The shrill, angry tone of the alarm clock woke Katie out of a dreamless sleep. She groaned and slapped it off, tempted to just smash the evil thing into tiny pieces. But without its banshee call, she always overslept and was subsequently late for school. The summer break had provided freedom from the stress-inducing machine, but today was the start of another reign of terror. Today was the first day of her sophomore year.
With the first challenge of the day out of the way, it was time for the next. Getting out of bed. Already the claws of sleep threatened to tug her brain back into blissful darkness as she fought to pick her head up off the pillow. Her skull throbbed and her bed felt like a sweaty coffin, yet she struggled to find the will to escape it.
C’mon you lazy fatass, get up already.
She winced as the thought intruded her mind, feeling a guilty twinge at the self-loathing, but it did give her enough motivation to finally crawl out of bed. The next part of the body to attack was her stomach, always crying for more sustenance. She threw a t-shirt on over her soft, pudgy body and stumbled downstairs, the sharp hunger pains poking her, over and over.
Surprisingly, her mother sat at the kitchen table. Papers dotted with coffee stains littered the surface as she sat hunched over them, sorting and scratching with a pen.
“Why are you up?”
Her mother looked, eyes wide. “What time is it?” She glanced at the clock on the wall, the long hand pointing at six and the short one halfway to seven. She sighed, rubbed her eyes, and leaned toward the table again.
“Is everything alright?” Katie asked, crossing her arms.
“Yeah, nothing for you to worry about sweetie. Just had a long night, that’s all.”
Katie walked into the kitchen, taking a glance at the empty coffee pitcher beside her mother.
“Is the store doing okay?”
“It’s fine— We’re fine. Do you want me to make you something?”
Katie shook her head. “Cereal’s fine.”
Katie’s mother frowned. “You could probably eat a little more than that.”
Katie shuffled around uncomfortably. “I don’t… want to eat too much.”
Katie’s mother stood up with a sigh. “Go freshen up, I’ll make us some eggs and bacon.” She walked over to the stove and reached up to pull out a pan from the cupboard above.
“Um, but Ash’ll be here at seven so we can walk to school together,” Katie mumbled.
Her mom set the pan down on top of the stove and turned to face her. “You’re still hanging out with that girl? After what happened to you last summer?”
Katie groaned, “It was my fault, Mom, I dragged her into it.”
Katie’s mother scoffed. “She’s a bad influence on you. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you look at her.”
“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Katie snapped back.
Her mother turned back to the stove. “Go take a shower.”
Katie grumbled but went upstairs and grabbed an outfit for the day — blue jeans and her Journey Departure Tour shirt — then back down again, to the right, down the hall to the bathroom.
Dropping her clothes beside the sink, she looked up to see the mirror reflecting her round, tired face. She inspected her soft features and scowled before turning away to flick the shower on. The water sputtered and struggled to come out for a moment. Instinctively, while she waited for it to warm up, she slid her nightwear off.
Now it was time for her least favorite part of the morning, trying not to look down too much as she got some soap on her. When the water hit her skin, she winced and turned it down. Still, it felt too hot, so she turned it all the way to cold. The shock provided an instant relief from her burning fever. With a reluctant sigh, she grabbed a bar of soap and somehow managed to get herself smelling alright without catching a glimpse of her body, of her baby fat and her warped skin, scarred from heat.
After drying off, she struggled to get her clothes on. Her shirt was a little small, but it was her favorite one. At least the weather was finally getting colder, so she could just throw a jacket on to cover herself. In the summer months, any attempt to wear more than a tee left her sweating to death. She didn’t know how Ash could stand to wear that flannel jacket she loved all year round.
Glancing in the mirror again, she still didn’t look much better. Her eyes were slightly red with bags hanging under them, and her skin looked even paler than usual. She buried her face into her hands and let out a long tired moan.
