Seven hours before deciding to die, Nora wandered Bedford feeling in free fall and without anyone to talk to. She texted her former best friend Izzy in Australia; the message was seen but went unanswered, compounding Nora’s isolation.

Passing a cinema promoting Ryan Bailey’s Last Chance Saloon, Nora fixated on the actor and imagined philosophical conversations. She recalled Henry David Thoreau’s line, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams,” and compared such ideals to her own stalled life.

Nora considered how Thoreau’s retreat seemed simpler than modern Bedford and concluded she might simply be failing at life. Hours slipped by as she searched for purpose and found none, noting even small errands like Mr Banerjee’s medication had already been done.

She tried to give a homeless man money but realised she had none. A passerby offered a hollow platitude—“Cheer up, love, it might never happen”—which only sharpened Nora’s belief that nothing ever does, deepening the despair propelling her toward her later decision.