My Smile

A Story by wishystar

When a depressed girl meets a cute guy, she starts realizing the sunny side in life.

My name is Joy Witner, and I'm 10. I'm no "joy", but I bet Mumma and Paps wished I was. People often tell me I'm depressed, and Mumma always is sending me to doctors of some sort. I spend a lot of time in my room debating which would hurt worse, cutting or smiling. I ended up with a conclusion that while cutting is self harm and would hurt physically, smiling was emotional pain because I hated smiling. When I smile, my two front teeth overlap the bottom ones, and there are so many gaps between my rotted, yellow teeth that it's a pain to even look at my mouth. So I went with smiling hurt more, although it probably shouldn't.

My brother, Danny, died last year. He was the only one who could make me smile without shame. He was in many ways my savior, until he, like Jesus, rose up to heaven. Where he belongs, with all the angels and golden harps and clouds and whatever. I guess ever since he died I've been depressed, but still. I've always been more pessimistic than optimistic. Since I was little I'd say the cup was half empty, not half full. But really, now that Danny was gone the cup was empty.

Yesterday the new neighbors moved in. They have a daughter, and a son. That's 2 more people to add to my list that think Joy Witner is a weirdo. I mean, yeah, I've given myself scars and cuts. I've always been a depressed lunatic to a lot of people. I'm underweight from starving myself and too tall for my grade. I dyed my hair red, the color of blood, last year, the day after Danny died. I have pierced ears and I wear skull earrings instead of cute charms like cherries and bunnies and other dumb stuff.

Today Mumma and Paps want me to go send a chocolate cake to the neighbors. I wonder if I should give it to them, eat it myself, or throw it in their faces. Since I'm really actually quite obedient, I did carry it to their door, and I knocked. The person who opened the door was probably their 4 year old daughter, who cried at the sight of me and slammed the door immediately. From inside, I heard a lady scolding the little girl, who was still sniffling, and suddenly the door opened again. A tall, cute boy. You have no idea how much he looked like Danny.

"Hi there," he said, smiling at me. I think he was either amused or thought I was weird. "Um, hi. I'm Joy, and this cake is for you guys. For, um, moving in." I thrust the chocolate cake out at him. He looked surprised, but then he smiled and leaned against the door frame. "Why don't you come in, then, Joy?" he asked, not in a sarcastic way, but more inviting. I blushed and shook my head. "I really should be getting back. My parents will be worried." The boy nodded understandingly and added, "I'm Stephen, by the way. Stephen Daniels." I froze when I heard his last name. Daniels. I nodded at him, because I didn't want to smile, and I turned around and walked away.

The next day, I woke up, wiping drool from my face and wondering why I felt so happy. Then I remembered- Stephen. I smiled to myself and got dressed. At around lunch time, the doorbell rang. I ran over and opened the door, and of course, there he was on our doorstep. "Come on in," I said cheerfully as I could muster, "did you like the cake?" Stephen nodded and walked in, as I closed the door behind him. Mumma and Paps had already come out from their hiding spots and started to welcome Stephen, asking him stupid questions and inviting him to sit down, etcetera blah blah blah. Stephen turned to me with a HELP ME expression in his eyes, and I got it. "Mumma, Paps? Why don't we get him something to eat?" I asked. Mumma smiled at me, in the pretty way she does it, and motioned to Paps for them to go to the kitchen. "Oh, thank you, Joy." Stephen said, laughing. "I came here to tell you something... er, privately."

"Yeah?" I asked, confused. Stephen smiled at me. "I just wanted to say I really like you."
For the first time in 365 days, I smiled. Really smiled, in the pretty way I do it.

© 2013 wishystar

Author's Note

Just a story to show people that no matter what, no matter how depressed you are, there is always that one person that should be able to make you smile :)