Suddenly, she was overtaken by a strange, constricting feeling. She gasped and crumpled her arms against her stomach. It was sharp, almost painful, like somebody was squeezing her insides. She tried to beat it back down like she always did, every day for the past few months. She knew something was deeply wrong, and it was getting worse. But after her last reckless endeavor… She couldn’t put her mother through any more strain, financially or emotionally. So, she squashed the feeling down, hoping she could just will this sickness away.
After a long, horrid moment, the feeling finally passed and she managed to stand back up straight. With another curse sent to her reflection, she left the steaming hot room. Walking back down the hall and around the stairs to the kitchen, she saw her mother was almost done. The eggs were scrambled and chopped into a big pile; the bacon was sizzling with a deep rich color. It looked delicious… but it was too much meat. Guilt stabbed at Katie for feeling so gluttonous.
Her mother platted the food and pushed the whole thing towards Katie as she sat down. Katie’s hand hovered over the food. God, she knew she wanted all of it. She was so hungry all the time. But she just grabbed a single strip of bacon and the smallest portion of eggs she could.
Her mother watched as her daughter ate. “Katie, please…”
Katie glanced up at the clock and saw the hands nearly pointing to seven and twelve.
“Sorry, gotta go.” She stood up briskly and moved toward the door, sliding her shoes on. She hesitated before grabbing her backpack and jacket, glancing at her mother’s sad but smiling face. “Love you,” she said simply, then was out the door and gone.
“So, the Fratelli’s are gonna make ‘em all walk the plank, but then Chunk and Sloth appear and—” Ash paused as Katie gasped as she tripped and stumbled over a large branch on the sidewalk. “Woah, dude, you okay?”
Katie gripped the straps of her backpack tightly, steadying herself. “Y-yeah.”
“How’d you not see that?”
“I don’t know.” Katie mumbled.
Ash frowned. “Were you even listening to me?”
“Yeah, you were talking about some stupid pirate movie.” Katie shrugged and started walking again.
“I thought it’d be more your speed than the slasher flicks I like to watch,” Ash said, catching up to Katie.
“Okay. Cool, whatever.” Katie stuck her hands in her jacket pockets and didn’t look at Ash.
“What is with you, man? You didn’t want to see Back to the Future with me either! You used to be a total film buff.”
“Guess I just don’t care about that stuff all that much anymore.”
Ash sped up and turned around so she was walking backwards in front of Katie, one hand on her backpack slung over her shoulder.
“Dude, is something going on? You can talk to me; you know that right?”
“Nothing's going on Ash, move out of the way,” Katie grumbled.
“I know when you’re lying to me. Is it Cynthia? I wish that bitch would just leave you alone.”
“I don’t really want to talk about this right now.”
“Did she do something to you yesterday? Was she bothering you about your scars again? I swear I’m gonna murder her for tormenting you all summer,” Ash ranted.
“Ash! Just… leave it be, please.”
Ash rolled her eyes and spun back around.
Katie crossed her arms and looked down towards the sidewalk, keeping an eye out for anymore tripping hazards. They walked along awkward silence.
An icy breeze blew through Katie’s coat, making her shiver. The cold was a nice change of pace from the blistering summer, and from the sickness burning her up from the inside out. She felt a raindrop hit her head and she zipped her coat, flipping her hood up. By the time they got to school, it was pouring down and kids were running to get inside. Katie saw an opening in the flow of teens and tried to make a dash for the door. She slammed into another girl right as they both tried to fit through the doorway and they stumbled inside. Katie fell against the wall, and the girl caught her hand on some lockers to steady herself.
“S-sorry, I—” Katie tried to start.
“No, no, it’s my fault!” The girl interrupted, pushing her dark brown hair off her face.
Katie rubbed at her scarred arm. “No, I always do this…”
“What, bump into people? It happens man, get over it.” She paused as she looked Katie up and down. “Jeez, what happened to you, you get set on fire?” Katie winced but the girl’s attention suddenly shifted to over her shoulder. “Oh. Hey.”
Katie turned to see Ash stumbling out of the flow of people. Ash looked up at the girl and her mouth almost flicked into a smile before she stopped herself.
