Young Writers Society

*This is the origin of a character from my story “31 horrific Halloween tales”. But Maria the dentist started as something else. Like most little kids, me and my sibling disliked the dentist immensely. So much so that we made a game called “Maria the dentist”, in which we would have to outrun an evil dentist named Maria who was intent on drilling our tongue out. I thought to myself, what if I gave her a backstory? A reason to why she was evil? However, don’t expect Maria to drill tongues out. Instead, I had her cut tongues out. As always, Gacha Club character designs are on my wall. Enjoy!*

Introduction

OLIVEVILLE DENTIST OFFICE, MARIA LEWIS’ OFFICE-JANUARY 27TH, FRIDAY, 2023.

Maria Lewis tapped her pen against her desk. It was 10:30 at night, but the dentist office was still open. People in Oliveville had a lot wrong with their teeth.

She sighed, staring at the brightly colored vases on the shelves. They were the only colorful things in her office. Bright, beautiful vases. Vases that she painted and crafted. Vases that she made in her spare time, if she had any.

It would only be a matter of time before someone needed her.

She wished that there was something else she could do…

Chapter One

NEXT MORNING

“Now just open your mouth. Pretend you’re going to get the tastiest candy in the world.” Maria said gently. The little girl, poor thing, was scared to death of opening her mouth.

She nodded, blond hair going up and down.

The girl opened her mouth.

There was so much candy…so much guck…really, it was repulsive. Yet Maria had to clean it all out. She had to do all the dirty work. She had to…

She gripped the explorer a little too tightly in her gloved hand.

Chapter Two

Maria walked up to the girl, still holding the explorer. Her pretty little tongue was the only thing that wasn’t dirty. It was so pink…so bright…

She dug the explorer into her mouth. The girl squirmed, but Maria dug it deep inside, making sure to cut.

The girl clamped down on her hand, which was alright, because she already got her work done.

Chapter Three

AFTER THE PROCEDURE

“What have you done? She’s got no tongue! How could you do this?”

The girl’s mother was screaming in her face, but Maria wasn’t really paying attention. She was thinking about the tongue in her pocket. The bleeding tongue.

“I’m suing! You hear? I’m suing! You’ll have absolutely nothing left! Not a thing! Not a single thing, do you understand?” She screamed. The girl stared at her, eyes brimming with tears and betrayal.

The woman’s eyes went wide when she spotted the bleeding spot in Maria’s pants. She lunged towards her, nails extended like claws, reaching into her pocket.

Her eyes were that of a madwoman. Her teeth were barred, hair flying in every direction. Maria could vaguely hear people scrambling away from the office and the little girl crying, but all she could focus on was trying to push the woman off her.

She wasn’t very strong. The woman had snatched the tongue. What did she think would happen? That she could get it sewed back on? An operation like that would cost money.

As if she spoke up from a hazy stupor, a thought edged Maria’s mind, as sharp as the explorer she used to cut off the girl’s tongue.

Why did she do it?

Chapter Four

CAR RIDE

“It will be all over the news. You’re finished.” Mackenzie said. Her best friend since she first became a dentist sat next to her on the passenger seat of her sedan. They were speaking of the incident.

It was true. The story would get on the news and Maria would be sent to jail. She’d have to pay a fine that would last a lifetime. The media hated violence against children.

Well, a good majority, anyway. She heard there were plenty of other individuals who wouldn’t care for their health.

But Maria cared. She was a dentist, she was supposed to care for her patients.

So why did she do it?

“I felt like I had to do it.”

“Pardon?”

Chapter Five

“It was just one of those moments when I thought that I had to do it. I can’t really explain it.” Maria said.

Only, she could explain it. Right before she was about to cut the girl’s tongue, she thought that she saw a shadowy figure in the walls. After she committed the act, the figure was gone.

She couldn’t tell Mackenzie that, though. Mackenzie wouldn’t even believe her.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Alright then.” Mackenzie said in the tone that said she would talk about it later.

Chapter Six

BACK HOME

Mackenzie did try to call her, but Maria didn’t answer. She was flipping through channels on the TV in the living room, not really interested in watching any of them. She would be fired, finished, and alone.

