‘Hold on to me with your arms and legs,’ I panted. I was already short of breath and though Emma weighed very little, I was not strong. She clung to me so tightly though that she felt like a second skin. Her small body trembled and vibrated with tension against mine and I could feel her heartbeat thrumming against my chest. I wanted to reassure her that everything was going to be OK, but as I opened my mouth to speak a scream tore through the air behind us.

‘MIRABELLE! STOP!’

Emma jumped in my arms and clung on even tighter, making herself lighter but compressing my lungs. Panting for breath, I darted between the towering trees and leapt over a fallen tree trunk and ran on, using my right arm for balance, wrapping the other around Emma. Obstacles appeared out of nowhere. The woods were as horribly unpredictable as Mother. A huge, random hole appeared in the ground a little way ahead. It was very deep and very wide. Like a large grave. If I hadn’t been looking at the ground, I would have fallen straight into it and I would probably have broken my legs. Or my back. Or Emma’s back. The thought made me even more breathless but I ran on.

Thorn bushes and spiky leaves scratched and tore at my bare arms and legs and dress. My slippers were long gone, lost when we rushed down the bank. I knew my feet were cut and bleeding. I dreaded to think of the grime being crushed and pressed into my bloodied feet, but my adrenaline surge seemed to have made any kind of pain vanish. That was one piece of luck at least.

Clouds covered the sun, submerging the woods in shadows and giving my eyes the chance to stop watering. Everything turned a few shades darker and a few degrees cooler. My breaths came in ragged gasps. I knew I could not keep up this pace for much longer. Emma’s arms and legs loosened and she grew heavier, her body dipping towards the ground, her hands pulling on my neck, her body bouncing up and down with every stride I took.

‘Hold on – tighter,’ I gasped.

She responded but not as well as before. She was weakening and so was I. But I could not stop. I could not let her catch up with us. I thought about Patrick and pushed harder. My legs were heavy. I wrapped both arms around Emma and held her against me. My arms protested from the weight as she sank into them. I was going to have to put her down soon and hope that she could run fast enough.