‘I certainly do!’ Amber confirmed. I couldn’t help noticing they didn’t have labels, just red for the men, blue for the women. Her response was a kind indulgence, giving the painfully insecure Hannah a chance to feel special.

‘Thanks, Amber,’ I said, squirting a bit onto the back of my hand. It was a wobbly blob, sticky and synthetic. ‘Smells delicious.’

‘Mine’s liquid fags,’ muttered Tim, showing me the tobacco label on the brown bottle of shower gel, and we both laughed. Amber’s eyes grazed us, and I beamed at her. I’d appreciated the moment of silliness, but now I had the feeling I was doing something wrong, failing at healing. I redoubled my vow to spend the day demonstrating how much I valued her.

‘Right,’ said Amber, circling the room with a frayed wicker bin. ‘Paper in here, and then we’ll get started.’

Was it excitement or dread that was curling its way upwards through my body like a plume of smoke?

Marco was eager to go first, his hand waving above his head like a victory flag when Amber asked for a volunteer. He was an acting student, his rich Milan family paying for him to study in London: he had sweetness, but also a craving for the spotlight that you could see even when he was just pouring milk over his cereal or lighting a sneaky cigarette.

‘Brave boy,’ said Amber, as he took a comedy bow and crossed to the massage table that she and Arthur had wheeled into the centre of the room. ‘Make yourself comfortable.’

Marco took off his expensive white leather trainers and lay down on the bed. He rolled his eyes upwards towards Arthur, looming above him.

‘Now do you saw me in half?’ he said, making Hannah guffaw. It was nervous hysteria, I could tell from the way that her limbs were compulsively twitching. I laid a calming hand on her knee and as I tried to take it away, she trapped it under hers.

‘No, Abandoned Peter Pan. But we might cut away your past,’ said Amber smoothly. She was subtly turning the energy, forcing a crackly kind of calm on the whole room.

‘Okay,’ said Marco, subdued now.

‘I want you to move backwards in time,’ intoned Amber, while Arthur laid two firm hands on Marco’s thin shoulders. ‘Take us back to a moment when you felt that abandonment, when you felt that deep sense of being alone.’

‘I don’t know…’ said Marco.

‘We’re all here with you, Marco,’ said Amber. ‘It’s safe to go on this journey. Just let your subconscious lead the way – it knows where you need to go.’ There was a pause. Then Arthur started to emit a deep hum, his hands working Marco’s shoulders through his grey jumper. ‘Arthur’s performing some reiki on you now, Marco,’ said Amber. Marco’s body jerked, and then his internal motor seemed to kick in.