The End Of Prom Night

Prom night turns to madness for this fragile flower with constant beats and gore.

Rose, they called her- sweet like a rose, dangerous like one. As we all know, roses are sweet, but the thorns upon it really hurt if we aren't careful, right? Rose was almost 17 years old and lived with her mother and father. Her father was very protective of her. He called her "His special flower." But little did he know that the sweetest things must come to an end sometime. Her mother was the same way, but gave her more freedom. Once Rose was 17, her father promised that he'd let her date- but that's when it all happened- the blood... The screams... The music...

  She was at her birthday party, and all her friends were there; she was happy. Her 17th birthday had finally come. She was filled with delight and couldn't wait for her father to finally say the words that she had been hoping for. Rose walked inside with her friends once they had finished horse back riding. Her parents owned a farm. Her father was happy with every little pay check, and Rose loved the animals. This love made her father proud, as he wanted Rose to take over the ranch once he and his wife had died, and then to carry on the "farming of nature."

She was talented with a variety of things. Her father had taught her knife throwing, handling an axe, working a machete, and many other practical things. Her father taught her knife throwing so she could deal with any sort of predator that came along to eat their farm animals; the axe was used for chopping wood; a machete she used to cut away wild shrubs or vines.

  Rose and her friends giggled excitedly about the birthday party. Her dad brought out the cake and set it down. It was Rose's favorite- chocolate fudge. She blew out the candles and made a wish. After the cake was presents. She got cds by her favourite bands, expensive jewelery, and many other things. Her mother deliberately placed a box in front of Rose; it was white with black wrapping paper. Rose's face lit up with glee once she opened it. Her mother's gift was a hot pink and black dress with an edgy corset and flowing sleeves that would drop below her shoulders. Her mother spoke once Rose looked at her.

"I knew prom was coming up, so I made this for you. I hope you like it."Rose took one more glance at the dress, dropped it, and ran over to her mom to hug her tightly.

"Thank you, mom! So much!" She shrieked in happiness.

  Her mother nudged her father and nodded. Her father looked at Rose and smiled. Her father's voice was smooth, but he stuttered with apprehension and nervousness.

"Y-You may S-Start dating, my flower..."

  Rose shrieked again and hugged her father tightly as small, happy tears dropped from her green eyes.

"You won't regret it, Father. I'll make you proud!"

Her father frowned and caressed Rose's hair, hugging her back just as tight as he whispered to her: "Just remember: men are pigs and will do anything to hurt a girl like you, and if they do, I'll make sure they hurt the same way." Rose, being in a state of excitement, ignored the somber warning. She ran over to her friends once letting go of her father.

  The next day was Valentines Day. Everyone knew that Rose was allowed to date. She was nearly stampeded by her friends once she walked to her locker. When she opened it, a bunch of Valentine cards fell out. A boy who had been walking by stopped and helped her with the cards. His eyes met hers as he did, and Rose felt her heart skip two beats. The boy had short blonde hair and  brown eyes. He smirked at Rose's awed expression. The boys name was Harlin.

"Hey, Rose," he said casually. "I hear you're finally allowed to date and I was wondering if you mind going to prom with me."

Rose eyed him up and down, leaning against her locker. She held her books towards her chest. Rose felt the breath catch in her chest. This boy who was asking her out, she knew, was the president of the student council and had a good reputation among the student body. Rose had often found herself day dreaming about them being together. She finally answered him with one word: "Yes!"

  He handed Rose a valentine card and kissed her cheek. "I'll see you tonight then?"

  She gave a nod, the blood flooding to her face. She almost couldn't believe a boy like Harlin had asked her to prom.

Later that night, Rose told her parents about Harlin asking her to prom. As she was getting ready to go to prom, her father leaned against the doorjamb to her room, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Hey Rose... How long have you known this Harlin guy?"

