"Alright. We are announcing the king and queen of prom of nineteen-eighty nine..." A cute boy walked up to the microphone, tapping it. "And our royals are..." Ken, who was wearing a black tuxedo with a lime bowtie was standing on the stage announcing the winners, and he turned his head to look at the teacher, who shrugged. Ken looked back at the audience. "David Miller and Exer Campbell!" Ken smiled and beckoned them up. "Looks like we have our first ever prom kings!"
David smiled and bounced up. Exer was shocked, but a smile spread across his face. The students clapped as they walked up. Ken hesitated on which one he should give the crown, and he just settled on putting it aside. He gave them a rose each, and everyone clapped. Exer beamed. This was wonderful. He looked at David to his right, and David warmly smiled. "See, I told you it would be fun!" David whispered. But that was where he was wrong.
The crowd cheered, David squeezed Exer's shoulder and laughed, Exer beamed, but suddenly, liquid poured onto Exer, some splashing on David. Exer was confused at first. Was this part of the ordeal? What was it? But as he looked at his hand, he realized in horror, that it was blood. Warm, thick, sticky blood.
David yelled. Exer froze, the crowd gasped. Some laughed, some didn't.
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Exer put two and two together. He looked up and saw an iron bucket teetering, attached to a rope. But the rope went loose, and with a thwip and a thud, the bucket fell. A girl screamed. Exer shakily looked over at David, but David had fallen over. The bucket had struck him on the head. "No! David!" Exer crouched down to David and tilted his face up, but as blood leaked down David's temple, and his eyes stared blankly, he realized with a jolt his date was dead.
"Oh god! Oh god!" Exer jumped up shakily. He felt his breathing quicken. White lights flashed in front of his eyes. Exer breathed shakily, anger and grief surging through his veins. "Who. Did. This?!" He screamed at the crowd. They were dead quiet.
Exer had held in all his emotions. No one liked him, he lived practically alone, and the humiliation he faced! Now that the one person who ever cared for him was dead on the floor, he wasn't having it. The lights flickered. First slow, then so fast that when you moved it looked like you were in a stop motion film.
Exer raised his hands and his eyes rolled back into his head. Bam! A table exploded. The glass bowl holding the punch shattered and slopped onto the wooden floor. People ran for the exits, but with a jerk of his head, the doors locked shut. Some students ran to hide under the bleachers, but Exer made them crash down, so that hiding spot was a death trap in disguise.
Ken, who was still on stage took a dive at Exer and tackled him down. He pinned Exer to the stage. "Stop this!" Ken yelled over the chaos. Exer shot his hand up and grabbed Ken's throat and squeezed. Ken grasped Exer's fingers, trying to loosen them, but he couldn't. Ken's lips started going blue.
"Fuck... If you are going to kill me, I'm taking you down with me." Ken choked. He grasped a glass shard near his leg and stabbed Exer in the side, who let him go, yelling in pain. Exer's eyes were still rolled back. Ken staggered into a standing position, gasping for breath.
Ken grabbed the mic. "QUICK, GET OUT!" He pulled a key out of his pocket and threw it to Pamela, who began to shakily unlock the door. Exer stood up again and threw his hand out, lifting Ken into the air.
"Oh SHIT!" He yelled, and as the gym emptied out he saw Brenda, staring horrified, tears leaking down her face. "Run!" Ken mouthed to her. Brenda shook her head no. She ran up to the stage, and instead of attacking Exer, or throwing glass or wood at him, she flung her arms around his neck, sobbing as she hugged him.
"Oh Exer, please stop! David wouldn't want this!" She wailed, shoulders heaving up and down as she hugged him tight. Exer's eyes flickered back to normal, and he dropped Ken. "W-what..?!" Exer stared, eyes wide at the mess of blood, wood, glass, and flame before him. He saw Ken, coughing on his knees, and Brenda's arms around him. He could smell her hair. It was like strawberries. His eyes teared up, mixing with the blood on his face.
"W-what d-did I d-do..?" Exer felt his legs shaking and his voice cracked. "I-I... Did... No, no, no!" He shrieked, making the windows shatter. Ken yelled and jumped up at the sound of the broken glass.
Exer breathed heavily. He shakily wrapped his arms around Brenda and hugged her back. He could hear the faint sirens and the sound of screams. He shut his eyes tight. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back. His eyes shot open and he saw Ken brandishing a blood stained glass fragment.
"Ken no!" Brenda shrieked. The world slowed down again, and he felt his eyes roll back. Exer swished his hand in Ken's direction, propelling the boy backwards, and Ken hit the bricks with a sickening thud, and he didn't move anymore. Exer turned towards Brenda, hands raised.
"No, Ken! Oh please Exer no, don't do it!" Brenda screamed and fell over backwards over her heels, pale pink tule dress fluttering out as she landed painfully onyo her ass. Exer raised his hands higher, breathing out. ".enim s'ti won dna, purys sa kciht, eniw sa der, retaw sa htoomS"
Exer chanted and eyes rolled back and wide, he flickered his hand, but before he could kill her, the roof fell on Exer, burying him. The remaining lights burnt bright, then burst, spraying glitter like glass onto the ground.
That night Brenda managed to fall asleep around two in the morning. She had a dream. In the dream she was walking to the broken stage, and she laid a bloody rose on the grave, then a hand shot out of the rubble and grabbed her arm.
Brenda screamed. She screamed and screamed and it echoed around her, face contorted in horror. Brenda shot up, gasping, and she glanced around her bedroom with a shaky sigh of relief. She turned over to try to sleep again when she saw it.
A ray of moonlight cut through the curtains, and on her dresser, lay a single bloody rose, drips of ruby leaking down the white burrow.
