I didn't want to do smelly Trick or Treat anyway, but my brother told Mum and she said I had to go with him because she didn't want us to go on our own. He made such a fuss and she made me put on that stupid ghost outfit and said we had to stay together and only go up our street and no further.

So it's all her fault. She gave me some really dumb costume - just a sheet with a hole in it.

My brother's costume was good of course, with a proper mask and everything. He always gets better things than me.

Mum'll be wondering where I am, won't she? My stinking brother will have been home hours ago. He'd better have told her what happened. I don't want to be here any more.

I'm so cold. Why did the man take my clothes off?

My horrid brother, Ben. He'll be in real trouble when he gets home. Hah! I kept saying Mum told us we couldn't go further than just around the neighbours' houses, but he just pulled me after him and it hurt and he wouldn't listen. I said Mum would be cross but he just laughed. I hate my brother. He's only two years older than me but he acts like a baby sometimes.

It wasn't any fun either. I don't like doing Trick or Treat. We had only been to three houses and old Mrs Murdoch had told us to go away. I got a sherbet fountain from next-door and a teeny bar of chocolate from the Greens at Number 9. They had a brilliant pumpkin with a candle inside it so the eyes lit up. Mum was watching us from her bedroom window but as soon as she shut the curtains, Ben, my nasty, stinky, horrible brother, grabbed my arm and made me go with him up Church Road. He said there was a house we had to try.

He is a pig, my brother. Just because he's twelve and I'm only ten, he gets twice as much pocket money as me. And he had new Playstation for his birthday. Then all he does is moan that he can't afford to buy any games. He got three games with it - how many more does he want? He says he needs sixty pounds to get the games his mates at school all play. Where's he going to get that - he doesn't even do a paper round?

And he has a mobile. I want a mobile but Mum says I'm too young and all I'll do is waste money sending texts. It's not fair! Justine at school has got one and so has Gemma Phillips. Gemma wears a bra too, even though her boobies aren't any bigger than mine. My Mum's a cow, saying I don't need one yet.

I bet Gemma didn't have to go out Trick or Treating with her brother, did she? Gemma laughed at me because I don't have a mobile. I hate Gemma: she stinks.

I kept telling Ben we had to go back or Mum would be angry but he just said we had to stay together and we had to go to one particular house. He said the man there had lots of money so he would probably have loads of sweets. How did he know that? I think he was making it up.

I don't like going up Church Road, especially all the way to the end. Even for loads of sweets. It's dark and spooky. There are some old houses there, all hidden away behind big trees. I said we shouldn't be there but he kept on pulling my arm and he's a lot bigger than me and it was hurting. I wanted to cry but I don't like crying in front of my brother. I hate him.

I know he's been up there before. To Church Road. In the holidays, someone caught him and his mates nicking apples from their garden and he got into big trouble. He told me about it but I had to promise not to tell Mum. I even know he's been up there several times since. I've seen him on his bike.

He was supposed to stay with me. We had to look after each other. So why isn't he here now? I don't want to be here on my own. The rope hurts. It's really digging into my skin and it's all red and sore. Why did the man tie me up? I don't think it's very funny. We wouldn't have played a trick on him really. I mean, we didn't even have any eggs to throw, so why did he get so cross and say he hated kids chucking eggs at his house and say they deserved to have a trick played back on them? I've never even been here before. It must have been some other children. Ben's dumb mates. I wish we'd never come up Church Road. That was Ben's fault.

I didn't even know that people were allowed to play tricks on children. Ben told me about it just before we got here. He said that some grown-ups got their own back on Trick or Treaters by trying to scare them. I'd not heard of that before.

I thought he was lying, just to scare me, but now I know he wasn't. That man really scares me.

Why didn't Ben say anything to the man when he grabbed me? And why did he go inside the house when the man opened the door the first time?

Mum said all we should do was ring people's bell and just stand on the doorstep and say 'Trick or Treat' and wait for the person to give us a sweet or biscuit. I did exactly that. Not like stinky Ben. I do as I'm told. I stood there but my brother went inside and the man shut the door. That was a horrible thing to do, leaving me on my own.

