Chapter Two
With her scream still echoing all over the stair well, Nancy Thompson turned and ran. Two stairs at a time she sped, down, down, down. The manic cackling accompanied with heavy foot falls indicating that 'Jim' wasn't far behind her. On the second last stair Nancy's footing went beneath her and she pitched forward, arms raised to protect her face and head from impact with the tiled landing.
Her surprise at landing on a concrete pavement strewn with glass dulled the pain from the small lacerations in her arms and hands. Shakily she got to her feet, checking from left to right. No stairwell, and no 'Jim'.
Only herself, standing outside the 'Fedora' Bar.
Sirens echoed in the distance, creating a lull in the eerie silence. Then, the all too familiar SCREEEEEE! of steel being dragged down over metal, sending the hairs on the back of Nancy's neck bolt upright. Not again! Her head whipped back to the right and she gasped in surprise at the young woman lying prone on the pavement.
It was herself. Knocked out cold and surrounded by debries from the bar fight.
Unconcious and without Hypnocil.
'Oh God...' She whimpered softly.
'Nancy!'
A familiar male voice from behind the bar door called out, jolting her from her trance like state. Nancy stared at the oak panelled wood before stepping over the unconcious Nancy who lay on the sidewalk and pushed the heavy door to one side, 'Daddy?'
The bar was empty. Or so it seemed.
As Nancy stepped onto the green floor tiles, all the stove burners in the back kitchen flared up creating a hellish orange glow on the walls surrounding her. A high pitched squeal rang through the room, then a cracking noise from the shelves over the bar caused Nancy to duck as all the bottles lined there shattered, creating a large shower of razor sharp glass.
Rising to her feet, Nancy called out, 'Hello?'.
Nothing.
The jukebox in the corner blared to life and the tune of 'Mr Sandman' rang out.
'Always been one of my favourites!"
Nancy didn't have to turn round to know who had spoken. She knew when she did she would be looking into the eyes of the man who had destroyed her childhood, her teenage years, her family and her life. The man who had just made an unwelcome return to her life.
Freddy Krueger.
The squeak of the beer tap being pulled made her spin on her heel.
And there he was. Standing behind the bar dressed in a white shirt, black trousers and a black PVC apron. There was no hat on his hideously scarred head this time and, of course, there was the ever present leather glove on his right hand. He was glaring at Nancy with a mixture of leering and pure hatred, his milky blue eyes glowed with the renewed hope of slaying Nancy Thompson once and for all.
Freddy didn't like it when one of his children misbehaved. Not. At. All.
A sickening crimson liquid ran from the tap, flowing into the glass Freddy grasped in his left hand. To Nancy's horror, chunks of flesh and sinew spilled into the already full glass, causing the blood the spill out onto the floor.
It pooled out from under the bar, covering the tiles. The liquid moved quickly and as it reached the surrounding tables and chairs, Nancy watched as the furniture began to sink into the red mush as if it were quick sand. Now it covered almost half the floor, pulling in anything it came into contact with.
'Hey Nancy,' Freddy spat out, 'how 'bout a drink, for old times sake?'
She faced him once again and dry heaved. Behind the bar Freddy held the rotting corpse of Marge Thompson up as if it were a ventriloquists dummy. His hand grasped the thinning hair of the cadaver causing the scalp to come away from the skull, the eye sockets empty but somehow staring, and the skin hanging loose of the bones.
'Never could handle your drink, could ya Margie?' Freddy cackled as he tossed the corpse over the bar and into the ever growing crimson puddle.
Nancy roared with rage and made to lunge over the large pool of blood to grab the cackling maniac behind the bar. To her surprise a hand shot out of the puddle, then another, and another.
Arms, then heads emerged causing her to scream once again. Her dead friends, Tina, Rod and Glen, all grabbing at her with their bony fingers, gripping into her flesh like iron. Their eye sockets also empty and glaring, accusing her, your fault. They pulled her in with them, down into the endless hell they were now forced to endure. Soon she would become one of them.
As she screamed again her mouth began to fill with the foul liquid and she was dragged deeper in. Thrashing against the hands that restrained her, trying desperately to keep her head from going under. Their voices around her growing louder, hissing, 'Nancy...come with us...Nancy...we're his children now...one, two, Freddy's coming for you...'
Out of the corner of her eye Nancy could see dirty black work boots coming closer, then, as he squatted into her view, she found herself face to face with Freddy Krueger.
'Well now, little Nancy, been a very naughty girl havent we?', he reached over and grabbed a handful of her thick, brown hair. With his free, gloved hand, he ran one of his blades down her cheek, 'I don't like it when my children misbehave, naughty children must take their medicine.'
Nancy jerked violently as Krueger began to slap her across the face, hard and without remorse. Her head snapped back and felt it would roll straight off her shoulders if he did not stop. Like he was going to? She tried to raise her hands to grab the hand that slapped her but could not break the iron hold. Suddenly a blinding light seemed to rip through the dreamscape, tearing the delicate fabric of the dream causing Krueger to howl in frustration.
XXX
'Nancy, Nancy!'
Then she was in a white room, in a crisp white bed, hooked up to a beeping monitor.
Hospital.
James.
Nancy was horrified to find herself struggling against restraints. Oh God, had they taken her back to Westin Hills?
Soothing hands on her forehead and through her hair, calming words coming thick and fast. Ok, it was ok. She was in the local hospital, found unconcious. Restrained due to a partucularly violent reaction to REM sleep, for her own saftey.
Alive. Safe. Well.
Thank God.
Thank God.
XXX
So the Cat in the Fedora Hat is back! How will Nancy deal with this new blow... will she hide behind the Hypnocil or come out swinging? Hey, we all no what happens at the end of NOES3, but let Nancy get a few punches in at least :))
Thanks for reading...now review! xx