“Hey, Val. Uh, been awhile huh?”
The girl frowned slightly and narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, sure has.” She started to turn away.
“Val, wait!” Ash moved forward and put a hand on the girl’s shoulder to stop her.
Val spun around and sighed, “Yeah?”
Ash looked surprisingly uncomfortable for once, crossing her arms and rubbing them. “D’you want to hang out sometime? You know, like we used to?”
“Thought you didn’t want to be my friend anymore.”
“That was— I’ve changed. I don’t care about that stuff anymore.”
Val rolled her eyes.
“I’m totally done with Cynthia, I promise. I’ve been hanging out with Katie here.” Katie made a little wave as Val glanced back at her.
“Then have fun with Katie,” Val said flatly.
“C’mon, let’s all do something together and let bygones be. You still into that cryptid stuff or whatever?”
Val shrugged.
“Then can Katie and I come along on your next hike?”
“I’m not sure that—” Katie tried to object.
“I’ll think about it.” Val said flatly before adjusting her backpack and walking away.
“Who was that?” Katie looked up at Ash.
“Um, Valerie. Just an old friend,” Ash said, not looking away from Val as she walked down the hall.
“Just an old friend?” Katie echoed.
Ash gave her the side-eye and snorted. “C’mon let’s get to class already,” she said.
They continued down the hall, bobbing and weaving through the river of kids. This high school was the only one around for quite a few miles, and despite how small their town felt, the school was desperately overcrowded. Katie kept her grip tight on her backpack straps and tried not to bump into anyone else, but elbows and shoulders were sticking out everywhere, poking her in the sides and chest.
She dreaded what was waiting for her in their homeroom, her anxiety building as they moved towards the door. As soon as she stepped inside, Katie could see Cynthia and her two “friends” Becca and Cameron, gossiping like chirping birds in the front of the room. They didn’t seem to notice her, and Katie snuck warily to her newly assigned desk at the back of the class. Ashley sat down two rows over and three desks up from her. Katie wished she could have been right between her and those harpies up front.
The morning passed by slowly as kids milled into class, and Katie grew restless. She stared at Cynthia and her stupid puffy hair, so blond it was almost white, boring holes into the side of her head. Cynthia glanced towards Katie and did a double take, her upper lip curling in disgust like she had just remembered that Katie existed. Her friends noticed Cynthia’s expression and she whispered to them; they snickered back in response. Cynthia got up, her friends following, and Katie winced inside.
"Lookin' a little pale there, piggy." Cynthia snickered as leaned against Katie’s desk. “Not as pink as yesterday. Did you leap into another burning building?”
Katie frowned but didn’t give her the satisfaction of a response.
“Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to play with fire? Oh right, sorry I forgot, your dad’s dead and your mom’s retarded,” Cynthia said with a wicked grin. Her friends giggled from beside her like that was the funniest thing they had ever heard.
“My mom’s smarter than you,” Katie mumbled through gritted teeth.
Cynthia looked her up and down. “And yet she didn’t teach you to stop, drop, and roll, looks like.”
“Just leave me alone, Cynthia,” Katie growled.
Cynthia made a mock pose of consideration, reaching a hand up to her chin and inspecting the ceiling. “Mm… nah. Hope you’re ready for a fun year, piggy. I think it’s gonna be one to remember. Byeeee~!” She waved and strutted back to her desk.
Katie’s fingers scratched against her desk, forming shaking claws. She took several deep breaths and tried to calm her racing heart as their teacher walked into class. He introduced himself to the class and began a welcome speech for the new year. Katie wasn’t listening; she didn't even bother to commit his name to memory. She glanced towards Ash and saw she wasn’t paying attention either, looking towards Katie with concerned eyes instead. Katie just mouthed to her that she was okay.
“Katie Reid?” the teacher suddenly called out.
Katie looked at him in surprise and a slight panic. “What? Oh, right. Present,” she said after a noticeable moment.
