She stood away from me and turned around so I couldn’t see her face, wiping her hand over her headscarf. When she turned back she was calmer.

‘I’m going to the platform now,’ she said. ‘I want you to stay here and think. Think of your home and your Baba and how your own mother would’ve felt if she could see you. Probably she’s watching you now from heaven, and willing you to make the right choice. Think of what you’re doing to Amina. Think of your selfishness. Think where these actions are leading you. I’ll wait there until the next train and if you don’t join me, if you don’t make the sensible choice and come home then Allah Yusa’amah. I can do no more.’

She didn’t ask me for an address or a phone number. She didn’t ask me about him. It was all or nothing. Now or never. I watched her climb the steps to the platform. I watched until she was out of sight and then I ran straight for the exit.

I hear Alison hanging up the phone. I put my head round the office door.

‘I’m heading off now.’

‘You sure you’re ok? Are you feeling any better?’

‘I’m fine. It’s just – Alison? Could I stay with you, if I ever needed to – if there was an emergency I mean?’

I don’t know where it comes from. I wasn’t planning to say it. She’s taken aback. I never ask her for anything. I never take up any of her offers.

‘Sana – what’s happened? What’s he done to you?’

‘No – it’s nothing. Honestly. It’s nothing like that. I just think I might need to get away. I mean, it might be nothing, it might just be hormones, but I think… I can’t explain it –’

She puts a hand on my arm. ‘Say the word and I’ll send my Dave over with the van.’

The kindness. So straightforward. She means it. I laugh. I might cry again. I want to hug her but I don’t. I want to say thank you but I can’t speak. It’s ok though. It doesn’t matter. She understands.

6:55 pm

If I tell the girl then the message will be safe. She’s the only one.

I pretended to be asleep. I sat on the stairs and looked through the

bars. He was kneeling at her feet. He was kneeling like in a story. But they were already married. So it was something else he was asking for. He was pulling on her skirt. He was saying please, please, please. First the boy was lost and then Dad.

She wouldn’t look at him. I wanted her to look at him. I wanted her to make him stay.