Silent Smiles

• Joe Shoko, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2022

The smiles, they were all I saw, even when I wasn't looking I could feel gaze of their teeth all over me. I didn't know what they were, I couldn't even see their faces but the smiles, they told me danger, told me to run, "What do you want from me!" I screaming into the Darkness, there was no reply. It was as if they were only sent here to taunt me, I wouldn't submit, I needed the truth, but no matter how ambitious I was or the good I felt by revealing the sins of the past to the people of this town, I still felt like I was sticking my hand in a bee hive, even if I come out with something sweet there will be consequences. Not knowing my past but the fact that they turned me into what I was today, whatever happens next will just be another plan or an unforeseen outcome of what they've done, I've only been searching a week and still they want to find what keeps me going, ever since I came back they knew it was there work, it had their blood soaked hands all over it, I'm the only one that survived others weren't as lucky, either they died during the trials or they became... something else. But no matter what they were I knew they would always be better than the people that turned them into monsters, It's difficult, I can hardly recall anything anymore, every time I try to remember something I just get visions or flashbacks to a hallway, blood crawled on the walls, reaching for escape, I guess I'd know the feeling. Even though I've escaped I still don't feel free, like a dog walking around with a shock collar, at any moment they could pull the switch, why haven't they? All I've done is to expose them, find them and bring the secrets they hid to the light, like I said before it's like sticking my hand in a Bee hive but so far I haven't been stung? I'm failing to decide my next move because I don't know what they're playing at, they keep letting me go, pretending like they're trying to catch me just to fake a reason to fail, I don't understand, is this what they want? They won't recapture me but they won't leave me alone either, it could all be a ploy to make me doubt myself, whoever is pulling the strings is one step ahead of me, it's like they hear my doubt and keep attempting to make it grow, or am I just be paranoid? Whoever is doing this knows my every move, ambition and they know what I'm working to find, even I don't, are they just hoping I get cocky and slip up, I've got to consult someone about this, whoever is pulling the strings of this is a genius, I have the feeling whoever is pulling the strings us just like me.