I settle back on my haunches, still holding the razor blade, and don’t reply.

‘Shit,’ Liam grumbles.

He puts his foot on the floor and tries to stand but collapses, hissing through his teeth at the pain. He squeezes his eyes shut and his brow furrows.

I gather up the alcohol wipe and the splinters of glass and dispose of them in the kitchen bin. What are we going to do now? I wonder. I hear Liam shuffling into the kitchen behind me and turn to find him hopping towards the table. He looks wrung out, pale and exhausted, his face pinched tight with pain.

‘Are you hungry?’ I ask him, thinking of my own rumbling tummy.

He nods. ‘Yeah.’

I move to the fridge to see what I can rustle up. ‘What the hell?’ I say as I open it.

‘What?’ Liam asks.

I throw the door open wide so he can see. The fridge is completely empty. ‘There’s no food. It’s all gone.’

‘He’s taken it,’ Liam says in disbelief. He hops to the cupboards and opens them all. They’re all bare as well – all the biscuits and pasta and groceries that were here this morning have vanished. Liam bangs the cupboard doors shut.

‘I don’t understand. Why take all our food?’ I ask.

‘I’ve told you! He wants to fuck with us,’ Liam spits. ‘We’ve got no food and no electricity and no gas. And we’re here for two more days.’ He puts his head in his hands. ‘He’s playing with us. Drawing it out before …’ He tails off.

I stare at him wide-eyed. ‘Before what?’ I ask, my voice catching. ‘How do you know what he wants?’

Liam hops toward the sink. He leans on it and looks out of the window at the fast-falling night. He does know something about who this person is. I know he does.

Liam grimaces. ‘We could have escaped by now if …’

‘I’m sorry,’ I say, interrupting him, staring at the floor, my shoulders hunched. I know it’s my fault that the boat capsized. We could have been on the mainland by now. Although it’s more than likely we would have been swept out to sea, and possibly even have drowned. Who’s to say?

I glance up and see that Liam’s shaking his head, as though fighting frustration, but then he hops over to me and pulls me into his arms. ‘I thought I’d lost you for a moment. When you went under like that. I thought you were going to drown.’ He hugs me tight, pressing my head into his chest and stroking my hair. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you,’ he whispers into my ear, his voice cracking.

I close my eyes. ‘What if he comes back?’ I ask. ‘What if he discovers his boat is missing? He might have already.’