Tabitha Parks quickly stifled a yawn and shook her head, shaking the sleep out of her mind. Across the table from her at the restaurant, Perry Hiller, grinned and down another swig of his soda.
"I'm not boring you, am I?" he asked.
Tabitha smiled and said, "No, just a long day of unpacking and shopping. Dad had me running around all day. I swear the man is a sadist."
Perry laughed and said, "Ok, I have to ask. What kind of work does your dad that would send you and your family all the way out here in Springwood?"
"He's an I.T. guy and ever since the chamber of commerce has been expanding its business district, he's the one they called to set everything up and make sure everything runs smoothly."
Tabitha looked around the restaurant called the Black Bistro, saw five other people and asked, "Geez is it always this empty?"
Perry shrugged. "I don't think so. I think it's because tonight is football night at the high school. Everybody's there."
"Except for us, we're right here."
"That we are," said Perry. He grabbed the last of his thick BLT and popped it into his mouth.
"How old are you?" Tabitha asked.
"Nineteen, but I'll be twenty in two months," Perry said through a mouthful of BLT.
"And you're still in high school?" Tabitha asked, puzzled.
Perry seemed a little annoyed by this question and then shrugged it off. "I was pretty sick three to six and didn't go to school much. Got started late and was always the oldest in my class."
"Does it bother?"
"It used to, not so much anymore, not since eighth grade."
Tabitha nodded and picked at the cold fries left on her plate.
"Alright," Tabitha said, "I don't think I can stand the excitement of the Bistro anymore. Let's go to the football game."
Grabbing some of the fries off her plate, Perry said, "Sounds good, let's go."
After paying and tipping their waiter, Perry and Tabitha walked out of the Black Bistro and into the cold November night air.
"Holy shit, it's freezing," Tabitha said. "Figures we parked on the other side of the parking lot."
"At least we remembered our jackets," Perry said, his breath visible in the cold.
Approaching Perry's car, Tabitha saw a black minivan pull into the parking lot. From the sounds coming out, it sounded like there was a whole group of teens in there.
"Looks like the Bistro is about to get a little bit busier," Perry said.
"Hope they can cope," Tabitha said, watching the minivan.
Tabitha turned back to Perry and opened her mouth to scream.
Perry had a large rock in his hand and was swinging it towards her head. Tabitha gasped in pain as it glanced across her neck and stumbled backward, tripping over her feet. Falling onto the ground, she saw Perry raise his arm again for a second attack. Tabitha couldn't seem to process what was happening and tried in vain to get her arm up in defense.
The rock collided with her temple and she saw stars flash and amazingly, did not pass out. She slumped back onto the ground and groaned.
As the minivan pulled up to her and Perry, the door slid open and two guys all dressed in black, jumped out and grabbed her. Picking her up, they threw her into the backseat of the minivan and jumped back in, Perry as well, and slammed the door.
Perry leaned forward to the driver, a blond, rough faced male and said, "Come on let's go."
As the driver took off, Perry sat down beside Tabitha, who stared at him blearily. Brushing a strand of her brown hair from her face, he smiled. Through the haze of pain, Tabitha thought how much she would like to rip his eyes out.
"I would stay awake if I were you," Perry said. "If you fall asleep, you'll meet Freddy a little early and things will get messy in here."
Ten minutes later, Oliver the blond driver, pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned Springwood Textile Plant and drove to the building where the boiler room was.
Stopping at the entrance, the door to the building opened and four people came walking out. One girl with black hair, looked at Perry as he got out of the minivan and said, "Did you get here?"
He smiled and turned and began dragging Tabitha out by her feet. "We got her right here, Megan. Come on, get her to the chamber."
Everything was a blur, melting together. Tabitha had no sense of time passing and soon found herself lying on the floor in a dank room, surrounded by pipes and bizarrely enough, a ring of candles.
"What's….going on?" she slurred. "What are-"
"Shut up."
She started and gasped in pain. Managing to focus, she saw a group of teenagers, including Perry standing around her. There was no compassion on their faces.
"Perry?"
"Tabitha, we need to hurry so I'm going to tell you something very important and then," he said, holding up a yellow pill, "I'm going to give you this pill."
Tabitha felt tears well up and opened her mouth but no words came out as Perry knelt down beside her.
"One name," Perry said. "The name I want you to think about is Freddy Krueger."
Tabitha had no idea who that was and tried to ask, but Perry forced the pill into her mouth. She choked and Perry brought out a small glass of water and poured it into her mouth. Tabitha choked and sputtered and inadvertently swallowed the yellow pill.
Perry smiled. "Sleep tight."
Almost instantly, Tabitha felt drowsy and her eyes grew heavy. Before slipping off to sleep, she thought, who is Freddy Krueger?
Tabitha sits up suddenly. She is back at home in her bed. Breathing hard, she looks around her room and sees no one, just her stuffed toys from when was a child. Next to her in her bed is Rocky, her stuffed turtle.
Sighing in relief, she hugs Rocky and says, "I had a bad dream, Rocky, but its all better now."
She has five minutes to live.
Tabitha smells bacon and her stomach growls.
Hurrying down the stairs, she jumps off the landing and into a puddle of water. She gasps and looks around in shock. She is no longer in her house, but back in the dank room filled with pipes. She backs up quickly against a wall, when she sees herself lying in the middle of the floor.
"Oh god."
She hears a sound like nails on a chalk board. Or more appropriately, knives on metal.
"Oh god, I'm dead."
"No."
A man's rasping voice speaks into her ear and she spins around, facing an extended corridor in a rusty factory.
And a burnt beyond hope face. It is horrible and she screams, backing up quickly. A man is standing before her, face burnt and melted like wax, and wearing a red and green sweater and a tan fedora.
He grins at her and she feels her terror surge as he raises his hand. He is wearing a glove with long blades extending from the fingers and wiggles them at her.
"Hello Tabby and welcome to my world."
"Who are you," she screams.
"Oh, I think you know."
It hits her. Freddy Krueger.
Absurdly, her stomach growls again and Freddy leers at her.
"You hungry, Tabby?" he asks. "Well, lets put something in that belly."
She turns to run and he is standing right there. There is a sickening squishing sound and a horrific pain. Tabitha looks down and sees Freddy's fingers in her stomach. Blood is seeping out and she feels herself weakening.
Shoving her, Freddy's fingers pop out and he flicks the blood off. Tabitha falls to the ground and Freddy is right on top of her, slashing her ankles and knee, cutting all the ligaments.
Standing back up, he says, "I'll give you a five second head start and then I'm coming for you."
Tabitha tries to stand.
"One…"
She can't stand up, her legs useless.
"Two…"
Managing to sit up, she begins to scoot herself backwards.
"Three…"
Freddy holds up four of his bladed fingers.
"Four…"
Tabitha screams, "Perry! Please help me!"
Freddy chuckles and says, "Sorry bitch, Perry is on my side. Five"
Tabitha screams and screams as Freddy rushes over to her and with one swipe of his glove, slashes her throat open. Tabitha's last vision is of Freddy's horrible visage and her last thought is of cursing Perry.
Perry stepped back from the arterial spray of blood and watched Tabitha die.
Beside him, Oliver made a sound of disgust and said, "Did you see her throat just rip open."
Jack, a young Asian male, rolled his eyes and said, "Of course we saw it. We're all right here."
"Shut up," Perry said. "Jack, you and Oliver and Donny take to body to the furnace, the rest of us will clean up here."