Elfen Lied Carrie

by keithallen

The Movie Carrie with Nana and Mayu from Elfen Lied going to school with Carrie. Things get interesting. Rated M for safety

Elfen lied/ Carrie

Nana sat in her classroom working on her English, her dictionary beside her. Enrolled in school's 'special class' so she was able to catch up on the years she never went to school, Nana was working hard to get up to grade level with Mayu.

In the seat across the isle, The mentally challenged boy in a brown shirt and bib overalls said, "Nana, you study too much."

He'd broken her concentration. Nana frowned at him and said, "Jimmy, Nana has to work hard so please don't distract Nana."

Jimmy grinned at her and asked, "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Call yourself by your name."

"Nana is Nana, who else is Nana suppose to be?" Nana asked, confused.

Jimmy laughed. "You're funny, Nana."

At his desk, their Teacher, Mr. Bloomburg, said, "Miss Kikumura, Mr. Baker is pointing out you refer to yourself in third-person instead of saying 'I' or 'Me'.

Nana turned to Mr. Bloomburg. "But, Nana is not you, Nana is Nana," she stated.

Jimmy laughed harder, as did a couple other boys.

Bobby, who was sitting behind Nana, said with a wide grin, "Bobby thinks Nana is cute when Nana talks like that!"

Grinning like a fool, Jimmy said, "And Jimmy thinks Nana is a bit strange, wearing a hat all day, but Nana is fun to be around."

"Jimmy, Nana is not strange, Bobby thinks Nana is cute!" Bobby said with a wide grin.

Soon everyone in the class was referring to themselves and everyone else using only proper names.

With the conversation turning away from her, Nana got back to work. Mr. Bloomburg found a new curious thing about Nana. Not only her purple hair color and her insistence on always wearing her wool hat, but her refusal to use first person when referring to herself. Unlike most of the students he had, Nana was no dummy. She was a smart girl who'd just never been taught. He knew she came from Japan, so it had to be a cultural difference.

Lunch time came. Nana put her books away as the boys hurried out. By the time she was walking out, the only other one left was Mr. Bloomburg waiting by the door for her.

"Miss Kikumura, where in Japan are you from?" he asked.

"Kamakura. It's in the Yokohama area ... sir," she replied. She remembered the American way of speaking with a teacher.

He motioned out the door. Nana went out first. "They had no schools in Kamm... where you're from?" he asked, not knowing how to pronounce the name.

Nana blinked. She knew she didn't dare tell the truth so she said, "There was, but not for Nana. Mayu got to go to school. Mayu has taught Nana some."

"Your mother didn't teach you?" he asked.

Nana shook her head. "Nana didn't have a Mama. Yuka is Nana's Mama now," she explained. She then frowned in thought. Was Lucy her Mama too? Kouta was the Papa, but Kouta slept with Lucy. She figured that in some way, Lucy was a mama too.

"How about your father?" he asked.

Papa. So much Nana didn't remember, but she did remember her Papa. Mariko too. Papa picking up Mariko and walked away. Nana was confused why Papa left her. Then Papa had blown up, killing Mariko as well. Even now, she clearly remembered that event. In a big flash of flame and smoke, her Papa disappeared.

"Papa," Nana said with a sniffle. She stopped and wiped her eyes.

"Are you OK, Miss Kikumura?" Mr. Bloomburg asked gently.

Nana nodded and got hold of herself. Lucy had warned her Americans were busybodies. She had to be careful what she said and did. Stiffing herself, Nana said, "Nana's fine. Nana just got sad from remembering Papa."

"He doesn't live with you either?"

"Papa and Mariko ... died." Nana said sadly. "Kouta and Yuka take care of Nana and Mayu now."

"I would very much like to talk to them."

Nana looked up at the serious-faced teacher. If he tried to go home and talk to Kouta and Yuka, Nana knew Lucy would be there too. Although Kouta and Yuka were both nice, Lucy wasn't. If he did anything or was acting like he might do something, Lucy just might rip him apart. Lucy hadn't killed anyone in quite a while and Nana didn't want to give her any reason to start again. "Nana can ask Kouta or Yuka to come to school," Nana offered.

"That will be fine. Either before or after classes," he told her.

"Nana will tell Kouta," she said with a nod.

On the way to the cafeteria, Nana heard a couple poofie-haired girls giggling and commenting about Nana's 'limp' purple hair and hat. Nana ignored them and watched the crowd for Mayu. She didn't care what those dumb girls with the super-curly hair said. It wasn't long before the two focused on another girl to comment on.

As usual, Mayu was waiting for Nana just outside the cafeteria. A tall boy was beside Mayu. Nana saw the boy trying to talk to Mayu. Mayu was being nice, but Nana knew Mayu was very nervous around boys. Seeing Nana, Mayu waved a hand in the air. "Nana! Over here!" she called.

"Hi Mayu," Nana said cheerfully and asked the boy, "Who are you?"

"Been good talking to you, Mayu," he said and went in, ignoring Nana.

Mayu frowned as he left. "Rude," she said.

"He is Mayu's friend, not Nana's" Nana offered.

Mayu frowned at the boy as he got in the lunch line. "If he won't talk to you, I don't want to talk to him, either," Mayu stated.

Nana knew why boys wanted to talk to Mayu. Mayu was pretty and her dark brown hair was thick and always combed and had a nice shine to it. Mayu didn't have to wear a hat to hide her horns like Nana or Lucy did. Even so, Mayu was very shy and nervous of boys. Nana never questioned why.

Getting in the lunch line behind Mayu, Nana felt a presence. It was like Lucy, but different. She turned and looked back at the doors. A slim girl with light brown hair and plain, loose fitting clothes came in. Her head was down, ignoring everyone around her until she stopped and looked at Nana. Not knowing what else to do, Nana waved.

The girl grew a tiny smile and waved back.

Mayu grabbed Nana and made them change places.

"Huh?" Nana asked as Mayu got behind her.

The boy now in front of Nana looked back and said, "Mayu, you can get ahead of me."

Nana frowned at him. He turned back around. Looking back, Nana saw the meek girl get in line behind Mayu. Nana switched places with Mayu.

"Hey!" Mayu barked and switched them back so Nana was in front, between Mayu and the boy.

"Hey, yourself, Nana wants to talk to that girl," Nana said.

One of the teachers on monitor duty came up and asked, "What's going on here?" To Nana she asked, "Did you jump in line?"

Seeing this as her chance, Nana said, "Yes! Nana's sorry!" She moved Mayu back in front of her.

"But..." Mayu muttered.

"Back TWO spots!" the teacher told Nana firmly.

Nana motioned the light brown haired girl in front of her. Like Mayu, the girl was shy. Nana just got behind her.

"Nana!" Mayu cried, realizing she was again close to the boy who gazed at her, and there was another person between her and Nana. "Switch with me," Mayu said to the shy girl.

The girl looked at Mayu, wide eyed. Dropping her eyes to the floor, she shook her head meekly.

"Mayu already got Nana in trouble, leave her alone," Nana said angrily. To the girl, Nana said, "I'm Nana. Who are you?"

Meekly, the girl said, "Carrie."

"Freekazoid," the tall boy muttered.

Mayu frowned at him. Nana told Carrie, "Don't pay attention to the dummy."

"Who you calling a dummy?" he asked in a hard tone.

"You, dummy!" Nana stated.

"Nana, stop it," Mayu said.

"Be lucky I don't fight with little girls," the boy grumbled and turned around.

Putting her nose in the air, Nana said, "Nana doesn't fight with big dummies."

Carrie snorted out a chuckle. Nana was short and seemed fearless, talking back to boys. She wished she could be so brave. "Nana, you should be careful," she whispered.

"Huh?" Nana asked and blinked at her.

"Mamma says boys might do things to you," Carrie confided.

"Like what?" Nana asked, watching her closely.

Meekly, Carrie said, "Like ... grab you and do things to you."

Nana frowned at her. "No one's going to do anything to Nana, or Mayu. If Dummy tries to touch Mayu, Nana will make him wish he hadn't!"

"What if he follows you home?" Carrie asked fearfully.

"Then I feel bad for the Big Dummy if Lucy gets a hold of him!" Nana stated.

"Nana!" Mayu said, glaring at her in warning.

Carrie noted Mayu was worried about what Nana was saying. "Who's Lucy?" she asked.

"Our sister," Mayu said quickly.

Nana frowned a bit and said, "Mayu, Nana knows Lucy is like a sister, but Lucy is our Mamma too."

"Yuka is our Mama," Mayu stated. "Kouta is our Papa, and Yuka is the Momma."

"Yeah, but Lucy is kinda our Mamma too," Nana replied. "Doesn't Lucy do the work with Yuka? And Yuka can't do some things as good as Lucy can."

"We don't talk about that, Nana," Mayu said firmly.

Indignantly, Nana said, "Nana knows! Nana didn't say anything Nana shouldn't."

"Well don't!"

"Hey, Mayu, the line's moving on," Nana said, pointing.

.

Carrie went along with the line in between Mayu and Nana. The boy in front of Mayu had stopped paying attention to them. Carrie could not help but to pay attention to Nana. There was something about Nana that drew her attention. The instant she'd walked into the cafeteria, Carrie had locked right onto the purple haired girl. The funny looking wool cap and the girl's innocent look were very noticeable, but there was something about Nana that pulled Carrie's attention to her. It was almost like Carrie knew where Nana was without looking at her.

Due to feet that would happened to just slide out in front of her to trip her, Carrie watched the floor as she went to sit at a table. Not seeing her only friend Sue, she followed Nana and Mayu over to sit down across from them. Seeing one of the Jocks coming, Carrie kept her eyes down.

"Nice hat."

The Football player went to snatch Nana's hat off her head. Just before contact, his hand flew up and he tripped. The motion and his yelp as he fell got everyone's attention.

"Smooth move, Exlax!" one boy called. People laughed.

The jock got up and stared at Nana. "Did you just trip me?" he asked in a warning tone.

Nana only glanced at him and said, "You tripped over your own big feet, Mr. Clumsy."

"Be lucky you're a girl!" he snarled.

"So sorry you have to be a boy," Nana replied. This brought more laughter and a few "oooh!"s from people around them.

Carrie pursed her lips. It was funny, but she didn't dare laugh and anger the boy any further. Nana snorted out a chuckle.

The Jock glared at Nana, "Laugh it up, Freakzoid!" he barked and stormed off.

"Nana, did you trip him?" Mayu asked quietly.

"Mr. Clumsy tried to steal Nana's hat," Nana told her.

Carrie didn't know what happened, but she decided she liked this purple haired girl.

.

When lunch was over, Nana had gym class. Since her special class didn't have their own, she went with Carrie's class. Today they were on the track field and had to run around on the track. Nana didn't run the fastest. Neither did Carrie, so they ran together in the back of the pack.

'huf huf'... "Nana, you're from Japan?" Carrie asked.

"Uh... huh. Kamakura," Nana panted. "Kouta brought us here ... Kouta wants us to have.." 'pant pant' "... a better life."

"You don't feel 'pant' afraid living with a boy?" Carrie asked.

Nana eyed her. "Carrie, Kouta is our Papa. Why should Nana be afraid of Kouta?"

"Mama says all boys are bad."

"Carrie, your Mamma is lying to you. Kouta never does anything bad to us."

The gym teacher's voice yelled out, "Kikumura, White! If you're talking, your not running fast enough!"

Nana frowned over at her. Seeing Nana's frown, she yelled, "Only those up front can talk and run!"

Nana turned to Carrie and said, "Fine, let's run to the front."

The group was coming to a turn. Nana ran out in a burst of speed and passed the whole group on the outside corner. Slowing down on the straight after the corner, Nana waved back and called, "Carrie, come on!"

Carrie wasn't able to put on the speed Nana did. Nana stopped and let the class run past, then jogged out to get beside Carrie again.

For some reason, this infuriated the teacher. She scowled at Nana as they finished their run. Striding over to the class after they passed the finish line, the Teacher barked, "Kikumura! You are not putting all your effort into it!"

"Teacher said run, Nana ran," Nana said defensively.

"But you can run faster, can't you?" the teacher asked.

"Why?" Nana asked.

"She's just knows she will get beaten anyway!" one of the poofie haired girls yelled.

"Yeah, just stay in the back and out of our way, you hat wearing freak!" another girl yelled.

"I bet she's bald, that's why she wears a hat," another called.

Carrie went over and clasped Nana's hand. "Don't listen to them," she said quietly.

"Oh look, the freak is trying to console another freak," The poofie blond said.

Becoming irritated, Nana pointed at the blond and said, "Whatever poofie head can do, Nana can do better!"

"Poofie head?" a girl asked, and laughed.

"My name is Carol!" the blond snapped.

"Whatever poofie head Carol can do, Nana can do better," Nana stated.

"Don't call me that!" Carol snapped.

"Carol is your name, isn't it?" Nana asked.

"Fine, care to bet on that?" Carol asked in a hard tone.

"Enough, both of you, take a lap!" the teacher stated.

Carol trotted off. Nana ran just ahead of Carol. Carol sped up to teach the little freak a lesson. Nana sped up, just staying ahead of Carol. What started off as an easy run around the track quickly turned into a real race. On the back stretch, Nana turned and ran backwards using her vectors. "Poofie head Carol is too slow!" she chided.

