‘Are you sure you don’t want to do more of the planning? Most brides go a bit crazy as the day approaches.’

‘Yeah, I’m not most brides though, am I?’

Adam laughed. ‘I don’t think you’ve ever said anything more true.’

As the show they were half-watching finished – and Adam had finished picking up chocolate buttons from the surrounding furniture – he heaved Jessica to her feet. ‘Come on, let’s go to bed,’ he said.

‘Are you going to carry me?’

‘Not after all the chocolate you’ve just put away.’

Jessica jumped up from the sofa and stuck her fingers just below Adam’s ribcage in the spot she knew he was most ticklish. He squirmed away from her. ‘Oi, that’s cheating,’ he protested.

‘I told you, I’m a cheat.’

‘You lost at Scrabble.’

‘Maybe you’re a bigger cheat?’

Jessica reached out to try to tickle Adam but he grabbed her arm and picked her up. ‘Ah, so you are going to carry me upstairs,’ she declared.

‘Yeah, if it’ll shut you up.’

Jessica wrapped her arms around Adam’s neck as he opened the living-room door with his foot and steered her around the corner. ‘Watch my head,’ she reminded him.

‘Stop wriggling.’

Jessica grinned and locked her hands behind his neck. As Adam hoisted her higher and said that he loved her, Jessica couldn’t help but hate herself for the thoughts of Sebastian which filled her head.

As her mind slowly drifted awake, Jessica coughed slightly. She had the beginnings of a headache which was pounding in her head. At first she wasn’t sure if the throbbing was something she was dreaming, or it was real. She opened her eyes as little as she could get away with in an attempt to look at the numbers on her alarm clock. Instead of the red glow, the area it should have been in was dark. Jessica reached onto her bedside table and picked up her phone, pressing a button on the side that made it light up and show her that it was 3.31.

The bright white stung her eyes and she quickly closed them again, putting the phone back on the table and coughing gently a second time. She wondered whether there was a problem with the clock or if they had simply had a power cut.

Shuffling sideways, Jessica reached out towards Adam and wondered why he never seemed to wake up at the silly times she did. She rested a hand on the base of his back before realising the pulse in her head wasn’t just a headache, there was actually something making a noise below them. Jessica rolled onto her back and sat up, staring towards where the clock should be glowing.

She had never been the best morning person but her head felt woozier than usual and her throat was dry. She reached out and took a drink of water from the glass next to her. ‘Adam,’ she mumbled, reaching out to touch him again. When he didn’t stir, she shook him gently. ‘Adam, there’s something making a noise downstairs. The power’s off.’

Again he didn’t move, so Jessica swung her legs out of the bed and stood up. Her bare feet brushed across the carpet but, despite the fact she was only wearing a pair of shorts and a large T-shirt, she didn’t feel cold. She breathed in, coughing heavily again. Although she sometimes got the sniffles and minor colds like most people, there was something that felt different as she breathed in and tried to clear the dryness in her throat.

Jessica stumbled towards the door and flicked the light switch up and down but nothing happened. There was still a noise coming from below but she wasn’t awake enough to understand what was happening.

‘Adam, where’s your fuse box? The power’s off,’ she called but he didn’t move.

She turned back to the door and, in the fraction of a second it took to open it, she found herself falling to her knees as thick smoke poured through the gap into her lungs.

24

Jessica collapsed onto her back and kicked the door closed. She wanted to scream at Adam to wake him but her throat was so dry she couldn’t swallow. In the dimness of the street lamps shining through the curtains, she could see a thin cloud of smoke billowing above her.

It seemed so obvious now that the beeping was the smoke alarm placed on the living-room ceiling directly below them. To begin with, her drowsy brain hadn’t made the connection. Jessica stared at the ceiling, desperate to move but struggling to clear her head and breathe. She rolled away, pushing her face into the carpet and inhaling slowly and as deeply as she could. She spluttered slightly but the mildly stale taste of the floor was preferable to the smoke drifting around the room.

With her head marginally clearer, the warmth of the floor suddenly became obvious. She knew there was a fire burning directly below her.

Feeling weak, Jessica crawled along the floor before reaching out and taking a large gulp from the glass of water. She knew she had to get out of the house but staying calm and trying to breathe slowly was the only way she was going to be able to manage it.

She picked up her phone and switched on the torch, sending a bright white light onto the ceiling. Jessica looked up again, where she could see the remnants of the swirling smoke she had let into the room. She shone the light around until it was pointing at the door. Thin wisps of dark mist were cascading under the frame and drifting airily upwards.

Jessica swung the phone around and reached up onto the bed, breathing slowly but deeply and closing her eyes before pulling as hard as she could until the duvet fell on the floor. Her eyes felt heavy, her arms ached, but she used her feet to push the duvet across the carpet until it was blocking the gap under the door. She shone the light around the rest of the frame and, although fragments of smoke were seeping through at the top, the bed linen was blocking most of it.

Clambering onto the bed, Jessica rolled Adam over on his back. She shone the light across his closed eyes while shaking him as hard as her weary arms would allow. ‘Adam,’ she hissed into his ear but he didn’t respond.

She felt tears in her eyes again as she slapped him across the face. Her arm felt limp but, despite the lack of force, she knew it should have been enough to wake him. She held the light close to his face and lifted one of his eyelids, not knowing what she was looking for but hoping he would respond in some way. His pupils had rolled back into his head and Jessica allowed his eyelid to droop. She rested her head on his chest, feeling it rise and fall ever so faintly, wanting to cry but knowing she had to get out of the house first.

Still resting on Adam, she flipped her phone around and dialled 999. She spoke quietly, thinking it might conserve more oxygen if she didn’t raise her voice. The female operator took her address as Jessica said she was a police officer, hoping the woman would contact someone at Longsight.

Jessica’s voice was croaky and, although the operator said she would wait on the line, she hung up, wanting to use the torch again. She kissed Adam on the forehead and climbed across his body until she was at the window. Her legs felt weighed down from the effort of moving and she knew the way she was trying to conserve the oxygen could only last her so long. Her brain seemed alert but her limbs were languid and sore. She lay on the floor, reaching up and pulling open the curtains slowly from the bottom.

As the faint light from the street lamps outside dribbled into the room, Jessica could still hear the beeping of the smoke alarm through the floor. Her eyes were desperate to close but she fought it by focusing on the noise.

She reached up and grabbed the curtain, heaving herself gradually to her feet. When she was nearly standing, she heard a crack and suddenly found herself falling. Things seemed to happen in slow motion as she collapsed onto her back, the curtain and rail landing on top of her. For a moment, Jessica struggled to comprehend what had happened. Thoughts seemed to flood her head but figuring out what they were telling her was hurting.