I try to scream but the mouth retractor and the anaesthetic turn my efforts into a pathetic bark.

Julia comes back in.

She says, ‘Easy, Tuva. Let’s get you a sip of water, shall we?’

She has some kind of flexible hamster-cage drinking-straw attachment on the end of a bottle of mineral water. She bends the straw attachment so the tip grazes my lower lip.

‘Ready?’

I can’t nod so I try to say yes with my eyes.

She squeezes and I drink, gulping it down. Desperate. Fucking livid.

‘Help me,’ I say, but with this thing in my mouth it’s just two noises separated by a pause.

She smiles and leaves.

I have an itch on my eyelid. Really it’s the least of my troubles but I’ve never been in this situation before. It’s driving me crazy. I need to scratch my own eyelid. I need to move my finger.

I start straining my muscles systematically. You won’t find me dead here. You will not visit this trainwreck in ten years’ time and find a skeleton with perfect teeth strapped to a goddam sun lounger. It won’t happen. I tense my legs. I strain with my arms. I twist my head. The tape is starting to loosen a little in places. Either that or I’m imagining it. Or I’m just getting colder. That’s what happens when you start to freeze. Opposite of bloating or swelling. If it gets even colder tonight, maybe I’ll shrink down even more.

I stare up at the ceiling. My jaw is aching now. It’s not normal having it wedged this far open for this long in a never-ending silent scream. This technique is not taught in dental schools.

My thoughts turn to my parents. Dad. Please. See me here. Now, in this godforsaken place. Follow the train tracks. Do something if you can. I’m desperate. I can’t imagine what these two will do. I can’t read them.

What about hunt dogs? There’s something stinking in here, or maybe it used to be here and it’s been moved. Someone else in my position? On this reclining chair? What happened to them? Is this where they brought the head from the grave? Oh, God. Maybe the dogs will sniff it. Maybe the hunt dogs will bring their masters here. And they’ll surely be armed, those men. Maybe Luka Kodro will discover this place. I’d like him to find all this. If there was one person in the world I’d choose to deal with Tobias right now, it would be Luka Kodro.

Julia walks over and hooks a suction tube over my lower lip.

I move my tongue over my molars and it is completely numb on one side. It feels broader than usual. Heavier.

I strain my knees up off the striped cushion. A millimetre at a time, Tuva. Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.