Chapter 5A - Revelations and Recriminations
Violet’s monstrous eye stared in horror at the gaping ruin of Chelsea’s chest, embedded on her forelimb up to the first joint.
“Ohmigod,” squeaked Amelia. The rest of the room was still in shock.
Violet stared in confusion at the goo coating her limb. It was purple, and glittered. She gave the limb a little shake, trying to dislodge her nemesis. Chelsea dangled limply like a puppet with its strings cut, and as she slid down Violet’s leg, curls of something spilled out.
Violet crouched lower. Streamers? Glitter? And a spatter of something hard and brightly coloured, falling to the floor? Her eye blinked in confusion.
Jimmy scooped up one of the fallen objects, holding up a gaily wrapped miniature candy bar. “Chelsea’s a piñata!” he shouted.
Violet shook Chelsea the rest of the way off her leg, the body falling in half as it tumbled away, spilling hundreds of candies across the floor. She spun away from the surging crowd, packed herself back into a sphere and rolled into the far corner of the gymnasium to hide.
Bailey found her there a minute later. Her monstrous voice crooned as best it could to soothe the trembling eye. Curling up around her protectively helped, and the shivering slowly subsided.
Once the crowd around the Chelsea piñata dispersed, Carson took up the mic for the PA system. “Alright everyone. I think we’ve had enough excitement for one night. As it’s very nearly the witching hour, it’s time for me to say thanks to everyone who helped make this a memorable party.”
He named off a number of students who’d helped volunteer with construction, and with other tasks related to running the show. His phone beeped, and he grinned. “Perfect timing. If I could have our Frankenstein monster and werewolf come up here, please? Everyone give a big round of applause for...” he paused for effect, and as he did so their transformations reverted, revealing, “Mary and Stuart!”
The two grinned and bowed.
Next up were the blue goo girl and her very nearly invisible companion. It turned out that the goo girl was Thomas, and the ghostly guy was his girlfriend, Myrtle. That swap got quite a reaction out of the crowd, cheers and boos both. The two of them grinned and took a bow, then departed the stage hand in hand.
King Kong and Godzilla were a couple of guys from the AV club, Terence and Mike. Then it was Violet and Bailey’s turn. Violet wouldn’t unfold, so Bailey rolled her to the front of the auditorium.
“Last, and far from least, the denizens of the Lair of Despair. The monstrous Panther-Beast and the towering Eye of Doom... Bailey and Violet! Take a bow girls.”
Where the two monsters had been a moment ago were now two schoolgirls familiar to all present. Bailey pulled Violet forward and into an abbreviated bow. The fearful looks that Violet was getting from the crowd made her retreat behind her friend.
Stella and Amelia led a cheer, though few of the others took it up.
Jimmy had watched the reversion with avid interest, then looked worried when he realized who the panther had been. He sought out Tony. “I had no idea I was dancing with your girl, Ton... Tony?”
Tony was white as a sheet, and pointing at Bailey with a horrified expression. “She... she... Monster!”
“Come on, man. It has worn off, she’s just a girl now. You should go say hi. Or were you flirting in the panther lair? That might have gotten you disemboweled.” Jimmy snickered at how Tony was suddenly looking quite ill. “Too soon?”
Tony fled. Jimmy rolled his eyes, and sauntered up to Bailey and Violet. “Great show you two. Thanks for helping out at the end.”
“The... wait, what?”
Jimmy presented Chelsea’s disembodied head to Violet. “Someone needs to apologize.”
Violet accepted the head with a confused look. “What?”
“Hey, Mars bar. I’m really sorry about springing that whole scene on you.”
“Mars bar...” Violet repeated, confused. Then she brightened. “Kit-kat? You were Chelsea?”
“In the papier mache! The plan was to pick a fight with Jimmy, then he’d shove me, I’d fall and break, candy everywhere... It would have been a blast. He choked, so I dragged you into it, expecting the result to be spectacular. I... didn’t think about how you’d feel. Are you okay?”
Violet sighed, staring out at the crowd that was still eyeing her warily. “I’ll live. Mostly because you will. When I thought I’d killed a person, even one as odious as Chelsea...”
“You were horrified?” prompted the head.
“I was horrified by how killing someone made my blood sing. I’m a monster!” hissed Violet as she started to hyperventilate.
“Shh, shhh,” soothed the head. “You didn’t kill anyone. That hit might not have killed a real person, I was made to fall apart after all.”
Violet’s panicked breathing slowed. “Do you really think so?”
“Honestly? Sweetie, I have no clue. You hit me like a freight train. It was awesome!”
“Awesome?” whispered Violet. “How?”
The head smiled up at her sweetly. “I was made for this, remember? I felt the impact, but no pain.”
“Oh. Like being eaten...” mused Violet. “Aaa! Are all those candies you, too? How can you even focus?”
“Nah. I had a plug in back, Jimmy filled me up with real candy.”
“Oh. Good. I...” Violet squeezed the head a little tighter. “But... where’s the rest of you?”
“Jimmy swept it up into a heap. My arms and legs are mostly solid, so that’s all I really need to change back in the right spot. Though if enough of the rest is missing, I might be kinda naked.”
“Oops. How soon do you change back?”
“Couple hours. We should probably gather up the rest of me and get out of here.”
Bailey and Violet helped Jimmy sweep the remains of Katie’s Venned torso into a sack. Between the three of them, they managed to carry her parts and the bag out to Jimmy’s car.
“Are you’re sure she’ll be okay?” asked Violet urgently.
Jimmy nodded. “I’ll pour her into bed, she’ll be fine by morning.”
Katie giggled at the suggestion. “Whee!”
Violet rolled her eyes. “You’re taking this far too casually.”
There was a screeching of tires from the entrance of the parking lot. Tony was peeling out of the lot in his muscle car, fingers clutched white against the steering wheel. He went racing away at high speed.
Bailey sighed. “All I did was wave...”
Violet gave her a hug. “He’ll sober up and apologize tomorrow.”
Jimmy shook his head. “Was he your ride home? I could give you two a lift.”
Bailey and Violet looked at each other, and laughed. “We didn’t think that far ahead! We were too excited about being monsters,” admitted Bailey.
“That’d be great,” added Violet. “Mom would come pick me up if I called, but she’d be cranky all weekend from the lost sleep.”
They dropped Violet off first, and as she closed the door behind her she saw that her mother was still up. “Mom! I said I’d be home late...”
“You didn’t say this late. Are you okay?”
Violet started to tear up, and her mother wrapped her in a hug. As she trembled in her mother’s embrace Violet whispered, “No. I’m not okay. I did something stupid and thought I’d killed someone.”
“Oh, honey. I have no idea what to say. Are they okay?”
Violet sniffed and nodded, her trembling slowing. “Only because they’d been Venned.”
“Are you going to get charged for assault?”
Violet’s eyes went very wide, and she started to shake again. “Oh god. If it had really been Chelsea... But no. Katie would never.”
“It sounds like you owe Katie one hell of an apology then. Make it up to her however you can.”
Violet managed a weak giggle. “She apologized to me. She picked a fight with a monster, knowing she was Venned. She was half piñata, designed to be hit and fall apart.”
“Okay. I have no clue what you’re talking about any more. Monster? Designed to fall apart? What have you been doing? I thought you were designing clothes.”
Violet told the whole sorry tale, and was nearly asleep by the time she was done. Her mother helped her to her room. “Shh, sleep now. You’ll feel better in the morning. And you still owe Katie an apology.”
“Yes mama. I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetie.”
“Oh, good.” Violet crashed into her bed and was asleep in moments, but there was a smile on her face.