I want to tell her to stop hanging on to my arm, and Isaac to get out of my face, but I can’t speak. I can’t move. I can’t bear the sensation of Sally’s fingers pressing against my skin, or the scent of tobacco on Isaac’s breath.

“Why don’t we go for a walk?” Daisy says, guiding me towards the front door, leading me into the fresh air. My knees buckle but she holds me upright.

“Emma!” Sally calls out as we take the steps one at a time. “Do you need a stick? I could find you one if you need one.”

I don’t say a word as we round the building, cross the patio – normally crowded with bending, stretching yoga bodies but now strangely deserted – and carefully pick our way down the slope towards the river. Instead, I focus in on Daisy’s voice as she tells me to breathe. She says it over and over again.

“Breathe, Emma, just breathe.”

She lowers me carefully onto a large flat rock on the edge of the river and I double over, my head in my hands. Everything still sounds as though I’m sitting in the bottom of a swimming pool, but my heart has stopped pounding and the world has stopped pulsing. Fresh blood is dribbling from my knee and running down my calf. Sally’s plaster is still in my hand.

“You okay?” Daisy peers at me as I suck on the cuff of my linen shirt and use it to wipe away the blood.

“No. No, I need my tablets.”

She stands up and looks towards the house. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen them since we were in Pokhara. I’ve looked everywhere.”

“Shit.” She sits down again, rests a hand against the base of my spine. My shirt is stuck to my back with sweat but she doesn’t remove her hand. “We’ll find them. And you’ll be okay. I’m here, Emma. You’ll be fine.”

I nod but I’m not sure I will.

“What were you doing?” Daisy asks. “When I came in the front door, you were standing on your own in the hallway with the weirdest expression on your face. I thought you were supposed to be with Al.”

I look up at her. “Why did you say it like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re annoyed that I’ve been spending time with Al.”

“You have spent a lot of time with her since we got here.”

“That’s because Leanne’s always skipping off to meditation or one of Isaac’s seminars, and I didn’t want Al to feel left out.”