"Freddy"
Fanfic by "JacobKragoff"
Note: This is a fanfic that combines Freddy Krueger with a load of different series that I'm particularly fond of. Each is a short story explaining what would happen if Freddy Krueger were to enter outside of our normal world. Some of the series you will see in here are Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and some other books and movies. The first chapter is just a regular story about Elm Street.
This first chapter takes place about a year or two after the new 2010 movie. If any of you prefer the old one, feel free to imagine good old fashioned old Freddy, whichever one will make you enjoy the fic more. Also, PLEASE REVIEW! And try to picture the events in this as best as you can, read the fic in the dark on your computer, whatever it takes and then tell me if it scares you at all.
Chapter One: An Elm Street Nightmare before Christmas
…
Awake!
I'm trapped inside a small cell, water leaking all over the dirty, dry blood covered floors. I am sitting on a rusty, metal chair and cannot escape. It is too hard, and then I realize that there are bolts on my ankles and wrists, keeping me in my seat. I scream for help, loudly as possible, and hear nothing. Why won't anybody answer me? Where am I?
"Hello?" I cry out in vain. I pray that somebody will hear me. Somebody has to. I have a loud voice.
"HELLO?" I screech even louder, trying to capture somebody's attention. Dear God, somebody please hear me!
I feel cold, sharp metal coiling around my throat. I stiffen and try not to cry but fail miserable. As I sob uncontrollably, I hear a deep, grunting laugh behind me. It sounds like the voice of a very large and terrifying man, one who has isolated himself from the rest of the world, one who craves things many would consider strange. Dear God, don't let it be him!
I continue to sob and even wince as the blade touches me, trying my best not to squirm. That will probably only make him attack. My voice quivers as I shakily speak the dreaded name.
"Freddy?" I whisper.
"How'd you guess?" he laughed in that low, grunting voice that scared me so horribly.
"Let me go," I plea. "I wanna live." I continue to sob. "I wanna live." I feel the blade on the opposite hand connect with the first, making me not dare to move even an inch. He didn't used to have two of those gloves.
"I wanted to live too, little boy," Freddy whispered into my ear. "But did I get to? No, I was punished for my crimes. And now you're all gonna be punished for yours. Merry Christmas. You've been a naughty boy this year…and Santa isn't happy about it."
I fail to scream as the blood quickly spurts from my throat when Freddy flicks both wrists.
…
"Darren?" the woman down-stairs called. "Are you up?"
She came to the bottom of the steps, pushing her brown hair out of her face as she called her son's name again.
"Darren? Are you up there?"
She began to walk up the stairs, wondering why her son would not answer her.
"Darren, are you ignoring me?" she asked as she opened his door.
She gasped as she saw him lying on his bed.
"What did you do to your shirt?" she questioned him.
His favorite black T-shirt now had the name "Skull-Crushers" spray painted in green across his chest.
"What?" he asked, looking annoyed.
His mother had been very against his Goth craze, but he had never really cared. It didn't stop him from painting his nails black, wearing eye-liner, or dying his hair jet black.
"That was one of your favorite shirts, and you wrecked it?" she questioned as she hung some new normal clothes in his closet.
"I didn't wreck it, I like it," he complained.
"I know you're a fan of that awful band, but couldn't you have just bought one of their shirts at the concert next weekend?"
"I will, but I wanted to make one of my own so that people would see a hard-core fan when they arrived. It's like Dad and Rush."
Darren's mother rolled her eyes. She hated Rush.
"Well, fine. Just don't wear it to school, okay?"
"Okay, I won't," Darren said aloud. Yes I will, he said in his mind.
As his mother exited the room, she smiled at her son.
"Goodnight, sweetie," she said.
"Don't call me that!" he shouted back.
"Sorry," his mother replied, smiling to herself and yet looking slightly disappointed. "But cheer up. The whole family's coming for Christmas this year. You'll get to see all your cousins."
"Great!" Darren muttered, sarcastically.
His mother once again looked upset as she closed the door.
What is going on with that boy? she thought to herself as she went downstairs to wait for her husband.
Darren closed his eyes and tried his best to fall asleep.
He decided to plunge his ear buds in, listening to Van Halen as loudly as he could, resting with his favorite pain in his ears from the noise. For some reason, the teen loved that feeling.
Soon, the music changed. It turned from one Van Halen song to a loud rock song that Darren didn't even remember downloading. It had the weirdest lyrics he had ever heard.
