Teeth

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The Tooth Fairy

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The Tooth Fairy
 

Michael Robertson

© 2013 Michael Robertson

The Tooth Fairy
is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, situations, and all dialogue are entirely a product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously and are not in any way representative of real people, places or things.

Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Author’s Note

The Tooth Fairy
is a short story set in the world of
Crash. Crash
is a series of novels / novellas that exist in a fictionalised reality where Greece pulled out of the European Union rather than accepting the bail out terms imposed on them.
 

Greece’s choice challenged the confidence in other shaky economies like Spain and Italy, causing investors to withdraw from these countries.
 

Because of our interconnected globalised world, once a few economies collapsed, others fell. The ripple effect shattered the illusion of money and the capitalist system that governed the world, failed.
 

The
Crash
series of books are set in London six months after money has lost all of its meaning.

It isn’t pretty.
 

***

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– Michael Robertson

The Tooth Fairy

(A Short Story Set in the World of
Crash
)

By

Michael Robertson

The Tooth Fairy

Looking over his shoulder at their burning house, Josh turned to his brother. “Do you think they’re coming back?”

Archie, at seventeen, was three years older than Josh. “I don’t know. Maybe, but it’s been three days, and we can’t wait in a house that’s on fire.”

“So what shall we do?”

“We’ve got to go to Nana’s. If any of our family are still in London, that’s where they’ll be.”

“I think we should stay here.”

“And wait where, Josh? In case you hadn’t notice, they set fire to our fucking house!”

A lump rose into Josh’s throat, and he stared at the floor through blurry eyes. “I dunno. I just want to make sure we’re here when Mum and Dad come back.”

Archie’s words stabbed at his heart. “And what if they don’t come back?”

Before Josh could reply, Archie put a hand on his shoulder. “Get down!”

Hunching with his brother behind a low wall, Josh listened to the sound of the approaching voices. A couple of them were deep like men’s voices, but most of them had the prepubescent squeak of children. Shivering in the cold, Josh looked at his brother, who placed a finger over his closed lips. The accompanying frown told Josh to shut the fuck up.

It was hard to stay quiet with both the cold and adrenaline trying to wobble his body. Stuttered breaths shot out of him and turned to condensation as the voices got closer. He could suddenly hear their conversation.

“Where are we going now, Sam?”

“Back to the shop.”

“But we don’t have any food.”

“I know.”

“Well, what are we going to do about food?”

“Unless you want to fight someone for it, then fuck all. I’m not against having a scrap, but I don’t fancy our chances against fully grown men. We’ll find something tomorrow.”

“But the supermarkets have been picked clean.”

A slapping sound made Josh flinch. The second voice then said, “Ow! What was that for?”

“For you being a cunt. Stop giving me problems. If you have some solutions, then share them with the group. Otherwise, shut the fuck up!”

The voices were getting closer. Josh and Archie had picked the wrong place to hide. Forcing his eyes shut, Josh listened to the collection of footsteps scuffing over the road surface.

“Well, well, what have we here?”

Opening his eyes, Josh saw a group of about twelve boys—half of them were from his school.

Looking down at the pair, the boy who seemed to be leading the group smiled. “Archie McCartney, how are you doing, mate?”

Turning to his brother, Josh watched Archie stand up and shake the boy’s hand. “How you doing, Sam?” He then nodded at several others in the group, and a series of head nods and flicks returned his gesture. Pointing down at Josh, Archie then helped him to his feet. “This is my brother—Josh.”

When Sam held his hand out, Josh shook it but remained silent. There was something in the way his brother held himself that told Josh this boy wasn’t to be trusted.

Throwing, Archie said, “So what’s happening around here?”

Sam leant forwards as if he hadn’t heard him correctly. “Huh?”

Looking around, buildings burning, shops smashed, Archie waved a hand over the devastation. “What’s happening here?”

“Where have you been for the last two weeks?” When Sam looked at the collection of boys, and a couple of them sniggered.

“We’ve been at home, haven’t we, Josh?”

Josh nodded.

“Mum and Dad told us not to go out, so we stayed in. They said there was trouble on the streets.”

“There’s more than fucking trouble, Archie. London’s fucked! After the economic crash, everything went to shit.”

Josh stood in the almost empty space and looked around. The dolls in the abandoned shop looked weird naked and with some of their limbs missing. The store had been picked clean save for a few dirty items of clothing on the floor. All that remained was the long checkout desk. Most of the tills that should have been bolted to it had been smashed off. A few lopsided signs hung from the Styrofoam roof tiles saying things like ‘Two T-Shirts for £22’.

“Should we be here, Archie?” Josh asked, his voice echoing in the sparse room.

Archie frowned. “What?”

“This shop doesn’t look like somewhere we’re meant to be.” Pointing first at the stainless steel rails, then at the empty display tables, Josh said, “It’s private property.”

“Shops don’t exist anymore, Josh.”

“What do you mean?”

“Money doesn’t work. Without money, why would there be shops? When there’s no profit to be made, no one gives a fuck about anything.”

Keeping his mouth shut because he didn’t really know anything about business, Josh cleared his throat. “I’m cold, Archie.”

“So am I. We just have to deal with it.”

