Content Warning: Contains themes of: Bullying, War, Trauma/PTSD, Emotional/Physical Abuse, Self-Harm, Violent Content, Depression. Reader discretion is advised

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. The characters presented were created and owned by Stephen King and J.R.R Tolkien. The content belongs to MGM and Screen Gems, as the 2013 film remake of Carrie was directed by Kimberly Pierce and produced by Kevin Misher, and additional production is through MGM, Screen Gems, and Misher films as well as distributed by Sony Pictures.

A Second Chance

Carrietta White, a young, teenage girl, had always wanted to belong with a crowd of her own at Ewen High School. It did not matter if she was considered the outcast of the entire school, not having a single friend to comfort or stand by her. She desperately wanted what any teen her age would ever desire in her lonely life: a chance to live and be normal. A chance to be just like the kids at school, having friends, being liked by others, maybe even find a nice boy go on dates with.

All Carrie herself could ever desire, at the age of sixteen, she lacked due to the haunting reputation that her mother had around the town of Chamberlain, Maine. It was because of her own mother’s religious fanaticism, and the unfortunate stigma of being raised by her mother. It was her mother’s reputation that instantly made her life a living hell, making her an inevitable target for tormented bullying every day of her life. It was a constant pattern of waking up to go to school, get a few chuckles at her from her classmates, maybe even see a graffitied message close to her locker saying, “Carrie White eats shit”.

Home was not so much different from being at school. Her mother telling Carrie that she must be different because God can see her. That she must behave and not be subjected to sinful behavior. All her life home never did feel like home. It made her feel more alone, hearing that every time she deviated from her mother’s teachings. After all, if God could see her and knows everything, why must she be subjected to this type of loneliness? It appeared God may be deaf or turn a blind eye to her suffering from home and school.  Nothing she ever did was good enough for her mother, as nothing Carrie could pray or do would allow the torment from her classmates to end. It was damned if you do and damned if you don’t no matter where Carrie was.

The chuckles, the bullying, as well as the emotional torment from her classmates only gradually increased after the infamous shower incident. The moment that Carrie had discovered what a period was, it only made her ten times more of an amusing target for her classmates. After what Carrie had experienced that day at school, she received no comfort or sympathy at home and was immediately met with a less than warm welcome. If Carrie were to look at the times her mother was cold and cruel, from emotional to physical abuse, it would make the bullying at the school seem like mere child’s play.

Being anywhere other than at her home of delusional religious doctrine, feeling more like a sinner than a mother’s daughter, would be better than the heartache she witnessed at home. It was during the day of the shower incident after her mother had shoved her inside a closet one too many times, that she truly desired a normal life without endless abuse. A life without having to have to suffer in delusional doctrine, sitting through manipulative tactics to make her feel horrid about herself and any emotion she ever felt in her darkest places. It was enough to make her wish she were either dead or away from her confined life with her mother.

With every thought combined in a desperate attempt to not face the lonely punishment of the closet, she started pounding her hands on the door nearly crying in the process. “Mama, please let me go!” she screamed out, pleading as she heard her mother say from the other side of the door, “You pray little girl, you pray for forgiveness!”.

The repetitive screaming and crying from Carrie grew, boiling over in anger thinking about her mom making her feel like this for so many years. It was a type of punishment that gave her mother an excuse to torment her like this, for no reason other than passing down a religious doctrine that labeled everything a sin. It was distorted religious beliefs Carrie had to endure all her life. Carrie kept crying out for her mother, pounding on the closet door to no avail or words from her mother.

She eventually let out an enraged scream pounding on the door before yelling, “God you suck!”. Instantly a loud crack nearly split the door in two, as Carrie nearly collapsed on the floor in shock, silently wondering if she did that. It could not have been her right? Surely it had to be a trick of the eyes, or maybe an act from God in vengeance? Could God have seen her torment and heard her prayers after all?

If Carrietta White, an ordinary teen with hopes and dreams like anyone else, was not going crazy by what she had witnessed with her own eyes and felt from within. She was truly gifted with a power that would be both a blessing and a curse. This was what drove her to try little unnoticed actions, to test her powers, such as barely lifting a pencil she dropped to her fingertips or making a flag fly a different direction from the wind. The more she did those tasks and did research on her telekinesis, she felt like she had a sense of purpose that no one could ever take away from her.

Despite her elevated confidence instantly making her life more bearable in school and home, she couldn’t help but feel that there was still something she needed to fill that lonely and empty hole inside. Granted she was still a lonely outcast at her school and home that not even her newfound powers could ever change. But she could not deny how it was nagging and eating at her, an innate and new desire to leave the life she knew in a quest for a spiritual and literal sense of purpose. She tried to brush it off as a feeling all seniors felt when they get close to their graduation, knowing there may be a spare few that want to explore a life outside of the town of Chamberlain.

Carrie happened to be one of those seniors, as she had thought about what life outside this town had in store for her. Equipped with her powers, in turn, she could break free from the toxic environment of her mother and no one would stop her. Life, however, was not that easy as Carrie was attached to her mother no matter how much abuse she was subjected to. This became a constant struggle of the desire to leave for a better life, but not wanting to leave her mother behind. Her mother was both a monster as well as the only friend she could have.

What had made matters worse on Carrietta White was this feeling of being watched. She feared at first it could have been possibly a group of kids wanting to egg the house as they have done in the past. She quickly debunked that theory knowing that had not happened since she was barely in her freshman year. She almost thought it was some sort of government surveillance, but eliminated that thought considering she had been careful with her powers and knew she was not the type of person to think of conspiracy theories. That was a subject she dared not think about as it was a ridiculous and scary thought.

No matter what it could have been, all thought of her being watched was gone when out of the blue Tommy Ross asked her to prom. Tommy Ross, the boyfriend of Sue Snell, one of the girls that had thrown tampons at her in the shower incident. It was easy to think that this could not come true, that it was a mere trick in a conspiracy to publicly humiliate her. Carrietta White, a girl living under the shadow of her religious mother, appeared to have fate smiling upon her for once.

When her mother attempted to discourage her from going, it was a turn of events that, in her sixteen-year-old mind, made her more determined to go. The words of discouragement in manipulation for Carrie to not go, fell on deaf ears as there was nothing her mother could even do to dissuade her. The emotional and physical abuse, at that moment, ceased when Carrie made sure it would never happen as things were going to change around the White household. There was nothing Margaret White, a delusional, religious zealot, could do. No matter how many times she slammed her head against the wall, or tried multiple times or hurt herself in any form, nothing could scare her daughter into changing her mind.

What Carrie could not ever imagine, as the days inched closer to the night of prom, was that her desires of normality and having a better life are not always within easy reach. While a scheme was hatched to be Carrie’s ruin in public humiliation the night of prom, another conspiracy was brewing to grant the sixteen-year-old’s wish for a life away from her mother ten fold. It was a conspiracy that Carrie could never fathom would change her life as well as her perception of power. Fate was not done with Carrietta White, and neither was an unlikely ally in the form of a grey cloaked wizard, as the world of reality and fiction were about to collide.

**If you or someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, has experienced severe depression, or has experienced a PTSD episode call the national suicide prevention lifeline (1-800-273-8255), text CONNECT or HOME to the crisis text line at 741741, or call 911**