Twenty-four years earlier
The problem is that you never quite know what is and isn’t acceptable on any given day.
Yesterday, leaving food on your plate went unnoticed. Last week, it earned you a bedroom lock-in so long that when you vomited with fear, nothing came up at all. Your stomach was completely empty.
Today’s punishment has been given because your father found mud on the bottom of your shoes. But who is to blame? You know the rule about dirty shoes and you flouted it.
There is hardly any light left at all in the sky now. You squeeze your eyes shut and try to breathe normally, but you can’t seem to get enough air into your lungs.
And then you hear your mother’s footsteps on the stairs.
One… two… three and pause.
Please, no, you pray silently. Please don’t let it be that.
But when she opens the door, smiling and holding the tray, you know that it is no use praying any longer.
YOU ARE READING
Dangerous Affection
TerrorI know my daughter better than I know myself and if there's one thing I know for sure at this moment: it's that Maisie is not ok. My ex-husband Shaun and I are still friends. We would do anything for our beautiful little girl, Maisie. But now Shaun...
