‘Who are all these people?’ says Angus as the air rings with laughter. ‘Where have they come from?’

‘Why, these are your guests,’ says the bird. ‘Come now, children, step forward and greet your host.’

Angus’s heart thuds as two boys step out of the crowd.

They are dressed in the clothes of days gone by – like the Cavaliers Angus likes to read about in his storybooks – their hairstyles long and curled, their necks concealed by white ruffs, their feet clad in polished buckled boots.

‘At last,’ says the taller of the two, who, the bird whispers, is called Tom. ‘We’ve been waiting for you.’

‘We have to go and find her now,’ says the other, who, the bird informs him, is called Cecil.

‘Find who?’ says Angus as the boys take his hands in theirs and guide him to the maze.

‘Why, Iris, of course,’ say the boys in unison.

The maze seems to go on forever and Angus is certain he will take a wrong turn and lose his way. His feet are leading him on, seemingly independent of his body. As he reaches the end of the maze he feels the air grow thinner. He has lost the boys somewhere in the centre and is now heading out alone. He looks up and sees, to his amazement, that the sun is blazing in the sky, the day has come.

I open my eyes and see a figure standing by the window. Bright sunshine, golden walls. Iris is here in her blue smock. But then, as I come to, I see it’s Georgie. She’s wearing a pale-blue blouse, the light from the window making the fabric shimmer. And the walls aren’t golden, it’s just a trick of the light.

‘It’s a beautiful morning,’ she says. ‘Why don’t we go and have a walk on the common?’

The dream is still with me, attached to my consciousness like a second skin. That had always been my favourite part of the story, the moment Angus meets Iris at the end of the maze. It always made me tingle; the fact that Angus had walked from darkness into light in a matter of moments. I remember the feeling of excitement as I read the story, holding my breath as Angus prepared to meet his friend, his Iris.

‘What time is it?’ I mutter, sitting up in bed and wiping the sleep from my eyes.

‘Just gone ten,’ says Georgie, stepping away from the window. ‘I thought … after everything you went through yesterday you could do with a lie-in. I’ve got the day off so I thought the two of us could do something together. Have a walk on the common, maybe have lunch in the village.’