None of my business, so I kept out of the way. I had an early shower and played a video game on my tablet, but I couldn’t even get into that. I was on the point of giving up and going to sleep when I heard shouting down the corridor. To be honest, there was swearing as well. Then footsteps up to my door, which was flung open. Mum was standing there, Zorro in her arms, and she was not happy. In fact she was furious.

‘Your damned pet just bit your father,’ she said. She thrust him into my chest. ‘Keep it locked in here with you, do you hear me? I’ve had just about enough today.’ And she was gone, the door slammed.

I knew what she meant. I’d just about had enough today as well. I hugged Z to me. Now I had to worry about him. What had Mum said? One more incident and ‘it would have to go’? Over my dead body, I thought. She couldn’t do that to us. We hadn’t had time to do the retraining yet. She couldn’t be so heartless. Could she?

It was a question that rolled around in my head as I drifted off to sleep.

I don’t know why I woke up in the early hours of the morning. I don’t know why I decided to go to the fridge. Maybe all that toying around with dinner had made me starving and that’s what had woken me. I guess it doesn’t matter now.

I was padding down the corridor to the kitchen when I heard voices from the media room. Mum and Dad. Talking. Maybe arguing. I should have just walked past, got a snack and headed straight back to bed. But I couldn’t resist. I knew that what they were talking about concerned me and I had to know what it was.

The door to the room was slightly ajar and I pushed it open a little further, stepping noiselessly into the room. No one would see me, since it’s set up like an old-fashioned cinema, seats all pointing towards the screen, the entrance at the back. Mum and Dad were on the front row, so I sat on the floor in the back row. I could hear everything now.

‘You do know that Ashleigh will be destroyed by this, don’t you, Chrissie?’

‘Of course I know. I’m not stupid, Gareth. But this can’t go on. It can’t. I cannot risk it.’

My blood ran cold. Mum was going to take Zorro away from us. That was so unfair. I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from crying out.

‘And so what are you going to do? Just tell her straight out?’