The Ballad of Sara Berry

Act 3: Aftermath

At least in you're head, you're queen of High School Land.

You pity the dead, the queen of High School Land...

2011

15 years later, Dr. Julie Jenkins stood in the psychiatric ward of Los Angeles Memorial Hospital. The outfit that Julie wore hid her titanium alloy leg.

The events of San Fernando High's prom made headlines. Photos of Sara Berry's mental breakdown ended up shown in 20/20 and other nightly news shows. Photos of Sara Berry blacking out the faces of the seven girls she killed while circling her own face and blacking out Julie's leg in one picture.

Mr. Berry recently passed away and Mrs. Berry has revealed that he was the one who paid for her artificial leg. Julie wasn't surprised, of course. She had to live with the ghost of Sara Berry for the past decade or so. She even did her doctoral thesis on how people cope with traumatic events, which became all the more necessary after Columbine and Virginia Tech. Everyone seemed to remember the shooters, but never the victims or survivors.

Today, however, was the going to be the end of another project that Julie did: finally writing out about what happened the night that the Prom Queen went on a murder spree in a small California suburb. Julie wrote about all that she remembered and how San Fernando High School suffered after that awful night. How Peter joined with the Marines as a coping mechanism, hoping that he wouldn't have anything else to fear, even after being sent to Iraq in his second tour once 9-11 happened.

But some good things came out everything, eventually. Peter returned to California after finishing his second tour and met Julie while she was in grad school at Cal State Fullerton. After making sure that neither of them were in the midst of trauma bonding and Peter getting some much needed therapy, the two of them dated and eventually married.

There was just one part she didn't write yet: How Sara Berry was doing. Julie hadn't seen Sara in years. From what true crime writers could gather, Sara was kept sedated and the representatives of the Berry estate claimed that Sara still saw herself as a queen. But Julie wanted to see this for herself.

She walked over to Julie's cell, which had a simple door and a bulletproof window, looking out at the other patients. Julie picked up a phone and Sara took the other line.

"I don't know you, but you look familiar..." Sara said.

"I'm Doctor Kinsley," Julie said, using her married name.

"Another doctor," Sara snarked. "Are you here to put me to sleep again?"

"No," Julie said, keeping her voice neutral. "Just a checkup."

"Ah. Do you want me to turn and cough?"

"No. I just wanted to ask you some questions."

"Oh, it's another test. Don't worry, Doc. I have a 4.0 GPA."

Julie fought the urge to sigh. This wasn't going to be a good start. "What's today's date? Give me the month, day, and year."

"It's March 7th, 2011."

"Good. And how old are you?"

Sara giggled. "A lady never reveals her age! But if you must know, I'm somewhere between 18-21 years old. Don't worry. I'm totally legal!"

"So what do you call yourself?"

"Her Royal Highness Sara Barrington of San Fernando Valley!"

"Very well. Do you remember the names of Patricia Moore, Racquel Diaz, Anne Lee, Marianna Padilla, Quiara Freeman, and Eunice Kazan?"

"Oh yeah. It's so sad that they died."

"Do you remember how they died?"

"Nope."

Julie nodded and hung up the phone. "I'll be going now." She looked through the window. "Goodbye, Sara Berry."

Julie's hands clenched into fists and she cried as soon as she found herself in the lobby. Her husband went over to her and hugged her, comforting her.

"We should go," Peter said.

Julie nodded. "I don't think I want to see her again. She...she still thinks she's in high school."

With a sob, Julie and Peter left Los Angeles County Memorial Hospital, leaving Sara behind in her delusion.