The Taxi Driver

Charlie took his reward money, and he never rode in a taxi again.

Delilah has been driving a taxi at night for 10 years, and her forties are closing in on her. Sitting behind a steering wheel is starting to take a toll on her body, her mind, and her social life. All those years of sleeping all day and working all night has left her with no friends and a little depressed. It’s time to close this chapter of her life and move on to something new. To celebrate her retirement, Delilah is planning something big… but she’s not quite sure what.

The sun was setting on the day. Charlie, a handsome, dark-haired, young man entering his second year of college, calls for a taxi to take him home from campus. He’s from out of state and doesn’t know anyone here. This will be the first time he’s ever been in a taxi, so he is a little nervous. He’s only seen taxi drivers in the movies, and they ALWAYS look so mean. His nerves are suddenly calmed when he sees an attractive, smiling, older woman with dark hair and black-rimmed glasses pulling up in the yellow taxi.

Charlie and Delilah wave at each other as she parks in front of his college campus. He tosses his backpack and books into the backseat before getting in the car. They exchange pleasantries as they begin the short trip home. Delilah doesn’t say much, and Charlie is busy in his phone. As they arrive at Charlie’s apartment, he leans forward and asks her, “Do you have a business card? I’ve never taken a taxi before, but I’m going to need one to take me to and from school for a few months. I’d rather ride with someone I know,” as something catches his eye in the front seat. There is a well-used, little black book sitting in the front seat like it’s a passenger along for the ride, too. The edges are tattered, and some pages are sticking out as if they’re about to fall out. Delilah, hesitantly, hands him one of the last business cards she’ll ever hand out, “Sure, hun. I can pick you up. I don’t work in the daytime, but I can take you home in the evening. Just give me a call or a text.”

Charlie goes inside for the evening. He fixes himself a bowl of ramen noodles and turns on the television as he begins his homework for the night. As his day was winding down, Delilah’s day was just getting started.

The next morning comes, and Charlie wakes up to a text message from his new taxi driver, “Good morning! Do you still need a ride to campus today?” Charlie perks up and jumps out of bed. “Yes, I do. Are you available?” He actually already scheduled another taxi to take him to campus, and although there’s probably about 15 to 20 years difference between the two of them, there is something intriguing about Delilah that makes him want to know her better.

Like a good passenger, Charlie is already waiting for Delilah when she pulls up to his apartment. “It’s nice to see you again,” she says. “I didn’t think you’d be working this early. It’s nice to see you, too. Thanks for picking me up.”

"I usually don’t work this early, but I had a pretty long night, and I couldn’t sleep, so I just decided to see if you still needed a ride to school,” Delilah confides. They continue on the ride to campus and schedule the time for Delilah to come back. They both are inwardly excited to see the other later on in the evening.

The days pass quickly. Charlie has been riding with Delilah for a couple weeks now, and he finally works up the courage to ask her, “Hey, would you have time to go watch a movie with me this weekend? I don’t know anyone here, but even if I did, I enjoy your company.” Butterflies begin fluttering around inside Delilah’s stomach. “Really?” She is hesitant at first thought, but then, “Yes, I’d like that. I haven’t been to a movie theater in a long time, and I haven’t been invited to the movies since…” she pauses. She doesn’t want to tell Charlie too much information so early. “I haven’t been invited to the movies since…ever,” she lies.

Saturday morning comes, and Delilah is just walking in her front door, exhausted from her nighttime ventures. She looks in the mirror. There is dried blood on her cheek. “What?! Where did that come from?” she wonders out loud. Similarly, Charlie is just waking up. Still laying in bed, he texts Delilah, “Good morning, Miss Taxi! I can’t wait to see you tonight.” She sends him a smiley face in return as she is crawls into her comfy bed to get rested up for her date tonight.

As the evening approaches, the butterflies build up in Delilah’s stomach again. She hasn’t felt like this since she was dating her ex-husband.

The time for the movie comes. The giddy, new couple enjoys being together more and more, and when it’s over, they’re not ready to go their separate ways. Delilah has the tenacity to ask, “Would I be too forward to invite you to my house?” A thousand thoughts start running through his mind. “Not at all. I promise I’m a gentleman,” and they both nervously chuckle.

As Delilah and Charlie pull up to her house, the butterflies in her stomach begin to make her feel sick. She shows him to the living room where there is a single red light bulb in the ceiling light. The whole room glows red and makes him feel like he’s teleported to the “Red Light District.” She throws her purse on the sofa and excuses herself to the bathroom.

Her purse landed on its side, and out slides the little black notebook that was riding shotgun with Delilah that first day, and come to think about it, it was always with her. Curiosity got the best of him, and Charlie decides to see what she is writing in her book.

He opens it.

Inside the book, the first page he turns to has a name and address. Below the address, there are two times of the day written. Next to one, it says, “leaves,” and next to the other, it says, “returns.”

Weird.

He turns the page. He sees another name and another address. There are two different times as well.

He turns the page again. Again, he sees another name, address, and two times. It’s like he’s been sucked into a horror movie plot. He slowly starts realizing that these are the schedules of the people listed along with their home addresses. “What in the world?! What could she be doing with these?” A few of the pages are so worn that they are almost falling out of the book. He has a dreadful feeling about the little black book, so he pulls those loose pages out and stuffs them in his wallet.

Delilah returns from the bathroom, and in order to not draw suspicion that he may have read her book, Charlie had stuffed it back into her purse before walking over to the photos she has hanging on her wall – pretending to have been admiring them the whole time. They cuddle up on the sofa and turn on a movie. Charlie tries to get the uneasy feeling out of his mind, but that’s all that is running through his mind.

Even as Delilah is driving Charlie home, he has to pose that he didn’t just see what he thinks he saw. Once they arrive at his apartment, they tell each other, “Goodnight.” They embrace. Delilah is wearing a sultry, vanilla-like perfume. She smells so good. He doesn’t want to let her go, but he’s also thinking, “What if I’m right?”

Delilah leaves.

Charlie immediately calls the police tip line. “I don’t know if this is anything you should know, but I came across something disturbing,” he tells the person on the other end of the line. What Charlie didn’t know is that there’s been a string of disappearances across the city, but the public hasn’t been informed because they don’t want the suspect to know they are looking for him…her. After the people go missing, they have been found a few days later. They were all stabbed to death. Murdered.

Charlie doesn’t hear from Delilah anymore. He has a new taxi driver to take him to his classes. A week after he called the police, Charlie receives a phone call from a number he doesn’t recognize. He’s speaking with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI. Delilah had been stalking and murdering her passengers for months. Because she was awake at night and sleeping during the day, she never got any sunlight for the past ten years. This lack of sunlight caused her pituitary gland to not function properly, which led to her mental disorder that caused her to lash out and murder innocent victims. She didn’t have any friends around her who could have noticed her personality was changing. The only bright side to the situation was that there was a $20,000 reward for information that led to the capture of this serial murderer.

Charlie thought, “with this money, I can put a down payment on a new car.”

Charlie took his reward money, and he never rode in a taxi again.