Cry Myself to Sleep: He had to escape. They would never hurt him again.. Joe Peters

wasn’t sure what a ‘punter’ was, but it didn’t sound good.

      ‘I’ll show you to your room now,’ he said.

      ‘No,’ I shouted. ‘I want to go.’

      ‘I’ll show you your fucking room,’ he said again and there was no mistaking the menace in his voice. He grabbed my skinny arm so tightly with his giant hand that it made me squeak from the pain as he lifted me bodily off the sofa, propelling me towards the door, still clutching my bag. The more I struggled the tighter his grip became, his fingers digging in.

      ‘Just do what I fucking tell you,’ he hissed into my face. ‘Don’t be fucking disrespectful.’

      ‘It’s all right, mate,’ Jake slurred from the depths of the other sofa. ‘Don’t worry.’

      ‘I want to go,’ I screamed, the panic overwhelming me and making my voice hysterical.

      As Max dragged me through to the bedroom, I noticed there was a key in the lock on the outside and my panic doubled as every memory of being imprisoned rushed back. Once I was past that door they would be able to keep me there for years and there would be nothing I could do about it, just as it had been with Mum and the men at home. I fought and struggled with all my strength, but I didn’t have a chance against Max. He grabbed me in a headlock, ripped my bag from my grip and threw me into the room, slamming the door behind me and turning the key.

      After a few seconds I forced myself to calm down, knowing that was my only chance of finding a way out. I looked around the room. There was a double bed, made up with fairly clean bedclothes. In fact it looked pretty much like a normal bedroom apart from the fact that the window had been boarded up with screws, cutting out all natural light and the only chance of escape. There was a flimsy wardrobe, which let a stale smell out into the room when I opened the doors. My fear was making me angry and I went back to the door, kicking and banging and shouting to be let out. After a minute I heard footsteps outside. The key clicked in the lock and the door flew open as Max burst in and punched me hard in the side of the head, knocking me to the floor with an explosion of light in my brain.