That Smile

The knock came early in the afternoon on a sunny day in early fall. The air was warm and smelled like wood smoke. He wasn't expecting guests or a package. 

Kevin opened the door to remind the intruder what 'no soliciting' meant. The sign was right there for all to see and ignore. 

The person standing there wasn't some random salesperson trying to convince Kevin to buy a doorbell camera or hire a lawn service. No, it was the girl he'd been head over heels in love with. In 8th grade. 

Sheila Pearson. 

And she was smiling at him. 

If Sheila had smiled at him like that, across the classroom or maybe in line at lunch, Kevin would have fallen to his knees to praise God, luck, or Cupid. Maybe all three. He would have done anything for that smile. He would have died for that smile. 

She never did smile like that, though. Not at him. She never even looked in Kevin's direction. Not once. 

Only now, she was. She was standing in his doorway, smiling at him as bright and happy as the sun in the sky. She was looking right at Kevin, and smiling. Maybe he should be on his knees. Maybe he should be running.

It had been thirty years since he saw her face.

And she hasn't changed at all. She looks exactly the same as she did, the day she disappeared. She's wearing the same soft pink sweater, the same ripped blue jeans that hug everything just right, even the lip gloss is the same. She could be a picture from Kevin's high school yearbook come to life. She could have stepped out of the missing posters.

Kevin opened his mouth. He should say something. Anything. But no sound came out. Just a little gasp of air.

Sheila's smile didn't change as she reached one slender, perfect hand up to press against the middle of Kevin's chest and push him back, into the house. Kevin stumbled, but didn't even think to resist her. She closed the door behind her, never taking her eyes or her smile off of Kevin's face. She paced around him and took a seat perched on his couch. 

"Sheila?" Kevin finally managed to speak. His voice came out a mouse's squeak. 

She kept smiling and nodded once. 

"Sheila, it's been so long! It's been thirty years," Kevin said.

She nodded. Still smiling.

"You disappeared thirty years ago," Kevin said. "And now you're here. How is this possible? You haven't changed at all! You haven't aged a day."

Sheila shrugged. "The dead don't age, Kevin."

Kevin's brain stuttered. Dead? She wasn't dead, she was sitting right there! 

He opened his mouth to protest that statement, but all that came out was, "You know my name?"

Sheila nodded again. "I saw you that day, Kevin. You followed me out of the school. Down the road. You were there the whole time."

"I... I wanted to ask you. Out. I wanted to ask you to go out with me."

"I know," Sheila said. "I would have said yes."

"You would?" Kevin asked, like that was the important part of the conversation. 

"I liked you. You were funny," Sheila said.

She liked him. She thought he was funny. He wished he'd known that back then.

"You were there," Sheila said. "You saw everything. But you never told anyone."

Kevin flinched. She was right. He had never told a soul. 

"I was scared," Kevin admitted. "And I didn't think anyone would believe me."

Sheila shrugged. "Maybe they wouldn't have believed you. He was wealthy, and well liked. A pillar of the community."

Kevin nodded. She understood. Thank God, she understood!

"But you could have tried, you know," Sheila said. Still smiling. Why was she still smiling, saying things like that?

"I couldn't save you! It was too late by the time I got there. You were already gone!" Kevin wailed.

Her sweater hadn't been pink or soft anymore. It had been wet, and red. 

"My parents would have known what happened to me," Sheila said. "I could have been buried. Had a funeral. A real grave. Not a shallow ditch. Do you even remember where it was?"

"I could never, ever forget," Kevin said. 

"You never visit. It would have been nice, you know, to have one visitor. Well. Besides him." Sheila shrugged, still smiling. Still never looking away from Kevin's face.

"He visits you?" Kevin whispered.

"Every year, on the day," Sheila said. "He's getting old. He could have an accident. Slip and fall. Hit his head, maybe. No one would know." 

"Why are you here? Now?" Kevin asked. 

"It's the day. He's getting in his car now. He's driving down the road," Sheila said. 

"What do you want?" Kevin asked.

"I want you to kill him," Sheila said. "I want you to avenge me. All it will take is one little push. I can't do it. But you can. Put him in the same ditch he left me in. You can do that for me, can't you, Kevin?"

He would have died for that smile, once.

It looked like he was going to kill for it, now.