Just A Tooth

Another challenge piece, the criteria being; Has to be about 1000 words, must start with 'The rising of the sun...' and end with 'Everything had changed'. Enjoy!

The rising of the sun indicated a perfectly normal day for the Nord family. After all, the sun rises every day, though perhaps it shouldn't rise on a day that was going to turn out very strange - it would be nice to have a bit of a warning, but alas, the sun rose. George Nord got up, like he did every time the sun rose, and followed his nose - the smell of bacon was what had raised him from a sleep so deep even the dead would have been envious. He was promptly sent back upstairs by his mother, as he had not yet washed or brushed his teeth. It was during the brushing of his teeth that it happened. There was a clink as a tiny tooth fell into the sink. For a second all movement stopped as he stared down at the tooth. He'd finally lost it. His last baby tooth. From that precise moment things got exceedingly weird.

His father burst into the room as if attracted by some magical force, and George once again paused in the midst of brushing his teeth to stare at his dad in a rather incredulous manner. "Yes!" He sounded completely exalted. "You finally lost it!" Or perhaps completely insane... George was pretty sure that he wasn't the one who'd lost it. "We were despairing that you ever were!" His eyes were fixed fervently on the gap in his son's teeth. Phillip Nord walked over to the sink and stared at the tiny baby tooth before picking it up and cradling it gently in his palm. Sure, George was glad to be rid of the damned thing - his teeth had been late bloomers, and it looked very unattractive to be fourteen and having a tiny baby tooth marring your smile.

"Margaret!" George's father screamed at the top of his voice. "He finally lost the tooth!" There were two excited squeals from below, presumably from his mother and older sister, Ruby. George was too busy staring in a rather alarmed manner, his jaw slack. He was drooling a bit of the white paste and his father's elated expression turned into a slight frown. "Well, don't just stand there gawping, boy. Spit and join us downstairs. A growing lad like you needs a good breakfast, and your mother and I have something to tell you." And with that, Phillip walked from the bathroom, leaving a rather bewildered George. Was it just him, or had the whole world gone insane?

Poor George got dressed for school, and with some apprehension twisting a knot into his gut, made his way down the stairs. The rest of the family was sitting around the table, and all eyes fixed intently on him as he walked into the room and took a seat, the knot clenching tighter. They all had identical happy grins on their faces, even his sister, which was very unusual. His sister was what one called the 'emo' type - she was seventeen and she hated him. She certainly never grinned like that. "Shall we tell him now or wait for breakfast?" His father asked his mother.

Margaret mused for a moment. "Well, he really should get some food down him... but from the look of him, he might throw it back up again..." That was true - George did look rather nervous, but then, wouldn't you if your whole family had gone insane, and over a tooth? His father nodded and took a deep breath. "Steel yourself, George," His mother warned. George felt his mouth go dry. Was there some sort of terrible news? Had someone died?

"We're faeries!" Phillip Nord said cheerfully. George blinked, started, and then blinked again. Surely he'd misheard?
"Huh?" He asked and bit his lip.
"Faeries!" This time it was his sister, Ruby, and she looked insanely cheerful. "We're faeries! I didn't believe it either, at first, but we really are!" She informed him. George stared at them all, looking desperately at his mother - surely they can't all have gone insane? But Margaret nodded at him, with a grin that was identical to that of his father and sister.

Simply because of that, he tried to push the whole 'faeries don't exist' thing away and look at it logically. It did make sense, in a way, and certainly explained a lot of things - like his strange attraction to frilly pink dresses. And the time that he'd caught his father in a tutu. Yes, it explained a lot of things. "So... um... we're tooth faeries?" He asked, thinking that this would be logical given that they were telling him this on the day that he'd lost his last tooth...

"Good God, no!" His father said and laughed as if he'd said the most insane thing possible. "Tooth faeries? Don't be silly! They don't exist!" He said and shook his head as if George should have known this, leaving the poor boy speechless. Ruby had a hand over her mouth to cover her own snorts of amusement. "No, we're just your regular, run of the mill faeries. We grant a few wishes here and there - nothing huge. But every faerie learns what they are when they loose their last baby tooth," Phillip said and nodded wisely at his son. George frowned, but nodded, and then dug into his eggs and bacon. Just a tooth, and everything had changed.