The Monster Under My Pillow

When I was six years old, I lost one of my last baby teeth. I put the tooth under my pillow before I went to sleep that night. The thing about the tooth fairy was that I was very scared of it, even before I saw any scary movies about it. The idea of lifting my pillow and seeing the tooth fairy scared the shit out of me. I imagined her as a little fairy that would get super pissed if seen by a human kid. I didn’t think too deeply about this, but the fear was there.

When I woke up the next morning, I carefully lifted part of my pillow and found a crumpled up dollar! I was so excited, I squealed. I got a whole dollar for this little bitty tooth. It was more than I could remember getting in the past. Inflation, I guess. 

I ran out into the kitchen where my dad and stepmom sat eating breakfast to show them the treasure I just found. My stepmom, with a sneer, said, “You better go look again.” I knew she was trying to trap me. She knew the tooth fairy was still under my pillow and she wanted it to get me. Well, I was onto her. I refused to lift my pillow the rest of the way. I shook my head. 

She got up and dragged me by the arm back to my bedroom. She pushed me through the door toward the bed and demanded I lift the pillow the rest of the way. I started to cry, which made her laugh a maniacal laugh. She looked at me with irritation and said, “Either you lift that pillow or I will and if I lift it, I keep whatever is under it.” She gave me another shove toward the bed. 

I looked at her with fear and slowly went up to my bed. I reached out to my pillow in slow motion, sobbing the whole time. My stepmom stood behind me, cajoling me, and telling me to hurry up. As my hand reached my pillow, I looked back at her with a pitiful expression, asking her with my eyes not to make me do this. I just knew the tooth fairy was still under my pillow and seriously, what kind of sicko collects and keeps little kids teeth anyway? What would she do if I caught her under the pillow? I imagined the little fairy’s mouth opening up to rows of teeth and her biting my arm, ripping it off of my body. I swallowed hard and closed my eyes as I lifted the pillow. When the pillow was up on the side closest to me, I slowly squinted, fully expecting to see the scary monster that for some reason gave me money for my teeth. 

As I opened my eyes and looked under the pillow, I realized I wasn’t about to be killed by the small being that collected teeth. No, instead, I was rich! There, sitting crumpled, green and dull, was a five dollar bill! The tooth fairy had given me six dollars for this one tooth! I didn’t question it. I was exalted. I was flabbergasted. I turned to my stepmom and for one of the very few times in our lives together, I looked at her with gratitude, a glistening in my eyes.