James shuffled uneasily from side to side as he stood in the line. It had been a few months since a certain ‘Change in Government’ took place. All who had resisted in any meaningful way had been executed, and some of those that remained, like James, had been squirreled away to hidden locations in the night. For what purpose? Unclear, but all who disappeared were young men, always adults, but never middle aged. James was one of the younger of the group of men shuffling along, twenty-three years old, straight out of university, and still managing to maintain his physique before the agonies of working life would take its toll.

He had been looking for a job when the ‘Change in Government’ happened. It was as if a magical switch was pulled, and society had turned on him. They came for him in the night, men and women in dark uniforms dragging him out of his home while his parents looked on, barely saying a word, other than what he could have sworn was his own mother calling “Don’t fight them!” as he was bundled into a black van.

Hours later, he was dragged from the van, along with what looked like a random selection of other men and boys,ushered through a pair of thick metal doors, leading to a long corridor, at the end of which was another pair of similar doors with a sign reading: “D Suite 1”.

As the queue shuffled towards the end of the corridor, the doors opened, and a tall woman, wearing a black leather pencil skirt, white blouse and a thick black rubber apron, walked through them. Her black hair was tied up in a bun, and she wore a pair of half-moon spectacles. She looked like a cross between a butcher and a headmistress,except this one was wearing a belt and a gun holster. She was carrying a set of cards; James couldn’t work out what was on them, but it looked like numbers.

“You boys, backs against the wall please” she commanded in a no-nonsense tone. The queue was reluctant to move, but one move of the woman’s hand towards her holster, and sure enough, the whole group had their backs pressed as hard against the wall as hard as they could. The woman smiled a small, self-satisfied smile and said “Good, very good boys”.

In silence, the woman walked up and down the queue, occasionally stopping to inspect them. James felt the woman’s hand grasp his face, forcing him to look up and into her eyes. There was something strange about the woman’s eyes. Normally, they’d be a pale green, but something was set in the middle of her iris, a silver ring, almost glowing with how clear it was. She briefly smiled before letting his face go, and handed him one of the cards. James looked down at the card, and on it was written ‘7’, in thick black marker.

She then proceeded to hand each ‘boy’ a card, numbered ‘1’ to ‘12’, leaving two of the fourteen people in the queue cardless. She cleared her throat, “When I say, you will go through those doors and proceed to the station indicated by your card. You will do exactly as the dentist tells you, and you will not speak unless spoken to. Remember, good boys don’t speak. Do you all understand?”. Some in the queue made affirmative noises, some simply nodded, and the woman smiled at that. “Good. You two, you will wait. There are only twelve stations, and you will enter when one of the others is finished” she said, pointing at the two cardless ‘boys’.

James’ heart was pounding in his chest. Why were they all being taken to the dentist? Was it some sort of cruel joke? What were they going to do to them?! He opened his mouth to speak, but one of the other ‘boys’, a thin spindly man with long black hair and five-o-clock shadow, spoke up instead, “What are you going to do? It’s… It’s not right!”. The woman turned towards him, her smile growing, “What did I say before? Good boys don’t speak. You will find out once you enter, and in-fact…”, she turned to James, “Number seven, please give your card to him. He will go first, and you will wait.”. James looked down at his card and turned it in his hand before leaning forward, extending his arm and handing the card over to him. “It looks like you’re lucky number seven!” the woman sneered.

The doors at the end of the hall opened, and another woman stood just inside the room. This woman was wearing pale turquoise medical scrubs, a pair of white latex gloves poking out from her top pocket, her long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She smiled cheerfully at the group of them, “Alright boys! In you come. I promise, if you’re good, you’ll be just fine! I’m Nurse Jennifer, but you can call me Jenny!”. Jenny’s voice was cute and bubbly, with an inoffensive American accent, the complete opposite of the other woman, though, given what was about to happen, James wished she had been just as strict.

