I was going to post another filler chapter, but it seems like y'all are ready for another full one. Nothing graphic in here, though. This is probably going to be one of the longest chapters in the fic, actually, so I hope you enjoy it.
So we finally have some retribution now…. Setting the stage for the end of the fic. I hope y'all like it.
Have you seen that the love triangle is going to heat up in an 'unexpected way?' I can't help but have some kind of strange hope that Karley might become canon… ugh. It's best not to get my hopes up. Alright. I'll stop talking now….
The poem quoted is by T.S. Eliot. I don't own it.
Summary: McKinley High goes on lockdown with Marley and Kitty stuck in the choir room together. Karley.
Characters: Marley R. and Kitty
Rating: T
SHOOTING DAY, 8:25 P.M.
The lights outside had begun to grow steadily darker at around five o' clock, the light of the sun slowly fading from behind the blinds. The lights in the choir room still burned bright and steady, and it seemed like the school was nearly empty.
Of course it wasn't.
The temperature, too, had begun to decline again dramatically, the heater still refusing to turn on and the temperature outside near freezing. The girls had nearly given up trying to be warm, and eventually they just ended up sitting against the wall, their arms slung around each other for warmth and, as Marley told herself, comfort.
It was now pitch black outside, and Marley could faintly see the outline of the stars through the window. The cold night air seemed welcoming, and she faintly thought of what would happen if she busted a window and climbed outside.
That'd be a great idea, other than the fact that they weren't on the first floor.
Kitty's teeth had been chattering on and off for the past hour (or so Marley thought, she couldn't be sure) and Marley slowly felt herself becoming a bit feverish, her forehead burning slightly and her eyelids beginning to feel heavy.
She wasn't tired, though. She was much too exhausted and spent to sleep. She couldn't bear sleep right now. Not here. She began to shiver violently, and her eyes felt red and puffy, which they probably were.
They couldn't even move. They were paralyzed, and although the shots had been quiet for some time now, they couldn't bear to move more than a couple of inches at a time. The risks were too high, the chances too great. Perhaps part of it was that they simply couldn't bring themselves to move, couldn't bring themselves to leave the choir room. They were too scared of what they would find outside.
"Marley?" Marley turned her head and caught Kitty softly whispering the other girl's name.
"Yes?" She asked, and she closed her eyes for a few seconds, her eyeballs burning behind her eyelids.
"Are we going to die?" Kitty asked softly, tenderly nearly, as if she wanted an answer but was too afraid to hear it.
Of course not, Marley wanted to promise, but when she opened her mouth to finally say that, she found she couldn't. "I don't know," Marley finally said softly, wincing as the words hit her ears. The vagueness of the statement hurt more than the meaning of it.
Softly, she began to cry again, trying to stifle her tears with the back of her hand but somehow failing.
There was next to no light outside, and Marley found herself wondering what had had happened to the traffic lights, the lights of the cars going by. There was next to no sound outside except for the occasional rustling of the wind in the trees and the slight sounds of skidding or walking outside, but other than that, silence.
Another gunshot blasted through the air and Marley whimpered, hoping that no one had been shot.
"Too many," she heard Kitty mutter under her breath, and Marley nodded silently in agreement, although the statement probably wasn't meant for her, the tears slowly beginning to stop but still falling hot and sticky on her face.
The lights dramatically flickered, and Marley's stomach twisted violently. Don't let the light go out, she thought frantically. Please, dear lord…
But the Lord wasn't listening, and after flickering a few more times, the lights flared out with a dramatic electronic noise. "Damn," Marley said out loud into the dark. "You don't have a phone, do you?" She asked before realizing how stupid that was. If Kitty had a phone, they could've called the police… perhaps she had forgotten.
"I do," Kitty sighed and reached into a pocket of her Cheerios jacket, pulling out an expensive iPhone and turning it on. "No reception."
Marley reached into the front pocket of her backpack and turned her own phone on, the green screen lighting up as she hopelessly realized she had none as well. "Why wouldn't there be any reception?" Marley asked, her voice hoarse.
"There's never any in the choir room," Kitty said, rolling her eyes. "Trust me, why else do you think I paid attention in Glee?"
Marley nodded, feeling like an idiot and looking down. She turned her phone off, hoping to preserve the battery in case they ever got out of the choir room. Kitty sighed and looked around before turning hers off again, leaving them shrouded in darkness. There was no light. There was nothing left over now, no sound and now no light, save for the faint glow of the moonlight through the window. It was like they were suspended in time, and although it could have been mere seconds, eternity passed in Marley's head.
"Marley?" Marley's head spun around to the side to see Kitty staring ahead with a blank expression on her face. The words had most certainly come from the blonde, though, and Marley stared at the girl sitting next to her with a wide-eyed expression.
