Chapter 10

Before long, I was in Wayne's bathtub. He had to take off all his poo-stained clothes (as well as mine) and dump them in the washing machine. The big fat man almost drowned me in the bathtub as he washed me.

"Didn't your father ever toilet train you?" Wayne asked.

"I wanted to tell you I needed to go to the toilet, but I had a sock in my mouth."

"I've been spanking little children like you for twenty years now, and nothing like this has ever happened."

"Do you spank Erika if she's bad?"

"Of course," said Wayne, holding my body still as he washed my underarm. "I spanked Erika all the time when she was little, but nowadays I perform more painful punishments."

"Why?"

"If you spank a kid for a while, the kid starts to get used to it. You have to make the punishment more and more painful over time if you want the punishment to be effective. Whipping a girl is scary, but next time I punish her I've got to come up with something more painful."

"Like what?"

"Let me show you."

Wayne placed both his hands beneath my armpits and lifted me from the bathtub. Brown water dripped from my body. With a towel the old man dried my naked body very thoroughly. He was treating me like a father, with lots of attention, and this made me feel good. Wayne went downstairs to the laundry room and told me to follow. Some of Erika's old clothes were thrown at me.

"Put these on," said Wayne, "and follow me to the backyard."

After putting on a blue shirt and a pink dress, I went out the back door to the backyard. Wayne was waiting for me. He stood near a giant wooden crate with the words HANDLE WITH CARE printed on the side.

"I got this crate here shipped over from Africa," said Wayne. From the ground he picked up a crowbar. "Do you know what's in it?"

"A pig?"

"No. I used a pig for Erika's last punishment. I'm not going to use another pig."

"A cow?"

"No." With the crowbar, Wayne started hitting the crate, trying to open it. "There are spiders in here."

When Wayne finally punched a hole in the crate with his crowbar, a swarm of small and hairy spiders crawled out. Each one was about the size of a chestnut. When about thirty spiders escaped, Wayne sealed the hole on the crate back up again with a plank of wood.

The spiders started to spread out on the grass. Since I was barefoot, I was quite vulnerable. Luckily, Wayne was prepared. He took out an aerosol can from his pocket and sprayed the lawn. By the time he killed all the spiders in the back lawn, the whole aerosol can was empty.

"Are you gonna use spiders to hurt Erika?" I asked.

"Why not? I need to punish my daughter for leaving the house."

"Will the spiders kill her?"

"No, all these spiders have had their genes modified so that they can't make any venom. But when they bite you, it still hurts. Erika needs to feel pain if she's to learn from her mistakes."

"Why did you show these spiders to me?"

"To warn you." Wayne kneeled down. "If you dare come into this house again and harm my daughter in any way, I will tie you up and feed you to these spiders. Got that?"

I nodded.

Wayne spoke. "I'll have to wait till the whip wounds on Erika's back have healed before I punish her again."

"When will that happen?"

"Sunday. By then each spider will be as big as your face. These African spiders grow really quickly."

As I climbed back over the fence, I kept thinking about what I could do on Sunday. In three days, Wayne was going to torture his daughter. This was my chance to save her.