Short Story

The Hidden Meaning

The reddening maple trees exchanged quiet whispers as Sophie and Milo passed by on the autumn-covered path. The constant tugging of Milo’s leash caused Sophie to lose hold of it. She looked in front of her, eyeing the leash trailing behind Milo, as he chased a leaf caught in the wind. She watched him as he took a swift turn to the left, disappearing behind a copse of towering bushes. She ran after him and watched as he entered a run-down house.

Sophie stood there for a moment in awe and noticed how the front half of the house was slowly deteriorating while the back half stood tall. She approached the front door, but before she went inside she noticed a sign that looked far too familiar for this to be some coincidence. She picked it up, the cold metal shocking the skin of her hands.

“Accepting New Patients,” Sophie read. It felt as though she had read these words a thousand times before, as it was identical to the one her parents used at their dentist office. She placed the sign back on the porch with confusion and walked through the entrance of the house which was an excruciatingly long hallway. The fear was getting to her, but her need to find Milo was stronger.

As she walked down the hall, she heard Milo’s yelps. Following his barks, she ended up downstairs in a basement with one room, an antique living room filled with comfortable seating. A hidden door was on the other side of the room, leading to a nightmarish place that was filled with every kind of agonizing tool you could think of. A single dentist chair was placed in the middle, while jars of teeth and tongues were lined up nicely on shelves. But Sophie didn’t know all of that, she thought she had already met the worst of it all.

“This is it?” Sophie asked the room with a nervous smile. She walked over to the vintage, yellow couch where Milo laid and picked him up as he licked her hand. Suddenly, a chill pierced the air which gained Sophie’s attention. A tall, thin figure rose from the living room entrance and cast a shadow over everything.

Milo looked at the figure and began to bark. Sophie turned around very slowly with her heart beating out of her chest and looked up at the more-than-frightening man, his smile off center with stitches covering the right end of his mouth. His body was as thin as a match, and his eyes filled with anticipation. He wore a navy blue suit that was covered with blood stains. Sophie stood there with the feeling of panic taking over. She felt like her feet were glued to the floor and her body paralyzed. She watched as the man began to smile big and wide, but only the left side of his mouth turned up.

“I am so glad you finally came,” the man said, taking a step closer to Sophie. His long legs were like a spider’s, and Sophie wondered if no matter how fast she ran if he would still catch up to her. “I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you,” his voice deep at first but ending in a high-pitched tone. “Your parents have told me so much about you, but sadly I don’t think you’ve ever heard of me,” the man said, while his smile turned into a horrifying frown. He slowly walked forward with his arms hanging down, his back arched, and his head held high. All Sophie could manage to do was shake her head vigorously and walk backwards to refrain herself from getting too close to the strange, unhuman-like man.

When he reached the coffee table, he straightened up quite quickly and fixed his tie. “Oh dear, have I scared you?” Sophie had made her way to the ground and stared at him, while a single tear fell down her cheek. Milo sat next to her with no idea of what was happening. “Because that was never my intention,” he said, as slowly as when he walked across the room.

He jumped up on the coffee table and sat down with his legs crossed, looking right at her. Sophie winced as she tried to speak, but it was no use because she felt as if her mouth were sewn shut. “Let me share who I really am and how I am connected to your parents.”

As he spoke, Sophie stared in silence, still unable to move any part of her body.

“When I was a young boy, my grandpa took care of me, and he had an odd fascination with me keeping my pearly whites clean and sparkling. According to him, “Cleanliness was next to godliness.” It didn’t take long for me to associate my happiness with the ability to keep an immaculate appearance. He constantly drilled into my head the fact that I needed to appreciate having perfect teeth. He was a cruel and angry man, so when I didn’t listen to him, I got what I deserved.” The man opened his mouth wide enough to show Sophie that some of his teeth were fake and quite revolting, while parts of his mouth didn’t have teeth at all.

“As I got older, I started to understand my brutal grandfather more, and that I was becoming just like him; enjoying the pain of others. I began to treat people how I was treated. I always get this rush of adrenaline every time I rip a tooth out. Successful drug use and manipulation was all it took to make your parents unaware of how I was treating their patients, down here in my unknown chamber. When I bring the patients to your parents office after I work on them, your parents never suspect a thing. However, now that you know, I have to make sure you won’t say a word.”

Sophie could barely believe that she was here, much less what she was hearing. The man stood up off the table and stared at Sophie. A million things were going through her mind, but she managed to gather her strength and push the table into him. He stumbled backwards, falling to the ground. Sophie quickly got up and grabbed Milo, but as she went to leave she saw the man lying on his back; straight as a pencil. Sophie turned to run out, but she was stopped when the man’s hand grasped her ankle while he sat there and gave her an unsettling smile.

She turned out of his clutch, ran, and didn’t stop until she heard his cries. She stood on the porch and saw him standing at the end of the never-ending hallway, with a frown that seemed to go all the way down to his chin. “Don’t you want me to be happy?” the man cried out to her. He glared at Sophie as she looked right at him. She could taste the salty tears that ran into her mouth.

“Don’t you want me to be happy?” he repeated, with his voice rising into a giggle and a smile appeared on his face. “You could be happy too, Sophie,” he said, stretching out her name as his voice took a deep, horrifying tone. As she and Milo ran from the porch, Sophie wondered if her parents would ever believe the alarming details she just learned moments before.