She opened her mouth to shout to him, to tell him to stay there, she was coming, but the wind had got up again, and it whipped her words from her mouth to carry them away over the dark sea. She held onto the railing, put her head down and moved forward. The wind was against her, but if she clutched onto the side, she would be fine.

The wind dropped, suddenly and swiftly, and she let go of the rail and stood up straight, amazed at the sudden calm. Tommy’s hat, a little too big, slipped down, and she reached up with both hands to adjust it. Ahead of her, the lights seemed to have vanished, and she stepped up her pace.

She thought it was Tommy coming at her, the speed and suddenness just like him. She half turned, expecting him to grab her round her waist, pick her up effortlessly and swing her around to make her shriek and beat at his chest. She was already smiling, already relieved that someone bigger and stronger than her was there, so she could cling onto him as they made their way to the bow, rather than gripping the railing. She started to speak, words she wouldn’t remember later, but as the person kept coming and didn’t slow their pace, she knew that this wasn’t Tommy, that it was the wrong shape.

‘Hey!’ she said, and there was a smile in her tone, because the way they were charging towards her meant they were probably drunk, and perhaps didn’t know they were heading straight for her. ‘Hey!’ she said again, a little louder this time, and instinctively she raised her arms, crossing them in front of her.

The person slammed into her and she staggered backwards, feeling the railing behind her crush her breath out in a whoosh. She wheezed, bent double, and her assailant put their arms around her but said nothing.

That was the moment she realised she was in trouble, she thought later, the lack of speech. No apology, no shocked words, just a body against hers, and then the realisation that this person was still moving, still coming at her, and now they were both sliding along the railing, until the cold metal at Paula’s back vanished and suddenly there was nothing any more.

She went down painfully on one knee, grabbing at anything she could: the decking beneath her with one hand, the unknown assailant with the other.

And still they pushed her, and there was nothing behind her, nothing apart from the deep, dark sea that churned far below.

It was over as soon as it had begun. Just as her right leg slipped off the ship altogether, she spotted the gap in the railing and threw her arm up. Clutching onto the rail to her right, she heaved herself upright.