"Welcome. You've got mail." The electronic voice boomed as Tommy rolled his eyes. He sighed as he moved his fish cursor and clicked on the flashing email button. He glanced at his alarm clock beside his computer as he sat his communicator beside it. He ran a hand threw his hair as he saw it read one thirty in the morning. 'I hate night battles!' He grumpily thought to himself.

All he wanted to do right then was curl up in his nice warm bed and sleep. He let out a frustrated sigh as he clicked on the email Kim had sent him. He smiled as an animated birthday card flashed on the screen. It has a giant teddy bear that sung happy birthday and then at the end it had a personal message from Kim inside a big red heart that read:

Dear Tommy,

I know you don't like to celebrate your birthday, but I still wanted to send this to you and say I love you with all my heart. I wish we could do something to celebrate, but it is up to. Love ya lots handsome.

Tommy let out a long sigh as he clicked on the reply button; he knew she was at her computer waiting for his reply. How was he going to tell her that his birthday was bad luck? How do you tell your girlfriend that you killed you mom on your seventh birthday? 'If she wouldn't have gone back out to get my cake then the semi would never have hit her and she would still be here. Dad's right it was all my fault, I just had to have that cake and I didn't care how bad it was storming outside. My dad hates me, and I know I deserve his hate.'

Tommy desperately whipped the tears away as he remembered his mom. She was gorgeous; her long blonde hair would shimmer whenever she would pick him up in her loving warm arms and twirl. She would laugh and it would warm your soul to the core. Her eyes were clear and crystal blue. Whenever he was hurting or had a bump or bruise she would always make him forget about it with her kind words and warm smile. She would kiss his bruise and suddenly it felt all better. His dad loved her a lot; they were high school sweet hearts that never fell out of love with each other. His dad was the hometown hero captain of the football team and his mom was the head cheerleader. It was a match made is heaven, that is until he killed her.

After she died his dad became cold and went from the all American dad to a selfish, cold, miserly, mean man, and it was all Tommy's fault. His dad hated him with a passion and let him know quiet often what a screw up he was. That is when he wasn't jetting away to some resort or foreign land with Merrill. Tommy shook at the thought of her. She didn't like him and she made it quiet clear that she thought Tommy was uncivilized. His dad had met her three months after they moved to Angel Grove, their seventh move in nine years, at a party his company had thrown.

Merrill Shepherdstown was rich and one of the big donators to his dads company. Everything about her was fake, her smile, her laugh; even the way she dressed was fake. She wanted to hide what she really was, a cold hearted bitch who didn't care for anything or anybody but herself. That was all right though as long as his dad was with her he left him alone, in fact his dad had not touched him as much since he had started seeing her.

Tommy shook these thoughts away as he began to pace his room thinking of something to say to Kim that would not give him or his dad away. Frustrated he glanced out his window, which looked out over the road just in time to see a streak of lightening hit a phone pole. Sparks illuminated the dark stormy sky as the blue bolt struck and Tommy was thrown into darkness.

Tommy cussed the darkness as he picked up his black flashlight off his computer stand and went out into the vast dark hallway to find his dad. "Dad!" He called out as he walked down the hall, but his only answer was silence.

Tommy reaching the stairs bounced down them and went a couple of steps and stopped at the entrance to the living room "Dad!" Again all that met his ears was silence.

'That's weird I could have sworn his car was here when I came home.' Turning he walked down another small hallway into the kitchen and over to a side door that led into the garage. He slowly shined his flashlight over the gas cans, paint cans, rope, and old rusted fishing gear and smiled as he saw his dad's blue BMW sitting beside the gray minivan. 'Yep, I was right he's here.' He thought as he shut the door and slowly walked threw the kitchen and threw the opening that led into the living room, not seeing the dark figure come up from the basement.

"Dad!" He called again as he shined the light over various furniture, over the pool table, over various football trophies and awards his dad had won in high school. He sighed, as he didn't get an answer yet again. He was about to head threw the living room and back to his room when suddenly a hard shove from behind him sent him flying. The flashlight flew from his hand and landed near the window and spun until it came to a complete stop still on. Tommy let out a yelp as he landed on the couch hard on his stomach.

