Matt opened up the laptop and a little ping sounded as he switched it on. I looked at the invitation again.

A few minutes later he turned the laptop round so that it faced me. There were people on the screen – a video was playing. I soon realized I was watching footage from Kayla’s party. Laughter and applause and giggles and screams blasted from the tiny speakers. I could see Kayla sitting on a stool. She pushed her red hair behind her ear and fixed a strap of her polka-dot dress. It looked like they were in a marquee; ‘I Kissed a Girl’ was playing in the background. Kayla laughed as a guy kissed her on the cheek, then another guy, then a kiss on the lips from a girl, then one from a guy, a kiss on the cheek from another girl. A line formed in front of her and others gathered round in a semicircle, laughing and clapping and cheering until the eighteenth birthday kiss was planted on her cheek. I felt kind of nauseous watching it. The happy smiles, the carefree chatter, the ignorance of what lay ahead was almost unbearable. A few hours after this film was taken she was probably dead. I had to force myself to keep watching.

As each second passed, I realized how much this group of friends looked like my own. Just a regular group of teenagers, celebrating one of their friends’ birthdays, with no clue as to the tragedy that was about to happen. This was all too real. In the picture she looked real, sure, but that was just a snapshot, a snippet of a person. And in the dream she was something else – unearthly and untouchable. But here she was just like me, laughing and shouting and dancing. I watched the seconds ticking down, my stomach churning as I saw her get off the chair and dance across the floor. I let out a sigh of relief when the video stopped. I stared at the final frame, her face frozen in a huge smile.

‘Did I have to watch that?’ I said, handing the laptop back.

‘Yes,’ said Matt. ‘And you might want to watch it again.’