Smile

"Smile."
It was a battle every day.
"Be happy."
"Smile wider."
Everything was blindingly red. Everything except Richard, who stood still with a grim look on his face as he stared at the monster in front of him.
It wore a paper bag over its massive head, splotches of ink on its face in some kind of deformed smiley face, it's body moving like a bug, with six legs and a thick tail, all of it made out of the ink that was on its face. It scrambled around aimlessly, but kept a close distance to Richard, whispering every thought he had, shoving those words into his mind no matter how much he covered his ears.
"It's what she wanted."
"It's what they all wanted."
"Be happy. Smile more."
"Smile like them."
He hated those thoughts. They were reminders of what he couldn't do, that he was a failure to his family. He couldn't be happy like they wanted, he couldn't smile like they asked. That's why he wore the paper bag - that paper bag.
That's why he became that creature: Smiley.
As if it had been beckoned like a dog to its master, Smiley scrambled towards Richard, one of its legs grabbing him and lifting him up. He gasped as air was squeezed out of his lungs, forced to look down at that fake smile that taunted him.
"Why can't you smile like them?"
"It's all inside, right?"
It tightened its grip, threatening to squeeze the life out of him. He coughed, feeling his bones strain against the pressure. Smile and be happy, or it'll make him. That's always how it went.
"N... No."
Smiley hesitated. It was such a feeble reply, barely a whisper, but it was said nonetheless. With an inhumane roar did the creature hurl Richard against the ground. He hit the floor hard, the air knocked out of him. Pain coursed through his body. Ironic, it was almost the perfect distraction from this daily Hell.
"Smile. Smile! Smile!!"
The monster rapidly ran around Richard, demanding his happiness, but he stayed on the ground staring up.
"No," he replied again, hearing the stomps come to a halt. "I don't... I don't want to smile... anymore," Richard mumbled as he struggled to sit up and stare at the paper bag that gazed back at him. "I'm not happy... I'm not you..."
Smiley roared in reaction, its tail smacking him and tossing him across the room. Richard hit the red wall with a heavy thud before collapsing on the floor.
It rushed over to him again, two legs grabbing him and holding him up. Inky thumbs shoved into his mouth. It was getting hard to see, and once he fell unconscious again, that thing would control him again. Killing all those people, carving them up. He didn't want to do it anymore.
But that wasn't really true, was it?
Richard wanted to smile bitterly. Smiley was just doing what he wanted it to, and he wanted everyone to die. All that death was because he wanted it that way. Maybe he could have stopped it, but he didn't. He was just tired. Tired of all of it, tired of fighting, tired of watching. Maybe this was his punishment: an eternity of fighting this monster that screamed at him. Or maybe he could just stop fighting entirely; give up his body and let Smiley have it forever. There was no point for him to take control, anyway. There was no one left, no reason to fight.

"Don't ever forget about me, Richard. I don't want you to keep running away. You know that there's a place you can call home. Where we can call home."

Weak, brown eyes stared at the light behind the ink monster.
Light... White... A white uniform.
Matias.
That strange milkman he met, the one he could never seem to avoid. They always ran into each other, they always talked. He was the first person Richard had ever talked to since this monster appeared, the first person that made him feel... normal. That made him feel okay for not being happy.
"Smile! Be happy! Just like they wanted!"
Smiley roared as it shoved more of itself into Richard's mouth, filling up his body. He gagged and clawed at the legs wrapped around him. No... No, he didn't want this. He didn't want this! He wanted to stay! He wanted to go home!
The monster hesitated as though it could hear his thoughts. It snarled and screeched as it recoiled its legs, pulling out of the man's mouth and staggering backwards. Richard rubbed his throat and caught his breath before fiercely looking up at the creature.
"I AM happy!" he shouted, his voice strong, causing Smiley to take another step back. "I don't need to smile to be happy! I don't need to smile to make them proud! I'm happy, and I don't need you anymore!!"
Smiley screamed and screeched as every word pierced it like a spear. It swung its head from side-to-side, the room shaking around it. The inky smile spread across the rest of the mask, swallowing the expression and covering the beast in nothing but bubbling ink. It shrank as it flailed, screeching one last time before completely melting.
Richard stumbled towards the puddle of ink, reaching out to pick up the one object that stuck out of it. A simple paper bag with a simple smile drawn on it. The first bag he ever wore. He stared at it for a few moments before looking around to see the red colors fading into warm whites and browns. Matias's home.
No. It was his home.
Richard looked over to see the uniformed man in the kitchen with his son, both of them enjoying a bowl of cereal. He stood there silently for a moment before feeling a smile spread across his face, tears falling from his eyes.

"Thank you, Matias," he said softly. "I don't think you'll ever know how much you saved me."