Scary Stories and Urban Legends

Evil Grin

When I was 12 years old, I had a
best friend named Brenda. After
school we always went to her
house to hang out. She lived in a
big house on the edge of town.

One day, Brenda didn't show up
for school. She was absent for the
next few days and I began
wondering if there was something
was wrong with her. After she had
missed a whole week of school, I
decided to pay her a visit.

I cycled all the way across town
and arrived at her house just as it
was getting dark outside. When I
rang the doorbell, I got a shock
when the door opened almost
immediately.

Brenda's mother was standing in
the doorway, but there was
something strange about her. Her
eyes seemed darker than usual
and her hair was hanging loose
around her shoulders. I noticed
that she was wearing a bathrobe.
The most unsettling thing was the
way she was grinning at me.

She didn't say a word. She just
stood there staring at me with an
evil smile playing across her lips.

"Is Brenda here?" I asked,
nervously.

She beckoned at me to come in
and before I cold say anything,
she had slipped back into the
darkened house. As I stepped
inside, my eyes strained to see in
the darkness, but I wasn't sure
where she had gone. Just then, I
heard a strange humming sound
and followed it into the kitchen.

I found her there, standing at the
kitchen sink with her back
towards me. The moment I
entered the kitchen, she stopped
humming and there was an eerie
silence.

I took a seat at the kitchen table
and waited. She seemed to be
taking forever. I spent the next
five minutes just sitting there,
wondering what was going on.

Then I realized something very
odd.

The whole time I had been sitting
there, she hadn't moved a muscle.
Her back was still towards me and
I couldn't see her face. Her hands
hung limp by her sides and her
head was tilted slightly.
Something was very wrong.

I stood up nervously and
approached her. She remained
completely still. Ever so slowly, I
moved around her and tried to
get a look at her face to see if she
was alright. The sight still haunts
me to this very day.

Her eyes were wide open and she
still had that evil grin on her face.

I was so freaked out that, I
couldn't bear to stay in the
kitchen a moment longer.
Without saying a word, I backed
out of the room and made my way
towards the front door. I jumped
on my bike and began cycling as
fast as I could down the long,
winding driveway and all the way
across town. I didn't stop until I
reached the safety of my house.

It wasn't until a few days later that
I found out why my friend Brenda
had been absent from school. My
parents told me that there had
been a tragic death in Brenda's
family.

"What?" I asked. "Who died?"

My parents broke the sad news to
me and it made my hair stand on
end and I was crying from fright.

Brenda's mother had died
suddenly and the night I called
over to her house, Brenda had
been at her grandparents' place,
attending the funeral.

Years later, when I was 16 years
old, I made a little extra money by
working as a babysitter on
weekends. One evening, a friend
of mine called me and said she
knew a family who desperately
needed a babysitter. She was busy
and wanted to know if I was
interested in babysitting for them
instead.

She told me the parents were very
nice, the pay was good and their
3-year old daughter was polite
and well-behaved. I wasn't doing
anything important so I told her I
would be glad to take the job.

That evening, I went to the
family's house and met the
mother. Her name was Ruth and
she was getting reeady to go out
for the night with friends. She
mentioned that her husband was
out of town on business and gave
me some numbers to call if I
needed to get in touch with her.

The night went very easily. I made
dinner for the little girl, gave her a
bubble bath, then got her dressed
for bed.

I was around midnight when i
heard the front door open and
footsteps coming down the
hallway. I thought it was strange,
because I hadn't even heard a car
pull up. Turning around, I was
relieved to see Ruth making her
way into the living room where I
was sitting watching TV.

She never said a word to me and,
as she walked past me, I was
surprised by how different she
looked. Something about her eyes
had changed and she was
grinning from ear to ear. I felt a
cold chill run down my spine.

I knew that evil grin. I had seen it
before, many years ago.

Ruth sat at the dining table with
her back turned towards me. Her
hands hung limp by her sides. Her
head was cocked to the left. She
was humming to herself.

"Ruth? I asked, nervously. "Ruth,
are you alright?"

No answer.

"Ruth? You're not alive anymore,
are you?"

Silence.

With shaking hands, I quickly
gathered my things and backed
out of the room. When i got to the
hallway, I opened the front door
and looked outside. There was no
car in the driveway.

All of a sudden, the eerie silence
was broken by the sound of the
phone ringing.

I didn't want to answer it. I was
afraid of what I might hear. For a
moment, my hand seemed to
hover over the phone. Then I
lifted the receiver and put it to my
ear.

I already knew who it was.

It was the police, calling to tell me
that Ruth had been involved in a
car accident an hour ago. She had
been killed on impact.

Tears were streaming down my
face as I ran upstairs, grabbed
Ruth's daughter from her bed and
bundled her up in her blanket. As
came back downstairs, I had to
pass by the door to the living
room. I could still see Ruth sitting
at the table with her back to me.
Without pausing for a second, I
ran out into the night, carrying
the little girl in my arms.