Author's Notes: Ever wish sometimes a movie were just a horrible dream you wake up from? I sometimes do.

Disclaimer: I don't own House of Wax or any of its characters. I merely came up with this plot.

"Trudy and the doctor didn't have two sons. They had three."

Carly rested her head on Nick's shoulder as the ambulance carried them away from Ambrose. Away from that mess of a House of Wax, away from their friends' dead bodies.

As the ambulance drove out of Ambrose, they passed the man who threw road kill into the pit. He flashed Carly an eerie grin and waved as he watched them passed by. Carly's eyes widened with fear and she tried hiding her face in Nick's neck.

Carly jolted awake, broken out in a cold sweat and breathing heavily she looked at the alarm clock resting on the small cluttered bed side table, two thirty in the morning it read. Her blue eyes adjusted to the darkness and she examined her surrounding and she found that she was in her bedroom, she turned on the lamp on her bedside a faint glow of light being emitted, she glanced out the window, the sky was pitch black.

Carly shuddered as she recalled her dream...or was it even a dream to begin with?

'It felt so real,' Carly recalled beginning to shiver as vivid images began to flash through her head, 'the pain, it hurt so much.' Tears began to well up in the girl's eyes as she imagined losing her friends, everyone but Nick, it scared her, made her realize how lost and alone in the world she could be in a matter of hours, just from something bad happening to them.

She shook off the feeling and drew in her breath, 'It was just a dream, and 'she reminded herself over and over again,' just a horrible, gruesome dream...or a nightmare sounds more like it.'

Carly sat up in bed and looked over to the other side of the bed expecting to see her sleeping boyfriend, except he wasn't there. Fear began to overwhelm Carly and she felt her chest become panic-stricken, her breathing became uneven and she began to quiver with worry. She wanted to call out for him, but she was too chocked up to let words escape her mouth. She brought her knees to her chest and hugged them, 'Maybe it wasn't a dream, maybe it was real, and I'm going insane, I knew it was too real to be a figment from my mind.' She speculated with sorrow as tears began to run down her cheeks.

 She buried her face in her knees, trying to shun herself from the world, trying to shut out all the pain and heartbreak she felt at this very moment. Carly slowly lifted her head and averted her gaze back to Wade's empty side of the bed.

'He's gone,' she whimpered to herself, 'I wish...' there were so many things Carly wished for about her friends; that they were still around mainly, to be able to tell them things before they died, inform Dalton she didn't mind him filming them all the time, tell Blake and Paige they were the best friends she ever had, and tell Wade one last time that she loved him.

Carly continued to cast her mournful gaze at the bedside, she felt like bawling her eyes out, she'd do anything to relieve the agony in her soul. She shook her head with distress, "Oh Wade, I'd do anything, to have one last minute with you," She whispered to herself.

She shifted her view to the ceiling and questioned, "Why did you leave me? Why did you have to go?" She wondered before feeling the need to break down in tears.

"Um, to get a drink of water and to use the bathroom?" A familiar voice in a distinct southern drawl answered.

Carly felt her heart skip a beat, 'Maybe it all really was a dream after all.' She looked up and leaning against the door was Wade, a puzzled expression on his face, which was thankfully, in one piece.

Carly's eyes lit up as she watched Wade run a hand through his dark shaggy hair and raised an eyebrow while trying to figure out the scene in front of him. Carly wasn't distracted for too long, she scrambled out of bed and ran to her boyfriend and wrapped her arms tight around his waist.

"Wow, uh, maybe I should get up in the middle of the night more often." Wade said to himself in shock as to why Carly would just suddenly show affection for being gone for only a few minutes.

"I'm so relieved you're alive," she cried as both her and him slid down to the floor, her leaning against him and his back to the door.

Now Wade was really confused, he began to stroke her ash brown hair and began shushing her to make her relax as she began to sob violently into his chest.

Carly tugged lightly at his shirt and attempted to explain the horrible things she dreamt. "We went camping on the way to that stupid football game, in the morning, your car broke down...a guy who emptied out road kill took us to this old town called Ambrose where there was a House of Wax and this mechanic named Bo...you went to the bathroom in his house and you never came out...Nick and Dalton came to get us...Nick found me strapped down to a chair and locked Bo out...Vincent killed Blake and Paige back at camp...Dalton was beheaded...and you were encased in wax and had half you face sliced off...and so much more horrible stuff!" She cried with fear and her wails drowned out whatever else she had to say.

Wade gently ran his hand through her hair as he observed her shiver in his arms. He stroked her back, which sent tingles down Carly's spine, soon enough, her whimpering and shaking were toned down to heavy breathing with the occasional cry.

He smiled to himself relieved Carly was calmed a bit. "It's alright," Wade started softly, "I'm here, alive and not missing any part of my face. It was just a nightmare, I won't let that happen." He comforted her.

Carly looked up into his magnificent hazel eyes; "Promise?" she asked quietly.

Wade embraced her compassionately, "I promise," he whispered in her ear.

Carly felt so safe and secure in his arms, she couldn't imagine going on without him. She nuzzled her face into his chest and lightly grasped his shoulder blades, frightened to let go of him, she felt if she did, her dream might've turn out to been real and she's hallucinating and if she let go of Wade he'd fade away forever, she never wanted this moment to end regardless if it was real or not. It didn't matter to her anyways, whenever she was with him, everything seemed so surreal to her; he just made her feel like that.

