“But why?!” Anna complained, planting her hands on the desk.

“I’m sorry Anna, but this school has a zero-tolerance policy towards violence” the Principal replied.

“But she called me a c-”

“I don’t care what she called you, it’s no excuse to resort to that level of violence. You could have broken her jaw!” the Principal retorted sharply, cutting off Anna before she could say something crass.

Anna slumped back in her chair, huffing to herself indignantly. She’d only hit her once, the snooty, spoiled cow; how was she supposed to know that she was going to knock out one of her teeth? It was her fault for not wearing a guard! That bitch Frankie had been ragging on at her all afternoon at practice, shouting at everyone whenever the slightest little thing didn’t go her way, all because her rich daddy had put in a word with the governors and had her made captain of the team. Everyone hated her, everyone, and now Anna was the one getting punished for finally giving her what she deserved: a strong smack across the jaw with a hockey stick!

It was so satisfying hearing that squeaky little voice squealing, seeing the blood run down her chin and ruin her ‘perfectly’ made-up face, and watch as barely anyone on the team stopped to help her. She’d always made an effort to look good for the cameras, even though there were no cameras. Always bleaching her hair and putting enough make-up on to make the trashiest of whores go “That’s a bit much, don’t you think?”, enough to run down her face when she ran crying to the coach.

“Now, as I said, we need to settle the matter of your punishment,” the Principal said, interrupting Anna’s reminiscing,

“But-”

“No buts! Be thankful I’m even giving you a choice here”, she sighed and leaned across her desk, her voice quieting, “Don’t tell anyone I said this, but this was bound to happen sooner or later, and if anyone was going to do it, I’m glad it was you instead of one of the other kids. Can you imagine the lawsuit threats if I had to drag one of the Nolans in here?”

Principal Greene and Anna had always sort-of ‘got along’. They weren’t on the absolute best terms, as was ‘proper’ for a Principal and a student, but she’d always look the other way if Anna’s uniform wasn’t quite right. Maybe it was the rebellious streak that she mentioned having as a teen, or maybe it was because they were from similar backgrounds? Both from up-and-coming families that had worked their way up the ladder of society, rather than being born with a silver teaspoon in their mouths.

“So, onto your punishment. The first option is to have you suspended, but I don’t think that would benefit anyone here, least of all you. You’re a good student, despite being a little rough around the edges. Your manners could do with some work, but I don’t see how suspension could teach you those, wouldn’t you agree?” Principal Green said with a small smile.

“I guess…” Anna replied,

“Good! Now, that leaves us with a second option. It’s a little-spoken fact about this school, that we have a policy of ‘an eye for an eye’. We haven’t really used it in cases like these for almost twenty years now, and we were planning on removing the rule after this year’s anniversary, but I think just this once, it’s a fitting punishment for what you’ve done. An eye for an eye…” the Principal said expectantly.

“...and a tooth for a tooth? Wait, you’re going to knock my tooth out?!” Anna squeaked, bringing her hand up to her cheek with horror.

“Oh no! No! Nothing as harsh as that,” Principle Green chuckled, “Frankie hasn’t lost her tooth, so why should you? She’s just had to pay a visit to the dentist to have it put back in. It’s only fitting that you should go as well, for your own little check-up, do you understand?”

“I guess so…”

“Excellent! I’ll phone the clinic and tell them you’re coming, and then I’ll phone your parents to tell them what’s happening. Just head to the school entrance and someone will be there to take you to the clinic” she said, picking up the phone and starting to dial.

Anna stood up and walked out the door without a word. It didn’t take her long to get changed back into her school uniform; a white blouse, tights, knee-length skirt and black shoes, missing the signature orange and yellow tie that the other girls wore. She always hated that as a senior, she still had to wear the uniform. She was eighteen for Christ’s sake! She should be able to wear whatever clothes she liked! Well, at least she didn’t have to abide by the ‘approved haircuts’, all of which were long and either tied up in a bun or left hanging loose. The moment she entered the senior year, Anna had cut her brown hair into an A-line bob and never looked back.

