Petrifying Dental Surgery

Our story starts with several middle schoolers, of a witches and wizards girls’ school, waiting in the dentist waiting room, accompanied by a teacher. A week ago the whole class had to have a dentist check, and 4 of them turned out to have bad teeth. One of them was an anxious cute brunette Nadoka. She was scared of dentists… though they all were. But she was even more scared, so she decided to go last, even though that should have only prolonged her misery.

Of course, she was scared of dentists because she had had a tooth that needed fixing just a year ago. She would still remember the sound, the smell, the taste, the moments of pain… She didn’t want to go through that again.

Worse yet, this clinic had very special ways of calming people. If you would twitch or make a sound, the dental chair would quickly turn you to a stone statue. It’s simple sealing, and just as we described in earlier magical stories – it’s irreversible. Soul, thanks to its special physics, binds to the smallest particles of the statue material. So no one can unbind it anymore, not even by breaking or changing the material.

And when her first classmate went in, she would once again be reminded of the sound cruelly awaiting for her. But there was no screaming, or any type of speaking at all. When she was done, she came out being… normal. Same happened with the second classmate. They both told Nadoka it’s only a little painful, and that there’s nothing to be afraid of. Though it was easy for them to say – they were already finished.

“You see, Nadoka-chan?” Said her friend Nakano quietly to her. “It doesn’t hurt. It will be OK!”

Then Nakano had to go inside. She didn’t make any sound either, and came out as normal as ever.

They it was Nadoka’s turn. She didn’t hesistate because otherwise the teacher would get mad. Her friend Nakano said to her:
“Be strong, Nadoka-chan!”
“What?” Nadoka asked just as the nurse was closing the door after.

“Hi, little Nadoka-san!” said the female dental surgeon. “Sit down here and make yourself comfortable.”

Nadoka looked at the dental chair, but couldn’t help but notice strange markings on it. Yup, those were supposed to turn her to stone in case she made a sound or a move.

“Uhh… Sensei…” She asked the dentist. “So I just sit there or…?”
“It’s safe to sit there right now. I will say when you should keep it still.”

Nadoka laid on the dental chair with a bit of hesitation. But after, the dentist and the nurse took care of her mouth properly. Nadoka’s mouth were wide open, and her tooth was ready to be operated. Nurse pushed some button on the chair and gestured Nadoka to be silent. That meant the petrifying device had been on, and Nadoka was not to make a move or a sound. Except for breathing.

And then the dentist took her tools. It looked horrifying. A thin shiny drill drawing towards her mouth… And then it started making its sound. High pitched drilling noise, as if it was saying ‘ima drill deep inside your tooth.’

The surgery started. Nadoka felt it inside her tooth, and she was terrified. But as calm as a lake. There was practically a gun pointed to her head. Except that a gun at least kills you, and simple sealing does not. The dentist then changed the dental burr and drilled some more. It hurt a bit, but the terror from being forever imprisoned in stone was pretty useful in keeping Nadoka still and silent.

Then, as the dentist was once again changing her burr, she was talking.

“I have drilled to your nerve, Nadoka-chan, but we have a little problem.” She sighed. “You are our last patient this week, and we had nobody petrified this week. That ain’t good. We must have at least one person petrified per week, or people would start doubting our intentions to punish them.”

Nadoka was in shock. ‘No way… They are going to petrify me anyway??’

“But here is the deal.” The doctor continued as she put a long spiral bur in the drill. “Have you seen a spiral burr before? Maybe, you have, but this one is different than all of them. We call it ‘Tiny Goliath’. In only 5 seconds, it removes all the nerves it is supposed to remove. Those who can afford anesthesia treatment have it used on them, but we, little girl… We are supposed to petrify you.”

‘What?!’ She thought in terror. There was a long spiral burr, shinier, bigger and scarier than the one she’s seen before. It was supposed to drill through her flesh, promising an agonizing moment in her life. ‘No!! Keep that away from me!!’

