As the Night Unfolds

It had been a month since that night in the park when Abi had felt someone’s eyes upon her. Since then she hadn’t the courage to return which left her crabby and depressed. Something about the scenario of someone watching her made Abi feel less at home in the night she had previously inhabited with confidence. As the days to her graduation from high school marched onward Abi’s mother had curiously been leaving the house for the first time in years and had begun watching her daughter more carefully. Randomly Natalie would make comments about the look of her daughter’s teeth which she claimed look like those of a cougar. In the mirror Abi would study the inside of her mouth, wondering with dread at what her mother was planning. The weekend before Abi’s last week of school she found out. It was early that Saturday when Abi jerked awake with the feeling that not all was well. Sitting in the corner Natalie smiled crookedly while her daughter rubbed sleep from her eyes.
“I’ve been thinking Abigail that I should bring you to a dentist.” Natalie whispered eerily. Abi blinked twice with confusion before she responded.
“But I haven’t seen a dentist since dad died.”
“No matter, you will see one now. He is a friend of mine.” Natalie said as she scrutinized her long nails.
“A friend?” Abi questioned. Since when did her mother have friends?
“Yes, Richard. He is very good.”
“Is he an actual dentist?”
“Get dressed, we have a special appointment at ten.” Natalie got up quickly and closed the door to Abi’s room leaving her daughter in a stunned silence. Although she was increasingly uncertain about the whole situation, Abi got out bed and threw her clothes on. No matter how bad the whole dentist debacle was it could never be as bad as triggering her mother’s temper.

A few minutes later Abi joined her mother in the car, not bothering to point out the fact that her mother had no license and could therefore not legally drive. Slowly she backed the ’98 Taurus out of the driveway and put the vehicle into drive.
“How did you meet this man mom?” Abi cautiously asked.
“At a bar. I’ve been going out, meeting friends.”
“Friends?” Natalie frowned at her daughter’s question as she turned onto the main road heading north.
“Yes, Richard is good friend of mine. He will fix your teeth.” Abi sat quietly and pondered her mother’s response as the car gained momentum. “You need good teeth for your graduation.” Natalie added before turning the radio onto NPR. The even-toned newscaster churned out casualty numbers in Darfur as Abi stared at her mother in shock. Never had her mother shown interest in Abi’s progress at school. As the Taurus rounded the corner towards the highway Abi felt a trickle of fear ease its way down her spine.


Natalie jerked the car onto a dirt road, making the old Taurus cough out dust in it’s wake. Abi sat cold in the passenger seat letting her tongue play across her teeth unconsciously. More and more she felt fear taking hold of her, they were far off from civilization. So far, no one would hear her scream. Without Abi’s notice her mother pulled onto a fir-lined driveway and followed it down to its end. They were there. Abi gazed at the ancient barn and tin can motor home. This was where Richard the dentist lived? Natalie, having already exited the vehicle rapped impatiently on the passenger side window. Stiffened with a gnawing sense of dread Abi got out of the car and followed her mother into the dilapidated barn.
“There you are!” Came a jovial voice from above. Natalie smiled and waved, suddenly as giddy as a school girl. From the corner of the barn came a painful creak as an immense man descended carefully down a ladder that bowed with his girth. Natalie ran happily to him and planted a sloppy kiss on his cracked lips which he eagerly returned. “So this is Abigail.” Said Richard as he took Natalie’s hand and came towards her. “A spitting image of you Nat!” He declared in a happy tone as he unpleasantly skimmed Abi’s body with his gaze. Natalie put herself between Abi and Richard, jealous of the attention he was paying her daughter.
“But who is prettier?” She asked in a pouting voice, putting her hands on her hips.
“You of course m’dear!” He cried, as he warmly embraced Natalie, all the while letting his eyes have free reign over Abi’s form. Abi held her black sweatshirt closer and crossed her arms over her breasts, trying to hide from his prying eyes. “So what seems to be the problem baby girl? Bad teeth?” Abi’s mother twisted around in the fat man’s embrace to face her daughter.
“Her teeth are sharp, like the devil!” Natalie replied, pointing accusingly as Abi. Richard licked his lips hungrily as he waddled towards Abi. Disgusted and more than a little afraid, Abi unwittingly backed herself into the corner as he descended on her. Frozen with fear Abi let him pry her jaw apart as her mother looked on.
“I don’t really see nothing Nat. Just as sharp as mine I’d say.” He called back to Natalie who promptly ran to his side.
“They are sharp, sharp, sharp, sharp.” Natalie whimpered hysterically, openly on the verge of tears.
“Now don’t cry baby, we can grind ‘em down if you’d like.” Natalie nodded happily in response to Richard’s offer, planting a lingering kiss on his bloated cheek. “Just go over to my tool box next to the ladder and grab it.” Natalie nearly skipped to retrieve the tool box and brought it back promptly to his side. “Hold her will ya.” Abi’s fear grew as she felt her mother’s terrible arms around her, an embrace that had caused her nothing but pain.
Before she could respond Abi felt Richard insert a needle into the muscle of her calf as her mother giggled in response. Within a breath she was slumped against Natalie’s small figure, who promptly let her fall to the cold cement floor.
“Grind good.” Natalie cackled as Richard scooted closer to Abi’s still body. Taking her head in his lap he opened her mouth and dug into his tool box for the tool of choice. Placing the file firmly on a canine he dragged it backwards, giving forth a satisfying noise that sent Natalie into a fit of giggles. Soon he had gained a pace that left sweat on his brow and an acrid smell in the barn air. Biting his dry bottom lip he worked himself into a sexual fervor
“You like that baby?” Richard asked Natalie who hiccupped a response. “Yeah, you like it.”
“Harder! Harder!” Natalie screamed as she rubbed Richard’s bald head adding to the intense friction on the room.
“Shit!” Richard suddenly stopped the file and threw Abi’s head from his lap. Natalie stepped back as Richard fumbled to stand up. “The little bitch bit me!” He screamed as he showed Natalie the ripe blood sprouting from his swollen thumb. Instantly Natalie began to back away from the wound in fear. “Its just a little blood Nat, where you goin’? Richard confusedly asked.
“No, no, no.” Natalie repeated as she fell to a pool on the ground. “He said I had until eighteen.” Natalie whispered as she eyed her daughter’s body laying in the corner.
“What are you talking about?” Richard asked her, suddenly suspicious of her response to blood.
“At the first taste of blood, he will come.” Natalie chanted, her mind receding into itself.
“Natalie, what the fuck are you talking about? Who is he?” Richard made a move towards Natalie which triggered a death-like moan that reverberated off the wood walls.
“ I had to get out, I had to get out. If you only knew what I did to my own baby. My baby!” Natalie franticly crawled towards Abi and took the limp body in her arms. “Can you hear me Abigail? I know you can, somewhere you can. You have to fight this! Fight his coming!” As if in response Abi’s eyes shot open revealing pupils swirling with red. Natalie screamed and began to rock her daughter in her shaking arms, attempting somehow to stop what she knew from Abi’s birth was inevitable. Abi’s body jerked violently in waves as she began to transform.