‘Then they wouldn’t be letting people out, but you’d think they’d still be letting people in. This doesn’t feel right.’

‘It’s OK, Mum. They’re probably just being careful. We’ll find out more soon.’

She nods and carries on with the decorating, but I can tell she’s anxious. The newsreader is interviewing ‘experts’ and they’re all guessing about what might be going on, which isn’t helping. And I know I’m reassuring her, but inside I am reeling and sweating and trying not to show it. Not saying I’m an expert on danger, although that would be like the most cool job to have, but I am certain in my bones that something is seriously up. Trouble has always followed me around. 21

On the surface, we spend the day decorating, eating, and talking about boring same-old stuff, like how Mum always has the heating on too high, and how the cat’s been acting strange, but really we’re just waiting. We keep the TV on, but with no reporters allowed into Straybridge, there aren’t many updates. We see some phone footage of the university straight after the explosion. It’s shocking to see the smoke up close, and bits of debris scattered in the air and on the ground. You can hear screaming. There’s no blood or anything, though, or people who look hurt. And you can bet that if there were injured people wandering around, someone would have filmed it and put it on social media. So I’m hopeful that everyone’s alright.

It’s not until late in the afternoon that we finally get some more news. We’ve just turned off the big light and lit up the tree.

‘We’re interrupting the afternoon movie with a breaking story from the town of Straybridge,’ the newsreader says. ‘As you may be aware, there was an explosion in the town this morning that was believed to have originated from the university. We have just been advised that the Mayor of Straybridge, the Chief of Straybridge police and the 22 communications officer of the SMARTtown project will be giving a statement in just a moment.’

‘Sounds serious,’ Mum says, and we sit on the sofa, surrounded by empty boxes and unused tinsel. Mum has a spatter of glitter on her nose. The image on the screen changes to a shot of the mayor standing in front of a wooden stand with the town’s crest on it. On one side of him is a woman in police uniform, and on the other is Karim’s mum. They look nervous.