The Tooth Fairy — Conclusion

My name is Henry James and I’m a writer for Dark Sides of the Truth Magazine.

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Conclusion

I’m sitting in a death row visitor's booth listening to Robert Reed tell his story.

If you guys thought it strange Wayne Bethard would hand me a plastic vial with a tooth from Sammy Bethard’s mouth in it wait till you read the rest of this story.

I was struggling to get Robert to talk to me. He seemed hesitant as if the next part of his story was going to be the hardest to tell. When he did start talking I quickly realized why.

“After I left that garage I wandered around town for a while, wondering if Sammy was going to press charges and have me locked up. The more I thought about it the more I realized it would be exactly what the prick would do. I wasn’t about to let him have the last say so I…”

Robert paused and for a moment he grimaced as if he’d just experienced a stabbing pain.

“So I went home, called Wayne and told him what happened. Told him I wanted to give Sammy’s wallet back and apologize. Wayne said it was probably a good idea. He knew where Sammy’s country home was and offered to drive me over there after he shut down.”

“Did you actually think Sammy was going to live and let live on this Robert? After all you just pounded his ass and stole his money.”

Robert slowly shook his head.

“No, I didn’t think so but I had to try Mr. James. I may have been a lot of things back then, but I wasn’t a common thief. Wayne parked in the driveway and waited in the car for me. I’d almost made it to the front door when I heard the scream.”

I closed my eyes for a second. Yeah, I just had to peel that layer away didn’t I?

“Scream?”

“It was the longest, most shrill thing I ever heard in my life. It sounded human, but then it didn’t sound like anything that could come from a human being. At least none that I knew. The door was unlocked and I let myself in. After that one scream everything grew quiet. I should have turned around and gotten the hell out of there…”

“But you didn’t did you Robert?”

Robert again shook his head, “no I didn’t. I kept walking down the hallway until it emptied into the living room and there it was…”

“There what was?”

“It was huge. Not at all like Wayne described to me years ago. Almost the size of a grizzly bear. It was using what looked like bat wings to pin Sammy’s arms to his sides. Not that it made any difference. Sammy was long gone. This creature had pried Sammy’s mouth apart until the bones in his jaws snapped. The skin from the edges of Sammy’s mouth all the way to both ears was ripped open. Blood was everywhere. I dropped the wallet and stood there paralyzed, staring at this gargoyle looking creature and its mouth full of sharp teeth. I remember Wayne telling me its hands resembled a human’s hands. He was right, except at the tips of this creature’s hands were the longest, sharpest looking nails I’d ever seen. For a second it stared straight at me then it turned its attention back to what remained of Sammy’s jaws. I watched that thing pull every one of Sammy’s teeth and put them in a large leather pouch. It kept hissing the same thing over and over.”

Robert paused and gazed down. I slammed my hand against the glass to get his attention.

“What Robert? What was it saying?”

“It kept repeating, I am what you made me Sammy Bethard and I have come to claim what has always been mine.”

“Oh holy Christ,” I muttered.

I stared through the glass at the man. I didn’t think it was possible for Robert Reed to seem more frail than he already was but somehow he did. It was as if he’d released everything he’d been holding inside all these years, somehow managed to free himself from a terrible burden.

“Robert.”

He was staring again at the small ledge on his side of the booth. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Robert listen to me man. If what you saw is the truth you didn’t kill Sammy. You should have told them what you saw that night. They may have locked you up in a loony bin but at least you’d be off death row.”

Robert Reed lifted his head and stared at me.

“But I did kill him Mr. James. You actually think I didn’t know what would happen to Sammy when I took that tooth?”

I continued to stare back at the man in stunned silence.

Robert nodded and smiled.

“It’s okay Mr. James. We all gotta go sometime. They’re telling me I’m getting transferred to the Walls Unit early next week. Guess my one way trip to hell is going to finally come after all these years.”

He offered me another weak grin, hung up the phone and called for a guard. As before I sat there with the phone to my ear and watched as he was escorted out.

That was the last time I saw Robert Reed.

I decided to drive back to Tomball after I left the Polunsky unit. I needed some corroboration on what Robert told me. I figured if I nosed around the funeral homes I might get lucky.

As bad as my luck has been lately, things must be turning around. I found what I needed on my third attempt.

Morton Stanley Funeral Homes had processed Sammy Bethard’s body and held a service — which was not attended by a single person — at the Resting Oaks cemetery on the outskirts of town.

The mortician who had worked on Sammy told me straight up he had never in his life worked on such a mutilated body.

Although the man seemed almost as old as Moses, he clearly remembered being forced to prop the top half of Sammy’s head against what was left of Sammy’s bottom jaws and sew the sides of the man’s face together as well as his lips. He also confirmed every tooth in Sammy’s head had been ripped out.

Not surgically removed as they often do for dentures, but removed by brute force, leaving sunken gashes in the man’s gum lines.

The old man also offered his own opinion of whether Robert Reed had been capable of performing such a feat telling me he didn’t think it humanly possible.

Based on what I heard from Robert, the old man was probably right.

I thanked him for his time and although it was getting dark, decided to head out to Resting Oaks.

There was one last thing I needed to do before I put this story to bed and headed back.

I had to pay the grounds keeper a sizable chunk of change to be let into the cemetery after hours. An amount I knew I wouldn’t be able to expense, dammit.

After listening to Wayne and Robert tell their story I was a little jumpy. I was thinking darkness and cemeteries at this particular moment were not really a desired combination.

But I stuck it out and managed to find Sammy Bethard’s final resting place. Without wasting more time than necessary, I took the vial Wayne gave me and placed it on the tombstone. Then I spun around and walked away.

Until I heard the sounds of wings flapping.

I know, birds do fly or so I’m told.

But this was different. What I heard was a slow thump, thump, thump as if some gigantic bird was pounding the air with a set of wings a jumbo jet would be proud to own.

I stopped, but I wasn’t going to turn my ass around.

It was all I could do to keep myself from peeing in my pants and running to my car.

When I heard the distinct sounds of plastic cracking I almost passed out.

I wished I had. Then I wouldn’t have heard the hissing sounds from something directly behind me. I wouldn’t have heard words floating all around me sounding like air escaping from a tire.

“I am what you made me Sammy Bethard and I have come to claim the last of what has always been mine.”

Usain Bolt couldn’t have beat me on my dash back to the car.

A week later Robert Reed was put to death for the brutal murder of Sammy Bethard. I found it interesting Dark Sides released their debut magazine with my story as the featured article on the very same day. Yes, the names were changed to protect the innocent, but somehow I don’t think it really mattered.

Nobody believes truth has this kind of a dark side, right?

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