Matt's Story: A Carrie Fanfic

Hi, my name is Matt Burkley. Today has marked 20 years since the event known as The Black Prom happened at Ewen High School. To this day, I still remember what happened. I don't know if you care, but I'd like to tell you my story.

The year was 2013. I had just turned 18, a senior at Ewen High, and I still lived with my mom. My mom and dad got a divorce when I was only in kindergarten. I can't remember much, but I think the divorce happened because my dad was cheating on my mom with someone at his work. I never really saw much of my dad after that, but I digress. I was at a height of 5'9" and very slender. I was a light skinned white boy with short dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, and my wardrobe usually consisted of sweat jackets and blue jeans. I'm also a very easy guy to get along with, having a rather kindhearted and laid back personality. At the time, I remember that I was stocked to finally graduate and leave the hell hole that was Ewen High School. I wasn't the only one excited to leave, my girlfriend, Dawn Swanson, was also very excited to leave.

I loved Dawn with all of my heart. We met in the 9th grade when she was a new student. We were assigned to do a project together and we immediately hit it off. It turns out she's about the same height and weight as I am, and our personalities are pretty similar. Her skin tone was also the same tone as mine. She also had brown eyes and brunette hair. Her breast size was somewhere in the C range, and her wardrobe consisted of T-shirts and colorful skirts. She was such a beautiful human being, and I was fortunate enough to go out with this one.

After I revealed my feelings for her near the end of the 9th grade, we went on countless dates. Whether the date was to the movies, Maria's Italian Restaurant, the occasional concert, or just hang out at home, we always had a great time. We rarely ever fought, and whenever we did, we'd make up in five seconds. I even remember the first night we made love, but that's a story that I'll save for another day (This fanfic is rated T after all). I remember being sad when I heard she was going to MIT, while I was going to the School of Medicine in New York City. We promised to keep in touch and visit each other over weekends or during Christmas/Spring breaks. Before we graduate and go our separate ways, however, the two of us decided to have one last hurrah and go to the Senior Prom.

The two of us were excited for prom. As Dawn went to go get her hair and nails done as well as buy a dress with her older sister, I decided to head to the Men's Warehouse with my bestfriend, Freddy Holt. I'm a bit of a nerd, and Freddy was no different. We have the same taste in gaming, especially Legend of Zelda, and t.v shows, especially anime such as Soul Eater and Death Note, so we got along immediately. By the end of the day, Freddy and I got some pretty neat tuxedos. Freddy's was a standard black and white one, but mine had black pants, a white undershirt, a blue vest, and a blue jacket with a blue bow tie. I looked dapper as hell, and I knew Dawn would love me in this tux.

On the night of prom, I got a call from Freddy telling me that he's going to bring his camera to record the prom for the senior slide show at the end of the year, and told me to look my best. I showered, shaved, brushed my teeth and hair, got my tuxedo on, got into the driver seat of a yellow Lamborghini that I rented for the occasion, and drove off to Dawn's house.

At Dawn's house, I walked up to the door with a purple corsage, and knocked at the door. The door was answered by Dawn's father, Mr. Swanson. He knows that I'm a good boyfriend to his daughter, so he trusts me completely. But nevertheless, he tells me that he wanted Dawn home by midnight. I agreed and waited for Dawn to come out of her room. When dawn came down the stairs from her room, she looked absolutely beautiful. She had a purple dress on with purple eye shadow and red lipstick. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and I couldn't help but blush. I told her that she looked amazing, and she responded by saying I looked very handsome. I gave her the corsage and helped her put it on. After that, we said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Swanson and left for Ewen High School.

When we got there, I got out of the car first and opened the passenger seat for Dawn so she can get out. It's the chivalrous thing to do, you know. As we walked into the gym, we saw that it was beautifully done with cutouts of stars and moons in the ceiling and on stage, there were lights everywhere, and each table had a blue or silver tablecloth with plates, silverware, and glasses of the same color as the tablecloths, as well as a centerpiece of moons and stars. There were even all around the gym that had pictures of all the seniors. Dawn and I were amazed. I remember saying that the prom committee went all out this year when decorating, or something to that extent.

