Fake Smiles and Lies

Forced Smiles Go For Miles

Mr. Stranger was bad news, to say the least. He was dangerous. He was cruel. All he cared about was money, now. Ever since his family died, only money mattered. It was his obsession. His solace.

Mr. Stranger had killed people just then. He knew he'd get away with it. He always did. He invited the families youngest, Luke, over to see him.

He heard the door open. "Sit down, and listen closely, if you want them back." He demanded. Luke slowly sat down, looking as if he wanted to rip Mr. Strangers head off. It was laughable, really.

"I don't have any money for ya." Luke's demeanor changed from hatred and anger to pure distress, within seconds. "I don't care about the money, right now. The prison inmates won't stop killing themselves."

"I want you to be happy." Luke opened his mouth. "Shut up. I don't mean literally. Act happy. Act like you want to be their friend... But never see them face to face. Keep them from dying."

"I can replace you and your family, otherwise." Mr. Stranger grinned as Luke hung his head low, defeated. "Yeah... Yeah, alright." Mr. Stranger grabbed him, and dragged him toward an isolated room.

"Good." He threw him in the mostly empty room, half of it filled with papers and a computer without Internet. "Now start writing." He left Luke there.

Mr. Stranger found one of his employee's, Jane. "We've got a new one?" Jane didn't look happy about it. She looked almost remorseful. "Yeah. I want you to feed him, and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

She sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Alright." She left him to his own device. Mr. Stranger went up to a microphone that connected through the building.

"We've got bags that need to be... Disposed of." Just as that reached the ears of the garbage man, he ran up there. "Omid, take the body bags to the compost area." Omid nodded, a false smile plastered on his face.

He grinned at the thought that everything was going as planned. Mr. Stranger glanced at a picture of his old family. He shrugged it off, and threw the photo in the trash, keeping the frame.