Heat suddenly stung Josh’s eyes and his world blurred.

When Archie looked at him, he tutted. His face then softened and he put his arm around his younger brother. “Don’t worry, mate. This is just a stopover on the way to Nana’s. It’s only for one night. I want to make sure we’re off the streets while it’s dark. The city isn’t safe.”

After looking around again, the empty space lit up by the moon shining in through the windows on the other side of the building, Josh shrugged. “Where are we going to sleep? There are no beds or sheets.”

“We’ll have to sleep on the floor; it’ll only be for a night.”

A shiver ran down the length of Josh’s body. “But it’s cold, Archie.” When he saw Archie ball his fists, he flinched, but the expected punch didn’t come.

“Look, Josh. Everything’s shit at the moment. It’s not all corn flakes and Saturday morning cartoons anymore, okay? Things have changed. We just have to deal with what’s going on the best we can.”

Staring at the grubby floor, Josh didn’t reply.

“Okay?”

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Josh finally nodded. “Okay, Archie.” Speaking more quietly, he added, “Sorry.”

Walking over to the window, Josh glanced out at the moonlit street. “It’s strange to see Oxford Street without any lights, don’t you think?”

Frowning as he continued to look around, Archie didn’t reply. Instead, he walked over to the middle of the shop.

Following his brother, Josh asked, “Do you think Mum and Dad will be there?”

“Where?”

“Nana’s. Do you think Mum and Dad will be at Nana’s?”

Looking at his brother for a second, his frown softening, Archie shrugged. “Who knows?”

“What will we do if they’re not?”

“We’ll think of something else. Everything’s changing, and we have to learn to adapt if we’re going to stay alive.”

Josh’s reply caught in his throat when he heard footsteps downstairs—a lot of footsteps.

Archie’s eyes were wide as he looked at the broken escalator. He’d heard them too.

When Josh heard the sound of men’s voices, he started to shake. There were other voices, but they sounded younger, a similar age to Josh.

The heavy footsteps clattered on the metal stairs, and Josh jumped when Archie hooked his arm around him. They both stared. Waiting. There was nowhere to run.

When the first of the gang reached the top, Josh saw that he was no older than about seventeen. When the rest of the gang appeared, filthy and dressed like savages, Josh guessed that he was the leader because of his age. He was clearly the oldest in the group of about twenty boys.

When he saw them, the older boy stopped dead and put his arm out to prevent the others from passing him. “Who the fuck are you?”

“We’re—”

“It doesn’t matter who we are,” Archie said, pushing Josh behind him.

Looking at his gang, the leader laughed and turned back to the pair. “Of course it fucking matters. You’re in my shop, you mugs.”

With a pounding heart, Josh watched his brother clench his fists again. If it came to it, Archie would smash the shit out of this boy. Archie was one of the strongest people he knew, but could he take on all of them?

“This ain’t your shop. You don’t own it.”

The boy shook his head and laughed again. “First night out on the streets, is it? What happened? Your parents were taken away from you? Raped? Killed?”

Looking up at his brother, Josh teared up. “What are they talking about, Archie?”

Putting his hand on Josh’s shoulder, Archie looked back at the boy. “No. None of that happened.”

“Then why are you out on the streets on your own? Where are your parents?”

“They went out. For food…” Josh’s stomach lurched when he heard the resignation in his brother’s voice, “three days ago.”

Grabbing a boy next to him, who was no older than seven, the gang leader shoved him forwards. “This is Reece. What happened to your parents, Reece?”

Dropping his eyes to the floor, Reece replied, “They went out for food.”

“Tell them how long you waited for them to come back.”

“Ten days.”

Sighing, the leader pointed at Reece. “We found this poor cunt starved half to death. He was picking through bins for food.” Turning to his gang, he added, “Raise your hands if your parents went out and didn’t come back.”

The air left Josh’s lungs as half the group raised their hands. Sad and hollow stares levelled at him.

“Keep your hands up if you think your parents are still alive.”

All of the hands went down.

Wearing a sneer, the leader laughed. “Your parents are dead, boy. Or worse! The sooner you face it, the sooner you can focus on learning how to survive in this new world. It’s shit out there, and you need to get streetwise pretty fucking quick. I don’t mind you staying here just for tonight—we have fuck all worth stealing—but I want you gone tomorrow. Understand?”

Archie nodded.

“Oh, and be careful of the Tooth Fairy.”

“The Tooth Fairy?” The words had left Josh’s mouth before he’d thought about it, and Archie shot him a dark glare.

The boy laughed and shook his head. Brushing his shaggy hair away from his eyes, he looked from one of the brothers to the other. “Oh dear, you have a lot to learn.” Twisting so he could address his gang, the moonlight lighting up just half of his face, the boy said, “The Tooth Fairy’s mental, ain’t he, boys?”

A lot of the gang nodded and grunted noises of agreement.

“He walks this street at night, and he gets you when you’re sleeping. He slips into your nightmares and makes sure you never wake up.” Lowering his voice, making Josh lean forwards to hear better, the boy continued, “If you listen hard enough, you can hear the jingle jangle of his pockets.” Pushing his finger to his lips, he added, “Shhh. Listen.”