My mum met my step-dad when I was five. After he came into our lives, things changed. At times he could be ok, take us out as a family and stuff, but at other times he'd get into these nasty moods.
When he was in a mood and going at mum, I used to get between them, even though they both would yell at me to go to my room. Sometimes I got hit by him if I got in the way, but I hated to see mum get hurt.
One night I got home late and my little step-brother was crying, and my step-dad was screaming at my mum, she had a cut on her arm. He was really aggro and I saw him throw an ash-tray at her head. Mum said for me to take my brother and go next door, she looked so scared. The neighbours let us in and told me to call the police. I rang them and told them what was happening.
After about 10 minutes I heard the police drive up, and I could hear my step-dad yelling at them. One of the policemen came next door and told me that they had warned my step-dad that if it happened again he could get charged. They also told me that mum could go to the court for a protection order to stop him from coming near our house.
Even though things quietened down for a while, my step-dad didn't change his ways much. There would still be major blow-ups. He used to hurt our cat, kick it or throw it around if he was mad. He used to pick on my step-brother too, saying he's turning into a wimp and stuff. I could never relax at home, I would have liked to stay out but I didn't want to leave my little brother there on his own. There was a TV in my bedroom, so me and my brother used to watch it with the sound turned up so we didn't have to hear the arguments. I didn't want to invite anyone from school home either, because the atmosphere at home was always shit.
One day mum rang to say I had to finish school early. She said we had to pack up before my step-dad came home. We got everything we could and went to a house called a refuge. It looked like a normal house, but it was miles away from where we lived and it was run by workers. Another family was there as well, and I met a girl my age there. We lived there for four months. My step-dad kept ringing mum on her mobile, and once he said he was going to find her and kill her. Mum called the police and he got charged for making threats.
Eventually things with him went a bit quieter. Mum found another place to live and we moved there. Now my step-dad speaks to my mum on the phone but he isn't allowed to come to our place because mum got a court protection order. Recently he took mum to the Family Court because he wanted to see my step-brother. So now about once a month my step-brother has to go to an auntie's place to see him, but I don't.
Last month I went to counselling with my mum. She organised it. The counsellor was nice, she asked me to tell mum how I felt about everything. I asked mum why she didn't leave my step-dad earlier? She got upset and said she wanted to leave him but was worried about what he would do if she did. It was good because we got to hear how each other feels.