  Rose turned to her father. His face was blank with measured apprehension, which worried Rose. She shrugged gracefully. She was wearing the corsetted dress. Its hem fell to her mid thigh, its fabric tight over her hips and midriff. She asked him to lace the corset, which he did, his lips thinned in worry. She watched his face in the mirror.

"I've known him since Jr. High dad. He's a good guy and a great student," Rose said unsteadily, through she knew it to be true. She wasn't scared, though she began wondering how many girls Harlin had dated.

"Alright, my flower. Just be careful for my sake."

She smiled in agreement, and her father left her room, casting a final worried glance at his daughter. She sat in front of her vanity to finish applying her eye liner. Quite suddenly, she felt a stabbing pain in her chest that caused her balance to fail and for her to fall to the floor. Slowly, as the pain fled, she stood, coughing. She knew this pain. It was a sort of instinctual omen- a warning of misfortune ahead. This time, she ignored it.

She fixed her hair. She wore it in an edgy style- the right side was cut to her chin and dyed the black of a raven's wing; the left fell to her shoulder blades and was dyed a vibrant teal. She decided to let her hair down. She painted her pierce bottom lip black and her top pink to match her dress. Her black high heeled shoes clicked on the hardwood floor as she went down the hall from her room. As she came into the living room, her parents looked up.

"Oh, sweetie you look more beautiful than ever! The roses outside would be so jealous if they had feelings." Her mom said in delight.

Her father only smiled and gestured for a thin box on the table. His wife handed it to him, and he handed it to his daughter. When Rose opened it, she saw the gift was a black choker necklace of the softest satin. She smiled and gestured for her father to fasten it around her neck, which he did. It fit perfectly.

"Thanks guys, you are the best!" She hugged her parents as the headlights of her friend's car blazed through the window. She ran outside, ducking quickly into the car to get out of the rain.

  The ride was too short for Rose's fluttering heart. What would Harlin think? Once Rose and her friends got to the school, they hurried in a giggling, huddled bunch out of the rain and into the dance hall. Harlin was waiting there. He stood leaning against one wall, his dark eyes cast down as if in thought. Rose walked to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked at Rose and smiled.

"I didn't think you could get any more pretty."

 Rose blushed at this. Before she could respond, a slow song came on. Harlin pulled Rose out onto the dance floor. They were quiet, though Rose could feel his eyes on her in the schizophrenic coloured lights of the dance hall. His hands were dangerously low on her hips, but she didn't mind. Too soon, though, the song was over, and the next was a bass-filled dance number. She pulled him off the floor. As they relaxed by the refreshment table, the principal appeared on the stage.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen! It is now time to crown prom queen and king."

  He opened a thin blue envelope, smiling, and took the bedazzled plastic crown as it was handed to him.

"The prom king is... Harlin Perkin!" The principle shouted, and the spotlights searched the crowd until they found Harlin. Pleasantly surprised, he made his way through the crowd to the stage. In doing so, he left Rose behind. The principal placed the crown on his head. The principal then opened the pink envelope handed to him. When he read the name on the small note, he smiled.

"Kari Johnson is the prom queen!" He shouted as the spotlights swirled to the girl. She was  shocked as well but giggled, walking up to the stage and standing beside Harlin. Harlin placed his hand around Kari’s waist as she was crowned. The tiara she was given was silver and bedazzled like his. Once the couple were crowned, they danced to a classic slow song. Rose was hurt slightly, but she knew he had to dance with Kari. The king had no choice but to dance with the queen. Kari was a big prep in the school that made fun of Rose constantly. After the dance was finished, Rose walked over to Harlin and exhaled sadly.

"You're such an amazing dancer..."

He leaned in closer and spoke into Rose's ear. "I can't hear you. Let's find somewhere to talk." Rose felt uncomfortable, but she liked this guy so she followed him. He led Rose into the deserted gym and helped her get on the bleachers. The music was muffled by heavy brick walls, but Rose's heart raced like a kick drum. He sat next to her and sighed.

