‘No,’ I say. and I mean it. As much as I want to bite his fingers off, I need to focus on escaping from this hellhole.

‘Very good,’ he says. ‘Open wide, please.’

I open my mouth and he moves a small piece of cardboard or something over my teeth.’

‘Wider, please.’

I open wider.

And then, as if in slow motion, I drop the paperclip and it falls to the floor.

60

‘How does that feel?’ He removes the cardboard thing from my teeth.

‘Good,’ I say.

Did he notice the paperclip? Did he hear it? Will he see it down on the tarp, shining up at him?

My lip begins to wobble.

‘Are you cold?’

I nod my head.

I’m cold but that’s not it. I’m terrified. Exhausted. Too alone here. How will I rip apart this duct tape now?

‘Nurse.’

She arrives and Tobias asks for a blanket.

‘I’m sorry about the heating in here,’ he says. ‘This surgery is only temporary.’

What kind of delusion?

She brings in a white fleece blanket and places it over my legs.

‘My hands are very cold,’ I say.

She pulls up the blanket to cover my hands.

‘I just need one more photograph, if that’s okay?’ he says. ‘I like to document my landmark firsts, for my own records.’

I open my mouth a little.

‘Wider, please.’

I open it wider.

He photographs the tooth, the flash exploding inside my mouth. His breath mingling with mine. The smell of the room catching at the back of my throat.

‘That’s your first procedure over,’ he says.

I look at him.

‘Thank you. Can I pay now?’

He smiles and then half laughs.

‘We still have the main procedure to complete,’ he says. ‘The root-canal work was for you. That’s done now and I think you’ll find it was done very well. The next procedure is for me, if I’m completely honest. No other payment will be required.’

‘No,’ I say, more of a whimper than a word. ‘I’m too tired. I can come back another––’

‘Don’t worry,’ he says. ‘You just lie back and let me worry about it.’

I’m getting hot under the blanket. Fear and dread fuelling me, the energy building beneath the fleece.

‘Nurse, please.’

Julia arrives.

‘I’m ready to begin the main procedure.’

She looks excited.

Then she steps behind me and moves a curtain or something. I can’t see her but I can hear her. Like the drawing of a pair of curtains.

Tobias swallows and moves his blood-splattered mask over his mouth and nose.

He’s looking at whatever is behind me.