Smile.

The sperm meets the egg. You evolve inside your mother's uterus. A heart beat starts. It doesn't look like it now, but you’ll have the entire world waiting for you. Things that you can't yet imagine, colours and sounds that you've yet to be able to conceive of in your premature mind. [[...->Part 2]]

Although it's subtle, you can hear a sound come from inside your surroundings. [[“I love you”->Part 3]]

[[Time to sleep.->Part 4]]

[[..................................................-->Part 5]]

You’re not sure how much time has passed but your home is getting smaller and more [[closed in.->Part 6]]

You try to get out. But you can't really [[move.->Part 7]]

You hear a voice from [[outside.->Part 8]]

[[“Push!”->Part 9]]

It comes [[again.->part10]]

[["PUSH!"->part11]]

You feel a strange pain that you've never felt before where your eyes are. Your first exposure to the world is bright and unlike anything you've ever experienced. It hurts. You let out a cry. It's the only thing you know how to do. You're not sure how. [[But you do.->part12]]

You're now born. A healthy male baby. Named [[“Dana”.->part13]]

[[Three years later.->part14]]

[[It's supper time.->15]]

Your mother puts a bowl in front of you with the nutrition that you need for tomorrow. On it are some peas, broccoli, and mashed potatoes. What do you pick? [[The peas.->16]] [[The broccoli.->16]] [[The mashed potatoes.->16]]

“Open wide” she says to you. A generous amount of peas are gently inserted into your [[mouth.->17]]

[[They taste terrible.->18]]

In the living room, she sits you down at the couch next to her. The TV is on. But it's a different show than the cartoons you've been watching before. There are talking animals and puppets being shown. What do you want to do? [[Watch cartoons.->19]] [[Continue watching the animals and puppets on the TV.->20]]

You tug on her sweater. She looks over and smiles. “Hey, [[honey!”->20]]

She picks you up and kisses you on the forehead. She sits you on her lap in front of the [[TV.->21]]

Some time [[passes.->22]]

[[It's a warm sunny day.->23]]

Mommy drives you to a strange building full of other people who are all about your size. She stops and walks with you [[inside.->24]]

“Will you play with me today?” [[you ask her.->25]]

“I will, but Mommy has to do some work. She’ll be back soon” [[she says to you.->26]]

After walking past some strangers who smile at you, you enter into a room with her. A [[woman->27]] greets your mom.

“You must be Dana. What a lovely name you have!” the woman says to you. What do you do? [[Say hello.->29a]] [[Hide behind your Mommy.->29b]]

“Hello” [[you say to the woman.->29aa]]

You hide behind [[Mommy.->29ba]]

“What a nice boy you are!” [[the woman tells you.->30]]

“Now, Mommy has to [[go->31]] now.” Mommy says.

“Hey, [[it’s okay.->30]]” Mommy tells you.

“But when will you be [[back?->32]]” You ask her.

“I’ll be back to see you before you know it. Then we’ll have some dinner. [[Okay, honey?->33]]”

You give her a slight nod. She walks away and waves [[goodbye.->34]]

She lifts up her cheeks with her fingers. [[“Smile.”->35]] she says warmly.

[[“Smile.”->36]] you respond.

She walks off. [[You walk to the door of the room.->37]]

You watch her [[drive away.->38]]

The other smaller people in the room have all began to play with different toys around the room. A boy and girl sit near you. What do you do? [[Talk the boy.->39]] [[Talk to the girl.->39]] [[Stay quiet.->39]]

Although you want to talk to them, something is holding you back and your body remains still. [[The whole day feels like this.->40]]

After a few hours, Mommy returns and greets you at the door. She sees you. [[You run to her.->41]]

[[You hug her tightly.->42]]

"Hey, [[honey->43]]" she says.

[["I miss you."->44]] You tell her.

[["I miss you too."->45]]

[[The woman->46]] greets Mommy.

[[“How was he today?”->47]]

“He was quiet but I’m sure that after a few days he’ll begin to open up just like the other students” [[the woman says.->48]]

"That's okay. Let's go [[home."->49]]

[[14 years later...->50]]

You’ve been through this multiple times before. By now you’re fucking sick of this. These fucking guys, they have nothing else better to do. That [[Jack Lyon->51]] and his stupid gang.

[[Today you'll show him.->52]]

It’s the end of another day at school and there he is again, walking behind you. No matter how much you wanna get home, he’s [[always around.->53]]

“Hey [[retard!->54]]” he yells out, knowing that you hear him loud and clear.

