Threat

Kaitlyn tipped around to the back of Carrie’s house. Even though the dead leaves under her feet made a rustling sound, Carrie didn’t seem to notice her. She was going to walk right up to her friend, but the second she saw Carrie talking to someone who wasn’t there, she stopped and listened.

“AJ, believe it or not, this baby connects us in more ways than one. We created this child together, and we should raise it together. You and I. Oh, I know that Reneé is important to you. But she’s not the mother of your first child. I am. And I also know that I got you in jail, and that was an awful thing for me to do. But I hope that with time, you’ll forgive me and learn to love me... the way that I love you.” Carrie got silent, then she kissed the tree she was talking to. Not just a peck, but a real kiss, lips caressing the rough bark. When she pulled away, she wiped the dirt from her mouth and went on as if the tree really was AJ.

“AJ... don’t say such things. Stop, stop.... you know what it does to me when you call me that.” She touched the tree with her hand as if it were AJ’s face. She was talking to thin air as if AJ were there and talking back!

Kaitlyn stepped back and pretended to just have walked over, without having heard anything. She walked into the yard and Carrie stopped talking.

“Heard you back here talking. Practicing one of your cool plays?” Kaitlyn asked. Carrie wrote some of the most ridiculous plays ever! But since she didn’t want to get on her so-called friend’s bad side, she pretended to love them.

“Yeah... something like that. You know me so well.” Carrie sat down next to her friend and looked at her strangely.

“Why are you so uptight, Kate? What’s going on?” Kaitlyn dug her foot in the dirt and stood up, pacing.

“You know they cancelled all of their concerts this year? All of them! Do you know how messed up that is?” Carrie rolled her eyes and got up too. She put both of her hands on Kaitlyn’s shoulders and sighed.

“It’s not so bad. Everything will be fine once AJ comes to his senses. All he has to do is admit to me that he loves me. And all this foolishness will end. It’s just that simple.” Kaitlyn jerked around with a look of anger.

“It’s not that simple! It’s bad! Really, really bad! He’s an innocent man! And you accused him of rape! The whole world knows now! And they probably believe it! My mom is mad at me cause I still support him. And I’m sure it’s the same way in every other home of the fans who support him! His mother is probably heartbroken! And Reneé! She loves him and he loves her! And you ruined their future! All cause you want him to love you? And then everything will be ok??? You’re sick! Sick and twisted and...” Carrie slapped Kaitlyn across the face so hard that she was nearly knocked to the ground.

Then she grabbed her by the neck and brought Kaitlyn’s face just centimeters away from her own. Kaitlyn tried to back away, but she was unsuccessful. Carrie was just that strong.

“I’m sick? Twisted? You think you’re better than me with all your morals and holier-than-thou bullshit! You’re not! Cause unlike you, I’ll do anything for love! AJ loves me! And all this... it has to be done until he realizes it!” Carrie yelled. Still holding Kaitlyn by the neck.

“Then again, you don’t know anything about love. Do you? You don’t know what it’s like to be in love with someone. You’ve never even been kissed.” Carrie leaned in closer and kissed Kaitlyn on the lips. Trying her best to force her tongue into Kaitlyn’s mouth. Kaitlyn had more than enough. She took her nails and ripped them across Carrie’s face. Tearing the perfect skin.

“Bitch!” Carrie screamed. Kaitlyn managed to get out of her grip and ran just two blocks away to her friend Tim’s house. He was sitting on the porch with his friends when she showed up. Crying. Face red and blotchy. Blood on her fingertips.

“Katy, what’s wrong?” She struggled to catch her breath to answer him.

“It’s Carrie. Look, can we talk alone?” Tim nodded and turned off his radio. His friends willingly got up and left. They knew that there was chemistry between Kaitlyn and Tim, so they knew he’d be awhile with her.

He took her hand and led her to his room in the basement of his house. It was quiet down there. And very dark. She had never been inside his room before, still she felt safe there.

“What’s going on with Carrie?” Kaitlyn saw a box of tissues on the night stand next to his bed. They were sitting on top of 4 or 5 porn magazines. She smiled sheepishly when she saw them, then she took a few tissues for her eyes, and some for the dead skin under her nails.

“You know all about AJ McLean raping Carrie, right?” She started.

“Shit, who doesn’t?”

“Well, he didn’t rape her. She faked the rape part. All she did was give him a BJ and keep the... you know...” She looked at the box of tissues, then at Tim’s crotch. He nodded.

“She got herself pregnant and lied about everything. AJ never raped her. She told me. Now she’s pregnant with his kid and he’s in prison for something he didn’t do.” Tim was utterly shocked.

“I saw her today talking to a tree and pretending it was him. And she kissed the tree, Tim! Then when I told her she was sick for pulling all of this, she said I knew nothing about love and kissed me! I scratched her face til she bled and I ran to you. I—I didn’t know what else to do.” Tim scooted toward her on the bed and put his arm around her.

“It’s ok, Katy. Everything’s ok.” She started to cry more and buried her head in his chest.

“Am I the only person you told about this?” Tim asked. Kaitlyn lifted her head and looked at him with sad eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Well, what are you gonna do? I mean, you can’t let her get away with this.” Kaitlyn cocked her head to the side and pointed to her neck. Tim examined it and saw the deep red fingerprints.

“Oh God! She did this to you?” Kaitlyn straightened her neck and nodded. Tim held her even closer now.