The queue began to move, and one by one, each ‘boy’ left through the doors, leaving James, the other woman, and one other boy behind in the hallway. The three of them stood in silence for a while, the woman pulling her phone out of a pocket on her holster and starting to mindlessly browse something on an app he didn’t recognise. Through the metal doors, he heard the familiar whine of numerous dental tools, and the murmuring of various voices behind the door, none of them from the ‘boys’.

What felt like hours passed, the whining never once ceasing, James’ heart was pounding, his mind racing at the thought of what torture the boys must have been going through in that room. He looked to his side, and the ‘boy’ next to him wasn’t faring much better. He appeared younger than James, with short blond hair, glasses, the beginnings of a belly hidden underneath his sweatshirt. He was visibly trembling, his chest rising and falling with panicked breathing and a trickle of sweat leading from his brow and down the side of his face.

The door opened once again, and Jenny poked her head out, a surgical mask pulled down to her chin. “Next patient, please!” she called, looking between the two of them. James and the other boy looked at each other, waiting for one of them to volunteer, only to be volunteered by the nameless woman. “Take the chubby boy first” she said dismissively, “if he panics any more, he will not need gas”. Jenny put on her most sympathetic face and tutted, “D’aww, there’s no need to be scared. I promise, it’ll be over before you know it!”, before walking fully through the metal doors, extending a gloved hand to the other boy. “Hold my hand, and we’ll get you settled, okay?” she said reassuringly. Reluctantly, the other boy took her hand, and the pair of them went through the doors, only for Jenny to return almost immediately, “Oh! There’s actually another station just finishing up, so you can come through too. It’s station three”, opening the door once again. With some ushering from the other woman, James followed Jenny and the other boy through the doors.

The doors must have been soundproofed, since as soon as he went through the doors, his ears were assaulted by the loud whining of dental tools. He was standing in a large rectangular assembly hall, in the middle of which were twelve ‘Stations’, consisting of partitioned cubicles made up of disposable curtains, with a small gap at the front of each of them to act as a ‘door’. In front of each door was a small sign with a number on it, ranging from one to twelve.

James watched as Jenny led the other boy by the hand towards one of the stations further towards the end, eventually stopping at cubicle eleven. As the boy passed each station, he looked inside, and whatever he saw obviously made him sick, since James could see the colour drain from his skin as he walked. He began to sweat, his heart beating in his ears, and the whining of the tools felt like it was getting louder as he approached the stations. He wanted to look away, to pretend nothing was going on, but he couldn’t help but look through the small ‘door’ of stations one and two as he passed them.

As he passed station one, he could see one of the boys he was with, laying in a dentist chair, his arms and legs bound to his side, his mouth being held open by a large metal gag. He was being worked on by three women, all wearing the same scrubs as Jenny. The dentist, or what one could assume was the dentist, judging by the large pair of extraction forceps in her hand, and her bright red latex gloves, was picking out her next target. The other two women assisting wore white gloves, one of them holding a long suction tube just inside the boy’s mouth while she waited to pass the dentist whatever tools she needed. The other assistant sat next to a pair of gas bottles, holding the boy’s hand, occasionally reaching up with a tissue to wipe his eyes. She was saying something to her patient, but James couldn’t hear over the sound of the tools in the next station. The boy was trembling in the chair, but he clearly wasn’t resisting in any meaningful way, maybe because of the small mask placed over his nose, delivering enough gas to keep him from struggling while he was being worked on.

In the next station, there was an almost identical setup, except this time, James couldn’t see what they were doing to him. All three of them wore white gloves, and the man’s mouth was covered by a shiny thin blue piece of cloth. The dentist held what was obviously a dental drill in her hand, and had just started drilling into one of the patient’s teeth, causing him to squeeze the assistant’s hand. She stroked the back of his hand with her thumb, and said something incomprehensible over the sounds of drilling and suction. The assistant manning the suction briefly looked up, spotting James and giving him a little wave. James immediately looked away, and hurried over to the next station, his station.

