Chapter Text
The prank had gone just as they wanted. It had been great, orgasmic even, to watch the blood spill on top of Carrie, even if they only had a couple of seconds to watch. Chris was still recovering from the pleasant shock in her core as they ran when disaster struck.
First, the lights. Everything went red, like the blood, and like Carrie's dress, in less than they could process.
Carrie's eyes had widened like a lunatic's. But now Chris couldn't laugh, not as she watched the fire hose begin to wave around like it had a life of its own, sending many people to the floor and leaving the director electrocuted.
Chris' heart stopped as she watched through the window. Carrie was doing this. She had no idea how, but she was sure. The look on her eyes and the way things started flying around without anyone touching them was more than enough proof in that moment.
–Come on, we need to get out!
Billy whispered loudly in her ear, but she pushed him away as she watched the scene unfold. Miss Collins. She had replaced her usual sporty clothes with a light blue dress which Chris would normally roll her eyes at, and she was being dragged by some supernatural force to the nearby wall.
She screamed Carrie's name, knowing the same thing Chris did, before the big basketball backboard came down on her like a guillotine, striking right between the upper and lower halves of her body in perfect symmetry. Chris' eyes only widened with shock and tears as she watched the way her teacher convulsed and vomited blood, like an animal that had just been shot.
She felt Billy's hand pulling at her arm and yelling at her to not be stupid, but she didn't care. Normally, she would be glad. But this was too much. She might have hated her, but not enough to see her just die like that. So without a second thought, she ran back into the gym right as Carrie exited, making sure she would go unnoticed as she quickly approached the brunette, who was still convulsing and bleeding from the mouth.
She shook her by the shoulders and grabbed her face, gently slapping her cheek in a desperate attempt to wake her up.
-Miss Collins, fuck! Wake up!
But it seemed useless. Eventually, the teacher managed to open her eyes a little bit through her coughing and her pain. She mouthed her name, but due to her lungs being crushed, her voice came out as a short, agonizing breath.
-Shhh, don't talk. Look, stay calm, I- we need to get this crap off of you until the police comes. Damn it, you're buried under there...
She tried her best to lift the wood off her teacher's body, but all she managed to do was cause herself sore fingers and have her teacher start coughing blood again. Normally, she would thing she wouldn't care. Normal Chris would think about this scenario and grin. But not now, not here, not with this actually happening.
Now, she just looked at her agonizing once foe and apologised profoundly, with her hands trembling and tears stinging her eyes.
For once in her life, Chris Hargensen didn't know what to do. And that terrified her. Around, everyone was on the floor, dead or unconscious and covered by water that made them look like victims of a tsunami. Miss Collins was the only one still able to move a little bit, and it didn't seem like it would last long.
–I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I can't get you out of this shit, I'm...
She sobbed, her own body stopping her words. She never apologized before, and maybe she was doing it now because it was her last chance to do so. She pressed her cheek against the cold piece of wood beneath her, wrapping it between her hurt and trembling fingers like it would actually do anything.
–Shh...
The soft hushing caught her in the middle of a sob mixed with a hiccup, struggling to look up through her blurry eyes. Miss Collins' hand weakly managed to touch her face, lightly caressing her cheek with the hand that had once slapped her across the face (and with good reason).
Eventually, after minutes of silence that felt like absolute hell, the sounds of ambulances outside made Chris physically sigh shakily with relief. They eventually came and managed to get the backboard off her body as carefully as they could, forcing Chris to keep watching as her teacher vomited blood once again because of the damage her lungs had taken.
Looking away from the possibly broken bones that could be seen from inside her skin, Chris focused on following along as they took her in the vehicle, being reassured that she would be okay. Although, she wasn't so sure. And now, she was alone again. All her friends were dead, that was for sure.
Or so she thought, before she saw that stupid red cap on a blonde head that was begining to twitch in coughs, expulsing the water that had been forced into her ear and lungs.
_
Somewhere different but not so far, in one of the many houses that could be easily confused with eachother in Chamberlain, Maine, Carrie White had just killed her mother.
It sounded horrible, and it was to her, but there had been nothing else she could do. She had finally had a nice night, had fun, and then, it happened. Blood had fallen on her, and faces were all around distorted with laughter, cruel soulles voices in her head kept repeating the same overwhelming words that eventually drove her over the edge.
