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Kay...

The Rager

“Hey, Kay” An undergrad waved their red solo cup in the air. “We need to tap the other keg.”

Behind them, a bonfire burned in her favorite professor’s backyard. Thanks to her partner’s outstanding fund-raising, they were going to finish their short. Her dreams were coming true and she could hardly believe it. They’d been invited to two small film festivals already and their short wasn’t even in the can. Ansel hadn’t approved their plan yet, but she was certain they could sell it to him. Where was her partner? Dan was in charge of bar tending magic. She wove amongst her friends and peers.

She was beginning to understand how persistent some actors were. The number of fellow students who had approached her insisting that they would be perfect for a part made her dizzy. She’d always been in the shadows, but they kept approaching her, anyway. The attention was unnerving.

A petite blond with her hair wound on top of her head in two playful knots cut her off on her way to the wide open back doors that led into her thesis advisor’s house. She hadn’t met this student before. They were probably a wannabe main character. The girl squealed. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I found you. You’re Kay right?”

Kay was tipsy and happy, and felt magnanimous. “Yup. You found me. Let me guess, you want a part in our next film.”

The girl cupped her hands over her mouth and laughed. “No, silly, that isn’t what I want.”

Kay blinked and shook off a flicker of unease. She just wasn’t used to strangers. “Do you want an autograph?” The girl shook her head no. Only one person had asked so far. A wide-eyed social media fangirl had wanted something from the viral video set. She’d given her one of the boxes of cereal they had used for props. Both she and her partner had signed it. “Well, tell me quick. I have thirsty guests and a keg going dry.”

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The girl stepped to the side as people passed them, headed toward the house through the garden. All the food was inside. Kay gestured to the warm light spilling out of the house full of people. “Would you like something to eat? There are a lot of amazing options. It’s not just chips and carrot sticks.”

The girl giggled, shook her head no, and took in the surrounding people, bringing Kay’s awareness to how thin the crowd was here by the rose bushes. Some of her happiness and glow faded. “What do you want?”

The girl pulled the blade so quickly that Kay didn’t recognize it as a weapon and not a pen until it sank into her side, hitting a rib hard. Her basic combat skills from her youth gave her the muscle memory to bring her arm up to dislodge the blade from the startled girl’s hand. She struck her under her chin hard and sent her small body flying backward. The blade clacked against the rocks under her feet. A human would scream, she reminded herself and raised her voice, crying for help, even as she stalked forward toward the human girl who was trying to retreat.

“You have to share…” the girl whined, working her way backward away from her. “It’s not fair. You could just tell us how you do it. Then this kind of thing wouldn’t be necessary.”

Kay pressed her hand over the shallow wound, mad as hell. This was her night. A college party. The amount of work and masking she had done to fit in and get the education she wanted was daunting. So much hard work, and if she culled this stupid girl, she would ruin it all. But she wanted to. A pair of theater students turned toward her in response to her cries for help, eyes going wide at the sight of blood and the other girl on the ground. “She stabbed me.” Kay showed them the blood on her hand.

“Oh my God. I’ll call the police.” The girl got up from the ground and made a run for it. Kay’s human friends made chase, and the girl was soon down on the ground.

Heart racing, she searched the crowd for her Dan.

A voice hissed behind her. “My aim is better.” And a blade sank into her lower back. Kay screamed and this time it wasn’t pretend.