Water

Sam stood on the deck of his Houseboat, tumbler of gin in hand. He looked out over the Chesapeake Bay, and thought about how peaceful his life had become. Everything was finally falling into place, he’d retired from the hospital in Buffalo NY, had bought this boat and was now living his dream of just, floating. He ran his fingers through his thick salt and pepper hair and took another sip.

“Harry?” Sam raised his eyebrows and turned to the silky voice coming from behind him.

“Good morning Darlin’” She stood in the doorway with his blue button up shirt, barely covering her chest. She was young, and trying entirely too hard.

“Harry, when I looked out the window I didn’t see my car. I parked my car right off shore before I came on board last night.” Sam smiled a crooked smile.

“That’s because you parked your car in Pennsylvania, Darlin’.” She looked confused. The young ones always needed help getting there. “We’re currently in Maryland.” He took a sip of his drink and used it to gesture towards dry land. “See that? I’d say that looks like Fells Point. That would mean we’re approaching Baltimore” This was his favorite part. He got to watch as her eyes made the connection. First she furrowed her brow in confusion, then her eyes began to widen.

“WHAT?” she ripped off his shirt exposing her bare chest and the cheap pink thong underneath “I TOLD YOU AT THE BAR LAST NIGHT HARRY! I TOLD YOU THAT I HAD TO WORK THIS MORNING!” She bent over and started picking up the articles of clothing strewn about the observation deck.

“I’m sure the good people of Lancaster Pennsylvania will be able to find someone else to serve them overpriced gin”

“Harry, how could you do this? Are you…” She lifted up the black cocktail dress she had picked up, and covered herself as she spoke “Are you going to sell me?”

Sam let out a deep laugh. He had heard that one before, it was completely unoriginal but it always tickled him.

“No Darlin’, I’m not gonna sell you.” He turned his back on her. They never retaliated, they were always too stunned and embarrassed. Her face turned three shades of red, and then she stomped towards the opposite end of the boat.

Sam turned back towards the river. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

“Time for breakfast” He said to no one. He turned and walked back to the cabin. “Maybe some Eggs benedict. That’ll hit the spot.” He opened up his portable fridge and pulled out a beer. “Then again, this is all I need” Sam took a long slow drink of his beverage. He savored the bitterness, and thought about absolutely nothing. He felt like a quiet mind was a healthy mind.

The silence was broken by the sound of the water splashing outside. Had that stupid girl jumped? He rushed through the cabin to the other side of the boat, he was not going to be responsible for her drowning.

There she stood, surrounded by water, dressed in a long tattered turquoise gown. Her hair was soaked, and clung to her face and shoulders as if they were afraid to lose her. Her lips were a cool blue, and her skin was so pale Sam thought he could see her blood coursing through her veins. But her face, it wasn’t the face of the girl he’d spent the night with.

“SARAH” He screamed as he burst through the cabin’s back door, reaching his hand out in front of him to grasp her. As soon as she was close enough to touch, she slid off of the edge of the boat and into the water. Sam threw his body into the bough of the boat and screamed “SARAH! SARAH, COME BACK! SARAH!” His eyes filled with hot tears. He reached his hand into the water and brought only his hand back again. “Sarah” he whispered. He closed his eyes and scooped the water up in his cupped hand, bringing it to his face.

“Maybe I can smell her.”

But all he could smell was water. His heart ached.

“Who’s Sarah?” Sam whipped his head around to see his conquest standing just inside the doorway leading into the cabin.

“She’s….she’s my wife” Her eyes lit up with deviant joy

“I didn’t know you had a WIFE Harry! How does SHE feel about you dragging young unsuspecting women out to sea?” Her tone was overly condescending.

“She wouldn’t think much of it at all…..eh..umm” She rolled her eyes

“Jen! My name is Jen”

“Right, Jen. She wouldn’t think much of it, she doesn’t think much of me. And this is the Bay. Not the Sea” He stood to his feet letting the water drip all over his bathrobe. Jen rolled her eyes at him like a rebellious teenager.

“What does THAT mean?”

“Well a Bay is-”

“NO not that you asshole, what do you mean she doesn’t think much of you”

“It means, it...it doesn’t matter what it means” he slid down to the floor. “I haven’t seen her in years. She ran off with my….well. Let’s just say she left me.”

