I slither to my knees, blood rushing to my head as it droops, lower and lower until my forehead hits the floor. In that moment, I wish for my neck to snap, for my head to just roll away from my body, for my memories to forever be detached from the rest of me, for the realisations thundering through my body like an electrical current to be shut off at source, just shut off as simply as flicking 215a switch, and then breaking the circuit so cleanly that it can never, ever be repaired. Except there my neck stays, and so too does my head. And so, too, does Carly, rippling out of the mist and settling down on to my skin like a layer of frost.

‘… are you alright? Marie?’ Carly hardens, Dominic’s voice fades in and out of the screams in my head. Who’s screaming? Is it me?

‘Marie!’ There’s a clank somewhere above my head, one, two, three. ‘Marie? Come on now, girl…’ His face swims as I open my eyes, raising myself to sitting, feeling Carly like a coat around me.

‘I swear to you, if you so much as come within a mile of the office after this, I’ll change the locks to your flat while you’re inside,’ he says, sighing. ‘Passing out twice in twenty-four hours is most definitely not OK…’

I blink at him. His face is grey.

‘How many fingers am I holding up?’ He gives me a thumbs-up. I can’t smile. There’s a sudden jolt and hum as the light flickers on overhead, doors gliding open as if they’d never been stuck. I’ve no choice but to steady myself as they fall away from me, Dominic leaping to his feet.

‘Don’t tell me you want to stay in here,’ he says, stretching a hand towards me. ‘Come on, get up…’ He freezes as the speaker above our heads crackles to life.

‘We apologise for the prolonged delay, ladies and gentlemen, but I’m afraid there’s been an unprecedented power outage across the whole county, which knocked out the entire train…’

‘You don’t say,’ Dominic shouts at the ceiling, beckoning for me to take his hand.

‘We’ve been instructed to take this train back to London, where agents will meet you to help organise alternative arrangements to your final destination…’

‘You are kidding me!’ Now he’s howling above the speaker, flinging his hands in the air. ‘I can get around an active fucking war zone faster than this!’ 216

Up ahead, the red bobble drops out of view below a head rest. She’s woken up, I think. We’ve all woken up. I’ve woken up.

‘…rest assured, you will be able to claim this journey back, if you’ve still got proof of purchase. Once again, we do apologise for all inconvenience as a result of this…’