Angry, Carol pumped hard to catch up to Nana. Nana turned back around and ran to stay just out of Carol's reach.

"Nana is better than Poofie head Carol!" Nana sang loudly. Nana then jumped with help from her vectors and flew into a 20 foot lead.

Carrie and the other girls watched Nana's antics and Carol's desperate run just trying to keep up. Just before the finish line, Carol tripped and fell flat, panting in heaving breaths. Her cronies ran over to help her up.

"What happened, Poofie head?" Nana asked innocently.

Gritting her teeth, Carol cast Nana a death glare.

"All right, hit the showers!" the teacher commanded.

.

Nana used her opaque white shower cap, ensuring no one saw her exchange it for her wool hat. She also picked a locker she could see from inside the shower. She knew mean people might try to steal something of hers, especially since Poofie head Carol was angry.

Carrie took the shower head next to Nana. "How did you run like that?" she asked in a conspiratorial whisper. "You even ran backwards and that jump!"

Nana giggled. Tipping her head slightly, she said, "Carrie can do it too if Carrie wants."

"Me?" Carrie asked.

"Nana will explain after school," Nana whispered. Seeing one of Poofie head's friends near her locker, Nana said, "Nana has to go watch Nana's things."

Nana got out in time to see the girl reach a hand up to the locker. Seeing Nana coming, she quickly moved away. Nana toweled herself off. She then heard Carrie call for help. That was followed by a chant of "Plug it up! Plug it up!"

Nana looked to see a pack of girls throwing tampons on the floor where Carrie lay, looking terrified. Forgetting herself, Nana leaped over them to stand in front of Carrie.

"Stop it!" Nana barked.

The chant turned into a hail of insults at Nana. The overhead light blew out. Nana yelled, "Back up!" With her yell, her vectors came out. She pushed all the girls away to tumble in the walkways and slam back into lockers.

The Gym teacher ran in to see what the commotion was about. The girls on the floor looked at Nana, scrambled up and ran away. Most grabbed their clothes and fled. One fled just in her panties and bra.

"Carrie, are you OK?" Nana asked, turning to her.

With a sob, Carrie showed Nana her bloody fingers. "I'm bleeding," she cried.

Nana looked, and it was soon apparent what the problem was. "Carrie, Yuka showed Nana how to deal with this. Nana will show Carrie..."

.

Sitting in the Gym teacher's office, Nana waited for the teacher to return. The woman did, eyeing Nana as she went around the desk to her own seat.

"What happened in the showers?" Miss Collins asked crisply.

Nana frowned and said, "Girls were picking on Carrie. Nana got in front of Carrie and made them back up. Carrie didn't know what a menstrual cycle was, so Nana explained it."

"How did you make them back up?" Miss Collins asked. "They all said they're afraid of you."

Nana shrugged. "They were picking on Nana's friend. Nana stopped them."

"How? Did you push them?"

Nana held up her hands. "How can Nana push them all at once?"

"I'm not going to play games with you," Miss Collins said firmly. "I am not happy with their behavior, or yours. Yes, you helped Carrie White and that was admirable. You can't go around pushing people, Miss Kikumura. Someone may get hurt."

"Nana's sorry. Can Nana go to class now?"

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," the teacher said.

"Nana will be good," Nana promised. She got up and left.

.

At the end of the day, Nana came out of school to find Carrie waiting. Nana waved and went over to wait for Mayu. "Hi Carrie, Nana is going to wait here for Mayu."

"Can I wait with you?" Carrie asked.

Nana nodded.

Jimmy from class came running out. "Nana! We're going to play ball, wanna come play with us?"

Beaming Jimmy a smile, Nana said, "Hi Jimmy. Thanks, but Nana has to walk Mayu home."

"Who's Mayu?"

"Mayu is Nana's sister," Nana explained.

Grinning, Jimmy said, "Does Mayu talk like you?"

"NO, Mayu talks like Mayu," Nana said.

"He he, he he. You're funny, Nana. Maybe you can come play with us once you walk Mayu home?" he asked.

Nana winced. "Not really. Nana has chores, and Yuka gets upset if Nana isn't home on time."

"Who's Yuka?"

"Yuka is Nana's mom."

"Then why don't you just call her mom?"

Nana blinked. "But, she's Yuka."

Jimmy laughed again. "Bobby was really hoping you'd ... oh wait , Bobby was hoping Nana would come play with us, and Jimmy wanted to see Nana too!" he said brightly.

"Nana will ask Kouta and Yuka if Nana can stay late tomorrow."

"All right!" Noticing Carrie, Jimmy asked, "Who's that?"

"Nana's friend Carrie."

"Hi Carrie," Jimmy said with a wave. "Nana, see you tomorrow!"

"Bye Jimmy."

A soon as Jimmy was on his way, Carrie asked meekly, "Nana, you're not scared of him?"

Nana cast Carrie an odd look and said, "Jimmy's not scary. Jimmy may not be very smart, but Jimmy is nice to Nana. Why would Nana be afraid of Jimmy?"

"Boys do things to girls," Carrie said in a low, conspiratory tone.

Nana put a finger to her lip and said, "Nana thinks Carrie's mother is making Carrie afraid when Carrie doesn't need to be."

"Mother knows," Carrie insisted.

"Carrie's mother is afraid of boys, all the time?" Nana asked.

"Yes. Mother says we have to be very careful," Carrie explained.

Nana frowned in thought then said,. "Nana isn't afraid. Maybe if Nana comes with Carrie to explain to Carrie's mother?"

Carrie shook her head. "Mother might not believe you, Nana. Mother is very set on what she believes."

Nana's frown became deeper as she thought. Nana knew Carrie had something similar to vectors. Maybe Carrie's mother didn't know how to use hers either. Maybe they needed someone to show them how. Nana's face suddenly brightened. "Nana has the answer! Nana will walk Carrie home, then come back with Lucy! We can show you how not to be afraid!"

Carrie's house was only a couple blocks from Nana's. Nana ran home and told Lucy it was very important for her to come. Lucy wasn't thrilled, but since it was important to Nana, she did.

.

Carrie put her books down in the front room. Seeing she was home, her mother asked, "How was your day, dear?"

Carrie let out a long sigh. "Busy. I met a new friend, her name is Nana. She's from Japan. She has a sister, Mayu. Nana isn't very big, but she really is brave. I mean, I don't think Nana is afraid of anyone. She also helped me out when I started bleeding in Gym class."

Her mother took on a worried look. "You hurt yourself?"

"No mother. It's called a menstrual cycle, I stared mine today..."

"No!" her mother cried and took on a horrified look. "I prayed and prayed you would be spared the mark of the devil!" she wailed.

Carrie gaped at her. Trying to explain, she said, "Mom, it's not a devil mark, it's a normal female function."

Hugging herself and weeping, Carrie's Mother said, "It must be something you did that caused this!" She grabbed Carrie by her hair and drug her to kneel before the small alter in the room. "Kneel and pray, pray while I purge this evil from you!"

"Mother, it isn't evil! Every girl has a menstrual cycle!" Carrie cried. Her head was forced down. Her mother raised a leather belt.

.

Lucy walked up the street with Nana to see this new friend of hers. "Nana, I'm happy you are making friends. Why do I have to see her?" she asked.

"Carrie needs our help, Lucy," Nana explained. "Carrie is kinda like us, but Carrie is really withdrawn and scared of everything."

From the house up ahead, a girl wailed out in pain.

"It's Carrie!" Nana cried and ran for the noise. Lucy followed. They ran to the house as another cry wailed out. The front door was open, through the screen door, they saw Carrie doubled over and being held in place as a woman raised her belt again. Nana got the screen door open. Lucy grabbed the woman's wrist with a vector, and took the belt away from her. The woman stumbled and stared at Lucy and Nana in shock.

"That's enough," Lucy stated.

Carrie's mother watched the belt float away from her then drop to the floor. Carrie looked up, wide eyed, at Lucy. The pink haired woman had red eyes and stubby horns on her head!

Carrie's mother pointed at Lucy and proclaimed, "You! You are the evil that did this to my daughter!"

"The only one doing anything to your daughter, is you," Lucy retorted.

"BEGONE, spawn of Satan!" the woman yelled.

Lucy snorted, wearing a smirk. "And they call me a monster. Lady, you're a lunatic."

"BEGONE!" the woman wailed and snapped up the belt again. Brandishing at Lucy, she wailed, "I will purge you from the face of the Earth!"

"I don't think so," Lucy said, staring the woman down. Carrie's mother let out a yelp as she was lifted to hover in the air. "And if you try to hurt my family like you hurt your daughter, I will rip you apart."

"Lucy, please stop!" Nana begged.

Lucy dropped Carrie's mother to sprawl on the floor. "Nana, it is best if we do not get involved with these people," she said, and walked back out the door.

Wearing a pained face and twisting her fingers together, Nana said, "Nana's sorry, Nana thought Carrie was in trouble!"

"Begone, spawn of Satan!" Carrie's mother yelled with fear in her eyes.

Nana's face crimped up. She burst out crying and ran out after Lucy.

Free of the devil women, Carrie's mother pulled Carrie into a huddle and desperately prayed.

.

The next day, Carrie was at the corner as Nana and Mayu came up the street. Remembering the pink haired stranger that frightened her mother, Carrie looked,

but didn't see Lucy.

"Hi Carrie," Nana said meekly as they approached. "Nana hopes Nana didn't cause too much trouble. Nana was only trying to help."

"What is Lucy?" Carrie asked. "Mamma said she's the devil," she added.

Nana let out a sigh. "No, Lucy is not the devil. Lucy can be mean. Kouta, Mayu and Nana have been working at keeping Lucy's temper down." Brightening up some, Nana offered, "And Lucy has been doing good too! Lucy is getting better at talking with people and Lucy hasn't killed anyone at all since we've been here!"

Carrie stared at Nana. "She kills people?" she asked weakly.

"Not any more," Mayu said, seeing Carrie's fearful face. "These bad people were after Nana and Lucy. Lucy had to kill a lot of soldiers. I think it was their fault too, they would not stop shooting at Lucy. But Like Nana said, we got away and Lucy hasn't killed anyone in ... months!"

"All that's over now so Nana wants live like a normal person and go to school like Mayu does and be Carrie's friend," Nana said.

Carrie remembered Lucy's warning. "Lucy really rips people apart?" she asked.

"Lucy has," Nana confirmed. Nana then reached up with her right arm and took her left arm off. Showing it to Carrie, she said, "Lucy tore off Nana's arms because Nana tried to make Lucy go back to the island."

Carrie gasped in horror. "She ripped your arm off?"

Nana looked around, put her left arm back on, then took her right arm off. "Both arms. Nana's legs too."

Carrie stared at Nana. "If ... both your arms are fake, how do they move?"

"Nana uses her vectors," Nana said proudly. "Nana's gotten real good at it too. Nana's legs don't even fall off any more."

"Vectors?" Carrie asked.

"Yeah, they can do things, but Nana's not as strong as Lucy is," Nana explained. Seeing Carrie's wide eyed look of shock, Nana said, "Nana's sorry for making Carrie nervous. If Carrie wants, Nana can help Carrie use Carrie's own vectors."

"I don't understand," Carrie said. "What are vectors?"

Nana took her left arm off again and handed it to Carrie. "Please, hold Nana's arm," Nana asked.

Carrie did, noting that although it looked life like and the arm had all the joints, there was no visible way to move them.

"Now, watch that rock," Nana announced, and looked at a small bounder at the edge of someone's yard.

Carrie looked at the rock in time to see a diagonal line appear through it. The top of the rock slid off.

"See? Vectors can cut anything," Nana explained. "They can also pick things up and move things around." The cut off top of the rock then lifted in the air and turned upside down, then settled back to the ground.

"How are you doing that?" Carrie asked.

"Nana told you! With Nana's vectors," Nana said indignantly. "Carrie has them too, or something like them. Nana knows."

"But, how do they work?" Carrie asked.

"Just think hard and Carrie can do it too," Nana explained. "The more Carrie does, the easier it will be."

Carrie looked at the fake arm she was holding. She thought about the fingers moving. The fingers twitched. Shocked, Carrie dropped the arm with a squeak.

The arm stopped mid air before it hit the ground. It rose up and turned, lining up with Nana's shoulder and locked in place.

Nana giggled. "Carrie did move Nana's fingers, but Nana needs undamaged arms so please don't drop them."

.

Going into class, Carrie meekly took her seat, thinking about what Nana had showed her this morning. Her friend Sue came in and sat in front of her.

"Hi, Carrie, you OK?" she asked, seeing Carrie's thoughtful frown.

Carrie looked up at her. "I saw something amazing. Last night and this morning," she said.

"Ohhh, come on, share," Sue said with a grin.

"Do you know Nana? That girl in special Ed that always wears a wool hat?" Carrie asked.

Sue thought for a moment, then said, "Yeah, Ok. The purple haired girl. What about her?"

"I watched her cut a big rock in half just by looking at it."

Sue stared at her briefly. "You're kidding, right?"

Carrie shook her head. Leaning closer she said, "Nana's arms are fake, She pulled them off and showed me. She said Lucy tore her arms off, so she has fake ones now. Yet, she moves them like they are real."

Watching her intently, Sue asked, "Lucy who?"

"The pink haired Lucy that Nana knows. She's scary. Lucy says she's a monster. With those red eyes and horns, I think she is," Carrie confided.

