The Forgetting

by Hannah Beckerman

My dad was . . . a bit of a tyrant. Everything had to be done his way. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know that the best way to survive was to keep silent and hope he didn’t really notice I was there. He made my life a living hell. And my mum was no help. She never stood up to him, never tried to protect me, even when he was violent.’

But sometimes being scared of something is precisely the reason you need to do it.