STICKS AND STONES

Dahlia Alger interview

Litchfield Mental Institution

September 15, 2009

Eighteen year old Dahlia Alger- at least externally so- had a strong Snow White aura about her. With her consistently untamed mane of thick black hair, her pale, icy toned skin, and large cobalt blue eyes, she looked to be the picture of fragile innocence.

The last dream she'd had was off several puppies trapped in a burning building. She had woken up giggling.

Lauren Wilton had been assigned as Dahlia's psychologist and as much as Lauren loved her work, she was more than a little hesitant to work with Dahlia. Today was the first time she was meeting her but she'd of course already heard of her. She'd read all the articles about Dahlia and the shooting. She'd followed all of the updates on the trial as it had dragged on and on, with Dahlia's nicely paid lawyer pleading that all the bullying had pushed her over the edge, ultimately leading to temporary insanity- which was completely ridiculous, the girl was a textbook, sadistic psychopath. She had known exactly what she was doing June 10, when she had arrived at Parker High School, her high school, right alongside the six other kids. They had brought along the guns and knives that they had bought weeks before, they had killed a few of the teachers first just to get them out of the way… and then they'd released all their blood soaked, hell ravaged fury.

Dahlia was already in the interview room when Lauren arrived. She was curled up on the beige couch- and she was filing her nails. Only three months ago she had used those hands to help butcher dozens of innocent people. And now she was filling her nails and humming what sounded like a Disney tune. Dahlia had no doubt been disappointed that only 54 people had died, the first new reports thought that the death toll was going to be much worse. But fortunately, most had just been causalities. Some of them had been fine, the worst damage being a few bruises and scrapes. But if one were to tell Dahlia that a thirteen year old boy had been injured so badly that he was now a paraplegic and blind in his left eye, she probably would have laughed and asked if he could still feed himself. God knows how the other 392 people had gotten out of the school unscathed. Lauren had gone to the last day of Dahlia's trial and she'd met a few of the survivors. Once Dahlia been sentenced to life at Litchfield, she'd passed Lauren and a small group of survivors. The survivors had just stared at her, trembling and crying. Dahlia had glanced at them as she'd been led out; she'd looked like a blood famished lion, disappointed that she hadn't gotten the chance to finish off her prey.

Dahlia was a dangerous, narcissistic girl and that was never going to change. But it was Lauren's job to understand how this girl's mind worked the way it did and why she had decided to assist in the school shooting.

"Hello Dahlia," Lauren said, walking up to her and shaking her hand. "My name is Lauren Wilton. You may call me Mrs. Wilton."

Dahlia smiled as she shook her hand back. "Hello Mrs. Wilton. It's very nice to meet you."

There was a desk and two chairs leaning against the wall opposite Dahlia. Dahlia might have been more comfortable on the couch but Lauren was certainly not going to let her lounge about while they talked about the shooting.

"Dahlia," she said, pulling out one of the desk chairs. "I would appreciate it if you sat down here."

Dahlia's smile faded and her eyes had a misty, far off gaze to them. Her chest heaved slightly but she sat down all the same, smoothing out her shirt as Lauren sat in the chair opposite her.

"Dahlia," she started. "We need to talk about June tenth."

"All right," she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "What would you like to know?"

"What motivated you to attack the school? Did someone hurt you? Was someone telling you ought to do it-"

"I am not crazy," she said in a fairly steady voice, although Lauren noticed that her cheeks had a more heated look to them. "I don't hear voices in my head, I don't see monsters or people that aren't real. I went to the school on June tenth because I had to get rid of a very serious problem."

"What do you mean by a problem?"

"Have you ever been to Parker High Mrs. Wilton?"

"Yes, I have." Lauren said. "The school was very nice and the people were extremely gracious to me."