"Yes?" Marley answered, and Kitty swallowed. Her eyes cast nervous glances at the door and then back at Marley's face, her pupils wide.
"I-" Kitty swallowed and took a deep breath, her eyes flickering again towards the door as if she nearly expected something. Marley stared for a few seconds, her breath hitching slightly as she waited for the girl to finish the sentence. "I'm sorry," Kitty finished in a strangled whisper, and Marley's stomach felt like lead had dropped into it.
The words seemed to hang in the air for a few seconds, casting an uncertain shade over the choir room. "Sorry for what?" Marley asked before she realized what she had asked. Stupid.
Maybe Marley was finally getting an apology for the tormenting, for the slushies, for the damn whale jokes—she felt tears rise in her eyes as she remembered the pure hell that had been the first few weeks of sophomore year. But now she was stuck in hell, real hell, and this time with Kitty at her side. She faintly registered her heart beginning to beat faster as she waited for the other girl's answer, her eyes large and unblinking.
"Everything," Kitty said in a muffled voice, and it didn't take too long for Marley too realize that she was crying softly.
"I-" Marley began, but her voice faltered miserably in her throat. "It's..it's okay," she whispered, and she managed to pull the corner of her mouth up into a faint attempt at a smile.
"It's not," Kitty said and shook her head faintly, her hair brushing against Marley's cheek as she shook her head back and forth. "Really, it's not…" her voice trailed off and she started shaking.
Marley stared awkwardly at the girl, opening her mouth slightly and then closing it again, chewing on her bottom lip as she studied the other girl's reaction. She sighed quietly, and her heart beat in an irregular pattern against her ribs.
The lights flickered back on momentarily, and Marley's eyes began to water at the sudden light. She sighed in relief, the tension flickering out of her shoulders quickly, then snapping back into place as the lights went out with another electronic buzz and plunged them into a murky oblivion.
Both had remained silent during the entire event, the last words spoken suspended in the air and floating. Marley cleared her throat, and the silence snapped in half and was replaced by an awkward tension. "It's okay," she said again, albeit lamely.
Kitty shook her head and looked away, her face turning to the side. "I was so terrible to you," she said, her voice lifeless. "I-I guess I was just," her voice wavered, and Marley strained to catch her next words, the blonde muttering something about Jake and Ryder, jealousy, and the Cheerios and social order.
"I understand." Marley nodded and looked down, picking at her nails. And maybe she even did understand. Maybe she did understand the girl's motivation to torment her. But then again, maybe she didn't understand it at all.
"I-I should've tried to be nice," Kitty mumbled. "At least when we were in Glee.." the words were cut off by another muffled sob. Marley nodded again awkwardly, not quite knowing what to say.
"But you were nice," Marley offered, remembering their duet in the same room that they were sitting in right now and the minutes directly after Sectionals in which she had hoped that Kitty was actually worried about her. Kitty whipped around to look at her with a dubious expression.
"No, I wasn't," Kitty said with a biting-self hatred that made Marley's stomach turn. "I should've tried after Sectionals," she added, tracing the outline of her shoe with her finger, trying desperately to avoid eye contact. "It was my fault, you know…" her voice trailed off, thick with tears.
"No," Marley protested. "It's mine. I shouldn't have listened."
"I shouldn't have told you!" Kitty said with a certain venom and turned around to look at Marley in the eye. "Listen," her voice softened and so did her look. "I'm sorry, okay?" She looked to the side, the faint smudges of makeup barely even there.
"I forgive you," Marley said quietly, and they remained silent for a while, the school noiseless, as silent as the grave. Marley swallowed. She'd have to stop using that metaphor.
Footsteps echoed, breaking the silence in half, the dull curtain of nothingness shattering into a million pieces. Marley held her breath in terror, hoping to avoid whatever was out there, whoever was out there. The blonde next to her gripped her arm with an iron grip, and as soon as Marley realized that she was touching her, her stomach froze and her face flushed, the blood rushing in her ears. The grip was slowly becoming painful as the footsteps begin to fade, but strangely enough, Marley didn't mind.
The footsteps were finally gone, and Kitty released her. Marley shifted her weight and rotated her shoulder slightly, the blood rushing back into her arm. "Sorry," Kitty muttered, but Marley said nothing, and the two lapsed into an uncomfortable silence again.
Kitty began to say something slowly under her breath, the words coming out in ragged, harsh breaths. Marley leaned in closer to try and understand what she was saying, and when she finally realized it, she leaned back and closed her eyes. Kitty was praying.
"Please," Marley could hear her whisper, and Marley's head leaned against the cold concrete of the wall, her mind desperately remembering some stanza of poetry she had read a few weeks ago.
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
The author had been lying, Marley thought frantically, trying to hold whatever part of her sanity remained dear.
The world ended in silence.