Sam rubbed his hand on his face, pressing the heel of his hand into his eyes. Jen walked over and knelt down beside him.

“Poor thing” Her voice was soft, and caring now. Sam looked into her face, and was suddenly filled with an uncontrollable rage.

“We’re going to shore, and when we do, I want you gone. GONE, YOU HEAR ME?” Jen sat back, mouth agape. He stood to his feet and rushed into the door of the cabin, furiously plotting in his next move.

Sam didn’t go to the local bars that day, instead he went out looking for fishing equipment. He knew he needed a net. Sure it sounded cruel, but it was the only way he could think to keep Sarah from escaping back into the water. She’d be back, he knew it. And when she came back, he’d be ready. He fashioned a trap, laying the entire net onto the deck of the boat. He bought house plants to create an illusion. As he began arranging his trap, he stopped

“What am I doing?” He looked all around at the net, the fake house plants. He fell back onto the deck and closed his eyes. “I was over her” he rubbed his hand over his face, sweeping the sweat from his brow to his lips. “I’m just….what the fuck did that TV therapist say?” he squinted hard “I’m just manifesting an illusion based on trauma.” Sam sat up again and looked around. The net was a sad reminder of what he was, an old man living out a teenage desire. He’d convinced himself that this boat was a dream, but it had been a way to escape everything that had happened. He rose to his feet “I’ll clean it up in the morning” He went into the cabin to rest.

Collapsing onto his cot in ‘captain’s quarters’ Sam closed his eyes and thought about Sarah. He imagined her face on the last day he saw her. Standing on the doorstep, holding their three year old daughter in her arms. Her big eyes filled with tears.

“How could you do this to us Sam? HOW COULD YOU RUIN OUR LIVES LIKE THIS?” He remembered how her skin was so smooth, porcelain, and how her petite dancer’s frame outlined the doorway. She’d been a vision, a perfect specimen of womanhood.

Sam squinted his eyes tight before opening them again. The room was dark, filled with nothing but lost memories he couldn’t shake. He began to think about the day his daughter was born. The night he and Sarah got married, and all those ballet productions she’d been a part of. He sat up in his bed, looking towards the stairs that led to the cabin above. There, stood the residual memory of his wife. Standing in the darkness, three year old on hip, with ice blue eyes staring back into his with such hurt.

“I’m so sorry Sarah.” He whispered. The vision said nothing, just looked through him with a gaze that brought tears to his eyes. “Sarah, is that you?” he rose to his feet, not taking his eyes off the image in front of him. Maybe this was it, maybe this was his chance to make it right. As he approached, her face began to twist and distort. The child on her hip began to melt like a wax figure in an inferno. Her lips turned green, her hair began to straggle, it was as if she was drowning right in front of him.

“Sarah” he reached his hand out to touch her. “Sarah, please understand” he wrapped his hand around her arm, he could feel her! He quickly pulled onto her bringing her into him, as he did her being exploded into a heap of water. Suddenly all around him was nothing but water, rising and rushing, pushing to and fro across the floor. Sam looked to the stairs to see water rushing down in haste. He screamed as he felt the water rise to his calves. He lunged towards the stairs, with all his might fighting against the current that flowed down toward him. Entering his mouth and his lungs. Sam tried to fight it, but the more he tried the more water rushed towards him. He looked to the top of the stairs

There, standing amidst the water all around, stood a figure, hideous to behold. Eyes the size of tennis balls, completely red, thumping as though they were the source of blood. No nose, and a mouth like a fish….with sharp scraggled teeth. It’s body was that of a slender woman….like Sarah’s. It opened it’s mouth, letting out a deep bellow that Sam could feel in the pit of his soul.

“I’m here love.” as it spoke, water came pouring from it’s mouth, and with it pieces of what looked like human flesh, blood, and fingernails.

“We’ll be together now” the water rose to Sam’s neck, he couldn’t take his eyes off of the creature.

It smiled at Sam, the water engulfed him.