Inside the little cubicle, three women waited for him, already wearing fresh gloves and surgical masks. The dentist wore red gloves, and the assistants white, just like in cubicle one. The dentist was of pale complexion, with dark brown hair tied back into a low ponytail, and brown eyes. Her assistants were a tall, dark skinned lady with an oval face and black hair pulled back into a top bun, and a pale, skinny girl that looked like she was only just out of university herself, with her wavy ash hair cut into a bob. The dentist wasted no time with pretense, “Hello, I’m Doctor Waters, please take a seat”, she said, sounding almost demure with her use of received pronunciation.

James looked behind him at the steel doors, and listened to the sounds of drilling from the other stations. Could he run away? Would he make it far? What was going to be done to him? They looked like they were taking out teeth in cubicle one, the one where the dentist was wearing red gloves, and this one was wearing the same! “Please, take a seat” commanded the dentist again. Reluctantly, James turned back to the room, and walked to the chair, sliding himself into it. Immediately, he felt the chair begin to hum as it reclined, further and further until he could see a pair of red hands above his head being handed a mirror, followed by a blinding light shining on his face, forcing him to squint.

“Open…” ordered the dentist, and he felt her hands gently rest on his cheeks. He obeyed, opening wide, just as he felt a hand grab his, stroking the back of his hand with their thumb. “She’s just going to take a look, darlin’” a voice called, in a soft, southern American accent. He couldn’t tell which one of the assistants it was, and was unable to look when he felt the dentist pulling on his cheek as she carefully inspected each tooth.

“R… R… R” he heard the dentist saying as she moved from tooth to tooth. She covered the light slightly while inspecting bottom front teeth, allowing James to finally open his eyes fully and look up at her. Just like the woman in the hallway, the dentist had the same silver circle in her iris. Were they related? They didn’t look too alike. “R… R… R… Wisdom teeth still… Okay…” she said, pulling her hands away from his face and setting the mirror down on a nearby tray.

“We’re going to give you some gas for your treatment, alright?”. She looked directly into his eyes, almost as if expecting him to say something. This was it, they were going to take all his teeth out! He was going to end up like the boy in station one! His heart felt like it was going to leap out of his chestt, and his breathing quickened. “Mask, please” asked the dentist, the skinny pale assistant handing something over to the dentist, which, when held above his face, was revealed to be a gas mask, made to fit over the nose and mouth. “Relax, take deep breaths…” she ordered, gently but firmly pressing the mask over his nose and mouth.

The air inside the mask was sickly sweet from the previous patient’s treatment, a familiar taste he couldn’t quite place. The taste slowly disappeared as he felt the air begin to cool as a gas began to fill the mask. “Oxygen until his breathing calms, please” the dentist said to the skinny assistant slowly turning a small dial on a control next to the gas bottles. The main assistant started to move trays around, preparing various tools that would be used in the treatment to come. This didn’t do much to soothe his nerves, so the assistant in charge of the gas tried to distract him, “deep breaths… In… and out. I want you to breathe with me, okay? In… And out…”. After what felt like a few minutes of this, James’ breathing began to inadvertently fall in line with the assistant’s, and the dentist nodded towards her. “Okay, you’re going to smell something a little different ,okay? It might taste a little like bubblegum, but just keep breathing, alright hun’?”.

With that, the assistant turned a different dial on the bottles, and the mask once again began to smell slightly sweet. “Just keep breathing… You might start to feel a little funny” the assistant said, briefly letting go of his hand to take a hold of the rebreather bag and looking to the dentist for confirmation before she turned the dial up.

Just then, there was another voice in the ‘room’. “Uh, hi! Have you started extracting yet?”. It was Jenny!

“Not as of yet. We’re still sedating him” the dentist replied, still holding the hissing mask to James’ face. Already, he was starting to feel the gas take effect, felt his body slowly begin to sink into the chair while he listened in on the conversation.