A few minutes later, she stood just outside the school entrance, and waiting for her was the Gym Teacher, Mr Laithwaite. If Anna and Principal Greene got along, she and Mr Laithwaite were practically best friends! They always had time for each other, and Markus Laithwaite was almost a second father to her.

“Eyyy, there’s my superstar!” he cheered, waving his arms and showing off his usual brilliant smile,

“Hey, Markus…” Anna replied, sounding miserable.

“Frankie’s gone on ahead without you, so I’m taking you to the clinic. Come on, let’s go before we miss the screaming” he said with a grin.

“Screaming?”

“Oh, you know, Frankie’s such a crybaby she’d be screaming the clinic down just meeting the receptionist!” he joked as he led her towards his beat-up old banger of a muscle car. He’d always called it his beauty, but it was obvious he’d got it used, and he was always bragging about how he was going to “pick up some cute millionairess and be outta this place for good!”, somehow hoping that his good looks and his car would be enough to woo the lovely lady, despite the fact that he worked in a dead-end job as a Gym Teacher which he only got because he begged the Principal after leaving school.

With a roar of the engine, the pair set off down the road, through the well-to-do neighbourhood of Summer Hills, consisting of miles and miles of McMansions and hideous architecture that would never have got past the planning office without some serious money involved.

“So… Eye for an Eye, huh?” he asked, still keeping his jovial expression.

“Mmmhm…” Anna mumbled, looking out the window and trying not to think of what was going to happen when they reached the clinic.

Markus quieted for a moment, noticing her unease, before piping up again in an attempt to cheer her, “Well, it could be worse! Believe it or not, I was actually the last person to have ‘eye for an eye’ as punishment”. Anna perked up, looking back at him with an incredulous look.

“Oh yeah, swear to god! Two-thousand-one. I gave this kid a swirly, right? It was my third offence, so it was expulsion or Eye for an Eye. I took an Eye for an Eye”, he laughed, “I swear I had toilet water in my ears for the next week!”.

Anna grinned, “That bad, huh?”.

“Yeah, and I think…”, he lifted his little finger and hooked it into his ear, giving it a real good rustling, “I got some of that water still in there!” he laughed, pointing his little finger at her, causing her to recoil in disgust,

“Eww, Markus!” she complained, to Markus’ raucous laughter!

“Ha! Now there’s the Anna I know!” he cheered, a satisfied smile on his face.

“Don’t worry about your punishment, Anna, they never go very far. Besides, they’ll probably take one look at your ugly mug and decide the damage has already been done!”

Anna huffed and pouted at him, “Jerk!”.

The pair of them pulled into the parking lot of the clinic. It was a special clinic, part-owned by the school so those students that lived in the dorms wouldn’t need to bother with getting appointments elsewhere. Anna had only ever been once, and that was to see if she needed braces during her junior year. The building was almost brand new, the old one having been knocked down with the recent refurbishment of the school to match the ‘aesthetic’, and by that, they meant ultra-modern with lots of smooth colourful panelling and large glass doors to give it an air of openness.

“Good luck, I’ll be here to take you home later, alright?” Markus said, trying to at least appear comforting as she got out of the car.

“Okay, see-ya later!” Anna replied, trying her best to smile in return, but the feeling of dread had begun to rise in her stomach all the same.

Entering the clinic, she was greeted by the sounds of whining. Not the whining of dental drills, but of a very familiar squeaky voice squealing from inside one of the rooms. The receptionist looked as annoyed as one could expect, giving Anna a little wave and beckoning her over. “Hi there, Anna, right? Your room isn’t ready yet, but you can head on over to Room C where your little friend is being treated if you like? I’m sure she’d like the moral support!”.

Sure, moral support, Anna thought to herself. It’s not like she’d freak out when the girl that knocked her tooth out entered the room or anything. Still, it would be great to see the whiny little cow squirm. At least Anna could get some form of satisfaction out of being here. She nodded and smiled at the receptionist and simply followed her ears to the sounds of whining, crying and cursing, finally finding Room C.