Dahlia smirked. "Of course they were. But you see that's what the problem was. No offense to you, but you're the sort of person that people know they're supposed to be nice to because it's your job to uh… help people and makes them all good and cheery inside. But if you had been some transfer kid or someone who just happened to be a little shy- no. That's not how your visit would have gone, not at all. The more accepted kids- Max Teufel, Kira Royce, the rest of their little stooges and clones – they would have been all over you, tearing you apart like a pack of piranhas. Kira was the worst, she was like a shark. It was like she could smell blood, or just someone who was having a bad day. She would wait for just the right moment and then that two faced little bitch would get right up in their face and go out of her way to make them miserable. I don't know if you ever met her but you would have hated her if you did. I remember this one time, I had a math class with her sophomore year, and she and her best friend, Eva Morgan, they were sitting near the back of the room, so I suppose the teacher, Mrs. Brenton, couldn't hear them that well. But we were having a test and this one girl, Lily, she was sitting in the row right in front of them, and Kira and Eva were singing this stupid, awful little song. They were saying "Lesbo, Lesbo, Lily is a lesbo." And Lily was just sitting there, getting so upset she was crying and everything and I was the only one who did a thing about it! I was sitting right next to her, I asked her if she was okay, and of course she said yes, because she didn't want to make a scene about it in front of everyone."

"Once class was over Lily ran out but I talked to Mrs. Brenton and told her that Kira and Eva had been calling Lily a lesbian. She said that she talked to them. She never did anything. I had a lot of classes with Kira that year, and she was such a loudmouth you always knew when she was in the room. So I would have known if someone had happened because if it had then Kira would have had a tantrum and bitched about it for the rest of the day. But anyway, while Kira and Eva were harassing Lily, everyone else just sat there, they could hear them singing and they could see Lily getting upset but no, Kira knew all so if she says that Lily's a lesbian then she must be. And that was the really ridiculous part because Lily wasn't a lesbian, she liked boys but she was really shy and she didn't have a lot of friends. But at the beginning of junior year, this new girl, Aubrey came to the school and one day at lunch she noticed that Lily was sitting all by herself- I would have sat with her but I was already sitting with some of my friends in a booth and there wasn't any room left for Lily. But Aubrey sat with her, they talked and Lily seemed to enjoy talking to her. And after that they were inseparable. I was really happy for Lily, she was painfully shy before she met Aubrey but they both liked those anime cartoons so at least she finally had someone who she could talk to. But of course Kira-" Dahlia shook her head disapprovingly. "She couldn't resist making fun of people, she liked teasing kids like Lily! She couldn't just appreciate that Lily finally had a friend."

Dahlia set her hands in her lap, leaning back in the chair. "In the beginning of senior year, Aubrey's dad's work transferred him to somewhere in California so they had to move. Lily lost it. She didn't go crazy but she stopped eating, she lost a ton of weight and she always looked like she wanted to cry. And of course Kira found another reason to make fun of her. She'd call her a cry baby or just make her feel bad for being sad about losing her best friend, because obviously anyone else would be fine if their best friend moved away." Kira shook her head furiously. "After awhile… I guess Lily just got fed up, or she just couldn't take it anymore. She hung herself three days before Thanksgiving. She didn't leave a note or anything." She wiped her eyes but Lauren didn't see any sign of tears. "Kira went to the wake. I don't know how much Lily told her parents about what was going on with Kira. But Kira, the girl who pretty much handed Lily the noose, had the nerve to go up to Lily's parents, hug them and say how very sorry she was." Dahlia studied Lauren for a long moment before she continued. "I know what they say about me in the papers. That I'm some insane psychopath and that I don't care about anyone. If anyone is a psychopath it's Kira. She was happy when Lily died. She went to the wake and then she and her friends got wasted at some party. They put the pictures on Facebook the next day."

"Dahlia…" Lauren started. "It is very sad, what happened to Lily. And I am truly sorry for any distress Lily's death caused you. But you have still not told me what motivated you to attack the school. I know that you and Tommy Metcalf led the attacks. Did Tommy suggest the idea to you? Or did you come up with the idea jointly?"