As we sat down at our table, Freddy came up and recorded us. He wanted to know what our final thoughts were now that we were graduating. Dawn and I gave our thoughts on the year all together, and mentioned who we're going to miss and wish luck to in life before he left and moved on to the next table.

As Dawn and I went to get some food from the buffet table, we noticed someone who we didn't expect to see at the prom. It was Carrie White, wearing a pink dress that she made herself. Carrie was pretty much the prime target for the bullies of the school, such as Tina Blake, Nicki and Lizzie Thibodeau, and especially Christine Hargensen. Dawn and I don't know much about what happened, but apparently Carrie had her first period in the woman's locker room, and the bullies started throwing tampons at her chanting the words, "plug it up," over and over again. Also, someone uploaded a video of it onto Youtube, making matters worse. Since three of the four bullies were here, this was the last place I'd expect to see Carrie in. But she was there, and to everyone's surprise, she was there with Tommy Ross, the popular guy at school. I heard that Sue Snell wanted Tommy to go to the prom with Carrie so that she can make up for bullying her. That was really sweet of her, I remember thinking to myself.

After our dinner we decided to dance for a while. We danced to a few fast songs, and really enjoyed our time embracing each other during the slow songs. My buddy Freddy was recording everyone dancing the whole time.

After dancing, it was finally time to vote for Prom King and Queen. When Dawn and I looked at the ballot, we saw a bunch of names on it. There were our names, Carrie and Tommy's names, and a few others. Since a lot of people saw us in the hallways holding each other, making out, or just enjoying each other's company, we thought we were going to win for sure. Once all of the ballots were filled out, we gave them to Tina, who put them in a blue box covered in stars and moons. Once they were all collected, the MC was ready to announce the winner. Dawn and I were eager to hear who the winner was. I remember that both of us were surprised when we heard him say, "The winners are….Tommy Ross and Carrie White!"

Dawn and I were confused. Not that we had anything against Carrie, she was a nice girl, we just weren't expecting this. Then again, maybe they were pity votes. Nevertheless, we clapped and showed how happy we were for them. The entire gym was full of applause and cheering as Tommy and Carrie went up to the stage. As this was going on, I noticed Sue Snell trying to make her way to the stage. I didn't know what was happening, but Ms. Desjardin, the gym teacher, caught her and dragged her out of the gym. Dawn and I shrugged it off and just continued clapping for Tommy and Carrie, who was just given their scepter and bouquet of white flowers. Things seemed to be going right for Carrie for once…..but then, something happened that would change all of it.

Out of nowhere…..SPLAT!

Tommy and Carrie were covered in a red substance and everyone's cheering turned into gasps of shock. Carrie seemed to have gotten the worst of it, however. She dropped her bouquet to the floor and started shaking, looking at her hands covered in the substance. She then looked into the audience to see everyone just staring at her. Carrie turned to Tommy, who seemed pretty pissed off. "What the hell!" He shouted. This had to be some kind of prank. That must have been why Sue tried to go up on stage, to warn Carrie and Tommy about the prank.

My assumption of this being a prank only proved to be truer as the started showing the video of Carrie's period in the locker room. This caused a good amount of people to laugh or at least chuckle. Some of the people, however, were appalled by this, especially Dawn, Freddy, and I. I remember thinking, "Seriously, leave the girl alone." I saw that Carrie was walking off the stage, to leave the gym when she turned to the T.V showing the image.

As the laughter and jeers grew, Ms. Desjardin tried to walk up to Carrie to get her off the stage, but then…..WHAM! Carrie moved her arm out and pushed Desjardin back, without touching her. Everyone gasped and stopped laughing at the sight of this. As this was going on, the bucket that held the red substance must've got loose from its rope and fell right on Tommy's head, knocking him unconscious. Carrie turned back to see if he was okay. We heard her sob for a while when this happened.

Everyone just stared, not sure what to do next. We just saw Ms. Desjardin get pushed back by some psychic force, and then witnessed the most popular guy in school get knocked out cold. Let me tell you, what happened next, made me wish that we all got out of there.