One, two. Freddy's coming for you!
It sounded like a punk rock girl singer was shouting the lyrics. He didn't really recognize her voice.
Three, four! Better lock your door!
Why? Who was Freddy? Was this another one of those many Halloween songs that were downloaded onto his iPod?
Five, six! Grab a crucifix!
Yeah right, like that would help anybody! Darren thought.
Seven, eight! Better stay up late!
Every night, Darren thought, smiling.
Nine, ten-
The song ended abruptly. Darren looked at his iPod and saw that it stayed on a black screen.
Dead battery, he thought.
Irritated, he plugged it into the charger, still thinking about the weird song that he had just listened to. When had he gotten it and why?
As he laid his head on the pillow, turning out his dim light, he suddenly got the feeling somebody was breathing on the back of his neck.
Startled, he got ready to turn around. Before he could, a deep, grunting, pained voice sung quietly behind him.
"Nine, ten. Never sleep again."
Darren turned around and screamed as he saw the figure lying next to him.
It was a tall man in a torn and frail looking red and dark green striped sweatshirt. His face was horribly burned, brown and ripped, his eyes sunken, his mouth hardly moving. There was a large gash in what was left of his left cheek and he wore a battered, old brown hat. He laughed at Darren's reaction.
"Nice to meet you, too," the man growled.
"MOM!" Darren screamed, flailing his arms and legs around before he fell off of his bed.
The man stood up and Darren saw that on his two blackened fleshed hands, he wore two brown gloves with knives on the top of all the fingers, besides the thumbs. The blades were long and sharp, making Darren quiver in fear.
"Mommy can't help you now!" the man shouted.
He leaned over and stroked Darren's face with the four blades on his right hand.
"NO! PLEASE, NO!"
"Don't you know that listening to rock music as you fall asleep gives you nightmares?" the man laughed.
"WHO ARE YOU?"
"The name's Freddy, Freddy Krueger."
The last thing Darren heard was a Van Halen song playing from somewhere as Freddy slashed his index finger across Darren's arm.
Awake!
Darren sat bolt upright, letting the earphones fall out of his ears as he shook, ready to vomit.
Had it been a dream? A nightmare?
Maybe this house was haunted after all. When Darren and his parents had moved to Elm Street, they had heard about all the kids that had been killed, and the two survivors at the very end. Nancy, the girl who had been one of them, had somehow witnessed her mother being murdered. All her father and the rest of the police had found had been a gigantic splash of blood all over the living room rug and on the large mirror.
Nancy had been in so much shock that she hadn't said anything for weeks and finally spoke when she saw her boyfriend, that it had been the old child killer, Freddy Krueger.
That couldn't have been true. Krueger had died in a fire years ago, but Darren had just dreamed of him! He had seen a very badly burnt man who had claimed his name was Freddy Krueger.
It couldn't be. Darren was just having nightmares because of what his mother had told him about the old murders and how they had never found the real killer, about how all of the kids (besides Nancy and her boyfriend, Quinton) in the preschool class, Freddy's old victims, were dead. They had been the only ones to survive his old reign of terror, and now the entire class had been killed by one maniac.
Means I'm not in any danger, Darren decided in his head. I was homeschooled until third grade.
He got up and changed into some sleep clothes, putting his ear phones back in and deciding that this whole Freddy Krueger thing was people's imaginations from old horror movies like "Stab" or "It".
I blame Wes Craven for that, Darren thought as he rolled over and tried dozing off.
At around one in the morning, Darren noticed that there was a slip of paper on his bedside table.
He picked it up and read it.
Say night, night to Marcus.
-Krueger
Darren dropped the note in shock.
Who had written that note and where had it come from? What did his friend Marcus have to do with anything?
Darren turned around to look outside his window, into the window of the house across from his. Marcus lived there.
If he squinted, Darren could make out the image of somebody tall standing in the dark window, staring back at him. Was it Marcus?
Curiosity got the better of Darren. He quickly pulled on socks and a shirt and quietly crept down-stairs.
His parents had both gone to bed. He could tell by the loud snoring coming from the master bedroom across from his room.
He grabbed his black sneakers and put them on.
Thank God we don't have an alarm, Darren thought as he opened the front door.
The night air was much chillier than he had expected and Darren wished that he had put on a coat before he left.
He hugged his arms tight to his chest and quickly sped over to Marcus's house.
