The Smiling Man
617 Words
Chapter 5
The words refused to leave Ethan's mind.
The story has only just begun.
He stood outside Daniel's apartment building long after the police had left. Officers had taken photographs of the walls before covering everything with white sheets, but Ethan had already seen enough.
Daniel hadn't simply disappeared.
Someone—or something—had taken him.
And Ethan feared he knew why.
Back in his apartment, he placed the leather journal on his desk beside the Magic Pen.
The room felt unusually quiet.
Too quiet.
He opened the journal again, hoping he had missed something.
As he turned the pages, a folded piece of paper slipped out.
It wasn't there before.
His pulse quickened.
Written in faded ink was a single sentence:
"Do not write about the one who smiles."
Ethan frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Before he could think any further, the lights flickered.
The Pen rolled across the desk by itself.
It stopped beside his notebook.
Waiting.
Almost inviting him.
Ethan stared at it for several minutes.
"I won't use you again," he whispered.
The Pen remained still.
Then, without warning, it tipped over.
A drop of black ink fell onto the notebook.
The ink spread across the page on its own, forming words.
Write.
Ethan's breathing became uneven.
He should have walked away.
Instead, curiosity won.
He picked up the Pen.
"If you're really cursed," he muttered, "then let's see what you're hiding."
Slowly, he began to write.
"A tall man stood beneath a broken streetlight. His skin was pale. His smile stretched impossibly wide. Anyone who looked into his eyes would never be seen again."
The moment he finished the last sentence, the room went silent.
The Pen slipped from his fingers.
A cold wind rushed through the apartment even though every window was closed.
Then—
Someone knocked on the front door.
Three slow knocks.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Ethan's heart pounded.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
He looked through the peephole.
The hallway was empty.
He unlocked the door and opened it just enough to look outside.
Nothing.
Only silence.
As he turned to go back inside, something made him glance toward the far end of the hallway.
A man was standing beside the elevator.
He was dressed in a black suit.
His face was unnaturally pale.
And he was smiling.
Not a normal smile.
A smile so wide it looked painful.
The man didn't move.
He simply stared at Ethan.
Ethan blinked.
The hallway lights flickered.
For a split second, everything went dark.
When the lights returned—
The man was gone.
The next morning, the city woke to disturbing news.
Three people had disappeared overnight.
The last security camera footage showed each of them stopping suddenly, smiling at someone off-camera, and then walking away willingly.
Police searched for hours.
They found no trace of the missing people.
No footprints.
No phone.
No evidence.
Only one strange detail.
On every CCTV recording, just before the victims disappeared, the camera screen briefly filled with black ink.
Ethan watched the report in silence.
His stomach turned.
The description matched exactly what he had written.
He rushed to his notebook.
The page had changed.
A new line had appeared beneath his story.
One he had never written.
He smiles because he has finally been set free.
Ethan stepped back in horror.
"If I didn't write that..."
Then who did?
At that exact moment, a soft laugh echoed from somewhere inside the apartment.
Not outside.
Inside.
Ethan slowly turned toward the bedroom.
The door, which he clearly remembered closing, was now standing open.
Darkness filled the room.
And from within came a familiar whisper.
"Thank you... for writing me back."
End of Chapter 5
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD