Chapter 3: You must be Dreaming

Dani flipped the page of her calendar. A large, grinning jack-o-lantern stared back at her. It was October already. It seemed hard to believe they'd been living in Springwood for five months now. She was promised the longer they stayed there, the happier she'd be. So far, this wasn't true. She frowned at the picture on her wall. The pumpkin seemed to be mocking her, laughing at her inability to find happiness. Dani slammed her fist over its face. What new hell would this month bring? In addition to these stupid nightmares, the kids in her class would surely find new opportunities to ridicule her. October brought Halloween. Halloween brought parties and pranks and fear. Surely the constant worry of monsters and ghouls wouldn't help her REM cycle. "Dan?" A familiar voice called for her from the foot of the stairs. She couldn't help but grin. "C'mon up, Chris!" she shouted, pulling the door open to allow him to enter.

Of the entire population of Springwood High, Danielle Peirce had but one friend - Christian Perez. He was an average kid who got average grades and hung out with the comic book after school. To people like Brett and Allison, he was a social outcast like Dani. This is what happened to push them together, in fact, during the first week of summer. Christian was the only kid on the block to attempt to try and mentally prepare her for school in September. They were the only thing the other one had. This constant interaction brought them closer together. Dani found it astounding that a relationship could grow so strong in such a short amount of time. He knew nearly everything about her: her favourite foods, her favourite colour, her birthday, her best subject in school - all the little pointless bit of information you gather after really getting to know someone. More importantly, however, he was the only one, besides Jack and Lillian, that knew about her reoccurring nightmare and tonight he had agreed to stay over and keep her company - perhaps having someone else there would ease her brain and she'd be able to get a good night's sleep.

"You know your mom is making cookies shaped like pumpkins downstairs?" Christian asked as he walked into the room, carefully stepping over a pile of clothing located directly in front of the door. "They're ginger. They have spice filling." He grinned sheepishly at her and she giggled.

"You can have the whole tray when they're finished, I promise," she said sarcastically. Christian soon gave up on stepping over the piles of junk on the floor and decided to launch himself onto the bed with Dani.

"So, you want me to stay with you because of this nightmare?" he asked, finding a magazine on the bedside table and flipping through its pages.

"If it's alright with you," she replied, twisting her sheets around her fingers. "I thought maybe if I had company then I could sleep better. I'll just take a little cat nap. That should get me through to the weekend I think. Then maybe the pressure from school can go away and I can get some real sleep." Christian laughed, tossing the magazine to the floor and reaching for the tv remote.

"No prob," he said flipping the tv on. "I'll just watch some tv and you can take your nap, though I'm not sure this is the healthiest thing in the world." He frowned at the cooking show on the screen and changed the channel until he landed on some old looking horror movie from the fifties. Dani shifted positions so that she was hugging her pillow close to her chest.

"I know it's not healthy," she mumbled into her pillow. "But these stupid dreams are giving me the creeps. I always think something is going to pop out at me in the dark or something, you know?"

"Yeah."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Dani began to get steadily sleepier as the sound of corny screams echoed from the tv. The sound began to seem so distant, but she was yanked back into reality when Christian spoke.

"You know, I was giving it a lot of thought," he said tapping his fingers on the remote. The slight movement immediately reminded her of Freddy's claw, but she pushed the idea out of her head. "Why don't you try to get rid of whatever's in your dreams?" She still hadn't told him about Freddy. She couldn't bring herself to talk about him out in the open. Somehow, she thought, it might bring him to life, out into the real world. "If you try to imagine the scary thing as something funny it might go away. Or...or I saw this documentary once, on the REM cycle and dreams and shit, and it said that nightmares are related to stress and things that frighten you when you are awake. Maybe you can find whatever's bothering you in your life and-"

"But that's just the thing," Dani interrupted with a yawn. "I've never seen this gu- thing before. It just came out of nowhere."

"Hmm..." Christian stroked his invisible beard. "Perhaps you should try facing it though. Tell it it's not real." Dani grumbled in discontent.

"I tried that..." she muttered with a frown.

"Well try again! You know it's not real. Whatever's causing will eventually fix itself. I'm sure it's just the pressure from school or something." He brushed her short, strawberry blonde hair from her face. "Get some sleep before you drive yourself crazy," he said with a smile. "When you don't sleep, your body poisons itself, and I wouldn't mind keeping my friend, thank you." Dani giggled quietly and shut her eyes. Christian would wake her up if she looked like she was having a nightmare. She was safe here with him.

A second later, she heard a noise in the distance. A screeching coming from the tv. She opened her eyes and gasped aloud. She was in the boiler room again. Abruptly, she sat up, ready for the worst. Had she even fallen asleep? So quickly? Another loud screech told her yes, she had fallen asleep. She hopped out of the bed and stood with her back to the wall, surveying all other parts of the room. "Where are you, Freddy?" she muttered to herself.

"Right here," a voice said so low and close she could feel his breath on her ear.

"Shit."