“Forever and ever Sam. In the water”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Elisia

 Elisia sat on the porch swing at her mother’s house, looking out at the field of wildflowers just in the distance. She closed her eyes, and let their warm smell fill her lungs. She felt like she was home. She opened her eyes and held her left hand out in front of her face, admiring the diamond ring on her finger. Her fiancee had proposed earlier that week, and she was still riding on cloud nine. Elisia heard a rustling at the front door, she turned her head to see her mother barreling through the screen door with a pitcher of lemonade and two glasses on a tray.

“Okay Lissie! Let’s get to planning!” She set the tray down on the small patio table nearest to Elisia. “We have to figure out a venue, a cake, a dress” Elisia looked over into her mother’s face. Her eyes were lit up with an excitement that made her heart feel so full.

“I think that Chloe wants matching dresses” Elisia’s mother poured her a glass

“Oh, do you mean like matching wedding gowns? Or were you looking for something more like Bridesmaids matching dresses?” Elisia looked at her ring again

“I think she wants one of us to wear a gown, and the other to wear a cocktail dress in the same style” She shook her head and looked up

“That’s not why I’m here, Mom. I came because I wanted to talk to you about my Father” Elisia’s mother sat down beside her on the porch swing with a glass of lemonade. She took a long sip.

“Now, I don’t think finding a gown and cocktail dress that are similar should be a problem. The hard part would be deciding who wears what! You both have very beautiful legs, but a gown is just classic”

“Mom, did you hear me? I want to talk about my FATHER” Elisia stood up and walked in front of her mother making sure that she met her eye line.

“I’m about to get married. It’s a big deal. Everyone will be there, you, Gran and Grandaddy. Chloe’s relatives from New York are coming. It’s important” Elisia felt the tears well up in her eyes. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t become emotional.

“I know that Lissie, but what does any of that have to do with your Father” Her mother took another long sip of Lemonade. Elisia looked out over their property. They’d lived here her entire life. Just the two of them, in this little house on the outskirts of Gatlinburg Tennessee. She’d gone to College in New York, and that’s where she met Chloe. Everything in her life was falling into place. Except of course, the mystery of her Father.

“I feel empty and sick about it Mom. Chloe’s Dad is going to be giving her away. I want…” Elisia felt a lump in her throat.

“You want your Daddy to walk you down the aisle.” Her Mother’s voice cracked “Well, what’s wrong with having a Mama walk you down the aisle Lissie? Hmmm? I’d be more than happy to-”

“It’s not that” Elisia’s words were full of ache, she could feel the heat in her face, and the tears welling up in her eyes. “Don’t get emotional” she thought

“I just need to know who he is. Where he is. Is he alive? Did I even have a Father?”

Her mother put the empty glass back down on the table. Her eyes began to gloss over.

“I had hoped, prayed even, that this day would never come. I thought that I would be all you need. I was foolish in thinking that you, my sweet girl, would never ask me this. I imagined as I was rocking you on this swing when you were a baby, that in would be us against all odds. I believed that if I loved you enough, supported you enough, maybe I could BE enough.” Elisia turned away, looking out at the wildflowers. Her heart swelled with guilt.

“Yes Lissie bug, you have a Father. He lives in Alabama” Elisia turned around quickly to look at her mother still sitting on the porch swing.

“I left him when you were still in my belly. I didn’t even tell him that you existed. I packed my things and left in the dead of night. He thinks I’m dead” Her mother’s tears began to run down her cheeks. “Please don’t try to find him, don’t try to reach out. I changed my name so that he couldn’t find me. He was a bad bad man, Lissie bug. An awful, vengeful man.” Her Mother got up, wiping her tears on her apron.

“Tomorrow when Chloe gets here we’ll go into town and look for dresses. Mrs. Tillman said that she will bake your wedding cake, she’s over the moon excited about it.” She put her fingertips under Elisia’s chin, smiled that loving smile that only a Mother has, and locked eyes with her.

“His name is Gregory, Lissie Bug. He would have killed us both if we’d stayed.” She pushed Elisia’s long black hair behind her ear. “

“This week should be a happy one, let’s not discuss it again” Elisia smiled painfully at her Mother

“Yes Mommy” she whispered.

