Memory - The Finale To Motivation

Chapter 9 - Carrie's Discovery...

Carrie stood up and clapped, shocking Matt into dropping Stephanie. "Sorry!" He shouted as he helped her up.

"You two are like, so awesome! How did you learn to do that?" She gushed.

Matt and Stephanie looked at each other, then back at Carrie. "Dance competition." They said in unison.

"Okay, so... super slow like that?" She asked. "I recorded it to refer to, but..."

"Oh, uh, yes. Peyton, why don't you try leading? That might help." Matt offered. Peyton exhaled loudly, trying to calm himself, before standing up and offering his hand to Carrie, just like Matt did, when Carrie's phone rang.

"Oh, sorry! Got to take this!" She squealed. Peyton stood aside as she rushed up the stairs. Peyton chuckled and stepped up to his mother instead, taking a deep bow.

"Well then, may I have this dance?" He asked. Stephanie laughed and took his hand, watching Matt chuckle from the sidelines.

"You two look wonderful together." Matt joked. But inside, he wasn't joking. Peyton actually looked very similar to Matt, so seeing them together was like watching himself and Stephanie back when they were kids. Just stupid teenagers, like Peyton.

Meanwhile, Carrie ran upstairs to answer her phone. "Hey Sue!"

"Carrie! Jeez, I've been calling for hours!"

"Sorry, I was practicing. You know, dancing. With Peyton. He's not very good but-"

"Wait, what? I thought you were meeting his mom?" 

"No, silly!" Carrie giggled. "I met her the other day! She and Peyton's uncle are teaching us!"

"His... uncle?" Sue trailed off, a suspiciuos tone to her voice.

"Yeah, this guy named Matthew. He's cool." Carrie shrugged.

"Carrie, Peyton doesn't have an uncle."

"Of course he does! I just met him!" Carrie giggled.

"Carrie, I've known Peyton for a lot longer than you, and I know for a fact that Peyton's mom is an only child." Sue explained, trying to spell it out for Carrie.

"Ugh, Sue, if this is another ploy to win him back, then-"

"No, Carrie. This is serious. What does this guy look like?" Sue asked.

Carrie rolled her eyes. "Here, I have a video. I'll send it to you." Carrie pulled up the video she had recorded of Matt and Stephanie dancing and texted it to Sue. "See?"

Carrie heard the faint music of the video come from Carrie's side of the phone, before it abruptly stopped. "Carrie, get out of there." Then Sue sent her a link.

It was an online newspaper. It identified Peyton's uncle as someone different.

"Matthew... Patrick?" She read aloud.

"Keep reading."

"Matthew Jackson* Patrick, age 32, was found amongst the ruins of Freddy Fazbears Pizzeria... Threatened an employee!? Possibly insane!?" Carrie looked farther down, finally finding a comment from someone claiming to be his old neighbor. "I think something snapped inside of him when his wife asked for the divorce, and took one of the kids. She was a nice girl. I think it was Steph-" Carrie screamed and dropped the phone, shattering on the ground.

He's Peyton's dad! They lied to me! And he's insane! Peyton's dad is crazy! Does he know? I've got to get him out of here! I'll bring him home, and we can call the police- Oh right, my mom is planning to kill me in an effort to cleanse me of my sins... Wait, I know what to do. I know who can help.

Carrie calmly went back into the house, then entered the basement. "Carrie! You're back!" Matt said with a smile. Carrie was terrified, but she couldn't let him see.

"Hey, Peyton." Peyton looked over at her. "Chris and Billy wanted to meet us. They're having another argument."

"Oh, dang it. Hey mom, I've really got to go-" Stephanie cut him off.

"It's all right. Go ahead." She said with a smile. Peyton ran up the stairs, and Carrie was about to follow him, when she took another look at Stephanie. Carrie knew that she couldn't afford to bring her with them, especially where they were going. She turned around, and hugged Stephanie. "Whoah! That's new!" She said with a chuckle.

Carrie couldn't help but shed a tear. "I'm so sorry." She whispered.

"What?"

Carrie let go of Stephanie. "Oh, nothing!" She snapped back to her regular self. "See ya later!"

Stephanie smiled, blissfully ignorant of Carrie's plan. Carrie wasn't smart enough to be suspicious, right? Meanwhile, Matt picked up on it. She knows about me. He thought. I have to get rid of her.

*Yes, this isn't his middle name. I know it's Robert, but this connects to a major plan that I have.*