Creative Wednesday: Mormo

By Sandy Ashley

I wasn’t the best kid around, but I certainly wasn’t the worst either. I knew a lot of kids at school that were way more misbehaved than myself. I was bad enough to be visited from Mormo once though.

     It was a few years ago. I was causing trouble at home and at school. I was always playing jokes on people—just about anything I could think of. Although, I never took it to the level of anyone getting hurt. I liked jokes, but I hated seeing people get hurt. I did sometimes get the jokes recorded and posted them on YouTube.

     I had recently played a joke on my mom. I put some tape on the spray nozzle in the kitchen sink. When she turned the water on she would get sprayed instead of the water coming from the faucet. It was a classic, harmless joke. At least I didn’t think it was that bad.

     My family were the only ones I could record. I was at the kitchen table and was leaning back in the chair with the back leaned up against the wall. It was perfect to record mom getting soaked. I made it looked like I was playing on my phone. I hit the record just before Mom got to the sink. I was good at keeping a straight face about these things—something I had to work really hard at. When I was younger it was a lot harder. I always gave it away, because I was smiling like a kid on Christmas.

     I stared at my phone, watching what was about to unfold on it, instead of watching my mom. She reached for the handle to turn on the water. I could feel my heart racing and the anticipation rising. It felt like the world was in slow motion all of a sudden and a second seemed like a month.

     I got what I was waiting for though. The water sprayed my mom, she screamed from the surprise of it. She fumbled a little to try to turn the water back off. I busted up laughing. It was priceless, the look on my mom’s face.

      “TRENTON!!” my mom yelled.

     I stopped the recording and couldn’t wait to post it. I was still laughing. “Yeah, Mom?”

      “You know what happens to little boys who misbehave, right?” she asked.

     I rolled my eyes, “No, Mom, what happens?” I had heard this a million times before.

      “You get a bit by Mormo,” she replied in a very stern voice.

     I pretended to be scared. “Yeah, sure, Mom. You keep saying that and yet,” I felt both sides of my neck, “nothing here to show that it actually happens.”

     She put her hands on her hips. “You just wait, little man, just you wait. She will come.” With that, she turned on her heels and left the kitchen.

     As soon as my mom left, I stood up and ran to my room upstairs. I was going to upload this video. I plugged my phone into my computer. It was faster that way than uploading from my phone to YouTube. I didn’t even think twice about what my mom said about Mormo.

     Oh, please, a vampire like person who goes around biting bad kids? Pshh. That just sounds completely unreal. How could my mom really expect me to believe that mumbo jumbo? I chuckled a little and went back to what I was doing.

     YouTube popped up on my computer and I hit upload. It asked for a title: “Mom getting sprayed by water.” Next was tags, “mom, water, sprayed, funny, joke.” I chose the file and hit upload. Then I sat back in my chair and waited. I didn’t have to wait too long, it was only about thirty seconds long.

     My screen changed and it was uploaded. I unplugged my phone and I texted a few of my friends to tell them about the video I had just put up. I got a text back from Braden. He said he would watch it right away. I smiled, I was pretty proud of myself.

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A few days later life was still normal for me. No Mormo had come and bit my neck. I wasn’t worried about it. If she hadn’t come yet, why would she? That was a stupid way to think.

     I got home from school and my house had felt off—creepy almost, but I didn’t think much about it. I was a boy. I thought I was tough as nails. I walked in and dropped my backpack on the stairs.

      “Hi, Mom, I’m home,” I called.

      “I’m working on dinner. Why don’t you work on homework until it’s done,” she replied.

     I called back, “Alright.” I grabbed my backpack and headed to my room.

     I tossed my backpack on my bed and turned on some music. Walking back to my bed, I noticed it was a little colder than normal in my room. However, didn’t think much of it. I just opened my backpack and got my homework out.

     I started on it and was about half way done before Mom called me down to dinner. I left everything how it was, turning off the music just before I left, closing my door behind me. I went downstairs and ate just like any other night.

      “How is your homework coming along, Trenton?” Mom asked.

     I just shrugged my shoulders, “It’s homework. Not much to say about it.” I laughed.

     She laughed, too, “You are correct, Trent. All done?”

     I was just picking at the last little pile of food on my plate. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

      “You okay? You just don’t seem like yourself today.” she said with concern.

      “Yeah, just a little tired, I suppose. Nothing to be worried about, Mom.” I smiled at her warmly.

      “Well, Trent, once you finish your homework you can head to bed if you like.” She grabbed my plate. “Now, get going.”

     I got up. “Love you, Mom”

      “Love you, too.”

     I went back upstairs, turned on music, and went back to my homework. I didn’t remember falling asleep. I did though at some point while doing my homework. I must have been out all night. I never did finish my homework. Which was okay, it wasn’t all due the next day.

     I heard my mom call to me, “Trent, are you up?”

      “Yeah, Mom, I’m up,” I called back.

     I got up and went to the bathroom. I took a quick shower. I was doing my hair and that’s when I noticed the bite mark on my neck.

      “MOM?!?!” I yelled.

     I heard her run to the door. “What happened, Trent? Are you okay?”

     I was staring in the mirror looking at the mark, “I got the bite mark on my neck. It was Mormo. She really got me.”

      “Trent, come on now. Don’t lie,” she said in that stop playing around voice.

      “No, Mom, really. I’ll show you.” I made sure I was covered and opened the door. I pointed to my neck. “LOOK.”

     She looked closely at it. “Well, it’s too big to be a spider bite. Maybe some mosquitoes got in and bit you.”

     I rolled my eyes “If you say so, Mom, but I think you were right. Mormo is real and she got me. Now, I need to finish getting ready for school.”

     She nodded, “Okay, dear.”

     From that day on I never played another joke on anyone. I also said I was sorry to ever person I ever played a joke on.  I learned my lesson the hard way.