Jenna edged away, but with Alan on her other side and twenty-two bodies wedged tightly into the small circle around the hissing stones, there was nowhere to go. Alan abandoned his cross-legged pose a while ago and now he’s stretched out behind her, groaning quietly. Kate beats on her drum to drown it out. She’s been doing that intermittently for the last hour. Two? Three? Jenna lost track of time a long time ago. Initially, she focused on her breathing – inhaling, holding, exhaling, holding – but instead of calming her it made her panic. There wasn’t enough air in the room and she couldn’t hold it in her lungs, not when it stung so terribly. Claustrophobia came in waves, crashing over her. It was a battle between mind and body. Her body was screaming at her to scrabble over the sweating, moaning bodies and make a break for freedom but she remembered what Tom had said about conquering her fear and she forced herself to remain.

She hadn’t been able to see anyone’s expression since the tent flaps were closed but she could hear them suffering, their low moans, their sobs, their sighs. Every now and then someone would complain about wanting to leave but they’d be shot down by shouts of, ‘Don’t give up yet, you’ve come so far!’ and ‘We’re in this together!’ At one point, maybe an hour or so ago, Bessie complained that she was struggling to breathe.

‘I’ve got asthma,’ she said. ‘I need to use my inhaler.’

‘No you don’t. You’re panicking,’ Kate bit back, her voice ringing out in the darkness. ‘Release the tension in your body. Unhunch your shoulders. If your tongue is pressed against the top of your mouth let it go flaccid, rest it against your bottom teeth.’

Tom called out words of encouragement too, telling Bessie to stay strong, that he believed in her. He reminded her that if she could overcome this she could do anything.

She fell silent and an uneasy quiet descended on the group, punctuated only by the dull beat of Kate’s drum. Sometime later, Tim called out that he was feeling light headed, only to be met by a chorus of ‘lie down, it will help.’ When Bessie said she was still struggling, Kate told her to remember why she was doing this, that her children and grandchildren would be proud of her, that it would make her a better mum.