Dahlia's mouth dropped open as she gaped at Lauren, apparently bewildered as to what she meant. "First of all, I don't want to talk about Tommy and secondly, I just told you why it happened! Kira and all of her friends, they were ruining everything. They got everything handed to them, the teacher's didn't give a shit if they came to school drunk or if they did drugs. One of Kira's friends, Makaila Stuart, she was dealing these little pills, so that she could 'earn some extra money for college.'" Dahlia snorted, rolling her eyes. "There were plenty of times where if the teachers had just made a little more effort to connect the dots, then they would have known exactly what was going on. I'm telling you, if anything I did that school a favor- stop looking at me like that- STOP IT! They were the bad guys, not me!"

Her face was beat red and furious and her already large eyes were nearly bulging out of her head. Lauren had wanted to talk about the boy, Tommy, because they knew that he'd been the lead co-conspirator in the attack. Lauren wanted to find out the extent of Dahlia and Tommy's relationship but clearly, Dahlia wasn't going to talk about Tommy just yet. Perhaps later. But she was getting very upset; she looked like she was on fire.

"Dahlia," Lauren said. "I need you to calm down-"

"I will not calm down!" Dahlia shouted. "You wanted the truth and I'm telling it to you! Kira was a monster. Her and her boyfriend, Max Teufel, they were ruining everything. Kira made a habit out of making people doubt the point of their own existence and Max- he might have acted like Prince Charming at school but he had a temper, a really bad one. In all fairness to him, his parents are assholes. They both have really bad alcohol problems and if they showed up at Max's soccer games they were already a little tipsy. And Max would put on such a brave face and try to come across as so laid back and modest. But when it was just him and Kira… god knows why she stuck with him so long. They started dating the beginning of sophomore year and he started being the crap out of towards the end of it. Most people refused to believe it- a boy as wonderful, charming and kind as Max couldn't possibly be beating his beloved girlfriend! And Kira wouldn't speak a word against him. She loved him too much for her own good. I will give them this- they could put a darn good show where they'd convince the whole world that they were living in their own perfect little lala land. Oh, and they were the epitome of the perfect golden couple if there ever was one! Kira was just so beautiful, skinny and tall and with that sheet of sheet of perfect strawberry blond locks, she was just sleeping beauty incarnate. And Max, well he'd been ruling the soccer field since he was five, only an idiot would deny that he was brilliant at soccer. And the girls would just droll over him; tall, hot body, adorable blond curls and big light green eyes." She cocked her head at Lauren as she scratched her nose, studying her. "You really should have seen them at the beginning of senior year. It was wild."

Lauren took a deep breath, filing through some papers, looking for bits on Kira.

"Kira Royce…" Lauren's mouth dropped open as she saw the pictures. She heard Dahlia chuckle.

Kira Royce had been dead for four months. Max had killed her on May 3rd and the coroner had said that she'd died from a combination of internal hemorrhage of the brain and months and months of Max beating her to a pulp. There were a few pictures of her on the slab in the morgue. There was a big purple bruise on her left eye, a large, bloody looking bruise on her head and several other dark bruises on the rest of her body.

"People went crazy after she died. Some people literally would not believe it. They thought that Kira had just dropped down dead or something because why would Max who love, love, loved her so much ever lay a hand on her? She'd been getting weird bruises she couldn't explain so well for awhile, but it was always an accident. She fell out of tree. She fell off her bike. She tripped down the stairs. The excuses would get more cockamamie every time."

"And you'd think," she said. "With so many connections to big sports fanatics that Max would have found a better outlet, like boxing or something- or anything other than beating his own girlfriend. But he could find any reason for why Kira deserved to be knocked around. She was five minutes late for something. She was talking- just talking- to another boy. Her skirt was too short and it made her look like a tramp." Dahlia's eyes suddenly got larger and even a little defensive looking, as if Lauren had called her a fowl curse word. "I'm a really good listener by the way. I don't spy on people or gossip but I'm pretty good at reading body language. I'd –everyone- would see the way Max would look at Kira. Sometimes he'd have some misty, lovesick look in his eyes, like he just couldn't get enough of her, like she was some kind of goddess. But I remember this one day, around St. Patrick's Day, Kira wore a skirt to school. It was actually pretty cute, I'll give her that. But Max thought it looked like hooker gear. I remember, I was rushing to a class but I saw them talking, he looked really mad and all of a sudden, he pulled her into the bathroom and I could have sworn I heard this loud banging noise, like something heavy had hit the wall. I saw Kira later that day. She had pants on and she had a little limp to her walk. I thought she would have broken up with him after that but no. She stuck by him. Because he had such a hard family life, what with all the drinking his parents did, so he didn't really mean it. He was just having a bad day."

