It was days later, and the appointment for my teacher to call on us was imminent. I was surveying the kitchen with an exacting scrutiny. Every plate had been cleared away, every cup and spoon had been cleaned and scrubbed free of stains. It had been hard work; cold water didn’t wash as well as hot, but we had none of that, so good old-fashioned elbow grease had done the job.

Carl was hovering, his eyes beady and black in his face.

‘Like what?’ I asked.

‘My wallet,’ he said.

He was holding it and I gestured to it. ‘That’s your wallet.’

He slapped it down on the counter. ‘Things are missing from it.’

I said nothing, though I wanted to scream at him that the things that were missing were not his. He came close to me. I backed up until I hit the wall. No way out, nowhere to go. I was trapped.

‘I’m watching you,’ he said.

It was nothing new; he was always watching me. I looked through to the dining room at my mother. She sat at the table, her back curved as she slumped in the chair. Her finger had found a hole in the tablecloth and she poked at it, stretching it and pulling at it until there was a gaping rip in the fabric.

At the supermarket there had been a cash machine. I’d inserted the card and typed in the PIN. I got it right first time: my mother’s birthday. Not mine, because she never remembered it.

I tried to withdraw fifty pounds, then twenty, and finally ten when it was declined. The card was spat out and no money followed.

I’d put the card away. I would have to wait until the benefits went in, and slowly the account would crawl out of the red. In the meantime, I would have to fill up on free school dinners. As for heating, I would simply wear more layers at home.

In my pocket, I felt the edges of the photograph of myself and wondered what I could do about Carl. It was clear, that morning in the kitchen, that I could do nothing. He was a permanent fixture. If I tried to get rid of him, those two men might come round again. Them, or different ones. There were many of them, I was sure. If I told the authorities, it wouldn’t matter. Carl was a charmer, able to talk his way out of any situation.

Edinburgh.

It had become my mantra. It was my escape, my salvation, my future.

I just had to hold on a little bit longer.