It was time to head back to the dining room and make good on my promise to Tobey. There was no way he could silence all those present, even as Prime Minister. I regretted that it had come to this, and that we were about to lose our friendship and decades of shared history, but so be it. I might lose, but at least this way I could ensure that Tobey wouldn’t win.

The study door opened. Yet again. This was getting beyond a joke.

‘For heaven’s sake! You again? What d’you want?’

I watched as the door was closed carefully, quietly. This was turning into the night that would never end.

NOW

sixteen. Sephy

Sleep scares me.

It’s got to the point now where my bed is the tangible manifestation of the enemy. I’m dog-tired all the time yet afraid to close my eyes.

I had the same dream again last night. The one I’ve been having regularly for a while now. I’m standing in an empty space, no people, no birdsong, no greenery. Just soiled grey tarmac beneath my feet and nothing else. The tarmac runs unbroken to the horizon in every direction. I’m at the centre of a deserted world and the loneliness inside swallows me like an ouroboros.

Where am I? I have no idea and yet the place seems so familiar. I turn my head, calling out, ‘Hello? Hello?’, but no one is there. I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something – or someone – behind me. Twisting round like a leaf in a gale gets me nowhere. So I stand absolutely still, close my eyes for a moment, then suddenly turn like I used to do as a child when trying to catch out my reflection to prove that it had a life of its own.

Only this time a few metres before me is a scaffold. Callum swings at the end of the rope hanging from it, a black hood over his head. I scream – and scream again.

Save him!