Intro:

This should be the only Author's note in the story, unless I've got extra information to share.

Anywho, this is the first chapter of my new story for A Nightmare on Elms Street. It is based on the 2010 version, so if you haven't seen that version I wouldn't recommend reading this as it does contain spoilers for the movie.

I'm only posting this chapter just now, and won't update until I'm finished with my Alice in Wonderland story "Rabbit Heart". This is purely because I want to have that finished before I start a new project. That way I'll have a finished story instead of two unfinished ones.

Please feel free to leave any constructive criticism on it about the story itself, grammar, spelling, if you generally think it sucks? Kidding, but really, I would appreciate helpful and kind words.

I hope you enjoy the story.

Thank you

i-am-walrus

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I am a tale in children's minds. I keep their secrets and share them inside. I blur their thoughts into fantasies kept like a canvas of art or a submarine depth. Though an illusion, it occurs every night; I give them a fantasy, I give them a fright. Nor good or bad, but always nigh? It's interesting to tell. What am I?

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The terror that grasped the small town of Springwood in the year 2011 did not start through mere coincidence.

It started – or as some will say continued- as far as I know or can tell, with a purple tricycle.

It squeaked its way down the main road in Springwood, heading for the bright lights and the joyful screams of teenagers. Young children in ridiculous costumes ran by it, not considering the fact that it moved by itself. Just another Halloween trick, nothing more.

It headed down to the bottom of the road, towards the street lights on 3rd. The drivers watched in amusement as the trike passed them, each wondering how the trick was done yet not questioning its brilliance. The front wheel was wonky, wobbling with each turn, the purple and white tassels blowing in the wind as it bobbed up and done on the rugged path towards the Carnival.

Meanwhile, a teenage girl in a yellow coat and red scarf frantically peered through the fogged up window of the broken down haunted house ride, the guard she'd alerted close behind her.

"I told you." She repeated, cupping her hands over her eyes to block out the light of the guard's torch. "It took my friends."

"What took your friends?"

"I don't know. A-a clown I think." The security guard glanced at the young girl from her corner of his eyes, scratching his head with his flashlight.

There were always crazies at this time of year, the ones who think all the attractions and actors where actually real and out to get them. The Springwood Carnival was renowned during Halloween, the main attraction for the teenage population. Also the main attraction for trouble.

If he had a nickel for every time someone had gone up to him saying their friends had gone 'missing' he'd be a millionaire by now. He didn't know what it was about Halloween that got the kids so worked up, the anticipation maybe, the fact that these kids wanted to be scared. All he did know was that it seemed like there was something in the air, these kids were too damn freaked out for normal teenagers. What happened to the typical immortal teenage thought process that existed in his time? That had all but died out, and replaced with these paranoid idiots that wasted his time.

"A clown? We are at a Carnival miss. And it is Halloween." He replied as she paced from side to side, looking around wildly. She was a pretty girl, black hair, tanned, leggy.

Ruined by the fact she was a basket case.

"You don't get it!" she shouted back, pulling at her black pony tail. "I saw what happened. They took them!" The guard turned to her again, his flashlight blinding her. He'd done that several times since she'd gone to him; it would go in order of a condescending look, blinding her with the light then turning away with the shake of his head. And to think she thought he was cute at first.

"A clown?" he asked again.

"Yes you idiot!"

"No need to take that tone with me!" both of them glared at each other, the girl turning away first.

Shaking her head she started shouting.

"Chrissie! Teddy! Can you hear me?"

"Calm down miss." The guard turned to the girl. "Look, they're probably just playing a prank on you. It is Halloween after all. Everyone's entitled to at least one good scare." Shaking her head the girl walked further on yet still staying close to the guard.

The putrid stench of mould and piss swirled in the air around her, so thick it made her feel dirty just by walking through it. It was a well known fact that this side of the carnival had been a base for the homeless of the town for years, before the carnival was bought over and they were kicked out. Yet there was still evidence of them having lived there. The pictures of clowns that resembled the Joker on a bad day where washed out and peeling off the poster boards and rides, some of them ripped off to be used to light fires. Dark fabric covered the broken rides that had yet to be replaced, the shapes casting monstrous shadows onto the ground that was carpeted in litter.

Suddenly, the guard spoke. "Anyway, there's nothing here." Spinning his torch, he started heading back towards his post.

"You can't just leave them!" she shouted, expected a reply but instead she got nothing. Instead, rapping noises replied. But they sounded wrong somehow. Muffled.

It wasn't rapping, but squeaking, like from a rusty wheel. And that's what it was, a rusty wheel on a tricycle, like the one she used to own when she was little.

That was because it was the one she used own when she was little, it even had the purple and white tassels on the handles, and her initials carved onto the body. N.C. For Nina Carrel.

"What on-?"

The laughter came from behind, from a little girl to be exact, with blonde hair much like how Nina's used to be.

Wait...is that a jack in the box?

The little smiled at her as the jack in the box music played, sounding like a broken and twisted version of pop goes the weasel, skipping up to her in time to the music. The girl skipped happily, singing along with the music as she went in circles around Nina.

"Run, run as fast as you can." The girl whispered as she got up close to her. She leaned in close, her eyes wide, yet the fear quickly dispersed as she skipped around to sing behind her. She felt the little girl's hand on her arm, the coldness of her skin hitting her even through her thick coat. It was as if the girl had just spent hours out in the cold, sending goosebumps up her arm.

Pulling away, she bolted back towards the guard post, but was stopped as the gate caved in on itself, leaving her trapped. She held in a scream and the little girl appeared beside her. The girl raised a finger, and beckoned her closer, her eyes large and innocent. With no other option, the young woman leaned down, moving her hair out the way. Softly, the little girl whispered.

"Here comes the dream man." The woman frowned at the little girl who just smiled sweetly, before skipping away, still singing along to the jack in the box.

Even as the girl left, the music that had come with her continued as Nina's breathing increased rapidly, her chest in physical pain with the pressure. She could feel the tears well up in her eyes but she wouldn't let them fall.

"Okay now guys!" she shouted, taking cautious steps away from the fence. "You've freaked me out. You can stop now."

"Why would I do that?" she screamed at the sound of the rough voice, something she'd only heard in a heavy smoker. Her scream racked through her body; causing her to jump up and turn to face the culprit, yet still she covered her mouth in an attempt to stop herself. The man was burnt, that was all that registered as she backed away, quivering in fear, the tears now flowing freely. If she'd been an adult she would have realised that what she was seeing was impossible. Something that could only been real in made up stories, like the bed time stories about the boogie man that would come can get you if you didn't go to sleep, or movies where you expected a teenager to be brutally killed.

But she wasn't an adult, she was sixteen and she was scared.

His right hand shone in the dull light as it hit the blades he had for fingers. Chuckling darkly, he flicked his claws together in excitement. Nina whimpered as she tried to crawl away, only causing some of the debris from the collapsed gate to fall around her feet.

Slowly he raised his gloved hand.

"I'm just getting started."

Several houses away, Nancy Holbrook woke to screaming.

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A Dream.