She opened the door, and it was almost as if she had foresight with how accurately she’d predicted the mess going on in front of her. Frankie was in the chair, her knees pulled up as high as she could get them, and she was wailing. The increasingly exasperated dentist was holding her tooth between his fingers while his assistant held her hand, trying in vain to calm her down. “Please, it won’t hurt, I promise. Just open your mouth, Frankie and it’ll be over before you know it!” the assistant pleaded, gently stroking the back of her hand. It looked like they had spent more than a few minutes just trying to get her into the chair, let alone to let them anywhere near her mouth.

One of the other assistants saw Anna enter and lifted her finger to her masked face, “Shh, just sit here and wait a moment” she whispered, ushering her to a stool just by the door, before returning to her overly dramatic patient.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” Frankie squealed, “I’m gonna be gap-toothed Frankie! I’m never gonna be a celebrity!”.

“You won’t be gap-toothed if you just let me put it back in” the dentist sighed through his mask, clearly irritated at his patient making such a fuss. “But you will if you keep crying and won’t let me work”.

The dentist’s frank explanation was apparently enough, and Frankie opened her mouth, still sobbing through it all as the dentist carefully aligned the tooth and pressed it firmly into her gum. Frankie whined and squeezed the assistant’s hand so tight that it must have been painful… For the assistant.

Within a minute, the tooth was safely back in the gum and splinted, and all that crying and whining was for nothing, not that Frankie would care about how much time she’d wasted.

“There,” the dentist said, removing his gloves and mask with a sigh.

“Good job! You were so brave!” the assistant cheered, laying her hand on Frankie’s shoulder reassuringly as she was gradually seated upwards. Her face went from relief to a mixture of revulsion and anger as soon as she spotted Anna.

“What is SHE doing here?! Was she watching the whole time?!” she cried in outrage,

“No no! She only just arrived. Someone’s coming to see her next, see?” the other assistant said.

“You bitch! You nearly ruined my chances at celebrity!” Frankie spat, her eyes red with tears, though Anna could only think they were red with rage.

“Ah-ah, we won’t have swearing like that in the clinic, Frankie. There are younger girls here today too, you know?” the dentist reprimanded. Swearing during a procedure was expected for some patients, but afterwards? That was a big no-no.

Frankie pouted and gave Anna a venomous look, “I hope they rip every tooth out of your head for this!” before getting up from the chair and storming out, tearing off her bib and tossing it aside. As soon as she left, it was if a wave of relief had washed over the entire room. The dentist, and both his assistants practically sagged on their stools, the dentist sighed, “Remind me never to take her as a patient again... “

“You know it doesn’t work that way, Ed” the assistant replied, pulling off her gloves and tossing them aside into a nearby bin.

“I can dream, can’t I?”

The dentist looked to Anna quietly sitting in the corner and gave her a smile, “You’re Anna, right? Don’t worry, they’re not gonna rip out all your teeth”

“It might be a little uncomfortable, though” the assistant chimed in,

“Well yeah, it’s supposed to be punishment, but you’ll still have your teeth by the end” said the dentist.

Anna spoke up, “Soo… Do I get in the chair now?”. The dentist and his assistants all shook their heads, “Oh no, not this one. There’s a special room for you. It hasn’t been used in a while, that’s why it’s taking time to set up. They should be with you soo-”

There was a knock at the door and a woman in dark maroon scrubs peeped her head in, “Is Anna in here? The room’s ready for her”. The woman was tall, tanned, her deep brown hair kept up in a bun. Anna recognised her! Her name was Lucia, and she’d been one of the assistants that had seen to her on her initial appointment all those years ago, and now she was going to be assisting with her punishment.

“Uh, hi Lucia” Anna greeted her with a small smile,

“Hi Anna! Come on, Kimmy wants me to get you all set up” she replied, reaching out to take her by the hand. Anna smiled and took her hand, and was led out the door and down the hall.

