Chapter Text
My night should have been simple. My parents were out of town for the week, so my Friday plans consisted of picking up my seven year old sister from dance practice, shoveling instant ramen into her mouth, and putting her to sleep by 9:00 PM. After that, I had the house to myself, and I could stay up gaming as long as I wanted. Looking back, my troubles began the moment my sister lost her tooth in the car.
Earlier that day, I was tasked with picking my sister up from dance practice. I got there fifteen minutes early, so she wouldn’t throw a fit about me being late, and we sped off the second she and her sparkly purple dance tights hit the passenger seat. It was already dark out, and I did not want to be in that parking lot any longer with all the tiny children running in the street.
“Don’t drive so fast,” She whined. “You’re gonna kill us.”
“Shut it Nessa.” I snipped back. I did not like driving my mom’s car. I was so much more used to my truck; this mini cooper compressed my legs and exaggerated all of my movements. It’s hard being over six feet in a car catered to someone so short. No wonder Nessa found my driving so jerky. Unfortunately, my truck was stuck a couple states away with my parents because it had the better gas mileage.
Nessa reached into her bag and pulled out a sandwich, the one I had made her earlier that day.
“Why didn’t you eat that during snack time?” I questioned.
“Wasn’t hungry.” She replied through a mouthful of food. Mom never allowed us to eat in her car. I was about to comment on that, to tell Nessa to put her food away, when an animal suddenly ran across the road.
“Shit!” I hissed, and slammed on the brakes. Nessa lurched forward, held back by her seat belt. The container she had pulled her sandwich out of clattered forward and onto the floor of the car. Slightly, disheveled, I slowly pressed the gas again, eager to get home. My sister did not transition as smoothly.
“Henry!” She yelled after yanking the sandwich from her teeth. “What did I tell you!”
I hung my head in shame at her comment, accepting the lecture instead of arguing back. I was about to apologize, when I heard her yelp.
“What is it?” I questioned, mildly alarmed but refusing to take my eyes off the road.
“My tooth!” She exclaimed, “It fell out!” Now stopped at a red light, I took the chance to glance at her, and saw her shoving her tongue through the gap in her teeth.
“Ew Nessa, that’s gross.” I looked away again. It must’ve fallen out as she bit into her sandwich when I braked. She held the tooth up, admiring it.
“I can’t wait for the tooth fairy to visit tonight! I wonder how much I’ll get!” She chirped. Aw crap. Add that to my list of things to do tonight. I’ll have to pause my game later so I can sneak into her room and hide the cash. I pondered my antics while we drove the rest of the way home in silence. A light drizzle started and I turned on my windshield wipers. The dark, looming clouds suggested that heavier rain was expected.
Later that night, I got Nessa to bed by ten o’clock instead of nine. She was energetic, but the rain helped me lullaby her to sleep. I figured I would go switch out her tooth with the money at twelve, giving her a little bit of extra time to fall into a deeper slumber.
I sat down at my computer for what only felt like a bit, but as my gaze flickered towards the clock in the corner of the screen, I realized over two hours had already passed. It was well beyond twelve at that point, not that it mattered. I could hear the wind whipping the tree branches against the side of the house, and I could hear the rain echoing against the rain gutter, but all I saw out of my window was pitch black. The noise creeped me out though, so I hastily closed the blinds.
I pulled out my wallet from my back pocket, fingering through the loose change and dollar bills. I could spare a quarter and a dime for my sister, but no way I was paying her more than a dollar just for losing a tooth. I never turned the lamps from the kitchen off earlier, so I let the dim lighting guide me across the hallway to Nessa’s door. A half-assed “No boys allowed” poster was taped up in the center of her door, around where my waist was in height, although the tape had seen better days. I could almost swear I heard a faint shuffling coming from inside her room, but I ignored my suspicions and gingerly twisted the knob.
The door creaked open slowly, filling the room with an eerie ambiance. I crept towards her sleeping figure, feeling more like an axe murderer than a caring older brother. Thankfully, she twisted halfway across the bed and off the pillow we stuffed the tooth under, making my job easier.
Beside Nessa’s pillow, a dim light shined and illuminated her features.
What could that be? I wondered. I inched closer, moving toward a better view since the source of the light was blocked by a giant lamp on her bedside table. I walked forward, until I was nearly looming over my sister. Despite my proximity, my eyes still had a hard time focusing on the glowing object that sat next to her pillow. Oh my god… I processed, realization dawning across my face. My brain was working overtime trying to justify the scene in front of me—it felt like I was short-circuiting.
