Luan Loud was afraid. Sitting on her bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, she watched as the walls around her slowly changed, going from solid white to red, then to red with green stripes. He's back, she thought, but didn't know who 'he' was, though she was sure that she should.

The floor went from solid to spongey, then from spongey to liquid. She leaned over, and watched it went from water to blood, and began to bubble. She gasped.

"Talk about a sticky situation!"

She looked up. Her ventriloquist's dummy was sitting on her dresser, a horrible smile on his painted face. As she watched in horror, it blinked and shook its head. "Boy, is my neck stiff, get it?"

It's just a dream. That's all. Just a dream.

She closed her eyes, but she could still see. The dummy hopped off of the dresser and landed on the floor as though it were solid. Giggling to itself, it crossed the gap to the bed and climbed up. Luan was so scared that she couldn't move, couldn't scream.

The dummy stood at the bottom of the bed now. Whereas before it had been wearing a suit and bow tie, it was now wearing a red and green striped sweater and a dirty fedora. In that instant, Luan recognized him.

"That's right, Luan," the dummy said it toddled forward and raised its right hand. Its fingers were long and blade-like. "It's me, the man of your dreams...get it?" Its voice was deep, dark. Its face was now scarred and scorched.

The dummy came closer, and Luan's muscles unlocked. Screaming, she jumped off the bed and splashed into the bloody morass. In an instant, she was at the dining room table, surrounded by her family. Before her lie a buffet of food.

Her heart was racing. Was she awake?

Her siblings laughed and talked as though nothing were the matter. As soon as she began to let herself hope, dad turned to her, his face horribly burned, and said, "Are you hungry?"

Suddenly the table was crawling with spiders and millipedes. Luan screamed and tried to stand, but couldn't: A dark, unseen force held her in place.

Dad got up and came toward her. By the time he reached her, he had totally changed. Now he was the burned man: Freddy Krueger. His lips were drawn back over his crooked yellow teeth. On his right hand, he wore a glove with long knives attached to each of the fingers.

"Well isn't this nice?" Freddy asked, looking around the table. Her siblings ignored her. It was like they didn't even see her. "A family dinner."

Freddy leaned in and trailed one of the blades down the side of Luan's face. She winced.

"And guess what's on the menu?"

Before Luan could react, Freddy plunged his claws into her chest and ripped her heart out. Then he held it up so that she could see it. It was still beating.

Luan screamed then, and Freddy shoved it into her mouth.

"Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'eat your heart out'...get it?"

In the dream, Luan suffocated on her own heart. In reality, she sat up, let out a long, blood-curdling scream, and then flopped limply down, dead.