Lynsey May’s debut novel, Weak Teeth, is a brilliant, relatable story telling the tale of Ellis and the life she has known crumble around her in one long, hot summer. In this extract, Ellis bluffs her way through a meeting with HR just after her break-up and a bad trip to the dentist.

Weak Teeth
By Lynsey May
Published by Polygon

A tooth is a sacrifice, a charm. It is a tool for survival. It is a perfectly natural part of the human organism. It is a tusk. A hunk of bone-like substance that protrudes from the flesh. Horrifying, if you think about it too deeply. And right now, Ellis can’t stop thinking. 

A spa packages spreadsheet is up on her screen alongside an article about how dehydration can amplify tooth pain. Hearing footsteps to her left, Ellis hits minimise so the spreadsheet is front and centre. Alison walks by without stopping. 

There are messages from Lana on her phone, asking if she’s found out any more about Trevor. As if there’s anything she can do. It’s just like Lana to try and drag her into a fight when all she wants is to curl up and lick her wounds. 

It’s time for her meeting with Gabrielle. Only HR and a couple of senior managers have rooms of their own. Gabrielle’s is the smallest. It has a window into the main office, but the white blind is always down. Ellis knocks, nervously, and waits to be called in. 

Gabrielle’s office has been prettied up with copious pictures of her children. A desk lamp, either brought in from home or specially requested, casts a buttery light on a handful of thank-you cards. Ellis wonders if she’s written them herself. 

‘Ah, Ellis. How are you feeling?’ 

‘Much better, thanks.’ 

‘Good, good. Grab a seat, and let’s get this tidied up.’ 

Ellis does as she’s told. 

‘Fabian put you down as having a cold. Is that right?’ Gabrielle’s pen is black, matt and weighty. She wields it with pleasure. 

‘Well…’ Ellis told Alison it was nothing infectious. 

‘But I have it that you were at a dentist’s appointment that morning?’ 

‘Yes, I got a filling and then I wasn’t feeling so good.’ Sweat prickles along the edge of her lip. 

‘So it was something to do with that? Should I change the entry?’ 

‘It’s not that. I… it’s just that it’s personal. He’s not my supervisor and—’ 

‘Is there something else you want to share with me?’ Gabrielle says. 

Maybe she should tell the truth. At least they’d know why she looks like death warmed up. Gabrielle is so poised, so perfect, and is looking at her so expectantly. The thought makes her stomach lurch. 

‘Is there anything we can be supporting you with? Is it work-related? I can see we haven’t had your three-month review yet, but if there are any problems at all, please do feel free to share. We want you to be happy here.’ 

‘I’m sorry if I’ve seemed a little distracted.’ 

‘Something going on at home?’ Her voice is treacle, her gaze as warm as a TV mom’s and twice as fake. She is hungry for Ellis’s failures. 

Panic pulls Ellis’s thoughts into a vortex. They’re keeping an eye on her. They’re not sure she fits in. She should tell them about Adrian, but if she does, she’ll start greeting. She knows it. God. Lana would never let herself get in this mess. She’d have been honest right from the off. No, she’d not have been cheated on in the first place. Not Lana. 

‘It’s my sister. Her husband… he slept with someone else. They’ve split up. It’s all a big mess.’ 

‘Oh, how awful.’ 

‘And she has twins. They’re only toddlers. She’s gutted – we all are. We thought she might…’ Ellis’s eyes obediently grow damp, and Gabrielle reaches out a hand to place over one of Ellis’s. She has long, pointed nails. Ellis imagines one sliding into a vein. 

‘How’s she doing now? Will she be okay?’ 

‘We hope so. Sorry, I feel like I shouldn’t have said anything.’ 

‘No, no. Don’t you worry about last week’s absence. I’ll put family emergency down on the form. Any time you need to talk about it, you know where I am.’ 

Ellis nods gratefully. Gabrielle gives her hand one last squeeze on the way out. Everything Ellis said will be typed up and saved. 

She checks her phone. Another message from Lana. Paranoia floods in. The phone was locked and silent. There’s no way she could have pocket-dialled. Lana can’t have heard her lie. Ellis thumbs the message open. It’s a photo of a muscular grey-blue body and a set of great, chomping teeth. A pacu fish. 

No deep sea creature, no animal, frightens Ellis more than the pacu. From behind it looks just like the sort of innocent fish that might brush a leg as it paddle-dabbles around a loch. With its mouth closed, it’s just a blunt-faced nothing. But when its jaws open, the pacu becomes something else. An unholy chimera, a fish with a set of human teeth. 

The first time Lana sent her a photo of one, Ellis assumed it was Photoshopped. It was too uncanny to be real. But her sister sent another and then another until Ellis was forced to investigate. The trawl through a page of search results revealed more horrors: pacus had a second layer of teeth behind the first. 

Lana hasn’t sent a pacu picture in years. Ellis thought she’d forgotten about them, she should know better. She has to reply. If she doesn’t, Lana will only send more. Ellis has already memorised the picture against her will and is imagining fingers, ankles even, clamped in the jaw of this awful beast. A body pulled under the surface. She shivers. Another message pops up. 

Didn’t know Adrian had taken up swimming. 

Ellis’s cheek twitches. Lana’s on her side: that’s worth the toll of seeing this fish. Guilt swims alongside its blue body; Ellis evades. Lana would swallow Gabrielle and her false concern up in two fierce bites.

Weak Teeth by Lynsey May is published by Polygon, priced £12.99.