She was always kind and bright to everyone she met. The warmth she radiated to those who came to her was as welcoming as the sun’s rays after a storm. However, it seemed too fake for me. I don’t know if it was because I’m a chronically cynical person, but her smile always seemed so… off. As if she was trying to hide something. But what could such a wonderful person be doing to warrant such an off putting smile?
“Good morning, Ms. Valerie!” I shouted while watering my flowers.
The woman was in the middle of emptying out her car trunk when she responded back, “Good morning, Holly! It’s rare to see you out this early in the morning.”
I’m not necessarily a morning person, so it was a strange occurrence for me to be out so early, but I had this dull urge in the back of my head to go outside for some reason. “I saw on the news yesterday that a heatwave will be hitting the area within a week, so I wanted to water my plants before it got too hot just in case. Would you like some help putting your groceries in your house?”
The smiling woman simply waved off my help. “It’s good, darling. I haven’t gotten too old that I can’t pick up a few bags of groceries,” she laughed as she closed her truck with a force that could chop a grown man’s fingers off. It almost made me jump if it wasn’t for her still looking in my direction. Every part of my body wanted to get out of this conversation that I, for some reason, started.
“Well then, have a good day, and make sure you stay hydrated during the heatwave.”
“I most definitely will, Holly. Thank you for your concern.”
As I watched the woman carry her bags of groceries into her house, I noticed how weirdly strong she was for a woman in her 40s. She carried 2 gallons of milk, a gallon of water, and 3 sacks of sugar as if she was carrying small trinkets. I couldn’t understand why, but I found later the reason why my body woke me up so early.
Two days have passed, and the heatwave was hitting hard. Kids couldn’t play outside without almost passing out. The water in the lake behind my house was emitting steam from being boiled by the sun. Even the air-conditioning was having such a hard time cooling the house down.
It was also during this time that people started going missing for some reason. Everyone was so focused on trying to combat the heat that no one realized that four people had gone missing until it was reported on the news. At first, the police officers just did a general search of the areas that these people lived in. Due to the heatwave, it was way too hot to do a search on foot because officers would end up fainting from heat exhaustion.
During the search, the officers also took the time to ask neighbors if they had seen the missing people. One of the people that went missing was from my neighborhood, so the officers ended up coming to my house as well. They provided a case of water bottles which I greedily accepted, and started to question me about the person who went missing. I didn’t really know the person, so I couldn’t give much information. The officers thanked me for my time then proceeded to that woman’s house.
I actually haven’t seen her these past couple of days since I holed myself up inside my house, but seeing her unsettling smile again as she greeted the officers shot shivers down my spine. The officers didn’t spend too much time at her house either and began to walk away when, suddenly, another police car zoomed over to where the officers were and beckoned them into the car immediately.
The officers immediately ran and jumped into the car, but as they did, I noticed that the woman never dropped her smile. It just became… creepier. Nothing about her face changed. It was the way she stood there and watched the police car… smiling… without going back inside her house. Almost like how someone continues to smile after enduring a conversation they were forced to listen to just in case the person turns back around after walking away. But the way she was handling herself just made it so uncomfortable to look at.
I was about to go back into my house before that woman caught me staring when, simultaneously, the officers dashed out of the police car and barged into the woman’s house. One of the officers handcuffed the woman, still smiling, and dragged her to the police car. The loud noise caught the attention of the neighbors who are now coming out of their houses to see what was going on.
I can still vividly remember the words that woman said just as she was being shoved into the police car.
“Nosey people should just worry about themselves.”
She was staring directly at me as she said those words. As if it was a better-late-than-never warning. Just as the police car door closed, the officers began to file out of the house with the four missing people plus five other people who were reported missing over the course of three years.
All of them were in the same conditions:
“It’s been nine years since that day. If I had never seen her that morning with her groceries, I would have never believed that it was her doing. After that day, I continued to mind my own business like I always do, but I could never smile again. Every time I smiled, it would remind me of that woman’s smile.”
“Is that why you secluded yourself in your home, Ms. Holly? So that you wouldn’t have to smile at anything?”
I glance up at the therapist who sits across from me, calmly waiting for an answer. “I seclude myself in my home so that I don’t go running my nose in other people’s business. Although my life is shitty, I still want to live, so I would rather not cut it short.”
The therapist’s phone rings, so she excuses herself to answer it. It wasn’t a long phone call, but it was one that abruptly stopped our session.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Holly, but we will have to end our session here.”
“It’s not a problem. There’s still next week.”
I say my goodbyes and leave the office. As I left the building and headed over to my car, I couldn’t help but smirk to myself before going home.