"Tobias!" Marcus yelled. From where the young boy stood in front of his father, he could smell the stench of alcohol in his father's breath. Tobias quickly glanced over to the figure of his unconscious mother and then he stared at his father, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Tobias!" was the only coherent word his dad had been saying. Tobias froze in panic, heart beating hard against his chest, so hard that it started to hurt. Fear God alone, fear God alone, Tobias repeated to himself. The smell of that fermented drug found its way to his nostrils again. But that didn't matter to Tobias; the belt was in his father's hands.

Tobias's eyes grew in terror but he had no choice but to endure the suffering blows, pain racking his young body. A pain would stab him sharply, then it would slowly fade, then the second round of pain would sting him and leave him with another fading sensation.

After what seemed to ne hours, the beating was over. Marcus sent Tobias to his room with a yell. The boy broke into tears, praying for a chance to get out of this mess.