Sue lifted a hand to her face to wipe her mouth as she smirked. "Carrie, hon, this Nana is messing with you."

"No, I saw it!" Carrie insisted. "And I saw Lucy! Nana said she has vectors, and told me I have them too."

Sue rolled her eyes with a groan. "Come on, Carrie, they had to be messing with you! Look, does it make sense that someone can cut a rock by looking at it? Tell you what, we'll ask Nana to convince me these things are real. THEN you'll see she was pulling your leg."

.

Carrie and Sue found Nana standing in the lunch line with the oriental girl, Mayu. Sue watched them as the line slowly moved along. Nana talked with her friend, both cheerful. Comments of 'weirdo' and 'rice eater' were cast at them. The girls ignored the taunts, focused on each other. When the girls got their food and found a place to sit, Sue coaxed Carrie to come with her and sat across from them.

Upon Seeing Carrie, Nana waved and happily said, "Hi Carrie!"

"Hi, Nana, Mayu," Carrie said and sat down across from Nana. "This is my friend Sue."

Beaming a happy smile, Nana said, "We can all be friends together."

"Hi," Mayu offered, looking at the two girls warily.

Sue had seen both girls around. Mayu hardly talked to anyone besides Nana and she spoke softly. Nana didn't speak often, when she did, it was usually in a loud, confident voice.

"So, Nana, I heard you can do tricks," Sue said brightly.

"Huh?" Nana asked, looking confused.

Mayu stared briefly and nothing, then cast Nana a frightened look. "Nana, you can't use ... You didn't, did you?"

Nana cast a confused look back at her friend. "Mayu, Nana thinks Carrie is like Nana and Lucy."

Mayu turned to look at Carrie, then quietly (or trying to be) Mayu whispered, "She doesn't have any horns."

"Horns?" Sue asked. She coughed to get their attention. "Mayu, right? I'd appreciate it if you didn't imply things that are not true. Why would Carrie have horns?"

Mayu and Nana looked at her, then let out nervous chuckles. "Ahh, ha ha," Only kidding," Mayu offered.

"Lucy does have horns," Carrie stated.

"Lucy didn't wear her hat?" Mayu asked. Nana shrugged.

Sue rolled eyes at them. "OK, who's this Lucy with the horns?"

Nana frowned at her. "Shh, not so loud!" she said, finger to her lips.

"God, look at the weirdos," a senior girl said with a snort as they passed by.

"Yeah, really," another agreed.

Ignoring them, Mayu leaned towards Sue and said, "Please, let's not talk about that here."

"After school then?" Sue asked. "I want to meet this Lucy."

Mayu cringed and said, "I don't think you do. Lucy's been getting better, but it's still not a good idea."

"Hey Carrie, can Nana walk you home today and explain to your mom about Lucy?" Nana asked.

Carrie's eyes grew wide. "No! Nana, Mom was scared, please tell Lucy to stay away," she begged.

As they talked, Sue got the impression of this Lucy as some kind of tough gang girl. Leather jacket with chains, maybe with a switchblade knife. A real hoodlum. It could be Lucy had horns put on her head to help with her 'bad ass' look. She asked, "Nana, Mayu, what are you two doing hanging around a delinquent like Lucy?"

Nana frowned at Sue. "Lucy is not a del... a bad girl any more! Lucy tries hard at being good."

"She is," Mayu agreed. "Just don't get her angry. Lucy gets scary when she's angry."

Carrie nodded vacantly. When Lucy had taken the belt away from her mother, Carrie had felt something strong from the woman. What it was, Carrie didn't know, but she did feel Lucy leave. Thankfully, her mother went in to pray vigorously, so the beating was over.

"Carrie, Nana's sorry Nana brought Lucy to your house. Lucy only did that because Lucy gets worried about Nana," Nana offered.

"Nana, why do you use your name all the time? Can't you just say 'I'?" Sue asked.

"Nana is Nana, not Sue," Nana explained.

"Never mind."

.

Thankfully, Carrie didn't get harassed very much that day, which pleased Sue. One thing she was worried about was this Lucy they were talking about. The last thing Carrie needed was someone else to harass and pick on her. Although it was not her route, Sue left school with Carrie and Nana. Mayu stayed for sports tryouts.

"Sue, don't you go home down that street?" Carrie asked as they left.

Sue cast her a smile and said, "I wanted to walk Nana home."

Nana eyed her and said, "Nana will be all right."

Carrie was about to agree, then got it. "You want to meet Lucy, don't you?"

Noting Nana was watching her closely, Sue said, "I just want to be sure no one is going to bother you, Carrie."

"Nana won't let anyone bother Carrie," Nana said firmly.

"Sue, please, don't confront Lucy," Carrie begged.

"I won't," Sue said defensively. "I just wanted to talk to her."

"Hey Sue?" Nana said. "Nana knows you mean well. Nana just doesn't want to see anyone hurt."

"I don't plan on hurting anyone," Sue told her.

"It's not Sue Nana is worried about doing the hurting," Nana grumbled.

"I take it Lucy is in a gang? Does she ride a motorcycle?" Sue asked.

"Lucy is a monster," Carrie said.

"Lucy is not!" Nana stated. "It was those men at that facility that made Lucy mean. And Lucy's getting better," Nana said, defending her fellow Diclonius.

"What facility?" Sue asked with a raised eyebrow.

Nana clapped a hand to her face. "Ohh! Nana wasn't suppose to tell about that! Sue, just know ... Nana and Lucy had a ... bad life once. But we are getting better!"

"Was this a government place?" Sue asked, watching Nana closely.

"Please forget Nana said that," Nana begged.

Softly, Sue asked, "Nana, were you and Lucy held someplace against your will?"

Nana whined and clapped her hands over her ears. "Please don't ask Nana anything!" she cried. Nana started walking faster.

Sue walked faster to keep up, which made Carrie pick up the pace. An intersection was coming up. Nana turned the corner and walked past a young woman with pink hair standing just beyond the corner, arms folded over her chest as she watched them.

"Sue, stop!" Carrie cried and grabbed her arm to hold her back. Nana walked quickly past the woman.

Sue eyed Carrie. "Why did you stop me?"

Carrie pointed and said, "That's Lucy."

Sue stopped cold. Lucy was wearing a wool hat similar to the one Nana had on. Lucy's hair was a bright pink and her eyes were red. In a plain white shirt and green knee length skirt, Lucy didn't look all that dangerous until one looked into her eyes. Lucy bore a hard look that bordered on predatory. The kind of look that promised something bad would happen if she got too close.

"Hi, I'm Sue, I take it you're Lucy?" Sue asked, hoping to break that hard look the pink haired woman had.

Lucy ignored her. Settling her gaze on Carrie, Lucy said, "We need to talk. Nana will be fine going home. So will your other friend."

"Who do you think you are?" Sue asked, angered at being dismissed. She moved to step forward and something stopped her. It felt like a huge hand against her chest. Sue backed up. She looked but nothing was near her. What was that?

"Sue is OK, please don't hurt her," Carrie said quickly.

Nana had stopped to watch them. "Lucy, it's OK," she called.

Lucy turned to cast a brief smirk at Nana. "I know. I need to talk to Carrie, so please head home, Nana."

Carrie didn't know what was going on, but she had a feeling someone was going to get hurt if they didn't do as Lucy asked. It wasn't that Lucy was being mean. Just very insistent. "Sue, it's OK. I'll see you tomorrow."

"What are you?" Sue asked heavily as she stared at Lucy. There was something very not right about her.

Carrie turned to stand in front of Sue. "It's OK, really. I want to talk with Lucy," she offered.

Sue frowned at her. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow," she said and stormed away, hoping it didn't look like she was fleeing.

"Lucy, will you be home soon?" Nana asked.

"I will. Yuka will need help getting dinner ready, if you don't mind," Lucy said.

"Nana will. And don't be late and get Kouta worried," Nana replied, then headed home.

With Sue and Nana gone, Carrie became nervous. shifting her books in her arms, she asked, "What did you want to talk about."

Lucy motioned for them to move. As they walked slowly on, Lucy said, "It's about you. You haven't felt the Rage yet, have you?"

"The Rage?"

"Yes. When you feel ... angry and so alone that you can't take any more. You feel like you're getting sick from all the hurt and anger boiling inside you. That is when you will erupt. No one will be safe anywhere near you. No matter how meek you are now, when the Rage hits, you will be an all but mindless killing machine. Who it is won't matter. If they are innocent or guilty won't matter." As Lucy spoke, her tone became hollow. "Even those who you care about will not be safe."

"That happened to you?" Carrie asked softly.

"Yes. It happens to all of us. Carrie, we are not completely human. We may pretend to be, but we are not. When the Rage hits you, and it will, stay away from everyone you care about for their good, and your own." Casting Carrie a sad gaze, Lucy added, "I love Kouta. I have ever since I was little. Yet I killed his father and his little sister right before his eyes. Later, I was very, very sorry for that. Even though I killed his family, Kouta still wanted to be with me. Kouta brought me back from the Rage. He saved me, Carrie. Right now, you will need someone to save you. It won't be your mother."

"I love my mother," Carrie stated.

Lucy nodded and said, "Yes, and Nana loved her Papa. I loved Kouta. Carrie, I've seen your mother. When the Rage hits, she will be nothing but a victim."

Carrie could not imagine acting like Lucy was talking about. Her, a murderer not caring who she killed? That was impossible! "I'm no killer," Carrie stated.

"Right now, no," Lucy agreed. Looking ahead, she said, "Your house is up ahead. I don't want your mother to see us together." Putting a hand on Carrie's shoulder, she said, "When the Rage comes, seek me out. For your good, and the good of those you do care about." Lucy then turned and left.

Carrie walked the rest of the way home, pondering Lucy's words. She could also feel Lucy moving away. Nana was almost home. She knew where they were. Was she really like them?

.

Carrie did her homework, finishing just before dinner. Going to the kitchen, Carrie helped her mother by cleaning and setting the table. Thinking about what Lucy had told her, she asked, "Mom, do you know about something called the 'Rage'?"

Carrie's mother snapped her dark tousle haired head to eye her daughter. "Who spoke of this?" she asked harshly.

Meekly, Carrie said, "A girl at school warned me of it."

"So, there IS a girl at that school who is not an evil sinner!" Her mother proclaimed. "Yes, she is right, you MUST beware," Her mother said sternly.

Just when Carrie was sure this Rage was going to be explained to her, her mother went off on a rant.

"Men, boys, they become possessed by the devil! They look at you with unholy lust and grab you! They cannot control themselves, you Father taught me that! The ravish and rape, leaving no part of you sacred! THAT is what the Rage is. You must be very careful and pray to God daily that it never takes you!"

Carrie nodded in understanding, knowing what Lucy was talking about had nothing to do with boys. According to Lucy, it was her that this Rage was going to consume, not someone else. That made this thing Lucy told her of even scarier.

As they sat down for dinner and her mother offered the evening prayer, Carrie prayed to be saved from this Rage.

.

The next day at lunch, Sue met the girls and as the day before, Carrie was shielded on either side at the lunch table by Mayu and Nana. Sitting across from Carrie, Sue saw a paper plate flying towards her. Before Sue could react, the plate coming down at Carrie changed direction and flew away into another table row where some guy yelled out, "Who's the asshole?"

Nana grinned and kept eating. Carrie was clueless something had been thrown at her. At another table, the boy who threw it frowned as his friends chided him about his aim.

One of the 'jocks' strolled up the isle. By the way he eyed Nana as he approached, Sue knew he was going to try something. She glared at him. Seeing her glare, he smiled and grabbed Nana's hat and moved to run. Nana's hat stayed in place, the boy's feet came out from under him. He yelped, letting go of Nana's hat as he fell flat to the floor.

Nana turned to cast him an innocent look and asked, "Did you fall down? You should be more careful, you could get hurt!"

Amid the laughter coming from all around, the Jock scrambled up and cast Nana a shocked look. "Freak," he muttered and went on his way. "I slipped OK?" he barked at the amused table of his friends.

Sue eyed Nana. That Jock had a firm grip on Nana's hat. The grip had stayed until he 'slipped' and his hand had come straight up off Nana's head. When someone was going down, they grabbed for things to support themselves, they didn't let go. That hat should have been pulled off, yet it stayed perfectly in place.

"Nana, you OK?" Carrie asked.

Nana nodded and cheerfully said, "Yup! Mr. Clumsy missed me when he slipped on the floor."

"Screw you, brat!" the angry Jock snapped.

"Hey!" a boy from the other directions barked, standing up. "That make you feel like a real man, picking on a helpless girl?"

The Cafeteria Monitor bellowed, "Is there a problem here?" Everyone went silent. The Monitor continued watching the area.

Sue only partially agreed with the boy who had stood up to defended Nana. They shouldn't be picking on girls. She also had the feeling Nana was far from helpless.

With what happened, Sue stopped looking for the opportunity to pat Nana on the head to feel of there was anything under her hat besides skull. At least, not in school. She settled on trying to deduce any oddities by the shape of her hat. Nana didn't wear hers pulled down tight, but higher. The soft 'dome' of her hat wasn't even squashed down from that boy grabbing it, which by itself was strange.

Meekly, Carrie said to Nana, "Don't talk to them. They will only tease you."

