Dr Dayna Danworth here. Your friendly neighbourhood paranormal dentist. Last time I introduced you to my daughter, a baby that had been born cursed and given to me in return for a pair of dentures.
I decided not to opt for Sadie or Nellie as Coco had suggested. Both lovely names but neither felt fitting for the little girl that I bonded with in the weeks following my appointment with the crone, Eudora Finch.
She became Pearl. Coco said that it was too much like a bad dentist pun for pearly whites but it fit her perfectly, and it stuck. My beautiful little Pearl.
She wasn’t planned and she certainly wasn’t easy. I had to hire a nanny well versed in all things monstrous. I couldn’t risk her developing a taste for fingers or an unsuspecting babysitter going into cardiac arrest at the sight of her pointed teeth. So I made enquiries in the professional circles I run in.
Evan was a fantastic caretaker. He had experience with special children and came highly recommended by the nannying agency. Evan had a stomach of steel and wasn’t at all phased by feeding her small rodents. He took quite some delight in her giggle, in fact.
There really are services out there for everyone.
I felt safe coming to the practice and knowing that Pearl was with Evan, but I did cancel overnights for quite some time, opting to spend them with her. It took a few months before I was ready to do those shifts again and I insisted on finishing by 1am the very latest. I didn’t want to be an absent mother, not like mine had been.
The first home visit I did after taking on Pearl was especially hard. Home visits were never my favourites pre little monster and they only became more of a nuisance after. They were fantastic money though, and I was providing for two now.
A home visit would only occur when a particular patient was absolutely unable to come to the practice. Often they would take place in caves and balanced on precarious ocean rocks. Sirens, shadow dwellers and elemental monsters always came to mind immediately when coco bounded up to me, eyes bright, with the two words I dreaded most.
“Field trip!”
That night I was packed. My go bag by the door was familiar yet felt somehow so different this time. I brushed it aside. It was just teeth, right?
I left two small chicks to thaw on the kitchen side and kissed Pearl on the forehead before handing her to Evan. It broke me that first night. Coco was excited as ever, she enjoyed home visits and when she rolled up to collect me she resembled a kid in line for a rollercoaster.
I could never understand it. She’d sustained more than a few injuries on these trips but nothing dampened her eagerness. I love her, I really do, but it was tiresome. I was annoyed before I even got in the car.
Her negligence didn’t have the same comedic charm when travelling to a remote set of coordinates. With the other life I now had to think of the stakes were higher and I couldn’t help but lament Coco for her inability to gather any real information on new patients.
“Where are we driving? Evan’s great but I didn’t intend to leave Pearl full time.” It was about an hour into the drive and I was starting to worry that it was going to be a longer trip than I anticipated.
“It’s not that far, a little village called Abelfort. It looked quite quaint on the postcard.”
“Postcard?”
“Oh! I thought I showed you! Not every day a patient books by postcard is it?”
I took in a breath and tried to soothe myself. Coco knew she was about to get a barrage for her dopey indiscretions and interjected before I could start.
“It’s in the glovebox Dayna. Can you just try to be a bit fun for once in your life?” Without taking her eyes off the road she managed to scold me with them.
I didn’t say another word. She was right, I could be uptight sometimes. I was even more so in those months after receiving Pearl and I felt bad for taking it out on her. Silently I opened the glovebox in front of me and pulled out a slightly crumpled postcard. Another thing she was right about; Abelfort did look quaint.
I turned the card over and was met with the most beautiful cursive I’ve ever seen. The exact wording escapes me; I was too caught up in the lettering, but the note was insistent that the appointment take place in the village under the cover of darkness.
The cover of darkness had become quite the cliche in my industry. A term that had become worthy of eye rolls across the board. Having seen the photograph of the gorgeous village centre I remember being entirely unbothered for the remainder of the drive, right up until the last turn.
“Strange.” Coco stopped the car on a country lane at the edge of a vast field, characterised only by a large, dilapidated farm house.
“What?”
“Well… I’m supposed to make a sharp right turn here. Directly into the field.”
“That doesn’t sound saf-“ it was too late. Before I could even finish the sentence Coco had spun the steering wheel and sent the car straight over the uneven, muddy terrain. I clung to my seat, knuckles turning white as she laughed.
“Will you relax Dayna! I got some special tires put on this thing. It’s about time they got some use! She chuckled with utter delight, accelerating and making revving noises in time with the car. After about 400 yards she slammed her foot on the brake pedal, directly outside the old farmhouse.
