Chapter 6

Erika took off her yellow tank top and dropped it on the carpet. She was tall for her age and rather slim. Her arms were skinny, long, smooth and pale. Her flat stomach moved in and out as she breathed. Her nipples stood at the peak of two small and immature bulges on her chest.

Wayne faced his daughter and pointed to the tied-up pig on the floor. "Erika, with the butcher's knife, slit the pig's throat."

Erika had a worried look on her face. "No! I don't want to kill the pig."

"Do it!"

Erika kneeled down beside the four-legged animal and held the butcher's knife over its throat. Her little hands trembled. She obviously didn't want to kill the pig, but what choice did she have?

The dagger came down on the pig's throat. The animal made a loud squealing noise as bright red blood gushed out from its neck and stained the carpet. The pig screamed in pain. Erika tried to cut deeper, to end the pig's suffering, but the skin was thicker than she thought it would be. After five more seconds, the pig fell silent.

Erika stood up and dropped the dagger. She was remarkably brave. Blood was all over her arms and legs, but she barely shook or trembled. She stood and stared forward. Her face seemed emotionless. Her body twitched slightly because she was nervous.

Wayne walked up behind his daughter with white nylon rope in his hands and started to tie her up. Erika didn't resist. First her wrists were bound. Her legs were bound by the shins. Another ten metres of rope was looped around her whole body till a quarter of her skin was covered. Wayne picked up the little girl and carried her on his shoulder. He placed her on the carpet near the dollar sign painted on the wall. He picked up a metre-long metal chain from the ground and attached one end of the chain to a hook on the ceiling. He lifted Erika off the ground and tied the other end of the metal chain to the little girl.

At first I thought Wayne was going to hang and suffocate Erika. But Wayne attached the metal chain to her waist instead of her neck. Erika hung from the ceiling like a pendulum.

Wayne went back to the pig in the middle of the room and started cutting it up with the knife. The pig's belly was sliced open. More blood and guts spilled out. Since pigs ate so much fat, their skins were rather thick and rubbery. Wayne struggled to cut the pig's skin. He sawed with the knife and cut out a rectangular portion of pigskin about a metre in length and a few centimetres in width. He threw the knife to the floor and stood up with the pigskin in his hands. The strip of pigskin in his hands looked like a whip. I had a feeling I knew what he was going to do next.

Wayne walked up slowly to his daughter as she hung from the ceiling. The little girl's eyes slowly filled with terror as her father came closer. Her arms were tied behind her back. She squirmed, trying to break free, but the effort only made her spin around more. Spinning around made her dizzy. She gave up struggling. As she hung from the ceiling by the metal chain, she stared at the carpet below her.

After a few more seconds, Erika stopped spinning. Her eyes looked down at the whip her father had in his hands.

"No, please... no." She was pleading with him.

Wayne held his right hand up, bringing the whip over his head. The pigskin whip came down hard and struck the little girl on a piece of exposed flesh on her back. Erika screamed out loudly and started crying. Wayne kept whipping her, laughing out loudly as the whip struck the girl. When the whip hit Erika, a loud and almost explosive noise filled the living room. When the whip hit her flesh, many little bits of skin blew off her like powder.

After a minute of constant whipping, Erika no longer had enough energy to struggle or cry. She barely moved. Her eyes were watery. Tears dripped down to the carpet. Her back had turned red. Wayne whipped her a few more times and stopped when he realized his little girl was almost unconscious.

Wayne went to the kitchen sink and filled a bucket with water. When the ice-cold water was dumped on the little girl's body, she woke up with wide-eyed shock. With the butcher's knife, Wayne cut off the nylon ropes and lay his daughter on the couch gently. Erika got up and grabbed her yellow top from the middle of the room. When she put the top back on, she stood still and started crying again--crying loudly.

Wayne laughed. "Next time you'll remember to do your homework, won't you?"

Erika walked up to her father. Wayne comforted the little girl in his arms as she cried. He was very gentle now. He caressed her head and whispered something in her ear, something that made Erika hold on to him more tightly.