I secretly started dating a boy named Dylan from school. He was a nice guy, caring, sweet and attentive and it wasn’t before long that he started to notice some of the bruises and marks upon my shoulder where dad had gripped me tightly as I had started to refuse to comply being a mannequin anymore. Dylan was speechless when I told him what was happening, but the most important thing to me was the fact he believed me. He never asked any leading questions, nor did he even shift any blame onto me whatsoever. He just listened and I could tell he wanted to protect me and love me the way I deserved to be loved.

Understandably Dylan was keen to come to our home and see the ‘big man’ for himself and when he did meet dad it was weird. Dad was acting all strange around him especially when Dylan went to touch my