“I would hope so, Ms. Reid, it's only the first day of school. You need to work on paying attention when a teacher is speaking,” he said with condescension in his voice.
“Y-yes sir,” she mumbled out sheepishly, suddenly feeling the eyes of the entire class on her. A snicker came from an unknown source. Katie scratched at her burn scars along the sides of her arms, feeling ashamed, but for what she didn’t know. Thankfully, the teacher continued on with the roll call, and the class’s attention slowly left her.
Today was going to be a long day.
Her first and second periods passed by slowly, but uneventfully. Cynthia didn’t share either of those classes with Katie, but neither did Ashley. Katie didn't see either of them again until lunchtime, when all the kids piled into the cafeteria for some low-quality food.
Katie lazily jabbed her fork into her mashed potatoes and peas, the mush looking entirely unappetizing.
“Not hungry today?” Ash inquired from beside her.
“Nope,” Katie lied.
Ash inspected her with squinted eyes. “You’re sure you’ve been eating enough?”
Katie groaned, “Ugh, God, please Ash, not you too. I already get enough of that from my mom.”
“Probably ‘cause we’re both worried about you. You look kind of sick Kate,” Ash went on.
“I’m fine really, I’m not sick. I just… don’t want to gain any more weight, that's all.”
“What weight? Katie you’re skinnier than ever.”
Katie looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “You're just saying that to be nice, but thanks anyway.”
“No Kate, that’s not a good thing! You look really unhealthy man. I’m worried about you. You’re not eating, you’ve lost all your interests, you snap at everyone around you. What is going on with you?” Ash ranted.
“Well not everyone can be thin and perfect like you. Some of us have to sacrifice a little to look pretty.”
Ash buried her face in her hands. “Jesus fucking Christ, Katie. You’re not fat, you never were. You’ve just got wide bones or whatever. Is that what this is all about? You’ve been starving yourself just to look more like me?”
Katie felt ashamed now that Ash was saying it out loud. “Uh… yeah. Guess so,” she mumbled, picking at her scars.
Ash pulled her face from her hands and looked at her with her soft blue eyes. “Katie. I’m begging you, as your friend, eat something. Even this shitty crap the school gives us is better than nothing at all.”
Katie grumbled, looking towards her cold and limp food. She could feel herself almost gag when she pictured forcing it down her throat.
“Trouble in paradise?” came a singsong voice. Katie looked up to see Cynthia sliding her way into the seat across from them.
“Fuck off, Cynthia,” Ash growled.
“Yikes, still got that filthy mouth on you I see, Ashley.”
“And you’re still wearing that stupid hairstyle, I see. Y’know it’s not the seventies anymore Cynthia.”
Cynthia just rolled her eyes. “Disco is back in style now, trust me. All the models are doing it.”
“Yeah, don’t think Disco is coming back no matter how hard they try,” Ash sneered.
“It's a better look than tomboyish lumberjack. Is that what you’re trying to go for?” Cynthia gestured to Ashley’s flannel and black jeans.
“I’m just… being me.” Ash said softly.
“Yeah, right. You’re a preppy rich girl just like me Ash, you’d do better to just accept that. We had it pretty good, remember? People actually used to like you, boys were tripping over themselves for us,” Cynthia reminisced.
“Not how I remember it,” Ash grumbled.
“You could still be my friend you know, if you ditch your little piggy here that is.” Cynthia made a mean grin towards Katie.
“I think I’d rather kill myself, Cyn.”
Cynthia just rolled her eyes. “M’kay, do what you want then Ash. I’ll try not to cry at your funeral, but it shouldn’t be too hard.” She turned her attention back towards Katie. “See you in fourth period, piggy. Don’t get roasted again before then. Ta ta~!” Cynthia teased before finally slinking off.
Ash sighed and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, don’t get worked up over her Katie, she’s not worth your time or energy.”
