He couldn’t breathe. The hand on the back of his head pushed him into the pillow, cutting off his air supply while another hand used a switch to beat him. The sting of the switch caused him to cry out, which only brought the punishment down harder on him. The hand on his head clawed into his scalp, pulling his hair as his head was reefed back and another sharp sting was administered to his bare buttocks, re-opening the barely healed stripes from his previous indiscretions.

     He could smell the rum-laden breath as it hissed across his face and the verbal vitriol that accompanied it was almost worse than the...