Annie – Then
After Sheila left, her parents had gone into their bedroom. Lewis and Annie stood as close to their door as they dared, trying to listen to what was going on inside.
‘Can you hear anything?’ Lewis whispered to her, his face so close to hers she could feel the heat from his breath.
‘No,’ she whispered back.
The voices inside the room grew steadily until there was a loud ‘NO’ from their father, and the door was pulled open so fast and so hard that Lewis and Annie almost fell inside.
‘Go to your rooms,’ their father said, his face red in a way Annie had never seen before.
Annie could see beyond him. Their mother was by the window, arms tight across her chest as if they might fend off the world.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked. Seeing her mother standing there looking so small and scar
