Disclaimer: I don't own A Nightmare on Elm Street nor do I own the song, "Come Little Children".
My first ANOES fanfic.
Snuggling into her comfy bed, a little girl smiled up to her mother and father, ready to be tucked in. Her parents, resembling shadows with the bright background light of the hallway, each leaned down to place gentle Goodnight kisses upon their child's forehead. Whispering loving words, the adults turned away to the door, the mother's hand resting on the doorknob as she looked back at her beloved offspring before slowly easing the door closed and enveloping the room in near darkness, the faint blue glow of the night-light the only thing seperating the room from the pitch darkness of night.
Gripping her blanket and pulling it up to her shoulders, the girl hugged her plush teddy bear close. She was tired and tomorrow would be the start of a new fun-filled day to spend with her Mommy and Daddy. Her large eyes full of innocence watched the shadows on the wall, hardly frightened in the least bit. After all, the night-light and her teddy bear always protected her from the monsters in her closet and the ghouls under her bed. Nothing can harm her here. Vision blurring as she begins to slip into the bliss of sleep, she didn't notice one of the shadows shifting to form the shape of a man in a hat...
Come little children, I'll take thee away... Into a land of Enchantment
Come little children, the time's come to play... Here in my garden of Magic
She liked dreaming; it was always a pleasant change from her daily life, always filled with sweet happiness and never sadness. Humming cheerfully as she wandered a wonderful field of flowers and tall grass, she sat down and looked up at the clouds, smiling as they began forming all kinds of distinct shapes, from smiley faces to choo-choo trains. The warm breeze blowing her soft brown hair back, she turned her gaze back to the ground and began to pick some of the exotic dream flowers. Red ones, blue ones, rainbow-colored ones, ones of colors she never knew existed. The sweet smells emanate from the petals to her nose and a butterfly paid her a visit, wings tickling her nose before fluttering off as a shadow enveloped them. Looking up as someone walked to sit beside her, she smiled and held up a flower.
"Here, Daddy." she squeaked happily. Her father smiled, brown eyes soft and sweet, before taking the flower. The girl snuggled into her parent before picking some more and giving each to her Daddy. As she was doing this, she hardly noticed the changes going on, like how her Dad was now wearing a red-and-green sweater, or how he was taking her offered flowers in a strange looking glove. When she did look up to her Daddy, she was only mildly surprised that the man wasn't her Daddy anymore. His face looked weird, almost like a pizza. Tilting her head at his odd appearance, she still offered a smile. "Hi." she greeted sweetly.
"Hello." the man answered. His voice was a bit rough, but his tone was friendly; she felt no threat.
"I like your sweater." she said, pointing at the said clothing. The red-and-green reminded her of Christmas, and Christmas was always the best time of year for her. That's when she gets presents, and special food, and love from all her family members. Nothing bad could ever come of it and so nothing bad could ever come from this man who reminded her of it, so her logic went.
The grown up sitting beside her smiled at her words. "And I like your dress." He gave her a gentle poke with one of his weird, sharp fingers. It didn't hurt and in fact, the girl giggled before giving him another flower. "Thanks, kid." he said with an even wider grin, showing his teeth. The girl again tilted her head with great curiosity.
"Wow, what sharp teeth you have, mister." she couldn't help but exclaim. This got a laugh from the man.
"All the better to eat little piggies with." he said, poking her nose, which instantly morphed into a pig's nose. The girl practically went cross-eyed to see it before putting her little hands on her new nose. Rather than being alarmed, she squealed happily.
"This is a funny dream. Oink, oink!" She felt something behind her and took a glance to see a curly little pig's tail currently attached to her and poking from her dress. Giving it a wag, she turned her attention to her new friend. "I like piggies."
"Me too." the man responded before adding, "I have a bunch of little piggies back home, just waiting to play. Would you like to join them?"
Still feeling unthreatened by this pleasant dream, she nodded and the man stood, extending his gloved hand down. Regarding it with curiosity for a second, she took it with her own tiny hand and let the man lead her off...
Follow sweet children, I'll show thee the way... Through all the pain and the sorrows
Weep not poor children, for life is this way... Murdering beauty and passion
Inside the Boiler Room, the frantic sounds of tiny footsteps could be heard. The girl had lost track of her new friend and was hurrying to find him. For once in her dream, she felt a bit scared. This was a new place that she wasn't familiar with, as she never had a dream like this before. It was a far-cry from her usual peaceful meadow; what, with it's thick red atmosphere and its hot, metallic surroundings. Wringing her hands a bit, she slowed down as she arrived at a flight of stairs before reaching up to grip the railings and stepping down carefully, her shoes still clicking against the grated floor.
