The dirty red and green sweater was there again that night. As soon as Alison closed her eyes she knew she wasn't alone. A part of her prayed for it to be just a dream a dream she would wake up after and laugh at for being so promiscuous, but she knew, she knew it wasn't just a dream and she was scared. If this were anything like a real dream, she thought, my heart would be thumping out of my chest.
She was back in the boiler room. A place she had come to know very well. Steam filled the air blocking Alison's view of anything further away than her nose. She could feel her chest tightening as she wheezed and spluttered, trying to find clean air to breath.
She began to shuffle forward, petrified of what lay ahead. The pipes whistled and hummed and as she walked, every sound making her jump out of her skin. Her long white night gown caressed the curves of her slender figure and trailed across the floor behind her, each step she took made the dress look more disarrayed, but as far as she was concerned, her nightgown was the least of her worries.
She remembered the first time she had seen Freddy's face, the scars that rippled his skin, his toothy grin, the glinting of his blades as he waved at her, his brown hat that hung slightly forward covering his eyes. She remembered the feeling she had gotten when he first spoke to her. I'm the man of your dreams. He'd cackled before trying to slice at her. She remembered the feeling she got when she looked into his eyes for the first time, his face screamed vicious killer, but his eyes, they told a different story, they seemed faded, sad. It seemed like he was trapped, like he had lost his way. Alison had believed this, and she wanted to help him, but after the first swipe of his blades she knew she was wrong, and the only thing important to her was her life.
She had started having these dreams a month or so back. It started after her friends had told her about a man named Freddy Kruger. Trying to scare her they told her stories about him, about how he was a child molester who was back from the dead to murder you in the confinement of you imagination. At the time this seemed like nothing but distortion, But of course the dreams she had started having had made her doubt her own judgement on Freddy Kruger and she had begun to believe everything she had been told.
Her first nightmare was the night after she had been informed of Kruger. She had sat on her sofa dosing off, she suddenly snapped up when arms shot out of the sofa grabbing her and locking her into position, a glove with 5 blades attached to it shot out from underneath her, catching her inner leg. She awoke startled on the sofa and stood abruptly. It was then she noticed the blood seeping through her clothes.
From then on Alison had found it difficult to sleep and each time she managed to doze off, the man with the dirty red and green sweater was always there, trying to hurt her, to kill her.
Alison knew that this night would be no different, but after 3 nights of no sleep, she had no choice, her mind was beginning to falter and play tricks on her, she could barely keep her eyes open in class and the bags under her eyes were more like sacks. She had decided to make a plan, she would set an alarm for 30minutes and each time the alarm sounded she would wake unscathed. So she hoped. Tonight was the first night she had put her plan into action and so far everything was going according to plan.
The clanking of metal made her stomache churn as she rounded a corner in the boiler room, the sound of metal scraping metal made her hairs stand on end.
Your going to make it, your going to make it
She whispered to herself over and over again trying to calm herself down. She had begun to think she had made a rash decision and should of tried to stay awake longer, when a large shadowy figure ran in front of her disappearing around another corner.
Alison's heart leaped and her whole body tensed up, a shrill yelp escaped her mouth before her hand had time to catch it. She stood still for a moment, evaluating the situation, deciding her next move.
Using her initiative she pushed herself forwards praying he wouldn't be around the corner.
The steam had faded to a thin sheet, making the boiler room once again visible, but being able to see the boiler room hadn't effected Alison's nerves, she was still petrified of what was to come. She wanted to use the pipes as a guide but the pipes were too hot to touch, as she had found out in a previous nightmare.
She reached the corner and stopped. Her eyes were now shut tight afraid to open, afraid to see. She steadied herself and pressed forward urging her body to do as she said. The first thing she saw when she had made that turn was the jump rope. Followed by three young girls. Two were swinging the rope, the other was jumping. They were singing a song, a song she had heard before. It meant he was close.
The girls voices echoed in her mind, the words they sang gave her chills to the bone.
One, two, Freddy's coming for you, three, four, better lock your door, five, six, grab your crucifix, seven, eight, better stay up late.
The voices and the girls disappeared unanticipated, leaving Alison alone with the whispers of the pipes. Alison's mind was going in circles, why hadn't they finished the song, she thought panic taking over her.
A loud bang infiltrated the boiler room making Alison jump out of her skin. Her entire body tensed up and she couldn't move.
Nine, ten, never sleep again.
A deep voice whispered into her ear. A pair of hands shot around Alison and squeezed her tight. She tried to scream but all that could escape her mouth was the air being squeezed out of her. Alison was running out of time. Without a moments hesitation she lashed her head back to be greeted by nothing but air, she fell to the floor gasping for air. Where had he gone?
