Unspoken - Kiss of the Wolf Spider, Part I Read Online Free Page B

it?” She was so
cold and angry that I should have run – but I froze and followed orders. I
blurted out, “My Dad beats me badly … and sometimes he leaves bruises so I
can’t swim and I have to lie about them … and my stepmother, Joanne hates me
….”  That was all I managed to tell her when some instinct made me glance up. I
saw her horrified lips grow thin and pale. My ‘confession’ ended then and there
… and I hadn’t even got to the really bad part yet!
    She snarled down at me like a hungry tiger and said, “You
disgusting, ungrateful little liar! How dare you talk about your father like
that? He’s a good man and it’s one of God’s commands that parents discipline
their children! He has a right to spank you when you’re naughty! And how dare
you lie to your swimming teacher!” With that, God’s chosen woman pulled me up
by my collar, slapped me across the face and swept out of the room, sayi ng, “Your father will hear
about this!”
    That afternoon when Joanne arrived to collect me from school, I could
sense that I was in trouble. Joanne was icy and silent. As soon as Dad walked
in, Joanne hissed, “We have to talk! To the lounge, both of you!”
    Joanne began coldly but soon she was screeching. “Do you know what this
little witch of a daughter has done to us? She has ruined this family’s good
name and your reputation at school. Today she told Sister Theresa that we … you
… beat her and leave bruises … and … listen to this … and that I am a
mean and cruel stepmother to her! What kind of perfect princess does she think
she is?”
    Dad’s face turned red, and Joanne, the hungry lioness, pounced. She laid
hold of my shoulders, screaming, “How dare you, Jane? What happens in the home
stays in the home!” She shook me  like a dead rabbit.
    Suddenly Dad raged, “Let the child go!” Momentarily I thought I was safe.
Wrong! In the next second he lunged. My cheek felt shattered as I reeled
backwards across the table under the force of the blow he laid across my face.
As I fell, I heard Joanne’s ranting voice:  “That’s how you get all those
bruises you idiot – you are so clumsy!” As I tried to get up, I thought it was
over but Dad took off his belt, and there and then, he gave me a lashing I
would never forget….
    “You see God!” I said into the darkness that night. “I trusted that nun
and look what happened. She was meant to be a good person. And I trusted you
but you did nothing to stop it! And you’re supposed to be all-powerful! What a
joke.”

Chapter 4
     
     
    “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
    but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
    Proverbs 13:12
     
    The hostel bell buzzed out rude and loud. Prefects’ shrill voices were
yelling from the corridors. I opened my eyes and looked around. Oh yes, what a
relief. I was at boarding school. Safe! It was really early so the room was
still dim but an electrifying crescendo of pots and pans being beaten chaotically
ripped through the air.
    “What time is it?”
    “Five o’clock. Go back to sleep,” muttered Megan but the door burst open.
    “Rise and shine, ‘Newbies’, it’s time for your exercise classes!”
    I jumped up trembling in
both fear and excitement. Something grand was about to happen, I was sure of
it. Three or four more prefects clanged into the dormitory still banging pots
and pans.
    “Out of bed, you lazy
girls. It’s time to swim! Costumes on in two minutes and everybody bring a
sports shoe with you,” commanded the head girl.
    “Yes Miss Brewster!” we
all chorused in response. (For that first week only, we had to give the
prefects titles.) In no time, I was wearing my blue school bathing costume. I
groped around under the bed for a shoe. Where were my jolly sports shoes?
            Suddenly  someone gasped,
“Where on earth did you get that huge bruise on your thigh, Jane?”
    Tinkie whistled. “Yikes!
What have you been doing? I last had one like that when my