The Family Trade:
A Nightmare on Elm Street Fanfic
OK, so I'm sorta tweaking the story of Katherine Krueger to make this interesting. I hope you enjoy it! Based on the 2010 film.
I own none of the rights to A Nightmare on Elm Street, although that would be awesome!
Katherine was five years old, she had a great mom and the best dad in the world. Every day he would go with her to school and at recess she would watch him garden; he always used to pass her a flower or two over the fence when none of the teachers were looking. After school, they would walk home, she would tell him about her day in class, and they would have dinner. Katherine never listened to the conversations her mom and dad had, because she didn't understand what they were talking about in the first place.
Whenever her dad would get angry at her mom, he would leave the house for hours, she never knew where he went. She also knew, that when he came home, he acted differently. Although, before he left and when he came home, the first thing he would always do would be to go into her room and give her a kiss on her forehead.
Christmas was her dad's favorite time of year. He had this green and red striped sweater that he would wear to work and wear around the house that always used to make her laugh. She used to tell him he looked like a present. December was also the month that her mom had been murdered; all of the adults suspected her dad, and when they walked to and from school nothing was the same. No one said hello to them anymore, no one was nice her to dad. Then one day, a woman and a man dressed in a suit came to her house, 1428 Elm Street, talked to her dad for a little bit, and then he came upstairs to her room, gave her a big hug and a kiss, then passed her off to the woman with tears in his eyes. She had been sent to live with her aunt and uncle. Her aunt was her mom's sister, and she never liked Katherine's dad.
Three days later, her aunt came in and told her that her dad had died in a fire, she didn't tell Katherine how it had happened or who else was hurt. That was the day, that Katherine Krueger became an orphan.
Twelve Years Later
Katherine sighed, she was sitting in the middle of chemistry class, one of the classes that she hated the most, scribbling in her Language Arts journal. Her curly, blonde hair was pulled back with a small clip and her piercing blue eyes were groggy. She wished that she could just get out of the classroom for a minute, but the teacher didn't trust her. None of the teachers really trusted her, they were just nice to her and liked her because she kept her mouth shut during class and she got straight A's. Her Uncle Harvey was adimant about her getting straight A's, that way she would have an easier time getting into the military next year. Yeah; her uncle was a Captain in the United States Coast Guard, and he wanted her to go into the military, too. He didn't care what branch, he just wanted her in the military. To shut him up, she'd chosen the Navy; her friends Quentin and Nancy were sitting beside her, Quentin on her left and Nancy on her right, each of them sending her text messages that she barely could read because her eyes hurt so much from not getting any sleep. Her Aunt Lillian had been on her case lately about the fifth summer job she'd gotten, she was going to be taking care of the flowers outside of the preschool, and for some reason her aunt didn't want her to. She'd said stick to your jobs at the aquarium, mall, diner, and library. Katherine wanted to take care of the flowers, though; for some reason she loved gardening, she didn't know why.
Quentin kicked her foot, gesturing to her pocket, her phone lighting up. She pulled it out of her pocket and read the text, 'R U alrite?' she looked at him with a kind smile and nodded, jerking her head towards the teacher who was ranting on and on about useless bullshit. Finally the bell rang, and Katherine picked up her tote and walked out of the classroom in the sea of students, avoiding her teacher. She headed to her locker, opening the door and putting all of the books she didn't need back inside and pulling out the things she needed for work. Quentin walked up behind her and leaned against the lockers, "Kathy what's wrong with you today? You look like you haven't slept in weeks."
Katherine sighed, shutting her locker and banging her head against it, "Because I haven't. Lillian has been up my ass about me gardening for the preschool."
Nancy was confused, "Why? That's probably better pay than any of the other jobs you have."
"Why the Hell do you work five jobs anyway?" Quentin asked, obviously worried for her.
She chuckled, "Because Harvey wants me to be independent; aside from my tuition and car payments I have to pay for everything else. Food I want, gas, clothes, shit like that."
"That sucks," Dean spoke, walking up behind Nancy.
Kris stood beside Dean, "So who's coming to the party tonight?"
Jesse strode up behind Quentin, "Count me in."
"Me too," Dean kissed Kris's cheek.
"Sure," Nancy nodded.
Quentin looked at Katherine, "I'm only going if you do."
Katherine smiled, Quentin was always supportive of her and always wanted to include her in everything. He was sweet, "Sure, why not? What time Kris?"
"Seven o'clock," she smiled, walking away with Dean.
Katherine looked at her two friends, "Need a ride?"
Quentin nodded, "If you'd be so kind."
"Yeah," Nancy smiled, hooking arms with Katherine, who put her other arm around Quentin's shoulders as the three of them walked out to her black Chevy Tahoe, Nancy in the back since she was the closest, Quentin in the passenger's seat and Katherine driving.
Quentin pulled a CD out of his bag, "I mixed this in Computers today, thought you might want to hear your amazing singing voice, Kathy," he put it in and pressed the Play button, music and a girl's voice filling the surround sound speakers.
Katherine gaped as she started driving out of the high school parking lot, "Holy shit is that me?"
Nancy hit her shoulder, "Hell yeah that's you!"
