Tommy was just your average four year old boy. He always had an angelic smile on his face, and that childhood ability to turn anything into a toy. He had many toys of his own, but his absolute favourite was Noddy the Happy Little Clown. Noddy had been given to Tommy as a gift on his first birthday and he had kept him ever since. Dressed in little red lace-up shoes, tiny blue shorts and red sweater with the yellow and red-spotted neckerchief, Noddy went everywhere that Tommy did. Whenever Tommy felt sad his father would nod Noddy's head, making the bell at the tip of his little blue hat jingle and Tommy would instantly giggle. Tommy and Noddy lived in their own little world, and that was all that mattered to him. But that world was to come crashing down on the day of Tommy's 5th birthday.
That morning Tommy was woken up to the sound of his parents softly singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He smiled and picked up Noddy with one hand, taking his mother's hand with the other. She led him down the stairs as his father put a blindfold over his eyes. Tommy giggled as his mother picked him up so that he could get down the stairs without falling. When all three had reached the living room, Tommy's father removed Tommy's blindfold so he could see what was waiting for him.
In the centre of the living room sat an old-fashioned metal pedal car, carefully hand painted red and yellow. When Tommy's father pressed a button on the car's steering wheel the car would sound a horn with a quiet "Honk honk!". Tommy's seemingly permanent smile doubled in size, and his father allowed himself a small self-congratulatory smile.
"Would you like to try it out?" Tommy nodded enthusiastically and his father pushed it out into the garden. "There's even a matching sidecar so Noddy can drive too." Tommy giggled and secured Noddy into his seat with the miniature seatbelt. Tommy drove around the garden for a good five hours before eventually his mother called him in to go to bed. Tommy changed into his pyjamas and put Noddy's matching pyjamas onto him. Tommy kissed Noddy's forehead as he did every night, but that night he whispered something as well.
"I wish you were real, then we could play all day long!"
As Tommy's eyes closed, a draught blew into the room even though all the windows were locked shut. Suddenly Noddy's marble eyes shone with life, and he sat up and climbed out of bed. Now, if Tommy's birthday had been around Christmas, then you could almost guarantee that Tommy would wake up the next morning to find his best friend had become real and they'd go on to play and have fun for the rest of their lives. However his birthday was NOT around Christmas. Tommy's 5th birthday took place on June the Sixth, in the year two thousand and six. That's right. 6/6/6. And as everybody knows from the legends, a wish made on Devil's Night will come true, but not in the way you intend it to....
Tommy woke up the next morning and, rubbing his eyes, leaned over to check on Noddy. On discovering the empty box, Tommy started to cry quietly. As the first tears hit the floor, he heard a quiet jingling from behind him. Tommy turned around to find Noddy standing on his own two feet in front of him.
"Noddy?" Noddy's permanent smile widened.
"Yes Tommy, it's me. Your birthday wish came true, isn't that amazing? Why don't you go tell Mummy and Daddy? I'm sure they'll be really happy." Tommy nodded and excitedly ran to his parents' bedroom, barging the door open.
"Mummy! Daddy! Noddy's real!" Tommy's parents didn't respond, still lying in their bed. He shouted again a little louder to get their attention, but still they didn't awaken. He pulled the covers off their motionless forms and stood paralysed in shock. At just five years old he couldn't fully understand the severity of the situation. He wouldn't be able to understand why their spotlessly white bedsheets were now spattered with their own crimson blood. He wouldn't even begin to comprehend why they had been sliced open from their stomachs to their throats. But even Tommy's five year old brain could see that his parents were never going to wake up.
He knelt by their bed and cried. He was so distracted by his grief that he didn't notice Noddy silently approaching him with the knife covered in the still damp blood of his parents. Suddenly Noddy stumbled, causing his head to jerk and the bell on his hat to quietly jingle. Tommy quickly turned, only to receive the knife rammed into his throat before he even had time to scream. Noddy laughed, a high-pitched giggle of pure insanity and evil.
His dark work done, Noddy ripped the sidecar from the car Tommy's father had lovingly hand-crafted for him. He fastened up the miniature seatbelt and drove the car straight out of the house.
Now that you have read this story, heed this warning: Noddy will come for you. You may be walking home alone one night, for the last time ever. First you'll hear the soft "honk honk" of the red and yellow sidecar. That's your last chance to run. Then you'll hear the faint jingle of the bell on his hat. Finally you'll hear that high-pitched laugh and your life will end.
