Quick announcement: I was invited to write a short story for an indie horror anthology called “As Told Under the Moon.” Twelve indie horror and thriller authors came together to make the perfect campfire spooky vibe for October.
My story is called “Potato Head,” a 90s callback to Halloween night mixed with some cosmic horror. Check it out on Amazon if interested!
When I woke up this morning, all my teeth were gone.
It was the pain in my gums that jolted me out of a nice dream. I think it was about Sarah—the woman I sit next to at work—all I remember is that her kiss tasted like vanilla and I was happy. For once.
And then came that sharp stabbing in the nerve endings where my teeth should have been. I woke up moaning and confused why my words were slurred. I ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Not a single tooth left. I saw the meaty roots hanging out of the gums like wet weeds. Blood had dribbled down my chin and dried there overnight.
And that pain. You know what it’s like biting into ice cream, that electric shock that shoots through your teeth? Imagine that, all over, and there was no end to it.
I heard something clatter in my kitchen. I live alone and don’t have any pets so I grabbed the nearest thing to a weapon that I could find—a gold plated golf club from my closet. I tried to sneak into the kitchen but the throbbing in my mouth overrode my ability to focus on being quiet.
I walked into the spacious kitchen and saw no one.
Nothing there save for the white object in the middle of the floor.
I bent down and picked it up.
It was a tooth.
It was my tooth. I know this because I had some gold fillings in the molars of my upper jaw and this one had it.
More clattering. It sounded like someone pouring a bag of Skittles out.
But I knew what it must have been. Who it must have been.
Even though I knew the answer, I stood and tried to yell, “Who the fuck is it!?” But it came out muffled and garbled.
Without my teeth, even sucking in air to speak felt like nails were being hammered into my gums.
I walked over to the sound, which was somewhere in my living room.
There, on top of the glass coffee table, four more of my teeth.
It should have hit me earlier, but I didn’t want to accept it.
I said with a wet and gurgling voice, “Give me more time.”
You won’t understand what I did. I don’t think you’d even believe me. I just want you to know I’m not a bad person. I never wanted this to happen.
A sound over by my sliding glass door in the dining room. Of even more teeth being dumped on the ground. I walked over and saw what must have been the rest of them. All piled together in a neat little pyramid by the glass door. Beyond the teeth I could see my swimming pool catching the golden sunrise. A view that I used to love waking up to. Forever ruined by that pile of bloody enamel.
Because I didn’t pay the price. Not properly.
“Please, give me more time and I’ll give you what you want,” I slurred, drool mixed with blood pouring out of my mouth.
All of this, my house, this life of ease I’d been living. I paid for it with teeth. You’re thinking of the Tooth Fairy, aren’t you? Laugh if you want. But it’s real. Sort of. The one I met may be a little more… intense than what you’re imagining.
At first, it was my own random loose tooth as a kid in exchange for a new bike. Moved on up to animals and the occasional person as I got older. And it had accepted my offerings and given me what I desired. The more I gave, the more I got.
Always without fail.
But now I asked too much. I wanted Sarah. But I couldn’t give what it wanted. I couldn’t give it her teeth. So, it took mine for its own.
“Then what will you give?” came that raspy and ancient voice I still couldn’t get used to. Even though the sunrise was filtering into the room, all that light dimmed in its presence. Like its very existence was a blackhole.
An inky shadow formed next to the pile of my teeth. Darkness bled out from it and filled the room like an oil spill. At its center was the Tooth Fairy as I knew it. The size of a toddler. Mantis-like limbs and ragged bandages for clothes. A staccato twitch every time it spoke. Head wrapped in a bloody cloth. No eyes to be seen.
“I have no more teeth to give you!”
“Not your own, no. Another’s,” came that voice from out of time. “Or I will take all of you.”
“Not her, I can’t! I take back my wish!”
“You must give or be taken.”
The Fairy grabbed a handful of my teeth with a wet tendril and devoured it. It had no mouth yet still forced the teeth into its own pale flesh somehow. As it chewed, I could hear my teeth shatter and crunch.
“Will you… still give me her?”
The Fairy nodded as it kept on chewing with its flesh wrapped mouth. That skin was beginning to tear. New teeth were ripping through it in a grotesque smile.
I know I’m a weak man, but you weren’t there that morning. It left me as I gave it my word.
So that’s why I’m here now. Standing over Sarah as she sleeps with pliers in my hands. She’s so beautiful. I even drugged her so she won’t feel anything.
I promise you Sarah, you’ll love your new life.
We may not smile for pictures.
But we’ll be happy.
I promise you.
Great story. I love the creeping dread and desperation at the end.
This was horrifying, I really enjoyed it