And now here she was. She had hardly been aware of her surroundings while using her powers, but a look outside her window was enough to understand that anyone she knew could be (and probably were) dead. Her mama was all she had left. And now she had stopped her heart, and could never reactivate it again.
Miss Collins was probably dead as well, her body somewhere in the gym, like that one time she had stayed with her for more time than necessary to teach her what a period was. All gone. The two only people she had considered at least a bit safe at some point were both dead, although, she thought, one was in hell, and the other in heaven. Right now, between what she had learned her own life and the recent events, she was struggling to decide which one was in one or the other.
Lost in her thoughts, with no purpose, like a brainless creature, she stood, picking at the hardened blood on her dress that was slowly hardening while she stared at a corner with dead eyes. Maybe it was time to stop her own heart as well. And whatever was on the other side, it would be better than what she was living now, and what she had lived since her birth.
Just when her face broke in ugly, ruthless sobs and dropped to her knees to hug whatever was left of her old mother's body, she heard footsteps rushing her way up the stairs. Agitated, she raised her eyes, her powers threatening to attack whatever was trying to reach her and maybe harm her. Only to find in front of her the regretful and broken look of Sue Snell.
She must have looked pathetic, somewhat like a stray, hurt animal, to provoke such gentle look in the usually icy eyes. The brunette, with all the caution she had, observed her agitated former victim and slowly kneeled beside her, making sure not to scare her any further.
–Carrie...
A flinch. A single book that, against any logic, fell to the floor with a small thud. Sue backed away a little bit to give her space.
–It's okay, Carrie, it's just me. I'm Sue. It's alright.
Slowly, the muscles untensed. The eyes softened, and the heartbeat slowed down to a relatively normal pace. After all, even if Sue HAD been there to hurt her, what was there to lose anymore? But she didn't think she would. Not anymore.
Slowly, Sue reached out to touch her arm. And Carrie allowed her to do so, not uttering a word. She couldn't, and knew any word she said would soon become another sob. Sue helped her get up and lead her to the bathroom, where she walked in beside her.
–I'm gonna get this dress off you so you can bathe, okay?
She didn't respond, but let her do what she needed. She felt vulnerable, but what more pathetic than the state she was already in? The dress was slowly peeled off her skin, without any apparent judgement or disgust from the other girl as the bathtub filled with water that released a soft steam against Carrie's body, a warmth that she desperately longed for since she lost the warmth of her mother's last hug.
Sue made a sweet remark about her dress being pretty, but soon stopped herself when she saw Carrie's expression. The last time she had been complement, it had ended in a massacre. No, her moment of happiness was long gone. All that was left was to grieve.
Once completely naked, with her white, zesties skin, Sue gently guided her towards the water, which made her flinch once again at the change of temperature.
–Hey, it's okay... It's water, just water. It's warm, see?
And she touched it once again. Sue's voice was gentle, reassuring, like she was talking to a small child. And to be honest, Carrie still wasn't completely herself at the moment, and for obvious reason didn't perceive her reality's very well.
Slowly, she managed to get into the bathtub, the warmth of the water seeming to ease the knot that had been forming inside her chest, making her finally free all her tears while she washed her bloody body. Like Lady Macbeth, she scrubbed every inch of herself, until her skin itself had become the color of the blood she had washed, but something, a mere trace of it, lingered enough for her mind to sense herself as still dirty.
And she scrubbed, and scrubbed, and sobbed and cried until she felt like she would rip her own skin off. But a soft, thin hand was quick to stop her and caress the now sore patches of flesh.
–It's alright, Carrie, you're clean. You're alright. It's going to be okay.
But as sure as the words tried to sound, she was painfully aware of what had happened, and tears were quick to invade her as well. She had lost her boyfriend, her friends, everything in the school gym, and she was lucky if she found her parents were safe at home. But after all, what was she? Sue Snell was no hero. She was another teen, barely an adult, and right now, as scared as one could be.
So, both of them, as vulnerable as they were, forgot for an instant any laugh or insult that had been said in the past, and they held eachother while crying. Knowing well that right now they were holding eachother's worlds.