This time, Marcus found himself in a white void, but only for the few moments before their bathroom bloomed into reality around him. He was standing on the counter, and turned to see Jessie come in wearing her pajamas. Except something about her immediately seemed off. Her walk was inhumanly smooth, almost like she was a robot, or something was controlling her. It became more apparent when he looked to her face: it was completely blank, devoid of any emotion. It was an expression he’d never seen on her in his life; the total opposite of the lively and animated girl he’d always known. But worst of all, her eyes were pitch black, like she was possessed by some kind of demon or otherworldly entity. She turned to face him, and her cold gaze fell to rest on him, unblinking and unmoving. Just her stare alone—or the stare of whoever this thing was—gave him chills. And then she spoke.

     “It’s time to brush my teeth, Daddy.” Her voice sounded like it was made up of hundreds, all just as cold and unfeeling as the rest of her, and they ranged in tone from a high octave down to a low gurgle. After she said it, she walked right up to the edge of the counter, and once she was staring straight down at him, she bared her teeth. Except they looked unnervingly dirty, as if she actually hadn’t brushed in weeks, maybe even months. Nevermind the single seed he had to dig out from before, now there were dozens of seeds stuck throughout her teeth, plus other bits of food stuck against her braces or up in her gums. “But this time, you’d better do a good job,” she added, and kneeled down so that her chin was level with the counter. He wondered what she meant by ‘this time,’ considering he did a fine job when he’d had to dislodge that single seed from behind her wires. But clearly, in whatever reality this was, history had been a little different.

     “Of course honey,” he felt himself stammer, “I’m so sorry for last time, I’ll make sure it’s perfect.” He wasn’t even conscious of saying what he did, as if he was just experiencing some alternate version of himself from their point of view.

     She didn’t respond, but opened her mouth again and stuck out her tongue—except it rolled out like a carpet, fifty feet long, ending right at his feet. Feeling his body moving again without his conscience behind it, he stepped onto her tongue and walked the full length up to her mouth, except he ducked to fit inside instead of just working from the outside. And as his arms raised up, he realized he was holding brushes in each hand, except they looked more like wire brushes instead of normal toothbrushes.

     He began firmly rubbing the wire brushes against the backside of her teeth, working hard to thoroughly rid her of the gunk that had gotten everywhere. It was a process that was slow and tedious, and suddenly time seemed to fast-forward, like he was experiencing a time lapse of himself working. Time slowed down again, and although he couldn’t tell how long it had been, it seemed like several hours had passed, the whole time scrubbing the backs of her teeth, and then the front, and then flossing in between.

     Her carpet of a tongue hadn’t moved an inch since first rolling out, so he headed out of her mouth and stood in the middle of the wet, bulging muscle, looking up into Jessie’s blackened eyes. “I’m… uh, I’m done, s-sweetie,” he stuttered, hoping he’d done a good job. Her teeth looked completely clean now; it was a night and day difference.

     The floor beneath him shuffled as she tilted her head slightly down to look at him better while keeping her tongue outstretched. And for the first time, her facial expression changed—except it was into a rage, with narrowed eyebrows and eyes that now glowed red with contempt.

     “NOT GOOD ENOUGH!” her voice boomed without even moving her mouth, and fear struck his heart as he wondered how he could’ve messed up. But he wouldn’t get the chance to know, since her tongue quickly rolled back up into her mouth, pulling him along with it.

     “YOU’LL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH!” she screamed, and her tongue swept his legs out from under him, pushing the terrified man into the back of her throat. It felt unlike when she’d unawarely swallowed him in her milkshake though, since now he was at his full 9 inches and a lot more cramped in the humid domain. He tried crawling out, desperately, and was even able to get partway out before her lips slammed closed around his torso. Despite how squishy they should’ve normally been, she was squeezing them tight, so much so that he was struggling just to breathe, and his arms were pinned to his sides, unable to move. And then an impossibly strong force began to slowly pull him back inside; she was sucking him in, and her power was so strong he couldn’t fight it.

     More and more of his body slid back into her lips, until the suction stopped. His frightened eyes caught a sight of himself in the mirror: only his tiny head was visible as her lips held tight around his neck, and all the wiggling in the world wouldn’t let him move even an inch. “Please, Jessie,” he sobbed, “I’m sorry, please!” But she didn’t respond, except by raising her finger up in front of her mouth before punching the tip against his face, popping him back inside. 

     Her throat muscles caught ahold of his feet and began pulling him in, and soon enough his entire 9-inch body had somehow been swallowed into the girl’s gullet. He cried for mercy as the passage downwards began to get tighter and more cramped, to the point of suffocation, until eventually she had squeezed the life out of him entirely.

*   *   *   *   *   *

     He sat bolt upright in a sweat, gasping for air with terror still seizing his veins.

     “Daddy?” The voice, softer than from the dream but still scarily familiar, called out from his left, and he turned towards his door to see Jessie in the hallway, dressed in the same pajamas, just having walked out of her room to get ready for the day when she’d heard him wake up. Except unlike the monster from his vision, a surprised look of concern was painted on her face, one which grew even more sympathetic as she saw his own expression, one of confusion, anxiety, and relief.

     She drifted into his room, “Did you just wake up from a nightmare or something?” she asked, and sat down on his bed, looking down at him. She started to reach out so she could scoop him up for a hug, but he leaned away and held his hands up.

     “Wait a sec,” he said, wanting to compose himself first. After just being swallowed whole by a monster who looked just like her, and who loomed just as large, he didn’t want to be brought any closer just yet.

     Jessie was shocked, and quickly pulled the hand back but held it awkwardly in front of her, processing what just happened. In all of her life, he’d never reacted like that when she tried initiating a hug. Not even for his brief time as a shrunken person. At the worst his hug would be lazy or half-assed, but he’d never backed away like her touch was poison. He had clearly been freaked out, so her natural response was to try and soothe her dad or calm him down. But even the notion of intimacy seemed to put him on edge.

     “Was it… about me?” she whispered quakily. “Did I do something to you in your dream?”

     He swallowed nervously. “No, it was… something else,” he lied, not wanting to upset her any further. But she could immediately tell he hadn’t been honest, and he too realized from her face that she saw right through him.

     “Okay…” She slowly stood up, as if some sudden movement from her might  freak him out again. She anxiously twiddled her thumbs, and they stood staring at each other for a moment, both unsure of what to say next. “Well… it’s still kinda early,” she said, “so you could go back to bed.”

     He shook his head, “No, that’s okay. I’ll just wake up now.” She bit her lip, realizing that of course he wouldn’t want to go back to sleep after whatever had just happened.

     She turned to his door, gingerly heading out as she thought about what to do or what to say, so when she reached his doorway she turned one last time. “You know I would never do anything to hurt you Daddy, right? And I’d never let anything happen to you either. I mean, I know you know that, but… maybe you just needed to hear me say it out loud.”

     “I know,” he replied, and smiled gently to reassure her.

     She breathed in slowly, seeming to sigh with a wave of small comfort. Which in turn reassured him that she didn’t feel too guilty. “Okay. Well… I love you Daddy,” she said.

     “Love you more,” he replied, and lay back down on his pillow as she closed the door to give him some privacy.