The Story of Kristy Killings - chpt 10

We All Know The Wedding Is Over



Jeremy shoved through the cemetery gates, and sprinted to the school steps. "Wait!" Kayla shouted, trailing along behind in her ragged prom dress. "Jeremy!"

"What?" He stopped in his tracks.

"All the bodies!" Kayla pointed. "They're gone!"

Jeremy frowned. Kayla was right. The road was clear. There wasn't even as much as a single bloodstain on the tarmac. Jeremy looked up. The alien red sky was staring to break up, revealing the fading night stars behind it. Beyond the trees of the forest, the light blue of dawn was starting to creep from the ground. Soon it would collide with the redness and destroy it. In some distant houses, the lights were coming back on. Far away there was a faint moan of a police siren. "Kristy's spell is breaking…" He whispered. Kayla scratched her head. Jeremy seized her hand. "We don't have much time! Come on!"

They pushed through the school doors, ducking under the fallen prom night banner.
  
Kayla's heels clattered loudly in the deserted hallway.

"Alright, Lee, things haven't exactly gone to plan. The girl you killed is back to life, you've tried to stop her and failed, and now she's after you." He thought aloud. "So where do you go?"

"Somewhere she won't?" Kayla shrugged.

Jeremy suddenly halted. Kayla held onto his shoulders, using him like a human shield. "I think I hear something…" he listened, "in the school hall."

They went to the doors. The meet and greet table that had been set up outside was knocked over. The panes of glass in the doors were alive with brightly coloured lights.

"Can you hear music?" Kayla whispered.

"Yeah…" Jeremy nodded. "Give me the knife. I'm going in."

Kayla frowned at him. "I'm coming too." He went to protest. "She's my baby cousin. I owe her." Jeremy was shocked. Only hours ago she loathed to be in the same room as him. This time her expression was different. Her eyes were starting to trust him. She nodded confidently.
  
Jeremy nudged the door. "…Hello? Anyone?" They walked in, and it slammed shut behind him.
Every single dead body that had been created that night; classmates and teachers; was sitting on the chairs. They were set out like pews in the church, with one long isle running down the centre. The swirling lights made the room even more eerie. They skipped over the white and bloodless faces, who were all still stuck in their death-stares, all faced to the front. Cautiously, holding out the knife ahead of him, Jeremy inched down the aisle, Kayla close behind. On the stage, slumped at the table where the redundant prizes for Prom King and Queen were was the Headmaster, limp as a ragdoll. He was like a preacher in front of a congregation. As he walked, Jeremy wondered who had had enough time to set a scene like this up. He reached the stage and stepped up onto it. He shrank as his footsteps creaked.

He paused, ahead of the assembly, and lowered the knife. His back was to the red stage curtain.

A body seized him from behind, twisting the knife from his grasp and holding him tight. Lee held it to his throat. Kayla squealed. "Where is she?" Lee demanded.

"Who?" Jeremy whispered, trying his best to keep his throat from moving closer to the blade.

"I KNOW she's in here… She followed me."

"Why do you always think everyone follows you?"

Lee snatched the knife away and kicked him back down the stairs. As Jeremy fell, he heard his knee crack on the hard floor. He put his head to the cool wooden blocks and let the agony ripple up his body.

Kayla ran back to the doors and tugged at the handle, but it was stuck fast.


"Lee."


Lee turned. Kristy was standing at the table, her hand poised to place the gun down. She kept hold of it though.

"I know." She said in a judgemental tone.

"Know?"

"About the others. The girls."

A brief dread passed over his face. Jeremy attempted to raise himself up but couldn't. Lee flicked a stray strand of hair from his eye. "So what, Kristy? Nothing you can do about it. You're DEAD."

Kristy lifted her arm and fired. The bullet caught the tip of his ear and whizzed past. He put his hand up to feel his blood. Kristy still pointed it at him. "Tell me why." Lee said nothing. "TELL ME WHY YOU DID IT!" Her anger was making her hands shake. The gun trembled.

Lee saw this. He shrugged. "I told your little friend. Just to do it." He sprang at her with a speed too fast for her shaking hand. He smacked the gun from it and it flew across the room. It skidded down the aisle, coming to a stop just ahead of the doors. Lee pushed Kristy back. They fell until he landed on top of her. She reached up and with her demonic hands scratched at his face until there were pieces of flesh under her nails. He forced her chin back and her neck snapped. For a moment it was broken, then she clicked it back into place and they continued to fight.

She wasn't using any power, but her spell was still fading. Jeremy could hear more cars now, pulling into the school grounds.

In front of the Headmaster's table, a trap door slowly creaked open, as if pulled by an invisible hand. Kristy and Lee lay flat on the floor, tearing into each other. From out of the trap door a vile green and orange light illuminated the ceiling, swallowing up the disco lights. Jeremy put a hand to his nose to hide the strong smell of sulphur leaking out in clouds.

