Chapter 1: Congratulations, it's a nightmare!

Dani could feel herself nodding off to sleep. Her eyelids grew heavy once again and she switched positions, leaning heavily on her tight wooden school desk, desperate to stay awake. She knew if she fell asleep, terrible things would happen - Ms. Schillenger would send her to the principal, again. That would be the third time this week she'd fall asleep in class. If it happened again she'd be sent to the office and have to face Jack and Lillian when she got home. The guilt trip would be more than she could bear. Her foster parents would never punish her, their hearts were too big for their own good, but they sure had a way of making her feel bad.

Dani tapped her fingers absentmindedly on her desk as Ms. Schillenger blabbed on about their test on the Middle East they were having the next day. "The capital of Syria, Damascus, is considered a strategic location because of what? It's location in relation to Iraq and the Untied Arab Emerates..." No wonder she was falling asleep in this class. None of this impacted her life at all, why should she care? As this thought passed through her mind, her eyelids drooped again, but she caught herself before falling onto the desk. Close one. She struggled in her seat again to try and find an uncomfortable position to distract her. She glanced around the room, observing her classmates and thinking her disgusted thoughts for each of them in turn.

Three seats up and two to the left, Brett Corner was slouched nonchalantly in his desk, spinning a pencil through his fingers. He laughed silently and Dani couldn't help but notice how attractive he was. His hair, a fair blonde, fell lazily over his eyes. He wore only the hippest clothes. Dark colours complimented his thin, pale frame and perfect skin. He was the devil reincarnated, out to make her life a living hell. All and any words he had for her were meant solely for her pain. How she hated him.

Brett was looking toward the seat two over from him in the front row. Her eyes flitted to the girl who was returning his smirk with a suggestive wink. Dani's skin crawled. Allison Sheppard was the essence of cool - or so thought the majority of the student body. She was treated like a goddess when she should have been tied to a pole upside-down until she died of all the blood rushing to her head. Of course, she and Brett were dating. They had to - rules of the upper social class. They were perfect for each other, apparently, and their favourite after school activity was to torture Dani. As the new girl, she didn't get much respect, but there were plenty of other things for them to choose from to dub her the social outcast. For one, she was adopted - not part of the close-knit "family" of the town. Two, she wore a lot of black - apparently that was a bad thing in Springwood. Three, she was completely oblivious to everything the kids in the school knew. They had secret codes and stories that she would never understand. Dani was the only student who hadn't been a member of the current junior class since Pre-K. She had practically no friends. No once would talk to her unless they had a hankering for destroying the self-confidence of the puny sixteen year old that day.

Her head dipped too close to the desk again it quickly snapped back up. This was ridiculous. Dani glanced into her partially open backpack for a water bottle or some kind of food. No luck. She squirmed again in her chair, leaning back as far as she could go, sliding her feet under the desk in front of her and hanging her head backward over the chair. She stared at the ceiling with a sardonic demeanor. It was white with tiny holes all through it. Each tile was identical to the next. They were complete carbon copies of each other. She could imagine the factory where they were created, practically hear the machines creating them, producing each identical piece of plaster. Her eyelids drooped again causing the ceiling to seemingly change shape before her eyes. She focused again and realized - it did change shape. She sat up suddenly and looked around. No longer was she in her classroom. The air was thick with smoke, the sound of machines echoed off the thick, hollow pipes. A mysterious red light glinted off of nearly every surface, including her skin. She stood slowly and moved forward, muttering a curse under her breath. She knew this place. She'd seen it before in her nightmares. It was a boiler room, where, though, she didn't know. Nor did she have any idea why she was here. But she knew every time she had a dream about this room the man with the claw came with it. She glanced around warily, searching for any movement. Nothing. She was seemingly alone. "Dani..." She didn't jump. He'd said her name before, this was no surprise. "What do you want?" she said clearly, taking a deep breath and summoning her courage. She wasn't afraid of him, more annoyed that she was going to get in trouble for sleeping in class again.

A maniacal laugh filled the entire room. It seemed to come from every direction. "I'm not important right now, Dani," the man said in return. "My only concern is what you want."

