Welcome to the Maiden Zone

On the edge of the world, in a thatched wooden hut, the Teeth Mother sits still in her chair. Her emotionless face is obscured by the shadow of a wide-brimmed hat. Every day, as the sun begins to settle below the nearby horizon, the empty children scamper out from their treehouses and furnished caves, down to the beach where the Teeth Mother rests. They align themselves in a circle surrounding the Teeth Mother, and one by one each steps forward. They get close to the cavernous void in the Teeth Mother's chest. Some kneel, others crouch. All are careful to keep their distance from the jagged fangs that line her wound, wriggling like agitated centipede legs. They speak delicately. Their whispers are laced with reverence and the touch of fear. They each whisper one bad thing that happened to them today. "I scraped my knee this morning." "I can't find my socks." "I fell off the ladder." The swirling darkness within the Teeth Mother groans approvingly and recedes like the ocean. After each child has had their turn, a newcomer steps forward, encouraged softly by those around her. She is carrying a leather-bound diary of bad memories. The sight of the Teeth Mother makes her recoil, but the circle has closed behind her, and smiling faces have replaced her spot in the crowd. The room bursts into chanting, each child's voice now ringing firm. "Teeth Mother, Teeth Mother, We now bring another, A poor little doll, all empty inside, Wanting to join the ones left behind, Another to feed you their grief and distraught, Help us to find the joy in the lost." The newcomer relinquishes her diary to the Teeth Mother's void, which it accepts with a frenzied snap. The ritual is complete, and a new empty child leaves the hut, smiling amongst friends.