The Stone of Malachi

Chapter 1 - I Horribly misuse Dental Tools

I follow the Secretary into the principal's office. Her high heels make clicking noises against the tile floor. Her head, with red-ish, shoulder length hair bobs up and down as she walks. Her perfect posture bugs me, so I slouch a little more on purpose. I know what's coming. I have been warned, but I guess accidentally crashing the school bus into the school was the last straw. Or maybe it was releasing that stink bomb into the staff room... Anyway. As we turn the corner into the principal's office, I catch a glimpse of that poster on the wall. The one that has my face on it and says beware underneath. I guess that's what happens when you talk back to teachers, run in the halls and insist that the first president of the United States was William Shakespeare.

I sit down in the chair opposite Mr. Mason's desk.

"Ah, Kylie" says the principal without even a glance up. "Thank you Miss. Scott." That time, he looks up at the secretary and winks. She giggles... I look back and forth between the two of them wide-eyed. They both have a faraway look in their eyes... The Principal and The secretary, a classic... I so called it... Kaitlyn owes me a dollar. After a minute, Miss. Scott leaves the room.

I stifle a laugh as Mr. Mason straightens his tie, apparently remembering that I exist. He clears his throat.

"Kylie, do you know why you're here?" I look out the window. I could be here for any number of reasons. It doesn't matter; I know they all lead to the same conclusion. "Kylie, I'm afraid... that this will be your last-" He takes a deep breath, and rephrases his sentence. "You will not be invited back to Yorkdale Public school next year." I look down. I just got expelled. I'm not upset. I saw this coming. The only problem will be breaking the news to my mom. I try to push that problem away. It is replaced by a nagging in the back of my head. I am forgetting something... what is it? "One more thing Kylie, your mother is here" That takes me by surprise.

"My mother? But it's only 12:45!'

"yes, she said something about a... um dentist appointment I believe." He might as well of slapped me. That is what I forgot! I hate the dentist! I mean, no kid likes it, but this is more than a dislike. For me, the dentist is a if-you-want-me-to-go-you-will-have-to-drag-me-kicking-and-screaming type thing. But instead of freaking out I said,

"Ok, I'll get my things" My voice comes out a lot more small and timid than I meant for.

"So how was your day?" my mother's sweet mellow voice asks me as we drive to the dentist's office. I was about to tell her that I had gotten expelled, but when I look over at her thick curly brown hair and big, happy, hopeful green eyes, I can't bring myself to do it. So I lie, I say:

"Fine. Nothing special. How about you? "It worked like a charm. Instead of questioning me further, she answers my question. My mother goes on about all the sales and numbers and all that other stuff that a real estate agent would talk about.

I run my fingers through my long, thin dirty blond hair that comes about half way down my rib cage. I look out the window as we drive. I notice my reflection in the glass. Piercing, icy blue eyes stare back at me. I got those from my dad. He's a doctor. He's been away in Africa curing diseases for the past three years. I miss him... a lot. I lose myself in thoughts and memories of my dad when I hear my mother saying my name. We are here.

I take a seat in the waiting room. I was there for about 20 seconds when my stomach erupts in a throbbing pain. I double over clutching my torso. The pain travels up to my head and recedes to a prickly feeling in my left temple. I sit up, feeling dazed. I look around but nobody seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary. The prickly feeling has gone away, but I still feel confused. I don't have time to think about it, because just then, I hear,

"Kylie Martin" I look over, a pretty lady in her twenties stands smiling at me. She has blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, endearing green eyes, high cheek bones and she holds a clip board. Her name tag reads, Diana Lawrence. She is the Hygienist. Reluctantly, I stand up to follow her. She leads me down a long hallway into a dimly lit room with a small sink, a dental chair, a bunch of nasty looking tools and two tables. I sit down in the chair, and she sits in a wooden chair beside me. Diana picks up one tool that looks like a mini, metal confetti shooter and moves it to the far table.

"Kylie," she speaks in a voice that is pretty, sort of soothing, except that it doesn't seem hers. It rolls off her tongue in a way that seems sickly sweet; it gives me the heebee jeebees "Could you go rinse with the fluoride please?" hearing her ask me to do my least favourite thing on earth with that voice sends a shudder down my spine. But I do as she asks. As I walk over to the little sink every fiber of my being screams at me to GET OUT OF HERE! And the prickly feeling in my left temple returns. As weird as it is, I try to ignore it. I walk over, and I lift the cup of fluoride to my lips.

OK, now imagine the taste of Dental fluoride. Now imagine the horrid taste you get in your mouth when you vomit. Now imagine mixing them together. And multiply that by 13. You are still nowhere close to how terrible liquid I drank was. So naturally, I half cough it up and half spit it out. I turn to complain at that Diana girl, but I freeze mid-turn. Where the pretty blond lady had once stood, was now a female humanoid. She, no, it had blackish purple hair in a mop on her head, her eyes were completely black, and her face was so sickly pale that it looked a light shade of green. I grab the tool nearest to me. The demon hygienist smiles, revealing razor sharp teeth and a forked tongue. Then it lunges.

I pull the trigger on my tool. And out sprays an oh-so- deadly drizzle of water at the ground. Just my luck. When I look up I notice just how sharp the demon's tool really is. I roll out of the way a split second before the evil dentist hits the ground where I had been a moment ago. I stand up and knock over a table. The tool that Diana had moved away from me clattered to the ground at my feet. On an impulse, I pick up the tool and point it at the demon. But immediately my vision goes cross-eyed, my head gets fuzzy and the fluoride taste comes back to me. I knew in that moment, what is happening. I am about to pass out. That's what the fluid was. But if I want to survive, I'm going to have to fight the fluid's effects for as long as I can. I adjusted my aim on the monster's head. She is still blurry along with everything else, but I can tell that her smile has disappeared. She watches me carefully; I can tell that she's waiting for me to pass out. But before I can decide what to do, my instincts take over.

I lift the tool over my head, and pull the trigger. A water-like substance rains over me, but I stay perfectly dry. The demon dentist shrieks in horror and outrage, apparently not happy that I have figured something out. The thing lunges at me and begins stabbing and slicing with her dental tool, and scratching and biting with its teeth and claws. This should probably be killing me, but I don't feel a thing. I'm losing consciousness... Fast. Everything is weird, but I can't process a thing. I look into the demon dentist's eyes and then everything goes black.