‘I mean, I started crying when I collapsed on this bed. And when you think about it, that was the moment nobody needed me to be OK. A whole night of looking for a house in the dead of night and I was fine. Ten seconds of everyone being OK and I fell apart. You know what that means, Simon?’

Simon huffed. Jack could not decipher what kind of huff it was.

‘It means I value the rest of you more than I value myself. So I keep myself alive and well for you all. And alright, yeah, it’s a crap reason to keep yourself going. But if it works it works, right?’

Simon huffed again, and even Jack could tell it was a huff of despondence.

‘I’ll be OK, Simon. You don’t need to worry about me.’

Jack wasn’t sure how true that was, but it seemed like the right thing to say. Simon patted him on the shoulder again, and Jack forced himself not to flinch in case it hurt Simon’s feelings. They were much more important than his, after all.

‘Thanks for the chat, Simon,’ Jack said. ‘At least someone asked if I was alright.’

Simon smiled in the torchlight, and rose to his feet. The conversation ended there and then as Simon walked out of the door and left Jack to his own devices. Jack lay himself flat on the bed, without getting undressed or even covering himself with the duvet. It took him several hours of inactivity, but he eventually fell asleep from exhaustion.

He awoke in daylight, with his watch telling him he had slept until mid-morning. But a whole night’s sleep had not rid the conversation with Simon from his mind.

As he looked out of his bedroom window at the unfamiliar street, his thoughts turned to Ewan and the others. In a sense, they were keeping themselves alive for other people too, so maybe Jack was nothing special after all. He just hoped that by the time it struck midnight that evening and it became May 20th, his friends in New London would still have lives to keep.

*

Ewan was impressed with himself, which wasn’t a feeling he experienced often. He hadn’t thought he could spend a whole day walking around Oakenfold surrounded by clones without a single emotion appearing on his face.

Then again, most of his life had been spent masking his feelings for the convenience of others. Sixteen years of practice had led to him putting on a stellar performance that day.