Losing that Smile
Prologue: Remembrance
Jeff sat on his torn up couch in his crumbling, smelly,
bug infested, and dark apartment. He wasn’t feeling anything, only that feeling. That feeling that he’d had all of his life. That feeling he’d had that made him have the desire to kill every living thing that he would see or even think of. But aside from that, loneliness. He had just been over at the abandoned hospital where they all used to live together, but then some fancy and stuck-up SOB thought it would be a good idea to build his manor there and they were forced to leave so they weren’t to let the world know they existed. After that, they all started fighting about where to live from there on and eventually went their separate ways. Jeff didn’t even care that they were gone, Slenderman, Jack, Jane, Ben, none of them. They were always jerks towards him. All except one. Smile Dog. Smile Dog was the only one he missed. He was the one who was always there for him when he had a bad day and needed comforting, and even got to the point where he allowed Jeff to call him “Smiley”. Before the whole mansion incident Jeff made a drawing of himself and Smiley, but after that, Smiley insisted that Jeff keep it for him to remember all the time they’d spent together.
Jeff stared at his handy work he’d drawn, what? Days, months, maybe a year ago? It didn’t matter, what did matter is that he could still hold on to those memories he had of all the good times he’d had with his closest friend. Setting down the photo, he reluctantly got up from his couch, as much as he just wanted to sit there and do nothing, and decided to look for something to do to take his mind off his recent family crisis. He passed through the kitchen, living room, then made his way up towards the attic in his room. When he opened his bedroom door it gave out a long shrill creaking noise, then fell off of the hinges 4 seconds later. “Oh come on!” Jeff said both annoyed and angry “That’s the sixth time this month now!” Jeff gave the broken door one last look before kicking it with his right foot. “Piece of junk, now I’m going to have to fix you agai-, you know what, screw it!” That was the last time he looked at the door before pulling out the latter to the attic and hesitantly climbed up into the attic.
The attic door flung open and hit the floor with a loud THUD! After that, Jeffs’ head peaked out and observed what laid in front of him. “How long has been since I’ve been up here!?” Jeff asked confused to no one. “Well, lets get this over with.” Jeff sighed as he made his way through the maze of junk the previous owners had left behind. It was then he realized he’d brought a flashlight with him and would be able to navigate the attic a little better. After turning it on, his vision was a lot better without the light on. “Huh” Jeff mumbled. “All we need now are eight pages, and a faceless freak. It had been a long time since Jeff had made a joke as good as that, if only someone were there to actually hear it. He sighed in defeat as he continued walking and looking for something of interest, all he saw was stuff like, Halo: Contact Harvest, a copy of Martin Garrixs’ EP, Animals, and an autographed edition of The Marshall Mathers LP2. “Who the hell is Marshall Mathers?! And why was person so obsessed with music?! Deciding to just drop the subject, he kept making his way through the labyrinth he called an attic. He was about to call it quits, but then he saw it, something that caught his eye. A picture, a simple picture of a family that seemed awfully familiar. Curious, he picked up the picture and examined it closely. “Why does this picture seem so famili-” Jeff never was able to finish his sentence, for right at that moment his head was flooded with memories of his past, but he didn’t know that. Jeff fell to the floor, tightly clenching his head in pain as the memories rapidly entered his head. “AUUGGGGGHHHHHHH, OH GOD, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!” Was the last thing Jeff said before blacking out entirely.
