9-year-old Harriet sits on the living room rug watching TV with her 2 younger sisters, 5-year-old Lilly and 7-year-old Annie. They watch mesmerised as a magician gracefully winds a coin through her fingers until it disappears. They gasp, the glare lighting up their pale innocent faces. A shadowy female figure lurks in the background, hunched over the oven preparing their dinner. Another woman joins her, swaying slightly from side to side. It starts out as a discussion, but soon gets violent. Their shadows dancing on the walls behind them. The other figure lifting her arm up and BANG, the mother falls to the floor and the kids disappear into the darkness. Finding safety in an old worn out cardboard box they have fashioned as their own little house. Harriet tries to distract her sisters from the arguing that goes on behind them. She finds a little plastic coin and tries to perform the trick they had just watched on TV. As their pale faces light up, she discovers the power of this escape. The next day, Harriet sits on a concrete wall, her sisters playing in some dirty puddles. She suddenly spots something glinting on the floor and walks over and picks it up. Its a small 2 pence coin and she immediately tries to twist it around her fingers, just as she did last night. That night, the girls huddle terrified under the sheets as they listen to the fighting that is going on next door. Harriet tries to distract them with her new magic trick, and they soon become engrossed with what she is doing. Their faces lighting up as the coin disappears into thin air. Another day and we spot Harriet sifting through the cabinets and cupboards, her face lighting up when she finally finds what she is looking for; some old worn out playing cards. The arguments soon escalate, forcing the police and social workers to intervene. Harriet and her sisters sit solemnly at table. Their mother battered and bruised, her lip too swollen to even speak, her arm in a cast. As the social worker leaves they sit in silence, everyone affected by what has just happened. Harriet walks over to her mum, taking out the pack of worn cards and starts to perform a trick for her.  But her mother is struggling and soon snaps, leaving Harriet bruised and dismayed. While searching through her toys, Harriet comes across an old discarded Magic book. She opens it in excitement, slowly flipping through page after page of magic tricks, taking them all in. Their moment of respite is soon interrupted by the appearance of the shadowy figure reappearing, grovelling back to their mother, who willingly takes her back. As Harriet and her sisters try to sleep, they are awakened by loud drunken noises from the kitchen. The adults enter. They seem happy at first, laughing and chatting. But things soon turn, and before they know it, their mother is pushed to the floor, hitting her head and falling unconscious. Harriet watches all this through a gap in the door. And starts to panic when she notices the shadow approaching their room. As the other two sisters hide, Harriet desperately tries to distract her with her magic tricks. Her mother suddenly wakes up, and drags the two sisters to safety while Harriet continues to distract the dark figure, picking up the phone in the process. She begins her magical act. Moving from one trick to another, not risking a moments breath in fear of loosing the shadows attention. She is the magician on the TV, a confident, capable young woman able to hold the room while she gracefully works through her tricks. She is giving the performance of a lifetime. She edges forward, forcing the drunk and disorientated shadow back towards the entrance. Her mother is on the phone with the police, while edging towards the front door. Harriet reaches her finale - grabbing an old blanket from the sofa and racing up to her, throwing it as high as she could. At that precise moment her mother swings the front door open, with the police waiting on the other side. They grab the dark shadowed figure, dragging her out of the building and away from the children. Leaving Harriet and her family to watch as the blanket hangs in mid air for a second. It falls on to where the abusive figure once stood, now it is empty. The two younger sisters and her mother encircle Harriet as they stand defiantly looking out at us, the dark shadow in their lives finally gone, as if by magic. ​BACK UP TO MENU