‘Yes, you’re right,’ she said, hanging on to his words for desperately needed comfort. She had to believe it was true. Anything else was unthinkable. She had to be brave. Many others had suffered worse than this. And yet there was that horrible suspicion at the back of her mind that the air couldn’t last much longer.

‘How’s your arm?’ Frank asked.

‘Still letting me know it’s there,’ she said, forcing herself to make light of the pain.

‘Well, that’s a good thing, shows the nerves are working.’

‘You sound like Rita or Sarah,’ she said, smiling at the thought of his sisters, imagining them in their nurses’ uniforms, and then wincing as a sharper bolt of pain shot along the length of her arm. She gritted her teeth. Better that it hurt than went completely numb.

‘Bet they’d know what to do if they had you in their hospital,’ he went on.

‘Yes, and they’ll have seen far worse than this. We’re lucky, really,’ she replied, trying to convince herself. Her ears caught a distant sound. ‘What’s that noise? Can you hear it, Frank?’

‘Hang on.’ Frank paused for a few seconds. ‘Yes, it’s … well, I could be wrong, but I reckon it might be stones moving around.’

‘Moving around? You mean, more falling on us?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Frank. ‘It’s possible, but of course it could be quite a way away from us. We shouldn’t worry. We’re going to be fine, Kitty.’

‘Yes, of course.’ Again the noise came; it really did seem like more stones falling. She tried to block out the image of being buried in here for ever by the weight of bricks and blocks, slowly running out of air. ‘Frank, are you still there? It’s getting closer, isn’t it?’

‘We don’t know that. Sound does funny things underground. We mustn’t jump to conclusions or panic.’

‘No. No, of course not.’ She closed her eyes again, willing herself to stay in control. Panic wouldn’t help. She had to breathe slowly. She tried to hear Rita’s sensible voice in her head, explaining how a steady breath helped you stay calm. It was hard to concentrate on that while the noise of stone on stone grew louder and closer. ‘Frank, I’m sorry but I’m scared, I’m so scared.’

‘I know. It is frightening. It’s natural to be scared, but we’re going to get out of this.’

‘Frank … I—’ She couldn’t keep the depth of emotion from her voice. The effort of pretending was too much.