Her Mother put her arm around her shoulder, guiding her into the house, leaving the conversation behind.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Maple Street Part 2

    Maryanne sat in the kitchenette drinking her fourth cup of coffee. She hadn’t slept much in 2 weeks. Not since James had brought that woman home. She’d had a bad feeling about her from the moment she showed up on their front doorstep, something had seemed off. She was asking for someone named Samuel. Maryanne had volunteered in a psychiatric facility when she was a nurse, she knew that you didn’t argue with the mentally ill and unstable. That’s why she’d said “He’s not here” instead of “You have the wrong address”

Looking back, maybe telling her she’d had the wrong address would have prevented all of this. Maybe she would have thrown herself in front of someone else’s car. Maybe she would have broken up another couple’s marriage, and left her and James alone.

“She’s all alone Maryanne” James had said.

“There are lots of people who are all alone, Jim. Why is that our responsibility?” She remembered the look he gave her and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Maryanne this girl thinks that I’m her father! She needs someone to trust! Can’t we provide that for her?” He dug through their closet looking for something, sighing and shaking his head.

“That poor girl, poor girl I can’t even imagine what she’s been through. She thinks that her father hit her with a car. And she still wants to make amends!”

“Woman” Maryanne had said it in a short, harsh voice.

“What?”

“You keep saying ‘girl’ you make her sound like a small child appeared on our doorstep asking for help. She’s a grown woman, James. A grown woman who THREW herself in front of a moving vehicle!” James yanked their travel case out of the closet and pulled the price tag off.

“She’s coming to stay Maryanne. Just for a while. Just until she finds her way”

That had been that. That was the end of the conversation. James had come home in a few hours with an unwanted house guest, who immediately asked to call her mama, or mah-mah or maa maa. Something strange.

“Can I call you Mom-ma?” Maryanne wanted no part in that. She refused to play along in their deceitful, and almost perverse game of house. And yet, she called her by that name anyway. Everyday, without fail, called her by-

Maryanne looked up at the sound of footsteps. She was coming….

  Rachel ran her fingers along the wallpaper in the hallway. She didn’t remember any of it. She didn’t know if it was the same wallpaper that they’d had when her and her mother lived there. She imagined that after they left, her father was so distraught that he changed everything. That’s why none of her things were still in her bedroom. That’s why everything was so different. She took in a deep breath. Coffee. Mom-ma had made coffee. Mom-ma made coffee every morning. She’d get up before dawn and make so much coffee! Rachel loved it. It was like their own little tradition. Their own little something that they had together that they could share. She walked down the stairs, letting her fingers dance across the railing.

“Mom-ma!” Rachel called out in a sing-songy voice “Mom-ma, I’m coming!” Rachel’s heart began to pound with joy. Soon she’d be sitting at the kitchenette with Mom-ma and they’d wait for Daddy to wake up. Daddy hadn’t been to work for 2 weeks. He wanted to stay home and help Rachel get acclimated to her new home. But of COURSE she’d have no problem getting used to her new home. In a way, this had always been her home.

Rachel came galloping into the kitchenette to see Maryanne sitting at the table with a fresh cup of coffee.

“Oh Mom-ma!” Rachel exclaimed. “You and your caffeine addiction!”

“Please” Maryanne whispered with a shake to her voice “Please, just leave. Please leave. I can’t go on like this. I can’t do THIS any longer. I am weak. I am so exhausted. Can you please, please just find someone else to torture.” Rachel poured herself a cup of coffee and spun around on her heel to face Maryanne.

“But Mom-ma” She said in a sickeningly sweet tone “We only just started to get along. We only just started to get back on track. Oh Mom-ma, we’re a family. I can’t leave you!” Rachel took a long sip of her coffee.

“He’s not your Father” Maryanne thought. She wanted to scream it at her. She wanted to tell Rachel that this whole thing was a lie. That she should take her backpack and leave. She squeezed her mug tightly in her hands.

Rachel stood from the table and slowly made her way to the refrigerator. “Maybe some breakfast would cheer you up”

“I’m not hungry” Maryanne lied. She was starving, she’d barely eaten in a week. Rachel pulled out the milk and the container of oats from on top of the fridge.

“Mom-ma, I’m going to make you some oatmeal. It’s good for you. I want you to stay healthy” Rachel brought her supplies to the stove and started looking for a pot.