The music continued blasting as Katherine dropped Nancy off, "See you tonight guys!"
Katherine waved, "See ya!"
Quentin smiled, "Don't forget!"
The SUV pulled away, "Forget what?" Katherine asked her friend, looking at him curiously.
Quentin smiled, "Tonight is gonna be your debut I'm blasting your music throughout that entire party."
Katherine looked at him, "Are you crazy?"
He laughed, "I thought I'd get a thank you!"
She stopped in front of his house, "I was getting to that, thank you," she hugged him.
He smiled, hugging her back, "You're welcome."
Katherine smiled in return, "You better get goin' before your dad yells at you and I'm late for job number one."
Quentin nodded, "Right, I'll see you tonight."
She laughed, "OK, I'll pick you up around six thirty."
He looked at her, shutting the car door, "OK, see you then Kathy."
Katherine shut the front door of her house, 1306 Elm Street, tossing her tote bag next to the kitchen table before heading into the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of iced tea.
"Kathy? Is that you!" her aunt called from upstairs.
The young woman rolled her eyes, "Yes Lillian it's me!" she never called her aunt and uncle Aunt Lillian and Uncle Harvey.
Her uncle came up from the basement dressed in his military coveralls, "What are you doing home, girl? Don't you have work?"
Katherine nodded, "Just came home to get a glass of iced tea and change, Harvey," she picked up her bag and ran up the stairs two at a time, closing and locking her bedroom door behind her. She always spent these five minutes before work alone in her room. She walked over to her closet, opening the door and reaching for a shoebox in the back corner. Katherine had only a small box of memories from her childhood, things she was able to keep hidden from her aunt and uncle. She took off the lid and began looking at the items one by one, like she did every day; a dried flower pressed between the pages of a small book that used to be her mother's, a ring box that had a gold wedding band in it, also her mother's, and the final thing was a pictuer of her when she was five years old, and her father. She loved this photo, it was the only one she had of him that hadn't been destroyed by her aunt and uncle, and for what reason they were destroyed she did not know. Her father's wedding band was on a gold chain around her neck, beneath her shirt so her aunt and uncle didn't see it. She remembered the day that she had been taken away from him, and she blamed Harvey and Lillian for it. They had made all of the teachers in the school put her name down on documents and such as Katherine Killmen, her aunt and uncle's last name, but she would always sign her assignments and tests with her real last name, Krueger. Katherine Krueger. That was why none of the teachers trusted her; they didn't like that she was a Krueger.
Quentin didn't know, Nancy didn't know, none of her friends knew her true last name. She sighed, putting everything back in the box and getting changed for her shift at the aquarium, another hour of feeding fish, at least it paid well. She grabbed her uniform for her shift at the mall and then ran down the stairs, jumping into her car and driving off.
Feeding fish, hanging clothes, stocking bookshelves, serving food. By the time Katherine was done she didn't even think she was going to make the party, but when she got home, she found Quentin waiting on the back porch steps.
"What are you doing here?" she asked with a smile, hugging him.
He chuckled, "Came to see if you were still coming. I know how tired you get after work."
Katherine smiled, "You really are the best, Quentin," she unlocked the back door and let them both in, "have whatever you want, I'm just gonna jump in the shower and get dressed," she ran up the stairs, closing her bedroom door but forgetting to lock it, taking off her uniform and picking out what she was going to wear to the party, then walked to her bathroom and started the shower, stepping under the warm water, relaxing her tense muscles. Katherine sighed, closing her eyes for just a moment, and almost jumping out of her skin: she saw a man with a terribly burned face, but something about him seemed so familiar. He wore an old, brown fedora, a green and red striped sweater, black pants, and workboots. Her eyes shot open, stepping out of the shower and wrapping one towel around her body, the other around her hair as she opened the door, steam rushing into her bedroom where Quentin sat at her desk, reading some new songs she'd written.
He turned and covered his eyes, "I'm sorry!"
She laughed, "It's not the first time you've seen me in a towel, Quentin."
His smile brought color to his cheeks, "I know," he picked up her journal, "this one's good."
Katherine smirked, taking her hair out of the towel and stepping behind her closet door, "Really?"
Quentin nodded, handing her the articles of clothing on her bed one by one, "Yeah. It's really good, Kathy."
She stepped out from behind the door wearing a pair or black boy shorts and a silver tank top, her curly hair was let down and pushed back with a black and silver headband, "Whataya think?"
He smiled, "Beautiful as ever," he stood, taking her hands in his, "when is anyone gonna know yet?"
Katherine sighed, "Quentin."
"Why can't we tell anyone we're together?" he asked, looking her dead in the eye.
The young woman looked at him, "Because I don't want the teachers giving you a hard time. They don't trust me as it is, imagine what they would say to you!"
Quentin chuckled, "I can take a few teachers not liking me," he took her face in his hands, "I love you, Kathy. Why is that so hard for you to understand?"
"It isn't," she felt his breath on her face, she closed her eyes and smiled, "I love you, too, Quentin."
He sighed, pressing his lips flush against hers in a gentle kiss, "C'mon, let's get you to that party."
Katherine smiled bright, the two of them walking down to her car and driving down to Kris's house.
AN: Please review and tell me what you think!