Daddy's Prisoner by Alice Lawrence, Megan Lloyd Davies Page A

his miserable life he’d always had power over it was his kids – he’d been able to scare us into obeying him for years and years. But first Michael and now Simon had stood up to him. I knew that if he ever got his hands on Simon then he’d beat the living daylights out of him.
    We crept around him, keeping out of his way, anxious not to give him any reason to start on us, as he brooded on what had happened. It was like being in a war and waiting for the enemy to attack. I felt restless because I was sure that if our secrets were told then Dad’s revenge would be worse than anything we’d seen before. Going in to see him in the living room, I would stare at the knife box under the bed or think of the nunchucks – two thick sticks connected with a chain – hidden away or the crossbow in its box. After trying to protect us all for so long, would it be impossible to stop Dad carrying out his threats now one of us had turned against him? I kept thinking about what Simon had done, wondering how he’d dared do it and praying it would not get taken too far because otherwise there was no knowing what might happen to us all.
    Nothing happened until a couple of days later when I walked Laura, Kate and Charlie to school and noticed a car parked outside that I was sure I’d seen near our house when we left. I looked inside to see a man and a woman watching us.
    ‘I think someone was following us when I took the little ones to school,’ I told The Idiot when I got home.
    I wanted to be sure he didn’t have a reason to start on any of us.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘There was a man and a woman in a car. It was parked here when we left and then again at the school.’
    ‘Who the fuck are they?’ Dad hissed as he got up and walked to the window.
    He pulled the curtains shut and shadows fell across the room as the TV flickered in the corner.
    ‘Don’t answer the door,’ he snapped.
    We spent the day at home as usual – Dad peering outside every now and again, Mum and I silent. She had been even quieter than usual since Simon had gone. She was like an animal that has dug itself into its shelter and is waiting for the danger to pass. But as I was getting ready to go and pick up the kids later that day, the phone rang and she answered it.
    ‘Hello?’ Mum said.
    She didn’t speak for a few seconds but I watched as she listened to the person on the other end and her face drained of colour.
    ‘What do you mean?’ Mum said. ‘Who’s got them?’
    I stood, unsure of whether to leave the house or not, as Dad grabbed the phone from her hand.
    ‘What’s this?’ he spat. ‘What’s going on?’
    He was silent for a moment before screaming again.
    ‘Listen to me, you fucking bitch. I’m coming down now to pick up my little ones. You can’t keep them.’
    He slammed down the phone and started yelling.
    ‘That bastard Simon. The kids have been taken into care. They got them at school. Social services have them.’
    I didn’t understand. All I knew about social services was that they’d turned up their nose at the smell in our house and left some plastic sheets to put on the beds years before. How could they have the little ones now? This was their home. I was on my way to pick them up and bring them back.
    ‘What do you mean?’ I asked uncertainly, looking from Mum to Dad and then back again.
    ‘They’ve been taken from us, you stupid bitch,’ The Idiot spat. ‘We’re not getting them back until those bastards have snooped around.’
    I felt a rush of panic inside. The little ones couldn’t be gone. They were all Mum and I had. They were what I held on to, the one thing that gave me a reason to keep breathing.
    Mum walked out the room as Dad grabbed hold of me.
    ‘You’re not to say a word about anything,’ he hissed. ‘Do you hear me?’
    ‘I won’t, Dad. I promise.’
    He drew close.
    ‘I mean it. I’ll kill you if you open your mouth.’
    His eyes were black as the night.
    ‘Do you understand what I