Little Johnny was twelve years old the day he learned the secret everybody else seemed to already know. However, he was forbidden to ever tell another living soul. After the ordeal he suffered through, the part of him still alive swore he would never let the cat out of the bag. Maybe it was the two fingers broken by the pliers that convinced him.

This wasn't the first time Mommy hurt him. Johnny knew it wouldn't be the last time either. It seemed every time Mommy talked to him it ended up with him being hurt.

Lit cigarettes burned his young, balloon-shaped face. Sometimes, he could smell the smoldering flesh, and felt the hot flame pressed against his skin. Other times, it was the exposed end of a wire that seared the boy. Johnny knew better than cry out while he was being punished. That only made Mommy madder. When she was real mad the pain always hurt a whole lot worse.

Afterwards, Mommy said she did not mean to hurt him, but Johnny must do exactly what Mommy told him to do. Johnny always tried as hard as he could, but every once in a while the bad Johnny came out. That was the one Mommy did not like.

There was never any question Johnny knew when he had been bad. Mommy told him. Why else did she have to go away and leave him alone? Friendless and abandoned, Johnny lived in a two-room shanty in the middle of nowhere.

Being Summer, Mommy let Johnny run around with only his tattered worn-out shorts on. No shirt on his chest and no shoes on his feet. No one ever came to the shack so it did not matter how Johnny was dressed. There was only him and Mommy.

Johnny thought Mommy dressed funny, but never laughed at her. He knew better. Johnny knew how mad Mommy would get mad if he make fun of her in any way and that he would endure her wrath.

Johnny's Daddy abandoned him back when Mommy went away. He had not heard another word from him since then. The boy often wondered about a big hole behind the shack he discovered one day.

Johnny asked Mommy about the hole. He quickly learned through another torture session he must never go anywhere near it again. Mommy struck him upside his head with a board. The blow drew blood and knocked Johnny out cold. That was the first time he felt Mommy's awful pliers.

Mommy always showed up covered in white bandages from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. Johnny remembered how pretty she had been with her flowing golden blonde hair and blue eyes. They were the same colors as his.

One day, Johnny went outside to play in the mounds of dirt surrounding the shack. He liked to climb them. However, when he explored the mounds, Johnny never told Mommy. She forbid him to play on them.

Johnny found something he didn't tell Mommy about. One day, he found a bone. A big, long one, with a foot attached to it. That scared the boy. Johnny quickly covered the bone back up. Only one person Johnny ever knew had a foot that looked like that one. No doubt about it, the clubbed foot was Aunt Ethel's.

Johnny had another secret too. That wasn't the only bone he found in the dirt mounds. His grandparents, and his baby sister, were also buried there. Those were the only ones he had found. There were other dirt mounds Johnny had not explored yet, but he would.

Johnny heard his Mommy calling him to the house. This time, he did not run to her like he knew he should. Disobeying Mommy meant big time trouble, but Johnny didn't care. If Mommy wanted him she would have to come get him.

Johnny wouldn't wait to spring his trap when she did. He had learned Mommy's past and refused to be her next victim. He was a survivor. The only one in his whole family still alive and he intended to stay that way.

Mommy's stern warning sounded in a thunderous voice, "If I have to come get you, Young Man, you are going to wish I hadn't!"

Johnny wanted Mommy to come get him. He knew that would make Mommy real mad and she would storm down the stairs leading away from the shack after him. Mommy hurried on her way. Her trusty pliers in hand.

"Wait till I get a hold of you!" Mommy warned him. She promised, "I am going to break every finger you have got!"

There was nowhere to hide between Mommy and himself, and the last place Johnny wanted to be was trapped inside the shack. Out in the open he had a chance to maybe escape Mommy's wrath.

"I know the truth," Johnny replied back to his Mommy. He told her, "You killed them all. Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Ethel, and my sister!"

Mommy rambled towards him. "They deserved it!" she remarked, "And, what I am going to do to you when I catch you is going to be a whole lot worse than any of them got!"

"First you have to catch me," Johnny mocked back without taking a step.

Mommy crept along her way.

Johnny tried to keep his nerves in check. He thought to himself, "Just a little closer."

"You are going to be a very sorry little boy long before I get done with you!" Mommy threatened. She inched nearer.

Johnny stayed where he was.

Mommy took three more steps and BAM! The dirt she stood on caved in under her feet just like Johnny hoped it would. Mommy was caught in the hole Johnny had secretly dug that morning with no way out.

The rest of his plan would be easy to carry out. With Mommy no longer a threat, Johnny made his way to the dilapidated barn and emerged with a gas can in his hand.

As Johnny approached, Mommy cooed in a soft tone, "Darling, be a good little boy and help Mommy out of this hole." She sweetly added, "I promise there won't be anything bad happen to you for any of this".

"You're not my Mother," Johnny said as he poured gasoline all over the trapped woman.

"Johnny please! You wouldn't hurt your Mommy would you?" she desperately pleaded.

Johnny struck the match he held in his hand and spat, "Roast in Hell!" He tossed the lit match onto his Mommy and said, "You can't hurt me any more!"

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Twelve year old Jonathan Gathers slowly rubbed the sleep from his eyes and fought hard to wake up. He glanced around his bedroom and found his favorite picture of himself in his Little League baseball uniform. It was then he realized he'd had an awful dream.

"Man, what a nightmare!" he thought as he rolled on his back. Good thing his family was going to the beach for his birthday that morning. Sure would help him forget the dream he had.

Jonathan felt something wet, clammy, and damp lay on the bed beside him. He smelled the burnt aroma of gasoline.

Suddenly he was grabbed. He saw what looked like white linen strips as he was dragged off the bed and transported back to the world of his nightmare. He heard his Mommy's voice say "Got'cha!"

Johnny's terrified screams were never heard.