Carly drew in her breath and asked her impending question, "You're real right? Not a figment of my imagination?"

"I would hope I'm real and embracing you this second." Wade mumbled in response. He managed to get a small smile out of Carly with that answer, "Ah, now there's that million-dollar smile I've been waiting for," He said while lightly caressing her cheek.

Carly gingerly touched the side of Wade's face as if to confirm for herself that his cheek wouldn't suddenly slide off, and that his skin was really skin and not wax. Wade looked partially amused as Carly stroked his face, he tenderly grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Convinced?" He asked.

Carly nodded and her blue eyes lit up, dancing with life and mirth. " I love you," She declared while throwing her arms around her beloved once more.

"I know," Wade smiled while lightly kissing her forehead, "But I never get tired of hearing it." He answered honestly.

"Can we not go to that football game next weekend? I know it was just a dream, but..." She trailed off in a worried tone. Carly didn't want to ruin their plans, but it still scared her a bit, going in with five friends and only coming out with one, her brother, she just wanted to make sure this would never happen.

Wade sighed and stroked the small of Carly's back, to see the game was one of the reasons he chose to go on the road trip, but his girlfriend going was the main reason that he was going to go in the first place; in other words, if she didn't go there was no point for him. He'd also do anything for her in her time of need and desperation, what's missing one game going to hurt, he could watch it on T.V anyways. If it made Carly feel better and more reassured of their safety, than he was willing to do it.

Carly lay there awaiting his answer till he finally nodded, "Sure, it's not like we have tickets or anything, besides, we'd probably hit traffic or some sort of a rush hour and miss the whole thing."

Carly downcast her eyes, "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

Wade shrugged and let the issue roll off his shoulder, "Nah, don't worry about it, I'd rather be alive then die trying to get to a game." Carly then flinched about what he said. He soon realized his mistake and apologized, "Sorry, wrong choice of words right?"

His girlfriend nodded in response, "I feel so stupid..."

"C'mon, don't say that, if you want, we'll never step foot in a town called Ambrose. If we hear about it, we run as far as we can in the opposite direction, no psychotic serial killers are going to get a hold of us...not to mention I would be a bit freaked out after having a dream like that also," He attempted to cheer her up.

Carly smiled, he was so understanding, it just warmed her to think she had such a compassionate boyfriend that put her needs, feeling, and wants before his own, he could've simply said no and she would've been dragged along anyhow. "Think we should call Blake and Paige and tell them trips off?"

"Carly they're gone," Wade said simply.

Carly gave him a curious look, "Gone? What do you mean gone? Gone as in how?" She said feeling panic arise in her chest.

"I meant gone as in stepped out, they're out at some party remember?" He clarified.

Carly flushed, "Oh right, but at this hour?" She asked while glancing at the alarm clock that currently read three-ten.

"This is Blake and Paige we're talking about," the dark haired man answered flatly. "We'll tell them in the morning, I suppose Paige will be understanding as to why you don't want to go, but I think Blake's going to have a heart attack when we tell him we're not going, we might actually have to bound him to a chair to make sure he doesn't do anything crazy." Wade joked.

Carly giggled, "True, he's been looking forward to this game for months, I bet he'll go ballistic, I wonder if he'll still bail my brother?"

Wade pretended to care but failed miserably; he could careless about Nick, mainly because Nick treated him like dirt.

Carly pursed her lips as she recalled something Nick said about Wade in her dream, "Y'know, he's really not that bad, I mean, in my dream he did say you weren't so bad, and Dalton even admitted to liking you."

Wade shook his head with disbelief, "If only that were true in the real world."

"Maybe it is,"

"Maybe you really are losing you mind, should I set you up with a therapist or a psychiatrist or something?" Wade joked once more.

Carly frowned, "I don't need therapy thank you very much," She then yawned.

Wade got up and helped Carly off the floor and lead her over to the bed, "C'mon sleepy head, no more nightmares alright?"

"I can't make any promises, but I now know it's just a dream, and if I wake up again, hopefully you'll be next to me this time." She said as she crawled into bed shortly followed by Wade.

"Yeah, well, remember, even if I do somehow die, I'm always with you," He said as he entangled his hand with hers and watched over Carly as she slowly but surely drifted off to sleep.

He smiled to himself in the darkness and silence, "Carly?"

"Mmm?" She mumbled to indicate she had her attention.

"I love you, and I always will."

A tender smile graced Carly beautiful face and she snuggled close to him, "Thanks, and I won't forget it."

Author's notes: Man, I debated soooo many ways to end this, whether for it to be a dream, or Carly getting her wish fulfilled of having one last moment with Wade (which probably would've been the best ending but I couldn't figure out how to make it work), or for it to be like this, ah well, I'm satisfied I guess. Anyone who doesn't get the beginning I'll clear it up I guess: The first part in italics is obviously the end of the movie which signals the end of Carly's scarily realistic dream, the rest of it is just her with Wade like they never died or it's a second chance to prevent that from happening.

Anyways, as always, read, enjoy and review. Anybody who still doesn't get it feel free to PM me so I can be more clear.