Welcome. Welcome to my story. I’d shake your hand only, well, it’s just a story. My story.
Who am I? I guess you wish to have to know that. Well, I’m that presence following you home. That presence you’ll feel just at the back of your right shoulder but can never see. I’m the one who knows everything about you. Everything. Don’t imagine me? You’ll soon see.
My name’s Jamie Scott and I’m your narrator, guide, whatever. I continue to exist the seventh floor between the Lotts’ and the fire escape. I used to be born in this shithole thirteen years ago and I at all times thought I’d die in this place too. Time is nothing in Asphodel Meadows: day is day is day and nothing changes—ever. And EastEnders is on TV again, and it’s scraps from the day gone by’s dinner again, and it’s the same conversation never concluded that you hear around every walkway on a daily basis and every night.
Except for tonight. Tonight is not the same as every other night.
It’s seven o’clock, 6 September, and they’re here. In spite of everything.
Jamie’s a precocious teen with a messiah complex. And he wants vengeance. Skulk along the walkway with him as he spies on his neighbours and he’ll show you why he’s called four malevolent strangers to the tower block.
You’ll meet Kath, recently divorced and sacked after an affair with a student; Paul, a writer who can’t write; Jamie’s abusive mother, the Fat Beast; Char, a sex worker and her clients; the strangely perfect Lott family; and Sam, the resident drug addict as they struggle with forgiveness, missed connections, and loneliness.
If you’re lucky, Jamie will give you the best seat in the tower block for the final act.
Trigger warnings are available at www.amvivian.com
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