Danny must have fallen asleep. The noise of a vehicle jolted him back to reality and he ran to the window in time to see the van driving off down the path. Flopping back on the mattress, he listened. Nothing. Danny’s watch showed it to be almost 6pm – he’d slept longer than he thought.

After a while he heard footsteps coming upstairs and the bolts being pulled back on the door. For a few moments he trembled, not knowing if both men were gone or if one of them was still in the house and coming into the room. Danny let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding when Lewis appeared in the doorway, and almost smiled when he saw that the skinny boy was carrying a plate of food and a mug of something hot.

‘They’ve gone for the day.’ There was a catch in Lewis’s voice. Then Danny noticed the cut on the boy’s lip and the red around his eye, turning into a classic shiner. Danny took the food which was offered and wolfed it down. Lewis sat on the mattress beside him, watching quietly, his face pale and tears filling his eyes.

‘What happened?’ Danny asked when he was nearly finished the pie he’d been given.

‘Pete and Neil came back. They were mad that Mum was still asleep and Pete started knocking her about. I tried to stop him and got this for me trouble.’ He pointed to his face which was becoming quite swollen.

‘Sorry.’ It was the only thing Danny could think of to say.

‘It’s not your fault. Stuff happens.’

They sat in silence until Danny pushed the last mouthful of pie in his mouth and drank the weak milky tea, which was at least hot.

‘Have you thought about what I said, you know, helping me to escape? My parents would pay you – more than a thousand if you want.’

‘Yeah, I thought about it but it ain’t gonna to happen.’

‘Why?’

‘If I let you go, they’d probably kill me and Mum.’ Lewis sounded quite serious.

‘You can both come with me and my dad will help you. We can tell the police about Pete and Neil and they’ll get arrested.’ Danny hoped his idea appealed to Lewis, it seemed so simple to him, yet perhaps it was too simple.

‘But the doors are bolted, I told you.’

‘Are you sure your mum doesn’t have a key – to the back door maybe? Perhaps she just hasn’t told you, or they only said they were bolted so you’d think you couldn’t get out? Nobody puts bolts on the outside of doors.’

‘I’ll talk to her but she’s scared of Pete – I don’t think she’d ever dare cross him.’

‘Why does she stay with him then?’

‘Dunno really, she seems to need to have a boyfriend.’