And then he came out and the man started saying all that stuff about kids throwing eggs and then he looked at me, all nasty, and said he was going to play a trick on me, to teach me a lesson. I was scared. Why me? It wasn't me, mister, I told him but then he got hold of my costume and pulled me into the house. I tried to call to my brother but he was outside putting some stupid bits of paper or something in his pocket and he didn't tell the man to stop or anything and before I could yell out, the man had slammed the door.

Why didn't Ben ring the bell again or bang on the door? I know he didn't because the man just stood there in the hallway and stared at me for ages. Then I really was scared but he didn't let me go even when I cried a lot and asked him please to let me out.

Maybe Ben ran straight home to get Mum instead? The man is very big so even my brother couldn't fight him. He is twelve but not as tall as the man. So why hasn't she come to get me? I think I've been here hours.

I told the man that I was sorry to have bothered him and I said that I had never threw any eggs, but he said that I must be punished. At first I really thought he was joking and was just trying to scare me but now I don't know. This isn't a very nice trick. I'm frightened and I want to go home.

I said he could have the sherbet and the chocolate but he laughed at me and smacked them out of my hand. That wasn't a nice thing to do. I don't know what happened to them; I suppose he left them on the stairs.

It's not right. A man can't just keep a girl locked up - that's not allowed. I know it isn't. I hope Mum brings a policeman and then they'll lock the man up instead.

He pushed me all the way upstairs. It's all dark in this house. And cold and scary. When I said no, that I wanted to go home, he hit me. Smacked me on the back of my head. I went 'owww', and he did it again and said if I didn't be quiet he would really hit me. I've tried to be quiet because I don't want him to hit me again but I can't help crying can I? I keep wanting to cry.

I want to go home now. I don't like the man's horrible trick. I want this to end so I can go home.

He made me go into this nasty cold room and said I had to take off my costume and then when I did, he started touching me and said I had to stand very still. He began to take off my other clothes and I said he mustn't do that but he asked me if I wanted to be hit again and I said no, so I had to let him. He took off my jeans and kept touching my legs. He has nasty rough hands.

When he took off my vest, he pulled my boobies. Made me yell out. It really hurt and I don't know why he wants to hurt me. I never did him any harm. When I cried he kept on doing it, too. They still hurt now.

Where is Mum? Why hasn't she come? She would stop the man being so horrible.

It's very cold now and I don't like being here in the dark. I can see the moon through the window but it's a long while after my bedtime and I want to go home. He put some funny black candles down on the floor but they're not very bright.

For a minute, I thought my brother knew the man. When he went inside I thought I heard them laughing but when the front door opened the man seemed to be very cross, so I don't know. He's not a nice man - he looks at me funny all the time and I don't like it, having no clothes on in front of him. He shouldn't touch me either, should he? That's dirty.

But I can't stop him. He put these ropes around my wrists and tied them to something high up in the ceiling, so I can't move much. He did it so quickly I didn't realise what was going on. Then he spent a long time feeling me all over. It was disgusting. My arms ache and I'm freezing, with no clothes on. I have to stand up ever so straight or else the rope digs in. I'm very tired.

And now I need a wee.

He said he would be back in a minute but that was ages ago. I do want him to come back because I need to go to the bathroom but really I don't want him to come back in case he puts his hands there again. He was very rude last time he came in the room. He lifted my leg and touched me all over my bottom. And my front bottom. He pushed his finger into, well, there, and it hurt me but when I cried out, he slapped my bottom hard. It still stings. I don't want him to touch me there again but I don't want any more slaps either. I just want my Mum.

Over there I can see that stick.

I think the man might be going to hit me with it. Please no. Last time, he rubbed it up and down between my legs and all over my bum and I thought he was going to use it but he just tapped it on me and put it down. He was laughing, which was a nasty thing to do.

I couldn't stop him if he wanted to hit me. My arms are right up here, high over my head and my toes are only just on the ground, so he could hit me anywhere he wanted. I made a mess of that funny shape he drew on the floor. Like a pointy star it is, made with salt. He just poured it out of the packet. What a silly thing to do - he'll waste it when he has to hoover it up. It was his fault though, because when he touched me with the stick, I tried to wiggle out of the way and my feet scuffed some of the salt. So I didn't really mean to do it.

