Alternative Ending 3 - by Matthew Mulcahy
(A sudden burst of noise. Trains, commuters, intercoms. We are now in St Pancras International, and so are Brian, Susan, and the Book.)
SUSAN: How did we get here again?
BOOK: I have powers too. All books do.
SUSAN: Yeah, but why have you taken us here?
BOOK: I'm all ready free, thanks to you two, and now I'm returning the favour. There is a task that needs to be performed by one of you, that will come at a price for the other.
SUSAN: What is it?
BOOK: In a few minutes, a train will leave St Pancras International Station for Paris. One of you must get on that train, but the other will have to suffer eternal damnation.
SUSAN: (surprised) I'm sorry?
BOOK: If neither of you are on that train when it leaves, you will both perish into dust, like all old books do eventually. Now make the choice.
SUSAN: (sighing) Ok. Brian -
BRIAN: I'll do it.
SUSAN: (holding back tears) Brian, no!
INTERCOM: The 17:55 train to Paris will shortly be departing St Pancras. Please make sure you have all your belongings with you. Thank you.
BOOK: Your time is up. So who will go, and who will stay?
SUSAN: I'll go on.
BRIAN: Susan!
SUSAN: Brian, don't panic! I will see you again. Will I, Book?
BOOK: The prophecies tell me that you will eventually see him again. But not for long.
SUSAN: Very well, then. (crying) Goodbye, Brian!
BRIAN: Goodbye, Susan!
(The whistle is blown and a train pulls out of the station. Six months later, another train returns.)
SUSAN: At last. Six months of eternal damnation. I can't bare to think how he coped.
(Exiting the train, Susan hears a recogniseable voice.)
BRIAN: Susan!
SUSAN: Brian! Oh, I missed you so much!
BRIAN: What happened to you?
SUSAN: Nothing. I just went to Paris, and then they stopped me from leaving.
BRIAN: Same here. (seriously) Though Susan, I'm afraid there's something I've got to tell you.
SUSAN: What?
BRIAN: By eternal damnation, the Book didn't just mean I was trapped here. It made me release two of the deadliest people on the planet.
SUSAN: Who?
MAN & MRS F: (together) Us.
(Susan gasps).
SUSAN: But that's not possible! You were marooned in the book!
MRS F: Not any more.
MAN: The time has come, Susan, for our revenge.
(Stabbing is heard, followed by a body collapsing.)
BRIAN: Susan! I'll get you -
(More stabbing, another collapsing body.)
MRS F: We've done it. We've changed our future.
MAN: Wrong. I've changed my future.
(Now Mrs F is stabbed.)
MAN: The Book told me this would happen. That you would escape the book with me, and then gallivant off, doing whatever you wanted. Well, that won't happen. Because I'm the only one who is free.
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