Chapter 5 Carrie #2
It was only a dumb photo, taken at a moment of poor judgment.
But instead of politely telling Carrie he wasn’t interested, Jason had shared the picture.
Next thing she knew, someone had papered Cedar Lake High with printouts so everyone could see Carrie kneeling on the forest floor, wearing nothing but the Slasher’s red jacket, gaping open to expose her breasts, her crotch obscured by a machete planted tip-down in the dirt between her legs.
Posing like a Boris Vallejo warrior babe.
It would’ve been pretty badass if she hadn’t been known as the good girl.
Jason and Michael drew closer to the fire pit, Michael picking up the bag of chips Freddy had dropped and plunging his hand inside.
Jason had put the axe away and he looked everywhere except at Carrie, his eyes flat and jaw tense.
That was fine. She didn’t want to look at him, either.
The sight of his face dredged up a maelstrom of conflicting feelings.
Feelings her therapist had advised she needed to sit with, but she was reluctant to sit with them just yet.
He’d changed, too, although she couldn’t put her finger on how. He was still as good-looking as ever, yet seemed older and harder, like there was something unpleasant he was putting off. Carrie hoped it was because he felt guilty about sharing her photo. Not that it mattered anymore.
She felt an unwelcome pang in her chest and took a sip of beer to chase it away. I am a strong woman who can’t be hurt anymore.
Freddy drew in a shaky toke. “I’m telling you, man. It’s the Slasher.”
“Freddy—” Patrick said, rolling his eyes.
“I’m serious! Dude jumps in front of my van, and then he tries to drown Tiffany—”
“Tiffany said she was mistaken,” Carrie said.
“I—I don’t know,” Tiffany said. Carrie frowned. Tiffany had been convinced she’d been imagining things before. The weed—and Freddy—were making her doubt herself.
“I saw some creep watching us from across the lake,” Jen blurted out, and Carrie blinked in surprise.
“See?” Freddy gestured at Jen, the joint smoldering between his fingers. “The Slasher! Timmy Thompson coming to avenge his mother!”
“That’s impossible!” Carrie couldn’t help laughing at Freddy.
He must be smoking some really strong weed.
Timmy Thompson was the Slasher’s real name.
According to the movie’s lore, the cabin’s owners had evicted his mother after her husband’s untimely death, causing a mental breakdown that had led her to try to drown herself and her young son in the lake.
Timmy had survived and wound up in an institution, until breaking out as an adult to seek gory revenge in three movies and a reboot.
Jen scoffed. “Freddy, Timmy Thompson is fictional. The guy across the lake was just some rando. I couldn’t get a clear look at him, but he definitely wasn’t wearing a Slasher costume.”
Patrick shrugged. “It was tough to book the cabin. Probably someone who didn’t make the wait list wanted to get a peek at the place.”
“Get a peek and then slaughter us in our beds!” Freddy said.
“A crazy Slasher fan!” Michael said.
Jen barked a laugh. “We’re all crazy fans here. Don’t be stupid, Pipsqueak.”
“Jen—” Carrie started. Poor Michael was scared and Jen had to be mean?
Jen put an arm around Tiffany’s shoulders.
Tiffany was still hunched over, looking uncharacteristically timid.
“Come on,” Jen said. “Horror fans are the nicest, most normal people around. Just look at Patrick. And Tiff here. Even if Freddy and I saw the same guy, so what? He’s just a tourist. Not a masked creep with mommy issues.
And anyway, not everyone with mommy issues goes on killing sprees. ”
“If they did, you would’ve gone on a rampage long ago,” Patrick said wryly.
Jen winked. “They do call me a ladykiller on campus.”
The speculation and banter filled Carrie’s gut with unease. “There might be another explanation.”
All heads swiveled toward her. She shrunk back, instinctively making herself small. She hadn’t had this many expectant eyes on her since her days at the Rialto, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it.
She gulped, willing her pulse to calm. “I just broke up with my boyfriend Daniel. He was very possessive. He was always trying to separate me from my friends and was insanely jealous of anyone I spoke to. When I broke it off with him, he didn’t take it very well.”
She didn’t tell them she’d initially fallen for Daniel because he was so possessive.
That, and because he’d had blue eyes like Jason’s.
She’d interpreted his obsession with her as protectiveness.
No one had come to her defense after The Photo, and it had felt good to have someone on her side after having been cast adrift for so long.
And then it had all gone very, very wrong.
“How well?” Jen asked, eyes narrowing.
“He said he’d kill anyone who kept me from him.”
Her friends stared at her. Carrie shifted uncomfortably. She had no choice but to drop another bombshell.
Digging her phone out of her jeans pocket, she said, “He’s been sending me some alarming texts.
” She noted there was no signal. That would explain why she hadn’t heard anything from him since late last night.
Tapping on the messaging app, she held up the screen to Jen.
She didn’t read the messages herself. She knew the words by heart now.
“It’s not over until I say it is. Nothing can stand between us. I’m coming for you, Carrie,” Jen read out loud. “Shit. That’s fucked up.”
“Was he a Slasher fan?” Freddy asked.