The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

Author:Andrew Joseph White [White, Andrew Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

We—the girls and I, minus Agnes, who we were forced to leave behind—are sent away to the dormitory to “contemplate and reflect amongst ourselves.” Isabella stokes the fire against the cold creeping through the windows while Charlotte deposits herself in one of the armchairs, fretting with her nails. Louise picks at the dried flowers on the table, and I just stand there, watching the flames. Mary ignores us.

None of us can look at each other. We’re too busy wondering what’s happening below us. If Headmaster will punish Mrs. Forrester for her transgression. If Mrs. Forrester regrets the moment of humanity she showed. If Dr. Bernthal is comforting Agnes, or leaving her to worry alone as he wraps Harriet Johnston’s eviscerated face back up in its bandages.

Harriet’s face…

She didn’t get better. Mrs. Forrester did.

“So,” I say, not quite sure where to begin. Contemplate and reflect, the rabbit cackles. It’s a bizarre thing to ask of us. “Um.”

Mary’s eyes snap to me from her spot on her bed. “What?”

I falter. “Headmaster said—”

“When people say things like that,” Isabella cuts in, “they don’t actually expect you to do it.” When I look at her blankly, she tries again: “We’re not going to be quizzed about it. They just wanted us to go away and be quiet.”

“Oh,” I say.

Louise whispers, “Her face.“

Charlotte puts one of her fingernails in her mouth again. It’s bizarre to watch her perfectly-poised façade drop. “The doctors had no choice. It’s not as if she was mutilated for no reason.”

The unsaid Right? hangs in the air. It’s not as if she was mutilated for no reason…right? The rabbit shuffles painfully in my chest. Tap tap tap goes my heel.

“It’s still horrible,” Isabella says. “Needed or not, it’s sickening.”

Louise says, “Why would they show us such a thing?”

“Oh,” Mary says, “I know why.” She leans against the headboard of her bed and gestures grandly to me. “Ask Miss Bell. I saw her sneaking off with the groundskeeper last night.”

Every eye flits to me.

She saw.

I take a step back. My mouth goes dry.

“I was just—” I start, but there’s nothing for me to say. Mary gets down from her bed, stockinged feet silent on the wood floor.

“You were just what?” she says. “Did you think you’d fuck him?”

“Language!” Charlotte admonishes.

I flinch, resisting the urge to cover my ears. “No. No, it wasn’t like that.”

Mary’s face cracks into an awful smile. “You’ve been spending so much time with Isabella…” Behind her, Isabella fumes, cheeks burned red with anger. Mary pretends to think better of herself, clears her throat sarcastically. “So sorry. Of course, language. Let me try again: did you think you’d have an affair with him? I suppose it makes sense; he’s just as odd as you. I’d love to see what kind of children two feeble-mindeds make. Probably floppy little things that can’t so much as breathe on their own. The Luckenbill boy will be so, so disappointed to learn about this, won’t he?”

The other girls do nothing. They’ve learned their lesson—they don’t get in between Mary and her prey.

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