Too Scared to Tell by Cathy Glass

Author:Cathy Glass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-11-23T23:15:41+00:00

As Paula, Lucy and Adrian returned home I took them aside and told them that Oskar had disclosed sexual abuse (although not the details) and if he said anything else they should let me know so I could pass it on to his social worker. Sometimes when a child starts to talk about the abuse they’ve suffered more comes tumbling out, and it was important I logged it and told the social worker, as it was all evidence. Of course, my children were horrified that Oskar had been abused, although they weren’t wholly surprised. Having grown up with fostering, they could often spot the signs when a child was harbouring a dark secret, just as I could. Fostering had taught us that evil things do happen and they’re not just horror stories in the news.

It was only as we sat down to dinner that Oskar realized he hadn’t telephoned his mother.

‘Andrew decided we wouldn’t call her today, as he’ll need to talk to her and she’ll have a lot on her mind,’ I said.

‘Oh, I like talking to her,’ he said, disappointed. Which surprised me, as they struggled to make conversation and the calls were never more than a couple of minutes. I supposed it was the brief contact with his mother and hearing her voice that he liked. I didn’t doubt he loved her, and she him, but Roksana’s absence during so much of his life due to her long working hours had prevented them from forming a very close attachment.

That night, unsurprisingly, Oskar had another nightmare. When I went to his room I found him trying to fight someone off and shouting, ‘Don’t hurt me!’ It didn’t take much to guess who. I reassured him he was safe and, once he was in a deep sleep again, I returned to my bedroom. I was sure Oskar would have more nightmares while his subconscious purged itself of the dreadful memories of abuse, until he could finally sleep peacefully.

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