"So, she wasn't about to break with him, but I think that Eva was trying to talk her into it. I'd see the way she'd act around Max, she knew that something was going on but Kira just loved him too much so nothing changed. But Max was catching on to the fact that people were starting to get suspicious about Kira's strange little bruises. So, this one long weekend in late March, he took Kira to some fancy pants hotel near the shore. Oh, and I heard all about this because Kira wouldn't stop jabbering about it to her friends the next week. But anyway, they went swimming at the beach, they talked about their problems, they both agreed that they'd made some mistakes and that they were so sorry… and Kira… well, the Monday after their trip I was studying in the library during the same period as her and a few her friends. And she must have thought that she was whispering quietly enough so that only her friends could hear her but I was a good couple of feet away from them and I could hear her just fine. She said that they had all their big, deep talks for the first couple of hours on Friday. But then they just had sex non-stop for the rest of the weekend. Because that is exactly how you forgive and forget! Just bang each other's brains out all weekend and in Kira's case convince yourself that everything will be fine. And then when we all came back to school on Monday, she had a big fat promise ring on her finger. All of her friends thought that it was so romantic and even Eva seemed to think that Max had turned over a new leaf. Or she just wasn't going to put a damper on Kira's big, fantastic wedding plans."

"All right," Lauren said, cupping her hands in her lap but rubbing her palms together. Something about Dahlia's eyes was so unsettling, it was like they were boring into your soul. "So Kira and Max are planning on getting married. How did things go wrong?"

Dahlia giggled. "It's really stupid actually. Kira was assigned to work with this one guy, Ben, for some English project. And Ben, although he didn't uh… fit into the same fold as Max and Kira- I think that Max would have considered him a little too much of an art geek- but he was the kind of boy Kira really should have been with. He was a nice kid. And he had a huge crush on her but he wasn't doing such a good job of hiding that. Hitting on the most popular boy in school's girlfriend? Max caught on and I remember this one time, I was walking behind him and Kira in the hall, he said that he didn't want her around him and Kira said that they were just working on the English project and that it would be done soon The next day she had a bad limp again."

"Not long after that, apparently Kira and Ben were talking in the park and Kira was having a bad day so... Ben kissed her. It was just one little kiss, nothing more. I heard Ben talking about it with his friend in Math class. He really should have kept his mouth shut, but he was so giddy about it, I think he thought she was just going to dump Max and run away with him or something. But one of Max's friends heard him talking about it and he of course told Max. And Max… I don't know what happened but I'm sure you can imagine. A few days before he killed Kira, Max and few of his friends got Ben to join them in the woods for a little game of paintball. But paintball wasn't what they had in mind at all. I was going for a jog through the woods that same day- seriously please stop looking at me like that. I knew it sounds weird that I just happened to be in the woods at the same time, but it was just a coincidence." Dahlia heaved a sigh, pushing her hair back. "As I was saying, I saw Ben with Max and his friends. Max gave him a bloody nose and swore to him that if he ever came near Kira again that he would come into his home and slit his throat while he was asleep. And the really ironic part was that he ended up killing Kira three days later so there wasn't even anything for Ben to chase anymore! I suppose that Kira finding out that she'd gotten into a college that was on the other side of the country had been enough to push him over the edge; they'd been planning on going to some school in Boston together."

"All right, Dahlia," Lauren said, shuffling her papers. "You have explained Kira and Max's very volatile relationship. But we still have not talked about June 10. Please explain to me why you helped the others with the shooting."

