Empty Smiles Novels & Stories

My eyes filled with tears, my hands clenched into fists. Suddenly, the image of my daughter's gruesome death flooded my entire mind. "But Sam's been sterile for some time now. How are you going to explain the baby in your belly to him?" Pete Griffith hugged Jody Parker, letting out a playful, teasing laugh.

A thin layer of dust covered the table. The dishes from their last meal before the trip were still by the sink. They were already moldy. The house looked as if no one had been here for a long time. Leo thought of the look Yasmine had given him back in the interrogation room before they left. She had looked at him without any emotion in her eyes as though her heart had turned to stone. Was she angry at him? She had no parents and nowhere else to go. If she had not come home, where could she have gone?

Charlotte’s Point of View: “Are you really happy here, Charlotte? Stop bullshitting me. I can see right through you.” Andee’s hazel eyes flashed doubtfully as she took a swig of Coca Cola. Sitting across the booth from my EX was a surreal experience, and I blinked blankly at her. It was as if we were just meeting up for a quick bite after work, instead of what was really happening; An attempt to make me question my own happiness in Arizona. I chose to focus on her disapproving facial expression instead of how the see-through material of the white tee-shirt she was wearing made her pink nipples visible.

Congrats on finally getting your wish! When I refreshed the page, the post had already vanished. I put my phone down, a slow smile spreading across my face. 'Guess you know homewreckers don't shine too well in the spotlight.'

The white light did not fade like a sunset; it dissolved like the mist of an early morning. There was no sound of clicking gears, no hum of corporate data, and no rhythmic pulse of a system trying to calculate the value of a soul. For the first time in nineteen cycles, the universe was silent. It was the silence of a blank page—not the terrifying emptiness of the Void, but the peaceful potential of a fresh start. Elara opened her eyes.

as I down an oil-soaked fry. "I went to the future. I mean, like 2042 so not that far, and--" he spaces out. There's this blank look in his eyes. I can't place it, but somehow that honey color turns deep brown. He takes another bite of the horrendous burger, so this must be bad. "Wh-What?" "There was nothing. The land--i-it was empty." "Like what? Pollution, or--" "There were no people, no plants, just hollow buildings. I--"

I’ hit with that familiar tug of emptiness at no longer feeling her life growing within me. The vacuum of emptiness inside never leaves me, but I smile to myself, weakly, and push it down, lifting my chin defiantly, looking like old PA Emma, yet so different in so many ways. This is my happy day; no tears unless they are ones of joy. I remind myself that I’m not going to cloud this day with running make-up and emotional breakdowns unless they’re related to taking my vows.

"Clear left!" "Clear right!" "Bedroom clear!" The shouts bounce off the walls. I lower my weapon slightly. The apartment is empty. It’s not just empty of people. It’s empty of life. There is no furniture. No clothes on the floor. No half-eaten takeout containers. It’s completely uninhabited and has been for some time. "Enzo?" I say into the comms, already knowing there’s nobody who bolted. The intel was bad. "Fire escape is clear," Enzo’s voice crackles. "Window is painted shut. Nobody came out this way."

I ask, my skin knotting. She starts to point. "Your skate boards have the same amount of space between them, so do the trophies on your desk. I can't find even a speck of dust on your shelf, your books are in mint condition--no sign of a single crease. And your trash can's empty." "What's wrong with my trash can being empty." "No one's trash can is ever fully empty. My guess is that you empty it every day." My silence tells her all she needs to know.

Their soft concern didn’t turn angry or sad; it just vanished and was replaced by blank and empty faces. The thing wearing Kael’s father’s face lowered the wooden bird. Its warm smile was just an empty mask, leaving a smooth empty shell. It didn’t even try to be human anymore. “The offering is rejected,” it said in a flat, dead voice, no feeling left. “Paradigm shift. Containment protocol initiated.” In unison, the villagers stepped forward together, perfectly silent and without hesitation. They simply advanced, no running, no shouting, just one solid, unstoppable wall of flesh and empty eyes. Their boots crunched on the pink snow with one grating sound.