Alice tried to live in the moment for Jacob's sake. She was thankful for the day off, but it was anything but restful. Yes, it gave her the chance to sleep in some. But there was the agonizing headache from last night's events. Plus, she would've spent the entire day at the hospital avoiding Hal.

She didn't want to cancel the afternoon's plans even though she wasn't feeling that well. Jacob had been looking forward to the film festival, and Alice didn't have the heart to disappoint him.

Nancy Thompson's words echoed in her head: "He began killing again when you left Springwood." Call it pride, but Alice wasn't exactly forthcoming as she stood before everyone. She didn't want to tell them what she had done as the Dream Master. Besides, given their success rate, Alice wasn't about to take any chances. If something should happen, Alice would deal with it in her own way.

For the last twenty years, she was watching Springwood. There were a few events that caught Alice's attention.

-Nate Harper, a teenage boy, went missing. His corpse was found weeks later with puncture wounds all over his body. He was discovered on the city limits, but there were no witnesses.

-More so, the skeletal remains of two people were found inside Nancy's former house at 1428 Elm Street when the new owners were doing renovations. They were identified as the bodies of Carlos Rodriguez and Spencer Lewis, who were last seen at a youth shelter in Athens. Based on the testing, they must've died around the same time that Nate was found. They were deemed as break-ins, though Alice wondered how much they knew about Freddy and the house's history.

-A few years later, there was the murder of Eva Campbell at 1428 Elm Street. The perpetrator was never found, though the husband was initially a suspect because there were no signs of a break-in (nor any property stolen). Their daughter Lori, who was also at the house at the time of the murder, served as his alibi.

-Then, more years later, there was the series of murders committed by another serial killer—Jason Voorhees. So, Springwood briefly had another well-known slaughterer in its midst; that is, until Jason was transported back to Crystal Lake thanks to the brave efforts of Lori Campbell and Will Rollins. Their friends were found murdered, unfortunately, by Jason. Lori and Will gave few details about their ordeal.

Alice pondered the odds of Jason having targeted Springwood, especially given that Crystal Lake is two states away. But since there didn't seem to be any connection between Jason and Freddy, Alice had no choice but to wave the matter as a coincidence.

Jacob had no idea of the lengths that Alice went to protect him. She didn't even mention last night for fear that it would encourage him to explore the dream world without her. She would tell him in time, but for now Alice gave her son a warm smile. Alice downed some more aspirin and munched on the popcorn. She skipped breakfast, so the cinema junk food was her only sustenance.

She felt so exhausted. "I don't want to watch…you just know that monster's gonna get them," said Alice as an excuse to close her eyes for just a moment.

"Sssshhhh…come on mom, you're ruining the movie," said Jacob.

Alice opened her eyes again, and tried to concentrate on the screen. Then, it happened without warning.

"I've seen this flick before. How about we swap some spit in the back row little 'Dream Master'?"

Freddy Krueger was on the movie screen. He roared with laughter as he extended his finger knives towards her.

"Ahhhh! Jacob, oh god, he's back! Freddy's back!" screamed Alice, as she dropped her popcorn.

She touched Jacob to catapult him into the waking world. Alice was glad to see him disappearing. This isn't your fight.

Alice composed herself. You're not that shy little girl anymore, remember? She locked eyes with Freddy as he floated out of the movie screen.

"Why did you leave Springwood, Alice?" asked Freddy. "We were just getting to know each other."

Springwood? Alice was flooded with the memories and she was majorly pissed off.

"Look at you, playing the coquette. Pretending that you didn't kill everybody that I loved just so you can make the town your personal hell," responded Alice in a simmering tone.

She could feel herself transforming into her younger self—just as she did last night with Nancy and the others.

"Well, you left me a nice pen…I murdered all the children while you squealed off like a little piggy," said Freddy.

"Not quite," said Alice, "You invaded my dreams. So, I returned the favor."

Freddy tilted his head as he placed one of his finger knives to his temple.

"You never figured it out, did you?" asked Alice, as she floated in the air to be parallel to him. "You thought you had free reign, but it was all just a lie. Come on, Krueger…you're nothing but a predator. So, I made you waste years thinking you killed everyone while Springwood carried on and forgot about you."

"You couldn't have…" said Freddy, "I came back after getting away from that bitch mother of mine."

"I always figured you would come back. So, I had a contingency plan. I had you under my finger like the bastard you are," said Alice.