“Uhm… Well, can we swap patients? The mask we have isn’t fitting Jeffrey, and he really needs the gas for this”. Jenny sounded a little anxious, not sounding nearly as chipper as she was leading the boys into the room.

The dentist turned to her assistant, “Oxygen please”, and then turned back to Jenny. “Does he have anything impacted?”

“No, no! He’s just a little too nervous to be without gas. Can you take him?”

“Hmm… I will, but I won’t be fitting him with anything. We’ll be performing the usual extraction. This boy has all eight teeth needed for your procedure, so you should be able to start straight away”.

The mask was pulled away, and James felt himself being raised up in the chair, hearing the snapping sounds of gloves being pulled off and thrown into a nearby bin. He got up out of the chair, still a little wobbly on his feet, but Jenny was quick to hold his arm. The dentist looked at him and smiled through her mask before removing it, “You’re a lucky boy. If you hadn’t hesitated, you would have been in this chair, and we would be pulling your teeth instead. Sandy, could you collect our next patient please?”.

Jenny led James out of the room, and Sandy, the skinny assistant, followed. As they passed by the remaining stations, James noticed that most of them were now empty, with only one patient still being worked on. Whatever was happening, the assistant’s gloved hands had flecks of red on them, and whatever they were doing, the boy in the chair was pulling against his restraints. Jenny ushered him onwards so as to not see what was happening, “Sometimes patients have teeth that are a little difficult, but you’ll be just fine, I promise!” she said reassuringly.

It wasn’t long before the three of them entered station eleven, where the other boy was already out of the chair, a tearstained bib around his neck. Jenny let go of James’ hand and immediately went over to him, reaching into her pocket for a tissue and wiping away his tears. “Okay, we’ve got you a new treatment station. This is Nurse Sandy, she’s going to make sure you’re nice and comfy! They’re going to give you some gas, and you’ll be right as rain, okay?”. She talked to him like he was a child, and given the way he was sobbing, she was right to. James was nervous, but this other boy was practically pathetic! Nurse Sandy reached out to him, taking the boy’s hand in hers and leading him away “Come on hun, we’re all ready for you”.

With the other boy gone, James was free to look around the cubicle. Because the other boy had to change his treatment before it started, things weren’t quite as prepared as they were in the other cubicle. The dentist, a short, brown skinned lady with long black hair, a thin face and bright red lipstick was pulling a pair of gloves out of a box, while her assistant, a plump, lightly tanned woman with short red-dyed hair, busied about with replacing various tools with cleaner ones.

The dentist looked James in the eye and smiled warmly, “Hello! I’m Doctor Singh. This is Nurse Annabelle, and of course, you already know Nurse Jennifer! We’re going to be looking after you, so if you’d like to just pop up in the chair for me while we get ready and we can get started straight away.” Doctor Singh was cheerful, if slightly condescending in the way she spoke to him, not at all like Doctor Waters. He felt Jenny gently pat him on the bum, “She won’t bite, sweetie!”, ushering him forward until he found himself sliding into the chair once again.

“Let’s just get you nice and laid back...” the dentist said, pressing down on a peddle with her foot, causing the chair to hum, reclining him backwards, further and further until he was practically bending backwards. As he was reclining, he heard the sounds of latex snapping against skin as all three of them pulled on a pair of gloves each, all white, along with pale green surgical masks. Nurse Annabelle picked up an identical bib to the one the other boy was wearing, and hooked it over his head, along with a pair of clear glasses.

“There we go. Are you ready?” the dentist asked, looking down at him with his head practically in her lap. He stared up at her, into her eyes… She had the same silver circle in her eyes. All of them did! His eyes darted to Jenny, to Annabelle, both of them had the exact same circle in their eyes! He stared at them for an uncomfortably long time, until he felt Jenny reach for his hand and give it a squeeze. He nodded, and saw Doctor Singh smile underneath her mask, “Good boy! Open wide for me please, I’m just going to take a little look. You might feel a little tugging, but just relax and don’t resist. We’re not going to hurt you”.

