Adam is woken suddenly from his sleep by the noise of people making far too much noise. He looks around slowly to try to get his bearings. He is lying on a double bed with sheer satin sheets. The covers have rolled off the end of his bed and the people who have just entered his room can see him naked. He leaps to the bottom of his bed and grabs the duvet to pull it over him. Lying flat on his back, resting his head on his pillow, Adam tensely watches his visitors. In the dull light it takes a short while for him to recognise his younger brother and sister, who are exploring the room without any reference to him whatsoever. They seem amazed that it is so luxurious. It is fairly large with many silver fittings, a wall-mounted plasma-screen TV, artistic framed prints and apparently two en suite bathrooms. One has a shower, frosted glass door open to the rest of the room, and one with an antique wooden door containing a large, deep porcelain bath. Adam's sister takes the door on the left, as Adam looks on, able to watch her taking a shower. His brother closes the door to the room with the bath and locks it behind him. Adam can hear the sound of water running, and being tired, drifts off to sleep.

He wakes to his mother's voice. She is calling for the family to come to breakfast. Adam mutters that he is still tired and will come later. It is apparent that his brother and sister don't hear.

A vigorous rocking of the bed wakes Adam yet again. Now he sees his sister bouncing on the end of his bed. Half-heartedly he tells her to stop. Then his brother opens the door to the bathroom, and simply wrapped in a towel dashes towards the bed, takes a running jump, lands on the duvet and dances on the bed around Adam.

Next his mother walks into the room. With long hair he hardly recognises her, but when she speaks he remembers her voice. She is quickly followed by her husband, Adam's father. Now Adam gets up. His father had always been an early riser, and there was no day from his youth that he had ever been able to stay in bed for more than a minute when he was on the case.

Remembering himself, he shouts to his family 'Leave me alone. I am grown up now, if I want to have a lie-in I can.'

Obviously Adam's father is an expert and instantly he yanks the duvet from the bed. Adam's embarrassment, to be revealed in this way in front of his family, is obvious, and he quickly dashes to the chair by his bed where he had laid out his clothes. Just a pair of loose-fitting jeans, a comfortable shirt and a jumper. He quickly puts them on along with pairs of socks and shoes. He dashes to the door of the room.

Once he escapes, Adam soon finds himself on the street outside and instantly recognises that he is near his grandmother's house. He had always associated that with being warm and safe, so he turns to run uphill. The street is cobbled, which makes sense, because his grandmother was old, but he dimly remembered that the street had been recently covered with tarmac.

Suddenly there is a shout from a side road. His friend Dave grabs his attention and distracts him from his will to get away from his family. He is sitting outside a pub, drinking a pint of beer, and obviously was expecting Adam, because on the table alongside Dave is a fresh, untouched pint.

Alcohol had always been a safe haven recently for Adam, so he turned the corner and sat next to his friend. They drink silently for a few moments, because although they were old friends they had not met recently, and as a result find it hard to break the ice.

When Dave went inside the pub to go to the toilet, Adam got up to leave. He decided to continue trying to get to his grandmother's house.

Going back round the corner though, Adam loses his bearings. Suddenly he is unaware of where he is exactly. He walks quicker, then stumbles into a jog. He is frantically trying to remember where he is. Rounding a corner apparently near the town centre, he comes across a carnival procession. It is completely blocking his way. Adam is unable to get further down the road ahead, and as a result begin to panic. He has to get somewhere safe.

Suddenly he spots an opportunity. A white wooden gate in a tall wall between two shops may let him move on. He runs towards it and tugs hard at the handle. It seems to be very stiff, so he pushes it forward and pulls it towards him vigorously, intent on getting the fastening to either open naturally or to break. He is almost unaware of a woman tugging at his jumper, asking him quite frantically to stop.

Because he now feels threatened, Adam's efforts are redoubled, and he pulls harder at the gate.

Finally it opens, and Adam steps through into the clear space beyond.

Although it was presumably only a short step through the gate to the ground beyond, time seems to slow down, and Adam began to feel that he was falling. The noise in his world stops as he tumbles gently. Except for a dull roar.

Adam realises that he had his eyes closed, so he opens them. From the blackness before, he was now in a world of blue. Slowly he distinguishes sea below, sky above and the wisps of clouds nearby.

Although he hated flying, Adam had actually flown before, and so he recognises the view from height. He actually began to quite enjoy the sensation of weightlessness he was feeling. He was impressed by the slow descent he was experiencing, and began to wonder what he had ever had against flying. This was certainly no problem.

Adam's decent accelerates in the blink of an eye. He feels the strong, cold wind on his face, and tumbles faster through the air. He is almost unable to see through his watering eyes. He recognises clouds above, and the sea below, the sea that is now becoming clearer. The white wind-blown tops of the waves are soon visible.

In panic:

"This isn't a dream any more! Oh shi