I watched as a five-inch tall boy tugged at the edges of the pillow. He had white hair, or maybe was it light blue? And he had the most beautiful glowing wings, even I could admit that. I-is that… the tooth fairy? Is the tooth fairy a guy?
Wind whistled through the crack in Nessa’s window and ruffled my hair. I could smell the wet pavement and feel a hint of the rain in the breeze. The quarter that had been tucked in between my pointer finger and thumb shook loose from my grasp and fell to the floor. A loud and painful clattering sound echoed throughout the room as it landed, sharp and unnatural compared to the quiet scene before me. I had felt as though I was watching a movie play out, but the quarter broke that illusion. I winced as I heard a small gasp beneath me. I cracked my eyes open to find a small, shaking figure staring up at me.
The second our eyes met, I jolted into action. My body was moving faster than my brain, acting on pure instinct. I grabbed the small boy off my sister’s pillow, and raced out of the room, moving as fast as I could while keeping as quiet as I could. I could feel him squirming beneath my grasp, helplessly throwing his fists at my fingers. I loosened my grip a bit, out of fear of hurting him, and he calmed down.
One thing I did notice was that he was wet. And cold. Probably from the rain. I finally got to my room, closing the door behind me, and let out a small sigh. My heart was beating a mile a minute, and the sound of my pulse in my ears was drowning out all other noise.
After the audible click of the door, like a switch flipped, the boy in my hands started struggling again. He didn’t make much noise, at least nothing I could hear over my loud ragged breathing, but he was punching and kicking at my fingers.
“Hey, hey, calm down little guy. I don’t wanna drop ya.” I spoke, my voice coming out strained. And to my absolute astonishment, the little figure replied.
“Let me go,” He whined, voice hoarse. I stilled. He replied. And he sound fucking terrified.
Thinking fast, I grabbed a mason jar off my desk with my free hand, dumped the pens out, and dropped the fairy down. He fell with an audible thunk, and I flinched. That must have hurt a little, if not pretty bad. I feel even worse as I see the tiny figure curl in on himself, clutching his sides in pain.
I turn on my desk lamp and center it above him so I can get a better look, earning his attention. We lock eyes. Now that I have a better, uninterrupted view of the tiny fairy, I finally notice how pretty he is. He couldn’t have been more than 4 inches in height, hardly weighing more than loose change in my palm earlier, but I could almost feel his piercing ice blue gaze. His body was thin and wiry, but I could tell he was older. If I had to guess, I would say he was around my age. I’m seventeen, a senior in high school.
“Hey little guy, you good?” I cooed, breaking the awkward silence. He shot me a glare, his wide eyes narrowing. “Jeez, just asking.” When he didn’t respond after I gave him another moment, I tapped the glass. He flinched violently away from my incoming finger. “You’re pretty skittish, aren’chya?” I commented. I wanted to know what was happening, and I was getting sick of his continued silence. Noticing his fear of my hand, which he continued to eye warily, I brought it closer to him. “Heres the deal. If you don’t speak, I’m gonna have to pick you up. So I’ll give you another shot. What were you doing in my sister’s room?”
I flashed him a smile. I thought this was pretty fair, especially considering the fact that the little fairy had wings so he wasn’t actually trapped. However, at my proposition, the little guy looked up at me in disbelief. I leaned in, pausing my breath, and listened hard. At this point I was looming completely over him, so much so that he had to crane his neck in order to see me. Finally, barely louder than a whisper, I heard his soft voice.
“Nothing. I wasn’t doing anything.” He croaked out with an averted gaze. I narrowed my eyes, urging him to continue. “I just- I- I’m just filling in for my grandma.”
“What are you talking about?” I questioned, confused.
“She- she collects teeth. And leaves little gifts, like coins. For the kids.” He spoke slightly louder now, and looked up to meet my eyes.
“Like the tooth fairy?” I responded incredulously. “Your grandma is the tooth fairy?”
“Yeah I guess. I’m just taking over for the week; she’s sick and I wanted to give her some rest.” His voice was small, scared but tired. “God I hate this job.” He muttered as an afterthought. I smirked at the comment.
I propped my head on my hand and sighed, the breath from my nose rushing into the jar ruffling the fairy’s hair. He shrunk down and took a step back, stumbling away from me. I rubbed my eyes. It was too late and I was too tired to deal with the absurdity of this situation. I took notice of the way the fairy shivered in his wet, baggy clothes, the water from the rain outside weighing down his whole figure.
“Alright,” I sighed again, not wanting to go to sleep with such a big situation to handle, but needing something to do. “Let's get you warmed up."