Once again, James was blinded by the bright light being switched on, and opened his mouth, the dentist immediately pulling on his cheeks with her fingers while she guided her mirror around his teeth. He felt his wrists being gently guided into a pair of cuffs at either side of the chair, the leather tightening around him until he could no longer move his arms. “One… Two… Three…” the dentist called quietly to nobody in particular, she seemed to be taking her time so Jenny and Annabelle could undo his shoelaces and remove his shoes, before guiding his ankles into another pair of cuffs at the foot of the chair. “...aand, eight! Okay, you can close your mouth for now while I explain what we’re going to be doing today”.

James closed his mouth, licking his tongue over his teeth to rid himself of the strong taste of latex. Nurse Annabelle busied herself with preparing various tools around them. James tried to get a look at what she was putting out, but the dentist’s hands gently but firmly guided his head back onto the headrest, her hands resting against his cheeks. “We’re going to be doing some very special filllings for you today, okay? One here… and here…”, she gently pressed her finger into his cheek, tapping where one of his back molars would be, then the premolar. She pressed her finger in the same place, top and bottom, on both sides of his face, eight in total! “You’re a very lucky boy. A lot of the other boys are having their teeth extracted, but you get to have the special fillings!”. She was frightfully condescending in how she spoke to him, like a carer to a child, “I’m sorry, but our gas mask isn’t going to fit you, so you’re going to have to be a brave boy, unless you want to go back to Doctor Waters once she’s finished?”.

Through the thin curtain to the side, James could hear the sound of suction slurping away in the mouth of one of the other boys, and the gentle reassuring voice of one of the assistants, “Just a couple more, you’re being so brave!”, before there was the sound of something creaking, and the suction increasing in volume, as if it had to deal with a sudden influx of fluid. James swallowed hard, dreading the idea of what might have happened if he had taken one extra breath of the gas with Doctor Waters. “I’m… I’d like… I’d like the fill” he began, a lump forming in his throat.

“Pardon? I can’t quite hear you over the noise”

“I’d… Can I have the filling, please?”

The dentist’s face lit up with joy! In fact, all three of them were smiling underneath their masks. “Of course you can, sweetie! Just relax, and let Annabelle and Jenny get you prepared while I tell Doctor Waters that she won’t be needed after she’s done”. Doctor Singh lifted her hands away from his cheeks, removed her gloves with a snap, and walked out of sight. Annabelle wheeled herself over to where the dentist was, and Jenny took Annabelle’s place, picking up the suction tube. “We’re so happy you’ve chosen us” Annabelle said, her voice high and girlish, her hands resting against his cheeks, just as Jenny handed her what looked like a syringe.

“Now, open up, a little wider for me… If it starts to hurt, squeeze Jenny’s hand, okay?” said Annabelle, waiting until he had opened his mouth wide enough for her to press the needle into his gum near his bottom left molar. He felt the sharp sting of the needle, and it took all the strength he had just to stop himself from cringing in pain Jenny brought the suction over to his mouth and started to drain away whatever fluid build-up there was, her free hand holding his as a numbness began to spread out from the injection site.

“-aand that’s one.” Annabelle said, pulling the empty syringe away, immediately being handed another. “Deep breath, aaand…” , another sting, this time on the opposite side, followed by a squeeze of the hand, and more numbness spreading through his mouth. “You know Jenny, this one is a real keeper, not a sound!” Anna said as she reached for the third syringe.

“Mhm! Cute too!” Jenny joked in turn, her thumb stroking the back of his hand while she suctioned away the build-up of drool.

Another sting, more numbness, “Well, good boys don’t speak. Maybe we’ve already got ourselves a good boy?”

“Maybe we do!” Jenny chimed, handing Annabelle the fourth syringe.