Dahlia just stared at her for a few moments, her cheeks bright with emotion. "Fine," she finally said, gritting her teeth. "But as necessary as it was for us to fix the many problems that my school had, it was anything but a pretty picture. So don't blame me if you get nightmares."

Parker High School shooting

June 10, 2009

Dahlia had been born without a heart. A cold, heavy stone had formed in the spot where her heart should have been so all she ever knew was how to hate with every fiber of her being.

Tommy Metcalf however, had had a heart for a short time. But after awhile- and especially after spending too much time with Dahlia- his heart had turned into a stone as well. And that only led to Tommy driving himself insane, his desperate search to feel something- anything- always ending in vain.

Tommy's life hadn't been perfect. His dad had walked out when he was three and since then his mom had had a continuous supply of jack-ass boyfriends who seemed to desire nothing more than hopping into her bed for a week. They never stayed longer than a month and after that they disappeared, leaving Tommy's mom in shambles, until she found the next guy who "really was the one."

It had been Dahlia's idea to do the shooting. She'd gotten the idea after her cousin Adam had been injured in a car accident in late April- Kira Royce, Eva Morgan and a few of their friends had been in the other car and they'd been a little drunk. Adam had broken his leg and he'd received some significant head trauma. Kira and Eva, whose uncle was the head of the police force, had gotten off with some light fines and one month of alcohol awareness classes. The car accident had only been the tip of the iceberg. Kira and her friends had been bending the rules for years, and it pissed Dahlia off. So, she had apparently figured that after the car accident, they all had a school shooting coming. Tommy had a strong hunch that Dahlia wasn't actually that upset over the car accident. She hadn't visited Adam in the hospital and as far as Tommy knew she wasn't even very close to him. He figured that she just wanted to make noise and see what would happened. Tommy on the other hand… he was just tired. He was tired of his mom never having the time to talk to him. He was tired of fake friends who'd act nice to him but never invite him on their outings. He was tired of trying to convince himself that if he were to disappear any given day that someone would care. But that was a lie. No one would miss him; they wouldn't even notice that he was gone. He was exhausted and he just wanted to sleep. Forever.

And that was how on the morning of June 10, he found himself in the basement of his home, with Dahlia and the four other kids who were helping with the shooting.

"This isn't just about us anymore." Dahlia said from her chair in the front of the room. "This is about sending a message to everyone that Parker High School is a dangerous, cruel place that must be destroyed. Just remember- the ends justify the means."

They got into the cars and drove off to the school.

The first half of the day had started off like any other. Dahlia and Tommy had History together forth period and the moment that clock had struck 11:45, Dahlia who was practically giddy, led the way out of the class and towards their lockers. They waited until everyone else had disserted the halls and were tucked away in fifth period or lunch. Their sweet, far too trusting for its own good school did not have overly complicated security system- they had cameras at the handful of entrances but that was all. So they had gotten the guns in fairly easily. Those of them that were eighteen had taken a trip to Ohio, where they had bought several guns and some knives. They'd snuck in the guns and knives a week before June 10th, hiding them in large sports bags as they came to school, and then tucking them safely away in their lockers.

After Dahlia and Tommy got the guns out of their lockers, Lucas, another one of the kids who was helping, came to them.

"Let's get this party started."

Tommy took a deep breath, raced a hand over his wavy light brown hair and followed Dahlia and Lucas into the main office.

"Hey kids," Mrs. Longley said as they entered the office. "Do you need something?"

Mrs. Longley and the other secretary Mrs. Tilson didn't see the guns because of the tall wooden barrier that stood between them and the kids. They'd put silencers on the guns for the office, so that they didn't cause a big ruckus right away.

It had been a little messy but it also been over quickly. Dahlia did the math in her head. Two secretaries and one principal down. Only 1,223 students to go and approximately eighteen teachers. Give or take a few.

Once they were done with the main office, Dahlia, Tommy and Lucas went into the massive cafeteria, where half of the student body was currently having lunch. When they'd all seen the guns, they hadn't even screamed, not right away, they'd just looked really scared. Dahlia smiled at them.