Marcus was home alone, his parents gone for some reason. He would have the house to himself for a weekend. Darren knew he wouldn't mind if he popped in using the spare key.
Darren fumbled with the key in the cold for a minute, before slipping it into the hole and unlocking the door.
He slowly walked into the warm house, taking in a deep breath and holding it. The house was pitch black when he closed the door and it took him a moment to find the staircase. Darren had never liked creeping around in the dark.
He walked up the steps before trembling as he called, fairly quietly
"Marcus?"
There was no answer.
Darren swore under his breath, now seriously scared.
"Marcus? Dude, are you there?"
Still, silence.
Darren stamped his foot angrily before proceeding to his best friend's bedroom.
The door creaked loudly as Darren pushed it open.
"Marcus?"
He saw Marcus facing the window.
"Oh, thank God. Marcus!" Darren said. "I didn't mean to scare you, but I need to tell you something."
He noticed that Marcus hadn't moved even an inch.
"Dude? Are you asleep or something?"
Marcus seemed to be leaning on the window, his arms dead at his side.
Darren walked over to him.
"Marcus? Quite messing around you ass-,"
Darren gasped loudly as he touched Marcus on the shoulder and the other boy fell onto the floor. His eyes were wide and staring and there was blood all over his front. His throat had been cut wide open.
Darren screamed, running as fast as he could from the room and down the stairs.
He charged for the door, hysterical, and cried out again as he saw a tall man standing in the living room.
He yanked the door open and ran out into the night, screaming for help, yelling frantically about how Marcus was dead.
….
December 20th, 2012
It had been two weeks since Darren had found Marcus. His parents were now keeping a close eye on him, worried about the terrible effect this experience would have on him.
Darren usually kept himself shut up in his room. He hadn't even gone to the concert he had so been looking forward to.
Whenever he fell asleep, he saw Freddy. The terrifying man had even managed to leave a good sized cut on Darren's left arm that he had noticed when taking a shower. He knew now how those kids had all died. Even in death, Krueger still haunted them. After killing the majority of the class, he had returned to Elm Street to finish them off and had nearly been beaten by Nancy and Quinton. And now, Freddy was back.
That song had become stuck inside Darren's head ever since his first encounter with Krueger and no matter how many other songs he listened to as loudly as possible, he couldn't seem to get it out of his mind.
One, two! Freddy's coming for you!
Why? What had Darren and Marcus done to upset Krueger's ghost? The old victims had told their parents what Freddy had done, which had probably led to Freddy's death.
The fire at the old, abandoned warehouse hadn't been an accident. Freddy had been murdered. Most likely by the parents of those children.
Darren sat in his room one cold day, looking outside at the children running around in the snow. He knew that his Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, and cousins would all be arriving today. He hardly even seemed to care.
When they all arrived, they greeted him warmly but did not pester him, knowing what he had been through.
"The poor dear just lost his friend, Billy," Aunt Marian explained to her four year old son, Billy.
"Where did he go?" the child asked.
"He went to heaven, Billy. But Darren found him after…uh…after it had happened so please don't talk to him about it. He just needs time."
"Okay," the little boy said, understanding hardly any of it.
His two older cousins, Jake and Molly, both smiled at him. When they walked away, they looked at the door to Darren's room where they knew he was staying.
"You know, I'm sharing a room with the kid," Jake mentioned.
"He's only two years younger than us, Jake. Don't call him a kid," Molly replied.
Both were brother and sister and had always liked their three younger cousins. There was Darren, who was fourteen, Beth who was nine and little baby Billy, age four.
They were the only two in the group of cousins who were brother and sister and had always enjoyed trips like this because of that.
"Just keep an eye on him," Molly said to her twin, her long blonde hair hanging bellow her shoulders. "Aunt Judith says he's been having nightmares ever since it happened."
"Well, he is Goth. I'm surprised he isn't enjoying the- Ow! What was that for?" Jake protested as his sister punched him hard in the ribs.
"Don't be a dick about it, moron. He kind of looks up to you, so help him."
She turned on her heel and marched to the room she would be sharing with the other two cousins.
Jake rolled his eyes and smiled, entering Darren's room.
"Hey, cuz. You gonna come say hi to anyone?"
Darren glanced at his older cousin and muttered
"Hi."
Jake smirked and dropped his bag on the large air mattress lying next to Darren's bed.
"So, meet any cute girls at school this year?" Jakes inquired as he changed into his pajamas.
Darren didn't answer but instead simply shrugged.
