‘Come on now,’ Ana says, ‘ten more, we can do this, we can count down.’ As she says this, she goes to the pile of underclothes and holds a tiny pair of pants against her. She is trembling so badly she lets them fall. ‘Come on now,’ she says as much to herself as to the rest of the room. ‘The sooner we start the sooner it finishes.’ She rips her clothes off and puts on the tiny black bits. ‘Magda did it. We can too.’

The girl with the black eye undresses as if in a trance. I tell myself to go with it, that way it will be over quicker. I think of the dog’s neck straining and the sore spots. The girls are looking at me as I put a bra on. There’s nothing to fill it.

Magda comes in, tells us all to get in a straight line, and says, ‘If the men offer you a drink, you can accept. It makes it easier.’

They all file down past her, but she puts her hand on my shoulder, as if to say, Not you.

Ana looks back at me as they leave.

16. Sammy

16

Sammy

‘What the hell?’

I hear a man’s voice. The woman is holding me and trying to hail a taxi. ‘None of those assholes will stop here,’ she says, as she half carries, half drags my body a few feet down the road. Eventually a car stops and I’m bundled in. I hear the woman’s voice tell the taxi driver to take us to the nearest A&E, and fast. My head feels like it might float away; my neck is too spindly to support it.

‘You mighta called an ambulance,’ the driver says.

‘I never thought of that …’ the woman says, sounding surprised by the suggestion. She has her hand over my mouth in case there’s an accident.

‘She better not get sick in here,’ the driver says. ‘If she does, you’ll have to pay.’

The woman shows him a wad of cash and he agrees to drive us.

‘Is the girl all right?’ the driver says, like he’s just allowed himself to look at us. ‘She’s way too young to be so out of it.’

‘Don’t I know it?’ the woman says as she brushes a stray strand of hair off my face.

When we arrive the woman asks the driver if he will see me in, and she offers him more cash, before scarpering.

‘Lean on me,’ he says, refusing the money. He escorts me inside and says to the receptionist. ‘Bit of an emergency here. This girl needs to be seen immediately.’

A nurse appears, and the man says, ‘I have to go now. You’re in good hands.’

I try to mumble thank you as he puts an arm on mine. ‘You take better care of yourself now.’