Baby Teeth

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Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

Hanna is having another test done on her brain to see if anyone can figure out why she's not talking at seven years old. Hanna is keeping all the words to herself because when she tried to talk as a baby, only marbly sounds came out. Mommy desperately wants her to speak, but Daddy doesn't push her, so she loves him more. When the test is over, she is taken back to Mommy like seeing her is some kind of treat. Not at all.

Suzette struggles with being at the doctor's office, waiting to hear what the latest scan shows about her daughter. Suzette has suffered with Crohn's disease since she was a teenager. She's had multiple surgeries starting from her teenage years, one only eight weeks ago, and she has had to do most everything on her own because her mother wasn't the best. She's trying now to be a better mother to Hanna, but she's struggling with that, too. The doctor confirms there is nothing wrong with Hanna mentally to make her unable to speak and they've had so many physical exams, so Suzette believes that it's not that Hanna can't speak, it's that she won't. The doctor suggests a psychologist for them to try next. Suzette desperately needs time to herself instead of being with Hanna all the time. She knows Hanna doesn't like her, and it makes her life difficult.

Hanna remembers when she was four and Mommy and Daddy were going to a party that she wasn't invited to. Hanna wanted to wear a pretty dress and see all of Daddy's friends and listen as they oohed and aahed over her, but Mommy wouldn't let her go. Mommy wanted to leave her behind, return her to a store like something defective. To retaliate at being told she can't go to the party, Hanna steals Mommy's diamond earrings. When the babysitter arrives, Mommy explains that Hanna isn't verbal and the babysitter asks if she's potty-trained. Yes, dummy, she's four. After Mommy and Daddy leave, Hanna poops and pees on herself in the bathroom, making the babysitter clean it up. While she's cleaning, Hanna steals some of the girl's jewelry. When she gets tucked into bed, Hanna pulls the babysitter's hair violently. That's the last time Mommy leaves her behind with a babysitter.

At the store after the doctor's office, Suzette thinks about having sex with her husband while Hanna gathers her favorite snacks. They hear a baby crying and Hanna goes to shush it, but then the baby strikes her and so she punches him in the head. They leave the store. At home, Suzette makes Hanna do schoolwork and they practice spelling. Suzette asks Hanna to spell love, she writes hate. Summer? Bitch. Strawberry? Fuck Mommy. She is week and stupid. Well, too bad, Hanna, you used the wrong spelling of week. Just as Suzette is about to take the paper, Hanna rips it up, leaving no evidence to show Daddy. Suzette sends Hanna to her room to read about Egypt, but instead she learns about witches and calls out to one, Marie-Anne Dufosset. Marie-Anne helps Hanna with the pronunciation of her French name and she gets it just right. Now to use witch powers to make Mommy disappear.

Suzette retreats to the bathroom, her safe, clean space. She begins meticulously and methodically scrubbing, remembering getting sick and her mother not caring for her and Alex coming to her rescue. They got married, bought a house and renovated it with their architectural and interior design skills. Then there was Hanna. Suzette wanted to be the mother that she never had, caring and loving, but that is difficult, especially now. Hanna knocks at the door, Suzette asks her to wait a minute, but then she knocks again, more insistent, banging and slamming on the door. Suzette flings open the door, asking Hanna why she never listens. Because I'm not Hanna, she whispers. Hanna wishes that Mommy would have had a greater reaction to her whispering than slamming the door, but that's what happened, so she leaves the bathroom to wander around and do other things until Daddy gets home from work.

During dinner, Suzette interrupts Alex talking excitedly about a new architecture project he's about to begin to tell him that Hanna spoke and what she said. Hanna denies doing it, so of course Alex doesn't believe that it happened. They send Hanna up to her room so they can talk privately about sending Hanna to a psychologist that was recommended to her at the appointment earlier. They also talk about trying to enroll her in school again. The first two schools they tried didn't work out because Hanna set the trash cans on fire and killed the goldfish, but maybe now, a couple of years later, she'll adjust better. Suzette wishes that she could have some time to herself again, to be away from Hanna.

