Mr. Smiley -The Stories of the Smiling Man-

:Chapter 1:

    

     As a child, like many children, I was afraid of the dark. But as I grew older, that fear never truly went away. It wasn't until my late teens when I realized it wasn't the dark I was afraid of. No, it was the shadows that I loathed to see hiding in the blanket of the void that is darkness.

     Shadows lurk and sneak in the darkness, and cling to the backside of the light. It hides its true visage, both in looks and in height. There is a saying that it is not the dark that men fear, but what lurks inside it. This I believe whole heartily to be true, even if it is only going halfway to the truth.

     For what we fear inside the Shadow is what gives grown men and women nightmares when they see it, and they rarely speak of it believing no one will hear the story as truth, but rather fiction. But that is the human mind in a nutshell. To not believe something till there is fictitious truth. When it comes to the denizens of the Shadow, I would rather believe the fiction for the truth is so much more stranger, and more horrifying, than the fantasy of fiction.

     My story begins when I first met a denizen of the Shadow. A Grinning Demon whom has haunted me since before I was born, laying claim to a soul that is not his to claim. This is the story of the Grinning Demon, Mr. Smiley.

     The first time I met the Grinning Demon was when I was three years old living in my Grandparents house in Magna, Utah. My parents were still young with my Dad being only seventeen now and my mom eighteen, and we lived in their basement. I had a new baby brother named Wolfgang, named after Mozart, who had just barely turned two. I was in the Garden with my Grandma whom we called Mammy, helping her in her strawberry bushes she had out in the front yard.

     It was a nice Spring day, not to hot and not to cold, with the sun nice and sunny outside after days of rain and even some snow that quickly melted. I always enjoyed helping my Mammy garden, except when we had to pull weeds that part I hated. But watering and taking care of the growing life that was these plants always made me feel happy and I would constantly talk to them. My dog Dixie, a Rottweiler whom was just as old as I was and was like a second mother to me and my best friend, was laying near by watching me enjoying the sun light. Her head tilted slightly up as a small gust of wind rolled by soothingly across her face and our backs. It was a good day.

     My Mammy then cussed, something she rarely did around me, and said she had to be right back she accidentally had cut her finger on some small shears she was snipping the bushes with to keep them groomed. I was worried but it wasn't a bad cut so she told me to stay put and finish weeding the plants and she would be right back so we could water the plants. I said okay and went back to doing the dreaded chore of pulling weeds out of the ground. I really hated it but I wanted to water the plants because they had to be thirsty so I worked as hard and fast as I can.

     But then there was a faint wind that blew across my back. One that was not refreshing and light. But cold and violent that made me stand back up and turn around. Dixie seemed to feel it too because she was standing up now looking in the same direction I was, a light growl in her throat. She never growled at people, well unless your the postman who gives her treats but even then its a friendly growl. But this was menacing and protective, as she put herself between me and the direction we were both looking.

     Where we were both looking was out into the street. Around the front yard is a waist high chain fence that blocks the sidewalk, and two large oak trees standing outside them before you get to the road. Underneath the Oak tree to the left, standing in the Shadows of the tree, a tall man stepped out. He was much taller than me, even I could tell at this distance, for his head almost reached the first branches which even my dad had to hop too to climb up it. He had pale skin, even paler than snow, wearing an old looking suit with the coat draping down past his waist in the back. His hands had long black nails, and his face. A horrifying grin that stretched ear to ear, with sharp teeth being seen all the way through to his back teeth. He had fading white hair on the sides of his head, and a bowler cap on, and his eyes, pure black that seemed to suck the light into them to make it disappear. I was truly frightened.

     For even though his demeanor was scary, it was the smile that was most terrifying. When I say the smile was ear to ear, I don't mean a large wide smile. I mean his cheeks were torn from ear to ear giving him a permanent smile, showing all of his razer sharp teeth. I was petrified and stood there in terror, not knowing what to do. Should I run away, should I stand my ground, or should I go get my Grandma. And what about Dixie, she looked like she wasn't going to move with her growl becoming louder and more menacing as she looked into the eyes of the Grinning Man.

