The Last Ache
When Ezra first meets his roommate, Charles, everything seems fine. Charles isn't too bright, loose around the edges, but people like him. Ezra likes him. Then, one night, Charles begins to crack his knuckles, waking Ezra up. Even when Charles stops, the cracking continues to pound in Ezra's ears. It's more than he can bear. More than anyone could bear. His others senses dull, his ears feel like lead. He can't eat. Can't sleep. He tries everything to get away from it, everything, but it's no use. One night, he thinks about smothering Charles with a pillow. But that would be crazy. Charles would have to disappear, but it needs to be clean. Ezra has a stash of Monodrialine left over from when he was seeing a headshrinker. He breaks them up and lines Charles beloved food processor with the powder. Feed someone a little Monodrialine and they're looking at a serious nap. Ezra's room is by the gardener's shack, so no one gets suspicious when he leaves a wheelbarrow by the window. He carts Charles out into the woods and dumps his body there. The next morning, Charles returns discombobulated. After several days of waking up in the woods, Charles is convinced he's sleepwalking. Ezra's plan was supposed to take months. A strong buildup, then he ups the dosage and takes the body way out. But then Charles is prescribed Monodrialine, and the double dosage knocks him out for good. For a while, the cracking fades away. People come in and out, looking for Charles, and then, one day, it returns. Ezra tears through the woods, finds Charles' body and chops it up in the shower. He stuffs the pieces into garbage bags and leaves them in a nearby dumpster. After a while, Charles gets kicked off the missing person's list and declared dead. Even with Charles gone it never stops. The catch is, he learns to live with it. After a while, he doesn't remember what life was like before. And then it doesn't matter.