“Here!” She squealed. Just like a teenager would as the school bus pulls up to a boring museum. It didn’t matter where I took her, she just enjoyed being out.
“Remind me of the patients name please? It wasn’t on the postcard.”
“Oh…erm. She didn’t say. I called to confirm the booking but our conversation was very brief.”
As I despaired at the inadequacy I tried to take in my surroundings and look for any clues as to what I may have been dealing with.
The farmhouse looked haunted; boarded up windows and broken outer cladding decorated the building like bunting. I wasn’t a non believer, my job simply wouldn’t allow that, but I couldn’t see why a ghost would require my services.
The land was expansive, with thick woodland at the borders. I was in awe of the sheer beauty of the nature, even in the dark night. It took me a few moments to notice that not only had we driven across grass, but that there were no traditional dirt tracks leading to the house. It seemed as though a crane had picked it up and plonked it in the middle of a lush, green field.
It didn’t bode well. Any monster that adverse to visitors and locals accessing them generally had good reason for it. I had never arrived at a home visit in an actual home either, it was a welcome change of pace from the dingy swamps and dark caves I had anticipated.
“Well. I guess we better meet the patient.”
I stepped towards the rotting, wooden door, secured by multiple locks and bolts, barely visible through the worn panelling. I knocked three times, loudly, heart in my throat. The anticipation never got any easier.
It’s ironic, but the perfectly average looking woman who came to the door was more of a shock than any monster could’ve been. She was young but had large, swollen bags under her eyes and wild, greying hair. Aside from being a little dishevelled she seemed unmistakably human.
I’m not one to discriminate, but you expect them to look freaky when they don’t attend the practice.
“Hello, my name is Dr Dayna Danworth, this is my assistant Coco, pleased to meet you..” I held out my hand in the hope that the woman would lead with her name.
“Esme Jacobs.” She grabbed my hand and opened the door as far onwards as it would go, ushering us in. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. Did anyone see you make the turn? I don’t want the village knowing I have company.”
“We’re professionals Ms Jacobs. We can assure you we were discreet.” Coco chimed in. I wondered what part of her car clambering across mud was discreet but I decided not to voice my concerns. Coco had a far better bedside manner than I could dream of.
Sat at a dusty old, green sofa in Esme’s dimly lit lounge she presented us with a cup of tea each. I never cared for tea much, but as a British staple I had it offered to me often. If anything could strengthen human monster relations it would be tea. Coco took time to compliment her mugs.
“Ms Jacobs, I hate to be so direct, but I need to know why we’re here?” I asked, breaking up the initial pleasantries.
“Of course Doctor. I was told that you work with… abnormal…”
“Well that’s why I’m a little confused. Forgive me for being presumptive but you seem perfectly able to attend my dentistry…may I ask?”
“It’s not me!” Esme laughed. It wasn’t a joyous laugh; instead it was cold and filled with pain. “I wouldn’t be forking out this kind of money for myself, it’s all I have, but if we don’t fix this then my whole family will perish.”
My interest was piqued. I started trying to guess what she may be referring to, the suggestion that her family would perish helped me to categorise the patient before I’d even met them. Esme Jacobs was living with a curse.
Bloodline and area specific monsters were a fascination to me. At the time of Esme Jacobs’ appointment I was yet to meet the Beast of Cordyline Hill and was somewhat naive to the power these creatures had on any that crossed their path. I retained the excitement of a newbie.
“What is it? And where do you keep it?” I asked, making sense of the lack of access to the farmhouse.
“He’s my family’s biggest secret.. and our deepest shame. He’s much older than I am, but I’ll tell you the story my mother told me before she died. The burden she passed on.”
I sipped my tea, catching a glimpse of Coco, already enthralled in the tale.
“My great grandmother was married to the son of the village mayor at the age of twenty two. Her father owned the land that this house sits on and the marriage was mostly political. There wasn’t an iota of love involved.
“She had an affair with my great grandfather, who she was deeply in love with but wasn’t deemed worthy of her. She hid the affair from her husband, meeting with her sweetheart in secret. They had three children, two girls and a boy, who the husband believed were his.
“The affair was exposed when the boy grew into the spitting image of my grandfather, causing a huge scandal in the village. The mayors son was humiliated. Rightly so, I suppose, but it didn’t justify his course of action.”
“What happened?” Coco asked, totally entranced by Esme Jacobs.
