By the time that the sun had risen, Carrie White had been dressed in her modest clothes, packed her lunch, and about to head on her way to school when she heard feet go down the stairs.

Turning around, she saw her mother, Margaret White carrying her baby brother, Josiah, in a basket.

"Good morning, Momma."

"Carrietta," Margaret responded quietly as she set the basket down on a table.

Carrie grinned as she approached the basket and cooed at the infant inside, "Good morning, Joey," and felt joy when she was greeted with a giggle from Josiah.

"Remember, Carrietta, come straight home once school is out. I'll drop Josiah off, then back to the shop."

"Yes, Momma."

Carrie received a kiss upon her forehead by her mother and, after one last glance at her brother, was out the door.

Two Months Ago:

"Carrietta, get down here!"

At the sound of her mother's voice, Carrie rushed down the staircase to find her mother standing in the doorway, holding a small light blue bundle.

"Yes, momma?", Carrie anxiously asked.

Margaret gave her a smile, "Meet your brother", turning the bundle over to show her daughter the baby's face, "Josiah Nathaniel White."

Carrie gave a quick gasp of surprise, but, seeing Margaret's eyes narrow at her pause, grew a smile on her face as she approached, "He's beautiful, Momma."

The girl cautiously reached forward and placed her hand around the baby's cheek, marveling at him as he slept in her mother's arms.

Once they had Josiah situated in the crib inside of his new room, Carrie brought up, "Where did you find him, Momma?"

"An adoption agency," Margaret spoke, "He is a bastard," not noticing the surprised look Carrie gave her at the sound of disgust in her voice, "Spawn of a young harlot your age."

Carrie stiffened as Margaret began caressing her hair and continued explaining, "And who else but we could lead him through this world of sin when he is already at a disadvantage at birth and show him the way of the Lord."

And, so it was that, for rest of the summer, on the days Margaret was working at her tailor shop or otherwise busy, Carrie adjusted to learning a routine to take care of her new baby brother: feeding him, changing him, lullabying him to sleep…

…

Carrie was nearing school grounds, bracing for whatever trouble the Ultras or likeminded students would have in mind for her on the first day of school.

At the sound of familiar feminine voices, Carrie froze.

Right there, in the sidewalk, was the terrible trio at the top of the Ultras' hierarchy: Christine Hargensen, Tina Blake, and Susan Snell.

While she feared Hargensen the most as she was the ringleader of the clique and the most personally vicious of them all, she knew to be wary the other two as well: Tina being as malicious as Chris can be and, even though, Snell would rarely instigate harassment herself, she would never intervene or dare stand up to her friends to stop it.

However, Carrie blinked in surprise to see that the two followers were visibly glaring at their queen bee with hostility.

It astonished Carrie to see an expression that she'd never seen before on Chris' face: fear.

Taking advantage of the Ultras' lack of attention on her, Carrie sneakily sped up past them and into the school.