The sink was full of dirty dishes, stacks of pots and pans with crusted on oatmeal, sauce, meat and cheese.

“Mom-ma, are you alright? You haven’t done any dishes. That’s how people get sick you know. Once, when I was in the women’s shelter with my mother, I had dish duty. And, oh my goodness Mom-ma it was awful” Rachel let out a small laugh.

“Did Daddy ever tell you about my Mother?” Rachel started filled a saucepan with tap water.

“I imagine he did, He would have had to. In order to have a healthy marriage you should talk about these sorts of things” Maryanne began to shift in her seat. She looked down into her now empty mug.

“No, he never told me about your Mother” Rachel’s head snapped around so fast Maryanne thought she heard her neck crack.

“REALLY? Well, my darling Mom-ma, let me enlighten you” Rachel sat down at the table across from Maryanne. The stove was still on high.

“My mother was a dancer. She worked for a ballet company here in Jackson. She was the most… she was so beautiful…” Rachel’s voice seemed to trail off, her brow furrowed like she was trying to remember.

“There was no Ballet Company in Jackson.” Maryanne thought “St. Paul maybe, but not Jackson.”

“I’m sure she was very beautiful” Maryanne spoke softly, but inside she was screaming.

“We left Daddy when I was 5. I’m sure he told you that much. We ran away. We went to stay with my Grandmother in New York, and when she died….” Rachel trailed off again.

Behind her Maryanne could see the oatmeal bubbling up. This was her chance.

“Rachel, sweetie” She was careful to speak how she imagined a loving mother would. “The oatmeal is….”

“When my Grandmother died the bank took the house and me and my mother were on the street. Do you know what happens on the street Mom-ma? Do you know what happens to a little girl and her beautiful young mother, alone on the street?”

Rachel’s eyes widened and then softened again

“Dear, the o-”

“I don’t imagine you would know about such things. Would you Mom-ma? You were too busy keeping my Daddy from looking for me. He would’ve come for me had it not been for you. I know that. I didn’t know, not when I came here. But, he did come for me in the hospital. That’s how I know. That’s how I know he would have come for me, had it not been for you seducing him into this...this loveless marriage”

Maryanne lost herself, for just a moment in those words

“Loveless ma- loveless?!” her voice cracked

“Mom-ma. Of course it’s a loveless marriage” Maryanne looked behind Rachel to see a large bubble of oatmeal forming just above the rim of the saucepan. “If he loved you, truly truly loved you, he would have left me in that hospital bed” Rachel stood up and turned towards the stove. This was it, this was Maryanne’s moment.

With every ounce of strength in her, she threw the mug at the back of Rachel’s head. Without waiting to see impact, she arose knocking her chair to the ground and ran from the kitchenette toward the front door. She could hear the chain clanging behind her as she made it just to the doorway, then felt an all too familiar pain in her ankle. Maryanne came crashing to the ground. She glanced behind her to see Rachel sitting on the floor with broken mug all around her. She could hear the oatmeal bubbling over into the flames on the oven range. She looked down at her ankle, at the chain wrapped tightly around it causing dark bruises. She’d been sitting at that kitchenette table for a week and a half. She hadn’t seen James in 3 days. Maryanne looked back at Rachel to make sure she was still there, she was, but there might not be time. Maryanne took a deep breath, and pulled her leg, the other end of the chain was attached to the table. She pulled her leg, and the table moved just a bit. She began to wiggle and pull, wiggle and pull.

“She turned me out Mom-ma” Maryanne froze, and quickly looked into the direction where Rachel had been sitting. Only now she was standing, with something in her hand. “Mother left because of you Mom-ma. I always knew. She told me. She told me Daddy had a whore on the side and that’s why we left. That Daddy had found someone else to love. She tried to turn me out Mom-ma. She thought that because I was young and cute that I’d make us some money. But the John she turned me out to was an undercover cop. So Mother went to an institution, I went into the system” Maryanne’s eyes widened in horror. Rachel began to move towards her.

