text: I do not know who or *what* he actually is. Some of us think that he is a forgotten God punishing us. Others say that he is a malevolent demon out to hunt humans. Everyone in the support group has their own theory. The only thing we all agree on is that he is a supernatural being out to get us all. I infer that he a biological urge to see us suffer and be terrified. That is the only plausible explanation I can think off. Why else would anyone do the things he does? Two years ago, I went to a bar near my house. It was there that I first saw him. He stood in the corner resting his back against the wall. A small crowd was gathered around him. With his sharp wit and Greek God looks, he had everyone around him laughing at his amusing stories. Soon, I too felt attracted towards him and in minutes, I was chuckling at one of his celebrity impersonations. My gaze fell onto a young couple out in the back. They stood hugging one another. Each time the enigmatic man made a joke, they laughed together for a few seconds. Then their expressions would change. They would proceed to hug each other even tighter with a terrified look on their faces. No one else seemed to notice them. Everyone else was too engrossed listening with awe to the big, hilarious man. When I woke up the following morning, I jolted upwards from a sharp and intense pain. Throwing off my blood-soaked blanket, I discovered the cause of my pain. A huge bloody slash ran across my pale stomach. It was surely not there the previous day. The doctors could not explain it’s sudden appearance and just assumed that I was lying about the circumstances surrounding my injury. Once I reached home, I turned on the TV in order to distract myself from the pain. The news ran a report regarding a dead couple the police had found on the highway early this morning. I took out my phone and looked on the internet for pictures of their corpses. I was beginning to have some suspicions. The moment I saw the photo, all the pieces in my mind clicked together. It could not be a coincidence. The couple in the photo was the one I had seen at the bar yesterday. Their corpses even had slashes on their bodies that seemed identical to mine. My injury today had something to do with the handsome man I saw at the bar yesterday and he might somehow also responsible for the couple’s death. The only piece of the puzzle I could not figure out was why did the corpses look as if they were smiling. Later that night, I looked for the mystery man at every bar in the city. When I finally found him at a shady bar in the next neighborhood, he instantly recognized me and ordered some drinks. Once again, before I could help it, he charmed me and I threw my suspicions out the window assuming that I was overthinking things. This handsome and funny man couldn't possibly be harming me, I thought to myself as I fell asleep that night. When I woke up the next morning, I was absolutely certain that the mysterious man *had* been harming me. A long ugly slash now ran across my back. My fingers started trembling. I remembered that he had even offered to drop me home last night. He knows where I live, I thought to myself. A cold shiver went across my body and I rushed out of the house. I ran as far as I could. The moment I started to think that I’d reached far enough, he magically appeared before me. I turned around to run but I then heard his voice. He started making slightly amusing remarks. I couldn't help it, I grinned. My body froze and my foot began to ache slightly. He then proceeded to make a few more jokes. As I laughed, a terrible terrible pain shot up in my ankle. Seconds later, I’d fainted from the agony. When I woke up, he was no longer there. My foot was covered in blood and all I could do was limp. That night, the support group found me crawled up inside a dumpster, terrified and shivering. The group was formed by other people the mysterious man had been attacking. They explained everything. A few months ago, the man started showing up in various bars. He would captivate people around him and make them laugh. Every time a person laughed, he/she would become completely vulnerable to the mysterious man. The man had the bizarre but terrifying power to telepathically inflict pain and injuries upon people as long as they were laughing. What made the matters even worse was that even if we laughed when he wasn't there, he could still somehow sense it and harm us. Everyone in the group had been a victim of his unusual power. We were his chosen targets. That day, I left my home to join the group. After learning everything, I was frightened of ever spending a night in the house alone again. All that happened long ago. The support group now lives together in one of our richer member’s mansion. We have become more of a “survivors group” now. There are so many of us. We have people of multiple races, religion, and gender. It seems the mystery man does not discriminate. The locals think we are crazy and the media pays no heed to our cries. Our own families think we are delusional and self-harming. We haven't felt laughter in months. Nobody even smiles anymore, afraid that the mysterious man might somehow find a way to inflict pain on them. There are few who muster the courage to go out in the day. Maybe to meet their family, or maybe just to give in and end it all. They seldom seem to last for more than a week. Sooner or later, the man finds them. They shriek in pain as he makes them laugh. He then proceeds to laugh as he watches them shriek, feeding his sinister powers. There’s a rumor that’s been going around that the longer he waits before killing you, the more he’ll be depraved he’ll be when he finally gets to you. I pray to God that this is just a rumor. I have been living here for the longest now, everyone who was in the group when I joined has long since been dead. If the rumor is true, it means he’s saving me for last as sort of a special prize. The world seems bleak when everyone is afraid to laugh. Sealing off one of the most natural human responses takes a heavy toll on your psyche. But still, if we ever come across the mysterious man, he’ll find a way to make us laugh. We’ll be howling in pain but he’ll find something so witty to say that it will still make us laugh. By this point, you’re probably in disbelief. You’re wondering the same question that everybody else asks. Why don’t we just refrain from laughing at his jokes? No matter what he says, surely we can control our laughter given the circumstances, can’t we?” Well. The answer is simple, really. No, we can’t. He’s funnier than every comedian on Earth combined. He isn’t just funny. He happens to be fucking hilarious. And sooner or later, you’re bound to laugh.