Carrie slowly turned towards the crowd with an angry expression on her face. She opened her arms causing the lights to flicker, and the blood on her arms began to fly off in little droplets. Some of the students began to leave, but most of the students decided to stay. I grabbed Dawn's hand to try and get out of the gym, but before we could go anywhere, Carrie let out a very scary and angry yell, causing everyone and everything to fall to the floor. The once beautiful looking gym was now a wreck as tables were flipped over and the stars and moons hanging on the ceiling are now scattered all over the floor. Little did we all know, it would only get worse from here.

Using her telekinetic abilities, Carrie shut and locked all of the doors. Everyone was trapped and desperate to find a way out of the gym. As Dawn and I slowly got up, we saw Principal Morton get pushed down by a crowd of students heading to the locked doors, hoping to open them up. I ran over to the Principal and helped him up. Morton thanked us and tried to find an exit in this chaos. Dawn and I decided to look for Freddy so we can get out of this funk.

As we were searching for Freddy, we noticed some kids trying to climb the bleachers and get out through the windows. I told Dawn to go with them and get to safety, but before she could get there, Carrie closed the bleachers using her powers, crushing one of the students and causing the others to fall down. Dawn came back to me and we continued looking for Freddy. Eventually, through all the chaos and havoc, we found him. He was recording the whole situation. I shouted his name to try and get his attention, but before he could do anything, Carrie sent a table flying at him. It landed a direct hit and killed him. My best friend, dead. I was speechless. I almost wanted to cry, but Dawn put a hand on my shoulder and said that we had to keep going and find a way out. I toughened up as we continued to find an escape.

Thing went from bad to worse when Carrie turned on the sprinkler system, causing the floors to get wet and slippery. Dawn and I tried our hardest not to slip, holding our hands as we quickly but carefully made our way to an exit. Our clothes were getting drenched and Dawn's make-up began to run due to the water. The image of that face still haunts me to this very day. Meanwhile, Dawn and I noticed Nicki and Lizzie trying to escape too. Carrie saw this, and used her power to push them down and pin them to the floor. Dawn and I wanted to go help them, but got pushed out of the way by a huge crowd of people. When the crowd dispersed, Dawn and I got up to see that the Thibodeau twins were trampled to death. We quickly got up, hoping we weren't next.

I was thinking that this was as bad as it was going to get, but no, it somehow managed to get worse. Using her powers, Carrie turned off the sprinklers and ripped apart some electrical wires, causing a giant spotlight to fall down, causing a fire that rapidly spread throughout the gym. The fire must have burned off a rope that was holding a metal moon decoration that was on stage because it hit the floor with a loud clang noise. The decoration quickly got on fire. As the fire kept burning, some of the people were starting to lose hope. Some of the students found a safe place to call their parents saying that they love them and that this will be the last time they'll talk to each other, while others just called for 911.

I remember that I was paralyzed with fear. I didn't know what to do. There was no way out, and Carrie was making sure that there were no survivors. Carrie noticed me just standing there and decided to take the opportunity to take me out. She lifted up one of the thrones that the Prom King and Queen were going to sit in, and took the opportunity to throw it at me. I was so scared that I could barely move. I shut my eyes, expecting the throne to hit me hard, but instead, I felt a push to my side and I was pushed to safety. I opened my eyes looking around, and saw a body underneath the throne. I removed the throne and saw that the body was Dawn. Dawn sacrificed herself to save me. Dawn was unconscious. I felt her pulse, but there was nothing. The love of my life….gone. This time, I really did cry. The girl that I loved since Grade 9, taken away from me just like that.

I didn't know if I could go on this time. That's when my sorrow turned into rage. I was really mad at Carrie. She took away my best friend and my girlfriend, and I intended to make her regret it. I got up and began to throw anything I can get my hands on. Plates, glasses, silverware, one of my shoes, all thrown directly at her. Carrie must have set up some kind of barrier because they all bounced off of her body like nothing. I then decided to grab a table cloth, put my other shoe in it along with some more plates, food that was on the floor, and started swinging it like a sling. I felt like David trying to fight a Goliath with psychic powers. I threw it, and once again it bounced off. I didn't know what else I could do, so I just lost it. I remember tears falling from my face as I said something along the lines of, "Go ahead, kill me, you fucking bitch! You've already killed my best friend and girlfriend, I've got nothing left to lose! You might as well put an end to me! Do it! I dare you! Do your worst!"