“-and injection number four! We’re half-way there” Annabelle said, the last quarter of James’ mouth slowly losing all feeling. He felt his jaw slackening, and almost instinctively opened a little wider.

The fifth needle pressed itself into his gum, just by his top left premolar. “I think, since you’ve been such a good boy…”

James barely felt the sixth needle, “We’re going to give you a little hint…”.

The seventh needle, “It’ll make your time after we’re done a little more pleasant…”

Finally, the eighth syringe was lined up, and Jenny gave his hand a good hard squeeze, “When you’re with all the other boys, and a nurse asks for a volunteer to go first, make sure you’re it, okay?”. With the final syringe, James’ mouth would eventually feel absolutely nothing.

“Alright! You’re all numbed up!” said Annabelle with a smile underneath her mask, picking up another tool from one of the trays next to her. “Okay, just keep your mouth open a little longer…”, she slipped the tool inside, lined it up on one side, and with a loud clicking noise, James felt his mouth slowly being opened until it was almost painfully wide, and unable to close.

Jenny let go of his hand, suctioning away any drool before Annabelle pressed a thin rubber dam over his teeth. With a few clicks of what looked like a hole punch, there were eight holes in the sheet. James couldn’t see or feel what they did next, all he saw was the bright blue rubber, the nurse’s hands working on his mouth and pulling his cheeks out of the way, something metal being pushed inside his mouth. Within a minute, he could taste nothing but rubber, and it was as if there was a black hole where his mouth should have been in terms of feeling.

Annabelle smiled underneath her mask and gently patted him on the cheek, leaving behind a slight damp patch, “There, you’re all ready to go!”.

“Is he ready?” Doctor Singh’s voice could be heard from the ‘door’

“Yep! We didn’t hear a peep from him, did we Jenny?”

“Nope, he was really brave!”

“Such a good boy” the dentist cooed, walking over to where Annabelle sat, taking her seat back and setting about pulling on another pair of gloves. Annabelle and Jenny did the same, “The boy with Doctor Waters hasn’t stopped crying. Three teeth in, and Doctor Waters is already asking if she can have you back” Doctor Singh said, a hint of humour in her voice.

With their fresh gloves on, all three of them wheeled a little closer, Annabelle holding the suction, Doctor Singh with a dental drill in hand, and Jenny holding her hands up, just in case she was needed. “You’re going to hear a lot of noise, and this might feel a tiny bit uncomfortable, but I want you to stay as still as you can, alright?” she asked.

“Just relax, sweetie. Close your eyes, we’ll take good care of you” Jenny reassured.

James did his best to calm down, stop himself from panicking, and closed his eyes, letting his mouth rest on the gag. The drill began to whine, the suction started, and his treatment had begun.

His felt his head buzzing, the drill working away at the enamel of one of his molars, clearing it all away, the suction and dam keeping him from catching any droplets or fragments. The drilling felt like it took forever, and it was followed up by an ungodly scraping feeling as the dentist dug around inside the tooth with some sort of long metal tool, “Number one, please” he heard her say, and then felt her thumb pressing something soft into his tooth, as if moulding it into the hole she had just made. “One tooth done, you’re doing so well!” Jenny called over the sound of the drill starting up again.

Keeping his eyes closed didn’t help, he could still hear the whine of the drill, the buzz in his head, the sweet nothings Jenny reassured him with as he felt one, two, three more teeth being drilled away, the holes filled with the strange soft putty. After what felt like an eternity, the eighth tooth was drilled, and the dentist’s gloved thumb had pulled away from his tooth. There was the sound of rustling around him, and when he opened his eyes, all three of them were wearing pairs of dark sunglasses, and Annabelle was holding a strange green light up to his mouth. Jenny was quick to lay her hand over his eyes “Just keep your eyes closed for this bit, okay?”, the green light making a beeping sound, the light intensifying. He felt a strange creaking sound in his head, coming from each of his filled teeth. Within a few seconds, Jenny’s hand pulled itself away from his eyes.

