teeth

she noticed him little by little. he faded in and out at first, a static image that she'd tried not to notice in the corner of her eye. the only thing clear was his mouth, grinning constantly and his lips always in motion. there was no sound at first besides a hissing, a whisper where you couldn't catch the words.

so she ignored it and ignored it and ignored it, mostly because she didn't know how to stop it. and the vision got clearer, so in the corner of her eye she could now see that he had an angel's face that was all sparkling eyes and a toothy grin.

he spoke more slowly now, so she could catch words here and there. "no." "help." "angel." but always with the smile. she frowned and tried to figure out why he was in her mirror, in her mind.

she was telling a joke to her friends when she heard him completely. "stop talking," he told her. she blinked at him, unsure. and he smiled. "no one's listening."

he was behind her in the mirror as she checked her makeup in the morning. "no one's going to be looking at you anyway."

who are you? she turned around but there was no one there. but he was still there in the mirror when she checked.

"I'm your voice of reason. I'm the truth. I'm a guardian angel, just trying to let you know about the elephant in the room." his smile all teeth and angles. "literally and figuratively."

she was shocked, her mouth hanging wide open. he smiled smiled smiled as he and his truths dove in and settled in her heart.