Alex exited the house and stumbled on the curb. He’d had a little too much to drink at the party and was woozy. He heard a noise to his left and saw his friend James face-plant into the pool. The splash he made was followed by laughter, prompting Alex to smile as James clambered from the pool.

It was too dark and cold to walk home, so Alex signaled a taxi. To his surprise, a taxi parked outside roared to life and slowly drove over to him. Alex walked over, opened the door, and slipped inside.

“Hey, where you going to?” said the driver. He sounded young, about 19.
“Rose Avenue,” replied Alex.

The driver flicked on the headlights, and as he did so Alex noticed something about him: his hand twitched oddly. As though reading Alex’s mind, the driver said “Tourette’s.”

“Oh,” Alex said. “A kid with Tourette’s went to my school. He had it bad!” Alex thought of the kid’s name, finally remembering it was Toby. That stupid kid was always creeping everyone out, staining everything with his presence. Alex and his friends had thrown a party when Toby left.

The car suddenly stopped and the driver got out. “Car trouble, shouldn’t be here long.”

Alex thought nothing of it. After 30 seconds, Alex heard a crackle and a voice “Hey, Alex.” Alex froze. The noise was coming from a walkie-talkey in the passenger seat.

“Alex, look out your window.”

Alex did as the voice asked and looked out the window, sweat trickling down his face. He saw the driver 20 feet away facing him, wearing a grey hoodie with a black vest and camo cargo pants. He had pale skin, brown hair, orange goggles on his forehead, and was wearing a black bandana over his mouth. He lifted a radio to his mouth and spoke “Remember me Alex? Ticci Toby? The kid you always picked on because of my pale skin and my ticks?”

Alex wet himself. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe!

“Oh, Alex. See the box in the front seat? I left something for you! You’re going to have a blast with it.”

Alex crawled into the front seat, and with a shaking hand opened the box. He screamed and tried to open the doors, but they were locked.

“Bye bye!” screamed Toby as he pulled a remote from his jacket. “See you in ….”
Alex never heard Toby finish the sentence.

Toby watched the car erupt in flames, his arm twitching involuntarily. He pulled out a small note pad and scratched Alex’s name off the list. “Two to go,” he mumbled as he walked into the darkness.

Toby had hoped that Alex’s death would calm his inner demons. It didn’t. It made the darknesses in him boil. Toby started laughing, and he didn’t stop. He knew he would never stop.