Jeff's’ eyes fluttered open to find that he wasn’t in the attic anymore. Scratch that, he wasn’t even AT his own apartment anymore. He was inside some kind of house. “Wher- where the, ow, where the hell am I?” Jeff said dizzly as the sudden pain in his head left him with a severe headache. Slowly, Jeff pushed the pain aside and got onto his feet. Observing his surroundings, he saw that there were parents in the same room (Which he identified as the dining room) as him, but didn’t seem to notice him. “Strange. How do they not even, ow, not even notice me?” Jeff pondered over the question as he took another look around the room. As was about to stop, he noticed a slide door made out of glass to what must have been the backyard. He made his way towards it and looked outside to see a bunch of little kids and by the looks of it a thirteen-year old kid playing some kind of cowboy game with fake guns and hats to make it seem real. But it was the thirteen-year old that got his attention. It wasn’t that he was playing with kindergarteners, or that he actually looked like he was having fun, it was the way he was dressed. The kid was wearing a white hoodie, black jeans, and black and white sneakers. In an attempt to find out what the hell was going on, he opened the door and made his way through the yard and walked towards the teenager. Just 5 feet away, Jeff reached out a hand and was about to tap the kid on the shoulder, then he suddenly stopped. Jeff was confused until he heard the sound of skateboard wheels getting closer until 3 kids jumped the fence and sent the kids running in fear, except the teenager who looked like he was in shock. Jeff was about to ready himself for anything, then the leader of the group spoke. “Hello, Jeff, isn’t it?” He said “ We have some unfinished business.” Jeff was absolutely horrified at what he saw unfolding before him. It all made sense now. The picture. The way he was dressed, and the kids that said that they had “unfinished business” to settle. It was those bastards Troy, Keith, and Randy. Before Jeff could react to what was happening, his alternate self said. “I think we’re even, I beat the crap out of you, and you got my brother sent to JDC.” Randy became infuriated. “Oh no, I don’t go for even, I go for winning. You may have got our assess kicked that one day, but not today.” Then Randy rushed Jeff and they both went flying towards the ground. Kids were screaming and parents were running out of the house. Troy and Keith saw what was happening and pulled guns out from their pockets and aimed them towards Jeffs’ heart. “No one interrupts or guts will fly!” Randy shouted as a warning to the parents who didn’t get what was going on right away. After that, Randy focused his attention back towards Jeff and pulled out his switchblade and stabbed him in his left shoulder. Jeff screamed in pain as the blade pierced his shoulder. After that, Randy started kicking him in the face. After three kicks, Jeff grabbed his foot and twisted it, causing him to fall to the ground. The actual Jeff watched in amazement at what his alternative self was doing. Jeff slowly limped towards the door, but before he could open it, Troy grabbed him. “Need some help?” Troy asked mockingly as he picked him up by his collar and threw him through and on to the kitchen floor. Jeff attempted to stand up, but was kicked to the ground by Randy who immediately him in the face until he eventually starts to cough up blood. “Come on Jeff, fight me!” Randy ordered as he picked up Jeff by his throat, picked up a nearby glass of vodka, and smashes over Jeff's head. When he received no response, he threw him to the ground. “FIGHT!” He ordered again as he threw Jeff into the living room. “Come on Jeff, look at me!” Having little choice Jeff looks up with blood riddling down his face and faces Randy “I got your brother sent to JDC! And now you’re just gonna let him sit there and rot for a whole year! You should be ashamed!” Having heard enough, and having enough anger built up inside of him, Jeff slowly gets up. “Oh, now you fight!” Jeff gets on to his feet and has that feeling he had been feeling ever since he moved in.
The memory seems to move ahead as Jeff is thrown into darkness for a couple of seconds. Eventually another scene is in front of him, he’s in a hospital room with a kid that has cloth wrapped around his face like a mummy. He was so focused on the kid he almost didn’t notice the doctor, his mother, father, or brother were even in the room. The doctor appeared to be unwrapping the bandages off of the kid’s face, while his family were sitting on the edges of their seats. “Lets hope for the best” The doctor said before removing the bandages entirely. His mother let out a scream, while his brother and father looked taken back by what they saw.
