‘Watch,’ he commanded. ‘See my pain. My suffering is for Allah. Yours will be for nothing.’

He turned back to the mirror, lifted his lip, gripped the two teeth again with the pliers and squeezed with all his might. There was a sickening crunch. His tongue shot towards the tooth instinctively but then reeled back as a razor-sharp shard of broken tooth drew blood. Ali ignored the pain, closed his eyes and reefed. ‘Arrrrrgh!’ he screamed as his knees buckled.

He threw the pliers as he fell, the blood-stained tool striking a wall tile and cracking it. He’d been hit by a lightning bolt of pain, a terrific jolt of electrical excruciation that had shot into the top of his head, flashed down his entire body and finished in his heels. He had never felt pain like it. It had almost made him shit himself.

But as fast as it came it was past. Ali picked himself up off the tiles, fetched the pliers, and stood tall. He probed the two teeth with his tongue. Both loose. He stuck his hand into his mouth and gripped them between his thumb and index finger and moved them back and forth. Loose but still very much attached.

He swallowed hard, a mouthful of blood laced with the sand-like shavings of teeth going down the hatch. He put the pliers back into his mouth. This time he waggled them from side to side instead of reefing. He grunted and groaned as his hand moved back and forth. The pain was immense but he persevered. Once they were almost free, he twisted the pliers abruptly to snap the nerve and tear the flesh. He screamed, withdrew the pliers, looked down. He had the incisor, root and all, but had only broken the canine in half. He thanked Allah that it was not the other way around.

He placed a gauze pad in his mouth and bit down.

ALI used the DNA-grade chemical to wipe down the front door after he’d locked it. He was glad he’d bought the ‘DNA Away’, a sodium hydroxide solution made by a large American company in bulk. This was his last bottle.

He’d left the apartment completely clean, having used the solution on every surface except for the ceiling, and empty apart from the plastic chairs, card table, pot and pan, all of which he’d carefully scrubbed too.