Katie wasn’t ‘worked up’ exactly, but a strange feeling was snaking through her body. An image intruded into her mind. Cynthia on the ground, writhing in pain as Katie tore her throat out. She couldn’t make fun of her anymore if she couldn’t talk, could she? Katie felt something more than anger imagining the violent scene… she felt a sadistic glee. Just thinking about digging her hands into Cynthia’s guts made her feel giddy. A part of her mind rang an alarm, screaming at her not to think of such things. But it wasn’t as if she would actually do anything, would she? What harm was there in fantasizing a little if it made her feel better?
“Kate?” Ash’s voice rang out from her right. “Uh, you still in there?”
“Yeah,” Katie said in a low, calm tone. “I’m fine. I don’t care about her, don’t worry.”
Ash shrugged and turned back to her own meal, digging into her messy burger.
When Katie arrived at her third period math class, she sat down at her desk and pulled out her notebook. It was filled with sketches of birds along with her notes from last year, back when she still cared about learning and even found it fun. She turned to a blank page to start off the new year, but instead of writing down the introductory lesson, she just scratched the pencil against the paper. Scratched and scratched until a picture started to form, Cynthia’s face with a knife driven through her eye. It wasn’t even one of her best drawings, but it was still incomplete after all.
She reached into her backpack and searched around for her colored pencils. Finding the pack, she pulled out the red one, the only color she would need. With some nice detailing added, her art was looking much better. She smiled, impressed with her work. She turned to a new page, and drew Cynthia again, dismembered, and added her friends next to her, disemboweled. The next drawing, a mound of gory bodies with her at the top, feasting on the meat and flesh and red… juicy…
A loud snap rang out, making her jump a little. Her pencil broke, sending little red shards across the page. The sound snapped Katie out of her trance, and she blinked. A drawing of her stuffing her mouth with human meat stared back at her. She didn’t even remember drawing that one. She flipped through the book and found she had completely filled the rest of the pages. There weren’t very many blank pages left from after last year anyway, but she still found herself surprised at how much she had drawn in such little time.
She finally glanced around the rest of the room and was surprised to realize the class was almost over already. The teacher noticed her and gestured towards her. “What about you Katie?” she asked.
“Uh… what about me?” Katie mumbled.
The teacher tapped the blackboard, and the algebra equation that was written on it. “You know how to solve this?”
“Um…” Katie felt all eyes staring at her again, making her shuffle in her seat. “I… don’t…”
The teacher frowned. “You have been taking notes all class, haven’t you?”
Katie looked down to her notebook filled with her darkest desires. “Uh, yeah?”
“Have you not been following along, then? We learned most of this last year, it shouldn’t be that hard for you.”
“I… um…” Katie muttered, stumbling over her words. Faces stared at her, some rolling their eyes, some shaking their heads, and some grinning in amusement at the show. “I don’t… I just…”
“Let me see your notes then, I can walk you through it,” The teacher said, waving at her to come to the front of the class.
“N-no that’s fine I— I’ll figure it out, um… on my own,” Katie spoke quickly and quietly.
“Come show me your notes, Katie, I’ll work through it again with the whole class.”
A shot of fear rushed through Katie. “Uh… okay,” she practically whispered. She flipped the pages back to her notes from last year, praying that her teacher wouldn’t notice all the red at the back of the book. She stood up on shaking legs and moved to the front of the class, hesitantly handing over the notebook.
The teacher flipped through her notes, mouthing the math problems to herself. “Okay I see you’ve understood everything from last year, and this next step is just applying what you already know in a new way. Let’s—” She paused as she turned to the newer pages in the book. “Uh. This— Hmm.” She flipped through the pages at the back of the book, her eyes growing wide. “Ms. Reid… what is all this?” she said, swallowing hard.
Katie didn’t have an answer for her. She just stood frozen, eyes on the floor. The teacher glanced around the room for a moment before closing the book. “You may go back to your desk now, Katie." She didn’t hand the notebook back. Katie clenched her fists, a tense quiet moment passing before she slowly moved back towards her desk. The teacher sat the notebook down onto a table at the front of the classroom, seeming to think for a moment, before she noticed the entire class waiting for her instruction.