Oh please, don't let the man hit me with the stick.

Why he should want to hit me I don't know. It isn't fair. I don't know him do I? I've never been rude or naughty. But he keeps saying I have to be punished. Why? For what? I don't like this trick. I don't like Trick or Treat at all. I never want to do it ever, ever again.

And he smiles when I cry. He's so stinky too.

When he put his finger in me, he stood very close and held my bum ever so tight and he bent down and looked me straight in the face. He kept wiggling the end of his finger round inside my hole, which was really, really gross and each time I made a noise, he wiggled it some more. And when I cried out loud, he it pushed hard up and laughed at me.

Then just before he finished and went away, he started pinching my bum and I cried again and he was really disgusting - he licked off my tears. Wiped his horrible tongue across my face. Made me feel sick. He is so scary.

I hate this. I'm mega-scared now.

Mum? Where are you? Why hasn't Ben brought you here?

Please come soon, Mum.

The man said he wants to play some games with me next, but I don't want to play any games. I'm tired and I'm frightened and I'm cold and I just want to go home. Over there, next to the stick, he's put some stuff under a cloth. I managed to swing round when he was bringing the things in and I saw some of them. He called the things 'toys' but they don't look like toys. Maybe he said 'tools'? The things do look like some of the tools in Grandad's shed - there are some big, shiny tweezer things, pliers I think they're called but they look quite big and have funny extra bits on the pointy end. And another thing that looks like the handle of a big screwdriver, but it isn't smooth and it's a nice bright pink colour. And some box with wires like the thing Grandad used when he fixed Mum's kitchen radio. There's more rope over there, as well. I don't like being tied up. I hope he won't use it. Actually, I don't want to play with any of those things under the cloth either.

I'm ever so frightened. I don't want to play games with the man, I just want to go home.

My mouth is hurting now. The round squashy thing he's put between my teeth is very big and it makes me keep my mouth wide open, and the strap has caught up my hair at the back so it pulls and hurts when I turn my head. Why did he do that? He shouldn't have done it should he? It is wrong - even if he was only playing a trick.

Oh no! I've just thought: I can't tell him I need a wee when he gets back, can I? All I can do is make stupid grunting noises. I hate this. Please let me go home.

I heard a police car earlier but it's gone now. It was a long way off. If a policeman came here I couldn't yell out. What if Mum came and the man said I wasn't here? I couldn't scream or anything. Oh God. This is very bad. I'm so frightened.

I want him to take this thing out of my mouth.

You don't think Mum could have been already? And the man told her I wasn't here? No. That couldn't have happened. Ben would have said something, even if he is a pig.

I think the man is going to do something bad.

Why does he keep touching me? He says dirty things too. Really rude words, like the ones Mum tells Ben off for using. Why is he doing this to me? I'm only a little girl.

That's the church clock I can hear now: ...ten, eleven, twelve. Midnight.

I want to be home!

Must have a wee soon.

What was that? I thought I heard... he's back!

Oh my God! He's wearing a Halloween costume. What the...? Is that his willy? Oh Jeez, he's wearing shiny leather trousers but his willy is on the outside. But it's massive! Ben's isn't like that. Gemma said she'd seen her Dad's willy, but she never said it was that size. His chest is horrible and hairy and what's that? He's got silly little horns sticking out of his hair. I don't think they're funny at all, mister, even if they don't look like toy ones. I don't like his costume at all.

This has gone far enough. I want it to stop. I want my Mummy and I want to go home now. Damn this stupid thing in my mouth, all I can do is grunt like a little piggy.

God, now I can really see his thingy now he's so close. Ugh. It's big and red and horrible. The end is all shiny. Gross!

Oh no.

Surely not. No.

Please. I'm just a little girl. He couldn't mean...? Is that why he's got his willy out? It wouldn't... No way!

He's saying something. I'll have to stop squeaking; he's not taking any notice anyway. He's holding up that long stick. And he's pointing his nasty great willy thing at me with his other hand. Don't do that - it's very rude!

What did he say?

What do I want first? The Trick or the Treat? I don't know what he means. What does that mean?

Mum!

Mum!!