Carrie's Prom

This is a short story that I came up with the other day while sitting around being bored. I think I might start writing again. I have TONS of material for my play "We're not married!" So we'll see what I come up with...ENJOY! Also, shout-out to Antonio O....been thinking about you and I see you, too!

Its prom time. The dance is at a very classy hotel downtown. The room is elegantly decorated...colors probably black, silver and purple or something really royal and elegant. Everyone is in there dancing..coupled together slowly dancing to love songs. Carrie looks in. She's not properly dressed. She feels a pang of fear to walk into the room. Will she belong? Will she make a fool of herself? What will she do when she's in there? Will she feel comfortable? All of those questions swim in her mind. She quickly turns around and walks out the backdoor. She runs into the goth kids from school. They have no standards. They have no expectations of her. She hangs out with them. There is a familiarity in hanging with these kids. She doesn't have to try. She can be herself. She doesn't have to prove herself. She can just be. Yet all the while, she feels like she's wasting her time. She feels like she should be doing something. Like she should be in the dance where she belongs. She knows she doesn't belong outside with the slackers but she is afraid to go inside and fail.

Just then, Bryan walks past her. He seems to know the people hanging outside. He's dressed as a bum but a light glows from within him. He looks like he doesn't belong either. Carrie is drawn to him. She doesn't know what it is but she admires him. Bryan takes her hand and leads her inside and to the door of the dance. The fear that she had by entering the door has disappeared. She looks at Bryan and is enamored by him. How did he do that? Why aren't I scared anymore? They walk in the door and Carrie takes it all in. The strobe light glistens and dances around her. The stale smell of food, body odors and perfume is intoxicating. The heat from the room blankets her. Bryan takes her hand and begins to slow dance with her. Will I be good at dancing? Will we look crazy? Bryan seemed to hear her thoughts and told her that she was doing good. She felt at ease. She felt comfortable. She felt like she belonged. She didn't fear being in the dance. She looked forward to other dances.

All of a sudden, Bryan disappears. Carrie is on the dance floor surrounded by couples dancing. All of the fear that disappeared with Bryan flowed back. She started bumping into the couples feeling awkward. How do I get off this dance floor? How do I make it back outside? I can't stay here. She blindly stumbles towards the door. Just as she is about to walk out the door, a feeling of dread overcomes her. She didn't want to leave. She knew that she belonged. She couldn't go back outside wasting what little time she had left hanging out with the slackers. But she was too scared to stay in the dance alone. So she slowly walked out the door and stared inside. She was envious of the couples dancing and having fun. She wanted to experience that but she was too scared to go back inside. Will Carrie spend the rest of the dance longing to go back into the dance or will she find the strength to go inside and ignore her fear?