The family are watching Dan in the last episode of Downton Abbey when they receive an alarming phone call. Graham and Jane dash to London to rescue their son.

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Chapter 7.

JANE

                    

‘The greatest proof of madness is the disproportion of one’s designs, to one’s means.’

Napoleon Bonaparte

 

It’s Sunday evening. Time for supper and time for the final episode of Downton Abbey. Em packs her books away from the kitchen table after a long afternoon of science revision. We hurry into the lounge with trays of snacks ready to turn on the TV. With little idea how difficult it might be to spot Dan in a crowded dance scene, I’ve already prompted friends and relatives to watch it and help us keep a look-out. (For most, this isn’t a chore as they are already avid Downton fans with no intention of missing the last episode). Fortunately, Dan’s is one of the first faces to come into shot. Em is a lot quicker than we are at spotting him. We catch sight of him two or three more times in the remainder of the scene. We are leaping out of our seats pointing and cheering.

‘There he is!  Did you see him?’

‘Where? where?’

‘There, look!’

We are so engrossed, waiting at home for Dan to appear on our TV screens, ignorant of the fact that he is simultaneously taking dangerous steps away from us, out of the real world and into a place from which it will not be easy to return.

We are deciding to go upstairs to get ready for bed, when the phone rings. It’s Dan’s voice. I immediately launch into telling him that we have watched Downton Abbey and that we spotted him in the dance scene. I am hoping to ask him as well about the date his term will finish and his plans for Christmas, but he doesn’t even seem to hear me.

‘God told me to phone you,’ are his first words, ‘And He told me that you would be the one to answer the phone Mum.’ His voice is urgent, gathering momentum. ‘It all makes sense to me now. The prophecies, what they were all about. The many signs of who I really am. I’m Him! The Holy One! The Saviour of the world!’

‘What?’ I’m struggling to breathe as I listen.

He goes on at great speed, ‘The prophecy is about to be fulfilled, Mum. God wants ME to lead His revolution. I know this sounds unlikely, but he has chosen me. This is it, Mum. It is the beginning of something big. Welcome to the party!’

He sounds so happy, so ecstatic, but things he is saying and the frantic rush of words flowing from him are terrifying. Every time I try to say something, he won’t let me speak, but keeps repeating, over and over again,

‘Listen, listen, listen. You must listen to me!’ I try to ask him questions, but Dan interrupts me immediately, making crazy burbling sounds down the phone, moving his tongue rapidly from side to side across his lips to stop me speaking. I let out an inadvertent laugh, though the situation is far from funny.

“I love to hear you laugh mum!” He makes his wiggle-tongue burbling sound again to provoke another reaction.

‘Dan I’m worried about you. I’m thinking you might need to see a doctor. Stay near the phone. I’ll ring you back in just a second.’ I turn to Graham, who has come into the room, sensing my rising panic.

 ‘I am really scared now. He’s not ok. He is talking so fast and sounding, really confused or….crazy or ..schizophrenic or something. We have to help him!’

Graham needs no more convincing. ‘Let me just think about what to do.’

He paces the hall for a few seconds, his head bowed.

I watch and wait for my dependable, problem-solving, decision-making husband, the one we all rely upon so much, the one who always knows what to do in all situations. I wait in silence.

‘I’ve an idea.’ He stands up. ‘I’ll ring Steve and ask him to drive to Dan’s flat. It should only take about thirty minutes for him to get there on a Sunday night. We will throw a few things into a bag and get ourselves to London right away.’ He is on the phone to his brother in seconds. I hear him saying,

‘Steve, Steve, I need your help!’ His mouth is dry. It’s hard for him to get his words out clearly. There is a tremor in his voice.

The next second, my mobile rings. It is Carl, Dan’s flat mate.

‘I’m ringing because I’m worried about Dan.  He’s saying weird things and has been behaving strangely all weekend. He hasn’t slept. He’s not eating’

‘He’s just been on the phone to us and we are worried too. We’re coming to London right away, tonight. Dan’s uncle is already on his way to the flat and he will stay with him until we arrive. Where are you now Carl?’

‘Well… I’ve left the flat…. because…I don’t feel safe around Dan.’

I understand his fear, none of us have ever met anything like this before, but I am also panicking at the thought of what might happen if Dan is left alone for very long in this state.

‘Please will you go back to stay with him Carl, but maybe take someone with you? He needs help.  He’s already been out on the street talking to random strangers.’

Carl says he’s at Mark’s but they will go back to search for Dan together. I speak to Mark too, but only briefly because we need to get on the road. They promise they will stay with him until help arrives.

Immediately I end the call, my mobile rings again. It’s Rob frantic and distressed. He’s just spoken to his brother too and is desperate to go and rescue him. He is apologising again and again, because he had been convinced (as were we all) that the energy and happiness in Dan’s voice were to do with his excitement at finding God. But now, no one was in doubt that something was seriously wrong.

‘Rob, I need you to be here, not in London. Can you come to York to stay with Em?’

‘Yes, yes I can. Of course.

Em is sitting up in bed crying softly as she listens to the frantic phone calls and rising panic in the house. She is in the middle of her GCSEs, about to take one of her most difficult science papers in a day or two.

Graham stuffs a rucksack with a few things. I grab coats, snacks and bottles of water, then race upstairs to give Em a hug, trying to keep my voice steady as I tell her that we have to get to Dan urgently but that Rob is on his way over to be with her, and we will keep in touch by phone. I ring Dan one more time to tell him that Carl and Mark are coming and that he must wait in the flat for them and not go out before they arrive, and that Steve and Sue are coming over to visit in a little while.

‘Would you like to see Uncle Steve again?’

‘Yes, I’d love to see Uncle Steve and Auntie Sue. I haven’t seen them for ages.’

‘Well, just listen out for the doorbell and when they arrive, let them in and, and, and…remember to make them a nice cup of tea.’ (What a very ‘Mum’ instruction that was!)

‘Stay inside until we get there. Dad and I are on our way to see you too.’

It is some comfort to know that he trusts me at the moment. He seems to be listening to my instructions. But I realise things might change. Graham grabs my arm, pulling me out towards the car.

‘That’s great, this is just what God wants, for the whole family to be together.’  Dan’s voice is full of emotion. We drive away into the darkness, and I glance down at my phone one more time to see that I have received a text from Dan.

‘I love you, Mum,’ it says. ‘I am the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE!’

 

To be continued…