“Don’t worry. She’s not gonna hurt you again. I’m not gonna let her, ok?” He tilted her head up to make sure she understood. “I love you, Katy. I love you to death and I won’t let her hurt you.” He kissed her forehead, then her nose. And he understood why she was so afraid to come forward with the truth to set AJ free.

At that very moment, Kaitlyn knew that Carrie was wrong. Dead wrong. She did know what love was. She was in love with Tim. She could trust him. And he was willing to protect her. And sitting there, in his arms, she felt safe. Safe from Carrie. Safe from anything that could harm her in the world.

Carrie was in her bedroom now. Pacing back and forth. Sweating. Swearing. Panicking. Her face was red and sore. The blood had dried quickly and created a quick scab. Still, they stung to high heavens. She had a high tolerance for pain, but not slow pain like nail scratches.

She grabbed a razor blade from her desk drawer. Then she hiked up her skirt and started to slice up her thigh. Short little cuts all across her skin. Through her stockings. The self-inflicted pain made her feel so much better. She felt like she had control over her anger and sadness. And as the warm blood ran down her perfect legs, she sighed a sigh of relief.

Just to see how far she could take herself, she opened a bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured it over her fresh cuts. At first the stinging seemed unbearable. Then it subsided, and she felt lightheaded. Free. She fell back on the bed and closed her eyes. No more paranoia.

She folded the razor up in her hand, and felt it cut her fingers, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was finding a way to keep Kaitlyn quiet. Why did she even tell her in the first place? She should have known a goody-two-shoes like Kaitlyn couldn’t be trusted. She would have to show her just who she was dealing with. Maybe choking her wasn’t enough. She needed a little brute force.

~*~*~*~*~*~


Tim let his thumb brush across Kaitlyn’s cheek as they lie together in his bed. His mother made noise upstairs and Kaitlyn tensed up.

“Shh... it’s ok.” He reassured her.

“Timmy? You’re father called. He’s gonna be home late. So instead of making dinner, I’m gonna order a pizza. Tara wants pepperoni and cheese. You ok with that?” She called down the stairs.

“Yeah! It’s cool, just order 2 cause Katy’s here. We’re studying!” He called back.

“Oh, ok. Hi Katy! Timmy’s so deep in the basement all the time, I never know who’s here. Well, I’ll call you two when the food gets here, ok?”

“Ok.” They both answered. Kaitlyn was about to put her clothes back on when Tim stopped her. He held her face and kissed her softly before letting her get out of the bed.

“I can stay for dinner, but I have to call my mom and tell her. She’s probably worried.” Tim sat up in the bed and stretched.

“Wait, before you do, I wanna ask you something. I don’t want you going home tonight. Carrie lives right next door. And I’d feel weird with you so close to her. When you call your mom, could you ask her if it’s alright if you stay here tonight?”Kaitlyn got a blank look on her face.

“Your mother lets you have girls sleep over?” Tim smiled at her innocence.

“It’s not like I’ve done it before or anything. I’ll just tell her that you need to stay with a friend tonight because of something you’re going through, and she’ll let us crash on the couch together and watch movies all night and stuff. No big deal.” Kaitlyn smiled and picked up the phone to dial her mother.

Tim proceeded to get dressed while she talked. He climbed out of the bed and slipped his baggy jeans back on, leaving his boxers somewhere on the floor. Then she pulled on his shirt and waited for Kaitlyn to finish her phone call.

She told her mother that she was staying at a friend’s house. Tara to be exact. Tim’s twin sister. And she gave her mother the number there just in case she wanted to talk to Tim’s mom. Finally, she asked her mom not to tell Carrie where she was. The last thing she needed was for Carrie to find her there.

The couple went upstairs and cleared things with Tim’s mother. Once the situation at hand was finalized, Kaitlyn felt at ease. It was a huge burden off of her shoulders to finally tell someone about Carrie. And it was an even better feeling to have that person be Tim. Tim who had confessed his love to her and made love to her for the first time.

Carrie went driving around looking for Kaitlyn since she knew that she wasn’t at home. Then she remembered how Kaitlyn always hung around with Tim in school. She liked Tim. Maybe she went there. She drove past Tim’s house with the headlights out. There was a delivery man outside of the door. The man rang the bell and Tim answered. Carrie could see Tim’s mother give money to Tara to give to Tim.

But upon a closer look, Carrie saw that it wasn’t Tara passing the money to Tim. It was Kaitlyn. She took the pizzas for Tim and he waited for change. Now Carrie knew where she was. She pressed down on the gas before Tim could notice her car on the street.

Carrie had known Kaitlyn all of her life. She was always so submissive. And that’s the kind of friend Carrie liked to have. One who never said no and never questioned anything. But now she was protesting to Carrie’s behavior. She was calling her sick and going against their “friendship”. And now she was in Tim’s house having the time of her life.

“I work my ass off to get AJ, and she could take it all away! And now she’s with that punk too! It’s supposed to be easy for me! I’m gorgeous! Why the hell is she having all the fun?” Carrie was driving on commercial streets now, and speeding something terrible.

Talking crazy to herself and making no sense, she lost all focus on the road and went speeding through a red light. The car with the right away came crashing into the driver’s side of Carrie’s car. Carrying her car almost a 35 feet down the street.

The driver of the on-coming car called the police and the ambulance immediately. Spectators all stood around telling the police that Carrie was indeed speeding. When the paramedics pulled her from the car, she was still very much alive. But badly bruised and in shock. They took her clothes off to examine her wounds and found the disgusting scars of self-mutilation. Even the gross fresh ones. It was a shock to them.

Carrie was taken to the hospital immediately and checked for internal damage...


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