"Now what were you saying?" Harlin questioned, leaning towards Rose.

 She repeated happily: "You're a good dancer."

  Harlin chuckled and would place an arm around Rose's shoulder and kissed her lips.

"As are you, my dear."

  Rose blushed, but it was lost in the darkness. He leaned closer and slowly pushed Rose back into the bleachers and kissed her again, this time with more purpose . She kissed back, and the kissed deepened. She went along with it because she thought making out was part of making the relationship stronger. He began pushing his hands over her thighs and under the hem of her dress but she pushed him away. He began to get more insistent and then downright rough with her, but Rose kept struggling until he pulled out a pocket knife and held it to her throat.

"Stay still! It's about time I feel you from the goddamn inside!"

  Rose kicked him off and stumbled out of the bleachers, dazed. She bled from a small cut at her throat, the hot blood running over her pale skin and following the curve of her collarbone. She began to run, but he got a fistful of her hair and yanked her back, laughing sinisterly.

"Good thing your not talented, huh?"

She laughed in his face, and she grabbed his wrist and twisted it, causing him to release her hair and fall, yelping in pain. Rose felt some sort of power coming over her. She laughed darkly. She grabbed his pocket knife from the floor where he had dropped it, and she then remembered her father's words that if a guy harmed her, her father would hurt the boy the same way. Rose, however, wanted to do it herself. He had toyed with her heart to try and satisfy his own dark desires. She held the sharp blade, poised, and knelt next to Harlin. His face was twisted in fear at the odd, evil expression on her face. She dug the blade into his flesh. He cried out in pain and horror.

"Let's take a look at your heart!" She cried. Tears of emotional pain and hysteria tracked her eyeliner down the pale skin of her face. She cut deep through the flesh and sinew of his chest. He lost consciousness from emotional shock and blood loss before long. She viciously carved and pounded her way through his ribcage to get to his slowing heart, which she barbarically removed. The amount of blood, the smell of it, was sickening. Laughing and in a hysterical frenzy, Rose threw Harlin's heart to the ground and stomped on it; she threw it at the walls, stabbed it with his knife- anything she could think to hurt it.

  She returned to the formal room, covered in Harlin's blood with her make up smeared across her face. The general noise of the dance subsided as she made her way through the room. The students became fearful at the sight of her. Not many people were still in the dance hall, but it was enough for Rose. Rose had locked all the doors in preparation for what she was about to do. She began slaughtering everyone in the dance hall like pigs. As Rose did this, she let them struggle. She timed each thrust of her knife with the beat of the music that drowned out the screams, upbeat and fun in satire of the horrors in the hall. When her slaughtering was finished, when all her victims were gutted and bled out, she let herself out of the dance hall and into the school itself. She found gasoline and matches in the science hall, picking the lock to the flammable substances closet. Rose giggled with her murderous hysteria and skipped back to the dance hall, knocking over wooden tables and cloth on the floor.
She poured the gasoline over the floor and her many dead.  As she did, she found Keri's mutilated body. She stooped to take the bloodied tiara from Keri's gold curls. She placed it on her own head. She spat on Keri's body.

“You don’t deserve to be queen, you f*****g cockroach."

She struck a match into flame and tossed it to the gasoline slicked floor. The fire spread with a satisfying roar. She laughed maniacally as she walked away. She stopped at the security office and destroyed the footage from the cameras in a touch of lucid forethought.

 The fire alarms went off. Rose laughed at their futile beeping; the fire was much too extensive at this point. Rose was in no rush but the fire moved so rapidly that it forced her to move fast. Covered in and reeking of other people's blood and offal, she bit the knife between her jaws and walked home, a disturbingly peppy spring in her heels. Her tongue danced over the blade, taking in the copper, salty flavour. Rose's heart didn't seem to hurt anymore, which made her happy. By the time Rose had returned home, her pain-induced insanity had permeated her entire mind. She found her parents asleep in their bed.

