❝SORRY IS THE KOOL-AID OF HUMAN EMOTIONS. IT'S WHAT YOU SAY WHEN YOU SPILL A CUP OF COFFEE OR THROW A GUTTER BALL WHEN YOU'RE BOWLING WITH THE GIRLS IN THE LEAGUE. TRUE SORROW IS AS RARE AS TRUE LOVE.❞ - CARRIE, STEPHEN KING (1976)
CARRIE WHITE was...
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CARRIE: FIRESTARTER
❝THE BRAIN IS A MUSCLE THAT CAN MOVE THE WORLD.❞ -STEPHEN KING, FIRESTARTER (1980)
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NIGHT WAS BEGINNING TO FALL upon the town of Hawkins, which meant children would soon be going door-to-door begging for candy. Carrie, who had broken into a clothing store in the early hours of the morning when nobody was inside, was dressed like a normal civilian now. After having spent years in those tattered rags of a prom dress that reminded her all too much of that devastating night, walked the streets after she threw the dress somewhere in the woods.
Perhaps without the dried bloodied dress on her person, she was unrecognizable to the general Hawkins population. Why? Because despite being completely uncovered to the world, nobody Carrie passed by ran away in fear. Truly, they didn't even give her a second glance had they even decided to give her a first.
It was a strange sight, to say the least. Seeing all of those children skipping along the road with their friends, pillowcases in hand, all dressed as monsters and characters Carrie couldn't place the name of. God, if her mother was alive, she'd have a heart attack. But those kinds of costumes weren't the most terrifying... Perhaps the most terrifying of them all were the little girls that were dressed in a pink gown, with a crown on their head, drenched in red blood.
There were dozens of them running around with no knowledge that the woman they were masquerading as was standing within a hundred feet of them. Was this what she had become? Not only was there a museum dedicated to exposing the torture and abuse she suffered by replicating that place of Hell from which she burned, but children were dressed as someone who suffered through torment to the point where she could no longer stand it all. The girl who killed all of those young lives the night of their senior prom, a night that was supposed to be full of magic and love! They were dressed at the very low of Carrie's life and nobody seemed to care!
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Will turned suddenly, his feet coming to an abrupt halt while the rest of his friends continued on, not yet realizing his quick pause. It was like massive waves of energy were pulsing through the air, hitting him at full blast. It was like that feeling he had earlier at school, only 100X stronger than before. Honestly, he was surprised that he was even able to stand.
"Will?" Mike called out once he realized his best friend was no longer beside him. Instead, he stood there, paralyzed. "Will? Will, what's wrong?"
Will slowly turned to Mike, trying to pull off the best smile he could to fool him. He nodded and said, "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just thought I heard someone say my name is all."
That was a complete lie. And Mike knew that too.
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Carrie felt the rage boil inside of her when she noticed a hill just a couple hundred feet away from her. It was a hill she recognized from before; it was the same path that she took to school every morning... the school she supposedly burned to the ground.
Her feet seemed to move on their own towards the school. She didn't know why she felt inclined to see another piece of her destruction. Maybe it was just to make herself feel worse, you know? Maybe she just wanted to look and see another part of the destruction she caused that made everyone see her as this freakshow.
But when she reached the top of the hill, nothing had changed. She half-expected to see a pile of ash and rubble where the school once stood or a reconstruction zone. But nothing was different. It all looked just as it did over a decade ago. And seeing it in such perfect condition almost made her... well, what could she feel? Relieved that she didn't destroy the building? Furious because she didn't make a single dent on that second place of torment that night?
Nevertheless, she forced herself to continue walking towards the building. A voice in the back of her head told her to just turn around, but another willed her to keep going. Didn't she want to know what had happened to the place after so many years? Of course, why wouldn't she?
Forcing the front doors open with her abilities, she heard them crash against the walls as she moved forward. The halls looked familiar; they were still littered with posters for clubs and various other afterschool activities that nobody ever really paid attention to. All the classrooms were in the same place but 75% the names on the placards next to them were different and Carrie had a good idea as to why so many resigned. The air, even at night, still smelled of cigarette smoke and pencil shavings. It sickened her.
There was something new, though. At the end of the hall, where the board for after school sign-ups were, there were picture frames hanging up across the entire wall with names and birthdays on inscriptions at the bottom. At the center was a gold plate with engravings in it. It said: "To the students and staff who lost their lives in the tragic events of May 28th, 1972." And it was then Carrie recognized all of the faces that were framed on that wall. The faces of everyone she killed.
The number suddenly became so clear to her. Over 100 people, dead and Carrie suspected there were more who survived and would never be the same. Looking at all the senior pictures and school photos of these people who died that night left a feeling deep down inside Carrie. Their eager smiles mocked her, their bright eyes staring into what was left of her soul... The reality began to make her shoulders heavy with its weight. It was like returning back to that night all over again. She heard the screams, smelt the fire burning of flesh as the flames ravaged through the gymnasium. She suddenly felt remorse...
But then she saw Chris.
The redheaded bitch who did all this. God, Carrie savored the memory of her cries for help as she burned alive in that car, and Billy's too. It was a song that she couldn't quite get out of her head. Their last dying thoughts must have been great.
The smile that graced her face at the memory of killing Chris soon turned into a Hell storm when she saw the picture that hung directly above the plack. It was of her senior portrait. True, she didn't look as primped and polished as the other seniors but she still smiled brightly in that photo... If only it had been cherished by others. Her picture, unlike the others, was smashed to bits. Written in red marker across the photo were the words "CARRIE WHITE BURNS IN HELL!!"
Carrie's fists clenched and blood rushed to her face. Her chest became very tight and she knew what was about to come next without having to think of it.
Carrie screamed as all the picture frames exploded outward. Raising her arms to the pictures, she ripped each nail out of the wall, forcing every picture but her own to come crashing to the floor with the loudest crash she had heard in years. Her hands burned as flames that came from seemingly nowhere began to tear through the walls of the school, making a message for everyone in Hawkins to finally listen to.
"Our Father who art in Heaven... Let them burn!" Carrie cried as she sent the pictures flying across the floor, flames catching onto some of them. "You're all burning in Hell, you sons of bitches! You burn!"
Carrie let the flames blaze... She let them burn until the message was finally received.
❖❖❖
The next morning, when the teachers and students arrived at school, they were shocked to see firemen leaving the school in the early morning hours. They were even more shocked- no terrified to their cores- to see the photos to the Prom Night memorial victims scattered across the floors with only one left hanging: Carrie White's. And, directly above that, were the words "THEY BURN IN HELL" scorched onto the walls.
