Sweet Tooth

Sweets to the Sweet

Part III

Sweets to the Sweet

Samantha and Emily walked back to the house hand in hand. Neither one of them wanted to talk, neither one of them had to. Once back at the house they solemnly worked together to clean up the mess left in the kitchen. The pliers were cleaned and placed back in the drawer, and they made sure all of the blood smears were cleaned away. They heard their parents stir, so they hurried upstairs. Before they departed to their rooms they paused and promised each other that they wouldn’t tell anybody about the Tooth Fairy, or Granny Sweets, or whatever they wanted to call that monster.

Emily was relieved to be back in the safety of her room. Annie was waiting for her on her bedroom floor. Although discarded and forgotten she still welcomed Emily with a smile.

“I’m so sorry Annie, I really am, I don’t know what came over me.”

Her hands were shaking still, but she wasn’t sure if it was aftershock or withdraw from the highly addictive candy. She pushed away the aches and pains, her mouth had stopped bleeding but it was still throbbing painfully. She would have to make a trip to the bathroom to clean up before her parents saw her. Her feet were blistered and cut from walking around the woods barefooted. She picked Annie up and recovered her lost arm. She planned to ask Samantha for her sewing kit, and sew Annie up today. She was achy but with Annie clutched to her chest the pain was reduced and sleep came easily.

It was Saturday, one of Amanda’s few days off, she had errands to run but she had already planned a dinner with her daughters, who were taking advantage and sleeping in today. She returned to the house around three o’clock and turned on the small TV in the kitchen while she started cooking. The local news castor began reporting off about a forest fire that had started sometime last night, and no one could explain it. Amanda paid no mind, she pulled out her cutting board and began chopping carrots.

“OOOOOOOOOOWWWW!!!! MOMMY!”

The screams she knew sounded like Emily’s and they were coming from upstairs. Amanda ran up to the bathroom and found that they were coming from the bathroom. The crying was very loud and pained and it mingled with the sound of the shower running. She opened the door easily and found Emily sitting in the bathtub with a bloody mouth and crying. Amanda rushed to her she could see several teeth missing.

“What happened honey,”

“I was taking. . .  a shower and. . . . I fell. And I hit my. . . my mouth.” Her voice was punctuated by heavy breathing and sobbing. It was surprising how great of a little actress she was.

While Amanda was out, Samantha and Emily came up with this idea to explain her missing teeth. It seemed perfect; she could claim that the teeth went down the drain, and that most of the blood was washed with it. She did have to of course have some blood to really be convincing so she picked at her sore swollen gums until they reopened. The pain of her bleeding gums also helped motivate real tears thus making her performance that much more convincing.

Amanda got Emily dressed and took her to the hospital, they said that she was fine; however they did discover that another tooth was loose.

That night they got back from the hospital and Amanda managed to make a late dinner. Like usual her husband was gone, working late hours. They were sitting at the table eating in silence when all of a sudden Emily cried out. Although she was eating mainly soft food because of her sore mouth her tooth fell out anyway. She spat it out in her hand and then she looked up at her mom horrified with watery eyes.

“Awe honey, it’s okay, one will grow back in its place just like the others will. And hey,” she added, “ at least you can get your treat from the Tooth Fairy this time.”

“Yeah,” Emily said very unenthusiastically. She looked over at her sister who was looking at her empathetically. They had surprised their mom a little by getting along all day long. Dinner was over and they all got ready for bed. Amanda came into Emily’s room as she was lying down. She sat on the side of her bed, and began to stroke her hair as an attempt to soothe her.

“Do you still have your tooth?” She asked.

Emily nodded and pointed at the nightstand.

“Good,” Amanda said smiling warmly at her, “now here is what you have to do, you have to put this tooth under your pillow. The Tooth Fairy will come and take the tooth while you sleep and she will leave you a treat. Don’t look at her if you wake up, just keep your eyes closed otherwise, she won’t leave you anything.”

Emily looked up at her mom; she tried not to look scared she even reasoned that she had no reason to be scared. Samantha stabbed that old woman and then she burned. She couldn’t hurt her anymore.

“Goodnight sweetie,” her mom said and she kissed her forehead.

Emily laid in the dark for a moment debating on whether or not she should put the tooth under her pillow. She looked over at Annie who had her fresh stitches, and it reassured her that she too would be okay, her wounds just might take longer to heal. And besides, she reasoned, I have nothing to be scared of. The tooth went under her pillow and after a little tossing and turning Emily finally managed to fall asleep.

Emily was restless in her sleep, she was crying out and she squirmed, but then she swam back into consciousness. The room was pitch dark, she laid there for a moment with her eyes still closed, thinking about her nightmare, but it had already departed. She could only vaguely remember what it was even about.

She remembered putting the tooth under her pillow before she went to bed. She felt around under her pillow to see if her treat was under there yet; and then she froze. The marrow inside her bones seemed to ice over, and her heart started hammering. She felt something under her pillow and it wasn’t a tooth, she knew what it was. She had no need to turn on the lights. It was a piece of red candy wrapped up in colorful wrapping paper. The situation set in. She inhaled deeply, she smelled the now familiar cloying sugary sweetness, but this time it was mingled with something else. It took her a second to pinpoint the under smell. She kept her eyes closed; for all she knew the real Tooth Fairy could have come by and left her a similar piece of candy. Was it her imagination or did she feel someone’s hot breath softly running across her face. Her mom told her to keep her eyes closed or she wouldn’t get her treat, so that’s what she did. She finally managed to identify the under smell. It was the smell of burned flesh. Still she kept her eyes closed tight and thought; there is nothing to be afraid of; after all, the old lady was dead . . . right? I’m just imagining all of this stuff because I’m scared . . . right? Emily prayed that she was, and she opened her eyes.