My Husband Let The Village Punish Me Chapter 04

My Husband Let The Village Punish Me Chapter 04

Before dawn on Founders’ Day, Greyhaven was already buzzing with activity.

The site for the Blessing had been prepared in the gravel lot in front of Greyhaven’s old meetinghouse.

Someone had covered the ground with coarse sand that would tear at a woman’s skin when she fell and make every blow hurt even more.

Caleb, Nate, and the other men finally arrived.

A little later, several women were brought in.

They were so terrified that they could barely walk, and the townspeople had to support them while dragging them forward.

They were the women chosen to undergo the Blessing that year.

One of them had a scarf tied over her hair and another wound around the lower half of her face. Only her eyes were visible, making her impossible to identify.

A woman carrying a camera stood at the edge of the lot.

A bucket hat covered her head, and a scarf concealed most of her face, so no one nearby recognized her.

Caleb caught her eye and gave her a faint smile.

“Begin the rite!” the presiding elder called out.

Seven or eight men stepped forward with switches in their hands, facing the three or four women gathered in the lot.

Nate glanced at Caleb as though seeking his final approval.

Caleb gave a detached nod.

He was telling Nate not to hold back.

Nate sighed and raised his switch.

The first blow cracked across my back.

The force knocked me forward, but I managed to stay on my feet.

“Will you give this family a child? Is there a baby on the way?” the men demanded as they continued striking the women.

After only a few blows, the others began pleading for mercy.

“I will! I’ll give them a baby!”

“I’ll be pregnant soon. I swear!”

As soon as a woman said the required words, the man beating her would stop.

Her husband’s family would immediately pass around candy and cigarettes.

“Thank you for your help. Please help yourselves to some candy and cigarettes.”

Once the refreshments were handed out, the men stopped the beating.

But a folded rag had been shoved deep into my mouth and tied securely in place. I could not form a single word. All I could manage were muffled, broken sounds.

The onlookers began to frown.

“Caleb’s wife is stubborn. She still won’t beg.”

“She’s already on the ground, and she still hasn’t said the words.”

Someone in the crowd shouted, “She hasn’t said it! Keep going!”

Nate’s switch came down again and again, striking my back, legs, and shoulders.

I curled into myself on the ground and covered my head with both arms.

Blood quickly soaked through my clothes and the scarf around my face.

Caleb stood a short distance away, flicking ash from his cigarette as calmly as though he were watching something that had nothing to do with him.

After several more blows, Nate began to lose his nerve.

He turned and looked at Caleb.

Caleb’s expression remained cold.

“She hasn’t said the words. Keep going.”

Nate clenched his jaw and raised the switch again.

Some of the onlookers could no longer bear to watch.

“She’s already been beaten this badly. Isn’t that enough?”

“No,” Caleb said firmly.

“If she refuses to say it, then keep beating her until she does.”

Another round of blows rained down.

I lay motionless on the ground. My body only twitched instinctively whenever the switch struck me.

Someone in the crowd covered a child’s eyes.

Nate finally could not bring himself to continue.

He threw the switch aside and strode over to Caleb.

“Caleb, that’s enough! If we keep this up, we’re going to kill her!”

Caleb’s parents frowned and turned to their son.

“Caleb, this has gone far enough.”

“Talk to Tessa. Tell her to say the words and stop being so stubborn.”

Caleb stared at the crumpled figure on the ground. For a moment, his expression wavered.

After several seconds, he glanced toward the woman with the camera.

She did not nod.

Caleb gritted his teeth, his voice strained.

“She still hasn’t said it. Keep going!”

Nate grew frantic.

“She can’t say it!”

“Did you forget? Her mouth is gagged. How is she supposed to speak?”

Caleb’s mother froze.

“What? She’s gagged? Who did that?”

She immediately shouted, “Everyone, stop!”

Pushing through the crowd, she rushed into the lot.

“Caleb, get over here! Your wife is dying!”

Caleb finally panicked.

He charged forward and dropped to his knees beside the pool of blood, reaching for the scarf around the woman’s face.

It had been tied tightly and was caked with blood and shell grit.

His hands shook so badly that it took him several attempts to loosen it.

The moment the scarf fell away, Caleb went rigid.

Then he snapped his head toward the edge of the crowd.

The woman who should have been standing there with the camera was gone.