“Remember to brush your teeth, Kaitlynn.” My mother warned me every morning and every night. If I didn’t, she would scold me something horrid, and tell me scary dentist stories until I ran into the bathroom crying and scrubbing the toothbrush vigorously against my poor teeth.
Even as a very small child, she made sure I knew the complications of not brushing your teeth thoroughly-and though she tried to make the dentist’s office seem like a calm, welcoming place, as most parents do, it ended up having the adverse effect. She drilled dental hygiene into me so severely, I was absolutely terrified, and kicked and screamed whenever I inevitably had to have my teeth checked.
“Did you remember to brush your teeth, Kaitlynn?” She asked me one night, as I lay in bed, already half asleep.
“Yes…” I lied sleepily. I was tired to get up, but fear surged through me as I realised she would see through my lie in a second.
“Kaitlynn Rose Miller, what did I tell you about the importance of brushing your teeth properly every single night?! Get in that bathroom right now and brush them before you get a cavity!” She yelled.
Scared, I jumped up and scurried to the bathroom. She tried to follow, but I locked the door swiftly behind me, trapping her outside.
“Kaitlynn! Open this door this instant, you little brat!” She screamed, rattling the handle.
“I-I’m brushing m-my teeth!” I shrieked, turning the tap on so she could hear the water running.
“Well done, honey.” Her grip on the handle instantly went slack, “I’m so proud of you. I’ll come and get you in two minutes.”
I did brush my teeth then, carefully and diligently, making sure to drag the brush at least thrice over every single tooth. My hand shook and the brush wavered in my mouth, but still I didn’t stop, not until I was done. I then set the brush back down, unlocking the bathroom door as I did so.
“Remember to brush your teeth, Kaitlynn.” Came my mother’s voice from in my bedroom. Frowning, I stopped still.
“Mom?”
“Remember to brush your teeth.” Her voice was slightly distorted, wobbly and lower in pitch than usual.
“Mom, but I just…did.” I continued on into my bedroom, stumbling backwards with a horrified gasp as my eyed fell onto my mother.
She sat on the bed, her gaze fixed on something far, far in the distance, her back straight up. Her hands, pale and cold, rested in her lap.
She turned to face me, and I cried out. Her eyes locked on mine, and she looked…blank. Emotionless. Cold.
She was smiling wide, wider than I’d ever seen anyone smile before, and oh god, her teeth! Her immaculate glistening teeth, they were cracked and rotten!
I reached out forward to touch her, and one particularly damaged, blackened tooth fell out of her mouth and into my hand. I dropped it in disgust and it rolled under my bed, out of sight.
“Remember to brush your…” She trailed off, still staring straight at me.
Suddenly, a thin line of scarlet blood snaked over her bottom lip and down her pallid chin, flowing effortlessly.
“Mom!” I shouted, trying to snap her out of it, but she didn’t seem to hear me. one by one, more rotten, broken fragments of tooth began to tumble out of her mouth and onto my bedroom carpet, until her mouth was empty. Her gaping toothless grin freaked me out more than her rotted one, and I gagged slightly.
“Remember to brush.”
“Mom…” I whispered. I stepped closer to inspect her mouth, but it was exactly as it looked from the other side of the room; horrifying.
“Remember to.”
What was she saying? I closed my eyes, hoping it was all a dream, wishing my dad would come home soon and would know how to fix it.
“Remember.”
“What?” I opened my eyes. She was still there.
“Remember!” She elevated her voice ever so slightly, just as blood began to cascade out of her mouth in a sick sort of crimson waterfall. She began to choke on the endless stream of blood and saliva, and I couldn’t react, frozen to the spot. She continued to retch and cough until she collapsed, and fell silent.
I still don’t know what happened to my mother that night. Dad won’t explain it to me, and police told me she started bleeding because of her tooth loss and died choking on the blood. But no one can explain why her teeth rotted so suddenly, why they all fell out, or why she was in such a trance from the first place.
It’s been years and years since that day now. If anyone can explain what happened, I’d love to know-it would give me some closure, you understand. I’d ask my dad, but he gets upset at the mere mention of my mother, and I don’t want to do that to him, especially not since it’s just him and I now.
I just hope this was the right place to post my story.