Psion Omega (Psion series Book 5) (29 page)

Vitoria knelt near
his head, but he couldn’t see her. All he saw was something falling in front of
his face like snowflakes and a loud scratching noise. Then it dawned on him
that Vitoria was carving the wood.

“What are you
making, Vivi?”

She didn’t answer,
and the shavings continued to float down, some landing on his nose and cheek.
They tickled his skin and nearly drove him mad.

“Can you at least
sit me back up?” His voice sounded odd because the floor mashed his lips
together.

Vitoria jerked him
up and put something on his lap. A flower, carved from the wood. Despite its
simple design and rough edges, it was lovely. As Sammy stared at it, Vitoria
walked behind him and sliced through the ropes, freeing Sammy’s wrists. He
exhaled in relief.

“You look relieved.
Did you trust me or not?”

Sammy rubbed his
sore skin. “Trust, but verify.” He picked up the flower and examined it. “It’s
beautiful. You did it so fast.”

She touched the
side of his head. “I had to know if you really trusted me. I thought when I
raised the knife …”

“That I’d stop you?
That I had a trick up my sleeve?”

Vitoria looked
away. “I’m not sorry.”

Sammy pulled the
rest of the ropes off his arms and legs, then packed everything back in the
bag, including the flower. “Why did you make that for me, Vivi?”

Vitoria looked
Sammy square in the eyes. This time her gaze was neither hollow nor lustful,
but something different. Something real. “Because I don’t love you like a
brother.”

Sammy had no
response.

“So what do you
need me for?”

“How do you feel
about a trip to Rio?”

* * * * *

Friday,
May 30, 2053

Katie used every manipulative tool in
her belt in order to get her parents to reverse their decision on attending
prom. The one that finally worked was bringing home Bobby John so she could
tutor him at the kitchen table. When her parents saw them interacting, and
Bobby John’s naturally sweet nature, they folded.

The more difficult
part for Katie was not getting into more trouble. Her violent urges grew as the
days passed. Every time she saw Mark, her ex-boyfriend, she wanted to kick him
so hard in the balls that he coughed them up. She also wanted to continue her
fight with Priyanka, but Priyanka avoided Katie like she would a nasty pimple
outbreak.

Despite Katie’s
best efforts to control her behavior, little things kept happening that pushed
her right to the brink of rage. When she and Courtney argued about restaurants
a week before prom night, Katie punched the locker next to Courtney’s head and
dented it. She drove Rachel to tears by screaming at her for messing up prom
decoration purchases. But after every incident, the guilt drove Katie to offer
them sincere, tearful apologies.

With all their work
with the decorations committee, coordinating the awards ceremony, and the music
selection group, the night of the prom came quickly for Katie and her friends.
That afternoon, Courtney, Vivian, and Rachel met at Katie’s house for pictures.
All four girls’ dates were kids with special needs. Their mothers cried as they
snapped their pictures. Even Katie’s father got choked up as he kissed his
daughter goodbye.

Two limousines
arrived, paid for by the sixteen sets of parents. Four boys and four girls with
special needs and their eight dates. Bobby John’s favorite food was steak, so
dinner was at a steakhouse. With the help of his mother, Bobby John had bought
Katie a corsage. However, he accidentally sat on it in the car on the way to
Katie’s house, so it was wilted and squashed when he put it on her wrist.

“
Bobby John loves
you,” he exclaimed, tipping the Razorbacks cap that he had insisted on wearing
to the dance.

Katie smiled, tears in her eyes.
“Katie loves you, too.”

Before she left her house, Katie
slipped a bottle labeled
SUPERLAX
into her
handbag. As soon as she did so, a faint aching crept into her gut, but she
thought of Priyanka, of the pictures she had posted all over the walls of the
school, and the pain went away.

Once inside the limo, Courtney
leaned over to Katie. “Did you get it?”

Katie patted her handbag and
smiled wickedly. Courtney nodded bravely. Then they turned their attention to
their dates.