"Any cute….er…boys?" said Jake, looking slightly concerned.
That got Darren's attention.
"WHAT?" Darren said with an annoyed, shocked face. "Do I seem like-,"
"I'm just kidding, Jake! Relax, you'll live long-," he stopped right there, knowing that death wasn't really the best thing to joke about at the moment.
After a short silence, Jake plopped onto Darren's bed, next to his younger cousin who scooted over, looking irked.
"So, how are you doing?" Jake asked, this time looking more serious. He took a hold of his cousin's wrist and examined his black painted finger nails. "I see you still have the whole Goth thing going."
"So?" Darren replied, pulling his wrist out of his cousin's grip.
"Nothing. I just never would have expected you to be that type judging from how you HATED that stuff when you were a little kid."
"Yeah, I know," muttered Darren. He looked out the window at the house across the street.
Jake followed his gaze.
"I know this might be a little hard for you to answer but…what made you want to go over there at one in the morning anyway?"
Darren said nothing for a moment and then Jake noticed that he was shaking.
"Darren?" he said.
"I…," Darren began. "I had a….a…well-,"
"A nightmare?" Jake finished.
"Well, yeah…but…it was different."
There was another pause before he sat up and looked at Jake seriously.
"Okay, you know the old horror stories about the murders here and about…,"
"Freddy Krueger? You mean the child murderer? Yeah, I remember," Jake answered, sitting back up. "Why?"
"I saw him," Darren whispered, looking truly terrified. It made Jake nervous. He had never seen his little cousin so scared.
"What do you mean? In your nightmare?"
"Yeah, except…somehow it just didn't feel like a nightmare. It felt so…real. I…I can't explain it too well, but…,"
"At least tell me what the sicko looked like," said Jake.
"Well…he was burned. Like, really badly burned. He looked dead. He was wearing some old, dirty black hat and a red and green striped sweatshirt."
Jake's eyes had widened when he heard the description. Suddenly, he too looked scared.
"And…wha…what else?"
"His hands, they both had weird gloves on. He had knives for fingers and he cut me with them."
Darren lifted up his sleeve so that Jake could examine the healing cut near his shoulder.
"Oh my God," Jake whispered.
Suddenly, he stood up.
"I…I have to go really quickly. Be right back."
Jake stepped out of the room, closed the door and quietly raced to his sister's guest room.
"Molly?" Jake said as he entered.
She was sitting on the bed, reading Twilight.
"What?" she asked, not looking up from her book.
"Darren's seen him too," Jake told her.
She put the book down and looked at her brother.
"What?"
"Darren just told me why he went over to check on his friend. He said that he had a nightmare. And then he told me who was in it. He described him."
Molly's eyes were wide.
"D…does he know who he is?"
"Yes," Jake started. "He's the old child murderer who was killed a bunch of years ago….Freddy…Freddy Krueger."
…
The three cousins hardly managed any sleep that night.
Darren had somehow managed to drift off, only to be quickly woken up by his protective older cousin.
"Don't!" Jake whispered urgently in the dark. "If you fall asleep, he can kill you. That's how your friend died and that's how all of the old victims died, too. In their sleep! So, stay awake."
The scared looking Darren had nodded and had moved closer to his cousin, who was holding him protectively.
"What are we gonna do?" Darren whispered.
There was a pause before Jake muttered
"I don't know."
…
The next morning was cloudy and very cold. Even underneath the large covers of his bed, Darren still shivered, trying to find a warm spot.
"Why is it so cold in here?" Jake questioned, quickly pulling on a sweater over his T-shirt. "I feel like I'm on a winter campout."
"Heat's broken," announced Darren's father during breakfast. "I'm getting a guy to come and fix it sometime this afternoon."
"Well, good," Aunt Margaret replied, hugging her arms. "I'm freezing."
"Then how about a good trip to the mall for some Christmas shopping?" Grandpa alleged. "I mean, it's very warm in those malls and we all need to get some presents, don't we?"
He smiled as Beth and Billy grinned at the prospect of presents.
"Well, then it's settled," Darren's mother decided. "We'll all go out for shopping."
"Even the cars will be warmer than this house," Uncle Jack, Aunt Marian's husband, reminded.
They all piled into separate cars, the three oldest kids taking Uncle Jack's.
"Not a scratch on it. Okay, Jake?" Jack warned.
"Don't worry, Uncle Jack," the tired looking teen said, taking the keys. "I'll be careful."