“Right, um, like I was saying…” The teacher carried on. Katie stared down at her desk in shame and fear, scratching the pencil marks in the worn wood even deeper.
The school counselor came for her the next period. He pulled her out of the class and spoke to her in a hushed voice in the empty hallway.
“This is deeply concerning, young lady,” he droned on. “This kind of… art is not acceptable at school. Have you been having problems in class? These drawings look to be of Ms. Young.”
“No. Everything is fine,” Katie said quietly.
“You weren’t planning to… act out any of these scenes, were you?”
“No,” she answered simply.
The counselor inhaled sharply. “Ms. Reid I’m going to have to ask you to come see me after class. We need to discuss this incident further. I may have to call your mother as well.”
“No!” Katie suddenly raised her voice. “No, don’t do that!”
The counselor squinted his eyes at her. “Come see me after class, Ms. Reid. Do not leave school without doing so.”
Katie returned to class, a deep horrible fear eating her from the inside. Her mother could not know; she could never know that anything was wrong. She just couldn’t take anymore and Katie knew it.
Ash watched Katie with concern on her face, and Cynthia watched with amusement.
“In trouble already, piggy? Don’t think you’ll last the year then,” Cynthia hissed as Katie walked by.
Katie sat down at her desk and gripped her pencil as the teacher resumed the science lesson. Katie couldn't write anything down, couldn’t focus on anything. She just stared at Cynthia, gripping her pencil. It suddenly grew painfully hot in her hand, and she dropped it onto the desk, noticing the orange paint melting off the wood. She hadn’t gripped it that hard, had she?
The sharp constriction came back again. Her organs squeezed, and her muscles spasmed. She gripped her stomach and looked around the class. Everyone was looking at the blackboard lazily; no one had noticed her yet. She closed her eyes and squeezed her gut, trying to will the pain away. She was so hot, sweating, her shirt drenched despite the freezing room. This one was worse, so much worse. Something was wrong, her body was screaming at her. She gagged as hot bile filled her throat, and she struggled to keep it down.
“M-may I go to the bathroom?” She suddenly asked the teacher and raised her hand.
“Are you alright Ms. Reid?” he asked.
“I’m… feeling a little sick,” she answered honestly.
“Well, alright then, I’ll get you a hall pass.”
Katie rushed up to the front, snatched up the piece of paper, and left the classroom. She tried not to trip over her own feet as she dashed down the empty halls, turning sharply into the girls' room. She didn’t even have time to close the stall door before she fell to the floor and her stomach emptied out into the toilet bowl. Green and brown bile and a fair bit of blood filled the pool of dirty water. She coughed and struggled to catch her breath, but more just kept coming, her body refusing to listen as it tried to remove some invisible poison.
Finally, the vomiting ended and she took in deep, heavy breaths, pushing her hair out of her face. She could feel tears streaming down her cheeks as she cried silently. No amount of expunging her insides would get rid of her guilt, of her sin.
And there was something else.
Something dark and moving caught her attention from the toilet bowl. She sniffled and wiped away her tears, peering back into the porcelain with dread. There were worms, dozens of worms in the bowl. Black and wriggling, no larger than her thumb. She gasped and fell back away from the toilet, leaning against the stall wall.
“W-what? What the fuck?” She whispered to herself. It took her a few minutes to work up the courage to peer into the bowl again. The worms were still there, writhing in the dirty water. They seemed to be eating at her vomit, sucking up her blood with tiny invisible mouths.
Katie clutched her stomach, feeling sick all over again. Where did these things come from? Were they living inside her? What the fuck were they?
She couldn’t move; she was paralyzed in fear and disgust on the sticky bathroom floor. Her hands shook, and she continued crying silent tears of fear and confusion. What was happening to her? Why was this happening to her?
She stayed there, hyperventilating for a long time. Eventually her heart slowed down, and she regained control of her breathing. She peeked into the bowl and saw that the worms were still there. She slowly reached out a shaking arm and flushed the toilet, watching the squirming things spin around before they were all sucked down into the bowl and disappeared.