Vivian’s beau for the evening,
Reblon Mohammed, made everyone laugh. Due to his moderate autism, he behaved a
little odd, but he was funny and sincere. Courtney’s date, Axel Gardner, didn’t
say much and always kept one finger up his nose. It didn’t matter what he was
doing. One finger was always in his nose, the other was usually tightly
entangled in Courtney’s hand. Courtney smiled at this and even put a finger up
her own nose when they did pictures. Axel laughed a deep, booming bark when she
did this and put a finger up both nostrils. When Courtney copied him, Axel
doubled over laughing. Tim Finlayson, Rachel’s date, didn’t like being touched
or looked at. While riding in the limo, Rachel tried to talk to him and bring
him out of his shell. He yelled at her for being too loud, so she crossed her
arms and frowned the rest of the drive.

The steakhouse featured several
small rooms, each decorated to portray different themes. All of them had a
large window overlooking a pool where cliff divers jumped and performed aerial
stunts to the view of the crowd. Because they had reserved their room later
than most, Katie’s group got the caveman theme. Bobby John clapped so hard and
so long that Katie thought he might do permanent damage to his hands. In Axel’s
excitement, he jammed his finger so far up his nose that it started to bleed.
Katie, however, struggled to enjoy herself. She kept seeing visions of her
dreams—of dark wet caves, eternally long staircases, and a door that
pulsed and throbbed with life.

The dream was a regular
occurrence, and it never changed. Almost every night she descended the stairs,
shivering in the darkness and clutching the knife. When she reached the bottom
of the pitch-black cave, she stared blankly into space, weeping and whimpering
as some vile, pulsing, stinking unseen thing sent its reverberating waves
through her body. Yet as much as her dream terrified her, Katie wanted to know
what lurked just out of sight down in the cave’s depths. More often than not,
she woke with tears on her face and her sheets wet with urine.

After the pre-prom meal, the limo
transported them to the hotel where the dance was held. Each couple waited in
line to be announced over the microphone. As her group neared the entrance,
Katie noticed news cameras, which she thought strange. She had never seen a
prom on the news before. But as her group of friends approached, the cameras
stayed trained on them.

“Are you Katie Carpenter?” asked
one of the reporters, a tall, thin woman wearing too much makeup. “Will you
introduce us to your friends and tell us about the program you’re involved in
today?”

Katie stared at
Rachel and Courtney who nodded encouragingly. Apparently being on the news
seemed like exactly what they wanted. Courtney and Rachel beamed and batted
their eyes, showing off Tim Finlayson and Axel Gardner like they were twin male
models. The interview went on for almost twenty minutes during which time Bobby
John wet his pants. Fortunately for him, no one caught it until the cameras
were off, but none of the kids knew what to do

Taking him by the
hand, Katie led him to one of the tables, sat him on a chair, and said, “Stay
here, Bobby John. I’m trying to call your mom.”

Katie tried three
times to reach his mother, but no one answered. After the third attempt, Katie
punched and kicked a wall so hard that she dented it. She shrieked and cursed
until the rage burned out.
Why was I so
stupid to think bringing Bobby John and his ilk to my prom was a good idea?

When she returned
to her friends with the news, Rachel protested, “He’ll stink up the dance
floor!”

Katie ignored her
and turned to Bobby John. “I can’t reach your mom, Bobby John. I’m sorry. Do
you want to sit here?”

“Bobby John loves
you, Katie,” he said, grinning. “Bobby John is having the best night.”

At that moment, all
the rage in her heart vanished and she hugged Bobby John around his thick neck.
Bobby John returned her hug with equal ferocity. “Do you want to dance, Bobby
John?” she asked.

“Bobby John loves
dancing!” He clapped his hands and stomped his feet. Seeing him so excited and
joyful made Katie giggle.

Courtney strode up
to the table somewhat breathless, two cups in her hands. She looked
purposefully at Katie. “I got them. Give me the bottle.”