"Yeah, you'd better be. Especially since you look like you didn't get any sleep last night."
With that, he walked away to his brother's car.
Jake and Darren sat in the front seats with Molly in the back. They were all silent for a little while, sighing with ease as the heat warmed up the car. After another few minutes, Jake looked at his younger cousin and his twin sister.
"So, did either of you guys get any sleep last night?"
"No," the two of the answered back.
After another pause, Darren said
"Why do we all dream about the same man? What does Freddy Krueger have to do with us?"
"He wants something," Molly suggested. "I mean, a lot of spirits who can't make it to the afterlife stick around because they need to do some unfinished business."
"Sis, he just wants to terrorize a bunch of defenseless kids because he's a sick murderer who doesn't know when to stop," Jake retorted. "When he's done, then I'm sure he'll be sucked down into Hell."
"But, how do we protect ourselves?" Darren asked the older kid. "I mean, look what he did to Marcus. What if we're next?"
"We won't be!" Jake nearly shouted back. "All we have to do is not fall asleep."
"For how long?" Darren and Molly both asked at the same time.
"Until he leaves," Jake responded. "He can't hurt us outside of our dreams."
"But he may never leave. We all have to sleep sometime, it's impossible not to," Molly argued.
"Look, I don't know how to deal with this! Okay? I mean, Krueger's like some mix between ghost and demon! The only thing we can do is not sleep," Jake retaliated.
Darren stared out the frosty window.
"He said it was because we were naughty," said Darren. "He said that his Christmas, he was punishing all of the naughty kids."
"Well, he's one to talk," Jake muttered. "I mean, what have we done that's so bad?"
There was a silence before Darren said
"Marcus and I used to steal stuff from shops."
His older cousins looked at him before he defended himself with
"What? It was just a phase."
"We're usually picking on the teachers at school," Molly reminded her brother. "I mean, we're pretty disrespectful to them."
"Oh, I bet Coach Schneider would really be happy to see us being punished by some poltergeist that's stuck in our minds," Jake growled.
"Let's just not talk about it, okay?" Darren said. "The less we think about it, the weaker he'll probably be."
They looked at him again and he said
"Haven't you ever seenthe movie, It?"
They both shook their heads as Jake drove on.
…
The entire family walked in a group for a few minutes, giving instructions and phone numbers to each other. After that, they scattered all over the mall, trying to find gifts that were on sale.
Jake and Darren stayed together, looking at video games and trying to keep their minds off of Freddy. This was fairly difficult.
"You know, I already got you a present before we came," Jake mentioned.
Darren, realizing he hadn't gotten his cousin (any of them) a present, simply said
"Thanks."
"No problem, buddy," said Jake.
I need to get them all presents, Darren thought inside his head.
"Um, I'll be right back," he told his cousin, walking briskly out of the store.
Okay, he thought. A SpongeBob DVD for Billy, a girly book for Molly, another girly book for Beth, and a new football for Jake, since he lost his old one.
It seemed like a decent enough list and Darren knew the adults would understand that he didn't have the money to get all of them presents as well. He decided to look for the girly books first, as there was a Barnes and Nobles store right in front of him.
Darren walked inside and looked around at the bookshelves.
"A lot of books here," he murmured under his breath.
He walked through the store, looking around. He picked up a Stephen King book for Molly, knowing that a scary book was her favorite instead of a girly one. He knew that Beth's parents didn't want her reading the Twilight series, so he decided to keep looking.
As he was searching, he noticed a thick book that was titled The Woodsboro Murders. That was the book Gale Weathers had written about the strange murders that had taken place in the small town of Woodsboro. It had made headline news and had even spawned that slasher movie, Stab. Darren knew he did not have enough money to buy it, but he figured it was worth a read while he was in the shop.
Placing the other books aside, Darren sat down in the quiet shops and opened up the thick book.
He read for a while, enjoying the frightening moments the book described, before he suddenly began to drift off.
When he opened his eyes, the entire mall had completely changed. It was black and grey, looking like it had been destroyed by a terrible fire a while before, debris everywhere and rotting bodies that he even recognized lying all over the wrecked floors. He saw friends from school, their eyes wide open in shock with large cuts all over their bodies, as if they had been stabbed and sliced by razors. Then Darren gasped as he walked through the building. Each body had four slash marks. Each hand on their attacker had four knives attached to the fingers…The handwork of Freddy.
As he walked through the ruins, Darren began to shiver from the sudden cold. He looked around, frightened.