“I ran away when I was 16 because I knew. I knew that we could be a family. A real family. Me, Mother and Daddy. But when I went to the hospital where Mother was the Doctors wouldn’t let me see her. They said she was a Paranoid Sociopath. She has 2 conflicting mental disorders, and she’s violent. But she would have been fine, Mom-ma. She would have been fine if it weren’t for you.” It was now that Maryanne noticed the smoke. The stove was still on!

Rachel was now standing right in front of Maryanne. The will to live was not as strong as it had been moments ago. She accepted that this poor, crazy homeless woman was going to kill her. And that would be it, that would be the end of this hell. Rachel was now so close to Maryanne’s face that she could have crushed Maryanne’s head with her shoe. Rachel knelt down to eye level with Maryanne, raising the object in her hand so that it was parallel to her cheek.

“Maryanne” Her eyes were wide, unblinking.

“Yes Rachel” Maryanne whispered with fear and exhaustion.

“I don’t think it fair. That you would lie to me” Maryanne furrowed her brow in confusion, before the grim reality struck her all at once.

“YOU KNEW? YOU KNEW HE WASN’T YOUR FATHER” Rachel’s lips spread into a sinister smile, as she nodded slowly.

“I figured it out. What I don’t understand is, you had all that time to tell me I was wrong. You could have told me right away that I’d made a mistake.”

She pulled the object in her hand in front of her face so Maryanne could see.

A butcher knife.

“Because you’re not the REAL Mom-ma, I’m going to let you go.” The fire alarm started to go off. The house was filling with smoke, the flames engulfed the kitchenette. Rachel rose to her feet and walked over to Maryanne’s foot that was tied up in chains.

Rachel raised the butcher knife over her head and screamed and she came down full force onto Maryanne’s ankle, only plunging it halfway through. She let go. Maryanne let out a painful whimper, it was all she had left within her, the feeling of the blade inside her was so intense. She looked up into Rachel’s eyes once more, now surrounded by smoke.

“You’ll have to do the rest yourself.”

    Rachel sat on Black Bridge road in Des Moines. She had walked almost 2 hours to get there, but now she could sit and watch the house on Maple street burn. It was quite a show. She could hear the fire engines, like the sweet serenade of victory. She’d find him someday. But today, she was happy to watch their world burn.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The Guardian

Char had been a miserable child. Everyone knew it. Her mother used to say “She was born with a frown”. It was all in good fun at first; 2 years of Char’s life were a wash of “Oh, she’s just a grumpy little thing isn’t she?” and “Oh what a little sourpuss”

Char, born Charlotte Ann, was not a sourpuss or a grumpy little thing. Char was just, cautious. Char knew things. Things that others around her seemed ignorant to, or at least they were pretending they were. It started very small. Like, when you’re in a crowd and there are so many faces that it’s easy to miss one. Char’s earliest memory, was of Her being in the background.

Her.

This woman, this silent, unmoving woman. Just standing in the background of her 5^th birthday party. Big eyes staring deep into Char’s. It wasn’t a big deal. Nothing to be afraid of. It was an outdoor birthday party. Maybe she’d been a neighbor.

But then after that day

The Woman always seemed to be, around. Char would have a ballet recital, the Woman would be somewhere in the audience, just watching. Unmoving, silent, watching. It didn’t frighten Char, not as much as it unnerved her. The Woman seemed to only be just in the distance; In the street, at family events. Sometimes when Char would go to the grocery store with her mother, the Woman would be there; Staring directly at Char. The night before her 10^th birthday, all that changed.

Char was laying in bed, staring up at her glowing moonscape stickers on her ceiling. When she felt that all too familiar unease. That feeling you get when you’re being watched.

She rolled to her side assuming that she would see her mother standing in her doorway, as she so often did when she came to check on Char before bed.

But there

in the door-frame

Stood the figure of the Woman. THE Woman. Her skin was gray, pulled tight onto her skull. Her eyes were so wide it was as if she had no eyelids at all. She stood in Char’s doorway, looking deeply into Char’s eyes. Unblinking. Char didn’t feel afraid, just confused. Until of course she spoke

“Why…..don’t you give mama a smile….” her voice was a decibel so high that she could have broken glass with a soft giggle. Char Smacked her hands over her ears. Not turning away from those eyes. The Woman reached out her hands toward Char. Long skeletal fingers with cracked and broken nails stretched toward her with unnatural strain. They seemed to grow longer with each passing second.

