Tatsumi's room felt more like a cell. There was a bed and a dresser as well as a
little wooden stand next to the bed, but no windows and no color whatsoever. He
was locked in so if he needed to use the bathroom, he had to use a bucket in the
corner of the room. It was a far cry from his old room at the Cromwell mansion.
Which was ironic considering that he was no living in a mansion. Tatsumi busied
himself by searching the room for loose construction or anything he could use as
means of escape. The walls were made with stone blocks making it apparent that
finding a loose one would be extremely unlikely.
Tatsumi sat down on his bed, wrapping the covers around himself to protect
against the cold. He wondered if his mother's room was any better. He shivered in
the dark. He felt sick, but he knew he didn't have a fever. He was feeling too many
things at once. He felt betrayed, scared, angry, panicked, and humiliated. It had
never occurred to him before that his mother would ever lie to him.
Now he didn't even feel safe with her being with him. Why did she take him
Here? He wondered if maybe he was being punished for something. He tried to
think of what it could have been that he did wrong. He couldn't remember doing
anything particularly bad lately. Maybe it was because he wished he had a
different mom. Or maybe it was because he swallowed one of his loose teeth by
accident last week.
Tatsumi stared at his bedroom door with a growing sense of dread. What
would he do if that man came back? Was he really his dad? Weren't dads
supposed to love you? Elizabeth, Viola and Sammy's dad loved them. He never
hurt them. Tatsumi thought he would much rather have a nice dead dad then a
mean live one. Tatsumi picked up his pillow and chewed on it nervously.
He wondered what the scary man and is mother were talking about at the
table. His mom had mentioned something about her family which baffled him. At
the mansion, she would never tell him anything about her background. He had
come to believe that she simply never had a family. There were other words
thrown around that he didn't understand. The scary man had called his mother a
virgin and he also said something about her being tight.
What was a virgin? Tatsumi assumed that it was some sort of curse word. He
bet Viola would know what it meant. Tatsumi's eyes welled up with tears at the
thought of his best friends. He would give anything to be back home. He even
missed Sammy. He pulled the bed sheets over his head and tried to lay on his
lumpy pillow. After awhile, he managed to drift away.
Tatsumi didn't know how long he was asleep, but when he awoke he was
colder than ever. It took him a few moments of consciousness for him to realize
that he had wet himself. Even though he was all by himself, he felt his face grow
hot in embarrassment. He hadn't wet the bed since he was three! He pulled the
urine soaked sheet out from underneath him and threw it on the floor. He was
about to pull his pants off when he heard a key turn in the door.
He froze when two very pale servants, a man and a woman, entered the room.
The woman looked down at the soiled sheet on the ground. She hissed at him.
"Stay right where you are." She disappeared out the door leaving the male
servant to stare at Tatsumi awkwardly. When she returned she had with her a
fresh new bed sheet, some soaked linens, and a bag.
She ordered him harshly. "Lie on your back. Hang your ass off the bed."
Frightened, Tatsumi did as he was told. The male servant pulled his legs up by his
ankles and pulled off his wet pants and underwear. The female servant then
proceeded to run a cool wet cloth between his legs and buttocks. Tatsumi relaxed
a little. They were just cleaning him up. It was really embarrassing, but it was
better than being yelled at.
The woman finished up with the cloths and reached down into her bag. She
pulled out a long wooden handle connected to a wide paddle with small holes cut
into it. When Tatsumi laid eyes on the device, he struggled wildly, trying to retch
his legs away from the other servant. In response, his ankles were gripped tighter
as the woman swung the paddle behind her and then smacked it across his bare
backside.
Tatsumi jerked around and screamed as she hit him four more times. When
the placid male servant finally released him, Tatsumi almost slid off the bed. His
buttocks had turned an angry fire red. He managed to crawl on to the bed and
tuck his legs up underneath him. He curled up into a ball and wept bitterly. The
two servants had already left and locked the door behind them.