"JAKE?" he called, his voice echoing. The sound terrified him, listening to his cousin's name shouted over and over again.
The voice of the echoes began to change.
"Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake…."
Darren stiffened.
The voice was low and rough.
"Freddy?" he whispered under his breath.
As he backed up, he stopped abruptly, feeling the torso of a tall man wearing a thick sweater behind him.
"You called?" Krueger croaked.
Darren shrieked and began to run, not daring to look back.
More echoing voices rang through the mall.
"Why you screaming?" they called. "Why? Why? Why? I haven't even cut you yet! Cut you yet, cut you yet, cut you yet….."
"STOP!" Darren yelled, covering his ears with his hands. "LEAVE US ALONE!"
He tripped on something, smashing on the cold, hard floor.
He felt the gentle scratching of four blades stroking his back menacingly.
"I hope you didn't hurt yourself," Krueger said. "That's my job, kid."
"Please," Darren sobbed. "Please, I wanna wake up! I wanna go home! Why are you doing this?"
He began to bawl, large tears streaming from his eyeballs.
"Oh, don't cry, Goth boy, don't cry," Freddy whispered, smiling appallingly. His tone became aggressive. "I said don't cry you wimpy little Goth faggot!"
Darren winced in the middle of his sobs. He had never been able to take these things well, being yelled out. He had once had a babysitter who used to slap him whenever he'd cry. It had been a while before he had been brave enough to tell his parents.
"Now, you wanna find out what happened to make me like this?" Krueger growled.
"No, I-,"
"Well, here it is!"
He scraped the blades across Darren's back and a few cuts appeared in his back. He yelped in pain before screeching as the floor tiles below him crumbled and broke into pieces, falling straight through the floor. Darren fell through as well, heading straight for the burning hell below him, the flames ready to engulf him.
He screamed louder than he ever had before as he tumbled straight through the terrible heat.
He landed on a hard, metal floor. Looking around, he saw that he was in a steam plant. There were boiling hot pipes lining the walls and steam rising from engines.
"This is where it happened," said Freddy.
Darren looked around, seeing Freddy standing near him, looking around the building with an angry expression, menace in his voice.
"This…is where I died."
Darren was shaking again, staring up at the disfigured man.
Krueger looked down on him and began to walk toward him, quickly rubbing the blades of his middle and index finger on his right hand together and then adding to the noise with his left. The sound was bone chilling.
"And it's where you're gonna dye too," Krueger threatened.
"No, no. Please! I'll do anything else! Please!"
Krueger raised his right hand and brought it down to Darren's face. Inches before it touched, he stopped, Darren still sobbing fearfully.
"Unless…" Krueger began. "Unless you wanna make a deal."
Darren stopped crying and asked, shakily
"Wh…Wha….What d…deal?"
Krueger stood up straight and sneered, cruelly.
"I want you to work for me," Krueger explained, still smiling that frightening sneer. "What you're gonna do is you're gonna wake up and tell your cousins that you didn't dream about me at all. You had a nice little Goth kid dream and that was it. I don't exist anymore. I'm no danger. You'll lure them into a false sense of security. Then, I'll strike. But here's the good part; you get to live and never deal with the likes of me again. Even if someone like me bothers you, I'll kill them too. I'll not be your enemy; I'll be your ally."
Darren almost shook his head before Krueger swiped his right hand through the air again, causing Darren to wake up suddenly, still in the bookstore, still clutching an open copy of The Woodsboro Murders.
…
The drive home was awkward. All three of the teens seemed rather distant, none speaking all the way to the house. Finally, when they had pulled into the driveway behind the other cars, Darren muttered
"Did you enjoy the mall?"
Later, at dinner, they were all as quiet as ever while the rest of the family made the loud noise of mixed conversation.
When they had filled up on appetizers, Darren's father walked into the room, holding a very large plate with a thick turkey lying on top of it.
"It looks delicious, son," Grandpa said as the rest of the family clapped in admiration and excitement. Darren licked his lips hungrily.
After Darren's father had finished cutting the turkey and splitting it amongst the family, Billy receiving chicken nuggets from his mother on request, they all said grace.
"Dear heavenly father," Grandpa prayed aloud. "We thank you for this wonderful holiday that has let us all come together in my son's beautiful house-,"
As he prayed, Darren kept his eyes open. The thought of closing them for too long made him think he was going to fall asleep and Grandpa liked long prayers.