“Okay, this is how it’s gonna go. Once we’re inside, there’s no more talking, okay? Kimmy’s gonna take a look inside your mouth, and then decide what she’s gonna do. You don’t talk, you just listen, okay?” she instructed just outside the room they’d be administering the punishment.

“...Okay, I guess” Anna replied, with a look of unease on her face.

Lucia tutted, “Aww, c’mere. We’re as nice as always outside, so don’t be scared, okay?”, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her into a tight hug, letting go and reaching for her keys to open the dreaded punishment room.

The punishment room, or Room P, was situated at the back of the clinic, with a door that could only be unlocked with a special key provided by the school. It was dark, it was windowless, and it was designed to instil fear in its patients, something regular patients wouldn’t want to be visiting. The chair was a deep maroon, with arms on either side. The chair was fitted with restraints, cuffs on either arm and a band across the headrest. Above the chair was a standard dental examination light, except this one had some additional arms at different positions over the chair, all of them bar one holding what looked like a camera, with the final arm holding a monitor pointed at the headrest.

As soon as Anna entered the room, Lucia’s tone changed, “In the chair, please” she commanded, her voice stern and professional. She placed her hand at the small of Anna’s back and ushered her inside, practically shoving her towards the chair. Anna did as she was told and sat in the chair. Lucia was quick to bring the headband over her forehead and pull it tight, forcing Anna’s head back into the headrest until she could barely move, not even able to turn her head. Next came her arms, the thick rubber bands tightened over her forearms until she felt it almost painfully biting into her skin.

“Owh…” Anna complained, testing the bonds while Lucia set about arranging the various cameras, as well as the examination light and the monitor, positioning them just behind Anna’s head and switching on the light. “No talking, please,” Lucia said, rustling around with setting out trays of tools behind the chair.

The door to the room opened, and the faint squeak of sneakers against the linoleum floor. “Is the patient ready?” a voice asked. Peering through the darkness, Anna could make out the light blonde hair of Dr Kimberley Steiner, or Kimmy as Lucia liked to call her. She was practically a pixy, with her short hair, thin build and short stature. If she wasn’t dressed in black scrubs, she could pass as one of the seniors at the school!

“Yes, Doctor Steiner” Lucia replied in an almost business-like manner. Kimmy took her seat behind Anna, and she heard the sounds of rustling, and then multiple echoing snaps as the two of them each pulled on a pair of white latex gloves.

The chair began to whirr, and Anna could spot Lucia and Kimmy’s masked faces getting into position, the examination light coming into view until it was practically shining into her eyes, almost deliberately so for maximum discomfort.

“Open…” instructed Kimmy, and before Anna could even partially open her mouth, the dentist had forced the mirror and pick inside, forcing her to open wider. With Kimmy leaning over her, she could finally see the monitor looming overhead. On the screen, there was a high-resolution video of her exam. Not only would she have to endure her punishment, but she’d also have to watch it being done to her.

Kimmy was less than gentle with her, deliberately scraping hard against her teeth with the sickle probe, a feeling that sent sharp shivers up Anna’s spine, followed by pain as she jabbed and poked at her gums. There was no mercy, they poked, probed and scraped until Anna’s eyes watered with discomfort, only stopping to painfully pull on her cheeks so they could reach the very back. Kimmy paid extra attention to her wisdom teeth, pressing down a hard as she could with the probe, before making a committed “Mhm…” sound. With a ‘click’, the examination light switched off, and Anna was left in the dark, Kimmy and Lucia pulling off their gloves.

The chair whirred into life, and Anna was lifted back up into a sitting position while Lucia busied herself with laying out various tools and preparing for… Something. Kimmy lowered her mask and took a long look into Anna’s eyes. Anna wasn’t known for wearing make-up, but if she had, it would have been running for how much her eyes had been watering during the initial exam. Seemingly satisfied, Kimmy cleared her throat.

“I’ve decided that due to the severity of your actions, we’re going to be drilling your molars and wisdom teeth on the right-hand side” she explained, standing up so she was looking down on her. “Lucia, prep the patient” she instructed, walking away from the chair and leaving the room.

