"Ah, Marie, you're...home..." Marie's mother sighed, seeing her daughter's trademark scowl yet again. "Come on, dear, please smile, just for a little bit?" Marie's scowl only deepened, she HATED it when her mother asked her to smile. She was a serious child, she just didn't smile. Her mother motioned her over, and, though she knew what was coming, obeyed.
"Marie, I wish you would tell me what's wrong," her mother pulled her into a hug. Marie and her mother were exact opposites, her mother being loud, happy, and large(although not extremely overweight) while she was small, quiet, and never, ever smiled. She took after her father quite a bit, and, although her mother would never admit it, it hurt to see the resemblance. Ever since Marie's father had left, she'd closed off from even her closest friends, becoming just a shade of her former self, which hadn't been much as it is. She was pale, lank, and looked like a walking skeleton.
"Marie!"
The child hadn't moved ever since she'd hugged her. "Please, child, at least listen to me!"
"I am, mother..." Marie replied in a monotone. "You just weren't saying anything just now..."
"Marie!"
Marie looked down, blinking sadly. "Sorry, mother."
Her mother sighed, letting go of her. "I just...I wish you'd open up to someone, tell them how you feel..."
Marie didn't respond, simply standing where her mother had left her.
"...Marie?"
Marie looked up, silent.
"Dear, please smile. Just once. For me?"
Marie stared at her, not even blinking now. "You...you don't know how it feels, Mother. To hear you ask of me something I cannot do, every single day..." Her strange yellow eyes turned baleful as she outright GLARED at her mother. "Why do you constantly try to make me feel even worse?!"
Her mother stepped back, shocked. "Wha-?"
Marie lunged for a knife, grabbing it and slashing at the corners of her lips, leaving six-inch gouges that looked like a psychotic grin on her face, bleeding profusely.
"DO I LOOK HAPPY NOW, MOTHER?! AM I SMILING ENOUGH?!"
She collapsed into sobbing laugter, falling onto the floor. Her mother reached out to comfort her, and she screamed. "DON'T TOUCH ME! GET AWAY FROM ME!! GET AWAY!!" She crawled backward away from her mother, leaving a trail of blood that made her mother sick. She shrieked in laughter and fury, her yellow eyes gaining a tinge of a little farther gone than insanity. She called the asylum, and simply held it out so the attendant could hear that terrible, shrieking laughter. She then gave their address, and within a few minutes her daughter's shrieks had turned to whimpers and cooing sounds, as if she was happy to leave. Just as the carriage pulled away, her father arrived.
"Oh, William..."
She could still hear her daughter's clawing at the back of the carriage, trying to get to her father, almost until it was out of sight...