‘What do you mean?’ Ben said groggily and lay back down facing the ceiling.

‘You’ve woken me again with your chattering.’

‘Sorry,’ he said flatly.

‘What was it about?’

‘It’s just a dream, Daisy,’ Ben said through a heavy yawn.

‘Well, what’s the dream about?’

‘Stuff. People.’

‘Hmm, yeah? And? Am I there?’

‘No. No. Definitely not.’

‘Oh.’ I tried to keep the offence from my voice whilst images of Ben with a faceless Emma flooded my mind.

‘It’s an old dream. A recurring thing. I think I’ve pretty much dreamt the same thing since I was a kid.’

‘What? Surely that’s not possible?’ Although I knew it was. His unconscious mutterings were on a loop every night.

‘Dunno.’ Ben sounded as though he was drifting off again.

‘So what’s the dream about?’ I persisted in a loud whisper, but he had fallen back into a slumber.

I couldn’t get back to sleep after that so I flicked the duvet off me and padded out into the hallway. I headed for the bathroom, not bothering to shut the door; a habit from sharing a flat with Eve and continuing conversations whilst one of us peed. I sat down on the toilet and allowed my blurry eyes to focus on the items around me in the bathroom. Then I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I looked up.

‘Oh, for fucking hell’s sake!’ I grappled for my pyjama bottoms which were around my legs and tried to cover my modesty as I looked at the figure standing in the doorway. I focused my eyes and realised it was Annie. She looked strange, because she was wearing a thin dressing gown that was open at the front and beneath that she was totally naked. She wasn’t moving. Just standing. I finished up on the toilet and stood up. She was very still and looking straight through me. She must’ve been asleep. I remembered something I heard once about not waking sleepwalkers. Then, as quickly as she had arrived, she turned to go. I peered around the door into the hallway and watched her walk back to her room. Once I heard Annie’s bedroom door close, I let out a long loud breath which felt as though I had been holding it in for some time. I walked back down to Ben’s bedroom and got back into bed beside him where he moaned something in his sleep. I lay down but couldn’t drift off, the image of Annie standing in front of me would not leave my mind for the rest of the night.

The next morning, I woke suddenly as though someone had given the duvet a sharp yank. I opened my eyes, startled to see Annie standing at the foot of the bed looking down at me. It took a moment for me to come round and realise it was her who had woken me. Had she pulled the duvet? Annie held a steaming mug and all around me was an aroma of fresh coffee which normally titillated my senses, but this morning made me want to retch. I took a few deep breaths trying to control the nausea which still caught me off guard every morning.