to protect me till I was ready to say what was happening to me out loud to others.

In the morning, there was a knock on the door which neither of us expected. Mum quickly got dressed and answered the door because she didn’t want dad’s sleep to be disturbed but it was too late. He was soon awoken by the noise of conversations in the living room. I guess he must have been nervous or thought that Gavin was back to cause more trouble.

Dad came downstairs in his dressing gown and joined the little police meeting in the living room, and it wasn’t long before dad called me downstairs to speak to them too. I was understandably nervous and shaken because I wasn’t sure what questions I was going to be faced with, but mum made sure I was next to her, and she simply just grasped my hand tightly as I spoke to them.