She took a look at her watch, 10 minutes before her alarm would go off.
Alison your going to be fine, its just another 10 minutes
She told herself, but she was finding it difficult to believe herself.
She stood after regaining her balance and panned the room for an exit, there was a narrow corridor she had never seen before so she opted to use it. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, not stopping to see if Freddy was on her trail. Her run slowed to a brisk walk which came to a halt when she came to the end of the corridor. There was a thick white curtain in her way. The wind gently blew it making it wave like a ghostly figure, Alison was unsure where the wind was coming from but decided she didn't need to worry about that after all she had ten minutes to go before she would awake safe in her room. Freddy's laugh echoed through the corridor, spurring Alison into action, she quickly grabbed the curtain and whipped it aside to reveal an old house.
From what Alison could see, the house was completely abandoned, isolated and derelict. The house was secluded, there were no others no where else to go Alison decided to head for the house, weaving in and out of the overgrown grass she quickly made her way to the front door.
Every window was broken and boarded up, the wooden door frame was rotten and gathering a collection of moss and weeds, the porch hung over the door wearing away with each passing day and the front garden was littered with children's toys. Looking at the house you would decide it was too spooky and leave it at that, but something drew Alison in and whatever it was, she wasn't in control anymore.
She grabbed the door handle and pushed, the door opened with a slight creak. The house boomed with a deafening silence as Alison entered. The entire building was littered with cobwebs. It was dark inside, the only light visible was that of a street lamp just outside, it shone in through the cracks of the house lighting the steps. Alison took this as a sign and mounted the staircase. She gripped the rotting banister as she made her way to the landing, afraid of falling through the stairs. Alison looked down at her watch, 5 minutes to go, she thought as she reached the top of the staircase. There wasn't much light upstairs, so Alison struggled to see anything but what she did manage to see made her hand fly up to her mouth and her gooses begin to bump. A single beam of light lay across the rotting corpse of a child, its dress in tatters with 5 claw marks ripped into the chest, a teddy clutched in its hands. Alison backed away in disbelief trying to remind herself, its only a dream, her hand slipped onto the banister and she slowly backed down the stairs. She was never going to get that image out of her head. She wished there was a way you could un-see things but she knew that vision would haunt her forever. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she heard footsteps behind her. She turned as fast as she could. She was staring death in the face.
Freddy's lips curled up into a smile as he raised his glove and waved. His other hand shot out and pulled Alison closer, no please get off, she screamed fighting with everything she had in her. Freddy loved when they pleaded, it made him feel like a god. He ran his bladed hand through her hair and watched as a few strands of hair came loose and fell to the floor. Don't worry, he whispered, I don't bite...hard his vicious laugh ripped through the air once more as he leaned in to smell Alison's hair. Strawberries, my favourite, he exclaimed before running his tongue down the side of her face. Alison's face scrunched up in trepidation as she squirmed from his touch. Get off!, she screamed trying to push him away. The way he looked at her made her blood curdle.
Alison glanced down at her watch, 3 minutes, i need to keep him busy for 3 minutes, she thought.
Alison racked her brain for an idea but nothing struck her as foolproof and soon she was running on empty. Alison's eye caught a glint of light and as she looked up she saw Freddy's blade heading towards her, NO, she yelled followed with a deafening scream but it was too late, Freddy's blade tore straight through her shoulder. Her eyes went wide and she lost all power to shout. She began choking for air, her increasingly weak body trying so hard to push him away, but it was no use. Freddy drew back and plunged his blade into her other shoulder. Alison found her voice and yelled at the top of her lungs. Freddy let go of her dropping her to the floor.
Alison was curled up in a ball, trying so hard to keep her eyes open, she wasn't going to let him win. She felt Freddy's hand slip around her neck and grab a clump of hair. He yanked her head up smiling at the sound of her whimpers. He wanted her to beg some more, he wanted her to hurt, he wanted her to feel his pain. He gently ran a blade across the side of her face leaving a tiny red line on her cheek, he pulled back and slashed at her clothes loosing her hair and watching her fall to the floor again. Alison couldn't control her fate, she had now realised. So instead of fighting back she welcomed his blows. Why fight the inevitable, she whispered closing her eyes tight as Freddy's dagger plunged into her one last time.
Alison's body lay on the floor, blood seeping through her open wounds. Freddy stood and licked the blood from his blades and smiled at his work. He looked down and spotted something on her wrist, crouching down he saw it was a watch. His mouth turned into a little smile again as an alarm began to beep in his hands. Too late. He laughed as he walked away into the night.