This story is happening to my daughter while shes in Year Eleven. I start noticing unusual behaviour from her, which is completely out of character. The strange behaviour begins one day when shes really late coming home from school. I call her mobile, but she never picks up. After waiting another hour, my worry grows, so I contact her form tutor. The teacher tells me she left straight after lessons. My anxiety builds and my mind races with all sorts of thoughts.
Eventually, Charlotte comes home well past midnight. “Why didn’t you answer your phone? Where have you been?” I ask, unable to hide my concern.
She just waves me off, trying to avoid eye contact. “Mum, please dont be angry. I was out in town with friends and my phone died. Sorry I forgot to ring you,” she says.
When she takes off her coat, I spot a designer t-shirt and shiny new earrings. “Charlotte, where did you get those?” I ask.
“Just a mate gave them to me,” she replies.
“What mate?”
“Oh, come on, Mum, she sighs, Im tired. Hes just a friend, you dont know him yet. Ill introduce you sometime.”
With that, she dashes into her bedroom and shuts the door. The whole thing feels worrying, but I decide to put off a deeper conversation until the morning.
The next day, she hurried out before I had a chance to chat. It seemed like she was purposefully avoiding me. Again, shes late back from school and ignores my calls. As evening falls, my nerves are frayed. Suddenly, my mobile rings.
“Mum, please, come get me,” she cries. She manages to give an address before the call drops. My throat tightens with panic. With trembling hands, I dial her fathers number.
Normally, I try not to involve him, but this is an emergency. He arrives swiftly, bringing a couple of friends along. We rush to the address she gave. Its a sprawling mansion, pulse of music beating from inside. My ex-husband and his friends stride in, and minutes later, they bring Charlotte out, tears streaming down her cheeks.
It turns out shed met a guy recently, whod given her expensive gifts and promised to show her how to make some easy money. To persuade her, hed invited her to this party. Once there, Charlotte discovered he expected something incredibly inappropriate, which terrified her. She realised shed made a huge mistake.
“Oh, my silly girl, the only free cheese is on a mousetrap,” I whisper, stroking her hair and holding her tight.
