After school, Daniel walked home as slowly as he could. But when he reached the house, his mother was waiting.
‘Go to your room,’ she said coldly. ‘Nothing to eat or drink; we will purge this evil from you one way or another.’
He had been in too much pain to sleep properly the night before and had been very uncomfortable in the dreaded afternoon session with Carla.
The counsellor never took her eyes off him. She looked as if she actually cared, and once or twice he’d been tempted to answer her. Then he’d remembered and kept his mouth shut. Today had been even worse; it took every bit of his energy during the session not to cry out at the slightest movement.
Now, he lay on his side on the mattress on the floor and drifted off. He woke up, shivering, to the sound of the door opening.
His body began to shake and he whimpered, shuffling back towards the wall.
‘Danny, it’s OK, it’s only me.’
He breathed out when he realised it was just Anna.
She crept into the room and closed the door softly behind her.
‘Mum’s nipped to the shop for milk,’ she whispered. ‘So I brought you this.’
He took the slice of bread and cheese and wolfed it down. Anna passed him a glass of water and he drained it in one gulp.
‘Danny, I need you to trust me. Can you do that?’
He nodded. His sister was the one person in the whole world he knew he could definitely trust.
‘I need you to show me. I need to see how bad it is.’
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
‘I’m not going to force you,’ she said. ‘But please, you have to let me see, Danny. I think it might be really bad this time but I’ll find a way to help, you know that.’
He looked at his sister’s eyes and saw that they reflected his own pain. He knew that, somehow, Anna would help him.
He gave a faint nod and began to undress.
Anna helped him peel off his school shirt as gently as she could, but on the lefthand side he could feel it was stuck fast with dried blood and so she left it hanging.
She turned him to the light and he heard the rush of shock catch in her throat.
Daniel twisted his head so he could see in the mirror. She tried to block his view but it was too late.
The welts on his back looked like strips of raw liver stuck on to his pale skin. Some were weeping and oozing.
He closed his eyes but that only seemed to make it hurt more.
‘Danny, we have to get you to the hospital,’ Anna whispered, and he watched salty channels slide down her face. She reached for him.
‘I don’t want to,’ he whimpered and pulled his hand away. ‘Please, Anna, Father Kilbride said—’
‘We could go to Father Kilbride, Danny. He’ll help you.’
‘Anna, no.’ He could feel his stomach rolling with the bread and cheese he hadn’t chewed properly.
‘Did he hurt you too?’
He couldn’t get his breath; he thought this was what it must feel like to drown. He opened his mouth and tried to gulp at the air.
‘Sssh, it’s OK. Calm down.’
Danny rested the crown of his head on her arm.
‘Are you scared of the priest?’ she asked.
A coil of something ugly and slippery squirmed briefly in his bowel.
‘Danny, has Father Kilbride ever hurt you?’
She waited, still and full of dread, but there was no response from her brother.
She pushed his head gently back and looked at him.
Daniel wouldn’t lift his eyes to her but when she reached for his small warm hand, this time, he didn’t pull away.