  With chloroform and a rag, she walked into the room and dragged her mother out of bed by the ankles. Once her mom woke she put some chloroform onto the rag and covered her mom's nose and mouth with it to take the fight out of her. Rose dragged her mother out to the barn, and when she woke, she found her hands and feet were tied with rope, and the ropes attached to the horses. The woman screamed in fear once she saw her daughter covered in blood and took in the mad grin on her face.

"R-Rose!? You stop this right now!"

Rose giggled with hysterical excitment and whispered, "Mom? Do you have a heart...?"

"Y-Y-Yes! Of course I have a heart."

Rose shook her head and laughed in her mom's face.

"You should use it sometime!"

  Rose slapped one of the horses on the rear, and horse went off at a run. The other horses, spooked by the sound of the slap, ran off as well. The woman could barely scream before her body was torn apart, her blood and insides slicking the floor of the barn.

  Rose giggled and cheered happily, skipping around her mother's brutally mutilated corpse. Next was her father. She dragged her father to the barn in the same manner. When he woke, he realised his hands were tied behind his back. He stood on a chair; as he looked around, he realised a rope in the form of a noose circled his neck. He found rope around his neck. His daughter, covered in the blood of her victims, smiled up at him. She had laid pieces of straw on the floor in lines.

"Rose? What's going on?" He shouted.

  Rose shrugged and pointed to his wife- or, rather, what was left of her. Rose replied in a stern voice: "Ask mom, she'll tell you from the heart."

 Her father gasped and struggled but Rose shook her head.

"Father.. You're going to kill yourself."

  Her father stopped struggling and shook his head. He worked his hands at the rope around his wrists, but the knots held.

"Dad, I wanna play hangman... Just like we use to do..."

  Rose explained the game- if he won, she would let him live, but if he ran out of guesses, he would die.

"Okay dad. Guess a letter."

Three words, eight letters:  _   _ _ _ _   _ _ _.

 Her father looked down and guessed the letter G.

  Rose shook her head and wrote the letter G into the dirt. Her father thought hard and whispered the letter I. Rose nodded happily and put the I in place: I  _ _ _ _    _ _ _. Her father thought for a while and guessed the letter Y. Rose nodded again and put the Y in place. I  _ _ _ _   Y_ _. He smiled- could there be hope? He guessed the puzzle.

  "I hate you?" Rose looked at him and began to cry as she placed the letters into the puzzle: I LOVE YOU. Her dad screamed and groaned for mercy, but Rose angrily kicked the chair out from beneath him. He swung by his neck for minutes, gurgling and twitching. She pressed the knife into his hand. It dropped as he died. Rose ran into the bloody night, laughing with hysteria, the death-stained tiara atop her head like some grotesque trophy. She was never seen again, dead or alive.

Afterward, detectives determined Mr. Nightshade had drawn and quartered his wife out of temporary insanity and, once he was lucid, killed himself out of grief and shame. The tragedy at the high school was determined to be an accident. At least, this was what the limited amount of evidence pointed to. The police chief thought it very odd that the video records at the school were destroyed. It was marked on Rose's calendar that she was going to prom, and it was very strange that the high school tragedy and the Nightshade murder-suicide both happened on prom night, and that Rose Nightshade was no where to be found. The case was closed, but detectives still have doubts.

Author's Note

I am not responsible for imaginations going wild.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A wild and enjoyable tale. I like the characters and the storyline. I did like the open ending also. Left the reader with something to think about. Thank you for sharing the outstanding tale.
Coyote

[Liza Hartsock]

Thank you! I really appreciate your kind words! I really spent sometime on this. I believe two years I have been working on this.

[Coyote Poetry]

You did very well. Your words held me to the last words and you are welcome.

[Liza Hartsock]

I really appreciate it. I'll keep this in mind when I write.