Nose in the air, Nana proudly said, "Nana will talk to whoever Nana wants to!"

"Nana, just be careful, we don't want any trouble," Mayu reminded her.

"Don't worry, Mayu," Nana assured her, "Nana won't let anyone hurt Mayu or Carrie."

"What about me?" Sue asked with a smirk.

"OK, Sue too," Nana said firmly.

.

Carrie had to smile as she listened to Nana. She wish she could be more like the short partly-asian looking girl. Nana's hair was an odd color, and she wore that silly hat all the time, but no one was able to intimidate her. It was like Nana knew she was better than any of the girls who tried to tease her. Others, Carrie thought, were plain scared of Nana. They did call her freak, but from a safe distance away. They whispered to make sure Nana didn't hear them. Even boys, except for that one idiot, steered clear of Nana. Just be being near Nana, Carrie found the taunts dropped away.

Thinking about her talk with Lucy, Carrie wondered what Nana knew about this 'Rage'. It sounded bad and she wanted to find out what caused it. After lunch, Carrie whispered she wanted to talk to Nana privately. Nana nodded. They walked back out into the hallway, then slipped outside and stood against the wall so no one would see them.

Seeing there was no one around, Carrie asked, "Nana, Lucy talked about the Rage. What is it? What does it do?"

Nana's face turned blank. Looking at the ground briefly, Nana raised her head up and with a sad face, said, "Yes, Lucy has gone into a Rage. Many are dead from it. Even people she admits now, she didn't want to kill. Lucy killed a lot of bad men too. Carrie, if Lucy's eyes go really red and she looks angry, just run away. Please, run as fast as you can. Nana didn't and Lucy tore off all Nana's arms and legs. Nana doesn't want that to happen to Carrie."

Feeling her throat dry up, Carrie said, "Nana, Lucy warned me that I might go into a Rage. Do you know why?"

Nana shook her head. "No, Carrie is a nice girl. You're not like Lucy."

The door opened, a teacher asked, "What are you two doing out here?"

"Just talking," Carrie offered meekly.

The Male teacher came out. He saw no cigarette butts or bottles. "Get back inside. It's a detention if we find you out here again!"

"Yes, Sir," they replied in unison and scurried inside.

.

"Hey Sue!" Tommy called as he found his girlfriend outside, standing beside Carrie as they waited for someone.

"Hey Tommy," Sue replied, beaming him a big smile.

"Hey, Carrie," Tommy said as he clasped Sue's hand. "Mind if I steal Sue away from you for a bit?"

Sue resisted his pull. She needed some answers from Nana. "Tommy, can I meet you later? There's ... something we girls were going to talk about. You can stay of you want," she said, all smiles.

Tommy's smile vanished. "Ahh, girl talk? Ummm, later then, say fivish?"

Sue nodded.

"See you then," Tommy said and gave her a peck on the cheek before he hurried off.

Soon, Nana and Mayu came out and waved as they approached. Sue wanted to walk with them far enough to figure out if Nana had horns or not. Sue was trying to think of how to go about it as Mayu announced, "Jerry said he wanted to go to the Prom with me. Nana, has anyone asked you?"

Nana smiled briefly at her. "Nana is happy for you, Mayu. That is the party you get all dressed up real nice for, right?"

Mayu nodded. "That's right. Girls wear gowns and boys wear tuxedoes. Jerry's a nice boy, so I don't mind going with him. He's not a perv. You're going, aren't you, Nana?"

Nana put a finger to her lip and said, "Nana thinks it's suppose to be like a date thing. Nana don't think Nana should go with Mayu and Jerry."

The girls laughed at Nana. Sue found her opportunity. "Nana, you're silly," she said and patted her head. The first pat, she felt something sticking up. The second pat was stopped before it touched Nana's head.

Nana shot Sue a confused look. Seeing her look, Sue got nervous and said, "Sorry, I ... didn't mean anything bad."

"Nana knows. Please don't touch Nana's hat. Ok?"

"OK," Sue quickly agreed and patted Nana on the shoulder. She had felt two hard points under that hat. One on each side of Nana's head.

"Nana, you have to get a boy to take you," Mayu explained.

"But who does Nana get?" Nana complained.

"That's OK, I don't have anyone to take me either," Carrie assured Nana and cast her a sad smile.

Nana frowned briefly, then said, "Nana knows! Carrie and Nana can have our own fancy party!"

Carrie put her hand over her mouth and chuckled. Knowing her mother would never go for either, Carrie said, "I can't, Nana. Sorry."

Sue said, "Carrie, someone is sure to ask you."

"Yeah, Carrie," Nana said eagerly, "If you want, Nana will make some boy ask you to go with him."

Carrie blushed. In her meek tone she said, "Nana, you can't do that."

"Yes Nana can!" Nana said firmly. Pointing a finger in the air, she said, "Carrie shows Nana the boy Carrie wants to go to the prom with, and ... Nana will hang him out a window until he says yes!"

They all laughed, except for Nana. As Sue enjoyed her mirth from Nana's silly statement, she knew Carrie had no chance at anyone asking her. Sue has always wanted to do something special for Carrie to show her some people did care about her, this might be it.

.

The next day in class, Mr. Bloomburg asked, "Is anyone going to the prom?" His mostly male class all shook their heads.

"It's stupid to get dressed up," one boy grumbled.

"I got better things to do," another said.

"I don't have any girl to take," Bobby complained.

Nana turned around in her seat. "Bobby, Nana doesn't have anyone either. Will Bobby take Nana?"

Bobby focused on Nana and grew a big grin. "Yeah, sure!" His enthusiasm then dimmed, "But I can't afford a limo, or an expensive suit."

Nana shrugged. "Nana can't afford a fancy dress either. We can just wear the best we got."

"Do you have a car, Nana?"

"No. We can walk, can't we?"

"Yeah, why not?" Bobby agreed.

"Hey dummy, you're suppose to rent a suit and the car," Ben said from the middle of the room.

Nana frowned at him. "Is Ben going?" she asked.

"Not me!"

"Then why does Ben even care?" Nana asked loudly.

A few boys cheered Nana's bravery.

"Hey, Nana, can I take you too?"

"Jimmy, Nana is sure it is only one guy and one girl. Jimmy will have to ask another girl."

"I don't know any other girls!"

"If Jimmy wants, Nana will find you one."

"Really?" he asked eagerly.

"Miss Kikumura," Mr. Bloomburg said, interrupting them. "You can't make prom dates for other people."

"Why not?" Nana asked innocently.

"Each boy is suppose to ask the girl they want to take," he explained.

"Nana understands," Nana said, then turned back to Jimmy. "Jimmy, ask who you want, and if she won't go with you, tell Nana, and Nana will see that she goes with you!"

"Miss Kikumura, you can't make people choose who they go to the prom with," Mr. Bloomburg stated.

Nana frowned. In a musing tone, she said, "I suppose it depends upon if they mind getting dropped out a window."

Chuckles drifted through the room.

"Miss Kikumura, you cannot threaten people to go to the Prom," Mr. Bloomburg said sternly.

"It may work," Nana said. "Yuka threatens Kouta, and that usually works."

The room erupted in laughter.

"That is not how we do things in school."

"Then Nana will have to do it after school," Nana concluded.

.

Tommy thought Sue was nuts. He wanted to take her to the prom, but she insisted he ask and take Carrie White. Although he wasn't thrilled about it, he agreed to do it for her. So, now he was meeting Sue and her friends as they left school for the day to fulfill his promise.

Walking up, he noted Carrie was by Sue and that purple haired girl was there with the dark haired asian girl. They were a strange group. Stiffening himself, he said, "Hi Sue, Carrie. Umm, Carrie, I was wondering, will you ... go to the Prom with me?"

Carries eyes lit up. Her cheeks grew a blush. "me?" she asked in a squeak.

"Well yeah, you," Tommy said with a grin.

"Wha... what about Sue?" Carrie asked.

Nana suddenly had a great idea. "Sue is going with Jimmy!" she announced. "Jimmy needs someone to take too!"

Sue stared at Nana.

"Nana, do you have someone to go with?" Carrie asked.

"Nana has Bobby. Jimmy asked Nana too, but Nana can only go with one boy, so Sue can go with Jimmy," Nana explained. Turning to watch other students leaving, Nana bounced up and down waving a hand in the air and called, "JIMMY!"

"What Nana?" he called back.

"Nana found Jimmy a date for the prom, get over here!"

Seeing the special ed student, Tommy pursed his lips to keep from laughing. Especially since Sue was casting a glare at him.

"Yeah, Nana?" Jimmy asked as he came over.

Nana pointed then and pushed Sue in front of her. "Her name is Sue, ask her!"

Jimmy started at Sue briefly. His face flushed and he looked down. "You're real pretty, Sue. Would you ... go to the prom with me?"

Sue nodded with a sigh. Since Tommy was doing what she asked, she didn't have much choice. "Yes, thank you for asking, Jimmy."

Jimmy grew a big grin. "All right. Thank you Nana!" he cried, then ran over and hugged Nana tight in gratitude.

"Jimmy's squishing Nana," Nana complained in a croak.

"Sorry," Jimmy beamed and let go. Spinning back to Sue, he said, "I'll be dressed right and I won't be late. Honest!" He then ran off to tell his friends.

"We are all going now!" Nana said happily.

Watching this, Carrie felt an instant of panic when Jimmy hugged Nana. A boy grabbing a girl just like her mother had warned. Jimmy only hugged Nana, and although he hugged her hard, he didn't do anything with her and let go when she asked. Tommy spent a lot of time with Sue, and he hadn't done anything bad with her either. Carrie was doubting her Mothers' fear of all boys. Carrie thought maybe she should be a little more like Nana.

.

Carrie managed to sneak out of the house and go over to Nana's to get her dress made. She found the Kikumura house was nothing like hers. For one thing, it was loud. Another was that while Kouta was the 'Papa' of the house, Yuka was the 'mother' only in certain things. Yuka cooked and took care of kitchen. Lucy did laundry and everyone helped clean. Carrie also discovered that Nana had horns on her head just as Lucy did. Things floated in the air in their house. Plates of food, pitchers, the cloth they were going to make dresses out of. Carrie was sworn to secrecy to never tell and Carrie quickly agreed.

Nana was Carrie's friend, she would never to anything to hurt her.

In the 'dress party' the formed, Yuka was more than happy to help make dresses for all the girls. Mayu and Nana had preferences that Carrie wondered about as did Yuka. Both girls loved sparkles and talked loudly about how to cover their dresses with them. Lucy thought they should go with deep 'V'ed necks, Yuka wanted the necklines up to their collars. Nana wanted a short skirt, Yuka wanted the hem to be down at her ankles.

They argued, but it was light and not mean spirited. Carrie had fun just listening to them. Lucy did help some with the dresses. Carrie noticed that here at home, Lucy was in a decent mood. Once Mayu's dress was 'patterned', they worked at designing Nana's dress. While Mayu went with a deep blue gown with silver lacings and a silver 'belt', Nana wanted a bright pink dress. Yuka and Lucy were able to talk Nana out of bright pink. Instead, Lucy got Nana to give a gold colored cloth a try. Since the gold material was 'glittery', Nana agreed. A small scuffle over a higher or lower neckline and Nana finally chose lower so the dress would not be too hot to wear. The knees were the lower hem line.

They everyone looked at Carrie. Lucy pointed to her and said, "Yellow, spaghetti strap shoulders, single piece, just showing her knees, white stockings, long white gloves."

"Yes!" Nana cried happily.

Yuka complained, "No! That will be showing way too much!"

"Her shoulders?" Nana asked.

Casting Yuka a frown, Lucy said, "Not everyone has ugly shoulders like you, Yuka."

"I do not!" Yuka snapped, turning red faced.

"Do too, just ask Kouta," Lucy said in a haughty tone.

Angry, Yuka turned to Kouta who was looking on. "Kouta, do I have ugly shoulders?" she asked in a challenge as she dropped her top to expose her shoulders. A vector from Lucy dropped it down to her mid chest. Kouta gasped and spun around to cry out "Yuka! What are you doing?"

"Hmm, she has saggy boobs too," Lucy noted.

Yuka then realized what she'd just done. She covered up and glared at Lucy. "You tricked me!" she barked and ran out to get herself back together.

Carrie laughed with Lucy as Yuka ran out.

"That was mean," Mayu said, wearing a smirk.

Lucy shrugged and returned her attention to Carrie. "And now, let's get this dress done."

.

Carrie's dress was pinned together, then put with the other two to be worked on tomorrow. Carrie thanked Nana, Mayu and Lucy, then went back home. She was sure her mother hadn't noticed her absence. Walking quietly up to the house, she saw he mother's bedroom light was on, as was the soft glow from the small alter light in the living room. Her own bedroom window was still like she'd left it, open just an inch. Carrie opened her window slowly and climbed back in. Climbing in was harder than climbing out. She struggled to get herself back inside. Wanting to cry out from catching her lower ribs on the edge of the sill, Carrie managed to stay quiet. Wanting to ease the pain, Carrie 'pushed' with her thought. She lifted up and into the room. Shocked that she had just floated up in the air, Carrie gasped and her concentration was lost. She fell onto her bedroom floor with a solid thump.

"Carrie?" her mother called.

Quickly, Carrie shut her window and got herself together. Her bedroom door flew open. "Carrie? What was that?" her mother asked.