“On the bright side, Nadoka-chan, if you make it until your nerve is gone, it’s over. You will not be petrified.”

‘What should I do??’ Thought little Nadoka. ‘Should I move?! I don’t want to be petrified with that inside of me. But wait… What if it doesn’t hurt so much? What if I make it??’ Nadoka had a gamble in front of her. Either she would move or say something and be immediately petrified while sitting on the chair, or she would risk being petrified with that thing tearing her nerve, and experience that pain forever.

The Tiny Goliath had been spinning with the high-pitched dental drill noise, entering her mouth. ‘NO! Please, wait! Give me time to prepare!’ Unfortunately, she had no liberty to say it.

And then Tiny Goliath reached her nerve. It was the worst pain Nadoka had ever felt on her tooth. Nadoka reflexively twitched, screamed and squeezed her eyelids. ‘AHH!!! TAKE IT OUT!!!’ She thought. ‘HURRY!!! HURRY!!!’ But eventually she figured out 5 seconds had already long passed. ‘TAKE IT OUT!!! TAKE IT OUT!!! I WILL NOT TWITCH ANYMORE, JUST PLEASE, TAKE IT OUT!!! IT HURTS!!!’ But then she realized she can no longer hear the drill, or even open her eyes, move or do anything. ‘What’s going on?? TAKE IT OUT ALREADY!!!’

But the ‘Tiny Goliath’ had already been long gone from her mouth, and back into its socket. From the dentist’s and the nurse’s perspective, there was a statue. Of a middle school girl. A statue of her having her tooth operated, and being in pain.

“Nobody can withstand the Tiny Goliath.”

They rolled the dental chair out of the surgery room, and to the class. Classmates were terrified to see Nadoka in that painful, embarrassing state. Nadoka was just stone now. A gray, cold, motionless statue, amazingly detailed. Like a masterpiece.

“So that’s what we look like when you open our mouth and stuff it with those tissues… Yuck.” One said.

“Nadoka-chan…” Her friend Nakano dropped to her knees. “No… No… Why? How did this happen.” She was very shocked sad because of what happened to her friend. “They are… So gentle… This is impossible!”

‘Why isn’t anything happening?!!’ Nadoka had soon figured that the burr is probably out already. At least from her perspective. ‘IT CAN’T BE OVER!!! NO, IT CAN’T BE OVER!!! TAKE IT OUT, I WANT ANOTHER CHANCE!!!’

Unfortunatley, when a person is turned to stone the easy way, not only is the soul permanently sealed to the matter itself, but most of its sensory functions are locked in a way they were when it all happened. The last thing Nadoka felt was a dentist drill pulling her nerve, and it hurt like hell. She also felt her weight under her back as she was sitting on that dental chair, but that’s irrelevant comparing to the PAIN. So that’s what she would feel endlessly, as the sealing is permanent.

Nadoka’s statue was then sent to reception so it could be picked up by her parents. When they finally picked her up, they grieved, but it wasn’t such an abnormal thing in witches’ and wizards’ world. Especially since they had to seal people themselves during their own education. They were sad and couldn’t look at the statue of their doomed daughter, so they broke it in pieces and buried them.

But none of that matters to poor Nadoka. ‘TAKE IT OUT!!! PLEASE!!! THIS CAN’S BE HAPPENING!!!’ It is all that she can think while she is in torment. ‘I shouldn’t have gone in last!!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!! PLEASE DON’T LET IT BE THAT I’M SEALED!!! IT WILL NEVER END, AND IT HURTS SO MUCH!!! WILL IT HURT FOREVER??? PLEASE DON’T LET IT HURT FOREVER!!!’

They say that the worst pain is the one that lasts long. That’s why it’s horrible to be dying of cancer. But what if a pain would last forever? Because that’s Nadoka’s fate. No matter what would happen, no matter how many millennia and stages of universe would start and end, the pain and helplessness of Nadoka will be literally never ending – eternal.