This story is my conclusion to Stephen King's classic novel, "Carrie," the 1976 movie based upon it, and the 1999 sequel "The Rage: Carrie 2," that followed. "Carrie III" is rated R for profane language and extreme violence.

CARRIE III

THE LAST LEGACY

Corey Masters took a final look out of her bedroom window overlooking the town of Brunswick, where she'd lived her whole life.

"Corey, is all your stuff packed?" The voice of Corey's mother Loren came from downstairs.

Corey sighed, twirling a strand of her long scarlet hair in her hand. She'd been dreading this day for ten years, ever since her father's tragic death. She'd been dreading the day her mother would remarry and she'd have to move away. His name was Dwayne Carney, and they met at a bowling alley of all places!

"Yes, Mom!" Corey picked up the cardboard box and headed out of her room. She had one foot out the door when she stopped. She turned around for one last look around her now-bare bedroom. She looked at the empty corner where her bookcase had been, the wall that her bed had been pressed up against, to the opposite corner where her dresser had sat with her TV, VCR, and stereo on top of it. Finally, she looked at the nail sticking out of the wall. On that nail had hung Corey's most precious possession: The last picture of Corey and her parents, taken three weeks before he died. "Oh, Daddy," Corey cried quietly, her heart aching for her father.

Wiping the single tear that had escaped from her eyes, Corey trudged down the steps to what had once been her kitchen.

Her mother was waiting for her there. "Are you all ready to go sweetie?" She asked.

Fearing her voice would betray her melancholy, Corey merely nodded.

Just then, Dwayne came in the back door, smiling as usual. "Let me take that box out to the car, Sport," he said to Corey.

Corey handed him the box like a good little stepdaughter. But inside, her sadness had turned to anger. She hated that Dwayne treated her as if she were a boy, but for her mother's sake, she never mentioned it. There was something else she hated, too.

"Is the Carney family ready for the big move?" Dwayne's cheerful question bounced off the wall.

That was it. The way he treated her like she was his daughter, a Carney, as though her father had never existed. She groaned.

"I'm all ready," Loren answered, embracing her new husband.

"What about you, Sport?" Dwayne inquired, turning to Corey.

No! I'm not leaving! Corey's thoughts boomed inside her mind, imploring her to run back up to her room and lock the door.

But Corey, being the girl she was, replied, "Sure. Let's go."

They walked out the back door and Corey locked it behind her. She was halfway to the car when she noticed something was missing. "Where's Jasper?" she asked, looking around frantically. Jasper was Corey's Scottish Terrier that her mother had bought her after her father died.

Loren put a reassuring hand on her seventeen-year-old daughter's shoulder. "He's probably in the backyard burying one last bone in my garden," she said half-comforting and half-joking. "Go get him, but hurry. It's forty miles to Chamberlain," she called to Corey, who was already halfway to the backyard.

"Damn it, Loren. Do we have to bring the dog?" Dwayne said when his wife reached his side.

"Yes, honey. Corey loves Jasper with all her heart. She's had him for years. It's bad enough she's leaving her friends. I couldn't ask her to give up Jasper. It'd be too cruel." She hugged her husband tightly.

His wife's embrace softened him. "All right." He kissed her forehead and she hugged him tighter.

Corey peered through her mother's flowers, looking for Jasper. "Here, baby. Come on. We're going to a new house and a whole new bunch of flowerbeds for you to ruin."

As if on cue, Jasper appeared from the mess of flowers, shaking petals out of his brown and black fur. Corey scooped him up and held him close to her breast. The tiny dog whined. "I know, sweetie. I don't want to move either. But Mommy needs this, OK?" She kissed his head and he licked her arm. "Yeah."

Dwayne sighed exasperatedly when Corey appeared from behind the house. Seeing his expression, she hurried into the backseat while her mother and stepfather climbed into the front.

Jasper curled up next to her, Corey turned around for a few last looks at 395 Stevens Avenue. The yellow house seemed sad at her departure, its blue shudders swaying. The flowers that surrounded Corey's childhood home seemed to wilt as she left, and the roof looked as though it was bending in.

Corey's mind cried out. No! Take me home! Now! Please take me home, please! Corey suppressed her insubordinate thoughts and turned around in her seat, lifting a half-sleeping Jasper into her arms.

As Dwayne's station wagon turned onto Main Street, Corey's bedroom windows shattered.

TBC

Hope you enjoyed this first chapter!

Read and Review! ~ SS