“A SMILE DARLING! SHOW MAMA A SMILE!” The woman opened her mouth so remarkably wide, as if she was about to gobble up char in one gulp. Her tongue was long and pronged like a lizards. Her teeth were all too straight. There were too many of them….at least 50, no 60 teeth all crammed into that ungodly wide mouth.

“SMILE!” The woman lunged at Char, she closed her eyes and screamed

When Char opened her eyes she saw her mother in the place of where the Woman had stood, and the sun was shining through her window. He mother held a large stack of pancakes with a candle in the center.

“Happy Birthday my sweet Charlotte Ann! You’re the big 1-0 today!” Her mother’s perky voice was a small comfort.

“It must have been a dream” She thought

Char was afraid to go to sleep that night. She was afraid that she’d see the woman at the bus stop, or at her birthday party, or even at school. She was afraid that the dream would come back. What if the dream came back, and the woman caught her? Char suffered through a morning of upbeat birthday singing, cupcakes brought to her 4^th grade class in the middle of math. Char had always felt a bit disconnected, but today she like she was in a trance. Art class came, and Char finally felt a release. She loved to paint and draw, her favorite was when they’d learned about charcoal rubbing.

“Today Children, I want you to choose what medium you want to express yourselves. I have set up the supplies on this table here, and you will have the next hour to create whatever your heart desires!” a child raised their hand

“Yes Freidrick?”

“Freddy, Miss, Miss? What if I want to do a large or tiny painting?”

“You can create whatever your heart desires!”

“So it doesn’t have to be medium?”

The whole class giggled. Without answering, the teacher gestured to the table and everyone got up to pick their art supplies.

When Char walked over though, she found a set of colored pencils that were all….dark. All deep colors like navy blue, onyx and night sky. She picked it up, as well as a sketch notebook, and went back to her desk.

She started with onyx. Char drew a big oval shape, and colored it in just so, just enough leaving a space in the center. She pulled out a gray pencil and began to draw a face in the center of the oval. She drew tight cheekbones, and twisted lips. She looked up for a moment, afraid she’d see the Woman standing in the classroom. But there was nothing. Only the other kids painting clowns and race cars and their favorite TV character. She almost didn’t notice her teacher coming up behind her.

“Oh, and what do we have here Charlotte?” Char looked up into her teacher’s eyes. She watched as they went from curiosity, to confusion. Then, her teacher’s eyes began to widen, and her mouth fell agape.

“Oh my God” She whimpered “Charlotte see me after class” her voice shook with what sounded like anger. She slid the picture off the table away from Char.

“What did I do?” Char thought.

When the bell rang all of Char’s friends and classmates scurried off to recess, but she stayed behind. Her Teacher sat at her desk in the corner of the classroom, looking intently with furrowed brow at Char’s picture.

“Miss Hutchinson?” She spoke meekly. “Is there something wrong with my drawing?”

Miss Hutchinson said nothing. For what felt like an eternity she gaped at the drawing, as if not knowing where to begin.

“Charlotte” Miss Hutchinson Croaked “where did you get the idea to draw this….this THING?” Her voice was breathy and loud, as if she wanted to whisper but was too panicked.

She held the picture up to Char so that she was face to face with what had been haunting her. The wide eyes and teeth, the sickeningly taut skin, all staring back at Char.

“She follows me”

“Follows...she FOLLOWS you? So this thing is something that you’ve seen? This is some ONE you know?” Before Char could answer Miss Hutchinson grabbed her cell phone and began frantically dialing.

“Yes, Yes Paul? I need to speak to Paul please. It’s urgent.” Char let her eyes wander towards the door to the classroom. There, standing in the side panel window, The Woman stood. She smiled at Char.

And for the first time, Char smiled back

“Paul! Oh my God I’m so glad I caught you.” Char arose from her chair. She wasn’t afraid or unnerved. It was time

“Paul, it’s happening again. She came back. One of the students in my class. I need you to come right away with your equipment” Miss Hutchinson looked toward Char as she hung up the phone.

“Everything is going to be OK Charlotte” Char turned her head, locking eyes with Miss Hutchinson.

“Show Mama a Smile”

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