Smile

CW: murder, suicide

She looked around her surroundings, the darkness bathing her in paranoia. Each footstep she took vibrated up to her ears, competing with the loudness of her heartbeat, thudding voraciously in her chest.

She walked along the sidewalk. On her right side sat a fenced forest, left side a road, and beyond the road stood a long wall that went all way to the neighborhood. Once she got there, she was a free woman. The cat prowled along the long wall, looking at her, and it gave her a start. Then it jumped inside the walled depot.

She heard a step. She snapped a look behind.

No one was there.

She quickened her steps. She tripped over and fell to the ground. The heel got stuck in the gap of the sidewalk. She felt like she was going crazy. She darted her glance everywhere. No one was walking behind her. It was an empty moonlit street.

She intentionally stayed there like that. She wanted to face the stalker, but after a few minutes, she sighed and stood. She dusted herself off. Her breathing normalized. She returned home and plopped down on the couch.

She called a friend. Her friend answered. “Hey, Raphael! Want to schmooze and booze again?”

“Someone is stalking me. He has been stalking me for months, and I can’t take it anymore.”

“Wha?” Her friend paused. “Someone’s stalking you? You’re just imagining it.”

“I’m serious.”

“Er… How long has it been that he’s stalking you? And how are you so sure that he’s a male?”

“It’s been a few months. I didn’t want to tell you since you’d say that I’m imagining it. And now you did.”

“Well, as long as he doesn’t harm you, everything’s pretty much okay, right?”

Raphael remained silent. Her friend followed: “S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that. You need to call the police. They’ll gladly help you—they have it in for stalkers.”

I smiled.

Raphael felt a shiver. She jumped out of her sofa and looked about. She was out of breath so much that she wanted to puke. “Raphael? Raphael? You still there?” Her heart was going to explode. “R-Raphael, don’t you dare scare me. Tell me—what’s going on?”

“The stalker. He’s here.”

“Huh?”

Raphael kept her phone on and reached for the knife in the kitchen. She sneaked toward the door and slammed it open. She hid her knife a bit and walked outside, scanning her surroundings. A car passed by so she hid her knife more.

She returned inside and closed the door. “Raphael, are you okay?”

“Yes. I have my knife.” Even with a weapon, her legs were shivering, her arms jelly.

“Is he there?”

“I can feel him.”

She walked upstairs, and each creak triggered her to stab herself with her knife. But she resisted. She went to her room and—

“R-Raphael! Help me!”

“Huh?”

Raphael stared at her phone. “Chloe? Chloe!” Her hand was shaking along with the knife, and she almost wanted to drop it. “Chloe! Answer me, goddammit!”

Chloe laughed. “Raphael, I’ll tell you what—you’re the funniest friend I’ve ever met! Your seriousness gets me every time!”

“This isn’t a joke, Chloe.”

“Hey, take it easy—”

Raphael slammed the red button and threw her phone onto the bed. She felt like she wanted to tore the screen apart with her knife. She looked at her phone once more, and once she turned around to face the door, she gasped.

I smiled.

Raphael jumped backward and took a pratfall, ass to the floor, and snapped looks around. “Who’s there?” She held her knife both-handed, pointing at wherever she could. “Answer me, who’s there!”

She scrambled up to the door and exited the room, clumsily ran down the stairs, and left the house then and there. Hiding her knife in her pocket, she ran down the street with her all might, huffing and puffing, and looked behind if the stalker was still following her.

She turned onto the path where it divided into three roads; she chose the left one and walked speedily. She hailed a taxi and embarked on the car. She told the driver the directions. After they reached their destination, she left the car without paying and ran up to Chloe’s house.

She rapped on the door. The taxi driver slammed the door shut and gave Raphael the elbow pose, fists on his waist. As Raphael opened the door, she saw a corpse sprawled across the floor, blood splattered all over the place. She swallowed her puke and cried.

She kept on crying and crying. The taxi driver still stood there, waiting for her to pay. “Oh, hello, Raphael,” Chloe said, as she turned up in the doorway. “I killed your stalker.”

Raphael widened her eyes.

“Look.” Chloe showed her knife. “See his blood? It felt nice killing a lowlife like him.” She approached her slowly.

Raphael stepped back and unsheathed her knife. “S-Stay away…”

The taxi driver raised his eyebrows.

He smiled.

Chills ran in Raphael’s spine, and she looked behind at the taxi driver. She faced Chloe again, looked at the taxi driver again. Again and again, until she screamed, “Get away from me!”

“It’s okay, Raphael.” Chloe caressed her cheeks. “Everything is going to be alright.”

Raphael’s lips shivered. She stabbed her in the neck, and she didn’t know what was going on until she realized she pierced a knife in Chloe’s throat. Chloe held her throat both-handed, fell to her knees, and face-planted.

The taxi driver gasped and got back into the car, then set off right away. Raphael watched the taxi driver pass the intersection. She dropped the knife and looked at her palms.

“Chloe…” She approached her. She fell to her knees and cried over Chloe’s body. “Chloe!”

She felt him again. She screamed like a madwoman and picked up her knife. “Show yourself! Show yourself, you coward!” She stood up and spun pointing her knife.

She couldn’t take the dizziness anymore so she decided to take her life.

Raphael keeled over and fell to the ground beside Chloe.

I smiled.