He looked over to watch the snowfall outside. As the flakes drifted gracefully to the ground, Darren saw a burned figure standing feet away from the window.
Darren looked at his older cousin and saw that he had his eyes closed. Before he could whisper a word of warning, he saw Freddy begin to tap on the glass with his index figure, loudly. Nobody noticed.
"Jake-," Darren began.
Freddy smashed his fingers through the glass and somehow managed to make the whole window break and crumple into a million shards. Freddy walked into the dining room, smiling as Darren began to yell for his family to snap out of it.
They seemed unable to hear anything besides Grandpa's constant prayer.
"And protect us from whatever evil stalks the night-,"
Suddenly, Billy's eyes shot wide open and he looked at Darren. The four year old began to sing.
"One, two, Freddy's coming for you-,"
"NO!" Darren screamed at Krueger. "YOU PROMISED!"
Krueger glared at him.
"This was a test," he growled.
He wrapped his arm around Grandpa and touched the blades to his heart.
"You failed," said Freddy.
Darren's eyes shot open as the adults began to yell and panic.
Grandpa was on the floor, twitching and panting in pain. Sweat poured down his wrinkled face.
"Oh, my God!" many shouted.
"George!" Grandma yelled in fear, trying to reach for her husband.
Jake grabbed the phone hurriedly and dialed 911 as the other adults tried to either assist Grandpa or move the little kids out into the hall so that they wouldn't have to see the scene.
Darren could have sworn he heard Freddy mutter
"You failed,"
…
He had failed. The test was to see whether or not Darren would try and alert his cousins to Freddy's presence. He had tried to tell Jake. Grandpa had paid for it.
In the hospital, Darren saw the terrible sight of his grandmother bursting into tears and hysterical sobs as she received the worst news possible from the solemn looking doctor.
Jake put an arm around his little cousin, tears appearing in his eyes.
"It was him, wasn't it?" Jake asked. "It was Freddy."
Darren knew he had already failed. So, he let himself nod.
"I saw him come in and screamed," Darren told him. "But none of you could hear me."
"How could he do this?" said Molly. "Why would he do this?"
"Because he thinks it's good sport," Jake grumbled. "But it doesn't matter….this ends tonight."
…
The three cousins all went to bed early that night. Nobody bothered them. The rest of the family sat around the house in silence, thinking about the tragedy they had witnessed.
At around midnight, Jake and Darren were both lying on Darren's bed, huddled close together as if for protection.
"Jake…," Darren whispered in the darkness. "What if we don't wake up?"
Jake put a comforting arm around his little cousin.
"We will, Darren," Jake assured. "Don't worry. We'll get him."
Darren nodded, allowing his eyes to finally close.
After what felt like a moment later, Darren opened them and sat up, scared. He looked around and found that he was in the same factory Krueger had died in. He stood and began to walk, cautiously, trying not to quiver from the anxiety that was threatening to engulf him.
He kept walking, turning corners and looking around whenever he thought he'd heard a noise.
Please let this work! He prayed.
"One, two, I'm coming for you," Freddy sung as Darren accidently walked straight into him.
Darren yelped but did not run, though it took all of his will.
"What's the matter?" Krueger jeered in his low, cruel voice. "Aren't you afraid?"
Darren did not respond but merely looked into Krueger's black, cold staring eyes.
"Well, maybe this'll scare you!"
Darren felt something brush up against his backside. He wheeled around to see his grandfather dangling but his neck on a rope. He was staring at Darren, trying to speak.
"No!" Darren cried.
He backed away and saw that Freddy was now standing next to Grandpa.
"Guess I get to relive it, huh?" Freddy laughed.
He drove his hand through Grandpa, the finger blades bursting through his chest.
Blood spurted everywhere and Darren ran for his life, screaming for Jake or Molly.
…
Molly sped through the factory, trying to find her younger cousin. She could hear him screaming.
"DARREN?" she called. "WHERE ARE YOU?"
"Not here!" Freddy shouted as he jumped from above, landing directly in front of Molly who glared at him.
"You bastard!" she screeched as she kicked and punched at Freddy, anger replacing her fear. Nobody messed with her family!
"Bitch!" Krueger yelled, picking her off the floor and tossing her through the air.
She landed on the couch of the family room in Darren's house. It was dark and nobody else was present.
"Darren? Jake?" she called.
Jake rounded the corner, making his sister scream with sudden fright.
"Oh, it's just you," she said, relieved.