What was there to look forward to?

Do it again. A husky, grating voice whispered in her ear.

The same one she heard at the office earlier.

Chapter Seven

The shadow morphed, changed, and shifted. It went from blurry, to slightly clear, to crystal clear.

It was him. Adriel, in his smart black suit. Her long dead groom. Right as they were driving away to their honeymoon and future together, another car crashed into theirs, fatally injuring her and killing him.

But he was the sweetest man alive. Certainly he didn’t make her cut that girl’s tongue.

Adriel smiled, revealing a blackened, gaping maw. It looked like it could suck her into oblivion if she walked too close.

Do it again, love.

“Why?” Maria asked. Everything around her felt like it was shrinking, but she had to ask.

Why would he make her do it?

Chapter Eight

Remember that night? When it happened? He asked. His voice had a hint of sympathy and sadness, human emotions. Even with his grating voice, there was still a softness to it.

Even as a shadow, he was still Adriel.

“How can I forget?” Maria asked. The image of the other car just carelessly crushing theirs, his body thumping lifelessly to her, his skin bleeding…

No. She couldn’t think about it.

Adriel opened his mouth wider. This time, she knew there was nothing in it.

I lost my tongue. My teeth. Everything.

Put it in.

“What do you mean?"

The tongue, Maria. Put it in my mouth.

“But I lost it!”

Look in your left pocket.

Why would he need a tongue? Matter of fact, why did she have to put it in? That hole alone could swallow her whole if big enough.

No, he was Adriel. He needed her.

She looked in her left pocket and found a shriveled, dry tongue. Maria gently took it out, so as not to break it.

She walked up to Adriel and with a shaking hand, placed the tongue inside his mouth.

Maria took her hand out and stepped back. Nothing changed. He was still a shadow-

But wait! Was that skin she was seeing? Bright blue eyes? A sweet smile?

In a blink of an eye, all of that was gone. He was a menacing figure once more.

You see, dear? The damage happened in my mouth. Collect enough tongues and I’ll be with you again. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want me to be with you?

Maria would love that. She would love to feel him embrace her. She wanted to be protected and loved again. More than anything, she wanted him.

Her fears began to fade away. There was nothing to be afraid of in the first place. It was just him and her, against the world.

“I’ll do it.”

I knew you would.

Adriel disappeared. Maria was all alone in her dark, empty house with the blaring TV.

Chapter Nine

NEXT DAY

Maria couldn’t go back to the office. Not after what she did to the girl.

The daycare.

Adriel never left her, not once. She could feel his fingers caressing the skin on her arm. He was sitting on her bed. She could see him. She could feel him.

She didn’t want him to leave.

Go to the daycare.

“But-“

He placed a finger on her lips.

Not a word. I believe in you.

She missed when he said those four beautiful words to her.

Chapter Ten

DRIVING TO THE DAYCARE

She had to be quick. News of what she did was already known throughout town. For the first time in her life, Maria was grateful for the tinted windows Adriel had gotten for their car.

Maria could do it.

Adriel believed in her.

Chapter Eleven

ARRIVING AT THE DAYCARE

Maria parked her car behind the daycare. She didn’t want anyone to see her.

When she stepped out, she saw that her shadow looked much bigger than normal.

She smiled at it.

Adriel would conceal her.

Chapter Twelve

IN THE DAYCARE

Maria walked up to the window and opened it a crack. When it opened, she slid inside.

No one saw her.

She really was concealed.

Chapter Thirteen

Right in front of her was a little boy with messy brown hair barely showing his face. He was playing with two toy cars and repeatedly smashing them against each other, muttering car noises as he did so.

He had no idea.

“Hey.” Maria said.

The boy looked around him.

“In front of you.”

When he looked directly in front of him, for the first time, he saw something.

His eyes widened in fear. He opened his mouth to scream, but Adriel covered his mouth and whisked them both into darkness.

Chapter Fourteen

Maria opened her eyes. At the gust of cold air, she felt the need to close them, but now, at her office, she could clearly open them.

The boy sat at her chair, bound down by the dark claws of Adriel.

She smiled as she gripped the scissors, a much better weapon than traditional dentist equipment.

