Okay, kids, it's Writerchic97 here, doing something a little different again!
This one-shot is based more off the 2012 revival musical than the book. The subject is close to my heart because my local theatre is putting on a production of "Carrie: The Musical". Many people I know - and me! - are in the show, and as much as I love it, I'd like a happy ending. And, as Richard will probably not allow me to alter the script, I'm using a fanfiction to get it. So, anyway, I hope you enjoy it!
-Writerchic97
"All right, here we go! We give you this year's King and Queen of the prom..."
Mr. Stephens paused for dramatic effect. Carrie's heart was racing. She knew it was stupid, knew even Tommy Ross couldn't have been voted Prom King with Carrie as his date, but she couldn't help it. After the way things had been going so far that night, even this didn't seem so far-fetched.
"Tommy Ross and Carrie White!" cried Miss Gardner and Mr. Stephens in unison. Carrie heard her breath rush in in a gasp. The gym was utterly silent for an instant, and then suddenly George cried, "Yo, Tommy, my man!"
That broke the tension, and the gym flooded with cheers. Tommy looked down at her, and Carrie could see her own shock reflected in his face. But he just smiled and took her arm. "Let's go," he whispered. "Tonight, you're the queen."
Carrie's heart skipped a beat, and something inside her melted at the sight of that smile. The kids were breaking into a chorus of the school's alma mater around them, although Carrie couldn't hear it. She and Tommy moved through the mass of students, which parted around them like water. Excited, beaming faces surrounded them on all sides. Something had shifted in the kids' attitudes. Finally, after thirteen years, Carrie White was being accepted.
Maybe even loved.
The two of them ascended the platform, where a beaming Miss Gardner waited with the crowns. "Congratulations, Carrie," she whispered. Carrie couldn't respond aloud, but something passed between them. Carrie and Tommy turned out to face the crowd of students, and Miss Gardner placed the crowns on their heads. Then Carrie looked over to find Tommy watching her.
"What?" she whispered.
She thought he flushed, although the lights on the platform washed him out and made it hard to tell. "Nothing," he said. "It's just... You look beautiful."
"Billy, pull the damn cord, pull it!"
Every head snapped around. That was Chris Hargensen's voice. But that was impossible. Chris had been forbidden to go to prom -
And then Carrie's attention was arrested as a hot, thick liquid that stank like iron and raw meat poured down onto her head.
She gasped and shut her eyes instinctively. Our Father who art in heavan, she thought, hallowed be thy name -!
Then she opened her eyes and saw her blood-covered arms. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"
The stench of the blood and the heat dragged the memory of that awful day in the shower to the forefront of her mind. "I will not cry, I'm okay," she told herself. Her voice was shaking. "I tried so hard to play their way!"
A flood of memories poured through her mind. "And God made Eve to bear the curse - the curse of blood! The curse of blood..." Her momma was dragging her to the closet but she was fighting - oh God she was fighting! And then Tommy - Tommy - "An eagle's just another bird until he can spread his wings!" The sound of one of Momma's hymns, distorted and mocking, played through her head. And Momma's words - oh, she'd said it, hadn't she, just hours ago? "They'll make fun of you! They will break your heart! Then they'll laugh at you, watching you fall apart!"
Next to her, Tommy was wide-eyed with shock. This couldn't have happened. Finally, Carrie was getting the chance to become a real person, and Chris pulled this stunt! For a moment, he was too stunned to do anything, even process the words that Carrie seemed to be unaware of saying.
Then he became aware of something that seemed to be emanating from the bloodstained girl beside him. A flood of images poured into his brain - the names, the pushes and punches and getting ducked at Christian Youth Camp, half-dressed girls in a locker room flinging pads and tampons, the woman he knew as Carrie's mother hitting and screaming and pulling - and a rising, struggling, sense of terror and pain and anger quickly moving towards a crescendo.
Screw the blood was his only coherent thought. His mind was being overwhelmed with the sudden understanding of Carrie's torment, but his body seemed to know what to do. It turned to the side and flung its arms around Carrie.
She stiffened. A presence was bumping against her mind, something that had come with the arms. It pushed against her memories and struggled to get inside.
And a moment later, it wasn't the only one.
Frieda, George, Miss Gardner, and at least a dozen other people in the gym had felt the emotions pulsing through Carrie. Chris felt them, too, but they terrified her. The others that felt moved mentally to help while Chris and Norma stood paralyzed with fear.
New memories started to intrude. They were hesitant and nervous. Carrie grabbed for them and spun through a dozen minds, seeing what they saw - seeing herself the way they saw her. The gawky girl in the sweaters and long skirts. The girl who hid behind her hair. The girl who slowly seemed to gain an element of beauty through the years, even as the clothes and the hair tried harder to hide it. Confused and unsure Carrie being asked to prom. The girl dismissive of her future until Miss Gardner helped to show her the way. And then suddenly, the transformed girl in the red dress. The unfamiliar angel entering prom, smiling for the first time, laughing for the first time that anyone had seen.
And the words.
I'm sorry, Carrie.
Carrie, we should have seen.
Hold on, Carrie.
Don't lose yourself.
You're beautiful, Carrie.
"Carrie," whispered Tommy. Oh, God. I see her. Iunderstand her.
