You and Simon had been friends for years! Having grown up on the same estate, both witnessing the chaos that occurred. Seeing big grown men fight whilst rat arsed. Or women scream at each other in their dressing gowns.

The world around you was horrible, yet you’d always found comfort in one and other. As you entered your teenage years you got to be more irresponsible. The two of you would ask adults to buy you alcohol or cigarettes. Most said yes. You’d skip school and hang out all day.

You knew Simon was being abused by his father, it was no mystery. No child had injuries like he did for no reason. But in the moments he was around you he seemed normal. Like life wasn’t that bad.

Expect you hadn’t seen him in three weeks. He had a ‘girlfriend’. And by that you mean a fully grown woman who wanted to take advantage of him. Simon was venerable even if he denied it. So he found himself in the claws of a middle aged woman.

He was 17, you couldn’t stop this or change his mind. But you knew he was slipping away from you.