“Wait, what?!” Anna exclaimed, “What do you mean you’re gonna drill my teeth?! I only hit her once!”. Already, Anna could hear Lucia pulling on a fresh pair of elbow-length gloves, the chair whirring once again to gradually recline her.

“No, no no! I’ve changed my mind!” Anna cried, her voice squeaking a little, squinting her eyes as the examination light switched back on, blinding her.

Something came into view from above, a pair of gloved hands holding a thick grey rubber anaesthesia mask, with the rubber band strap pulled taught. The air was shimmering around the mask, and as it got closer, she could hear the ubiquitous ‘hisssssss’ of the gas.

“Deep breaths…” Lucile commanded as she brought it closer.

“No, please! I’ll take the expulsion, just stop! Sto-mph!”, the mask was pressed firmly against her face, and the strap was pulled tightly over the back of the headrest. She struggled against the bonds, tried to wrench her face away from the mask, but the band over her forehead held her still.

The gas was unlike anything she’d experienced before. It wasn’t sweet like everyone always said, it was a bitter, rubbery taste that caught in the throat and burned at her sinuses. She could only take a half-breath before it caught, and she coughed into the mask, gasping for air, only to suck in more gas, her breath coming in wheezy.

Anna attempted to thrash against the restraints, to lift her arms up and rip the mask off, but even if she wasn’t strapped to the chair, the gas was starting to take effect. She felt her muscles tire, little by little, felt her body slowly sink into the chair as she slowly began to succumb. She tried to hold her breath, to hold on just a little longer, but a single gloved hand rested against her cheek, while the other gave the rebreather bag a long, hard squeeze. Her muffled cries beneath the mask petered out, the last thing she heard was her own wheezing gasp as she took a long deep breath of the gas…

She awoke, and she felt like the inside of her head had been rubbed with sandpaper. Everything from her nose upwards ached. Was the treatment over? She opened her eyes, only to be greeted by the examination light shining on her face. She wasn’t wearing the mask anymore, it having been replaced with a nasal mask, still delivering the dreadfully uncomfortable gas. Her limbs felt impossibly heavy, and all she could do was lay there.

“Open your mouth, please,” said Lucia, and Anna’s attention was brought to the stainless steel Denhart gag being pressed against her lips, forcing itself between her teeth. With a few ‘click’s, she felt her mouth being ratcheted open, wider and wider until she felt her jaw ache! “Nngh!” she whined; the gas was barely doing anything to stop the pain, only keep her from moving.

As her eyes adjusted to the examination light, she was drawn to the monitor hanging overhead, a crystal-clear image of herself, her skin white as snow underneath the light. Were it not for the fact that her mouth was being held open, and for the light grey mask covering her nose, it would have been near impossible to tell what she was looking at. A gloved hand came into view, holding a syringe with the thickest, most painful-looking needle she’d ever seen! It looked like the sort of needle they’d use for drawing blood, not delivering medication!

“Nnnh-hhngh!” Anna whined, Lucia hooked her thumb into the corner of her mouth, pulling on her cheek to expose the gum. She tried her best to look away, but all she could see in front of her was the syringe, and Lucia’s face looking down on her with concentration as she lowered the needle into her mouth. She looked up at the screen and saw that the camera had zoomed in, having changed views to give her the perfect view of the needle being pushed into her lower right gum. Somehow, being made to see the needle enter made it all the more painful, and soon she felt a burning sensation flow down her jaw, followed by a growing numbness. She scrunched her eyes shut, blinking away the tears while Lucia disposed of the first syringe, and picked up the second.

Anna didn’t open her eyes for the second needle, she only felt Lucia’s thumb in her cheek again, and the sharp scratch. She held her breath, each second the needle was in her gum, the pain only intensified, the burning sensation pushing its way up her face, all the way to her eye. Only when the needle was pulled away did she finally take a breath, her breathing coming in short, sharp gasps, intermixed with sobs, and still, she didn’t get a break.

