He had asked Dr Hadley to call before work if at all possible and so he waited. Sitting in the armchair in the lounge trying to think about nothing, which is an impossibility in and of itself. He concentrated on his breathing and tried to be aware of his body as he did so. There was no physical pain anywhere anymore. He had got so used to it that he didn’t even notice it disappearing.

The phone rang.

‘Hello. Dr Hadley?’

‘Hi, Adrian. Good news! Your test came back negative,’ she said, considerately skipping any small talk, which he really appreciated.

‘Thank you.’

‘I also got the results from the swab I took. The DNA isn’t in the system. It’s been logged and filed as a John Doe. I will email over the serial number in case you want to look at it yourself. As it’s in the system, if any other cases come up then it should flag them. I have put a note on the file that if anything like that happens, I should be personally alerted.’

‘OK,’ he said.

He hadn’t thought about it linking to any other cases. It made him feel sick.

‘How are you getting on?’

‘Not good. I mean, life feels normal, until I remember how I used to be and it’s nothing like that. I’m constantly tense, scared of everything. I can’t trust my own judgement. I keep forgetting things.’

‘I think we need to look at therapy now. If you’re willing to?’

‘I’ll have to think about it. I don’t know if I can.’

‘You don’t have to talk about what happened to you. You can talk about anything.’

‘I don’t know. Thanks for everything, Doctor,’ Adrian said, indicating an end to the discussion.

‘OK. You know where I am.’ She hung up.

So, there it was – one of the worries was almost gone. Although not a hundred per cent, it was as good as and Dr Hadley had explained that he should take it as a win.

He didn’t feel much like a winner, though. Physically, everything was back to normal. Even the bruise on his rib was nothing more than a smudge of green now. He would have to undertake a physical exam at work before he was cleared for active duty, but he knew he could pass that. The question was, did he want to?