"Hello? Mister?" Reaching the bottom of the stairs, her wide eyes glanced about before continuing down the catwalk, halting only when she heard this awful screeching sound. Wincing, she put her little hands on her ears before calling out again. "Mister! Where are you?" This time, she couldn't keep in a soft fearful tone in her voice.
"There you are, little piggy." came her answer and she turned around to find her friend, who seemingly came out of nowhere. He was tapping one of his sharp fingers on the railing and was looking down at her with a scary smile, much different than the ones he gave her so frequently before. Despite her unease at this new expression, she reminded herself that this was her friend and that she was most likely just gonna get scolded for getting lost. And a scolding was what she got. "Naughty girl, wandering off like that. You might've gotten hurt." he said, leaning down and waving a sharp finger in front of her face.
Holding her hands behind her back, she looked down. "Sorry, mister." He shook his head, placing his strange hand on her shoulder...uncomfortably tightly.
"Sorry's not good enough, piggy. Afraid I'll have to punish you." The girl wriggled and fidgeted as his grip got tighter, the sharp edged of his fingers digging though her dress. Her unease was very quickly turning into fear, and it was for good reason as she felt pain erupted from her shoulder as the grip got a little too tight. Jumping with a cry, she wriggled free and ran off, her ears picking up one last sentence from the man. "I always loved a good game of Tag."
Not daring to slow down, she tried to find a hiding place that she could fit into safely. But it wasn't going to be easy as fire leapt from the boilers below, flaring up along her path and adding to her fear. Feeling tears well up in her chocolate colored eyes, she found a space between two metal boxes, large enough for her to hide. Going down to hands and knees, she crawled into the empty space, immediately curling up with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around herself. She could still feel the pain on her shoulder; she's never felt pain in her dreams before...
"Come out, come out, wherever you are." she heard the man's sing-song voice, her eyes watching as he got within view, casually looking about as if he hadn't the slightest idea where she was. She hoped that was the case. She didn't like her friend anymore. He had hurt her and friends don't hurt friends. Keeping as quiet as she could, her eyes followed the man's movements before averting when she felt something tickle her arm. She looked to see a big hairy spider crawling up from her elbow, soon joined by other spiders that literally appeared out of nowhere.
"Ew!" she squeaked before she could stop herself, swatting the spiders off her arm with great haste. With the spiders gone, she returned her attention to the man...
Only to find that he wasn't there anymore. Confused but frightened, she stayed where she was for a long moment before carefully shifting out of her curl and...
"You're it!" She heard the voice above her and didn't have time to react before she felt fingers close around the scruff of her dress, pulling her up and out of her hiding place. A shrill scream echoed throughout the Boiler Room, followed by a harsh sound of malevolent laughter...
Hush now dear children, it must be this way... Too weary of life and deceptions
Rest now my children, for soon we'll away... Into the calm and the quiet
Nostalgia is a great feeling, that much Freddy was certain of as he sat in his workshop, feet up on his desk as he cleaned most of the blood from his blades, licking some off on occasion. That girl was a sweetheart, too naive and innocent for her own good, and he couldn't help but re-live his old method of befriending her, gaining her trust, before shattering it with a swipe of his glove, just as he had done with dozens of children he abducted and murdered when he was alive. Even with his new and rather unsettling appearance, he still had the charming charisma to find his way into the children's hearts. It was a nice change from his usual methods of killing teenagers.
Always so sweet... And to think, she was only the first one of the night. Several more children on Elm Street had heard and/or chanted his infamous rhyme and he had to take advantage while he could.
Having finished cleaning his blades, he removed his feet from their resting point and stood up, walking off at a leisure pace to lure more children into his grasp.
Come little children, I'll take thee away... Into a land of Enchantment
Come little children, the time's come to play... Here in my garden of Shadows
I wonder who didn't see this coming. I've always loved the song, Come Little Children ever since I heard it in Hocus Pocus. It took a while for me to realize that although it's a very calm, soothing, rather beautiful song... it's about kidnapping and murdering children O.o . My current obsession is, of course, Freddy Krueger and how can I not connect this song to him? Honestly? :) Anyway, I tried to keep a mystical-like feel in the first couple of scenes so as to mimic the tone of the inspiring song, before going into the darker parts of the story. I hope you guys liked it!