*Content warning: harassment, stalking
***
The sun had gone down, and harsh artificial light washed across the city, drowning out the shine of the rising moon and stars. Tony headed home from a late dinner out with friends. The evening was nice, so he wanted to walk the ten or so blocks to the subway.
There were few people out walking this late, but he did notice a woman in front of him who was walking slowly. Her arms wrapped around herself as she walked in the cool air. The long tan pea coat she wore was pulled tight with the collar up, protecting her curly hair around her shoulders from the wind.
Tony caught up to her and chanced a glance at her face. She stared at her feet as she walked, and her face was set in what looked like a vague scowl.
“You should smile. Life can’t be that bad,” Tony said to her as he pulled ahead of her. The woman’s face twisted into a mask of disgust, and she upped her walking pace, pulling ahead of him now. Tony scoffed. He was just trying to be nice.
“Come on, baby, give me a smile. I bet you’re really pretty when you smile,” he said as he followed her. He was determined to get a smile out of this woman. Her pace quickened, clearly trying to avoid him as he gained on her. It didn’t take much for him to catch up with her. “Just one little smile, girl,” he nagged at her.
The woman wrapped her coat around her body even tighter, like it was a defense to deter Tony from harassing her. She increased her pace again to elude him, almost jogging now to get away from Tony. This only made him try harder to get her to smile.
“Come on, babe. I bet that smile would light up a room,” he said as he power-walked behind her. The woman stayed silent as she continued walking and ignoring him. He was getting irritated at the fact she refused to respond to him. Tony was trying to be nice, after all. He stepped forward and grabbed her arm. “I’m fucking talking to you!” he said as he spun her around to face him.
She was wearing a strange, wide smile. All her teeth were on display and her eyes were wide. The wan streetlights glinted off her bulging eyes. Tony took a step back, the rictus grin giving him pause. He dropped his hand from her arm as her hand raised and covered her face. Tony watched her fingers grip the skin of her face, her nails digging in.
“What are you—” Tony’s query was cut short when the woman ripped the skin from her face. The mask of skin tore from her head with a sick, wet squelch exposing her bloody skull beneath, but her skull was all wrong. Tony screamed and tried to back even further away from her, but her free hand clutched at his coat. Fear and revulsion rose in his gullet, threatening to spill out of him in a hot spray on the pavement.
The top of her skull was normal, but her jaw was wrong. There were multiple jaws nestled in one another like a horrific matryoshka doll of gore. Her bloody maws moved up and down like they were chewing as she stared at him.
She pulled him closer. Her terrifying, sanguine smile was just inches from his face. The smell of blood was cloying and threatened to choke him. One of Tony’s hands covered his mouth, trying not to inhale the coppery perfume of life.
“What’s the matter?” the woman growled, her voice deep and inhuman, all her jaws forming the words at once. “Don’t you like my smile? Isn’t this what you wanted?”
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