It was a very strange film.
At the very beginning, the footage showed a continuous journey through a circular corridor. The base color of the corridor was red, and the walls were covered with rows of white circular tiles that jutted outward. The camera moved forward in a first-person perspective; no person walking could be seen—only the chaotic, low murmurs in the background, and the sticky, dragging sound of footsteps.
Don’t look… don’t look…
Everly kept telling herself not to watch, but the images on the screen were so simple, yet so aggressively intrusive, like a dense fishing net that trapped her gaze, hooking it fast, impossible to break free.
She couldn’t stop herself from watching.
The corridor spiraled upward. Although the floor tiles were white, time had worn them, giving them a faint yellow tint, and each tile looked slightly different upon close inspection. As the camera advanced, similar—but never completely identical—scenes appeared repeatedly, paired with the strange background sound and the white noise caused by low resolution, creating an intense feeling of irritation and discomfort for the viewer.
This repeated for an unknown length of time. The long period of forced staring left Everly’s eyes dry. She wanted to blink, but metal plates held her upper and lower eyelids rigidly in place. No matter how hard she tried, the only thing she could do was move her eyeballs up and down—the more they moved, the drier they became; the drier they became, the more she moved them…
As the pressure in her eyes climbed, and her negative emotions finally accumulated to a critical point, a crackling signal interference sounded, and the screen flashed white for a second.
The white “snow” screen vanished as quickly as it appeared, and when the image returned, Everly saw a white light at the end of the corridor.
The exit was finally approaching!
Don’t… don’t look… don’t look!
…but what lay beyond the exit?
With a surge of intense curiosity and delight, Everly forgot her initial resistance. Her neck instinctively leaned forward as she gazed greedily and entranced at the screen before her.
One step, two steps, three steps… the person carrying the camera finally crossed the stretch of white tiles and stood before the exit. At this point, the circular corridor surrounding the white tiles abruptly widened into a large, round hall. The floor of the hall was covered with thick red mats, somewhat like carpets, but softer, wetter, and stickier than any carpet, squelching underfoot as if soaked in some kind of liquid. The mats were also coated with a thick layer of white fibrous material—equally wet and sticky—and looked disgusting.
Beyond the mats, the inner walls of the hall were a dark red, a material somewhere between soil and rock, soft and damp. The surface was densely paved with circular bricks: smooth on the outside and concave in the center. Judging by shape and color, these bricks were similar to the white ones in the corridor, but noticeably larger. Spread in such large quantities, they somehow appeared even more disgusting.
The person filming let out a heavy breath and muttered a word Everly couldn’t understand. Holding the camera, he moved forward step by step, deliberately slow, forcing Everly into a reluctant impatience, and reached the exit.
Beyond the exit was a blinding white, revealing nothing.
At the edge of the exit stood two rows of towering yellow-white monoliths. The ones closer to the center were trapezoidal, wide at the base and narrow at the top, with vertical grooves along the inner side walls. For some reason, their shapes looked vaguely familiar. The stones closer to the left and right ends were squat and stout, wide and round, with inward-facing concave pits in their centers—looking as if the white tiles from the inner corridor had been magnified countless times.
So familiar… really familiar… the shapes of these stones… they felt so familiar…
Everly remained unblinking, continuing to stare intently at the screen. The person holding the camera had now reached the tall, central trapezoidal monolith and slowly, with difficulty, climbed over it.
Then, in the next moment, inexplicably, he began to fall.
A crackling sound “zzzz” came through the video. The screen flickered again. When the image returned, the corridor and the cameraman had vanished. The murmuring in the background abruptly intensified, and before Everly appeared a yellow-white tooth. Its shape was incomplete, with blood and bits of flesh still clinging to the root, falling from a mouth that belonged to no one she could see.
Slowly at first, then faster, it fell downward.
Falling, falling, falling…
As the speed increased, the background behind the tooth stretched into streaks of color. The slender ribbons of color twisted, coiled, and rotated like water waves. At moments, they took on the grotesque appearance of grinning human faces. Face pressed against face, swallowing and merging into one another, finally forming a single massive, chaotic mouth that filled the entire screen, engulfing the tooth.
When the colors grew so vivid that they hurt the eyes, completely covering the screen, the murmuring abruptly stopped. The entire room sank into a strange silence. Everly sat frozen in her chair, staring at the screen, her consciousness seeming to be sucked into a whirlpool, completely cut off from the outside world.
After a brief moment of waiting, a crisp “plop!” sounded. The image shuddered, and the riot of colors suddenly cleared from the screen. Everly’s eyes met a blank space.
In that blankness, the previously slightly yellow, blood-stained tooth became the center of attention once more. It hit the ground, spreading and splashing like a drop of water, breaking apart midair into countless smaller white molars, scattering across the floor with a clattering sound.
From this point onward, the video entered a realm completely beyond human comprehension.