     The Grinning Man then raised his left hand, and beckoned me forward with his finger. My legs, trembling and threatening to be wet soon, started moving on their own towards the figure. I tried to fight them from moving, trying to move them away, towards the house or even the backyard. But They kept moving forward slowly, and eventually past Dixie.

     All sound around me seemed to stop. No wind, the birds were no longer chirping, and even the color of the world around me seemed to drain into black and white as my legs continued to move forward. The only sound I heard was my own heartbeat, the crunching of the grass as I moved, and Dixies growl that turned into a bark as she ran in front of me again and walked with me, always keeping herself between me and the Grinning Man, the Smiling Man.

     Step by step I drew closer till I was at the Fence gate. The Smiling Man was much taller now, and a shadow seemed to spread across his back now, enveloping his surroundings. His eyes, the dark void of nothing, seemed to be smiling as well with his permanent grin. His hand stopped beckoning and he raised his other hand in a slight bow, his arms whooshing out to his sides in a dramatic flourish. He stood back up and then pointed to the gate of the House. He spoke no words, but I knew what he wanted. He wanted me to open the gate and let him in. I turned back to him, scared, and tried to speak. But as the words almost left my mouth my throat caught, and the man raised a finger to his mouth and did the Shhhhhh signal for me to be quiet and then pointed back toward the gate.

     I didn't want to let him in, I knew I would get into trouble if I did, and not just with my Grandparents and Parents. I knew my life would be in trouble if I did. But my legs started to walk towards the gate as well, and the Smiling Man walking with me in long, slow strides. His eyes never leaving mine, and mine never leaving his. Dixies bark became more frantic and louder, almost now sounding like a pleading noise as she came up to my back and nuzzling my back to try and get my attention. It didn't work as I reached the gate.

     The Smiling Man then pointed towards the lock on the gate and my hands followed, and began to undue simple lock on the gate. Raising the stopper that went into the ground and locking it into place. Dixies nudging into my back became now her grabbing the back of my shirt with her teeth and now trying to pull me away from the gate, away from the Smiling Man, with a frantic and worried whine escaping her clenched shirt filled teeth. Normally she would easily pull me away, she was a big dog after all and I was used to her pulling me around and knocking me down to sit on me and lick my face. But this time, She couldn't even get me to budge. You could hear my shirt beginning to rip. The latch on the gate came undone and I began to open the gate.

     The gate now open and nothing between me and the Smiling Man, his eyes smiling even wider now to match his face, he beckoned me towards him. I walked forward to the edge of the driveway, where the gate now lye open. He reached his clawed nails out to me, three of them stroking my cheek in a menacing fashion. The nails stung like cold ice on frozen skin. I knew I was in serious trouble as he continued to stroke my cheek, looking me up and down. But then I heard a glorious noise. My Mammy had returned outside and the door opened. The Smiling Man looked up, Anger filling his smiling eyes at her. His hand quickly retracting and cutting my cheek as he vanished. I fell down, scared and shocked holding my cheek that was now bleeding. My Mammy coming over to me asking what the Hell I was doing I was going to let the dog out if I kept the fence open. That's when she saw my cheek and Dixie whining, still holding my shirt but no longer tugging. My Mammy looked scared and picked me up and brought me inside. She bandaged my face, asking me what had happened and I had told her I saw a smiling man, a scary smiling man. He is the one who cut me. She just grimaced, telling me not to worry the bad man wouldn't come around anymore. And for me not to talk to strangers. I told her the Smiling Man didn't talk so I wasn't and she just laughed and shook her head, reiterating about strangers.

     I didn't see the Smiling Man for a little while after that, but my first encounter with the Smiling Man had left its mark to events that would transpire through my life to even this day as I write this. This Smiling Man, in which after that day I took to calling Mr. Smiley, would forever haunt me. But it would be years before I knew what he wanted with me, and even longer before I found out why he wanted it.