Hanna really seems to like fucking with Mommy, but she complains to herself about not wanting to mess up the order of the crayons or markers or destroy the watercolor paints Mommy gives her. She also complains about the house being so clean that she can't form the under the bed monsters in the story that Daddy reads to her at night. Maybe they're not quite so different, really, needing things to be tidy in their own way. That night, after wanting to join in on the grunting guttural language Mommy and Daddy use when they're alone, Hanna sneaks into her parents' bedroom and takes naked pictures of Mommy after staring too long at Daddy naked. Then she speaks in a French accent to Mommy, telling her her name is Marie-Anne Dufosset, the name of the witch she found and printed off pictures of from the Internet.

Suzette gets an email from Sunnybridge, the new school she hopes will accept Hanna and plans to meet with them later in the morning. Hanna and Alex come downstairs, Alex promising to keep a secret for Hanna, which he says is an art project. Suzette mentions trying to get Hanna accepted to the school now instead of in the fall, but Alex thinks it's too late in the school year. He never seems to listen to Suzette when she mentions her struggles or that Hanna is a manipulative little creep, and she wants to keep her husband happy, so Suzette plans to go to the meeting alone, do everything alone, like she always does. After checking in on Hanna and hearing her use scissors, briefly worried about being stabbed to death, Suzette looks up Marie-Anne Dufosset.

On the way to the new school, Hanna remembers the other schools she's gone to and the horrible things she did to get kicked out, though at first it didn't seem like she was actually trying to do bad things on purpose, but they resulted in being homeschooled, and she liked that. She liked being home with Mommy to test her patience. She liked having freedom and not being around stupid kids who didn't put their blocks in the right order or who had hair the same color as Daddy's. She liked being away from the ants in the trash cans that she had to set fire to to get rid of them. Hanna knows things she can do to get kicked out of Sunnybridge too.

Suzette calls Hanna Marie-Anne and tells her about witch burnings, calling her daughter out for the things she doesn't know about pretending to be a witch, but Hanna just calls Mommy stupid in a French accent, and then they go into the school. Suzette judges everything immediately for being shabby or not fancy enough or poor, but when she speaks to the principal, she feels a glimmer of hope. This hope comes *after* Hanna growls and barks at the principal, allowing Suzette to speak privately with the older woman. She explains everything, especially about her feelings of inadequacy and how her husband won't even consider that there is something wrong with Hanna. The principal suggests another school, Tisdale, and gives Suzette a person to contact there.

Back at home, Hanna wordlessly asks Daddy to help her with her art project and Alex doesn't question at all the fact that Hanna has naked pictures of Suzette. He leaves for work and Hanna begins her horrifying project, pretending she's working on math problems so Mommy won't bother her for a little while. She creates a collage of corpse photographs surrounding her Mommy's sleeping form. When Suzette sees the artwork, she's freaked out of course, but she takes a picture of it to send to Alex. She asks him to come home, but he's drinking coffee and eating cakes with his coworkers and doesn't. Suzette locks herself in the bathroom, remembering not being taken care of by her own mother when she was sick as a teenager. Hanna meanwhile wraps her arm up with tights to make it look like Mommy hurt her. That's exactly what Daddy thinks when he sees it.

At dinner, Suzette tries to talk to Alex about Hanna and how she barked at the principal of Sunnybridge and that they won't accept her, but Alex is still angry about the marks on Hanna's arm. After dinner, Alex reads a bedtime story to Hanna about monsters under the bed. Hanna shows him that she is trying to create her own monsters, and he says he'll ask Mommy not to clean Hanna's room anymore so maybe her monsters will form. He says he knows she wants friends and that school is where they will be. Mommy comes in to kiss her goodnight and apologize for getting angry, but Hanna wipes away her kiss. Later, Hanna can hear her parents talking about her, but not every word. It seems that Daddy doesn't want her to go to Tisdale because he thinks it's remedial, but Suzette is able to convince him and then they have sex while Hanna watches from the stairs. Hanna wonders if Daddy would still love Mommy if she wasn't so pretty or if she was sick. She cuts Mommy's hair in the middle of the night.

