She hadn’t spoken out loud but, in that moment, Michael moved, as though reacting to her thoughts. Irene almost shot out of her chair and for about a second more a starburst of bright hope filled her with light. But then she saw that he was convulsing, and an alarm was sounding. Then blue-uniformed bodies were rushing into the room and everything was happening at once.

ELLIOTT

As the landscape changed and buildings began to clot into larger and larger configurations, I felt a certain energy creeping into me, making me sit up straighter.

Dirty old town. How I’d missed you.

It had been ages since I had last been here. It was funny, but I’d been sure I was ready to leave when we got married. Anya suggested we move back to where she grew up and it made sense, especially as we wouldn’t have had a hope in hell of buying anywhere in London.

But now, as the train made its way towards Victoria, I had the oddest feeling that I would be able to breathe properly here. As though I was literally returning to my element.

I got onto the Victoria Line at Victoria, feeling a bit of a country mouse. The sheer number of bodies felt oddly surprising. When I moved away everyone had been full of plans to come and stay with us, and for the first few months we had a good number of weekends with friends, mainly mine.

But when people discovered that it wasn’t exactly Brighton, or even Lathebridge, the visits began to peter out. It was also, partly, just life. A couple of friends moved abroad, and my oldest crowd were in such a different place, and already deep in family life.

I changed onto the Northern Line at Euston and travelled a few stops to Angel, where Anya’s office was based. Looking around the carriage I was struck by the sheer diversity here; something I had never even thought about before. There were at least four different ethnic groups around me. What a contrast to Casterbourne. The mixed-race part of me wasn’t really that obvious. I just looked like a bloke with dark hair and a reasonable propensity to catch the sun. But it was something I thought about, living where I did now.

I emerged from the station. The sky was a deep, cloudless blue and the air had a crisp nip of autumn. I was a bit early to meet Anya, so I had a cup of coffee in Pret a Manger and read a copy of the Standard that someone had left behind, enjoying the buzz of energy around me. This was a good idea, I decided. It would help me get some perspective on things.

At 12.30 I decided to head over to her office.

I quickened my pace as I walked down St John’s Street towards her building.