“Ahhgh-hhahh-nngh!” was all the sound Anna could make, before Lucia’s gloved hands were forcing a rubber dam into her mouth, pressing it against her teeth, removing it to clip six holes for each of her teeth, and then stuffing it back in. It had a foul rubbery taste to it that clung to her, stronger than normal and designed for optimum discomfort. She did all she could to pull her tongue back and not touch it.

She felt something being hooked into her mouth, and then heard the sounds of suction working away. Finally, she was ready for whatever horrors Kimmy and Lucia were going to do to her. The door to the room creaked open, and she heard the familiar squeak of sneakers against the linoleum.

“Is the patient ready?” Kimmy asked,

“Yes, Doctor Steiner”

“Good, then we can get started”.

Kimmy then began to pull on another pair of elbow-length surgical gloves, the snap of the rubber against her skin causing Anna to jump up in the chair, or as much as she could. Meanwhile, Lucia began adjusting the cameras above her, moving them into the perfect positions for the ‘main event’. When she was done, she clicked a button on the side of the monitor, and the image started to slowly change between camera angles. One was a close up of one of the teeth they were going to work on, another was a view of her mouth from chest height, and the final angle appeared to be coming from the monitor itself, which Lucia adjusted so it was directly above her, forcing her to look straight up at her own face, so she could watch was about to be inflicted upon her.

Kimmy positioned herself behind Anna, with Lucia next to her. She picked up her high-speed drill and tested it, the drill let out a high-pitched whine. Anna could do nothing but watch what happened next, staring up at the screen.

The view on the monitor changed to the view from below, and Anna saw Kimmy lowering the drill into her mouth, while Lucia started up the suction. The whine of the drill was deafening, Anna clenched her fists to brace herself for what was to come.

She felt the buzzing of the drill in her head long before the view changed. On the screen, there was a perfect view of a tooth, and the drill breaking away perfectly healthy enamel to be suctioned away, too much enamel. There was no rot, they were just drilling for the sake of it! The view changed again, to show an image of herself from above. She could barely see herself under the mask and the pair of gloved hands working in her mouth, but the look of horror in her eyes was evident.

They didn’t even bother to fill the tooth they’d just drilled, they just adjusted their positions, the drill started again, and Anna felt her head buzzing while they drilled away at her other tooth, breaking it down and suctioning away the enamel. It was a horror show, Anna wanted to get up and run, but whatever was in the gas was stopping her from doing more than occasionally twitch or clench her fists.

It felt like an eternity, an eternity of buzzing in her head, of the drill catching and digging into her jaw to ruin her teeth. She felt her tears running down her cheeks, her eyes glazing over as she tried to blot out the horror of her punishment.

The drill stopped, and Kimmy pulled away from her patient, the monitor switched off, and Lucia started to remove the dental dam, unhooking it from her teeth and discarding it. She also removed the gag, and Anna’s jaw ached as she slowly closed, her breath coming in short sobbing gasps. She dared not move her tongue to her now ruined teeth, for fear of what pain it might cause!

“Okay, we’re done. Lucia, sedate her while we clean up” Kimmy asked, removing her gloves with a loud snap!

Anna heard the sound of Lucia turning up the gas, and felt the sudden burning pain in her sinuses. She tried her best to breathe through her mouth, but felt Lucia’s gloved hand clap over her mouth. The gas caught in her throat, she wanted to cough, but Lucia wouldn’t let her! The burning behind her eyes grew hotter and hotter, until she forced them closed in pain!

She woke up, still in the chair, no longer restrained. Her head was throbbing, and the front of her school uniform was slightly damp from where she’d been drooling. Everything ached, as if she’d just run a mile. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by an unmasked Lucia looking down on her.

“Hey there, sleepy head. Let’s get you up” she said, her voice considerably sweeter. She tapped a pedal with her foot, and the chair whirred into life, lifting Anna back up into a seated position.

