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The character of Amy is 17 years old and is studying hairdressing at college. She recently moved out of the family home to live with her boyfriend, because her mum’s new partner was becoming an increasingly violent and frightening presence in the house. Unfortunately, things aren’t great at her boyfriend’s house, either. He wants her to come straight back from college, cook him dinner and keep the flat spotlessly clean. She’s even caught him monitoring her texts and WhatsApp messages.

The character of Chelsea is 13 years old and feels caught in the middle of her parents, who are going through a divorce. Chelsea’s mum and dad are trying to score points against each other by spoiling their daughters rotten, by insulting each other in front of them and racing to the school gates to be the first person to pick them up from school. Chelsea is starting to wonder if things would be better if she just wasn’t there at all – at least, without her, they wouldn’t need a reason to stay in touch with each other.

The character of Ted is 12 years old and is unsure how to cope with the way his older brother, Kyle, is treating his mum. Kyle has felt extremely angry since their dad left, and has been taking it out on the rest of the family, both physically and verbally. Nobody that Ted speaks to seems to comprehend the seriousness of what Kyle is doing, and puts the behaviour down to teenage angst or ‘boys being boys’. Ted feels completely powerless, and is beginning to build up some anger of his own.

The character of Alfie is 11 years old and his story explores parental neglect and poverty within the family home. Alfie puts on a brave face at school, but at home things are very different. There is rarely anyone at home to greet him when he gets in. There isn’t any food in the fridge, and sometimes there isn’t even electricity. At the end of Alfie’s story, he goes with his parents to the food bank on the edge of town. He can see how embarrassed his mum and dad are at having to ask for help, even though the volunteers are really friendly.

The character of Jamie is 14 years old and has been living with his dad and his dad’s boyfriend, Brandon. Recently Jamie’s dad and Brandon have been having more and more arguments, and the arguments have started to lead to physical violence. Jamie has spent so much time convincing everybody that he has a ‘normal’ family that he doesn’t know who to turn to when things at home begin to really affect him.

The character of Ayesha is 14 years old. She comes from a Pakistani and Geordie background, and goes to the mosque regularly with her mum, dad and baby brother. Her dad has always been protective of her, but recently he has started to ban her from going to after-school clubs, and she isn’t even allowed to see her aunties or cousins. Since lockdown, Ayesha has been unable to talk to anyone she trusts about what’s going on at home, and she greatly misses art classes, her favourite subject, where she is able to have a sense of release in her paintings and drawings.