Molly has smiled, even though she usually seems she’s never ever smiled, not ever, in her entire life. Molly has smiled, but usually it was a twisted, hateful smile. She smiled like a liar might smile, when they con a person, and get something out of them, fooling them. A triumphant but sad smile, that one.
Happy smiles? Molly has never had a happy smile, never a happy moment really. This is how Molly’s face usually looks 
sad, cynical maybe, but a long, long way from being happy. Molly and happiness don’t meet up with each other.
If you feel like Molly, like there is nothing to be happy about, nothing to smile about, it can feel like your world is pointless, like there is a cloud that covers the whole world, or like there are no colours in the world, never have been, never will be, not in your world.
Being depressed, having depression, that can make happiness disappear. Everything might feel like it’s a huge effort, even getting out of bed is too much. There is nothing you want to do, not joy in your life, no possibility of having anything good happen. Even watching TV might feels like to much, you can’t follow what’s happening on the screen, your brain can’t concentrate.
Is Molly depressed? Maybe she is. Many people suffer from depression, sometimes without realising it. They just suffer in silence, not smiling, not doing much at all, and certainly nothing happy or fun. They can’t see any good things possible in their lives. That’s how Molly feels.
So yes Molly has smiled, but it was not a happy smile, it was a cynical smile, which is a sneer really, not a smile. Molly can’t remember smiling a happy smile, but she can remember, when she was little, her dad saying to her, “What at you grinning at?” and he hit her. It wiped out her ability to smile like other people do, she thinks.
Now Molly won’t smile, maybe can’t smile, not how other people smile. I hope one day, Molly might find a reason to smile, and see whether her smile is completely wiped out, or whether, one happy day, she might smile a happy smile again, and no-one will hit her. Maybe …
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 