Suzette gives herself her biweekly injection of medicine for her Crohn's disease while Hanna watches on. She doesn't want Hanna anywhere near her after imagining her so close with scissors and asks Hanna if she's proud of what she's done. Obviously. They head to Tisdale and Hanna actually seems to like it, even though she sees a boy wearing a helmet. She is accepted to the school and will start the next week. Hanna remembers when she was three and she began her silent battle of wills with Mommy. While eating, Mommy seemed weird and disinterested, so Hanna threw her food at Mommy, then spit in her face. Mommy grabbed all the mashed up, spat up food and shoved it back in Hanna's mouth, holding her hand over it to make her swallow. Suddenly, Mommy snapped out of her weirdness and apologized to Hanna, then told Alex that Hanna choked. Hanna knew then that Mommy didn't like her very much.

Suzette gets a nice new haircut and they go to the park after the visit to the school. When they get home, they each go to take a nap. After a short sexy dream, Suzette wakes, hearing some sexy sounds, wondering if a neighbor is enjoying the day, but that is odd. Plus the sounds are coming from inside the house. She goes to Hanna's room to find her naked under her blanket, writhing and thrusting and making sexual sounds. When she confronts her daughter, Marie-Anne responds that that's how she gets her power, when the devil puts his thing in her, and that she likes it. Suzette calls the psychologist and describes everything, and the doctor thinks that Hanna has been sexually assaulted, which puts it in Suzette's head that Alex has hurt their daughter, but no. That's impossible. The doctor sets an appointment for Monday after school and tasks Suzette with writing down every single thing that Hanna did in the instance that prompted the call.

Hanna isn't happy that Daddy likes Mommy's new haircut even though she knows Mommy knows she's very ugly. Hanna's next plan to hurt Mommy is a good one, and in the middle of the night, she goes down to the medicine cabinet looking for something to sabotage. She finds it in a prescription medicine for diarrhea that Mommy has to take two times every day. Hanna opens the capsules and pours the powdered medicine down the sink, carefully refilling them with flour.

Suzette announces that Hanna will be seeing a psychologist after school. Alex thinks that's too much and is angry about Hanna having to experience too many new things in one day, but Suzette insists. Later, they go shopping for school supplies, where Hanna is surprised to learn that she and Mommy like the same things. Hanna is allowed to get whatever supplies she wants. Then they go shopping for clothes. All Hanna likes is a bathing suit, but Mommy won't let her wear that to school. Daddy buys it for her anyway.

Suzette starts feeling sick with painful sores in her mouth that she knows are because of her Crohn's. While Alex and Hanna are at the zoo, Suzette enjoys a day to herself, reading and lounging, but the book makes her feel lonely. When going to bed, Suzette explains to Alex that she feels like she's no longer progressing, that their life is only centered on Hanna and she has no time for herself. Alex assures her she will soon with Hanna in school, so Suzette plans to make an art book. The next day, Suzette takes Hanna to school and the drop off seems to go well. Suzette goes back home and cleans, not interested in working on her book and too stressed and feeling too sick to do anything else. She discovers the mess under Hanna's bed and destroys a monster Hanna created when she realizes that one of its eyes has been gouged out and looks bloody.

The first day of school for Hanna is overwhelming. Stupid teachers and staff always asking her questions that any stupid baby could answer. Clearly, the staff is trying to get to know Hanna and learn her capabilities. There are too many colors and sounds and people and distractions and Hanna is happy when the day is over and she can go home where it's safe, but then she remembers that she can't go home because they have to go see Beatrix the psychologist. On the way there, Marie-Anne speaks to Suzette, telling her that if she has to go back to school, she will begin killing everyone there one by one. Suzette isn't fazed by this and even responds in a French accent, telling Hanna that school is a better place to be than prison, which is where she will go if she kills people.

The appointment with Beatrix goes well, but when Alex gets there and they discuss things he doesn't know about, like the devil fucking, he gets upset. Suzette tried to explain this to Beatrix prior to Alex's arrival, that Alex never sees anything bad that Hanna does and seems to think that Suzette is overreacting or that she's a bad mother. Beatrix thinks that Hanna's creation of Marie-Anne is her way to speak but also cope and maintain her persona of not speaking. When they get home, Hanna discovers her destroyed monster and wails like Suzette has never experienced. She apologizes, not realizing it was a creation from the bedtime story and calls herself Bad Mommy. Alex doesn't correct her and carries Hanna away.