Katie leaned back against the stall and stared at the opposite wall as she tried to take deep, slow breaths. The nausea never quite went away, but she wasn’t being threatened with more puke anymore. The thought of dozens of little black worms wriggling in her stomach, eating at her insides, sent fear through her.
Suddenly, she realized that she had been in the restroom for a long while. Too long. She had to get back to class. She couldn’t get in trouble again.
She struggled to stand up and stumbled over to the sinks to wash her face. She gasped in shock at her reflection. She looked so much worse, her pupils were dilated so wide she couldn’t even see the green of her irises anymore. Her skin was white and slightly translucent; she could see her muscles twitching and her veins darkened with her own blood. Her breathing picked up again and she cried in overwhelming horror. The air before her shimmered, her reflection warping into a twisted shape before the glass shattered, sending thousands of shards across the sinks. She yelped and, despite holding up her hands to shield herself, she felt the heat of the melted glass impact her face.
Katie held her shaking, bleeding hands up to her face, inspecting them. “W-what’s happening to me? What’s wrong with me, why am I like this, why—” Her voice caught in her throat as a burst of voices and footsteps came from the hallway along with the ring of a loud bell. School was over. Katie tried to clean up, but it was difficult without a mirror. As she wiped off the blood and vomit with steaming hot water, she could feel tiny shards of glass digging into her skin.
She eventually vacated the bathroom, seeing only a few kids left trailing behind the horde. She rushed back to class as quickly as she could, debating on whether she should head to the counselor's office, or just grab her bag and never return to school again. The classroom was empty, save for two girls standing in the center. Rain slammed against the windows behind them as they turned to look at her.
“Oh, there you are piggy! The teacher was getting worried about you! And frankly, I’m worried too,” Cynthia made a mock expression of concern. She held up a black notebook and let it fall open to show dark red drawings.
“I always knew you were retarded piggy, but I didn't think you were this sick in the head,” Cynthia looked between her and the drawings.
“H-how did you get that?” Katie whimpered.
“You know I’ve always wanted to do this, and now I finally have an excuse. I’m just protecting myself from the crazy little bitch that likes to draw murder scenes of me,” Cynthia went on, ignoring Katie.
“I didn’t— But you—” Katie stammered. The classroom door suddenly slammed behind her. Becca had closed it. Katie hadn't even seen Becca hiding behind the door. Cynthia and Cameron took a step forward towards Katie. “S-stay away from me,” she begged. Becca suddenly rushed her from behind and shoved her to the floor. She kicked Katie in the gut, and she yelped in pain. “S-stop! Stop, please! Don’t—” Cynthia kicked her in the jaw. Katie spat blood onto the floor and whimpered in pain.
Cynthia crouched down over her, making a chastising sound. “Oh, piggy. Should’ve just died in that fire. Nobody would have missed you anyway.” Katie blinked tears out of her eyes as she tried to push herself up off the ground. Cynthia just grabbed her head and slammed it back down into the floor. “I’m doing us all a favor really, doing my part to make this town a safer place. We’ll all be better without a psychotic bitch like you around.”
“YOU’RE FUCKING CRAZY!” Katie screamed back at her. Cynthia just stood up and slammed her foot down onto Katie’s neck.
“And I didn’t mean to kill you, but y’know self-defense and all that. Hell, I’ll be the town hero, saving the school from a freak like you!” Cynthia grinned and looked at the other two girls. “Right?”
Becca grinned back in agreement, but Cameron rubbed her arm. “Uh… Cyn I don’t feel good about this… you never said anything about killing her.”
“Of course I didn’t! I would never, I’m nothing like her! But…” She sent another kick at Katie’s head; her shoe splattered with blood now. “Sometimes, shit just happens.” She prepared another kick, and Katie screamed. Cynthia’s foot stomped in place. Her leggings rippled and warped, as if they had been possessed by snakes. “What… what the fuck?” Cynthia gasped. Katie stared at it for a long moment as Cynthia struggled to move. “What is this? Are you doing this? How are you fucking doing this Katie?!” She started to hiss in pain as her leggings began to burn away and her skin melted with them.
