With her heart pounding, she ran, skidding on the muddy path and across the wet grass as she headed towards the Japanese Gardens, racing towards the central island over the wooden bow bridge.

‘There’s nowhere to run, Fran, you might as well stop now!’ she heard Alfie yelling angrily as he charged along behind her in the dark.

Hoping to lose Alfie, Franny, panting, clawed her way up the large muddy mound of the gardens, crushing the delicate flowers as she did so. She slipped, falling down on her front in the wet earth as the rain started to pour down.

At the top of the mound, she leapt across the waterfall, her feet sliding off the slimy rocks, covered in green algae.

Making it across to the other side, Franny, soaking wet, pushed her way into the thick bushes, but almost immediately Alfie grabbed her and dragged her down through the dense, woody undergrowth by her hair. She felt every scratch from the twisted thorns and twigs as she fought to get away.

‘Ain’t no escaping me, darlin’, you should know that by now.’

She kicked out, catching Alfie square on his knee then elbowed him in his face, but unable to fight him off completely, she felt the force of Alfie’s fist smash against her face; the power of it knocking her to the ground.

Alfie sprang on top of her, his eyes void of any emotion. ‘I’m going to kill you!’

‘Get off me! Get the fuck off me!’ she screamed at him, but he slammed his hand over her mouth, the pressure of it driving her head further into the cold, wet mud. His hand was heavy and hard on her mouth and she bit down on it, sinking her teeth into his palm, drawing blood.

‘Fuck! You bitch!’ For a second Alfie pulled his hand away, giving Franny the opportunity to push him off, pulling herself up onto her knees; but he gripped her jacket, causing her to fall down face first in the mud before he twisted her arm behind her back.

‘Why did you do it, Fran? You sick bitch, why?’

‘I … I …’ She wrestled beneath him, her face still pushed into the earth.

‘Tell me! Tell me why the woman I loved would do that to me!’ He flipped her round, turning her to face him.

Covered in mud and with her face swelling, colouring blue and red, Franny screamed back, ‘I didn’t know! I didn’t know it’d upset you so much!’

Disgusted, he stared at her, then banged her head against the ground. She yelped. ‘Didn’t know! You saw how fucked up I was.’