[Blister]

The last six months had been dire. It had started when the factory where her father worked closed down. The loss of his salary was a huge blow. Then the coffee shop, which served mainly the factory workers and where her mother worked, closed too. Instead of her part-time earnings from the DVD store being hers to spend, Sally (and that is not her real name) found her money being used to put food on the table. Her parents started arguing. About money, of course. She used to shut herself away in her room, trying to block out their shouting. Her dad got some money in state benefits but they stopped. "Some irregularity!" Sally heard despite having her hands clasped over her ears.

For a time, the shouting stopped too. There were days without any arguments and without empty stomachs. But they did not last. Soon, the shouting started again. Worse than before. However, Sally had not been prepared for the sight that greeted her when she entered the kitchen when she came home from the DVD store.

Three strange men, two Hispanic looking; the third very dark-skinned who she took to be of African descent. None of them the sort you would want to meet, even in a well lit street. Thugs.

Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table, head in her hands; her father by the sink, while two of the men stood guard by the doors. In the DVD store, Sally played a game where she would give the customers names. The two Hispanic guys she instantly labelled Scar and Nose, because of damage to their faces; the other guy just had to be Lips - they were huge. Instinctively, Sally knew that things were bad.

"Welcome," said Scar as Sally walked in, her hands pulling her hair back into her usual ponytail. "Your father was just about to tell us how he is going to pay back his fucking loan."

"I can't, I don't have any money," her father murmured.

"Nothing at all? Perhaps we will just have to take what we fucking want then," replied Scar as he moved to stand behind her mother. Pulling her mother's head back, he slide his hand inside the top of her dress, groping at her breast.

Her father lurched forward, as if to stop Scar, but Lips was quicker. Out of nowhere, a pistol was pressed against her father's head.

"Where are you going?" Lips asked pushing her father backwards with the barrel. Scar dragged her mother up off the chair. With one hand, Scar clawed at her breast through her dress while the other pushed between her legs rubbing over her sex, deliberately showing her father how impotent, how useless, he was.

"Leave her alone!" cried Sally, distraught at the tears following down her mother's face. Scar simply chuckled. Although he stopped a few seconds later, it was because his mobile phone rang rather than through any compassion. As Scar moved to answer his phone, Sally ran to comfort her mother.

"No, nothing at all ... Yeah, all three," Sally heard Scar say. "Both? ... And him? ... Okay."

"Your lucky day," Scar said to her father. "You get to live. The boss says he has a little job that these two can do to help pay your debts."

"Nooooo!" cried her father although Scar ignored him, simply waving his little finger at Lips.

"Look, ladies. We have a choice," Scar said to Sally and her mother. "Either we turn him into a fucking cripple or you come and do a little job for us."

Lips tucked his gun away and grabbed at her father's hand, bending the little finger back until the sound of breaking bone and her father's scream echoed around the kitchen.

"Now, do we break all the other bones in his fucking body?" Scar asked. Sally found herself shaking her head, surrendering to doing the little job. She offered no resistance as Nose lifted her to her feet, as he led her out of the kitchen. Sally looked back at her father's distraught face; she held his eyes for a second before he bowed his head in defeat. She did not speak as Nose continued to lead her out of the house. Sally knew she ought to fight, to try to escape, to seek help, but she also knew that she could not. Her father's life and maybe those of her and her mother were at stake.

Sally allowed Nose to bundle her into the back of a van; her mother followed a few seconds later. They had to sit on the floor, adding to their discomfort. Neither Sally nor her mother spoke as the van moved off. Instead, Sally sat with her arms wrapped around her mother, both of them sobbing quietly. She took no notice of the time, the van could have been moving for just a few minutes or for over an hour.