Star stuff, p.24
Star Stuff, page 24
The webcam turned toward her.
Terri placed the knife—his knife, the blade he had given her—against her wrist.
She paused.
She shook her head, tears on her lips. She lowered the knife.
And Mister Smiley screamed.
The sound burst from her speakers. Deafening. Cracking her desk. She covered her ears, and the sound grew louder and louder. A framed photograph of her father shattered on the wall.
He didn't text her this time. His voice emerged from the speakers, deep, twisted.
"Do it! Kill yourself! Sacrifice yourself to me with blood! Do it or I will send your photos to every boy at your old school. You know the photos I speak of. The horrible things you do. Everyone will see. Everyone will mock you!" A maniacal cackle shook the speakers. "Cut yourself. Kill yourself. Come to me! Rise to me! Into my arms. Do it now or I will punish you in ways you cannot imagine!"
Terri stared at the laptop in silent horror.
She slammed it shut.
She fled her room.
She ran into her mother's bedroom. Despite the shrieking speakers in the other room, Mother was still asleep. She was always so exhausted. Terri shook her awake.
"Mom." Terri's tears wet the blanket. "Mom, I need you."
Mother never slept much, not with two jobs. Sacks hung under her eyes. She was so weary.
But she listened intently, her eyes red, holding Terri in her arms.
As Terri cried, she told her everything. How the strange man had contacted her a year ago. How he called himself Mister Smiley. How he made her do things. Say things. Love him. Cut herself. Sink into a hole. About his final, terrifying request. She kept shaking, kept crying, so ashamed, but she told Mother everything.
"I want out," she sobbed. "I'm so scared. I'm trapped in a maze and I can't find my way out."
Mother was weeping too.
"It's my fault," she whispered. "I wasn't there for you."
"You were!" Terri said. "You were working two jobs for me! To feed me. Support me. Keep a roof over my head."
Mother wiped her eyes. "I failed you. I knew something was wrong, but I wasn't there. I failed my daughter." She tightened her lips and rose from the bed. "I end this now."
She opened her bedside drawer and pulled out a hammer. Perhaps kept as a tool. Perhaps as a weapon.
She entered Terri's bedroom.
When fleeing, Terri had slammed her laptop shut. But it was open again. The monitor was blank and white, washing the room with astral light.
Mother stepped into the light.
"I disconnected your internet, but you found a way back online," Mother said. "I sent you to therapy, and you went to alleyways instead. I'm putting an end to this now."
She raised her hammer over the laptop.
Terri watched, wringing her hands.
Die, you bastard, she thought.
Before the hammer could fall, the light on the computer died.
A whistle emerged from the speakers. Loud. Louder. Louder still. Strobe lights suddenly flashed.
Terri screamed and covered her ears. Mother stumbled back. The flashing intensified. The sound grew higher and higher pitched. Terri's head spun, and she fell to her knees.
A crackle emerged over the din.
Laughter.
Demonic laughter.
"What is that?" Mother screamed.
Terri knelt, covering her ears, staring. Barely believing.
"What is it?" Mother cried.
"Kill it!" Terri screamed. "Kill it!"
The head emerged from her monitor. Covered in liver-spotted skin. Hairless. No nose. No ears. Two bulging black orbs for eyes. A hideous mouth that opened in a grin, toothless, leading to shadows.
The light died.
His voice filled the dark room. Inhumanly deep. The words floated across the walls, written in crackling static.
The Dreamer is watching
The Dreamer is here
The Dreamer is always your friend
Come into his dream
Come play in his world
The Dreamer is yours till the end
Mister Smiley knows
That the Dreamer is all
That his dreams are the world and your mind
Come into his home
And dream with the Dreamer
Such wondrous dreams you will find!
The walls cracked. The lights flashed again. A hand emerged from the computer. Fingers long. Tipped with claws.
"Mom, kill him!" Terri shouted.
