The Magdalen
The girls were huddled under the bedclothes, trying to keep warm and to give each other some meagre comfort. They heard the sound of heels and then the bedclothes were whipped away. The woman they called Lucifer screamed, “What unnatural act are you whores performing?”
She grabbed the first girl by the hair and punched her in the mouth. Then reaching for the second, she pulled her down to the toilets, forced a bar of soap into her mouth and said,
“Chew, chew if you don’t want to get the hiding of your life.”
The girl, blinded by tears and terror, began to chew.