“He took a hunting rifle and shot his kids. Made my grandmother watch before turning the gun on her and then finally himself. One of the girls survived, albeit with horrific injuries, and was raised by her biological father in exile, hence my existence.”
She was flippant. Despite the enormity of the tragedy she described she seemed quite dissociated from it. It only furthered my curiosity.
“Forgive me, Esme, but that doesn’t explain why I’m here.” I tried to keep the appointment moving.
“My grandfather struggled with the loss of his soul mate and the children, he drank himself senseless at first. People reported him talking to himself by the edge of the land, next to the trees. But he wasn’t alone.
“They’ve been a local legend for hundreds of years. The people of this village believe that there’s a race of forest folk, who aren’t like us.. who can grant wishes.”
I knew exactly where the story was headed, the mere mention of deceased children and forest folk helped every piece come together like a jigsaw.
“Where were the kids buried?” I asked, interrupting her story.
She looked quite indignant, as if no one had ever been so dismissive of tales of the forest folk. I wasn’t intending to be dismissive, however, forest folk as she called them were highly illusive creatures; fascinating monsters. Not one that I’d had the pleasure of working with. But not half as fascinating as the particular wish I knew they’d granted.
“I don’t know. No one ever mentioned it.” She replied, racking her brain for an old conversation or tidbit of knowledge that just wasn’t there.
“I would be prepared to put money on it being that same spot by the edge of the land, next to the trees. Are you familiar with the term changeling Esme?”
Coco smiled. I think she enjoyed the home visits because she saw them like a live action national geographic show that she could watch unfold in front of her. To be honest, on this occasion I felt much the same. Changelings were an often spoken of but rarely seen monster.
The forest folk are more commonly known in story form as dryads or the fae. Fairies; to reduce them to a kids tale. Changelings are a faux child that the fae give to a human family in place of the real thing that they are said to have taken.
The story fit. The only part that didn’t make sense was that the children were already dead, not the usual prey for creatures of this type, who were said to prefer healthy, living young.
“Of course I am. And I wish that it were that simple, those things seem positively delightful compared to him.” She winced in the direction of a rickety looking wooden door across the room from the sofa, tucked in the hallway.
“They rejected the dead child?” I thought aloud to myself, trying to suppress the stream of thoughts hitting me. “Thought it was a gift gone wrong?” My limited knowledge let me down. I stopped looking at the floor and stared Esme straight in the eyes.
“I’d like to meet my patient please.”
It’s cliche. To keep a monster in the basement. I wish that some of the people cursed with such home visitors would start getting more creative. I thought of Pearl, and her stone parents. Would they have kept her in the basement if they’d lived to see her for what she was?
The farmhouse basement was at least spacious. I’m not some sort of monster rights activist but I do struggle with some of the cages and makeshift homes I’ve witnessed. He at least had some legroom.
He sat alone, chained in the corner of the dark room, on the cold concrete floor. I wondered why it was only him, no changeling for the deceased little girl in sight. He was pale, dead looking in fact, with blue veins connecting his features like a dot to dot.
I could understand why she wouldn’t want to bring him into the practice. A child that resembled a walking corpse would garner quite some attention in the city.
“What’s your name?” I asked as gently as I could. Catching a tiny glimmer of light hitting him from an air vent I noticed his emaciated frame. He didn’t respond to my question, so I turned my attention to Esme.
“What’s his name? And what does he eat?” I asked, angry at the state of the boy. I knew that changelings were rumoured to be incredibly dangerous, but seeing a perceived child in that condition would tug at anyone’s heartstrings.
“It’s Dennis. And this is the problem Doctor…”
“What does he eat?!” I was much firmer the second time. I wasn’t fucking around.
“Livestock.. animals.. people when he gets the chance. But he broke his teeth trying to get through the bars and now he can’t eat a thing. I can’t let him die… if I do the forest folk will never bring the real Dennis back. He hasn’t aged a day since he returned, he craves blood, he’s a monster.” Esme started to cry as she gestured to the air vent, dented metal barely visible.
I shook my head and approached Dennis. I was familiar with the idea that the fae would eventually return the original child but after so many generations I was surprised that Ms Jacobs was deluded enough to expect that outcome. To keep him locked away simply seemed cruel.
“Hi Dennis, my name is Dayna, Esme tells me you’ve hurt your teeth. I’m a doctor and I’m here to try and help. Could I take a look?”