I really lost my marbles. Carrie decided to grant my wish and picked up the metal moon, ready to throw it at me. As that was going on, Tina and the English teacher, Mr. Ulmann, tried to escape together, and they were running behind me just Carrie threw the moon. I was saved by Miss Desjardin, who pushed me out of the way and dodged the moon just in time.

The moon continued its path toward Tina and Ulmann, who jumped out of the way of the moon as well, but it separated them. Desjardin, Ulmann, and I just looked as Carrie, who was using her powers to use the electrical wires as a sort of cattle prod, and push Tina right into the fire of the moon decoration. The three of us just watched in horror as she burned to death. We weren't sure what to do next. Should we lay there and die like everyone else, or continue to find a way out?

Carrie then turned towards the three of us and using her powers, she grabbed Ms. Desjardin by the neck and lifted her up. Ulmann and I were confused, but after we saw her lift some of the wires up, and we looked down at some of the water on the floor. And we knew what she was going to do. Quickly, I picked up a table so it was standing on its legs and got on top of it. Ulmann was too afraid to do anything so he just stood there paralyzed with fear.

After I got up on the table, Carrie did exactly what I predicted. She threw the wires onto the water covered floor and started to electrocute everyone. Before it got too serious, I told everyone to get off of the floor, which most of them did do by standing on top of chairs or tables, but about 30 of the students and teacher weren't so lucky. I just watched as Mr. Ulmann got electrocuted along with my other classmates.

I turned toward Carrie to see that the reason she lifted Ms. Desjardin up was so she could save her. I did hear that Desjardin was the only one nice to Carrie after all. Carrie threw Desjardin on stage with the unconscious Tommy Ross and I watched at Carrie started to levitate and glide her way out of the gym.

A few minutes after she left, the fire department came and opened the doors, freeing everyone, including myself. Once I got outside, I sat down on a bench nearby and thought about what just happened. Prom got ruined for everyone, Carrie killed a decent sum of people, including my best friend and girlfriend, and this night was going to haunt me forever.

I remember seeing Freddy and Dawn get put up on gurneys when the ambulances came. I even remember how sad I felt when I saw the EMTs put white sheets over them. All I did then was cover my face and cry.

A few days later I came to Freddy and Dawn's respective funerals. It was Dawn's funeral that nearly caused me to break down in front of everyone. I remember giving a heartfelt speech for her and throwing a rose on her casket before they put her in the hole. After all of that, I fell into a depression and contemplated suicide a few times.

When I was caught by my mom, she immediately sent me to therapy, which actually worked wonders for me. I haven't thought about committing suicide for years now, but the pain that was caused by the deaths of Dawn and Freddy wouldn't diminish.

After graduating, I resumed my plans on going to the School of Medicine in New York and I became a surgeon shortly after graduating. While I was in medical school, I learned more about what happened on prom night. Apparently, Chris Hargensen and her boyfriend, Billy Nolan, got some pig's blood and dumped it on Carrie, who apparently died when her house caved in due to her powers. Chris and Billy were found dead at a gas station that exploded when their car crashed into it. I also learned that the ballots were switched so that Carrie and Tommy could win. The winners were actually Dawn and I. I knew it was weird that they won.

A few years after I became a surgeon, I moved to Boston, got married to a beautiful and kindhearted woman, and had two kids, with a third one on the way. My life seemed to be in order, but sometimes, I still lay awake at night thinking of the Black Prom, and the deaths of the many people, including Freddy and Dawn.

That's my story. I don't know if you read all of it, or even cared to read it, but now you know, from my perspective, what it was like to be at the Black Prom. My name is Matt Barkley, and I'm a survivor of the Black Prom.