Chapter Fifteen

He tried screaming, but blood garbled and gushed in his mouth. She smiled at the squelching noise as the blades cut through his tongue. Who knew how a different tool would make so much of a difference?

Maria carefully brought out the severed tongue, glad she put on her surgical gloves when she had the chance.

Adriel was waiting.

Chapter Sixteen

Maria walked up to Adriel and placed the tongue in his mouth. He seemed a lot more alive than he did before, but once again, he faded into a shadow.

“What do we do about the bo-“

I’ll take care of it.

Chapter Seventeen

FOUR WEEKS LATER

Her entire house stank of blood. It wasn’t easy, ignoring everyone’s calls. People were worried for her. Mackenzie especially. But she had to ignore them. She had to.

Adriel was coming back to life. All she needed was one more tongue and then he would be alive.

Then they would be together and it all would have been worth it.

Losing everything would have been worth it.

Chapter Eighteen

“Maria, come here.” Adriel said. This time, he didn’t so faraway.

He sounded human.

Maria turned around.

There he was, sitting on the living room couch, right leg crossed over his left one.

He was waiting for her-

Someone was knocking on the door.

Chapter Nineteen

Maria didn’t expect Mackenzie to be at the door. She thought that maybe the police came to take her away.

But there was no police. Just Mackenzie.

“What’s going on?” Mackenzie asked.

“Nothing is going on.” Maria said. Goodness, why did she have to care so much? What right did she have to just knock on her door?

Mackenzie stepped inside.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Maria asked, unable to keep the panic out of her voice.

Mackenzie would find out. She would discover the truth.

“Just popping in.” Mackenzie said.

Chapter Twenty

“Why does it smell so bad?” Mackenzie asked, walking in the kitchen.

Please don’t look in the freezer, PLEASE don’t look in the freezer. Maria thought.

The freezer was where all of the bleeding little tongues were kept.

Mackenzie was approaching the freezer…why was she going to the freezer? She didn’t need to go to the freezer.

“I need ice cream.” She said. No, she didn’t need ice cream. She must have smelled the rot coming from the freezer. Or maybe the small specks of blood caught Mackenzie’s eye.

Either way, Maria was screwed. But she still had to try and stop her. Love meant nothing if she didn’t fight for Adriel’s protection.

“You’re a dentist, you don’t need-“

“Dentists also aren’t supposed to cut off tongues.” Mackenzie said, opening the freezer.

Inside the freezer was carefully plastic wrapped tongues, saved for Adriel later.

“I was worried that you wouldn’t stop and decided to come over to check. The freezer seemed like a place to hide tongues.”

“So you were doing a little police work, eh?” Maria asked, reaching for a knife in the kitchen drawer. How dare she just come into her and house and invade her privacy! She had no right to do such a thing!

“I just want to help.” Mackenzie said.

You’ve helped enough. Adriel said.

“Adriel? Where are you? I don’t see you.” Maria said, feeling an overwhelming, unpleasant weight clog her lungs.

Mackenzie’s eyes went white, tainted with fear.

Just like the children.

Turn around, sweetheart.

“Don’t turn around.” Mackenzie said, voice cranking up a notch, backing away.

Maria turned around.

Adriel looked just as how he did before she helped him, except his mouth looked bigger…it was so large a void…it was…was…

“STOP!” Maria screamed, trying to look away.

She couldn’t move.

Look too, Mackenzie. You are not the only one.

“No!” She cried out. Mackenzie was going to run away, Mackenzie was going to go, go off to safety.

Mackenzie couldn’t just leave her. Maria couldn’t be the only one to suffer. She had to look.

Then I’ll make you.

“I can’t move! Maria, help me!”

The void was so close…but at least Mackenzie would suffer too.

Epilogue

APRIL 3RD, MONDAY, 2023-OLIVEVILLE HIGHWAY.

A dentist office stands nearly secluded by highway trees, but if one went close enough, they would see it.

No one needs to schedule an appointment to come in. It’s free.

A woman named Maria Lewis kindly waits to clean the teeth of children.

At first the children scream, but then the children quiet down.

There’s nothing to be afraid of at the dentist’s office.