Chapter 6

The next few years went on as you might expect, still being pimped by the cardinal and his flock of sinners. Watching children come and go. Learning more about the hypocrisy within these walls. Making me question the religion that is taught to us daily. Anyone would be lucky to escape the oppression, but no one does. Once you've been doomed to this place, you may as well be dead. One is blessed if they make their next birthday after being sentenced to this hell.

Someone must have watched over me. I thought of her often and in the back of my mind I hoped little Alice was responsible for that. My sixteenth birthday had arrived and was to be the hardest test of my life.

Each year clergyman from every land gather for a large mass. All the children are bathed and dressed up for the occasion. Those of us who have survived to see our sixteenth birthday are thoroughly washed and dressed in the finest clothing. After putting on the act of what wonderful children the church is raising, these poor orphans that the church has turned into upstanding citizens, the mass came to an end. Most of the clergy left to return to their own churches, but sixty or so stayed for the festivities arranged for the elite.

The younger children were sent to bed that night, while those of us who were coming of age were gathered by the nuns. There were six of us, still dressed in our finery, four boys and two girls. We were brought downstairs to a large, darkened room filled with elite clergymen. We weren't in the tunnels, but a room right above where no sound could be heard. We huddled in a corner frightened, not sure what was going to transpire. I heard whispers over the years of what happens on these occasions, but never dreamed that I would have to take part.

This is an evening that you hope you're in the favor of the church and the clergy involved. It would be the only chance to survive the night.

The men made a loud toast and slammed their cups hard on the table. The event was beginning as they all stood up and made the sign of the cross. All at once, the men rushed us and we scattered. Each of us was eventually caught by the men, but not without trying to fight them off. One of us to a group, we were carried to another large room filled with contraptions of every kind. I had seen things like that before in Sister Catherine's office and I knew what the evening held in store.

Once in this great room, we were grouped together again, but only for a brief moment. Each man brought forth a dagger from within their robes, taunting us with the sharp tips as they herded us to the center of the room. The men rushed us again with daggers in hand, they began cutting our clothes from our bodies. Tattered and shredded, the fabrics lay at our feet in kaleidoscope of colors, while the men stood laughing at us. One by one, our naked bodies grabbed up by groups of the robed men and strapped to whatever torture device they saw fit for the chosen participant. Six participants and six groups of about ten clergymen, only to give you an idea of what we were against on this night.