Embarrassed, Carrie meekly said, "Sorry, Mother. I wasn't watching where I was going and I tripped."

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Be careful, and pay attention to where you're walking," Her mother scolded, and left, shutting the door behind her.

Carrie breathed a sigh of relief. She'd gotten away with it. It was getting late, but she still had homework to do. Sitting down at her desk, she smiled at the thought she had lifted herself in the air. Looking at her science book, she concentrated and opened the book with her mind.

Hands in her lap, Crrie flipped pages to the one her work was on, then did her homework with her hands folded in her lap. Nana was right, the more she used her mind to make things move, the easier it became. Nana looked a little funny, but Carrie was finding that she loved Nana's confidence and bright forward manner. Nana was someone she could truly look up to.

.

Now knowing why Nana wore her hat to school every day, Carrie was determined to help Nana keep her secret. When they showered after Gym class, Carrie watched Nana's locker for her. Seeing Carol go up to it when Nana was in the shower, Carrie used her mind to hold the locker shut. Carol pulled and yanked, but it refused to open.

"Damn thing," Carol growled and yanked at the door again.

"That's not your locker," Carrie said.

Carol scowled at her, "It's none of your business FREAK!" she snapped back.

"She's coming," another girl whispered. Carol gave up and tried to run. Carrie mentally pushed her foot to catch the back of her other ankle. With a surprised yelp, Carol crashed to the floor. Getting up, she glared at Carrie in shock and rage. "Did you just trip me?" she growled.

"I don't know what you mean," Carrie said innocently.

Nana came around the corner toweling herself off. Carol glanced at her, then fled in a red faced rage. Carrie knew Carol was pissed. That made her smile.

.

Carol was really hating that purple haired freak. The girl was scary and now that limp-haired, freckle faced waste named Carrie White was pulling small tricks on her too! Carol's family were well to do, she was one of the prettiest girls in school, no one messed with her until that little asian abomination arrived to stir up the pot. It was like a freak revolt! Brad was suppose to be her boyfriend, but he stopped messing with the 'scary' girl.

Something had to be done to teach them a lesson they would never forget!

Suffering the wound to her dignity for the rest of the day, Carol noted this was the second time the freaks had embarrassed her. She was a star on the track team, but the little purple haired freak had shown her up on the track, then didn't even want to join the team. Such huge slaps in the face, Carol could not put up with. Her dignity demanded revenge! Tonight, they were going to have a 'beer' party. She'd get her friends tipsy and shower Brad with plenty of sex. Her boyfriend and her squad would help her get her revenge.

.

"Miss Kikumura, I'd like to see you in my office," Miss Collins said.

Nana stopped and went into the gym Teachers office. "Yes, Ma'am?" she asked.

"Sit down Miss Kikumura," Miss Collins offered.

Nana sat. She hadn't done anything today, and nothing had happened, except for Poofie haired Carol fell down in the locker room. "Nana's not in trouble, is Nana?"

Offering Nana a smile, Miss Collins said, "No. I was wondering why you don't try out for sports. From what I've seen, you are plenty good enough."

Nana shrugged and said, "Nana has chores at home, and school work."

"Your sister is Mayu Kikumura, correct? You know she is on the baseball team," Miss Collins prodded.

Nana brightened up and said, "Yes, and Mayu really likes it too! Last Saturday Nana watched Mayu play and Mayu got a double-base hit! Nana cheered loud for Mayu."

Miss Collins smiled and said, "Nana, you can do the same."

Nana shook her head. "No, Nana isn't on the baseball team."

Becoming irritated, Miss Collins said, "You can be on the track team and be the one cheered when you come in first."

Nana frowned briefly, then said, "Nana doesn't want to draw attention to Nana."

Miss Collins let out a snort and said, "Miss Kikumura, you already do. The wrong kind. I'd like to see you get along with others better."

"Nana is willing to get along with anyone," Nana replied.

"You get along well with Carrie White and Sue Snell, but not the other girls," Miss Collins noted.

Nana frowned and said, "Those Poofie haired girls only call people names and do mean things. Nana doesn't want to be friends with them."

"It is best to get along with people," Miss Collins said.

"Nana agrees, but Nana won't change to satisfy people who will only look down on Nana anyway," Nana said firmly.

"Aren't you worried about how people will see you later in life?" Miss Collins asked.

"Nope!" Nana said firmly. "Nana knows who Nana can rely on. Nana cares only about those who care about Nana."

Miss Collins could not argue any of the points Miss Kikumura made. Still, she said, "You don't worry about fitting in? Say change your hair color to something a little more common?"

Nana blinked and said, "Nana's hair is Nana's hair."

"You are saying that is your natural hair color?"

Nana nodded and said, "Mayu has brown, Nana has purple, Lucy has pink, Yuka has a brown that is a little lighter than Mayu."

Miss Collins stared at Nana's roots. She could not see a base color. "How did you get purple hair?"

"How did teacher get light brown hair?" Nana asked.

Miss Collins rubbed her head. Miss Kikumura was irritating without being aggressive. She also sounded very innocent while doing so. She knew that ticked off other girls to no end. "Miss Kikumura, for your own sake, I urge you to conform a little better than you do. Can you do that?"

"Nana is Nana. Nana can't be anyone else," Nana stated.

"Right. You better get to your next class."

.

After school Carrie hurried outside to wait for Nana. Nana came out talking to Bobby and Jimmy. Carrie watched them laugh then wave as they went for practice. It amazed her Nana was so comfortable around boys.

"Hi, Carrie," Nana beamed happily.

Carrie fell into step beside Nana and asked, "Nana, how can you talk with boys so easily?"

Nana cast Carrie an innocent look. "Nana just talks. Bobby and Jimmy are nice boys. They are not smart, but that isn't their fault. We are friends. It's not hard to talk to friends."

"You aren't afraid of them doing anything to you," Carrie said, understanding. "You can stop them if they try to touch you."

Nana tipped her head slightly and said, "Nana could, though if they were like that, Nana would not be friends with them. You know Kouta and Lucy, don't you? They do things like touch each other, hug and kiss, but Nana knows if Lucy didn't want Kouta doing that, Lucy can stop him."

Carrie nodded slowly. Yes, if a boy tried to touch her, she too could stop them, but if they were nice, like Nana's friends, then she would want boys for friends too. "Nana, do you think Tommy might be my friend?"

"Why not? Sue is Carrie's friend, Tommy is Sue's friend, so that means Tommy should be Carrie's friend. Right?" Nana concluded.

Carrie though about it. That kind of made sense. On the other hand, Nana tended to see everything in simple terms. Before she thought, she said, "Nana, I want to have boy friends too, but mother says boys are evil."

Nana frowned at her. Taking on a thoughtful look, Nana said, "Nana thinks that is wrong. Bad people do not depend on being a boy or girl. Nana knows bad boys and good boys, just like there are bad girls and good girls. Did Carrie's mother have a bad experience with boys?"

Carrie shook her head. "I don't know."

"Carrie should ask," Nana said firmly. "Nana knows it is easy to see a whole group as bad, if a few have done bad things to you. Lucy hated all humans for what the men in that facility did to us. Thankfully she saw Kouta and Yuka are not bad."

"Lucy's not human?" Carrie asked. Even as she asked, she thought about those horns and the strange color eyes Lucy had.

Nana's eyes went wide. She gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth. She then whined and balled her hands into fists. "Ohhh, please forget Nana said that! Nana isn't suppose to tell those things!"

Carrie stared at Nana.

Tears brimming in her eyes, Nana explained, "Nana is just so comfortable around Carrie that Nana wasn't paying attention to what Nana said! Please, forget Nana said that."

"I won't tell, honest," Carrie said gently. Carrie already figured out neither Nana or Lucy were quite human. This was the only thing Nana was afraid of, someone finding out they weren't human. She would protect her friend.

Walking and talking, they had made it right up to Carrie's house. Her mother was in the yard and looked up to see Nana walking with Carrie. She stood up and stared at them. Coming closer, Carrie noticed her mother watching them. "Oh no," she said in a breath.

Nana looked at Carrie, then her mother. "What?" she asked.

Carrie swallowed nervously and said, "Nana, I'll see you tomorrow, OK?"

Nana saw the fear in Carrie's eyes. "Carrie is not coming by tonight to work on our dresses?"

"No," Carrie said meekly.

"Carrie White! Come over here!" her mother barked.

In a meek tone, Carrie glanced at Nana and said, "Bye, Nana." She walked towards her mother, head down.

Nana knew something was wrong. What is was, or why Carrie should be afraid of her mother, she didn't know. Remembering Carrie had gotten beaten by her mother before, Nana ran past Carrie to face Margaret White on the other side of their picket fence.

"Begone, devil!" Margaret White spat at Nana.

Scowling at the woman, Nana pointed a finger at her and announced, "You be nice to Carrie, or ... Nana will be mad at you! Mothers should be nice to their daughters!"

"Begone!" Margaret snapped and raised the small shovel she had like she was going to hit Nana.

Nana grabbed the shovel with a vector, pulled it out of Margaret's hand, and crushed it. Throwing it down, Nana said, "Stop being mean! Carrie needs a nice mother, not a mean one!"

Seeing the shovel rise into the air, fold and crush itself into a ball before it fell to the ground, Margaret fled back into the house.

"Nana, no!" Carrie whined. She knew her mother was going to be in a raging fit now!

"Nana's sorry, but Nana doesn't like mean people," Nana explained.

Casting a frustrated look at Nana, Carrie said, "Nana just ... please go home."

"Nana is sorry," Nana offered, then turned and walked away.

Carrie could hear her mother chanting out prayers in a frightened gasping breath. Hating to go inside, Carrie forced herself to walk up the steps and into the house. Going in the front door, she saw her mother on her knees desperately praying before the alter.

"Mamma, it's OK," Carrie offered meekly.

"... and save us from the evil that has come to our door!" Margaret White cried. She then snapped her head to Carrie. "You ... you brought evil HERE!"

Carrie stiffened herself against her mother's anger. "No mother, Nana is not evil. You were going to hit her with a shovel. THAT's why she did that."

"You admit that girl has a witch's power, the power of SATAN!" Margaret raged.

"It's not Satan's power, Mama, it's called Telekinesis," Carrie explained. "Nana has it, and it is rare but there is nothing evil about it."

"You are courting the Devil!" Margaret spat as she stood up.

"No, I'm not," Carrie shot back. "Nana is a nice girl. She's never done anything bad."

"Come and pray, we will rid this evil from you!" Margaret said firmly and got up to advance on her.

Carrie backed up. Instead of cringing, she wanted her mother to stay back. Her face firmed up into a determined look. The woman stopped as if hitting something.

"No, Mother," Carrie said firmly. "No more beatings. I have telekinesis too. I do love you mother, but you are not going to hit me any more!"

"The Devil has gotten to my baby," Margaret whispered as she cast a shocked look at Carrie.

Carrie shook her head. "No mother, I am just growing up. I hear what you say, then what I see is different. My friend Sue, she has a boyfriend, Tommy. He has never done anything bad to her. In fact, he is a nice guy, he is taking me to the prom. Nana has boys that are friends. They are friends too, for they do things Nana asks of them, and she helps them. None of them are evil, Mama. Nana and her family are helping me make my Prom dress." She sported a brief grin and said, "Nana has a nice family. They are a little odd, but fun to be around." Refocusing on her mother, she said, "Yes, I am going to the Prom and with a boy. So is Nana, Sue and Mayu. We will be fine. No one is going to do anything to us."

Gritting her teeth, Margaret said, "You will end up a ravaged fool with all the boys laughing at you!"

"No. Nana has showed me how to protect myself," Carrie countered. "No one will do anything except for what I allow them to do."

Margaret picked up a bible and offered it to Carrie. "Here, take this, pray. Rid yourself of evil before it is too late!"

Carrie set her school books down. "Mother, I have homework to do then I am going over to Nana's house and we are going to finish our dresses."

"Carrie," her mother said, sounding afraid, "It is the Devil that is making you do these things. Please, you must think and see what is happening."

"I see what is happening, Mother," Carrie replied. "And I am going to the Prom with my friends, and we are going to have a good time." With that, she took her books and went up to her room to study.

Margaret White left her daughter alone. She prayed all night that Carrie would wake up and see the light before she was lost.

.

"Pig blood," Carol said to Brad and his friends as they crowded around the campfire. "Those freaks need a painful lesson. We rig the vote for Prom King and Queen, so Carrie White wins. Then we dump it on her in front of everyone."

Ed the quarterback frowned. "We can get it, but after that, you're on your own. There's something not right about those girls."

"Is that why you tripped when you went to grab the chink's hat?" Brad asked in a chuckle.

"I didn't trip," Ed said sternly. "Brad, she ... she threw me down. Don't ask me how but she did! That girl is fucking scary. I don't want anything to do with her or any of her friends."

"Chickenshit," Carol spat at him.

Ed got up and eyed them and said, "Get your own blood, bitch. I'm outta this." he turned and walked away.

"Looser!" Carol called after him. Scanning her co-conspirators, she grinned and said, "We need to embarrass that purple haired chink girl too ..."

Brad sat in thought, "No," he said. "Ed's right, that purple haired girl ... something's not right with her."

"Brad," Carol said sweetly as she rubbed his arm. "I'll do anything you want if you get rid of them."