"Surprise," she said to them.

It had taken so long to do the cafeteria. The kids had all scattered around, bouncing off the walls like ping pong balls. Dahlia and her friends were blocking all the exits so when one of them was stupid enough to try and get out, they got mowed down immediately. And really, by them heading straight towards the exits, having the audacity to think they actually had a chance of getting out- not that any one of them deserved it- they only made taking care of the cafeteria a bit easier and faster.

The cafeteria had taken 11 minutes and 28 seconds to take care off. The once bright, colorful room that had been adorned with school spirit related things, the school colors of blue and white screaming out at them, was no soaked in a thick, dark blood.

Just as they moved to leave the cafeteria and join the others in taking care of the rest of the school, Dahlia heard someone whimpering. She told the others to wait as she hurried over to the whimpering noise, which was coming from a table near the vending machines.

Eva Morgan. Kira's other half. The girl who had been devastated when Kira had died. She'd looked like she was on the verge of tears every day and it was all she could talk about. Max had gotten 25 years to life anyway so it wasn't like justice hadn't been served. But she was so like Kira in that way, she'd find something to whine about, just for the sake of whining. She had a couple big wounds on her chest, there was a small wound on her forehead and her fluffy blond hair was coated in blood.

How the fuck was she still alive? She was bleeding all over. Dahlia set her foot on Eva's chest- she somehow got out a howl of pain- and set the gun right up against her head.

"Goodbye Eva. Tell Kira I said hi."

When the light left her eyes and she was nothing but a blood soaked little demon, Dahlia let out a little chuckle. She'd been depressed as hell when Kira died; she'd probably been looking for a reason to join her anyway. Dahlia wiped Eva's blood of her gun before heading towards the main doors.

"Let's go guys," she said, motioning to the others to join her.

As Tommy ran about the school, he saw others had taken care of a good chunk of the kids while they'd been in the cafeteria. He heard and saw some kids jump out of windows. Dahlia wouldn't be pleased; she wanted everyone gone. But really, the kids weren't stupid, there was bound to be some people who got out.

"Please, please, PLEASE!" screamed a short dark haired girl, as she pleaded with Lucas. "I'm so sorry, I am so, so sorry, just please don't kill me-"

Bang, bang, bang went the gun.

The girl fell down like a limp rag doll, and Tommy noticed that she blinked a couple of times. And then her eyes closed and for whatever reason Lucas shot her again. He nodded a hello at Tommy before racing off down the hall.

Tommy shot a couple of kids before heading over to the library. Just before heading into the library, there was one boy he'd shot, who hadn't go down easily. He'd pleaded with Tommy, crying his eyes out and Tommy had just started at him, knowing full well that this kid was an ass hole. Will Polley. He was a big insurable, football jock who deserved to die more than anyone but all Tommy could do was stare at him, his feet frozen where he stood.

"Tommy, I am so sorry, I swear, I am so sorry," he cried, clutching Tommy's shirt with his blood soaked hands. "I swear I will never bother you again-"

Something about the way he'd said that had set Tommy off and when he shot him enough times so that he fell down and didn't move, it made Tommy feel…lighter.

"COME OUT, COME OUT WHERE EVER YOU ARE!" Dahlia shouted from the library. "COME ON GUYS, COME OUT AND PLAY!"

Tommy entered the library. Nothing shocked him anymore; he'd known people at Parker how could make the pope swear. But as he walked around the library he saw Dahlia skipping and hopping across the tables, laughing her head off and randomly firing her gun in all directions.

"Hey Tommy!" Dahlia cried in joy, hopping off the table and racing over to him. Her eyes looked huge, they were taking up half her face and they had a ravage, exuberant glint to them he'd never seen before. Dahlia threw her arms around him, kissing him square on the cheek. "We're almost done in here. It took us awhile because they all kept hiding under tables and behind bookcases. But I think there's still a few of them running around in the back, come on."

They got to the back of the library and saw that there were indeed a couple of kids, scurrying about, trying to avoid the flying bullets. Dahlia roared with laughter as she hopped up onto one of the tables, firing away.

