My mouth is like sand and my head is throbbing as I try to lift my eyelids: a solid, inky black. It’s hard to tell if my eyes are open or closed and I have to blink a couple of times to be sure. There’s carpet beneath my cheek. And it’s hot. So hot. The air is thick and smells like something familiar… What’s happening? Where am I? I go to groan and sit up, but there’s something on my mouth and my head hits something else and my hands… why the fuck are my hands bound? My pulse speeds up as I pull against whatever it is: duct tape. I try to move my lips. They’re taped too.

And I’m inside something. Stuck. My breathing quickens as I push against the top, the sides. But I’m trapped. Fuck.

I go to scream but all that comes out is a little high-pitched squeak.

But wait. I know what this smells like.

A car.

I’m in a car boot.

The carpet, the purr of the engine, the heat, the sound of gravel beneath tyres.

Yes.

We hit a bump and my teeth clatter together. Ow.

I blink hard, trying to remember how I got here.

The jacket on the back of the door. The tiger. The video on the bridge. Matilde. The stairs. The doors that led outside. The garage. The exit sign. Pain. Ringing. Spinning.

Darkness.

Someone knocked me out.

Who the fuck is driving?

Is it the creepy guy who’s been following me? Or is it Thomas?

Those text messages to Thomas from my neighbour come flooding back. Thomas was dating my neighbour. He was dating her when he met me.

A flashback to the day we met in the laundromat. He was checking me out. That’s why I talked to him – was he looking at me because he recognised me from his girlfriend’s building? Or did he come looking for me?

A shiver runs through me and tears burn in my eyes. But I need to stay calm. I can’t make a noise. The worst thing I could do would be to make a noise. Because if I let him know I’m awake, he might come back here and do whatever he’s going to do early. I don’t want him to come back here.

But I can do this. Because I know about car boots. I’ve written about them. There’s an emergency release catch somewhere. I squint in the dark searching for something that glows: nothing. I lift my hands to feel along the perimeter. But I can’t see anything and beneath my fingertips is just carpet.

Panic grips me as I feel around some more but I can’t find it.

Where the fuck is it? What good was my fucking column?

The tail lights.

That’s my other option.