Kristy was trying to drag Lee closer, but he was still on top of her. He sat on her chest, staring down at her wildly. The knife was still in his hand. He raised it up above his head, ready to swipe down and sever the gorgon's head once and for all.

Jeremy screamed, but his scream was overpowered.

BANG.

Jeremy twisted his head towards the doors. Kayla stood there in the soft white light of the dawn, her legs apart to keep her balanced. Lee's gun was in her hand.

Lee staggered back.

It had been a direct hit. The centre of his chest was drowning in a patch of crimson red. He started down in confusion and disbelief.

"This wedding," Kristy whispered, "is over."

Lee swayed backwards, into the strange light. They watched as his flesh seemed to slowly melt away. No sound escaped him. His body was being reduced just to bone. Only his eyes remained, rattling around in the empty skull as he tried to work out what had happened to him. Then three shadowy, fuzzy claws reached for his ankles and pulled his skeleton back through the trapdoor, under the stage. A terrible peal of laughter rang out, and the door abruptly shut.

Lee was gone for good.

Kayla threw the gun away from her as if it were diseased. She leaned back against the door's glass windows and slipped to the floor in a faint.
  
Kristy lifted herself onto her broken heels. She managed just to stagger towards Jeremy when they gave out beneath her again. She tumbled heavily down the stairs. It was like the sound of a mannequin falling. She landed next to Jeremy.

Sweat covered his face. "What did you do?" He gasped.

A weak smile appeared. "I sent him to Hell." She gave a groan as if in mortal pain.

"Kristy? What's happening?"

Her red eyes were losing their bright lustre. "Jeremy," she rasped, "I'm dying."

"No, no, you can't die, Kristy…"

"I can. And I am." The shade of her blue skin was fading. "My life is spent now. I did what I meant to do." She closed her eyes.

Jeremy shook his head desperately. "But… But you can't go…" There were banging fists on the door. Shadows with police caps blocked the window light.

"I can't hold them back much longer." Kristy murmured. "…I should have just said 'yes'." Her lip quaked. "Goodbye, Jeremy."

He struggled to pull himself closer to her. "Don't go, Kristy! I don't want you to go!" He sobbed. "I… I want to be with you. Always."

Kristy opened her eyes a fraction. Her hair had lost its bounce and the tiara slipped from her head. "You really mean it?"

Jeremy gulped and nodded. "Yes. Of course."

"Then… There's something you have to do…"

BANG!! BANG!!!

"What? I'll do it, anything! What is it?" He insisted.

Kristy turned her head and slowly extended a hand. The knife lay quite far from her reach, but it gave a shudder. Then it slid along the floor. It hesitated, but finally touched her fingers. Her power was very weak now. She held out the handle, and forced it into his hand. "You know what you have to do…" She whispered. Jeremy stared at the blade between his fingers in shock. Kristy saw him pause. "The living can't follow the dead, Jeremy." Her body went still. "You have to be… brave…"

"But, Kristy…"

She made no reply.

"…I know… What I have to do…" He turned the knife's handle.

BANG! BANG!

He heard the police officers.

"What the heck's holding this door?"

"Get the ram!"

BANG!! BANG!!

"What I have to do…" The blade pointed down. He felt sick. Tears came to his eyes again. He couldn't do it. He was afraid of that metal tip that would cut him away from his life forever.

He couldn't do it.

He couldn't kill himself.

BANG!!! BANG!!! CRASH!!!!

The door buckled under the force and it broke open. Torch light circled the back wall as the officers ran in. Some let out cries of horror as they surveyed the audience of the dead. Some went to help Kayla's frail body. They checked her breathing and carried her away by her arms and ankles.

"Hey! There's a live one down here!"

A male officer dropped onto his knees. His torch blinded the one side of Jeremy's face. His eyes shrank from the light.

"Drop the knife, son!" The policeman demanded.

Jeremy was confused. So he shook his head.

The policemen softened his voice. "Did you do this?"

Jeremy stared into the strong light. He trembled. "I…"

The policemen tensed.

"I…"

He could see it in their eyes; memories of news stories like this, huge high school killings by anti-social loners. Now Jeremy was sat in front of them, looking all but innocent; his arms covered in blood (albeit his blood), the last one standing, refusing to give up the murder weapon.

A signal was given. A small team of officers moved forward to seize him.

"I didn't do it!" He suddenly screamed. "Kristy! Kristy! Help me!"

They were about to capture him when Kristy, with her last reserves of energy, suddenly sat up. In one quick movement she went to embrace him, and with the palm of her hand she guided the knife. Her hug closed in on him, and he felt the blade slip between his ribs.