What do you do? [[Ignore him.->55]] [[Yell back.->56]]

Jack starts running after you. Before you know it, he’s there already, in front of you. He pushes you to the [[ground.->57]]

[[“Leave me alone!”->55]] you yell back.

You hear a [[voice.->58]]

[[“Stop it!”->59]]

It’s that girl you know from English class. You can’t quite remember her name. She’s just one of those people who blend into the crowd. Jack scoffs at her. “[[Is this your girlfriend?->60]] No shit.”

“Leave him alone or I’m reporting you.” [[Jack walks up to her.->61]]

They exchange [[ugly stares.->62]]

He starts off towards the opposite direction. [[“Some man you are, letting your girl fight your battles for you.”->63]] He turns the corner and off he goes.

She comes over to you and tries to help you up. “Thanks.” [[“Don’t worry about it.”->64]]

You two have a moment of [[awkward silence.->65]]

[[...->66]]

“My name is Sera. [[Not sure if you know.->67]]”

“Sure, I’ve seen you around in [[English class->68]]”

“[[Science class->69]], actually.”

Shit you can’t believe you’ve got her confused for someone else. She really does blend in. She gives you a look as if she already knew that you don’t recognize [[her.->70]]

“I can walk you home.” she tells you. What do you do? [[Let her walk you home.->71a]] [[Walk home by yourself.->71b]]

“Yeah sure, thanks alot.” “Don’t mention it. [[Lead the way”->71aa]] she says.

“Thanks, but I’ll be okay from here.” you tell her. “Sure, I guess I’ll see you in class tomorrow.” “Yeah” “Alright, [[bye.->71ba]]”

You two walk forward towards your building. It’s about 10 minutes away from your high school. Shit, what can you two talk about? This is so awkward. [[Talk about Jack.->71ab]] [[Talk about her.->71ab]] [[Stay quiet.->71ab]]

“You don’t have to say anything if you want to.” [[she tells you.->71ac]]

This catches you off guard. No one has ever been so to the point and blunt. You wish more people were like [[her.->71ad]]

You two stop at your door. “Well, this is me.” you tell her. “Alright, I’ll see tomorrow if you’re coming to class.” [[“Yeah”->71ae]]

“Cool, see ya.” [["Bye.”->72]]

You’ve made it home. It’s time to take it easy. [[You enter.->73]]

[[“Bye.”->71bb]]

[[Home->71bc]] is about 10 minutes away from your high school.

[[She seems really nice.->72]]

Mom is at the table with her paperwork as usual. Overworked, but she somehow has the strength to [[smile.->74]]

“Welcome home.” “Hey mom.” “How was your day?” she goes to attend to the oven. She’s making some sort of [[casserole.->75]]

Mom’s cooking has always been kind of shitty. It's not like you can even do an eighth of what she’s able to do. So shitty is the better to you than it is for most people. “It was… school.” She chuckles at you until she notices your bloody elbow. Shit. You must’ve gotten it when [[Jack->76]] pushed you down.

She looks at you, worried. “You wanna talk about it?” You don’t want to [[worry her->77]]. She’s already got so much on her mind these days.

“I just tripped and fell. [[I can clean myself up.->78]]”

[[She looks at you->79]] for another moment.

“Okay. The band aids are in the [[bathroom.->80]]”

You go to the bathroom. But before you tend to your elbow, you see her face grow even more [[concerned->81]].

[[I wish she didn’t worry so much.->82]]

[[...->83]]

[[Prom->84]] is coming up.

Not that you need to go, but maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go and meet new people. You see Sera walk by. She seems approachable. What do you do? [[Go ask Sera to the prom.->85a]] [[Don’t go to prom.->85b]]

“Hey, Sera.” She turns around and sees you. “Hey, Dana.” You walk to her. “I actually had something I wanted to ask.” She says. She gives you a look, that’s accompanied by a smirk. “Look, prom is dumb. Did you wanna just hang out and do whatever on the day of?” A huge feeling of relief. [[“Sure!”->86]]

You decide to not go to prom. [[It’s dumb anyway.->85ba]]

[[...->85bbii]]

[[...->85bb]]

Prom night is here. While everyone is partying and drinking until they puke their lungs out, you’re at home with yourself. You’ve got a few hours before your mom is back from work. What do you wanna do? [[Listen to some music.->85bcb]] [[Watch something.->85bd]]

It’s [[Sera.->88]]

You put on your favourite playlist, it’s filled with songs that you know that no one ever listens to. This is a nice moment, weirdly enough. The first song plays over the speaker. It’s your [[favourite song ever.->86bd]]

You go to your room and go onto your laptop. There are so many pirated movies on it. Everyone does it anyway. You don’t really feel interested. You go onto a porn site. You search for some time but nothing happens. Every porn scene ends up the same way. It’s nothing special. [[You give up.->86bdd]]

A knock comes from your door. You go to answer it. [[“Hey.”->87]]

Prom night is here. While everyone is partying and drinking until they puke their lungs out, you get to stay [[home->85bc]] and get some time away from those people.

