Book of Blood (2009)

Jonas Armstrong: Simon McNeal

Photos 

Quotes 

• Wyburd : Where are you headed, friend?

  Simon McNeal : Away.

  Wyburd : Away?

  Simon McNeal : As far away as I can go.

  Wyburd : [leaning close]  I think I can help with that.

• Simon McNeal : The dead have highways. Highways that lead to intersections, and intersections that spill into our world. And if you find yourself at one of those intersections, you should stop and you should listen, because the dead have stories to tell.

• Wyburd : [after ripping Simon's shirt open]  Jesus Christ, son. You are a book of blood. Read it to me.

  Simon McNeal : Why should I?

  Wyburd : Well now...

  [Wyburd picks up a knife and approaches Simon] 

  Wyburd : ...because here's the deal - we can do this nice and slow and painful, or I can make it relatively quick. Up to you.

• Simon McNeal : She had made them a promise, a promise I would have to keep. And their stories kept coming, day after day, night after night. She kept me locked in the estate she bought with all the money she made from her books, reading my skin.

• Mary Florescu : Simon, there's a house near here. Tollington Place. Something... terrible happened there. Something unexplained. A young girl was murdered.

  Simon McNeal : Right. You're writing another book?

  Mary Florescu : I'd like for you to work with me.

  Simon McNeal : I don't know about that. A lot of people have said my family exploited my brother's death. I mean, our parents made money off it.

  Mary Florescu : Something awful happened to that poor girl. Don't you think her story deserves to be told? You have a gift, Simon. Don't waste it. Help me find out what happened in that house.

• Mary Florescu : I was ten. There was a park across the street from our house. It had a fountain where we used to play. But it was old; water never worked, until one night. The sound woke me up. It was spraying everywhere. The air was drenched, but not with... water. With blood. I didn't know what was happening, but it happened almost every night.

  Simon McNeal : And you didn't say anything?

  Mary Florescu : I was too afraid. In the morning, the fountain was always completely dry, like it never happened. I was afraid they'd all think I was crazy. A few weeks later, the city came and tore out the fountain to make way for a parking lot. When they ripped up the ground, they found... a ten year old girl buried underneath. She'd been... tortured. Her DNA linked her to a man five doors down. But by the time they found him, he'd done the same thing to six more girls. If I only said something...

• Simon McNeal : There is something going on in this house, alright? The first time upstairs, yeah, I faked it. But the second time, that was real. That was something way beyond a few pieces of charcoal. Something way beyond what a guy in a lab coat will ever tell you.

  Mary Florescu : I thought you were smarter than this, Simon. I thought, for a moment, you were for real.

• Simon McNeal : I'm not a fraud.

  Reg Fuller : Get the fuck out of here.

  Simon McNeal : You! You don't understand, and you never will. Mary, I'm supposed to be here. This house - it wants me. It's chosen me. Me!

  Mary Florescu : It's always about you, isn't it? Always you.

  Simon McNeal : Yes! It's about me! I told you I had a gift, and it was taken away. But I've got it back now. I've got it back, and I'm not going to let it get taken away again. So I'm going to prove it to you. I'm going to prove it once and for all.

  [takes off jacket and walks upstairs] 

  Mary Florescu : You can stop now, Simon.

  [Simon takes off his shirt to reveal his bruised body] 

  Mary Florescu : Oh, please.

  Simon McNeal : When I'm through, you're gonna beg to have my story, and it's going to be bigger than any book you've ever written. Do you know why? Because it's all true.

• Simon McNeal : She said I would be their book, and she would be their translator, copying down their stories; stories they wrote on me. I couldn't take it anymore, so I ran. I ran and I ran, but still... they kept writing. They keep writing!