"You couldn't have done all of that. I'm more powerful than you! Nobody controls me!" yelled Freddy.

"I already did motherfucker!" yelled Alice back, motioning her fingers like a puppeteer.

"Bitch!" Freddy lunged forward and buried his blades in Alice's stomach. He winced in pain as four gashes appeared on his torso.

"Is something wrong?" asked Alice.

Freddy roared with anger and brought his blades down on Alice's left cheek. His own face exploded in green blood.

"You just never learn, do you?" said Alice, as she gave a high kick to Freddy's face.

"I don't fear you anymore!" Alice screamed, as she raised up the theater seats and hurled them at Freddy's torso.

"You can't hurt me in the dream world because I'm the fucking Dream Master!" yelled Alice, as she ripped Freddy's head off.

Freddy's scattered body parts twitched. Then, they reassembled.

"I love the passion. But make no mistake…I'll make you fear me again, bitch. I broke through to somebody despite what you did. And I got myself out of Springwood, didn't I?" said Freddy, as he readjusted his head on his shoulders.

Alice leered at Freddy. "You think you got what it takes, bastard? I've shut the gates on you before. Just watch, I'm going to do it again."

"Oh, are you, Alice? Well, I think you got too comfortable on the job. Because you know that it only takes one person to fear me and the rest is history," said Freddy.

"I know how it goes. So, I guess this is the start of the third round," said Alice.

"And you know I'm going to make it special just for you…just like I did with that other whore," retorted Freddy, "And of course, I'll make it special for Jacob. Give him my regards, by the way."

"Yeah, Jacob says 'Go fuck yourself,'" responded Alice, "I guess he takes from me."

"We'll see how much he takes from you once I get my hands on him," said Freddy, as he disappeared into the movie screen, "You know it's just a matter of time. Mommy can't protect him forever."

His voice rumbled throughout the theater. The screen flashed a blinding white and jolted Alice awake.

"Mom, are you okay?" asked a concerned Jacob. He was surrounded by the other moviegoers that were sitting in the same row.

"I'm okay...I'm okay," Alice repeated with emphasis to get rid of the audience.

"How long was I out?" asked Alice, as Jacob helped her walk out of the movie theater. The sunlight felt just as harsh as the light in her dream.

"Only about a minute. What happened? Why did Freddy appear on the movie screen?" asked Jacob.

"So, you did see him. I must've dozed off for a moment and I pulled you in. I had to get you out before he tried to hurt you," said Alice.

"You should've let me help you," said Jacob, as he motioned Alice towards a bench. "You've taught me how to master dreams. We might've combined our abilities to fight him."

"No, Jacob, you're not ready. Besides, I've been out of practice so long that I pulled you in. I thought I was experienced enough never to do that again. I don't think I had enough of a handle because of last night, and I'm depleted," said Alice.

"What happened last night?" asked a concerned Jacob.

"I got visited by my old friend Kristen, along with Nancy Thompson and the other kids that Freddy murdered way back before you were born," said Alice, "They were trying to warn me that he was back. I trusted my skills so much that I didn't really believe them."

"Mom, you can't keep that kind of stuff from me. We're a team, remember? If Freddy's return caught the attention of the people from your past, that means that you can't do it alone," said Jacob.

"No, this is my fight. It's always been my fight. He used you to get to me. I won't let that happen again. I refuse to let him manipulate me into getting you," replied Alice.

"You're going to kill me, but I called that lady Maggie Burroughs. She's getting the survivors together—the ones that Freddy and Jason Voorhees didn't kill," said Jacob. "I know you'd be mad, but I thought it'd be worth knowing who she was. If she turned out to be a whack job, I would've just thrown out her message. But…I talked to her…and what she said made sense."

"Well, I know now that there were other survivors, so I can't be that mad," said Alice. "But still, I don't know how they can help us. I've kept him away this long, and they might jeopardize everything."

"Can we just at least give Maggie and the others a chance?" asked Jacob. "If it's too much, we can just leave and find another way."

Alice wrestled with the thought.

"What if they know something that we don't know?" asked Jacob.

Her son had a point. Alice could feel the sickness coursing through her body, and she hoped that her display kept Freddy at bay…at least enough for him not to home in on Jacob. There might be strength in numbers, especially if the other survivors might be able to protect Jacob if something went wrong. Alice had to give it a chance.