He smiles then. It’s a perfectly innocent smile but something inside me snaps.

‘Why are you asking me that?’ I cry, jumping to my feet. ‘I didn’t do it.’

‘Mrs Allan?’

‘Maggie. It’s okay.’

I turn to Sonia. ‘I didn’t do it,’ I say.

I look at her and she starts to blur in front of my eyes. I’m back inside the dream. My heart is beating so fast it feels like it will burst out of my chest.

‘I … can’t … breathe,’ I say as I sink to my knees. ‘Help … me.’

Adil is beside me in seconds. He grabs my shoulders and brings me to a standing position.

‘Maggie, I need you to breathe really slowly out,’ he says. ‘Like this.’

He makes an ‘o’ with his mouth and I can feel his breath on my face as he slowly exhales. I try to do as he asks but my chest is tightening. I’m going to pass out. I grab Adil’s arm. His face is the last thing I see before I hit the ground.

‘Maggie.’

I can smell river water. It is everywhere. In my eyes, my nose, my hair. I am sinking but I need to keep afloat. I need to find Elspeth.

‘Maggie, can you hear me?’

I try to keep hold of the car but it’s slipping. Pain rips through my fingers, so intense that I have no choice but to let go. I feel myself rising up, up, to the surface of the river. Water fills my lungs and I start to choke, gasping huge gulps of air in.

‘Oh, Maggie, thank goodness.’

I surface, coughing and spluttering. Sonia and Adil are standing over me.

‘What happened?’ I say.

‘You fainted,’ says Adil, gently guiding me into a sitting position. ‘It looked like a panic attack.’

‘I need to get out of here,’ I whisper, trying to get to my feet.

‘Mrs Allan, slow down,’ says Adil, holding me by the arms. ‘You need to take a few moments before you try to stand up.’

‘No,’ I cry. ‘I’m fine. I just want to go.’

It’s raining when we reach Western Road, light summer rain that falls like faint mist. The air smells like fresh soil as I step out of the car and I take great gulps of it. The panic attack has left me feeling weak and drowsy, like my body has just endured some great battle. I hold Sonia’s arm and wait while she unlocks the door.

‘That’s strange,’ she says as she tries to push the door open.

‘What?’ I reply impatiently, wanting my bed.

‘There’s something jamming the door,’ says Sonia, leaning her body sideways at the wooden frame. ‘On the other side.’

She manages to get it open a fraction then she slides her hand inside.