The Haunting Smile

According to documents left behind in an old church. They were struggling to control an epidemic. It had all started when a woman came to their town. There was a strange and too friendly smile on her face. She never raised her voice above a whisper saying the same two words over and over.

What exactly did she mean by your turn ?

The preacher kept an eye on her. Letting her use a spare room inside the church. Not knowing that she would slip out in the middle of the night. The following morning, a group of villagers came to get him. Showing him the bodies that were discovered in the town square.

All of them had their faces stitched into that same creepy smile.

When she was found, the preacher began the exorcism. He asked for the demon to give him its name, and when it told him, a chill went up his spine. For the name it spoke… belonged to that of a demon he wouldn't be able to handle on his own. The rest of the pages were covered in dark stains, making everything eligible. It's still out there, the smiling demon hopping from each host, trying to see who it can take over next.

This brings us to the current time, where something abnormal has been sighted.

Lately, Dustin has noticed something very strange. It was something he saw while walking home. He knew that it wasn't something that shouldn't be a big deal, but it was disturbing to him considering how often it was happening. There was this stranger who would smile at him. At first, it felt harmless… then it would always be at the same place and time.

Dustin thought about changing his route. However, whenever he did so, the stranger was always present. Still smiling, becoming unsettling, growing wider, and never breaking eye contact with him. With the stress of this situation, he began experiencing strange dreams. In those dreams, the stranger would appear in dark hallways with that creepy smile on their face.

Every time they whispered something unintelligible to Dustin.

What was he trying to tell him?

Putting that thought aside, he decides to try filming the stranger. When he was doing so, other people walked past him. Why didn't they see the man too? Even when they would stop and stand right next to him. One of his friends seems to think that he's overly stressed and is seeing things.

If Dustin was imagining this then why did his friend see the man too?

Even if it was just once.

While at home, he logs into his laptop and hesitantly types into the search engine… The Smiling Man. To his surprise, there were a lot of incidents in different cities spanning decades. These articles or testimonies were written before the writer mysteriously disappeared. Out of the ones he read, one included a low-quality and grainy photo of the smiling man from 1921. Leaning back in his seat, Dustin stared at the screen in disbelief.

He didn't believe in the supernatural, but this made him question his beliefs.

On his next walk home, Dustin decided that he would try confronting the stranger. Since this was the first time, he would be engaging with something or someone no longer of this world. He was unsure whether this would work, but Dustin had to try something. On his walk home, when the man appeared across the street from him. Standing under a flickering streetlight, arms at his side, and that never-ending smile stretching across his face.

“Why have you been appearing to me?” Dustin asked, his voice wavering.

The man spoke, tilting his head to the side. “Because it's your turn now.”

After this encounter, Dustin began losing sense of time and having gaps in his memory. Saying and doing things that he normally wouldn't do. Then having strange symbols appear on the walls of his apartment. These markings were written in his own handwriting that Dustin never remembered writing.

Possession could be a strong reason why he couldn't remember.

He should look up numbers for facilities that deal with demonic or ghost possession. Whatever was trying to take over his body had to be tied to the smiling man or the thing that became it by body hopping. Getting into his car, he brought up the GPS location and began the long drive there. Riverside Medical Center, a private institution owned by the Vatican, aided with distinct types of supernatural matters. Turning onto the dirt road, Dustin squinted there at the end before the road split was a smiling and waiting figure.

The director of Riverside Medical Center stood outside the building. He looked anxiously down at his watch. Dustin Wright was late. According to his last message, he was only ten minutes away. Peering down the road he noticed someone walking towards him.

A chill went down the director's spine from what he saw. Along with a gut-sinking feeling that something was wrong. A voice told him to run to get inside somewhere safe. Yet the kindness of his heart wouldn't let him leave someone behind. Especially if they could be injured or seeking aid for mental health.

What the director wasn't prepared for was what followed afterwards.

The first found recording of Dustin's stay at Riverside Medical Center.

“This is case number 0345. The patient's name is Dustin Wright, currently possessed by the smiling demon called redacted. An on-call priest is currently trying to remove redacted from the young man's body. So far, all attempts at expelling it have failed.”

Another recording is soon found. This is its contents shared with police.

“This is case number 0345 with the patient formally known as Dustin Wright. The priest was unsuccessful in removing redacted therefore a decision has been made to place him into containment. We cannot allow the demon to transfer itself to another host. As counter measure scripture has been inked onto his skin.”

Dustin sat in his containment cell with his back against the wall, staring ahead of him. Redacted was silently seething that he had been permanently bound to this human. The human wasn't too happy either that he was stuck with a demon possessing his body. Dustin knew that he would never be able to leave this place. Unless there was a priest strong enough to send the smiling demon back to hell, where he belonged.

So he would wait to finally be free from this demons clutches for good.