[[You invite her in.->89]]

“Weird choice of music.” she tells you. “I’d be surprised if you DID like it. “I didn’t say I didn’t like it. It just sounds weird, in a good way.” You go and [[fill a cup of water for her at the sink.->90]]

A knock comes from your door. Who could it be at this hour? You go to answer it. [[“Hey.”->87a]]

You put on your favourite playlist, it’s filled with songs that you know that no one ever listens to. This is a nice moment, weirdly enough. The first song plays over the speaker. [[It’s your favourite song ever.->86bdd]]

It's [[Sera.->87abbb]]

“Hey... What’s up?” you ask her. “I just kinda assumed you were here and I didn’t want you to be [[alone.”->88]]

“Here.” [[You hand her the cup.->91]]

[[“Thanks.”->92]]

The two of you sit down on the couch and face the TV. It’s off. [[An entire minute pass by without any words being said.->93]]

She takes a sip from her cup. [[“This is nice”.->94]]

[[Finally someone understands.->95]]

[[You wake up.->96]]

That was a weird dream. You hear your [[mom->97]] washing some dishes.

“Good morning. Your [[friend->98]] seemed nice.”

[[“Sera?”->99]]

“Ah, yes, that’s her name! [[What a sweet girl.->100]] I drove her back to her house this morning.”

[[Three years later->101]]

With all the shit she’s been through, she’s still able to maintain such a bright [[smile->102]]

[[“Dana, honey.”->103]] “Yeah, mom?” you sit next to her hospital bed.

All the hair she had on her head had gone away. Those warm looking arms of her's are now pale and saggy. It’s like she her body has aged faster than she can keep up with. [[“Could you open the blinds for me?”->104]] she asks you in a strained whisper.

You open them. It’s too bad that the day is cloudy and [[dead looking.->105]]

You sit back down next to her. The more you look at her the more you want to cry. [[But no tears are able to come out.->106]]

You can’t actually feel anything. [[This numbness is more painful than anything you’ve ever experienced.->107]]

You see [[Sera->108]] enter the room.

You haven’t seen her in a [[year and a half->109]].

It’s sad how life works that way the people you think you’re going to be lifelong friends with can just weave in and out of your world like that [[It’s no one’s fault, really.->110]]

You two go to different schools, [[far away from each other.->111]]

Those weekly messages you promised to send to each other eventually turned into monthly messages and then they eventually [[stopped->112]]

Still, you’re glad you told her about [[Mom->113]].

“I hope it wasn’t too far for you to get here.” you say. “Don’t even worry about it [[How are things?”->114]]

Mom gives her a smirk. [[“I recognize you.”->115]]

“Hey [[Jane.->116]]” Sera says. “How’re you doing?”

“A bit light headed, Sera” “Did you get to eat anything?” Sera asks her. “I tried my best with the [[nasty hospital muffin.->117]]”

[[Haha->118]]

It was a great day. Even though it was dark and cold outside. You and Mom had a chance to catch up with [[Sera -who’s planning on pursuing a masters in engineering,->119]] who knew?

It was about time to get back home. Sera has work in the morning and you have an exam in a few hours. “I’ll come see you again soon, Jane.” [[Sera waves at Mom.->120]]

She waves back at Sera. [[“I’ll talk to you soon, Dana” Sera says to you and proceeds to walk out.->121]]

[[Looking at your Mom in the bed with all those tubes hooked up to her->122]]

The day must’ve really drained her energy. She starts to close her eyes a bit. [[Stay.->123a]] [[Let her get some rest.->123e]]

You stay with her. A moment passes by. She glances at you. “I’m fine here, honey. Go home and get some rest.” [[“Yeah.”->123c]]

[[You hold her hand->123d]]

[[She glances at you for a moment.->123e]]

[[You get up from your chair and head towards the door.->124]]

She lifts up her cheeks with her fingers. [[“Smile.”->125]] she says warmly.

[[“Smile.”->126]] you say back to her.

She died that morning. You can't stop thinking about them Her last words to you. [[The last thing you said to her.->127]]

Smile.