody to find until it's too late.
Harry returns to Dougie and tries to connect (Talk to me. No. Why? I don't want to. Why not? FuckoffHarry. Please talk to me. FuckOFFHarry. Please. FUCKOFFHARRY.) but gives up and kisses him instead.
Later that night, he goes to a bar and gets in a fight so he can feel the pain he deserves for being such a manipulative bastard.
Dougie didn't kiss him back.
Dougie stayed still until Harry backed off, and then he curled up under his covers and screamed in to a pillow.
Jazzie doesn't tell anybody that she's going back to school. She packs her school bag like so:
- Hello Kitty pen and pencil set
- Iggle Piggle notebook
- Box of orange tic- tacs (only one and a half calories per tic- tac!)
- Razor blade wrapped in tissue paper
and sets off on the half mile walk.
The teachers stare at her with wide eyes. Smile, nod, 'Lovely to see you, Jazzie, does your mummy know you're here?' No. 'Should she know, do you think?' No. 'Why not?' She's pissed out of her goddamn mind.
They call Dougie's mum.
No answer. Dougie's mum is blacked out on the kitchen floor.
They call the police.
The police arrive and take Jazzie home in a car with a flashy light. Jazzie stares at the Mr Policeman with pursed lips when he suggests they turn the lights on. She is too old for such frivolous delights. She is not a child. She is a young adult and Mr Policeman is a fucking idiot.
She says as much and Mr Policeman goes quiet.
Jazzie likes quiet, and she settles back and allows herself a small smile. She catches a glance of her face in the rearview mirror.
I look like Willow, she decides.
When she arrives home, Dougie answers the door. He brings Jazzie in. He asks what the hell she thinks she's playing at.
I'm being grown up, she shrieks, in a rather age- appropriate temper tantrum.
Leave me alone, she hollers.
I'm being Willow, she yells.
Like hell you are, he snaps. You don't even know how to do your shoelaces up, let alone tie a noose with a fucking school tie.
After he returns to his room, Jazzie teaches herself how to tie her shoelaces.