April Windsor was once one of the most innocent children in Emmerdale, always smiling, always a bright spot in the darkest episodes.

But after being tricked into a shady business by Ray and Celia, her life is torn to shreds.

Emmerdale shows April being forced to deliver drugs, being taken to a hotel under duress, and having the idea injected into her head that she is responsible for someone else’s tragedy.

And just when it seemed the nightmare had reached its peak with Dylan being hit by a car and nearly dying from a drug injection, new spoilers reveal that April will be hit with another shock, enough to crush what little faith she has left in adults.

That shock could be her discovery that Ray, from beginning to end, didn’t just appear in her life “accidentally,” but was planted by Celia, targeting children like her as easy bait. It’s also possible that it’s true that an adult April trusted – a teacher, a neighbor, or someone in the village – inadvertently or intentionally provided information to Celia, allowing the criminal network to cling to her longer and more deeply. As these ugly pieces of the puzzle fit together in her mind, April no longer saw Ray or Celia as monsters, but began to see the adult world as a labyrinth full of traps, where no one was truly safe to trust.

The horrifying thing is that Emmerdale doesn’t recount this journey through violent screams, but through small, yet painful details: April avoids Rhona’s gaze, no longer wanting to hug her mother, avoiding the touch of others; she is quieter, her answers become short and abrupt, her rare smiles look painfully forced.