I first met Mary E. in person it was June 16th 2007 at 9:14 am. The temperature was 78 degrees, and the moon was still setting. I was taking a creative writing course. We were given the assignment to write a new story on a topic of our choice. My classmates chose boring things like the divided opinions on the war on terror, advances in medicine saving people's lives or hurricanes destroying cities. However, I decided to instead talk about something interesting: the Smile JPG.
The Smile JPG is a mysterious JPEG image that appeared on the internet. According to legend, the image was of a dog smiling (creatively nicknamed Smile Dog) and a human hand beckoning to it. However, the image soon disappeared from the internet! Really think about that. You can find the episodes of that terrible M. C. Hammer cartoon barely anyone remember... but not this image?! The image was allegedly posted on a The Onion forum and was viewed by 400 users before being removed for having nothing to do with topic at hand. Only one person admitted to seeing the image: Mary E.
Mary E. was an administrator for the site. I managed to contact her husband, Terrance, and arrange a meeting. When I got there, she was weeping.
"It's horrible," she cried. I asked her what was so horrible. I suspected it was involved the Smile image.
"It's not the image itself but what it does to you."
"What does it do?" I asked.
"At first, it seems to do nothing. I brushed it off after I first saw it. But everything changed when I went to sleep that night. The dream was so realistic. More realistic than any dream I ever had before. In my dream, the Smile Dog appeared. It told me to 'Spread the Word' in a demonic voice. But, the worse part was what happened after!"
"What?"
"He just stared at me awkwardly until I woke up. The sheer awkwardness was unbearable. The next day, I got a package. It had a floppy disk on it. Despite my husband telling me it was the computer game I ordered, I knew what was on that disk and burned it. I've had that nightmare every night since then."
That was the last time I met Mary E. She killed herself today. The sheer awkwardness of that dog was far too much for her to bear.
As I sit here writing this. one thought nags me: should I go to the funeral? It's really hot out and and I would have to wear a suit and meet the grieving family. It would be sweaty and awkward.