The television show cut to a commercial break just as that creepy, unending smile appeared on the host's face. The abrupt change was jarring. I knew in my gut it had to be a plague—something that could spread faster than fear. I went straight to Facebook, searching for any information. On the page of a famous content creator named James Arnold, I found a post with a live video.
In the video, James was walking alone at night, his camera following him through an eerily empty mall. The silence was thick and unsettling. Then, a disembodied voice from a speaker system started shouting at him to leave. Just as I thought the voice belonged to a security guard, a group of slender, weak-looking figures appeared from the shadows. They weren't threatening; they just stood there, smiling. Unnerving, but not dangerous.
James, confused, approached them and tried to ask what was going on. They just stared, their smiles unwavering. His unsmiling face must have angered them because suddenly they turned violent. They beat him until he could no longer stand, then held his eyes open for three excruciating minutes until they began to bleed. But then, they helped him up. He stopped resisting, and slowly, a smile of his own began to spread across his face, as creepy and wide as theirs.
I thought it was all a fake act for views, a cruel prank. James picked up his phone, but the bleeding had stopped. It was as if his injury had never happened.
In the background, I heard a crashing sound and screams from my neighbor's window. I heard them call my name. I panicked and heard them dial a number. I was sure it was 911. After a few minutes, the struggle stopped. A face with that same creepy smile appeared in the neighbor's window, staring right at me.
Traumatized, I suddenly remembered I was home alone. I ran to find my family. But when I found them, they were smiling too. They turned their heads, their eyes fixed on me. I screamed, but they just started to laugh. Fear and disappointment washed over me, but a strange sense of relief, too.
I dragged them to the window to show them the neighbor's house, but everything looked normal. They looked at me like I was crazy. Frantically, I pushed my bed against the window and started locking every door and window in the house. My family tried to stop me, but then their phones buzzed with an emergency message. It was a nationwide alert to lock all doors and windows. Anyone who didn't would be fined $9000. It was a clumsy attempt to keep people from panicking.
I remembered a post from a high-ranking CIA official. He wrote that his desert unit was receiving short calls and was ordered to stay put, to avoid these creatures at all costs. It was the only place they weren't.
I remembered something I had heard about the CIA. High-ranking officials in a remote desert unit were receiving three-minute calls, but they were ordered to stay there, to avoid these creatures at all costs. The desert was the only place they weren't.
What started as a bizarre show had become a very real nightmare. The smiles were spreading, and there was nowhere to run.