Hanna and Daddy spend the night away from Mommy. Hanna is pleased that Daddy is mad at Mommy and wants to sleep with her instead, just like a real married couple. That's how it will always be when Hanna gets rid of Mommy. She begins planning ways of killing Mommy since it seems like tampering with her medicine isn't working fast enough. She plans to poison her, to electrocute her, to bash her head with a hammer, to sew her mouth shut... At school the next day, Hanna plans to get kicked out so she'll have more time with Mommy to hurt her. In the Quiet Room, Hanna sits with a boy who wears a helmet. When the teacher's aide leaves the room for a moment, Hanna removes the helmet and barks and snarls like a dog. The boy bashes his own head against the wall in terror.

Hanna is expelled from Tisdale. Alex is angry at the school, not at his daughter for hurting the boy. Suzette knew it was coming. Hanna tries to get in the car with Alex as they leave the school, but he angrily sends her with Suzette so he can go to the gym. On the way home, Suzette taunts Hanna, or Marie-Anne, telling her that Daddy doesn't like bad girls and hoped to have a normal child who grows up and accomplishes things. They have an appointment with Beatrix the next afternoon and Suzette hopes Alex will stay home from work with them before the appointment because she's obviously afraid of what Hanna might do, but he is being interviewed on the local news about his green initiatives in his architecture firm, leaving Suzette and Hanna alone.

Hanna plans to bash Mommy with a hammer, killing her to protect Daddy. She places thumbtacks on the floor by Mommy's bed, stages a crash in the kitchen, then waits by the door with the hammer. Everything works, but when the bashing time comes, Hanna doesn't do anything. Suzette doesn't either though. She doesn't call the police like she threatens, she doesn't take photos for evidence. She does eventually call Alex who comes home and sees the damage done. They call Beatrix who says they can have Hanna committed if they don't feel safe, but they don't do that, still full of guilt and thoughts that she'll be normal if they only do something differently. Alex begins feeling guilty that he has been oblivious to everything happening, but Suzette talks him down from that, too. Beatrix will move up their appointment the next Monday so they can talk. For now, Alex has to pretend that everything is normal.

Hanna is at first worried that Daddy loves Mommy more than he loves her and that her plans messed everything up, but then Daddy cries because of what happened. Hanna doesn't want Daddy to cry. He asks her if it was Marie-Anne who hurt Mommy and tells her that they need to get rid of her, cast her away during their holiday celebration in a couple of days. They will have a bonfire and send her away by tossing a drawing of her into the fire. Hanna agrees that she doesn't really need Marie-Anne anymore so she's fine with casting her away. She plans to cast Mommy away, too, and tears up a photo of her while chanting, “I inflict this curse on you. I will thee to die. You will suffer and cease to be.”

Alex tells Suzette about the holiday bonfire plans and at first Suzette is worried about Hanna being around a fire, but she plans to tell her daughter that she loves her and wants to help her through her troubles and will help her draw Marie-Anne. Alex leaves to get crutches for Suzette and supplies for their bonfire, but puts bells on Hanna's door to alert Suzette if she leaves her room. Later, Suzette helps Hanna draw a picture of Marie-Anne and it seems like everyone is getting along, but Hanna is thinking of Mommy's skin and fingerprints getting on the paper that will soon be tossed into the flames. Maybe Mommy will burn too.

They begin the celebration and Alex helps Hanna set up her stick to poke the drawing of Marie-Anne into the fire. Suzette accidentally spills her wine all over herself, so Alex goes inside to get a towel. Of course this is when Hanna makes her move. She knows that alcohol makes fires bigger, so she stabs Mommy in the face with her stick and flings burning embers on her. Daddy rushes back out, not to celebrate with Hanna but to throw her across the yard and put Mommy's fire out. Hanna, in a small voice, asks why but no one hears her. Her wrist hurts and Mommy says to get her an ice pack and they all go to Urgent Care.

At Urgent Care, the doctor thinks that Daddy hurt Hanna and Mommy since Hanna doesn't speak, but that's not what happened at all and Hanna is mad at the doctor but so is Daddy. Suzette's doctor also thinks that Alex is abusive, but when she tells the doctor that it is Hanna who is hurting her and that they're seeing a therapist, the doctor lets it go. Suzette tells Alex not to be upset with Hanna because there's something wrong with her and she doesn't understand what she's doing, can't tell right from wrong. They go home, Hanna helping to push Suzette's wheelchair. Hopefully she doesn't push her into traffic.

