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The sound grew louder, and I ran like a lunatic, ignoring my tattered feet. I had to get to Tuichi. I had to signal the plane. The sound was right overhead. I stopped, panting, and looked up. Between the treetops I saw a few grey clouds, and amid them, at a moderate altitude, a small white plane glided past.

‘Hello, here I am! Help! I’m down here.’ I waved my arms frantically. ‘Don’t go. Don’t leave me here. Here I am.’

The plane vanished from the sky, its drone fading away.

Now I became aware of my feet. The frantic running had torn the flesh from them, and I felt as if they were on fire. I collapsed to the earth, my face buried in the mud. I lay sprawled there and wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come.

I can’t take any more. I can’t budge another inch. That’s it.

From the bottom of my heart I prayed, not for rescue, not even for survival. I prayed for death. Please, good God, stop this suffering. Let me die.

And then she appeared. I knew it was all in my mind, but there she lay, next to me. I didn’t know who she was. I didn’t know her name. I knew we’d never met, and yet I knew that we were in love. She was weeping despondently. Her fragile body trembled.

‘There, there, stop crying,’ I tried to comfort her. Take it easy. It’s all right. Get up, Yossi, I urged myself, you have to lead the way, keep her spirits up.