One moment, a tooth was buried in the soil; the next, a pale, bone-colored sprout burst through the earth, and in the blink of an eye, it grew into a towering tree. On the branches of the giant tree hung a bright red apple. A hand reached out from the darkness, snatched the apple, and crunch—bit into it.
At that moment, the camera zoomed in on the interior of the mouth. In a fleeting shot, the inside of the massive mouth—from the oral walls and palate to the throat and esophagus—was lined with countless yellow-white molars! As the mouth chewed, the teeth writhed and rubbed against each other like centipedes, producing a continuous clack clack sound.
The next second, the focus returned to the bitten apple. Its vivid red surface began to decay and shrink at a visibly rapid pace, forming a wrinkled skin over it, then dried and crumbled even faster. As the outer layer of sand and debris fell away, a human head appeared inside the apple. Black hair, yellowish skin, and a face painted in bright, garish colors. The eyes were wide open, with no whites—just pitch-black voids—making it impossible to tell the person’s gender.
The mouth of the human head stretched unnaturally wide, exposing a full set of white teeth, the face wearing a terrifying smile identical to that of the nurse.
The camera lingered on the smile, then suddenly zoomed into the eyes, piercing the inky darkness of the pupils and entering an even more mysterious, arcane space. Accompanied by the chaotic murmurs, screams, and wails that had returned, a series of bizarre, surreal images flashed before Everly’s eyes.
In ancient times, a group of wild, hair-covered humans stood before a slain prey, lined up, mouths agape to reveal broken yellow-black teeth, silently grinning at the camera. On a sacrificial altar, a beautiful young girl stood naked, her skin covered in incomprehensible totems, her teeth fully exposed as she gave a grotesque smile, allowing the crowd to gut her and tear her apart alive. In an underground cavern, miners wearing headlamps dug through a mound of earth; trembling hands scooped up a handful of dazzling gold. When one miner turned, black had already filled his eyes, and the muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched rigidly, forming the exact same smile…
From this point, the images on the screen began to flash faster and faster—faster and faster—mountaintops, villas, laboratories… countless scenes finally merged into a blinding white, stabbing into Everly’s retinas like knives. Tears fell uncontrollably, yet the girl remained seated like a puppet. Until, at last, in her passively widened blue eyes, a series of numbers repeated over and over, reflected in her gaze.
…
…
Click. The door lock turned, and the silhouette of a female nurse in high heels appeared in the doorway.
“Everly Manis, the doctor is ready. Please come with me.”
She walked to the high-backed chair, swiftly removed the eyelid opener, released the metal restraints, and helped the stunned, doll-like girl out of the chair.
“This is your examination report. Take it and follow me.”
An X-ray film was thrust into the girl’s hand. The nurse gave her shoulder a firm push, guiding her out of the room.
Click. The door closed with a soft yet heavy sound. In the corridor, the white lights flickered, then abruptly shifted to a vivid red. As time passed, the light gradually dimmed, dimmed… Bathed in this unsettling glow, Everly’s steps were slow, almost dragging, step by step, step by step… When she reached the end of the corridor, all the lights had gone out, and Everly stood in complete darkness, her hand on the door handle ahead.
Click. The sound of the door closing echoed.
Everly shivered all over. Looking around, she realized she was holding the printed X-ray film, standing in an unfamiliar corridor. In front of her stood Old John and a blonde nurse dressed in white.
She…
Memory snapped into place like pieces of a puzzle. Everly suddenly remembered: she had come to the clinic for a dental checkup, had just taken X-rays, and was now about to see the doctor.
She lowered her head and glanced at the film in her hand. On the black X-ray, the silver-white translucent pattern of a human lower jaw appeared. The teeth were densely packed in the upper and lower jaws in a “皿”-shaped arrangement, with even the slender, root-like tooth roots clearly visible. The sheer density of them made it look a little disgusting.
“Let’s go. Don’t keep the doctor waiting,” the nurse said, smiling at Old John, gently pressing Everly’s shoulder.
Everly looked up at the nurse’s gentle smile. For some reason, a deep sense of unease rose in her chest.
She obediently followed behind, walking with Old John to an examination room and sitting down. The doctor, Antonio, was a thin man in his forties, wearing glasses, with a cold, indifferent expression. He took the X-ray from Everly, examined the spot where her canine was missing for a moment, then had Everly open her mouth for observation. After a short while, he told Old John, “Nothing serious. The child’s teeth are healthy. Just be patient a little longer, it will come in.”
No medication was needed. Just wait.
They went to the front desk to pay the consultation fee, which was cheaper than expected. Including the X-ray, it cost only 150 US dollars.
As they were leaving, Everly glanced back. The nurse was standing at the door, watching them go. Her bright red lips parted in a smile, revealing a perfect set of white teeth. Though clearly smiling, her expression somehow made Everly feel unsettled.