The Weight of Relief

Ever since he was little, my kid made other children cry on purpose.

Corners, hallways, playgrounds—he hunted reactions like trophies. When his sister

started losing her baby teeth, every morning the money was there… but the teeth were

gone. We thought the “tooth fairy” was just sloppy. Until I opened the

shed he claimed as his “clubhouse.” A perfect row of Mia’s missing teeth lined up on his

workbench. He screamed for days when we confronted him. By high school,

classmates were showing up at our door trembling, saying he was following them home.

One girl said she thought he was going to kill her. The day we told him to stop,