Anna rubbed her eyes, and looked around the room; it appeared to have been ‘reset’. All of the tools were put away, the lights were all switched on, and everything looked a lot more ‘pleasant’ than it did before. Lucia had changed scrubs, changing to the pale pink Anna remembered her for.

She looked at Lucile, and tears began to well in her eyes, then the sobs,

“Oh no, no! Don’t cry, it’s okay!” Lucile cooed, rushing to the chair to cup Anna’s cheeks in her hands, “You’re okay-”

“No, I’m not!” Anna cried, “You ruined my teeth!”

“No no! No, we didn’t!” Lucile replied,

“YES, YOU DID! You drilled my-”,

“No, you just thought we did! Feel them, I promise they’re still there!”.

Anna’s tongue tentatively licked over her molars… They were still there, and in their regular shape! How? How did they fix them?

She looked into Lucile’s face, which smiled back at her before reaching for a tissue to wipe away her tears, “...How?”.

“There’s a reason they call me The Pixy, Anna…” Kimmy’s voice could be heard as she walked through the door in a theatrical fashion. She was holding a set of model teeth in one hand, which she tossed to her. Anna caught the teeth and opened them up; six of the teeth had been drilled down to nothing,

“I’m very good at trickery”.

Anna couldn’t believe what she was looking at. She’d seen them drill her teeth; she’d felt it! “But I saw you!”

“Oh? What did you see?” Kimmy asked with a coy smile,

“I saw you drilling! I felt it happen!” Anna exclaimed

“And how did you see that?”,

“On the…” Anna realised,

“The screen?” Kimmy finished her sentence for her, and then started her explanation, looking as if she was desperate to congratulate herself on a plan well executed!

“You know, I was kinda hoping that the gas, and the needle, and all the other nightmarish things I put into this room would distract you, and it did!” Kimmy began,

“You never noticed those inconsistencies, like the fact that you got a perfect view of me drilling your teeth, even though there wasn’t actually a camera that could zoom in that far. You were just so captivated by my amazing camera work that you forgot to count the camera shots. Three of them were real, and one was of me drilling those teeth you hold in your hands shortly before you arrived. Why do you think it took so long for me to collect you?”

Anna tried to answer, but she was interrupted by Kimmy again, keen to explain the situation even further.

“I already knew what I was going to do to you before you got here, so all I had to do was time everything up, put the footage together on the screens, and bam! The perfect deception. But! You ask, how did I get it to feel like I was drilling your teeth?”

Anna didn’t ask, but she wasn’t about to interrupt,

“Simple! When you’re numbed, you can’t tell the difference between me actually drilling your teeth, or using a tool that just buzzes” she continued, “So, buzz buzz buzz!”.

Anna was flabbergasted. They went through so much effort just to trick her! “Why?” she asked, allowing Lucia to wipe more tears from her eyes. Kimmy stopped, and looked back to Anna with a sympathetic, but slightly cheeky smile, “You didn’t really think we were going to really drill your teeth, did you?”, she said with a small laugh.

Lucia reached over and gently caressed Anna’s hair, “Sweetie, we were to punish you, not mutilate you”,

“I’m sorry it felt uncomfortable, or scary, but we needed a genuine reaction for the footage,” Kimmy said matter-of-factly. “Frankie’s gonna get a copy, so it had to look real”.

“Frankie gets to see?” Anna asked, not quite believing what she was hearing,

“Mhm! It’s all part of her compensation for the ‘trauma’. She gets to see you suffer, and she gets to think that we drilled your teeth, even though we didn’t”,

“That’s horrible…”

“Yep, that’s Eye for an Eye for you…”

“...Can I leave?”

“...Sure”

Within half an hour, Anna’s cheek had regained feeling, and she stood outside the door to the clinic. Mr Laithwaite pulled up in his beat-up old muscle car, “Hey there! Give us a smile, huh?” he called, grinning as wide as he always did. Anna tried her best to smile, but could only manage a small one. She got into the car and sighed…

“That bad, huh?” he asked,

“Yeah…”,

“-and if you were given the choice again?”

“...I’d take the expulsion…”