Brad grinned, "Yeah? Ok, give me everything I want, and I'll make sure they don't get home after the prom."

Carol's eyes lit up. "Really?"

He nodded and slid a hand up under her shirt. "Really. Make me happy, baby, and they are gone."

Carol kissed him as he fondled her and pulled her shirt off.

.

After fitting and sewing, Carrie got to put her dress on for the first time. Nana looked real cute in her sparkly gold dress. Instead of a hat, gold ribbon wrapped her horns in a big pair of bow ties with flowers planted in it. Mayu's blue dress with matching stockings and long white gloves looked good on her. Carrie smiled at her own look. The dress wrapped the top of her chest and flowed down her body, showing her shape. The bicep length white gloves and white stockings matched perfectly. She looked and felt great. This prom was going to be fun! For safe keeping, she hung her dress up in Nana's closet. Knowing her mother, she might ruin the dress to keep her from going to the prom.

.

The next couple days, the Prom was the talk of the school. Tickets were sold and the boys paid, writing in the name of their dates. Nana helped Jimmy and Bobby, and gave Bobby the money for their ticket. Being chided in class some by other boys about taking a girl to the Prom, Bobby proudly announced, "Bobby is taking Nana to the Prom, and You're NOT!"

"Yeah!" Jimmy said, "And I'm taking Sue Snell to the Prom, and you're not!"

"You're just doing girly stuff!"

"Yeah, can Nana play ball?"

"I wanna see Nana play ball!"

"Me too!"

"All right, all right," Mr. Bloomburg said, "Calm down people. Miss Kikumura would play ball if she wanted to."

"Yeah, Nana come play ball with us," Bobby said.

Nana thought about it. Bobby and Jimmy were going to the Prom for her, so she said, "Nana will come tomorrow, Nana has to tell Kouta and Yuka first."

The boys cheered.

.

The next day after school, Nana left with half her class out the front. Seeing Carrie waiting for her, Nana ran over to her. "Carrie, Nana is going to play ball with Bobby, Jimmy and their friends. Want to come?" Feeling her new freedom, Carrie nodded. She trooped off to the ball field with them.

The sports fields held the running track with the soccer / football field in the center. off to the side was the baseball field, a tall fence around it to stop fly balls. The presence of Nana and Carrie walking with the gathering boys' baseball teams got the attention of others using the fields. One of the groups was the cheerleaders. Carol did her exercises watching them. "Oh, look, the baseball team has a couple of freakazoid fans," she said in a sneer. Sue heard her. She frowned at Carol, but kept quiet.

Closer to the teams walking by, Tommy stretching with his football team also noticed them.

.

"How do you play?" Nana asked as they went into the gate.

Bobby showed Nana the bases and explained how to hit the ball, then run the bases and not get tagged. "... and if the other team catches the ball, you're out, so you have to hit it as hard as you can and get it out as far as you can. You get three chances. The third strike, you're out."

"All right boys, quit playing with the girls, A team, take the field, B team you're up." the coach announced.

"Coach, Nana wants to try," Bobby announced.

The coach eyed them and said, "Nana can try out for the girl's team. They're up next."

"Aww come on Coach!" Jimmy begged, "Let Nana try one up."

The coach fumed briefly, then said, "Fine. Smith, you're pitching. I want to see your best too."

"Thanks coach!" Bobby cried. He led Nana over to the batter's box, grabbed a bat and showed her how to hold it and swing. "... Now remember, hit it as hard as you can. See that top of that back fence? Do your best to hit it."

Nana took the bat and stood by the plate like Bobby showed her. She hefted the bat and cocked back, ready to do her best.

.

Several people now were watching Nana, in a plain shirt, skirt and shoes, cocked back to bat. Carol was sure this was going to be entertaining. Sue wondered what Nana was doing, as was Tommy.

The pitcher threw a hard fast ball. Tongue out in concentration, Nana swung the bat in a blur of speed.

CRACK

Pieces of the bat flew as the ball shot straight out over the pitcher's head as if shot out of a cannon. The ball hit high on the back fence hard, making the whole fence shake. It didn't drop, the ball was stuck in the chain links. Jaws dropped. A soft 'holy shit', drifted over the field.

"Run, Nana!" Bobby cried.

Nana looked at the bat, then looked around with wide-eyed fear. "Nana didn't mean to break it!" she cried.

"Run!" Bobby and others yelled at Nana.

Nana dropped the bat. Crying, she ran for the gate.

"NO, run the bases!" Jimmy called. It was too late, Nana ran off the field and down the road. Carrie went after her.

.

It took Carrie a while to catch up with Nana. She had to propel herself some with her mind to catch up. Nana had exhausted herself and sat on a bench, crying her eyes out.

Staggering up to Nana from her own exhausting run, Carrie sat down beside her. "Nana..."

"Nanna didn't mean it!" Nana cried. "Bobby said to hit it hard as Nana could, and Nana broke it. Nana's sorry!"

Carrie put an arm around Nana and drew her close. "Nana, they didn't want you to run away, they wanted you to run the bases," she said, trying hard not to grin.

"But, Nana broke the bat," Nana sniffled.

"You didn't do anything wrong," Carrie coaxed. "Nana, it's OK."

"Bobby won't be mad Nana broke the bat?" Nana asked meekly.

"I don't think so," Carrie assured her. "Even if he is, you didn't mean to, did you?"

Nana shook her head.

.

Nana wasn't feeling the best when she got home. It wasn't until she was home that she realized she'd left her school books in the 'dugout' as they called the small building with the benches in it. Tearfully, she told Yuka how she broke the bat and they yelled at her. Yuka hugged her in comfort. Nana was not happy that Lucy thought it was funny and laughed.

Mayu came home with Nana's books. Unlike Nana, Mayu sounded excited. "Yuka, Lucy! Everyone is talking about Nana's hit. She hit the ball so hard she broke the bat! The ball is wedged high in the backfield fence. No one can get it down."

"I broke the ball too?" Nana asked sadly.

Mayu hugged Nana and said, "Nana, you don't understand. Miss Jensen, the girl's baseball coach wants you to play. No one has ever hit the ball that hard before!"

Nana blinked at Mayu. "They want me to keep breaking things?" she asked.

"Not breaking them, but that was a great hit, Nana," Mayu assured her.

Nana winced and said, "Nana thinks Nana shouldn't do that any more."

"Oh, come on Nana," Mayu coaxed. "Just don't hit it so hard. We can play baseball together, won't that be fun?"

Nana looked down as she played with her fingers, tapping them together. Meekly, she said, "Everyone yelled at Nana."

"Nana, they wanted you to run the bases, NOT run away," Mayu explained.

Mayu scowled at Lucy as she pealed out laughing again.

.

Carrie got home, still smirking about Nana's misunderstanding. She did feel bad Nana thought she was in trouble, but it was funny. Closing the door, Carrie's fun day came to a crashing halt. Her Mother faced her wearing her 'pure' white robe and had a bowl of water and a washcloth in her hand.

"Hi Mom," Carrie said tonelessly.

Her mother spoke softly. "Carrie, dear. I am frightened for you. Please, for your own sake and mine, let us renew our holy vows and receive God's protection."

"Mom," Carrie started, then thought hard about her mother's tendencies before she said, "You do not need to fear for me, or yourself. We will be fine, Mom. No one is going to do bad things to us. You don't have to worry."

"I do. We do," Margaret White said to her daughter. "Carrie, that Nana girl is a devil with unholy power. She is tempting you to evil. The devil is walking the streets with her! They are not your friends, they will lead you into hell!"

"They will not," Carrie cried in a pleading tone. "Mom, all you see is the horns. Nana is a pure, simple girl. Today playing baseball she broke the bat. She was so upset she cried her eyes out over a stupid baseball bat! She's friendly and most of the time happy and gets along with anyone who will be decent to her. Even Lucy is fine as long as no one is being mean."

"They are drawing you into evil," Margaret stated. "This Prom you are going to. I bet you are all going to wear something gaudy and trashy!" she spat.

Carrie let out a tired huff. "We are not Mom. The Prom is tomorrow night. Before we go, I can ask Nana and Mayu to come over so you can see what we are going to wear."

"I will not allow evil into this house," Margaret stated.

Carrie was tired of arguing the same things with her mother. "I'm going with Tommy. He's going to pick us up at Nana's house. Nana and Bobby need a ride too."

"I am trying to save you," Margaret said heavily.

Carrie looked at the floor and said, "No, Mom. Nana is trying to save me. Nana shows me things and explains things to me. Even Lucy warned me about the Rage. She has lived it. Mom, if it happens, you won't be able to help me. I'm only hoping Lucy will."

"Then you are throwing yourself into the hands of the devil," Margaret stated. "I will pray for you." She turned and walked into her room.

Carrie let out a tired sigh and headed for her own room.

.

Carol had her pig's blood. She also volunteered to help set up the Gym for the Prom. Brad was good at building things, so it was easy for Carol to help them set up the stage with their trap. They worked hard and stayed late to finish it. When everyone else had gone home, Carol and her friends added their 'extras'.

Directly above the King and Queen thrones was a large banner for the prom. On the supports for the banner, Brad balanced a bucket of pig blood. He ran a rope from the handle, and tied the bucket to the wooden beam with some wire.

Watching from below, Carol called up and asked, "Why are you tying the bucket?"

Brad looked down and said, "We want the bucket to tip over and dump, not fall." He then moved over and threaded the pull rope down, then got down and said, "We're set. The rope is under the stage. Just wait until the King and Queen take the stage, and give a yank." he then eyed her and asked, "You are sure Carrie White is going to be the Prom queen?"

"Oh yeah," Carol said with a grin. "We already collected the ballots and filled them out. She is going to win by a landslide." She frowned and said, "I just wish there was something else we could do. I'd really like to teach that purple haired freak a lesson."

Brad shook his head. "This is plenty of humiliation. Sides, I don't think you really want to piss of that little freak. I got the feelin she can be real bad news."

"She needs to be taken down a few pegs. She thinks way to much of herself," Carol said with a sneer.

Brad looked over the setup then said, "We're done. Come on, I want to get some more of you."

.

Margaret White saw the signs. Just like when her husband got that shine in his eyes and insisted he had to have her, now the product of his defiling her was showing a disturbing glow in her eyes. She had hoped Carrie would grow up and remain pure and chaste. That was not to be. The devil herself had come to corrupt her only child. Carrie was listening to the coaxing words. She had leaked the blood that drew evil men, and now she was ready to go out to let them sniff her. Margaret had done her best to be straight and forward in Carrie's upbringing. Now, she had to become as devious as the devil if she

was to save her daughter.

In the morning, Margaret forced herself to be cheerful. She made a hearty breakfast that she knew Carrie liked. When Carrie came down, Margaret greeted her with a smile and a "Good morning, dear."

Carrie paused. "Mom? Ahh, breakfast smells good," she offered.

Margaret cursed herself, but went on with her treachery. "I made your favorite," she said with a smile, then acted meek. "I also must apologize. I know that things ... change. I also know I am very stubborn. If you say Nana is your friend, then I have to accept it. I could never go to a ... prom, but if you feel safe doing so, then I have to trust you." Speaking these words felt like she was betraying everything she believed in, but she had to lie

now, so she could lure Carrie back into her trap. "And I would love to see the dresses you girls made for the prom."

"Really?" Carried asked, beaming her mother a bright smile.

Margaret forced a nod. "Yes, if you..." She got cut off as Carrie rammed into her with a hug.

"Thank you! Mom, thank you so much!" Carrie cried.

Margaret held her happy daughter and petted her back. "Just know I am trying," she said.

Carrie pulled back sporting happy tears. "Yes, Thank you so much! Mom, you don't know how much this means to me!"

Margaret forced a smile. "At least I get to see you smile," she said. "Now, eat your breakfast while it's hot. Before you go tonight, may I see your dresses?"

"Yes! Tommy is giving Nana and Bobby a ride anyway, so we just leave early and stop by on our way. Lucy said she's taking pictures, of us so, we can get some here too."

Margaret ate with Carrie. She successfully kept up her false cheerfulness until Carrie left. Once she was alone, she prayed for forgiveness then got out a sturdy kitchen knife and began sharpening it to a razor's edge. Although she knew what she had to do, she wanted to be as merciful as possible. Sharp knives hurt less. Once Carrie was asleep tonight, her death should be fast and fairly painless.

.

Carrie had a wonderful day. School was fun, and they were all excited about the prom tonight. Tommy agreed to stop by Carrie's house for a moment. Sue was even nice to Jimmy when he thanked her again for agreeing to come with him. Nana was happy Lucy agreed to take pictures. For all their happiness, the day seemed to drag until the final bell rang. On the way out, Tommy rechecked the pickup time with Carrie. He was in good spirits, making Carrie blush.

Carrie was high on the joy of the day as they went to Nana's house. Nana skipped along, feeling happy. Seeing Nana being silly, Carrie joined her in skipping along. They went in to have some snacks, then took turns cleaning up to get ready for the prom. Getting dressed took a while, the girls checked each other over for the slightest flaws, applied and closely inspected makeup and fussed over hair. Especially Nana. Nana's bowties and ribbons were set perfectly to hide her horns without wearing a hat. A couple hidden bobby pins ensured the ribbon wasn't going to slip.