Dennis turned to me, black eyes the central focus of his gaunt face. There was no iris remaining, just pools of darkness. His eyes glazed like he wanted to cry and I imagined the years that he’d been locked up in the vast, empty room. He nodded at me, desperately, before opening his mouth to reveal two rows of shattered, jagged teeth.
“Could you leave me with Dennis now please?” I turned to Esme and Coco.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”Esme tried to protest.
“I assure you, I’m more than equipped to deal with my patient.” I retorted, not wanting to spend another moment in the presence of a person who thought this treatment was ok.
Reluctantly, Esme lead Coco back upstairs, leaving me and my bag of tools alone with Dennis. I had a few burning questions to ask before getting to work.
“Are you ok buddy?”
“It hurts Doctor.”
I looked at what remained of his teeth, certain that it was agonising.
“Was it always just you? Did you have a sister too?”
“I’m not supposed to talk about her. She’s been gone for a long time now, how did you know?” He looked up at me with a wisdom in his dark eyes.
My heart sunk as I remembered a particularly nasty human belief. That in order to influence the return of a child stolen by the fae you could harm the changeling, forcing them to swap the original back for it. It was a belief that caused a lot of unnecessary suffering in less regulated times.
At least when the female changeling died and the daughter didn’t return the Jacobs family were intelligent enough to stop harming Dennis. It made it all the more deplorable that Esme kept up the facade. What was her stake in all this? I realised that I had been wrestling with my inner monologue for quite some time when Dennis spoke.
“She can’t have children of her own.”
The tiny voice had answered my thoughts. That was new. Something the stories hadn’t already taught me.
“How did you…”
“You want to know why. She keeps me here because she can’t have children of her own. Her husband left her for it. If I die so does the bloodline, and the last hope of continuing it.”
His words were wise beyond the years his body tricked me into thinking he’d been alive, but I knew that Dennis was much older than any human I’d met. I was completely enamoured. Despite the years of deprivation, his power shone through.
Fixing his teeth seemed so arbitrary. A prolonging of his suffering and inevitable demise in the cold, dingy basement. They looked painful, but not half as painful as eternal imprisonment. Sure, the money was great but wasn’t it dirty? I found myself in the biggest quandary of my career.
So I took action. Action that I never thought I’d take.
I reached into my bag and pulled out the diamond tipped drill that was already a favoured piece of equipment. The very same drill that I would later use to penetrate Mosaph Eurastix hardened shed skin. And I used it.
As quickly as I could I drilled through the shackle that chained Dennis’s ankle to the wall. He watched me the entire time, tears pouring down his face. As the drill burst through the final millimetres of metal and cracked open the shackle he said only seven words.
“Thank you. You are an excellent mother.”
And I said one.
“Run.”
Run he did. As emaciated as Dennis was he had some serious speed. I struggled to keep up, sprinting behind him up the stairs, ready to grab Coco and get in the car. I should have anticipated The changeling’s actions. I sometimes wonder if I did and subconsciously encouraged them.
As I reached the top step Dennis had stopped sharp before the main door, grabbing hold of Esme by the throat with his bony hand. In an instant he squeezed. She barely let out a wheeze before dropping to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
As awful as it sounds, I was quite pleased to see her meet her end so unceremoniously at the hands of her prisoner.
Coco babbled, trying to make sense of what was going on, I shot her a look and we made our way outside, standing in the rickety doorway as Dennis Sprinted across the field.
“What the fuck Day?”
“Just get in the car! I’ll explain. Quickly, we don’t want to be seen here.”
She nodded and we fumbled with the handles either side of the vehicle. My hand shook as I fastened my seat belt, thinking about the corpse of my making that we left behind. Had that been worth the freedom of a monster?
Coco revved up the engine and switched on the lights illuminating the trees ahead. She accelerated forward before swinging the car round to cut back across the feild where we’d entered.
Just before that turn I caught the most beautiful sight of my life. Hundreds of people, all stood with lanterns in the forested border staring back at me. There was no malice in their faces, just an outpouring of gratitude.
To the centre of the group was a tall, beautiful woman who radiated a natural light. Both her hands perched on the shoulder of a young boy. A young boy who was recognisable. The same… but different. He looked healthy, plumper. His family had fixed him. I’d never quite felt reverence for a patient like it.
I should’ve cursed the lack of payment for such a high risk job. But as Dennis smiled at me from his mothers arms and I caught a glimpse of his perfect teeth I knew I’d made the right decision.