The Silent Companions

They were still sitting on the same side of the table, but they were not a team now. The space between their shoulders prickled like static. His mind must be racing with the same thoughts as Elsie’s: why did I trust her; how could I be so foolish; why would she betray me like that?

Wood, always wood

Indeed, it is common when a patient has endured trauma

Elsie had been fighting for her life and Sarah had not lifted a finger.

This was the girl that just yesterday Elsie had hoped to live with, live for! How could she have got Sarah so wrong?

I have been a terrible coward. But I am willing to be brave now. After all these years, I have finally found my voice.’

This is what happens to me, Jo. I trust people and they abuse that trust.

why did I trust her; how could I be so foolish; why would she betray me like that?

At least madness had power. It did not make her sound puerile, a girl dreaming of fairies and unicorns.

Sarah? She underlined the w

This was how she had won before – fighting through the pain. She could do it. She could make her body do anything. She had learnt the hard way.

No torture could be more maddening: to hear and not to see; to be powerless while he howled.