They all try to be normal the next day before the appointment with Beatrix. Suzette remembers not loving her own mother when she was a child, ignoring her affection, and wondering if this is the same. She fixes Hanna's hair and gives her a hug, telling her it won't always be like this, but she has to stop trying to hurt Mommy. They go to Beatrix's where she speaks to Hanna first. Beatrix learns through asking Hanna to draw pictures that Hanna believes Mommy is a witch who cast a spell on Daddy to make him not love Hanna and that they will leave her behind. When Beatrix asks what will make this better, she puts a big X on her drawing of Mommy and tears it in half. Beatrix clarifies that Hanna wants Mommy dead so she and Daddy can be together. Beatrix thanks Hanna and tells her she will help as much as she can. Hanna is so relieved that a smart grown-up like Beatrix understands that Mommy needs to die.

Beatrix tells them about a facility, Marshes, where they can take Hanna and she suggests, for Suzette's safety, they take her sooner rather than later. Alex of course acts like Hanna doesn't need to be at a place like that, locked up like a prisoner in a mental ward, but Beatrix insists it will be good for them. She also insists that they not tell Hanna where they are taking her and that they're leaving her there because she's afraid she might try to kill Suzette if they do.

The few days before they take Hanna to Marshes are good days. Hanna thinks that she tried too soon to kill Mommy and that she should have learned how long it takes for someone to burn to death when you set them on fire. Suzette suggests they make a stuffed toy to replace the one she destroyed and Hanna loves it. She has lots of fun playing with Daddy who stays home from work because Mommy leaves them alone most of the time. Then they take a ride in the car to the country.

When they arrive at Marshes, Hanna is escorted away to explore while Mommy and Daddy talk to grownups about boring grownup things. She is surprised when she is shown a stark bedroom with her comforter from home already on it. She runs out of the room, followed by a caretaker who has been showing her around that she calls Brown Teeth. Brown Teeth chases Hanna down the driveway as she wails, watching Daddy and Mommy drive away. Brown Teeth promises that she'll see them again one day.

Suzette and Alex spend time getting to know each other again for the first week or so after sending Hanna away. They continue sessions with Beatrix, learning better parenting skills. One day, Suzette decides to make Alex's mother's recipe for cinnamon buns and gets out all the ingredients. When she scoops out cups of flour, she finds half a capsule from her prescription medicine that she believed stopped working. They realize that Hanna sabotaged her medicine, which happened quite some time before the tacks and the fire. They know they have done the right thing. They will see their daughter again someday and everyone will be happy again.

At Marshes, Hanna spends a lot of time trying to escape and trying to keep her stuffed friend safe, but one day she panics, thinking that the snarling, mean kids found her toy and destroyed it. She cries and runs to her room, Brown Teeth following. Hanna finds the toy exactly where she left it and it tells her that everything is fine and everything will be okay. She realizes that she misses home, misses everything Daddy always did for her and even, somehow, misses Mommy, or at least the way Mommy always made her snacks the way she liked them. Her toy tells her that she could be good if she tries, and she agrees.

After having sex on the table and eating ice cream directly from the carton, Alex gets a phone call. It's Hanna. He puts the phone on speaker and he and Suzette listen to their daughter apologize for being bad, promise to be good, and say that she loves them and misses them and that she wants to come home. It's everything they ever wanted, their daughter is speaking! After she pleads for a while, Alex says they'll see her soon and walks away from the phone, leaving Suzette to deal with the difficult stuff, like always. They don't want Hanna to come home. She's only been away for a month. Marshes is still working with her to determine if she's a danger to others. Suzette never wants her to come back, always afraid she will kill her. When Hanna asks “don't you love me?” Suzette replies “not enough” and goes to fuck her husband again.

Brown Teeth takes Hanna back to her room and leaves her for the night where Hanna and her toy have a conversation. Hanna has to break the spell Mommy has over Daddy. She thought her voice would be enough to break it, but now she has to take her time and plan. She needs to become the Best Girl so she can go home and save Daddy from Mommy once and for all.