“-aand there we go! All nice and secure. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Doctor Singh asked, looking down on him with a smile. James was slow to react, but shook his head, it wasn’t as bad as it sounded from outside. “Good boy! Hold still while Annabelle gets you up, and we can take you to join the others, okay?”

With a snap, Doctor Singh pulled off her gloves, threw them into a nearby bin and set about tapping something into a nearby tablet. Meanwhile, Annabelle wheeled over to where the dentist was, removing the clamps from his teeth and pulling out the dam carefully, Jenny quickly suctioning away anything left behind. “Close your mouth slowly, you’re still a little numb” Annabelle said, slowly removing the gag, allowing James to close his slightly stiff jaw.

“Uhm… Thankth” he replied, to a short giggle from Jenny,

“maybe you should wait until the novocaine wears off before you speak”.

The chair began to whirr once again, and he felt himself being lifted back into a sitting position while Jenny and Annabelle undid the bindings over his arms and legs. Doctor Singh had just finished with what she was doing on the tablet and smiled at him, “Alright, we’re all done! What you’ve been fitted with is your speech discouragement device. Why? Because good boys don’t speak. Are you a good boy?” she asked with an expectant tone. James nodded, not saying a word, which resulted in another smile! “Good! So, just keep your tongue away from your teeth, and…”, she tapped something on the tablet, and immediately, he felt his jaw being forced closed, clenching his teeth together! He tried his best to open his mouth again, only to have it open an inch and clench shut again.

“Uhh…” he tried to say, only for Jenny to rest her hand on his shoulder, “A-a-aah, you said you were a good boy. Good boys don’t speak, remember?” she reminded him with a smile. “Now, let’s take you over to the others!” she said with excitement, pulling off her gloves, removing the bib and glasses and grabbing him by the hand to help him out of the chair. He stood up, wanting to stretch his limbs from being laid down so long, but Jenny didn’t give him much time before had led him out of the room.

On the way, they passed each of the other cubicles. Almost all of the cubicles were empty, except cubicle three, where he would have been. Jenny stopped and turned to him “Wait here a sec, I need to quickly tell Doctor Waters something”. Inside the cubicle, James could see the other boy, his mouth held wide open, some of his top teeth were missing and various suction tubes were working away, already stained red with blood while Doctor Waters was set about removing another one of his teeth. He whined and weakly struggled against the bonds, squeezing Nurse Sandy’s hand while she checked the gas levels. With a small creak, the tooth was pulled, being placed in a nearby tray. “We’re halfway there, so just try to hang in there a little longer!” Sandy was heard saying with a reassuring voice.

“Doctor Waters!” Jenny called.

The dentist looked up from her patient, her mask flecked with blood, “Hmm?”,

“We’re done over in our cubicle, and our patient is going to join the others. Do you need any help with yours?” ,

“Hmm… No, I think we’ll be okay”,

“Well, okay then! Make sure you turn the lights off when you’re done!” Jenny chimed, sounding as cheerful as ever, despite the gruesome sight in front of her.

Jenny rejoined James and took him by the hand again, leading him away from the cubicles, and towards a separate door on the opposite side of the hall. James looked to her, mumbling through his clenched teeth, but the feeling was so foreign to him that it was nothing but a garbled mess. Jenny, however, knew what he wanted to ask, “Him? He’ll be fine! You’re all good boys! Just… Some are good-er than others, and are treated a little differently, is all! You’re lucky, because you get to be with the best!” she cheered, squeezing his hand as they reached the final doors. Through it, James could hear the mumblings of some of the other ‘boys’, similar to his own.

Jenny leaned in, whispering in his ear, “remember our little hint?”. James nodded, and Jenny gave him a quick peck on the cheek, “Good boy, I think you’re going to make a great little pet!”. Jenny opened the door, and ushered him inside, to see whatever fate would be in store for him and the other boys...