The God Squad Read Online Free

other children.
    ‘He has the devil inside him and it is my duty to him and to God in Heaven to get it out. He must be punished and severely so. He must ask God for forgiveness for the terrible sin he has committed.’ She ordered me to strip. I stood motionless. Mother Paul slammed her cane onto the table in front of her.
    ‘Strip, child,’ she shouted.
    I began to take off my clothes. First my heavy grey jumper, then the grey shirt.
    ‘Come on, come on, I haven’t all day. Get those trousers, boots and socks off immediately.’
    I stood there shivering, a combination of cold and fear. My ribs protruded through my skin as though I was undernourished. My skin was white except for red patches where I had been hit or jabbed by the cane.
    ‘Get onto that table,’ she demanded.
    I lay on it naked, allowing my arms to hang over its side until I was told to bring them onto the table and down either side of my body. She gazed at me, a perverse grin on her face.
    ‘Roll over onto your face and let this be a lesson to you.’
    Her long cane whistled through the air and in the moment before it made contact every muscle in my body tensed and I became rigid. I squirmed and the first vicious blow stung, but I did not cry out.
    ‘Never, never, as long as you live must you assault a holy nun in that manner.’
    A second, third and fourth painful lash of the bamboo, and I could feel my skin burning. For some reason I cannot understand I refused to cry out. The number of times I was struck increased until it was impossible to count, just as it was difficult to separate one blow from the next. I remained silent, until the pain became unbearable and I finally screamed. I was being struck everywhere from the back of my neck down to my heels.
    ‘Now,’ she said, ‘the devil is coming out of him.’ The ferocity and frequency of the blows lessened until eventually I rolled off the table and onto the floor. Mother Paul looked pleased.
    ‘That is how to get the devil out of someone like him. Only Satan himself would make a child behave the way he did. It will be a long time before he’ll kick a nun again. Stand up and get your clothes on immediately,’ she yelled before warning the other boys that they would receive the same treatment if they didn’t keep quiet. I dressed in the silence, the coarse bulls wool trousers hurting my legs as I pulled them on. When I was clothed she pulled me to her by my ear and told the other children that I was being put into the coal shed for the remainder of the day. She led me away, holding my ear tightly between her thumb and forefinger.
    She fumbled through the pockets of her black habit for a key to fit the padlocked door. Impatiently, she undid the lock and threw the door open.
    ‘Get in and stay there. Pray. Say an Act of Contrition so that God may forgive you.’
    She slammed the door. In the darkness I could hear the bolt being slid across and the lock applied. I stood and listened to her footsteps fading.
    In any other circumstances I would have been terrified ofthe darkness. Now it came as a blessing, a place of refuge from the terror of my persecutor. I sat on the dusty blackened floor and wept. The pain of the punishment was unbearable. My flesh stung, and though I could not see, I was certain my skin had blistered. I hated that nun, and I said it. I wished her damned in hell to burn for ever.
    The only light that entered the coal shed was from under the door and through a cracked slate in the roof. I moved under this slit of light and stared at it, straining my eyes, until they became tired. Within minutes I was in a deep sleep. The darkness, the cold or the dampness didn’t matter to me. Peace mattered.
    A noise woke me. The rattle of keys mingled with the distinct sound of the long Rosary beads worn by the nuns. The light through the roof had gone grey and I guessed that it was evening. The chill evening air crept under the door making me feel cold. The bolt slapped back and the door