By the time they were done, Jerry, Bobby and Tommy were downstairs waiting for them in their tuxedos. Bobby's uncle rented his tux for him so he could 'treat that girl right'. All the boys eyes lit up when the girls came down.

"Aww WOW!, Nana you're really pretty!" Bobby cried as he stared openly at her.

Nana giggled with a blush and offered, "Bobby is looking handsome too."

"Carrie you are a vision," Tommy said sincerely. Carrie's cheeks flushed. "Thank you," she replied meekly.

"Mayu, you look fantastic," Jerry said, smiling at her.

"All right!" Lucy announced holding her camera. "Couples together, side by side over here. Let's get some pictures before you rumple up your clothes." Once she herded them into position, she stepped back and got them in the view finder, and called out, "Now, Say SEX!"

She snapped the picture as they all gapped at her.

"Lucy!" Yuka cried. "You want them to smile!"

Lucy raised an eyebrow at Yuka. "What? Sex makes me smile."

"That's because you're a pervert! Tell them to say cheese," Yuka told her.

"Cheese makes you smile?" Lucy asked.

Yuka reached for the camera. "Ughh, gimme that."

Lucy pulled it up away from Yuka's grasp. "No, I am taking the pictures."

"You're turning our kids into perverts!" Yuka growled and tried to grab the camera.

"Am not, it happens all by itself," Lucy countered and lifted the camera up on a vector to hover near the ceiling.

"Stop that!" Yuka barked.

Lucy took a step back, quickly brought the camera down to her lined up and snapped a shot of the kids. Bobby was gapping, Nana was laughing, Tommy held a smirk, Carrie was grinning, Mayu held a face palm, Jerry looked lost.

Yuka went to grab Lucy, Lucy shifted to one side, making Yuka miss and stumble into the couch. She snapped another shot. In this one, all the kids looked happy, laughing and smiling. Well, Mayu was looking irritated.

"One more!" Lucy announced as Yuka struggled to her feet. "Everyone, BIG SMILE!" Snap.

In this one, all the kids were beaming a big smile at the camera.

Bobby quietly asked Nana, "Nana, are they always like this?"

Nana giggled and said, "Much of the time. It has been a while since Lucy got behind Yuka and squeezed her boobies until Kouta made her stop."

Carrie's eyes grew wide. "She does that?" she asked, surprised.

Nana nodded and said, "Lucy's getting better at behaving."

Feeling uncomfortable at what he was seeing and hearing, Tommy made a show at looking at his watch. "Hey, wow! Look at the time, we better get going!"

.

Kouta, Yuka and Lucy walked out to watch the prom goers pile into Tommy's car. They waved as the kids left.

"This is a big night for them," Kouta said.

"A night to remember," Yuka agreed.

"Think everything will go smooth?" Lucy asked. She looked at Kouta, who was eyeing her.

"Why shouldn't it?" Yuka asked.

Lucy cast Yuka a grin and said, "Who knows what can happen?" She reached around Yuka to slip a vector up under her arm from behind and give her breast a squeeze.

Yuka yelped, covered herself and glared at Lucy. "Stop that!"

"You're right. Kouta, you can play with Yuka's breasts, I'm going to go keep an eye on Mayu and Nana," Lucy said and shot off into the air.

Yuka spun to face Kouta, blushing. "Kouta?" she asked weakly.

Kouta shrugged and said, "Up to you."

.

Lucy bounced in long leaps, keeping to rooftops as she followed Tommy's car. Landing on the roof of Carrie's house, she squatted down and listened. It was dark enough that as long as she didn't stand right on the edge, no one would notice her. Hearing voices, she peeked over the edge of the roof.

Carrie was talking excitedly to her mother on the sidewalk, Nana and Mayu were close by. The boys hung back a bit. For how maniacal Carrie's mother acted before, she was smiling and nodding now. She told Carrie to go and have a good time. For the lunatic Lucy had seen before, she was acting way too calm and pleasant. The kids left and went on. Margaret White stood watching them go for a moment. Lucy quietly drifted down to sit on her front steps, arms on knees pose.

As Margaret turned to go inside, Lucy asked, "Pretty, aren't they?"

Margaret gasped and recoiled a step, casting her a shocked look.

Inspecting her fingernails, Lucy asked, "What are you up to?"

Margaret paused, closing her eyes to regain her composure. She said a silent prayer, then asked, in a heavy tone, "Why are you here?"

Lucy got up and said, "I'm nosy. I know, what you do is none of my business." Stepping closer to Margaret, who backed away, Lucy said, "You beat your daughter for no good reason, scream and rant about everything being evil, yet tonight, you look very calm. I wonder why that is."

Feeling like she had sand in her mouth, Margaret stiffened herself and said, "You can't have her."

"I don't want her," Lucy stated. "I also don't want anything bad happening to her. You don't fool me, I know bullies. Bullies only behave when they think someone is watching. See, they don't want to get in trouble, they want to hurt others for fun and not get caught. They will be mean and cause pain when they think they can get away with it."

Livid in anger and her heart pounding in fear with this monster before her, Margaret said in a grating tone, "I know the likes of you. Deceiver, corrupter, drawing innocent souls down into hell!"

Lucy raised an eyebrow and said, "You have me confused with someone else. Since you have no clue about me, let me tell you." Lucy started walking around Margaret as she said, "I learned the hard way all about bullies, people who think they can do whatever they want to others. When I was little, some boys made me watch as they killed my puppy. I slaughtered them. I didn't run for help, I ripped them apart. There was blood dripping from the ceiling by the time I was done. Later, soldiers came to kill me. I slaughtered them. I ripped off arms and legs, tore their heads off, tore them in half," Stopping, Lucy whispered into her ear. "One, I ripped his beating heart right out of his chest."

Lucy walked a few steps away and turned to Margaret. "You see, Miss Lunatic, I don't fool around with crying to police or trying to get bullies to leave others alone. You hurt my family or friends, I kill you. Screaming and in pain, you get ripped apart as your blood flies everywhere. I consider Nana my sister. Nana likes Carrie, they are good friends. So, if you do anything to Carrie that makes Nana sad, I will come and splatter you all over the inside of your house and there is nothing anyone can do that will stop me. Choose your actions wisely."

Lucy watched Margaret take a few steps towards her house. Shooting out a vector, Lucy grabbed her and turned her around. "I will be watching," Lucy intoned. She let the woman go and walked away. She had a school party to monitor.

Margaret collapsed in front of her front door and prayed as she sobbed.

.

Walking into the gym on Tommy's arm through the double doors trimmed in strips of cloth in the school colors, Carrie felt like a queen. Behind her, Nana was saying how pretty it was. It was pretty, with streamers, lights and the chairs and tables, the food and drink lines. Carrie barely noticed all the people. They were like more backdrop for her special night.

"Bobby, look, people are dancing!" Nana cried happily.

Bobby winced. "Nana, I can't really dance."

Beaming him a smile, Nana said, "Neither does Nana, but Nana and Bobby can watch other people and do what they do, can't we?"

Bobby grinned at Nana and said, "Yeah, we can. You're really smart, Nana."

In the crowd, Jimmy stood up from his table and waved. "Nana, Bobby, over here!"

Nana waved heartily back, "Hi Jimmy!"

Tommy chuckled and said, "I think Nana and her friends are the loudest ones here."

"They are," Carrie agreed, sporting her own grin. Their voices boomed over the murmur of other conversations.

The round table Sue and Jimmy were at was a six person table like all the others. Tommy was pondering where to sit when Nana walked by, towing Bobby over to Jimmy and Sue's table. "Come on!" she called back.

"Nana?" Mayu called. "We're going to sit over here."

Nana turned back and asked, "Why?"

"There is only room for three couples," Mayu told her.

Nana looked at the chairs and said, "If Nana sits on Bobby's lap..."

"Nana you can't do that!" Mayu chided.

Jerry patted Mayu's hand on his arm and said, "It's fine, I wanted to talk to Mayu anyway."

Tommy looked at Carrie. She nodded towards Sue and Jimmy. "It's OK, we can sit with friends, can't we?"

"Yes, we can," he assured her, and escorted her over to the table.

.

They went to get some food. At the end of the line were ballots for the prom King and Queen. Tommy picked one up and grinned at Carrie. "Want to vote for ourselves?"

Carrie grinned. As she thought about the Queen, she said, "Let's vote for Bobby and Nana. To me, Nana deserves to be Queen. Nana is wonderful."

Tommy thought for a second and said, "OK, sure. Bobby and Nana it is."

Bobby showed Nana the ballot. "Nana. want to be queen?"

Nana looked at the names and said, "But, Lucy's name isn't even on here."

Bobby eyed her and asked, "Lucy?"

Nana explained to Bobby, "Lucy is the queen, not Nana. Nana doesn't want to get Lucy mad by claiming to be the queen."

"Ahh, Nana, this is for king and queen of the prom. It's not an official title," Bobby told her.

"So Lucy won't get mad?"

"I don't think so Nana."

Nana thought for a second, then said, "Bobby, let's make Tommy and Carrie King and Queen! They look real cute together, don't they?"

"OK, Nana."

.

The dinner was good, Carrie had fun sitting with her friends. Nana's enthusiasm kept smiles on everyone's faces, and some mirth as she made Bobby eat some things off her fork Nana thought were really tasty. Adding to the silliness, Carrie did the same thing for Tommy, then Sue fed Jimmy off her fork, which made him blush deeply.

Chattering dinner away, the food was long gone by the time they decided to try out dancing. Without thinking, Nana spread her vectors out and scooped up all the empty plates and plastic ware into a pile in front of her. "Nana will take care of the garbage," she said, then paused as everyone stared at her.

"Nana, what was that?" Bobby asked weakly.

Realizing what she just did, Nana flushed with embarrassment. She put a finger to her lips, "Ah ... there was ... magnets in the plates!" she announced, thinking up and excuse. She grabbed the pile and said, "Excuse me please!" She tried to pick them up all at once. Not being able to, she grabbed her dress and moved to push the debris into her dress.

"Nana, NO!" the whole table all yelled at once.

Flustered, Nana's eyes watered with tears, "But ... Nana's sorry!"

Bobby got up and held Nana. "Calm down, Nana didn't do anything wrong."

"It's OK, Nana, we'll get it," Tommy assured her.

Getting up, Carrie laid a hand on Nana's shoulder. "Nana, let's go to the bathroom."

Sue got up to join them, getting on Nana's other side. She helped lead Nana away. Nearby, people were trying to suppress their laughter at Nana's actions. Getting Nana to the bathroom, Sue chided, "Nana, you were about to ruin that pretty dress."

"Nana, it's OK, calm down," Carrie coaxed.

"Nana's so embarrassed, Nana didn't think before Nana collected the plates," Nana said meekly.

"You didn't think?" Sue asked.

"NO. Nana or Lucy usually collects the dishes at home. And we were having fun and ... Nana just didn't think."

Sue had been shocked to see all the tableware slide on it's own over to Nana. She thought it had been some kind of trick.

"Nana, it's fine," Carrie insisted.

Softly, Sue asked, "Nana, how did you do that?"

The bathroom door flew open. Mayu came in. "Nana, are you OK?"

Nana sniffed and cast Mayu a sad look. "Nana didn't think and picked up the used dishes."

"Ughh," Mayu said and face palmed. Wiping her face with her hand she said, "Nana, you can't do that!"

"Nana knows," Nana said meekly.

Seeing Sue looked worried, Carrie explained. "Sue, Nana has telekinesis. No one suppose to know."

"She can move things with her mind? That's for real?" Sue asked.

Seeing Nana teary-eyed, Carrie looked over at the tissue holder. She used her mind to pull one out, then handed it to Nana. Nana wiped her eyes. "Sue, I have it too. It's not evil, it's not bad, it's just an ability."

Sue blinked. "And the horns?" she asked, not thinking.

Nana frowned and grumbled, "Nana wishes Nana was able to just saw them off."

The ribbons Nana had on now, the hats. That hit she made at the baseball field that drove the ball high into the fence to jam in place. Even the run where Nana had easily outpaced Carol and got Carol so mad. Nana was using her mind to enhance what she did. When Sue herself had met Lucy, that something that pushed against her. "Lucy has horns too," she said vacantly.

Nana cast her a pleading look. "Sue, please don't mess with Lucy! Lucy gets mean with people who mess with her."

Sue was sure she did, too. The look in Lucy's eye was not a kind one. Carrie's mother thought Lucy was a monster. Was she right? "Good God," she breathed.

"Girls? we should get back out there," Mayu said. "Please, don't saw anything about this."

"Lucy won't do anything to us, right?" Sue asked tentatively.

Nana offered her a smile and said, "No, Lucy won't come in, she's knows she has to stay outside."

Carrie clasped Nana's hand. "Come on, let's forget about it and go have some fun. OK?"

Nana nodded. "But what about..."

"It was a magic trick to fool the boys," Sue said quickly.

"Yes, and we had to come in and remove the wires before the boys saw them," Carrie added.

Mayu breathed a sigh of relief, as did Nana.

.

The boys had cleaned off the table when they got back. Sue announced that the trick Nana had planned didn't go right, the plates didn't stack up like they were suppose to, and they got rid of the wires used to make the trick work. Everyone relaxed enough that the boys took their dates out onto the dance floor.

Dancing turned out to be fun figuring out how as they went along. The only ones who had a clue in their group was Sue and Tommy, so Tommy borrowed Sue to show them how to waltz, then waltzed with Carrie as Bobby and Jimmy watched him to try and do it right.