Carrie shook. But the rage that had risen up inside her was subsiding. "Oh, my God," she whispered, and her voice broke. "How am I ever going to explain this to Momma?" Her breath hitched, and then she was sobbing. Tommy held on to her as noise slowly started up in the gym around them.
Miss Gardner took control. "Stokes! Freddy!" she barked. "Get Miss Hargensen and Mr. Nolan and give them to Mr. Stephens. Roy, take them out to your car and drive them to the police station. I'll be there in about twenty minutes. Tommy!"
Tommy looked up. "Yes, Miss Gardner?"
"Do you have a car?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Miss Gardner nodded. "Good. Take Carrie somewhere where she can wash that off. I'm going to go and see her mother."
Carrie blanched. "No," she said. "No, don't tell Momma! She'll lock me in the closet again, I'll never get out -"
"Carrie, calm down," Miss Gardner said. "If your mother shows any signs that she's going to do anything to you, I'll make sure you never have to go back there again. Understand?"
Carrie swallowed a fresh wave of sobs and nodded.
"Good. Now go."
Tommy guided her down the stairs and out of the gym, past Chris and Billy, who were being frog-marched towards Mr. Stephens. The warm night air soothed Carrie's skin as they walked towards Tommy's car.
"I'll ruin your seat," she whispered.
"I don't care," Tommy said. "Come on."
They drove through the quiet night towards Sue's house. It was the only place Tommy could think of. Sue's parents were out of town, and Sue would gladly help them.
The porch light flickered on as Tommy pulled into the driveway. Sue came running out, dressed in pajamas and a bathrobe and clutching a mug of hot chocolate. She gasped when she saw Carrie.
"Oh my God, what happened?" she asked.
"Chris," Tommy said. "She thought it would be funny to dump a bucket of blood over Carrie's head."
Sue frowned and cursed - the first Time Tommy had ever heard her. "That idiot!" she exclaimed. "Come on, Carrie. My parent's aren't home. You can use our bathroom to wash that off."
"Thank you," Carrie whispered. She walked inside, flanked by Sue and Tommy.
It was almost twenty minutes before Carrie came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her. "I couldn't get the blood out of my dress," she said by way of explanation. "Sue, can I use your phone? I need to call Momma and tell her I'm going to be late." Her voice shook, but her face was set strongly.
"Sure," Sue said. She handed Carrie the phone. Carrie dialed and put it to her ear.
On the third ring, someone picked up, but it wasn't Momma. "Hello?" Miss Gardner said.
"Miss Gardner!" Carrie exclaimed. "What... Where's Momma?"
On the other end of the line, Miss Gardner bit her lip. "Carrie, your mother is on her way to the police station," she said. "When I got here I found her in the kitchen, sharpening a knife. When I introduced myself to her she tried to attack me. She said that I was the one who'd led you down 'this sinful path'."
Carrie sat down heavily on a chair. "No," she said. "No. Momma would never -"
"Carrie, has your mother ever hurt you?" Miss Gardner asked. "Has she ever done anything to you based on her beliefs? Because from what I understood, she was convinced you're a witch. She was waiting to..."
Carrie was shaking her head. "No! She wouldn't go that far," she insisted.
"She was screaming, 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live'," Miss Gardner said firmly. "Carrie, where are you? I'm going to take you to my house. You can stay there for a while."
It was a long moment before Carrie could say anything. "S-Sue's house," she said finally. "Six-oh-two Ewen Road."
"Right," Miss Gardner said. "I'll be there soon. And Carrie?"
A pause.
"I'm sorry."
Chris and Billy were severely punished for their stunt at prom. Even Chris's father found fault with what they'd done. Chris's acceptance to Brown University was rescinded, and she couldn't leave the house the whole summer. Even once she began taking classes at Chamberlain's tiny community college (from which nobody ever went anywhere), she was still only allowed out to go to class. Billy was sent to jail on a number of charges which had been brought up by just a little police digging.
Sue and Tommy spent the summer backpacking in Europe, and when fall came around, they headed off to college. Tommy turned down the baseball scholarship he'd been offered by University of Boston and went to Brown with Sue. He majored in Creative Writing, with a concentration in poetry, and by the end of his first semester had published a poem about a girl who had blossomed from a battered victim of cruel bullies into a beautiful woman "with a chance to change the world". Sue was majoring in pre-med.
Carrie spent the next year living with Miss Gardner. She got a job waitressing at a small restaurant in town, and spent her free time working to get scholarships and college acceptances. When Carrie left for college - she'd been accepted to Virginia Commonwealth University, and had earned enough scholarships that she didn't have to pay a dime - she left her mother and Chamberlain behind for good. She never looked back. While she was at VCU, she majored in biomedical engineering and met a young man named Eric Hughes, who was also in the program. In her sophomore year, they began dating. Once they graduated, they got married, and lived in Richmond.
She kept up correspondence with Sue and Tommy, who had moved to Atlanta so Sue could start work with the CDC. A shelf in Carrie's study was reserved for the growing number of books with by Tommy Ross emblazoned on the cover and spine. Carrie began real medical research into the subject of telekinesis, a subject which gained even more importance to her and Eric after their daughter Lynn was born.
Lynn was telekinetic, too.