#*chrysalis

“Open up…” The softness in his voice is warning me.

I part my lips for him. My drool coats his finger as he rubs my molars, strokes up my tongue, my eyes shining glassy as I see them in the bathroom mirror.

But I wouldn’t dare bite him.

He sighs in a way that sounds almost happy, content, picks up the toothbrush from the cluttered sink.

For a moment he holds a small tube of toothpaste, squeezing it anxiously as if trying to decide. “I need to take care of everything… About you.”

Lawrence grins in the reflection as if in pain.

It feels strange, someone else brushing my teeth, invading that daily routine that was one of the ways I exerted control over my often difficult body.

Gently, cautiously he touches the bristles over my gums and teeth, paying special attention to the 4 extra teeth. Fascinated. He does it all wrong to me, not the daydreaming way I’d do it but with a with a meticulousness bordering on obsessive.

His thumb presses on my lower lip as he finally pulls out the brush. “I can do this for you every night…” Lawrence will probably forget to. When I remind him it will increase the hold he has on me, like trying to get out of quicksand but sinking deeper.