.

At the ballot box table beside the stage, The girl there lifted up the false back. She pulled the ballots out, then took the ones offered from under the stage skirting and closed the box back up. At the proper time, a teacher came over to get the box and count ballots.

Under the stage skirting, Carol grinned. Once she humiliated Carrie White here, her and Brad were going to leave and teach that Nana girl a lesson.

.

As the night went on, true 'dates' didn't mean much. Tommy got to dance with Sue, Jimmy got to dance with Nana and Bobby danced with Carrie. they switched dance

partners, still sitting together in the pairs they came in as, and everyone had fun.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the Gym teacher announced. "We have counted the ballots and will now announce the King and Queen of this year's prom!"

Everyone sat up and listened in anticipation.

"The King and Queen are ... Tommy Wallace and Carrie White! Tommy and Carrie, come on up here!"

"Yay Carrie!" Nana cried loudly as she clapped heartily.

Tommy got up and offered Carrie his hand as Carrie looked starry eyed at everyone applauding for her. She took his hand and rose, a glassy look of disbelief on her face. Walking up to the stage on Tommy's arm, she was ready to cry with happiness. Tonight had been so much fun and now, it was like she was living a dream. It was so perfect. She was the Prom Queen, and her friends were here to see it. It didn't seem real as she stepped up onto the stage with Tommy. The Principal gave her a bouquet of long stemmed roses. Dizzy from her joy, she thanked him. She stood in front of her throne smiling broadly at how perfect this night had become. Below, Nana, Mayu, Sue, Jerry, Bobby and Jimmy were all clapping with the crowd just for her.

Then, Nana's eyes opened wide in shock. Carrie saw this briefly before something drenched down over her.

The room went silent.

Nana cried out in anguish, "Ohhh!, Nana will go get towels!" She sped off for the bathroom. Carrie looked down. She was covered in blood.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Tommy yelled in anger.

The shock of suddenly being drenched in blood was still sinking in as something hit Tommy. He collapsed, a bucket bounced away. Carrie turned to stare at it.

Cackling laughter sounded from a few girls in the crowd. Others took up the laugh. In the back, Carol laughed wildly and pointed before running away.

Her mind catching up on events, Carrie realized she'd been soaked in blood. Tommy was out on the floor. "Tommy!" Sue cried and ran up to look him over.

"We need an ambulance!" Sue yelled.

The laughter was roaring, Carrie understood, they were laughing at her. They hurt Tommy, they had ruined the best night of her life. Something snapped in her. they were not going to get away with this!

The doors all slammed shut in the room. The bright overhead lights shining down on Carrie exploded, raining glass and sparks down on the crowd. The large water bottle exploded. Carrie looked up at the basketball net and backboard attached to the ceiling. It came free and fell on a bunch of cacklers.

Laughter turned into screams.

A crowd of teachers and boys came at the stage. Carrie pushed out with her mind. They all flew back as if hit by an invisible bulldozer, flying away and taking others with them all the way back to piled up against the back wall and doors out. Screams wailed louder, people frantically looked for a way out.

Nana burst out of the bathroom with two handfuls of paper towels. "huh?" she asked.

Carrie looked down on Sue, crying over Tommy. She could not hate Tommy, or Sue. She stepped down the stairs and turned her attention to Nana who was running at her.

"Carrie, stop, Nana will help you clean up!" Nana cried.

Pure sweet Nana. Nana should not be here. Carrie pushed her back towards the bathrooms. Nana stopped partway back. Carrie could feel Nana pushing back with her own mind.

"Carrie, Stop!" Nana cried.

Behind Nana, students were backed again the wall, looking terrified. Carrie became angry, not wanting Nana to be here. She gave a push as hard as she could. Nana's arms flew off. One hit a girl on her chest. The girl wailed out a scream and fainted. Another girl fled to the side, wailing out a scream. Nana didn't move.

"Carrie, don't make Nana angry!" Nana stated in a hard tone.

Was Nana turning against her now? Carrie pushed again. Her push was deflected upwards to bend some steel beams and break a steam line. A long chunk of pipe fell and steam poured into the room. Nana was at least as strong as she was. Carrie turned to stomp out of the room. The piles of injured in front of the doors, Carrie pushed out as she flung the doors open. Pained yells and terrified screams tumbled out into the night.

Nana frowned at Carrie. Nana knew what was happening, Carrie was in a Rage. She turned to see a few people gaping and screaming at her arms on the floor.

Nana drew her arms to her and put them back in place. Hearing Sue crying, Nana ran to the stage. "Sue! Tommy's hurt?"

"Yes," Sue cried. "Will someone PLEASE call an ambulance?"

"Nana will carry Tommy, show Nana where the hospital is," Nana said, and picked Tommy up. Seeing Sue stare at her, Nana said, "Sue, show Nana the hospital!"

Sue jumped up and cried, "Follow me!"

Nana did, running after Sue out into the parking lot to Tommy's car.

.

Carrie walked through the parking lot in a daze. This was how it really was? Everyone was against her. Even Nana, her best friend, had challenged her. There was no one who was truly her friend. The despair she felt was edged with anger was so strong, she felt sick to her stomach from it. Between that and the stench of blood on her, she felt like she was going to throw up. She was alone, hated and despised by everyone.

.

After Carrie left, Mayu got up from against the wall where Jerry had pushed her when the basketball backboard had come crashing down. The screams had died down, leaving moans of pain, crying and calls for help in their wake. Nana ran out behind Sue, carrying Tommy. Looking over at where the backboard and metal frame laying on top of people, Mayu saw Jerry was lying on the floor. She ran to him. "Jerry?" she cried.

Jerry's eyes were open. Just beyond the frame, he blinked and looked at her. "Mayu, are you OK?"

"I'm fine. People are hurt, we have to help them," Mayu said, and helped him up.

"What happened?" he asked vacantly.

Mayu knew what happened, Carrie had gone berserk. All she said was, "A disaster."

.

Carrie walked up the road through town. A squeal of tires and an engine roaring behind her made her turn and look. The football star Brad was driving, Carol was beside him, glaring at her. Carrie pushed hard. The car stopped suddenly, the front end folding up as if it hit a solid wall. The air bags went off.

They were trying to kill her. Carrie pounded down hard on the roof with her mind, driving it down so far the windshield and windows blew out and the roof was pushed below the dash. Squirts of blood shot out from the tops of the doors.

"Served them right."

Carrie spun back to see Lucy was leaned back against a planter, arms folded over her chest. "They wanted to kill me!" she screamed at Lucy.

"They did," Lucy agreed. "You killed them first."

"I was having the ... best time of my life! They dumped blood on me and hurt Tommy!" Carrie raged.

Lucy raised an eyebrow and asked, "Do you see me even suggesting you were wrong in what you did?"

Striding towards Lucy, Carrie motioned to herself and wailed, "What did I EVER do to deserve THIS!"

"Nothing."

"I am so tired of being ... abused and picked on, I can't stand it any more!" Carrie yelled.

"I know the feeling," Lucy agreed. "I told you this might happen. Welcome to the Rage."

Carrie stared at her.

"Be thankful you didn't seriously challenge Nana, and Mayu is unhurt. That has saved you," Lucy stated. Standing up, Lucy looked back at the school. Sirens and flashing lights from other streets were converging on the school. "All you have to worry about now is living with what you've done."

Carrie looked back, then turned to Lucy again. It was then it hit her. She had killed people. Possibly many people. Other kids that had nothing to do with dumping blood on her. She tried to hurt Nana, who had never been anything but nice to her. Her face slacked. She had become a murdered.

"I have no right to tell you what to do," Lucy said in a calm tone, "But I think going home tonight will turn out very bad for you. If you do, either you or your mother will end up dead. Can you live with that?"

"I'm ... I'm a monster," Carrie whispered.

Lucy let out a snort and said, "No, you became consumed with Rage. Recognize that you can easily kill stupid people. Whether you continue to do so or not, will determine if you are a monster. Me? I know I am. Anyone hurts my family gets splattered, period. I have no mercy on those who would hurt the ones I care about. As far as any who dare to attempt to pick on me, I've found a good fright usually drives them far away." Lucy then looked off into the distance. "Nana is at the hospital, most likely with Tommy. I'm going to go check on them."

"Is Tommy alive?" Carrie asked

Lucy shrugged and asked, "How would I know until I get there? You coming?"

Carrie looked down at herself. "I'm ..."

"You look nasty," Lucy agreed. "We'll be going near the house anyway. You can clean up along the way."

.

It took a while to take Carrie home, get her cleaned up and into Lucy's spare clothes before they got to the hospital. By that time, the emergency room was full with patients, people waiting and police asking questions. In the mass of those waiting, Mayu found them.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Mayu said, "Lucy, Nana's OK, she's in with Sue and Tommy. Tommy is..." she then saw Carrie.

"It's fine, Mayu. Where's Tommy?" Lucy prodded.

"Getting stitches, then he can go home," Mayu finished as she eyed Carrie.

"Excuse me," a policeman said as he came up to them. "Do you have someone waiting to be seen?"

In a flash of inspiration, Lucy motioned to Carrie and said, "We do. I took Carrie here home to get her cleaned up and found she has lash marks on her back."

Carrie gapped at Lucy.

"Lash marks?" the cop asked. To Carrie, he asked, "Where did they come from?"

Carrie swallowed, so Lucy answered. "I saw her mother beating her across her back with a belt. The marks are still there. I do believe such punishment is not allowed."

"Ma'am, is this true?" the cop asked as he stared at Carrie.

Carrie nodded.

"Both of you, come with me," the cop said and guided them over to a desk.

.

Margaret White waited all night and Carrie didn't come home. She had her knife ready, as well as a large garbage bag to put Carrie in after. She hadn't dug a hole in the yard yet, but she had a shovel ready.

A knock sounded at the door.

Cross in hand in case it was one of the devils, Margaret answered the door to find a man in a brown overcoat. He held up a badge. "Margaret White?" he asked.

"Yes, what do you want?"

"We have a few questions for you. May we come in?"

She then noticed there was another man behind him. Shaking her head, she said, "No, you can't come in to have your way with me, you evil men!" She slammed the door shut.

"Margaret White!" The detective barked, "You can talk to us here, or you will be taken down to the station!"

"GO AWAY!" she screamed.

The door rattled, then broke open.

Terrified they were going to strip her and have their evil way with her, she ran to the kitchen and grabbed her knife.

"Freeze, drop the weapon!" the detective shouted as he drew his gun up on her.

Margaret wailed out a scream and raised her knife up high.

A gunshot shattered the air.

.

Lucy had called home to talk to Kouta and get permission and the policeman's agreement to take Carrie home for the night so she would be safe. Feeling lost, Carrie went with her. Sue drove Tommy's car and took them home, then took Tommy home. Carrie spent the night in a room with Lucy.

Covered up on the futon in Lucy's room, Carrie meekly asked, "What's going to happen to Mom?"

"I don't know for sure," Lucy said honestly. "Carrie, there is something seriously wrong with your mother. She's a lunatic. She needs to be cared for."

"Then what happens to me?"

Lucy looked over and cast her a smirk. "Don't worry, we aren't going to let you get kicked onto the street. If you can't stay at home, then I'm sure Kouta will let you live here as long as you need to."

** Two weeks later **

Carrie was allowed access to the mental ward. She showed the nurse the bible she brought with her. The nurse inspected it and handed it back.

The nurse then said, "Margaret White is in the second room on your left. You may pass the bible in, but do not reach in past the glass barrier."

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you," Carrie said meekly. She walked to the room to find her mother inside a padded room. The upper part of the door was reinforced glass. A mail slot was in the door that opened into the room. Her mother was sitting on the bed, staring blankly at the wall with a bandage on her lower leg where she'd been shot.

"Mom? I brought your bible for you," Carrie called.

Margaret turned to stare at her. she moved to look out the door and whispered, "Carrie, they will come for you and do horrible things to you. Run while you can!"

Carrie put the bible in the mail slot and pushed it in. "Here, Mom. Mom? I'm sorry this is happening to you," she offered.

Margaret kept glancing up and down the hall. In a hushed, frantic tone she said, "Carrie, get away before they put their hands all over you too!"

"No one's going to hurt me, Mom," Carrie said assuringly.

"They will!" Margaret hissed.

"NO, they won't," Carrie said. She levitated the bible up. "Take it, Mom. Know that I am safe. Lucy is teaching me how to deal with others."

Seeing the bible floating in the air right in front of her. Margaret snapped it up. Joy lit her face. "This is a sign from God!"

"Sure, Mom," Carrie said with a sad smile. "I'll be by again Saturday. The Doctor said we can go out in the sun room if you behave, so please behave, OK?"

"I hear someone, quick, go before they catch you!" Margaret hissed.

"Bye Mom," Carrie said and walked back to the entrance to get let out. Waiting for her, Kouta, Lucy and Nana got up. Nana extended her hand and asked, "Ready?"

Carrie clasped her hand. "Yes, let's go home."

The End

Bobby, Nana's prom date

Jimmy, Sue's prom date,

Tommy, Carrie's prom date,

Margeret White - Carrie's mother

Miss Collins, gym teacher / coach

Sue Snell, Carrie's friend

Tommy Ross, Sue's boyfriend