Drew Payne

Thanks for your dedication; it means a lot, and I've had this ending planned for so long.

Yes, Ed and Liam have a very codependent relationship (and that's not a bad thing) and being apart will be very hard. There are only a few chapters left here, and I will show what the world has to offer Liam. But all the scenes set in the present day have shown what kind of life Liam is living, once he has been released, and it's not a spoiler to say he isn't doing well. Please stay to the end, because I've got a special ending planned.

Tony, Thanks for so many interesting comments. I'm glad you're enjoying this story (is enjoying the right word?). Firstly, there was such a large break in my writing this story because I was very ill for such a long time. My health is finally improving because, over a year ago, I started to get the treatment I needed. Ed is at risk of self-harming once Liam is released, but Ed is a patient in a mental health hospital, and one where the care is very good. The nurses will be keeping a close watch on him, and he'll have access to very few things he can self-harm with (Look back on the section where Chrissy self-harms). He'll be safe because the nurses there know how to do their jobs. Ed was admitted to Nurton Cross because he was sectioned (under the Mental Health Act). He doesn't need a parole decision to be released; he needs an MDT (Multi-Displinary Team) meeting agreeing he is ready for release. Basically, the clinicians at Nurton Cross will decide when he's released. He's already being prepared for release, hence his work experience outside of the hospital. If Liam and Ed had committed a crime together, then there would be a condition that they are separated upon release. But they met in the hospital, plus the parole board didn't know their relationship (well, the nurses didn't tell them), so there aren't any conditions on them meeting after they are both released. Also, remember the nurses there have a special fondness for Liam; he's been there the longest, and he's their real success story. I know they want to help these two boys. The next chapter, which I'm writing, deals with Liam preparing for release and will deal with his conditions of release, which were in his letter from the parole board. It will also introduce an character only hinted at, at the very beginning of this story. You are very right about how Liam's conviction will and will not be "spent". He's now 19, so he has passed the five and a half years mark where his conviction is spent. Yes, the police will always keep on record his crime, but that will only matter if he commits another crime. In a certain way, Liam will never escape his crime but he's no risk to society. I'm a great planner, for my writing, and I do know where this story is finally heading, and we're almost there. Drew

Liam pressed the intercom bottom, hearing the loud electronic buzz it emitted, and then waited for a reply. It was the only way to get back into Nurton Cross. He needed to buzz the intercom next to the hospital’s main door and then wait for a reply. It was never answered quickly. Today, he was late back, only half an hour, but later than his expected time back. He'd spent today at Cowgate College, another day of work experience in the Administration Office there. He spent the morning sortin

Thank you for this. You've got what I was trying to portray here. Liam has grown up and is starting to understand himself, but he can't survive on his own.

Thank you. Yes, we know he does get released, but I'm far more interested in his journey there and the effects it has on him.

Yes, it did, but Liam is having problems believing this.

Liam sat at the round table and took a bite out of his ham and cheese sandwich. The white bread and ham were dry, as they always were. At least the cheese had a strong flavour. It was always the same here. Any sandwiches they were given had been made hours before, left to sit around for hours and, therefore, dried out. At least the sandwiches at Cowgate were freshly made, but he wasn’t there. As the Parole Board broke up for lunch, Liam and Mark were shown into one of the interview rooms fu

