Excerpt: Where is Bobby

Where is Bobby?

He hid quietly in the damp dark trying not to make a sound. He didn’t want the monster to find him and hurt him again. Vic’s back was burning from the whipping he had gotten. He was so sorry that he had pretended to be sick today and missed his classes. When his dad had found out that he had skipped another day of school, his dad was furious. He had made Vic lean over and zipped his belt out of its loops and had caused the flesh to burn on his ten year old back.
Even when there was blood, his dad didn’t stop until Mom had pulled her husband off of the child, and then she got slapped for her saving effort. Vic had slipped out of the back door before his dad could catch him. Now he knelt under the porch waiting for his dad to go to bed and the pain to stop.
His dad had gone to bed but the pain never stopped.