Katie licked her
lips and gazed across the room to where Priyanka was dancing in a circle of
friends with Mark Newcomer, Katie’s old boyfriend.

“Do you still have
it?” Courtney asked when Katie didn’t move.

Katie nodded, but
the pain in her gut returned. The bottle in her bag held the most powerful
laxatives on the market. Two drops were enough to make Priyanka soil herself in
less than three minutes. And the urge would come so fast and so hard that she
couldn’t possibly reach the bathroom in time.

“If we’re going to
do it—”

Katie looked once
more at Priyanka, then at Bobby John. “Forget about it, Courtney. Let’s just
have fun.”

The evening passed
in a storm of laughter and dancing. Bobby John drew quite a crowd once he
really got moving. His dancing consisted of waving his arms in the air wildly
and shaking his prodigious gut, but he laughed and sang along with each song.
As it turned out, he knew the lyrics better than Katie and her friends put
together.

Midway through the
night, the deejay quieted the music as the time came to announce the prom
court. Katie and her friends shot each other expressions of excitement and
anxiety. The president of the student body took the stage and presented the
awards.

First was the Class
Clown, then the Prince. It was the Princess award that Katie was worried about.
If she didn’t win Princess, it meant she stood an even slimmer chance of
winning Queen since Priyanka had been ahead of Katie at the last vote. “And the
winner of Princess is …”

Katie took a deep
breath and steeled herself for receiving the runner-up prize.

“Rachel Linn!”

Rachel shrieked.
Everyone else gasped at the announcement, and Katie knew why. The vote was
supposed to have been between Priyanka and Katie. Rachel taking second in the
votes meant that either she or Pri had been a distant third.

The Prom King was
announced: Priyanka’s old boyfriend, Zach Morris. Katie groaned inwardly,
knowing that her chances of winning were now slim.

“And now … the
moment you’ve all been waiting for … the 2053 Papillion High School Prom Queen
is …”

Katie’s heart
stopped beating for that moment. She wanted this. She wanted it more than
anything.
Please. Please. Please.

“Congratulations,”
the student body president shouted. “Katie Carpenter!”

Thunderous applause
erupted around her. Even Bobby John jumped and shouted, “Bobby John loves you!
Bobby John loves you! Bobby John loves you!”

As she made her way
to the dais, girls mobbed Katie with hugs and teary compliments, pulling her
arm and gown in all directions. Even Priyanka hugged her around the waist. A
video montage of Katie started to play on a large screen in front of the crowd
while she pressed through the throng of bodies. Her eyes were on the film playing
above, most of it footage taken by various students and faculty at events or
during down time at school. When she was halfway up to the dais, she heard
murmurings from behind.

“Oh my—”

“Is she
really—”

“
Slut
.”

Katie looked
around.
What are they talking about?

She looked up at
the video screen, but it only showed her making goofy faces with Rachel and
Vivian during a pep rally. It wasn’t until she made it through the crowd to the
steps that she noticed the cool air on her thighs, the lack of covering …
My gown
.

She wrenched her
head around and tugged at her dress until she saw what had happened. Someone
had cut a huge section out of it, exposing her entire backside. The giant video
screen went live, her white panties flashing, contrasted by her tanned skin and
dark dress. A large red spot like blood decorated her white underwear.

Her hands flew to
cover herself, but her thin underwear left so much visible. Several more wolf
whistles came from the crowd. Katie froze. Her stomach seized up and tears
gathered in her eyes.

“Porn Queen!” one
kid near the stage shouted.

“The Red Queen!”
another yelled.

Laughter roared
from her fellow students, those who had just voted her the queen of the prom.

Some chanted “Red
Queen!” Others “Porn Queen!” For a brief instant, everyone around her
transformed. They weren’t dancing and laughing. They were bleeding, dead,
mangled. Blood splattered the walls and the floor. Pools and rivers of it. Then
she blinked and the image was gone.