Many years have passed since I used to spend my summers down by Shades

Creek, but I can recall those childhood memories like they happened just yesterday.
You see, Shades Creek is a small stream that runs through my hometown. The
name supposedly comes from how trees have grown around the creek, leaving a constant
shadow over it. Not that that matters, Im not here to tell you the story of how it came to be
named. Im just writing down my memories from that last summer I spent in the woods by the
creek.
Ever since I was little Ive enjoyed the forest. To this day, Im an avid hiker, but
thats not the point; the point is that I used to explore woodlands around the town, all alone. It
runs outward for miles, so I didnt run out of things to explore, and Ive found my fair share
of interesting and scary things, but this particular summer I decided to follow Shades Creek
to see where it led.
Every day Id walk along the Shade until I had to start running home, and the
next day Id run back to where Id gotten the day before to continue walking. Of course I
could have run as far as possible to begin with, but what would have been the point of that?
I should probably take the time to mention that the Shade is far deeper than it
appears, due to its dark, murky water, and that it through the years has taken many a life from
those unfortunate enough fall in.
Its funny. Thinking about it in hindsight, Im certain that I spent hours upon
hours just walking along that brook, but I was always back home in time for dinner. As if time
passed slower along the Shade.
One day, I went out towards the woods like any other day. Nothing seemed
particular about that day, but afterwards Id come to see it as the day I stopped hiking in the
forest of Shades Creek. It was also the first time I was out in the woods after dark.
This was as I had started thinking it was time to turn back. I hadnt found
anything interesting that day, but as I looked into the distance I saw what seemed to be a
glade. A place where the suns rays reached the creek.
I decided that Id go to the glade, check it out, and then start running back home.
Sure, Id be a bit later than usual, but it should be alright. Its not like Id be staying the night
in the forest.
What I noticed first was the stench. It was like the time our electricity had gone
out while we were away for a couple weeks during the warmest part of the year, and the
fridge has smelled worse than anything else Id ever had my nose experience. The closer I got
to the glade, the stronger that stench got, and I had to hold my nose shut to bear it.
By this point I must have been frowning. It wasnt voluntary, the stench just
made me scrunch my face, and by the point I took my other hand to hold my nose I finally
saw what was in the glade:
A lake.
Apparently, Shades Creek ended by pouring straight into a lake, which seemed
to be the source of the stench. However, there was a very specific detail about the lake that
will never leave my mind:
It was red.
Not brown red because of mud. It was a deep wine red, and light didnt seem
able to penetrate its surface. That sight is definitely the most marvellous thing Ive seen in my
life, and I must have stood there, staring at it for minutes.
Smile with me.

Those are the words that brought me out my trance. It felt like someone had said
it straight into my ear. A raspy voice, like sandpaper against steel.
Smile with me.
I turned around to face whoever was talking to me.
He stood in the shade, right by the creek. It hid his details, as I was standing in
the light and he in the shadow, but whats stuck to my corneas to this very day is his smile.
That smile, like a predator about to pounce its prey.
The sky was red, as if reflecting the lake, the sun about to leave for the night.
The man tilted his head.
Why dont you smile with me?
My head was aching, as if someone was pounding a hammer against it. The
stench of the lake, the mans voice, closer than my own mouth, and his impossibly sharp
smile, like a sword cutting my eyes.
Im not sure what I said, something about not feeling well. Why did it stink so
bad?
His grin grew wider, and thinking about it now Im sure it must have reached up
to and beyond his ears. His teeth were definitely sharp, like those of a shark.
They smile with me.
How long did I stand there, petrified yet enchanted by that smile of his? It was
growing darker, the shadows from the trees growing closer and closer, the man doing
likewise.
Smile. With. Me.
I couldnt why couldnt I think? I was stuck there his smile the stench his
smile a man his smile rot his smile teeth his smile Shades Creek his smile smile smile smile
with me
Finally the shadow of the closest tree hit my feet, and I regained my sense of
self just in time to see that unexplainable smile right in front of my eyes.
I ran. I dont even remember starting running, suddenly I just was. I must have
been walking for hours upon hours to get to the lake, but I definitely ran for many times
longer to get away from there. Get away from the lake.
But I couldnt get away from the man. That voice, that gravelly hoarse voice, as
if his voice was a creature in and of itself constantly trying to pass through his inconceivably
sharp teeth, it was constantly on my shoulder, just by my ear. I didnt dare look back, couldnt
even consider thinking it, I just continued running next to the creek.
The creek that was the answer. Of course. If I were to just jump into Shades
Creek, the man couldnt reach me but something stopped me. The colour. The consistency.
The stench the stench, of course a child wouldnt understand it, to me then it was just the
stench of spoiled food, but its obvious it was the stench of rot. Lots and lots of rot.
So I continued running, and I must have continued running for days, yet night
didnt pass, the sun didnt rise. I ran.
Smile with me.
Smile with me.
Finally, after what felt like several eternities of sprinting, I saw the edge of town
the first streetlight and I dont know how I did it, but I mustered up the energy to sprint
the fastest I ever could, my feet aching, my body pounding and my heart ready to give in but
not yet, and finally

Light. Safety. I fell down there and then, in the circle of light given by the
streetlight. My safe cage.
I still dont know why, but I had to look back. I had to see him one last time. I
could see even less of him now than I could before, but still, that smile shined like a star in the
night sky.
He was angry. And sad. I could hear it in his voice, just as I could see it in his
now sad smile. He stood there. Watching me. Smiling.
Why dont you smile with me?
smile with me
I stood up and left. His voice disappeared, but I didnt look back again. When I
had to walk through shadows, I closed my eyes.
When I got home, my parents had been worried sick. Apparently, I had been
gone until the minutes before sunrise, and just as I entered my own home the sun was on the
edge of the horizon. For the rest of the summer, I had to be home before dusk. I didnt
complain.
Its been many, many years since then. Ive checked all maps of the local area
available, but none of them show any lake. Apparently, Shades Creek grows thinner and
thinner until it just stops completely. Its water isnt red, just a very dirty brown. And there are
no records of a man living alongside it.
However, every summer, a body or two are found in it, having fallen in. Always
facing towards the town.
And every summer, I find a note on my porch, just at the edge of the reach of
the lamp by my door. On it, written in dried, red text, are three words
Smile with me.