I wonder which sea, although I do not ask. I am afraid to know. How far did we travel from my village before getting on this boat? My head feels stuffed with cotton. I press my face against the glass and see only a black screen. Maybe Papa was right after all. The ground beneath me swells and I fall to my knees, yellowish-brown liquid pouring out of my mouth. Magda cleans the mess with tissues and says briskly, ‘You must stop now. You mustn’t let Petre see you like this,’ and she pulls me to my feet and hurries me along the corridor to another door, which opens into a bathroom. She tells me to stand and put my hands in the air, then pulls the dress, which has yellow bits all over it, over my head. My best dress. ‘Don’t worry about that. I have bought you much prettier dresses. Come on, hup,’ she says as she guides me into the shower, holding me steady, one hand on my hip, the other on the small of my back. ‘Relax.’

I think of my dog straining against her rope and close my eyes and allow my body to go limp as she rubs soap on me and washes my hair with foamy bubbles.

At the back of this bathroom is another door, which leads into a bedroom, lit from above with harsh lights. Magda hands me white underwear, smelling of spring flowers, and the prettiest green dress I’ve ever seen, with puff sleeves and a swing skirt, then she turns her back to me and looks in the mirror, brushing out her long shiny hair. ‘My mother taught me to brush it a hundred strokes twice a day,’ she says. She tells me to stand in front of the mirror while she brushes my hair, which looks brown and lank when it’s wet, but is blonde and full of bounce when dry.

She puts her hands on my hips and turns me to face her. ‘Just do as they say. It will be over quicker that way.’

I nod. I don’t know who ‘they’ are or what they will say, but I know she knows something I don’t. ‘Shall I go and get some food?’ I shake my head. She pours a glass of clear liquid from a green plastic 7UP bottle and tells me to drink up. Even though I know what happened the last time I drank in front of this woman, I grab the glass and gulp. My mouth is craving this cool liquid and I like the feel of the bubbles as they slide down. Falling into darkness wouldn’t be the worst thing right now.

She tells me to lie down on the bed and that she’ll be back soon. I wonder why she dressed me in such pretty clothes when I’m about to go to bed. I ask about the other girls.