Cameron screamed, holding her hands up to her face in terror.
Becca suddenly sent a kick towards Katie’s face and Katie clenched her fist, pulling at both Becca and Cynthia’s legs with invisible hands. They both screamed and collapsed to the floor as hot blood rained down on Katie. Their legs were gone, shattered into pieces across the floor.
And Katie had done it somehow. She knew that she could reach out beyond herself; she could stop this. She was just protecting herself. Right?
Cynthia and Becca writhed on the floor, trying to hold the gushing stumps of their knees. Katie covered her ears, trying to block out their cries of agony, and a strange sense of déjà vu overcame her.
Cameron suddenly broke free from her paralysis and made a dash for the door. Katie reached out to stop her, and Cameron’s skin twisted and ripped. There was no more Cameron now, just a squished mound of shattered bone and torn skin burning a hole in the classroom carpet.
Katie couldn’t stand the screams anymore and crawled on top of the other two girls. She squeezed the air with her invisible power, and Becca’s head was crushed down to a red pulp. Katie kneeled over Cynthia, watching as she struggled to crawl away, her eyes wide with complete fear and confusion. Katie felt a smile force itself across her face. Cynthia looked so pretty like this, just like in her drawings. She could use a little more detailing though, so Katie held up a finger and added some changes to her face. She removed her mouth and her stupid hair and pulled off her perfect nose. Cynthia screamed until her mouth was so full of blood she started to drown in it. When Katie finished, she giggled to herself, impressed with her work. The gore looked so pretty as it steamed on the carpet.
And it smelled delicious.
The door to the classroom slammed open and somebody ran in. Some girl with blonde hair. She didn’t look familiar to Katie, so she just grabbed her and pulled her into her artwork. She was screaming something, might have been her name, but Katie wasn’t really paying attention. Just pulled the girl’s stomach open with her new power and dug her hands into the sweet-smelling pile of guts.
Finally, Katie let herself eat.
She let herself enjoy the sweet taste of her steaming hot meal. She gulped and panted, a bliss rushing through her body as her hunger was satisfied at long last. Her meal squirmed, and cried, and screamed for a long while before finally growing silent.
Katie sucked the blood off of her fingers and leaned back, staring up at the flickering fluorescent lights overhead. She savored the taste for a moment, giggling softly to herself, before readying herself for seconds…
Ash’s dead face stared back at her as she looked down, eyes glossed over and filled with fear. Her mouth agape with bubbling blood. Her right hand was outstretched towards Katie's face. “What— Ash?!” Katie mumbled. “Ash, what are you doing here what—” She looked around at the gore around her. “What did I do? W-what did I do, how did I do this? Oh my God, oh my God what did I do?” She whispered as her breath picked up, her heart beating against her ribcage. “Ashley get up, please get up Ash! I’m so sorry I… I was so hungry! I’m… I’m so hungry,” Katie whimpered, wiping tears from her eyes with her bloody hands.
She shook Ashley, pulled her head onto her lap, but she didn’t respond; she just stared back with pain and betrayal. She couldn’t move anymore, couldn’t think anymore. She was gone. Katie had killed her. And the worst thing of all, she was delicious. God, she tasted so good, Katie could feel her stomach begging for seconds. Please, just one more bite, don’t let all that meat go to waste. Katie screamed and held Ash's head to her chest, overwhelmed with fear and confusion. Her breathing picked up faster and faster until her brain grew fuzzy and vision turned blurry, the edges of her eyes filling with static.
A man yelled, there were heavy footsteps, and people rushed into the room. They pointed some dark black objects at her and yelled some more. Katie didn’t look away from Ash’s face until her vision was completely gone and she felt gravity take over, pulling her to the ground. All feeling left her body until she was just an empty husk, rotting from the inside out.