Our driver must see this as clearly as I do, because his face breaks into a cheery smile and he turns his hand movements into a wave. ‘Hi there, love. Is your little friend all right?’ he asks me, in a strangely kind voice, loud enough to be overheard. ‘Time to get you both home, ok?’

I hold onto Sammy’s arm tightly.

‘Come on now, under strict instructions to make sure you get home safely. That’s quite enough fun for one evening,’ he says, gesturing to Sammy with her bloodied face, trying to make light of her injuries. He whispers into my ear, ‘What happened to your friend shouldn’t have happened. Those a-holes know this. You are not punchbags.’

I can feel the speed building up inside, which makes my body shake so much I think I can hear my bones rattling.

Sammy is swaying and stumbling, falling against me. I try to hold her up.

The man with the glasses moves towards us. ‘Is she ok?’

‘Fine,’ the taxi man says, ‘just a bit of a bust-up with her boyfriend.’

‘She looks like she could do with an ambulance,’ the guy continues, as his friend comes to join him, staring at us as if we’re animals in a circus. I want to tell them to stop staring, I want to tell them to do something, but the words are stuck.

‘Come on now,’ the taxi man says to me. ‘Just get your friend into the taxi and we can get her home to her mum.’

‘Who are you?’ the guy asks our driver directly.

‘Don’t worry. This is a fairly regular occurrence with this little madam. Isn’t that right?’ he says to me, looking for back up.

No part of me will move.

Just at that moment another man appears. His eyes meet the fat taxi man’s, who nods at him, seeming to communicate with him in a secret code. ‘May I?’ the new man says, kindly, offering his arm to Sammy. She slumps against him, slipping from my grasp. He holds her steady and whispers into her ear. She is smiling and nodding, looking up at him in wonder. She is slurring something. Here is her rescuing knight. The man snakes his arm around her back and she falls against him. ‘Ok, now, one foot in front of the other. Let’s get you home.’

‘He’s seen this before,’ the taxi man says, winking at the guys, who don’t wink back.

My blood turns cold and slows down, all my reflexes stilled. I am petrified, frozen. The man holds Sammy up as they walk towards the exit. She has totally succumbed to him. Every part of me wants to run after her, to scream out, but no part of me will move. Is this what happened to Mama when Petre came to take me away?

‘Come on now. It’s time to get moving,’ the driver says to me.