“Oh my God.” Jeff said as he saw his alternate self as shocked as he was. “What, what happened to my face?” Jeff ran out of bed and to the bathroom with the real Jeff close behind him. What Jeff saw horrified him. His face, it...it was horrible. His face was dead white and had a leathery texture to it as he put his left hand on it. His hair was singed black. And his lips were burnt a deep shade of red. “J-J-Jeff.” his brother said nervously. “It-it’s not s-so bad.” Jeff quickly faced his brother. “Not that bad?" He turned his attention back to the mirror "It’s perfect!” After that he began laughing uncontrollably, which kinda creeped
the real Jeff out as he cringed back a couple inches. After a couple of minutes, they left the room, picked up Jeff's clothes, and left the hospital. After that, the memory cut to black again. Jeff was too sad to even speak as tears were starting to form in his eyes, which rarely happened to him, or anyone like him alone. When color began to reform, Jeff found himself inside his old parents bedroom. He could hear a quiet conversation coming from down the hall with what sounded like “yes son, you are.L-let me go get daddy, so he can see your face.” Just then the door burst open and Jeff's mom came running in and awoke his dad. “Honey, get the gun we-” Jeff froze and turned around slowly, and saw a horrible sight. It was him, only the way he looked now, pants, shoes, hoodie, and knife, only clean. “Mommy, you lied.” After that, Jeff watched in horror as his alternate psycho self rushed, attacked, and gutted his own parents. The sight was so gruesome that Jeff threw up on himself as blood, intestines, kidneys, and veins were sent flying across the room. Jeff’s eyes widened realizing what was going to happen next. Quickly he ran through the door and down the hall towards his brothers room. He opened the door and saw his brother was still asleep. Without wasting anytime, he ran towards him and started shaking him. “LIU!, Liu, wake up!, Please wake up!” Despite all his effort, Liu didn’t wake up, as if he didn’t even exist at all.
Then he saw his alter ego walk into the room and hide behind a bookshelf. Jeff’s eyes widened, and he began to try even harder. “ LIU!, LIU, PLEASE WAKE UP!, I’M NOT GOING TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!” It was already too late, for Jeff’s alternate self was already at Lius' bedside. At that moment, Liu woke up and his eyes widened. Before he could scream, Jeff covered his mouth with his left hand, and raised his knife in the other. Liu tried to break free, but was stuck in Jeffs' iron grip. Jeff then rested one finger one Lius' lips to silence him and said the last words Liu would ever hear “Shhhhhh. Just go to sleep.” The real Jeff shouted
“ NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Then everything faded to black.
Jeff shot up from his current state hyperventilating, and his body and clothes were drenched with sweat. Jeff immediately began crying at the terrible nightmare he’d just had. “Oh my God.” Jeff said in between hyperventilating breaths and sobbing. Mom, Dad, Liu, oh my God I am so, so sorry. Jeff then found pictures of him with his so called family and examined it.
Jeff was disgusted at what he actually called his family his entire life. Angrily he punched the picture with all his might and completely shattered the glass, tore out the picture and ripped it to pieces. “Sick, SICK, YOU’RE ALL SICK!” Jeff blurted out in anger “ I WISH I COULD KILL YOU ALL, AND, and, and.” Jeff completely broke down and curled up into a ball and began crying his heart out. “I-I-I wish I could start over, no, I wish I was never born, then none of this would have ever happened. Mom and Dad could be happy, Liu wouldn’t be dead, everything would be normal.” Jeff felt like all he could do was just sit there and cry after witnessing all he had done. Then, he had an idea. If his real family was dead, and his other had completely abandoned him, what was there left to live for. “If Mom, Dad, and Liu are dead, why do I deserve to live.
He looked down to see an old revolver lying on the floor. He slowly picked up the firearm and unloaded the clip to find one single .22 caliber bullet left inside. Placing the clip back inside, he lifted the guns cold, steel nozzle to his heart, the same place he had stabbed and killed Liu at. He looked at the picture of his family one last time before putting it down and loaded the gun. Then his emotions took over and he burst into tears and broke down again for the second time that day. After his little scene, he lightly squeezed the trigger and let out his final words in a sad and dark tone. “Lord God. Please forgive me for everything that I’ve ever done. And tell Liu, Mom, and Dad I’m so, so, so sorry.” With that said, Jeff shut his eyes tightly and pulled the trigger. He felt the bullet pierce the front end of his skin, puncture his heart, and fly out the other end of him. He let out nothing but a soft cry of pain and a single tear as he fell backwards on to the cold, unforgiving floor as his life flashed before his and heard a crack of thunder from outside a window near his slowly dying body. He then looked up at the ceiling as his eyes closed, as the world he had once known faded around him.
