"I'm serious. I'm not staying here. Get me out of th<strong>is</strong> freak show."**"Newsflash: It's not like <strong>the</strong> rest of us like being here," Conor said, waving h<strong>is</strong> mostly-eaten apple at <strong>the</strong>newcomer's face.A dry laugh. "Th<strong>is</strong> <strong>is</strong> insane. I don't have time for th<strong>is</strong>.""Huh," Conor said. He leant against <strong>the</strong> wall and took ano<strong>the</strong>r bite from h<strong>is</strong> apple. "Too bad.""I have work-""<strong>Not</strong> anymore." Conor fin<strong>is</strong>hed h<strong>is</strong> apple and held out <strong>the</strong> core. "You mind throwing th<strong>is</strong> away for me?"He got a murderous glare and decided that h<strong>is</strong> offer wasn't about to be taken up."Fine," Conor said, and went off to <strong>the</strong> common room. He lobbed <strong>the</strong> core into <strong>the</strong> trash and washed h<strong>is</strong>hands. The newcomer had followed him in. Conor rolled h<strong>is</strong> eyes and turned to him."What's your name?""Nelson.""Right, Nelson. You're here. You can't do anything about that. So deal with it."Nelson looked as though <strong>the</strong> only things stopping him from strangling Conor around <strong>the</strong> neck were aproud unwillingness to stoop to that level of primitive savagery and an inability to get over <strong>the</strong> fact thatConor looked almost exactly like him-"And we're out of beds, so you'll have to sleep on <strong>the</strong> floor," Conor added.-but th<strong>is</strong> was pushing it.Nelson swallowed. "I'm not sleeping on <strong>the</strong> floor," he stated."Yes you are," Conor said."No. I'm not.""All right <strong>the</strong>n, <strong>the</strong>re are three o<strong>the</strong>r beds. Two of <strong>the</strong>m are soaked with blood, and <strong>the</strong> third <strong>is</strong> in Bob'sroom. He's been known to throw up on h<strong>is</strong> roommates. In <strong>the</strong> middle of <strong>the</strong> night.""..."Conor gazed restlessly around <strong>the</strong> room. "I'm going to <strong>the</strong> bar," he decided."Wait-"Conor ra<strong>is</strong>ed an eyebrow."How long do we have to stay here?""Beats me," Conor said, walking back towards <strong>the</strong> door. "I'm going to <strong>the</strong> bar, and you're not followingme.""Kevin?"Kevin rolled over and squinted into <strong>the</strong> dark to see who was speaking."Take <strong>the</strong> sofa," not-Tim said. "I'll sleep on <strong>the</strong> floor."**
It <strong>is</strong> after a day or two living at Kenselton Hotel when <strong>the</strong> deeper questions really start to hit you. By thattime, <strong>the</strong> shock and accompanying nausea or excitement upon d<strong>is</strong>covering you are fictional have startedto wear off, and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>is</strong>sues surface.There <strong>is</strong>, for instance, <strong>the</strong> ever-present question of what makes you you, what makes you different fromeverybody else. Many people living regular lives already have problems with th<strong>is</strong>, but at KenseltonHotel, where for convenience and log<strong>is</strong>tics reasons you are made to live toge<strong>the</strong>r with o<strong>the</strong>r charactersplayed by <strong>the</strong> same actor who had played you, <strong>the</strong> question <strong>is</strong> all <strong>the</strong> more pertinent. Being almostcons<strong>is</strong>tently surrounded by people who look like you and sound like you and in many instances share<strong>the</strong> same manner<strong>is</strong>ms and certain aspects of personality as you takes its toll after a while. In manycases, th<strong>is</strong> eventually leads to feelings of being expendable and having to acknowledge <strong>the</strong> painful factthat if you were to die that day in some gruesome accident, any one of those o<strong>the</strong>r fellas could take yourplace and no one would really know <strong>the</strong> difference, except maybe family and close friends.Kenselton Hotel <strong>is</strong> a place where you go against what you think <strong>is</strong> right and play up all <strong>the</strong> stereotypesand labels that have been attached to you in your life, clinging desperately on to that last shred ofidentity that tells you who you are and what makes you different from <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs.The more insecure characters usually resort to using nametags, crude stickers with ‘HI MY NAME IS -----‘ printed on <strong>the</strong>m. The even more insecure characters take <strong>the</strong> alternative route of trying to kill off all<strong>the</strong>ir floor mates, which some guy named Gabriel in Block J was rumoured to be in <strong>the</strong> midst of doingbecause he wanted to be special or something silly like that.