On Friday 8th August, a gunman opened fire on the offices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, but it barely seemed to make a ripple in the news. The British media seemed to ignore it. Why disregard this horrendous attack? Bullets hit the buildings and shattered windows, causing CDC employees to hide for their safety as over 500 rounds were fired at their workplace. In this hail of gunfire only one person died, that is still one person too many. David Rose, 33, was a police officer, who graduated from the police academy in March, later died in hospital from his wounds. All so unsurprisingly, this was the work of a lone gunman. He was Patrick Joseph White, 30, who had tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters but was turned away. He then went to the building across the road, from where he opened fire on the CDC Headquarters. He was found dead there. This sorry story is all too sad but all too familiar from America, the lone gunman, with some sort of grudge, takes his guns and decides to seek “revenge” on an organisation, his ex-employer or even just complete strangers. But why did this man choose the CDC? The CDC is America’s national public health organisation. They monitor infectious diseases in the country, especially new and emerging ones, track outbreaks of infectious diseases, including managing vaccination programs. They are not a secretive or shadow agency, they are a public health organization, who are very open about what they do. The question is still, why attack them? The shooter believed he had been harmed by the Covid vaccination, causing him to be depressed and suicidal, none of which are recognised side effects. There have been so many conspiracy theories about the Covid vaccination flying around the internet and social media, many of them are so outlandish as to be almost laughable. But was this shooting just a logical progression of these conspiracy theories? Previously, the FBI warned that prominent conspiracy theories, including the right-wing QAnon hoaxes, are fuelling domestic extremists to carry out acts of terror (18). Is this the first anti-vax conspiracy to fuel an act of terror? Robert Kennedy Jr, American Secretary of Health, said he was "deeply saddened" by the attack. "We know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No-one should face violence while working to protect the health of others," he said. But is he innocent of all blame? He has been fanning the fires of anti-vax conspiracy theories for years. He has previously said vaccinations cause autism, which is just untrue. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has examined extensive research and studies, over many years, and found no link between the MMR vaccination and autism. Kennedy has also cast baseless doubts on the effectiveness of vaccinations, especially the Covid vaccinations, and misrepresented their side effects. He has been accused of spreading misinformation about vaccines. He has been a long-time denier of vaccinations’ effectiveness. Over twenty years ago, he jumped onto the conspiracy theory about thimerosal in vaccines. Thiomersal is an organomercurial derivative of ethylmercury, meaning it is a substance made from another substance that is a mercury salt. But saying it is dangerous because its a derivative from a mercury salt is like saying table salt is dangerous because it’s a sodium salt. Plus, all the “evidence” used to claim thimerosal was “dangerous” was obtained from studies into mercury poisoning in food. But Kennedy doesn’t seem to let facts get in his way when he jumps onto another anti-vax conspiracy. Kennedy is now in charge of America’s health policies. At the beginning of August, Kennedy’s health department halted $500m in mRNA vaccine research, ending 22 federal contracts. Most vaccines contain a weakened or dead bacteria or virus but mRNA vaccines contain small pieces of mRNA, usually a small piece of a protein found on the virus’s outer surface, this triggers the body’s normal immune response, which recognises that the protein is foreign and produces antibodies against it. mRNA vaccines are generally safer because they use the body’s immune system to fight pathogens, the mRNA Covid vaccines were very effective (between 94% and 95% effective), though no safety concerns were identified from them, and researchers believe this technology will have many further uses and benefits. Peter Hotez, a pediatrician who directs the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital, said about mRNA vaccines, “for a pandemic situation with a new and previously unknown pathogen, or for cancer vaccines and immunotherapeutic it [mRNA technology] has distinct advantages.” Dr Jerome Adams, who served as the US surgeon general during Donald Trump’s first presidency, said the mRNA vaccines technology helped end the Covid-19 pandemic and saved more than 2 million lives “by the most conservative estimates”. But Kennedy said, while justifying his ending of mRNA research funding, “(They) fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu”. This is untrue because there is no evidence to back this claim. Kennedy’s vaccine denial is now manifesting in government policy, cutting funding for mRNA research because it “fails”. This sends out a wider message to other vaccine deniers that they are right too. It can also empower people like the CDC shooter, reinforcing their extreme views. Nothing happens in a vacuum, in any society. The American Federation of Government Employees, the CDC workers’ union, said the violent shooting didn’t happen in a vacuum but “compounds months of mistreatment, neglect, and vilification that CDC staff have endured”. They said vaccine misinformation had put scientists at risk. But why did the British media ignore this shooting? Many British right wing newspapers and media outlets have supported anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, reporting them as almost facts and drawing links that aren’t supported by the evidence. They gleefully jumped onto Andrew Wakefield’s discredited and fraudulent study that tried to discredit the MMR vaccine, but were slow to report on the deception behind it when it was exposed. Even the BBC, supposedly the last bastion of “balanced” reporting, still refers to vaccinations as “jabs”, a derogative term first used by the anti-vaccination movement. Is it any wonder they ignored this shooting? And what did Donal Trump do in response to this shooting? He has sent the National Guard into Washington DC to “police” it’s streets because he claims there’s a crime wave sweeping the city, even though data from the police department showed that homicides dropped by 32% between 2023 and 2024, reaching their lowest level since 2019. It shows where his priorities are, and they aren’t with stopping dangerous conspiracy theories. Drew

Ooh, spoilers. The next chapter is Liam centre stage, at this Parole Board, and it's not his favourite position. But I really like your description that this isn't like an exam, really good. Thank you.

For the first 12 years of his life, Liam was treated as nothing, no one looked out for him and his mother plainly showed she didn't even care for him. That kind of hell is very difficult to get over. He's only 19 now and he has more to go to gain self confidence.

In the afternoon, he'll have to tell his story and everyone has said to be honest.

He's just had to sit and listen, so far. In the afternoon, he has to answer their questions.

Liam sat on the chair and waited. He’d carefully dressed up for today - his new(ish) grey corduroy trousers, his pale blue cotton shirt, his most special shirt, and the dark red tie Ed had helped him pick out at the Tesco Extra superstore on the outskirts of Darlingham. He’d been told about that day three weeks before and… he planned for it, including buying this tie, his only tie. But was his planning enough? He didn’t know what exactly he should plan for. Harry, the nurse, had brought him

Thanks It was a shock how this film still disturbed me, forty years later.