“How many teeth do you have left?”

That was the last message on my voice mail. There was no name, just the question and a burst of static. I replayed it.

“How many teeth do you have left?”

It seemed to be an innocent question but the implications gave me chills. I hastily deleted the message and forgot it amidst the rest of my day. As I drifted off to sleep that night, I heard the voice from the phone again.

“How many teeth do you have left?”

Fear shot me out of bed and I looked around slowly. Nobody was there- I must have imagined it. I had forgotten about the strange voice mail in the chaos of normalcy. Now, I wanted answers. When I couldn’t find the number under missed calls, I panicked and made myself a tall glass of gin. As a distraction, I flipped on the tv.

The breaking story in the news was about the “Tooth Fairy”, a serial killer who collected teeth. As they described the mutilated bodies, the tv and lights died as one.

A toneless voice spoke.

“How many teeth do you have left?”