Horror Stories

The Smiler

I was out walking, just taking a nice stroll in the park when I had noticed something crouched behind a tree. I shrugged it off as a stray dog. I kept walking when it started raining.

"Well thanks nature." I mumbled to myself. I started to quicken my pace, wanting to get home out of the rain as soon as possible. About halfway down one of the blocks, however, I saw someone standing behind a street lamp. It sure was odd, but I once again shrugged it off because I thought it might be kids out late at night just playing hide and seek. 

I made it back home safely and crashed on the couch. After about an hour of sitting there on my phone, I heard a noise come from my window. Then another; then another. Was somebody throwing something at my window? I went to go and check, but all I saw was a fading smile. I slowly backed away from the window, shutting the blinds as I did so.

At this point, I was really creeped out and practically on edge. I went back to the TV and started flicking through the channels to calm myself. I had just hallucinated because I was tired. That's all that happened. I wanted to watch the news to see if there had been any reports on a weird fading smile in the neighborhood. The weird thing was that I couldn't find Channel 9 News. It was not listed anywhere. All that I got when I tried to switch to it was generic tv static. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was only 9:00 pm and that the news should still be on. That didn't change the fact that I was struggling to keep my eyes open. After going through the channels some more, I finally succumbed to my ever drooping eyelids and fell asleep. I woke up about an hour later to some sort of quiet laughter and slight tapping coming from my window; the same window that I checked before.

Because I had just woken up and wasn't thinking straight, I got up and walked over to the window and opened it, there was nothing there. I looked up, right, left, then I looked down. What I saw truly horrified me. I saw a man standing below my window, staring up at me and just smiling. 

Was this a patient that had escaped a mental hospital? I slammed my window shut not wanting to look at the disgusting face any longer. I ran to my room, but not before checking that every door, window, and vent was locked. I locked the door behind me after getting to my room and I just waited. I didn't dare look out the window again. 

I tried calling the cops, for some reason my call just went straight to voicemail. I tried calling my parents, friends, neighbors. It was the same thing, all of my calls just went straight to voicemail. I was waiting for what seemed like years, but was only a couple of hours, and finally got the courage to peek through my door. It seemed safe, until I heard the doorknob to my front door start to rattle furiously. I ran back to my bed and didn't dare go to sleep either. Was this a mental patient that had escaped? I tried calling the police again, this time they picked up.

I explained my situation as best I could and they said that they would be there as soon as possible, within a couple of minutes, the police arrived and the rattling of the doorknob stopped. I decided it was safe enough to come out of my hiding spot and look around the house. Somebody started knocking on the door, I assumed it was the police so I opened it. It was the smiling man from before.

I shut the glass door, but not the wooden door because I wanted to get a better look at his face. It was sewn in a permanent smile, and his eyes were sewn open as well. I was beyond terrified at this point. I slammed the wooden door and ran back to my room. The police eventually arrived and arrested the man. Turns out that he was an escaped mental patient. I am now 27 and am still terrified to look out my windows at night, or answer the door to anybody. I can still feel his smile whenever I do.