There’s something peculiar about old advertisements. I’m not talking about the ones you would see on television during the 80s or 90s; I’m talking about the ones from the early 1900s. Back when moving pictures were more of a novelty and hand painted posters were more commonplace.
I had the fortune—or misfortune—of seeing one not too long ago. My family had stopped by at an old garage sale. As usual, the majority of items being sold were old furniture and clothes that the sellers no longer wanted. I found myself fairly bored with the whole thing and almost went to leave when something caught my eye. It appeared to be an old poster advertising soap. The catchphrase at the bottom said, “wash the frown off your face.” Beneath it was a picture of a man smiling widely.
What disturbed me most wasn’t the subject but how it had been drawn. His face looked very realistic while at the same time looking semi-cartoonish. I could see the curves of his face perfectly while his expression was the sort of exaggeration one would see on cartoons. It made me shiver looking at it, and yet I wanted it. Something about his face and the mystery behind this poster made me want to have it.
After purchasing the poster I took it home and laid it on the floor in my room. The man’s smile still disturbed me, but I still found myself captivated by it.
I kept the poster on the wall inside my closet because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand it looking at me during the night. Every day I would open the doors and find it looking at me. The smile would always remain unchanged and I would always shiver at it.
Weeks went by and I eventually took down the poster and put it in a box. From that moment on I had forgotten about it, only to be reminded a month or so later.
A friend of mine was over at my house to help me clean up. I said that he could take anything he wanted as long as I didn’t need it. During the clean up in my room he asked about the box in my closet. I stared at it for a moment, trying to remember what I had put in there. It was then that I remembered and took it out. By this time the paper had started to smell for some odd reason and the edges of the poster had become a bit torn, but it still looked the same as it did all that time ago.
However, something seemed different. The difference in the poster made my mouth drop open. My friend could see that I was unsettled and asked if he could see the poster. I let him look and saw the same expression appear on his face. None of us knew what to make of it.
The face on the poster was mine.
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