Tommy immediately turned over to look at his attacker "Dad?"

"You little good for nothing son of a bitch!"

Tommy flinched "What....what did I do?" He stuttered as he began to shake a little.

"You are nothing but a problem! You know that! You are nothing but one BIG problem! First you kill your mother and it's because of you she is dead! Now you have taken Merrill away from me!"

"Dad what...are you talking about?"

"Merrill dumped me because of you!!!! She dumped me tonight! You ruin everything!!! She said she couldn't love me as long as you are around!!!!"

Tommy could tell that his dad was really near his snapping point and tried to reason with him "Dad...please...calm down."

"NO!!! You have been a pain in my ass for the last time!"

Tommy jumped up scared by the tone his dad was using and frightened stuttered "Dad...what...dddo you mean?"

His dad smirked evilly as he said, "I am going to kill you."

Tommy took several steps back from his dad; and seeing his change when is dad blinked he very quickly leaped over the couch and headed for the door. His dad moved quicker and tackled him. Tommy cried out as his back hit the pool table. His dad bent him over it while saying "You little ass wipe! Don't you dare run from me!!! You should know better!! You deserve to die!! You know you do! After all you've done you deserve it!!"

Tommy let out a cry as he suddenly pushed his dad off him sent him flipping over the couch. He quickly ran from the living room and up the stairs, forgetting about the front door in his mad dash for escape. He ran down the hallway and into his room slamming the door and blocking it with his closet door. 'He's going to kill me! He's actually going to kill me! He's completely lost it!' Tommy thought as he reached for his communicator off his computer desk and pressed the yellow button, but much to his despair nothing happened. Cussing the storm for blocking his communicator signal, he frantically looked for anyway to escape his dad, as tears began to shine in his eyes.

Tommy wiping away his tears quickly ran over to his window and opened it hurriedly as he heard his dad stubbornly trying to get into his room. HE stepped out onto the slick porch roof and almost slipped but was able to catch himself by holding onto the window frame. He carefully slid down the porch roof and down a brown wooded poll that supported the roof. Once he was on the porch instead of using the front steps, he simply jumped over the reeling and hitting the ground started to run so scared that his dad was right behind him. He ran down the street fear gripping his every sense as the rain poured down on his shoulders making it hard for him to see.

Tommy heard a car speeding up from behind him and turned to flag it down. "Shit." He cussed as he saw it was his dad in their gray van and cussing some more turned and started to run faster. He just could not fight his dad, no matter if he wanted to kill him or not. Like it or not his dad was all he had, and he had to live with it. Panicked thoughts racing threw his mind; he quickly decided to take a short cut down an alley, while looking back at his dad. Not paying attention to where he was going, his foot hit a slick patch of oil, and his feet flew out from underneath him and his head hit the pavement and he laid looking up at the dark sky, dazed.

Dazedly, he heard the van stop and his dad get out and slam the door shut. He blurredly saw him round the car and open the side sliding door. He slowly started to walk over to him, deliberately taking his time. 'Tommy get up!!!' His mind commanded him, but his body would simply not do what his mind commanded.

Tommy's dad, chuckling evilly, yanked him off the ground and started to drag him back to the van. Tommy regaining his senses started to scream and kick the air "Let me go!! No!!! Don't!! Help me!!! HELP!!"

His dad held him tighter and covered his mouth as he said, "Shut the fuck up!!! This is going to happen Tommy one way or the other so don't fight it!!"

Tommy continued to scream threw his dad's hand and kick the air in vain, as his dad continued dragging him. When they reached the van his dad took him to the sliding door he had opened and roughly bent him over a bucket seat. His dad, grabbing the rope Tommy had seen in the garage earlier from the floor, tied his hands tight behind his back. Tommy cried out as his feet and knees were next. His dad then pulled an old green and white bandana of Tommy's out of his coat pocket and tied it tight around Tommy's mouth. "If you move one inch Tommy I swear I will kill you right now understand?"

Tommy shook his head that he understood as his dad climbed out of the back seat and shut the door leaving Tommy bent over the bucket seat. Tommy heard the driver's side door open and slam shut and his dad get comfortable and start to drive. Tears started streaking down his face as he thought 'I want my mommy!'