"Oh, how kind of you," Dani spat with a growl. "But I'm not supposed to take help from strangers." The man laughed again. "Alright then," he said. "Though, we're not really strangers. We've met before, if you don't remember." Dani frowned deeper.

"Of course I remember," she said quietly. "You're the man with the claw." He was quiet now, the voice from above, he made no noise. She wasn't even sure he was still there. She considered for a moment trying to wake herself up, but she wasn't quite sure how. She turned to walk back to her desk, which she assumed was still there, but ended up face to face with-

"You."

The man smiled, baring his disgusting teeth to her. "Hello again, Dani," he said in a low voice. "About time we met - face to face." It was true she'd never been this close to him. It was only a week before when she began dreaming about him. He never did much but to scare her by mutating different things or setting things on fire. She'd only ever seen him from a distance. But now that she was looking at him close up she was thankful for the distance he kept before. His skin was completely burned and marled all over, his hat was tattered, his red and green striped sweater was burned and torn, and the amused, brainsick expression on his face sent shivers down her spine. At the moment, she could see no sign of his claw, but that gave her no comfort. She knew he had it somewhere and the anticipation of him holding it back wasn't doing wonders for her nerves. "Who are you?" she asked almost silently. Her voice was lost with her fear. The man smiled.

"My name is Freddy," he said calmly. His tone would seem almost polite if it weren't for his outer appearance and his assumed intentions. "And your name is Dani."

"How do you know that?" she asked quickly. "Who told you my name?"

Freddy smiled. "No one told me, my dear," he said civilly. "I know all my children."

"You're children?" she snapped back. "I don't belong to you." As soon as the words left her mouth she knew she shouldn't have said them. Freddy grabbed her by the neck and pulled her face up to meet his.

"All the children of Springwood belong to me," he growled. "This is my world." Dani closed her eyes. She couldn't stand to be so close to him. His breath smelled like death and his grip was tight, but she felt no real feeling of danger. He was a disturbing person to be so close to, but he sort of seemed like a big joke.

"You can't hurt me," she muttered. "You're just a dream."

"Oh really?" he snarled back. "If I were just a dream, could I do this?" Dani reluctantly opened her eyes and watched as Freddy pulled his right arm out from behind his back. His claw glinted in the red lights, making them look sharp enough to cut through her bones like butter. He thrust his hand forward, as to stab her through the stomach, but she caught his arm when the blades were but an inch from her. She kept her grip tight and Freddy automatically tightened the grip on her shirt.

"What the hell is this?!" he roared. Dani took his moment of confusion to knee him as hard as she could in the stomach. With a grunt, Freddy released her shirt and she landed on the iron grated floor with a clang! Still holding his arm with her left hand, she looked down to see his claw was gone and only his hand was spread out before her. She glanced up at his face. He was as confused as she was, but he wasn't looking at his hand. He was staring intently at what seemed to be Dani's stomach. She looked down, not releasing her grip, to see a flash of metal near her hand. Quickly, she moved her arm, but the blades moved with it and she realized that the blades were not being controlled by Freddy, but herself. The girl raised her right hand and attached to it was the claw. She could see now that it was a glove, attached to a metal plate that held the four knives. How she ended up with the weapon, she had no idea. She posed, flourishing the razors like he does and glaring up at the man. Freddy's look of outrage and hatred shocked her so much that she automatically dropped his arm and took a step back. Abruptly, flames exploded around them, blocking every possible exit and keeping them within close range of each other.

"Give it back, you little shit!" he growled and moved forward to grab her. Automatically, Dani slashed the air in front of her with the glove. An outraged scream told her that she had hit him. She looked up to see Freddy, sweater slashed, blood dripping from his chest, glaring at her with glowing red eyes. She mustered up all her strength and lunged forward, claw out in front, about to stab him through the stomach when he yelled, "Dani!" in a woman's voice. She froze. That voice sounded so familiar...it gave her a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Dani Pierce!" The woman's voice cam again, not from Freddy this time. The two of them looked around. Someone was trying to wake her up.

"You die next time, bitch," he growled before everything turned black.