Faux Sourire, Marius.. (Fake Smile, Marius..)

• Liora Velso, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2020

‘I am told that our lives are not worth much,
They pass in an instant as the roses fade
I am told that time slips in a month away;’
These were the last words she would ever say to the children. The door swung open in the quiet village of France.
‘Qu’est-ce que-’ It was Papa, he drank too much again, and asked Marina, their maid, what she was doing with filthy kids like them.. Torré Parker the youngest of the Parkers said; Marina was singing the song Mama used to sing them. Papa froze, for the first time they saw a tear roll down his unshaved cheek, ‘Sortez..’ said Papa blankly staring at thin air.
‘But-’ ‘Torré I said get out!’ Now Papa was angry and edged towards the door. Marius Parker, the eldest of the family, led her out. It has been 6 years since the death of Edith Parker, and what dreadful 6 years it had been for the Parker children. Torré was only 2 when her mother died so she does not remember much of her, but Marius knew too much about their mother.. He knew that his mother was a hitman, or in this case; a hitwoman only he knew what she did and how she did it. Late night jogs? Taking out trash at 2 am? Hanging washing in the alleyways? But Marius didn’t want his little sister thinking her Mama was a bad woman. In a sudden movement, a rambunctious sound came from the master bedroom, Marius sprinted to the bedroom only to find a body laying on the floor in a pool of blood, the wind gusted east, Papa must have escaped from the bedroom window. He kneeled down near Marina grasping her blood covered hand tightly while croaking out a few words…
‘I am told that our lives are not worth much,
They pass in an instant as the roses fade-’
His mouth was quivering but he didn’t want Torré to see what had happened. Bad enough she had to deal with Papa’s trauma for the past 6 years. Marius slowly got up and dabbed his eyes gently with the side of his marinière. What was he going to do now? What he learned from his mother was that ‘If you can’t hide it, dump it..’ He picked up the body and dumped it outside the window near the lakeview river, that river was the only pure thing about his village, well was the only pure thing. Now he just had to pull on a fake smile. Fake smile… “I mean that can’t be too hard! I’ve done it for the past years now.. But why is it so hard?” Every second Marius kept on thinking about what he was going to do, his sister was on her way up the Parker family staircase, which she knows she is not allowed unless an adult or Marius is with her. She went up it anyway… Soon enough the lights were flickering and the wind howled so loudly that some of the window was chipping off. But Marius didn’t even notice… ‘fake smile Marius! Fake smile!’ ‘Marius! Aidez-’ She was gone, Torré was gone, all flesh and bones, I the narrator knew that the Parker family was always quite unusual, but never this. Fake smile Marius.