"Where's Darren?" Jake asked, worried.
"Help!" they heard him yell, distantly.
The two tore up the steps, trying to find him.
"Darren?" Molly yelled.
"Buddy, where are you?" Jake shouted.
The burst through the door to Darren's room and saw him standing next to his bed, near the wall.
"Darren, thank God!" the both said, rushing toward him.
"NO!" Darren yelled.
Freddy leaped from under the bed, causing all three children to scream.
Jake grabbed Darren and wrestled him to the floor, out of harm's way as Molly picked up a pair of scissors from the table.
She opened them and ran at Freddy, screeching wildly.
She drove one of the blades up Freddy's left nostril, making him shout again.
He wrenched them out and threw them at a wall.
"My turn," he grumbled.
He stabbed with his right hand, causing Darren and Jake to yell.
Molly gasped when the blades went through her stomach. She gasped for breath but fell to the floor, blood seeping through her shirt.
"NO!" Jake shrieked with ferocity, tackling Krueger. They both landed on the bed. Freddy was stronger than Jake and he managed to throw the teen off of him and into the bedside table which broke under his weight.
Jake lay there, unconscious as Krueger advanced slowly on little Darren.
"Please," Darren sobbed. "Stop!"
Freddy raised his right hand.
"Now what's so fun about that?" he inquired.
Molly rolled off her bed, coughing and trying to scream as she clutched her bleeding belly. She grasped the door handle and pulled her bedroom door open, stumbling across the hallway.
She made her way toward Darren's room, tears spilling from her eyes from both pain and panic.
"Jake, Darren!" she croaked as she pushed the door open.
Jake was lying on near the bed, out cold, as Darren lay on the floor, sobbing and holding up his hand as if to protect from an invisible protector.
"You can't escape me," Krueger said to the child. "I'm too strong."
"WAKE UP!" Molly screamed as she shook her cousin.
Exactly when she grabbed Darren in reality, Krueger grabbed him in his world.
Molly's voice rang through the dream as if on an intercom and Darren's senses all awakened, ripping him away from his nightmares.
Molly was pushed off Darren as Krueger appeared, about to stab Darren.
"What the hell?" Krueger shouted, looking at Molly.
Darren rolled out from under him as Molly kicked Krueger in the balls.
He swore loudly in his pain and moved toward Molly.
"You're supposed to be dead," he snarled at her.
"Yeah," Jake muttered, standing and moving in front of his sister. "So are you, fucker!"
He charged and wrapped his arms around Freddy, moving towards the window.
Freddy shouted as they both smashed through the glass, falling down to the hard ground.
"JAKE!" Molly and Darren bawled, running to the destroyed window.
On the ground lay the body of Freddy, Jake lying on top of him.
The two cousins ran as fast as they could out of the house, ignoring the two adults that had appeared near them, wondering what was going on.
They all ran to see the two bodies, the children sobbing uncontrollably.
"Jake, please, please don't do this!" Darren bawled as he shook his cousin.
Jake didn't move and the adults screamed.
"Go and get Frank!" one yelled.
Darren did not care about his aunt or uncle that were now running to fetch Jake's parents or his. All he could do was let the tears fall as he slowly shook his cousin.
"Jake," he muttered as Molly cried hard. "Come on. Quit messing around. You've always been there for me. You weren't just my cousin…you were my big brother."
Cough!
The sound came from Jake. He coughed again and his eyes fluttered open. As the adults came running out of the house, Molly and Darren both pulled Jake off of the dead Krueger, both crying this time with joy.
"Did we get him?" Jake asked, disoriented.
…
Police, paramedics, and reporters overflowed the yard as Krueger's body was carried away. Molly was tended to by paramedics as the police and family adults were told the whole story. The fake story, anyway.
A badly burned, crazed man had somehow got into the house and had attacked the children. The kids had fought back and Jake had tumbled out of the window with him.
"You were lucky to survive that fall," and officer said. "I'm impressed."
The family cried and embraced their children and Darren managed to sleep peacefully that night.
January 1st, 2013
Darren stepped out of the shower. Wrapping a towel around himself, he began brushing his teeth, getting ready for bed.
He muttered a swear word under his breath as he dropped the brush on the floor.
He bent over to pick it up and stood to see a figure in the mirror, standing behind him.
"Happy nightmare," Freddy said, driving his blades straight through Darren's chest.
CHAPTER TWO (STORY NUMBER TWO) COMING SOON