The van came to an abrupt stop, and Tommy's muscles tensed as his dad got out. He heard his dad quickly walk over to his side and open the door. Tommy turned his head the other way so wanting to disappear at the moment. Crackling, his dad yanked him out of the van and threw him over his broad shoulder. Tommy started to wiggle as he dad started to take him deep into a thick dark forest. Once they were in the forest a good ways his dad threw him to the ground. Tommy quickly noticed that the ran had stopped, and his dad, smiling like an animal observing its pray, went over to a near a by tree and yanked a stick off it "Tommy, what did I tell you at the house? Did I not tell you not to run from me?"

Tommy backed away from his dad as much as he could as his dad continued, "Remember what that got you last time?"

Tommy screamed threw the gag, as his mind went back to the severe beating he had gotten the day he had made a C in math. He had tried to run from his dad when he had started yelling at him, but his dad had caught him right as he reached the door and drug him up to his room. He grabbed once of his belts out of his closet and beat the tar out of him. He had then taken the belt and two others and tied him up and left him there to think about what he had done.

His dad bent down over Tommy's shaking form smiling as he said "That's right Tommy...now it seems to me that you didn't learn your lesson that day....did you?"

His dad smirked as Tommy began to squirm, standing again he began to beat Tommy with the stick so hard it broke. Cussing his dad took off his belt and began to whip him again mercilessly. Tommy screamed out for mercy, but it was muffled by the gag, and fell on deaf ears.

A while later his dad had stopped and Tommy was crying as everything on him screamed out in pain "I feel much better now Tommy....I've decided that I'm not going to kill you now, but if you ever run from me again, and if you even think of breaking me and another women up, so help me god I will kill you next time!!!!!! Do I make myself clear!?!?!"

Tommy slowly shook his head slowly "Good now lets go home, and you are going to spend some time down in the basement to think about what all you've done!"

Tommy moaned as his dad picked him up and threw him over his shoulder again, and humming started to walk out of the forest. His dad, reaching their van, nonchalantly threw him on the floor of it, and whistling went over to the drivers side. Tommy began to cry more, as his dad began to drive off.

When they arrived home the storm clouds were rolling out leaving brightly lit stars in their wake. His dad slowly picked him up from the floor of the mini van and recklessly threw him over his shoulder. With his dad's old gray trench coat thrown over his battered body to keep his appearance from wondering about noisy neighbors, his dad carried him into their dark house. Throwing his trench coat on the kitchen table and picking up an emergency flashlight of the counter, his dad opened the door that led into the damp, dark, scary, basement, and humming pounded down the wooden stairs.

Once they were down in the basement, his dad roughly threw him on the hard cold cement floor in the mists of storage shelves and boxes. He bent down and checked his ropes and gag then slowly stood again "Well Tommy I hope you will learn your lesson from this. If your roughhouse friends call I will tell them that you are sick and cannot talk, you are not going to school. I do not want you to hang out with your friends. You are grounded from everything for the next two days, and you are going to stay down here like this until your punishment is up. I will be down tomorrow at lunch time to check on you, if those ropes are lose you will get punished again. Do I make myself clear Tommy?"

Tommy slowly shook his head as his dad continued "Good, now I am going to bed and I do not want to hear any noise coming from down here." With that said his dad started pounding back up the stairs.

Tommy waited until he heard the basement door slam shut and lock, then he rolled over slowly onto his back and looked out the small window, that was located at the top of a storage shelf.. He sighed as he remembered all the times before when he had been locked down in the basement and had down the exact same thing. He was about to turn his head away from the window when out of the corner of his eye he saw a star shoot across the sky. Tears shone in his eyes as he remembered his mom's words as they stood outside one night looking at the stars and having a cook out, when he was six. 'Look Tommy a shooting star, make a wish and it will come true, if it is from your heart.'

As a tear fell from his black eye and rolled down his swollen bruised cheek he made a wish 'I wish with all my heart that mom would come back and make it all better just like she used to do.' With that thought rolling threw his mind, Tommy's eyes drifted close and he fell into a restless sleep.