We smile, that’s something humans do some people keep a smile on their face all the time and that’s totally normal but what if one day you could ever stop smiling? That’s what happened in my town.
My town, Rostane has failed the test of time, long ago it had a purpose, it was an archeological rich site, with deep blue lakes and even a bottomless pond but now you won’t even find it on any map, that’s how far we’ve fallen. The kids and youngsters here want to escape this place and the only school here supports that idea but the ones who left never came back and leave their parents and memories.
My father and I are farmers, I wanted to be perfect for my father, a figure he could be proud of so I decided to stay and help him rather than abandon him and leave for a city life that I knew was not for me long ago.
We used to go to the city once a week to deliver any orders we would get and on our way we usually stopped at a bar. It was nothing too special just an old building with an old owner who himself served as a bartender as well as an excellent chef, sometimes we used to stop for apple pies too. We were once coming back and were quite happy as our sales had a huge spike and we even got booked for the season so we decided to celebrate.
I was getting desperate to look back but I knew that the woman was right behind me and my whole gut was against it so I took a sip of my beer and that’s when my father returned but his gaze was not on me but on the woman behind me.
My father rushed to her table and sat down. My father was not a guy who was too interested in other women and he lost his only love, my mother when I was three due to cancer, it was the first time I saw him talking to a woman. I wanted to pull my father away from her but he wasn’t even aware that I was there.
I was eavesdropping on their whole conversation, the lady introduced herself as ‘Lyla’ and asked him where his wife is but my father never uttered a single word instead he was just staring at her face. Lyla smiled and that’s when he uttered for the first time, “Your smile is…captivating. I am-“
“Lost in them?”, she said smiling a little more.
My father nodded.
“Now, will you do me a favor Dylan?”, she said. Dylan was my father’s name but I don’t recall him ever telling her that.
“Grab the beer bottle on the table ahead of us and smash it on the boy’s face, he tried to resist my smile.”, she said and I was about to look back when my father approached my table and picked the beer bottle, I covered my face to protect myself but he was fast enough and when I felt that there is no way I could save myself his hands stopped.
“I was just joking Dylan.”, the woman said laughing and the whole bar started to laugh, everyone was laughing hard and they weren’t even pretending they were all laughing for real, not mechanically nor were they having a sinister laugh they were just..laughing like it was the funniest joke.
The woman got up and walked out of the bar laughing while all the men escorted her out but my father started to follow her. Everyone was still laughing and almost all the other men started to follow her. I grabbed my father to stop him but he punched me hard enough that I passed out and the last thing I saw was his laugh.
The next morning the sun was high enough that its rays fell on my eyes and I picked myself up and stumbled to the car but I had no keys, I tried to call my father or the police for help but there was no signal.
Right beside the road there was a forest and there were thousands of footsteps at its entrance. I walked a little further when I had to turn on my flashlight. The roof of the trees blocked even the tiniest sunlight from falling into the forest. I decided to return before I saw a shoe, it was my father’s I went a little deeper when I saw all the men in the bar hanging upside down on the branch of a tree, their eyes were closed while they were smiling.
I clicked a photo and started to look for my father that’s when I got the feeling again that someone was dragging their nails across my spine. I run ahead without looking back but I could hear footsteps fast enough to follow me. After what felt like an hour I fell down a small cliff and lay on the road. The car was about to hit me when it stopped, it was my father and he was laughing. He got out of the car and picked me up, I hugged him but he didn’t hug me back.
We returned to the town in the night but he was laughing all the way to our house. I decided to take him to the doctor in the city the next morning, I got off the car and he drove off to my neighbor’s house. He got off the car and got in their house breaking their door. After a moment he returned with my neighbors who were now laughing as well. They took of to another house and within a minute my whole neighborhood was laughing almost in sync.
I rushed to the house to pack my things and leave the town before I get infected by their laughter too. I looked out my window to see if there is anyone who was out there human enough to follow me that’s when my eyes met with my neighbor and within a few minutes the whole crowd gathered around my house, laughing. I rushed down and locked all the rooms and the main gate. I also locked my room by slamming my drawer against the door and now I am writing this online before they barge in…If you are reading this, please help me.