**"Watch out for <strong>the</strong> rum," not-Tim adv<strong>is</strong>ed Neo as he entered <strong>the</strong> common room. "We snicked <strong>the</strong> eighthfloor's supply. Want some?"Neo shook h<strong>is</strong> head and closed <strong>the</strong> door. There was a young fellow sitting at <strong>the</strong> table, munching oncornflakes."He's <strong>the</strong> cornflakes guy," not-Tim informed Neo. "He doesn't talk. Just came in several hours ago."Neo looked at <strong>the</strong> cornflakes guy. The cornflakes guy looked back at him. Neo reached out a handand slowly pulled <strong>the</strong> cornflakes bowl towards him. The cornflakes guy watched its slow progressacross <strong>the</strong> table, <strong>the</strong>n something seemed to click in h<strong>is</strong> head. With a yell of angu<strong>is</strong>h, he yanked <strong>the</strong>bowl out of Neo's hands and held it close to himself, h<strong>is</strong> breaths coming quick and shallow as he staredat Neo with hurt bewilderment in h<strong>is</strong> eyes."And... yeah, don't do that," not-Tim said to Neo. "The last time someone tried to take h<strong>is</strong> cornflakes, hecried."Tears were already starting to form. <strong>Not</strong>-Tim patted <strong>the</strong> cornflakes guy reassuringly on <strong>the</strong> shoulder."It's okay," he said. "I won't let anyone do that again."The cornflakes guy put h<strong>is</strong> head on <strong>the</strong> table and wept, arms cradled protectively around <strong>the</strong> cornflakesbowl. He liked cornflakes. They were h<strong>is</strong> life. They gave him meaning, and purpose, and nour<strong>is</strong>hment,and were <strong>the</strong> only thing in th<strong>is</strong> strange place that made any sense at all.He wanted to go back to <strong>the</strong> rooms that he had always lived in. There was <strong>the</strong> big room, which had along dinner table lined with chairs, where he ate h<strong>is</strong> cornflakes, and <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong>re was <strong>the</strong> small bedroomof h<strong>is</strong> that had just a bed, a desk, and a cupboard. It was connected to <strong>the</strong> bathroom which had a toilet,sink and bathtub, and next to that was <strong>the</strong> huge non-house-warehouse filled with cornflakes, packet
- Page 5: "Your behaviour these past few mont
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- Page 41 and 42: "That's one," Neo said helpfully, p
- Page 43 and 44: New guy gave a start. "Uh," he said
- Page 45 and 46: His mom made better waffles than th
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- Page 55 and 56: Night. A shortage of actual beds me
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- Page 75 and 76: "It's John, assholes."John Constant
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"What-" Conor said, surveying the s
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"D'you have any food to spare? We'r
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Group C: Griffin, Kevin, Scott, Jul
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"...Er," said Dem. He put the most
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Group D: Neo, EddieStanding about d
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The cornflakes guy looked at him.Je
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"At least it meant we had heat," Ha
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Group B: Shane, Perry, Tommy, Chris
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"I can't bring them back to life,"
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Someone running after him from behi
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Then a ripple in the air; and sudde
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Nelson smirked and walked on to the
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"Yes sir," Ludlow hissed into his e
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Alex got slowly to his feet. He dim
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The face that looked up at him held
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First Combined MeetingThomas Ludlow
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- Reeves clears throat.- Utah shuts
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Griffin isn't the only one in the r
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He realised that he was not standin
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Ludlow smirked. "Thank you. Now I k
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Seventeen suspicious-looking, mostl
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Scott emerged from the alley he had
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Julian finished the stitches, close
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Stuck in House: Chris Townsend, Mat
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Loose in Kenselton Holding Facility
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Paul and the kids stared back at hi
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"Arctor, Robert," Dem said. "Get on
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With measured reluctance he tries t
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0704270/006/GRA"There are two kinds