Mother swung her hammer. But darkness fell. When light flashed again, Terri saw long fingers wrap around Mother's wrist. Crushing her. Snapping bones. The hammer fell.
Darkness fell.
Lights flashed again. Again. With every flash, more of him emerged. Arms. Long arms in black sleeves. A torso, wearing a vest with black buttons. Long legs and thin coattails. A smell of tobacco and wax. He rose in the room, towering, hunched over, his head brushing the ceiling.
It was him. Mister Smiley.
"Worship me." He turned his head toward Terri. The black eyes bored through her. "Love me. Die for me."
Mother struggled against him, screaming. He pulled her closer. He shoved claws into her mouth, and he carved. Carved Mother's cheeks like a knife had once carved Terri. Carved her a new smile. A huge grin from ear to ear. A red grin.
"I will always make you smile," said the creature.
His claws thrust again, giving Mother a second smile. This one across her throat. A smile that gushed blood across the room.
As Mother fell to the floor, dead, Terri lifted the fallen hammer.
She howled.
She howled with all her rage. With the rage of a girl lost on a distant colony. A girl alone. A girl in darkness. A girl tormented and afraid and filled with fury.
A howl that tore over the speakers, the storm, his laughter.
Terri Emery howled, and she tossed her hammer.
It slammed into the creature's head.
He flickered. In and out of reality. Static flashed across his body. Mister Smiley. A spider from the luminous web. A holographic terror. A creature of static and light, yet one that could kill.
He shrieked in pain.
Terri turned and ran.
She ran from the creature.
She ran from her room. From her apartment. From her building.
She ran from her dead mother.
She ran and the laughter still echoed behind her.
Outside, he was everywhere. On every electronic billboard. On every sign. On the wall of every bus stop. She ran by an electronics store, and he was on every screen. She raced by an arcade, and he was in every game. He grinned from the phones of every passerby.
On every screen in Haven, he appeared. Staring with black eyes. Grinning. Mister Smiley.
Terri ran, tears falling. A mouse in a labyrinth. Unable to escape him.
His words rose from speakers across the city. Taunting her. A million people could hear, but Terri knew his words were for her.
"Mister Smiley wants to make you smile."
And Terri knew then.
She knew what perhaps she had always known.
Haven, this bleak colony under a constant storm, was not her home.
She would find a way to Earth. If she had to stow away on a cargo ship, she would. Somehow, she would make her way to that distant planet.
She would find Marco Emery. A war hero. Her father.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
"Mister Smiley" originally appeared in the Earthrise novels. You can find the Earthrise series here: DanielArenson.com/Earthrise
Thank you for reading these seven tales … a little bit of star stuff.
The End
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NOVELS BY DANIEL ARENSON
KINGDOMS OF SAND
Kings of Ruin
Crowns of Rust
Thrones of Ash
Temples of Dust
Halls of Shadows
Echoes of Light
THE MOTH SAGA
Moth
Empires of Moth
Secrets of Moth
Daughter of Moth
Shadows of Moth
Legacy of Moth
REQUIEM
Dawn of Dragons Requiem's Song
Requiem's Hope
Requiem's Prayer
The Complete Trilogy
Song of Dragons Blood of Requiem
Tears of Requiem
Light of Requiem
The Complete Trilogy
Dragonlore A Dawn of Dragonfire
A Day of Dragon Blood
A Night of Dragon Wings
The Complete Trilogy
The Dragon War A Legacy of Light
A Birthright of Blood
A Memory of Fire
The Complete Trilogy
Requiem for Dragons Dragons Lost
Dragons Reborn
Dragons Rising
The Complete Trilogy
Flame for Requiem Forged in Dragonfire
Crown of Dragonfire
Pillars of Dragonfire
The Complete Trilogy
ALIEN HUNTERS
Alien Hunters
Alien Sky
Alien Shadows
OTHER WORLDS
Eye of the Wizard
Wand of the Witch
Firefly Island
The Gods of Dream
Flaming Dove
Daniel Arenson, Star Stuff