Tommy shot at a few kids. One of them was just being plain old annoying, bouncing around in front of Tommy, as if she thought that if she made him dizzy, then maybe she could get out. Tommy raised his gun and prepared to shot at her…

Just before he could pull the trigger, he like someone had stabbed a hot, razor sharp knife in his side. He dropped to his knees, his body paralyzed with pain. Someone had accidently shot him. He was bleeding out fast on his side and all of a sudden he felt terribly dizzy.

"Tommy?" Dahlia called out to him, seeing him in the ground. Seeing him on the ground, dying. "TOMMY!"

Dahlia flew off the table, racing over to him. He could hardly see her, she was just a great blurry shape but he could feel her pressing her hand against his wound.

"I can't… I can't breath…"

"Quiet Tommy, just be quiet. You're going to be fine, I promise, we just have to get you out of here."

Tommy clasped his hand around her cheek, wiping away a tear that was rolling down her cheek.

"Dahlia. I… I…."

Tommy took one deep, shuddering breath and then he was still.

Dahlia could feel herself convulsing and she felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest. She hadn't had any feelings for Tommy. But he'd been the one person- the only person- who had understood all the reasons why she needed to burn Parker High to the ground. She stood up and gazed around the room, wanting to burst open every single person's chest and tear out their heart with her bare hands.

"WHO. SHOT. TOMMY?"

She felt herself leave her body as she tore around the room, shouting at everything. She didn't care if they were one of the helpers or not, they all deserved to die. They'd taken away from her the one person who actually listened to her. Soon, all of the non-helpers weren't moving and the helpers that were still alive just stared at Dahlia, afraid to move in fear that she'd kill them too. Dahlia swallowed hard, feeling her skin burn. But there wasn't time to sit around and mope. They had a job to do.

"What are you guys standing around for?" They still just stared at her, unmoving. Infuriated, Dahlia fired her gun towards the ceiling and they all sped out of the library.

"GET MOVING! NOW!"

The attack had been going on for one hour and twenty minutes. And after that, most people who were still in the school, who weren't the shooters, were either dead or in grave need of medical assistance. The moment the police heard the firing die down they burst into the school.

Most of the kids had had just enough time to take cyanide pills, before the police could get to them and arrest them. Dahlia and two of the others had been arrested. She felt empty as she was led out of the school and pushed into the police car. It was like someone had taken everything from her and mercilessly left her as a lonely, empty shell.

"And that's what happened." Dahlia said, leaning back in her chair and watching Lauren's expression.

Lauren's face was blank and her mind felt fuzzy. She knew that someone people were just born insane and unfortunately, there was nothing you could for them. But she couldn't get those horrific, blood drenched images out of her head. And Dahlia was just sitting there- smiling. She had to get away from her. She felt like she was going to threw up. She shuffled a few of her papers together before throwing them in her bag and getting up.

"Well Dahlia," she said, moving towards the door. "I think we had a very productive day."

Dahlia giggled, waving good-bye to her. "I think we did too. It was a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Wilton."

Lauren just nodded, forcing a small smile across her face. Once she was outside, she collapsed onto the ground, clutching her face in her hands.

That terrible girl. That terrible, sick, deranged girl. Why did God put those sorts of people on the planet if all they were ever going to do was bring harm to others?

Dahlia highly doubted that she'd ever see Mrs. Wilton again. She'd seen that empty, petrified look in her eyes. Yes. Dahlia had scared the shit out of her.

She did feel a little bad for her though. People like Mrs. Wilton were just never going to see reason. They'd never be able to understand why taking care of Parker High's problem had been completely necessary. Parker had been out of control, it was threatening to take over the world and it had to be stopped. Dahlia had saved the world. She was just the only person who realized it. And with time, and lots of acknowledgments to the fact that Parker High's students had been anything but generous little angels, everyone else would realize that Dahlia had saved the world. And they would bow down to her and thank her for knowing that sometimes the means aren't beautiful- but they lead to the perfect, happily ever after ends.

Please R & R!