Denzel: Do you remember when my first tooth fell out? For days it was hanging by a just a thread and when I breathed through my mouth it would move in time with the breaths I would suck in. In out, in and out… Marlene hated it. I would only do it when she was around. 'Denzel, stop!' She yelled at me one morning, slamming her tiny fists down on the table where we sat, her spoon rattling slightly beside her. I grinned at her and blew the air from my lungs as quick as I could. Her chair slid against the floor boards as she gasped. She stood then, peeking over the rim of her cereal bowl where my tooth lay; slowly sinking between the cracks of parting cornflakes. 'Den-zel.' She whined and glared at me.

I smiled back, minus one tooth.

I never did believe in the Tooth Fairy, no matter what you said. But I gave the myth a chance when I lost my first tooth. I thought it might prove me wrong if I gave it the opportunity.

When I saw her sneak in my room at midnight, just a silhouette creeping silently to my side; I knew it was false hope. She slipped my tooth in her pocket and the money under my pillow. Then she kissed my forehead and crept out.

I wonder if Marlene knows.

Marlene: Denzel says I shouldn't trust everything I'm told. He said, 'sometimes, it's better if we know the truth, rather than finding out when we already believe the lie'.

I asked him why, and he said it was because it means we have hope in something that doesn't exist and we will only end up getting hurt.

'Why would someone tell us something that isn't true?' I asked, frowning up at him.

He threw the stick down on the pavement, watching as it clattered into the gutter on the opposite side of the street. 'Because they wish it were, and they want us to hold onto that fantasy because they couldn't; and now it hurts'.

I've always believed in things like the Tooth Fairy; especially when Denzel lost his first tooth.

I kick at the covers and slide off my bed, landing softly on the carpet across from Denzel. 'Denzel! Did she come, was she here? Wake up!' I jump onto his bed, crawling over him so I can reach under his pillow. 'Marlene?' He whimpers. I feel around for a moment, searching desperately for a sign. 'Aha!' I cry in victory as my fingers curl around a single gold coin. 'Look! It's true!' I grin down at him as he pulls the pillow over his head and rolls over. I shake his shoulder and shove the coin under his pillow-shield so he can see. 'Denzel, loo-' I begin.

He shoves me off his bed and I land with a thump on the floor. 'Uuf! Denzel?'

'That doesn't prove anything, Marlene.' He grumbles and pulls the covers over his head. The coin skims across the carpet; sliding to a stop when it hits the skirting boards with a dull, clunk.

'Go back to sleep.'