“I can’t hear you. Speak up, child.”
Steel coats my spine as I straighten. “It was me. I did it. I had a nightmare. It was an accident.”
“Come with me.” The old bat jerks me forward roughly by my shoulder.
I release her hand.
Its better this way. I can handle the punishment. She can’t.
I’m thrust down the basement stairs, tucking myself into a ball as my ribs bang into the worn wood. The scent of mildew pulls through my lungs, and I cough, landing in a pile of dust next to a stack of boxes that are coming apart at the seams.
Her heeled boots clack on the stairs as she descends on me like a wicked witch. “You’re a liar with a wicked tongue. I should cut it out.” Mrs. Winnie grimaces, towering over me. “What am I to do with you, boy?” She lets out a breath making a tsk sound.
I slide back on my elbows and wince. My side aches from my tumble down the stairs. I’ve probably cracked a rib or two. It wouldn’t be the first time.
She paces around me in a circle. The skirt of her dress swooshes around me stirring up dust motes. “His mouth is full of lies and wickedness. Trouble and evil are under his tongue,” she spits the words at me like venom. Her poison seeps into my bones. “More trouble than you’re worth. Your kind is always up to no good. Filthy little creature. This can’t stand.” She shakes her head and pulls a Bible from the pocket of her apron. “Psalm 101:7 says, no one who practices deceit will dwell in my house. No one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.” She licks her boney finger and flips through the pages, pacing around me as she preaches the gospel from what she calls the good book. “Psalm 120:2. Save me, Lord. From lying lips and from deceitful tongues.”
**
I fall to my knees as another strike of the whip cracks across the welted flesh of my back.
“Proverbs 3:7-8. Let me hear it,” the vile bitch crows as she whips me harder.
“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones,” I shout.
My skin breaks open, but I don’t dare give her the satisfaction of hearing me weep. Blood trickles out as my skin peels away like the layers of an onion being stripped away one sliver at a time.
I nearly bite through my own tongue as the pain stings through every nerve in my body. My breath catches in my throat and tears burn in the backs of my eyelids. I don’t know how much more my body can withstand.
Today she’s mad because Hazel fed a stray cat a slice of cheese and lied about it. I told her I ate it, but she didn’t buy it.
“Psalm 119:133,” she demands.
“Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me,” I cry out.
Sweat beads down my back seeping into my wounds. Bile bubbles in the pit of my stomach and unable to fight against the act I retch on the floor of the basement. The acidic fluid scorches my nostrils I vomit so violently.
“Oh, Lord, hear my prayers. Help me bleed this evil from my home. Cut off the serpent’s tongue. Expel the demons.”
The hot sting of the whip burns into my open flesh. Over and over again. Black dots float in front of my eyes.
“No more,” I whisper, dropping to my hands in my own puke.
**
“Wake up, Benicio.” A cold washcloth presses to my cheek. “Please, don’t leave me.” Slender fingers press against my skin gently.
“Hmm,” I mumble into the pillow that’s thinner than the case that covers it. White hot searing pain slices through me, and the sickness returns. I barely get my head over the edge of the worn mattress in time.
“Beni,” she says, wiping my damp hair from my eyes. “You have a fever.”
“Let me die in peace,” I mutter. That’s all I want right now is to be left alone. To fall into a deep sleep. Sweat clings to my clammy skin.
“Never say that again.” Her arms wrap around my neck as my stomach heaves. “I’m so sorry, Beni. It’s my fault.”
“It’s her. She’s evil, and I’m going to kill her.”
“Then they’ll take you away. You promised we’ll never be apart.”