I don't own Nightmare on Elm Street or any of its characters...
A Nightmare on Elm Street: Resurrection
Chapter Three: First Night Home
When Jack began his journey home it was dark. He reached Elm Street just as the sun went down. Before reaching his house he noticed that the old man directly across the street was staring at him from his porch where he had been shoveling snow off the step.
"Is it you?" he asked Jack.
"What?" Jack replied utterly confused.
"Are you back again?"
"I've never been here before today."
"You comin from that factory? That boiler room?"
"Maybe...Why?"
"It is you! You bastard!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Don't lie! You're that bastard son of a hundred maniacs! I helped burn you so you killed my boy! You killed my Glenn!" At this point the man was shouting. Several people on the street came out to their porches to see what the fuss was about. Kathy went out to the porch as well. An elderly woman who must have been the shouting man's wife was trying to coax him to go back into the house.
"No! Don't you see it! It's him! He's back!"
"Honey, he's dead. Long gone. That-"
"Why can't you tell?" the man pushed his wife aside and walked out to the sidewalk. He faced all the men and women that had gathered on their porches. Most of them young. Childrem of earlier generations or new to town. The man continued his rant though this time addressing the people on their porches.
"Folks listen to me! Hide your kids! Don't let him get near 'em! That man is a monster! He won't die!"
At this point a man in uniform from the other block reached the ranting man.
"It's time to go inside!" the officer shouted.
"No! These people need to know!"
The officer leaned towards the man and whispered something.
"The fear will be spread worse if they don't know who he is!" shouted the man.
"Please don't make me arrest you."
The man stood for a moment. Thinking about the officer's threat.
"Fine. I'll go back inside. When the kids 'round here start disappearing or dying in their sleep you'll know I'm not crazy!"
That was the man's last words for the night as he headed back into his house. Slamming the door behind him.
"You'll have to forgive him. He's having a bad night with his memory problems. Go on back into your homes. Don't let what he said frighten you. The man doesn't know what he's talking about."
The officer finished with a pathetic attempt at a smile and people shuffled back into their homes to get out of the cold. Then the officer made his way to the other block without looking back once.
Jack reached his porch with utter confusion on his face that was made worse when he saw his mother's expression of fear. Passing her he caught his older half sisters and his dad in the front hall. They had been listening from the open door. Frank gave Kathy an odd look that once again made Jack's confusion even worse.
"Kids...go uh..find something to do. I need to talk to your mom." said Frank.
"You know I'm not obligated to listen to you." replied one of Jack's half sisters jokingly, "You're not really my dad."
"I know I'm not but this is important and you three don't need to hear any of it. At least not yet."
When they all gave Frank and Kathy more confused looks Frank's patience finally cracked.
"Go! Now!" he snapped at them.
They all gave one last expression of total confusion and the girls marched up the stairs. Jack, however, made his way toward the basement entrance.
"Jack no." said Kathy.
"What? Why not?" he replied. His voice raising as his temper was rising. He hated being confused.
"Because of reasons I'm not explaining to you right now. I shouldn't have to tell you why anyway. I'm your mother and you had better listen to me!"
"I'm sick of all this fucking mystery bullshit! Someone fucking tell me something rather than treat me like I'm five! I'm pretty sure I can handle whatever this apparently scaring information is!"
"Jack Frederick! Go upstairs now! Don't you ever talk to your mother like that!" shouted Frank. As soon as Frank raised his voice Jack's temper was almost deflated. Like most kids he was terrified of his father's temper. At least when it first snapped. He gave them both one last look. Not of fury but of confusion and hurt at not being trusted. He marched up the stairs, his boots making a racket on the wood.
Frank and Kathy made their way into the kitchen where the stairwell couldn't carry their voices.
"Frank we need to leave." as soon as she said it she saw Frank's temper come back in full force.
"We are not leaving. Just because one 90 year old loony thinks he saw your father doesn't mean we have to leave." his voice was quiet but carried the threat of being raised to full volume in a matter of seconds.
"I don't give a shit what that man thinks he saw. When he made that speech to the street he spread fear Frank."
"And? People will get over it when they notice things are still normal."
"For fuck's sake Frank. How many times do I have to tell you? He gets his strentgh from fear. Fear is all he needs. It's only a matter of time. Jesus. Me coming back here let alone coming back to live in this house has probably given him enough strength. If not that old man sure did."
"Listen to me. I'm not gonna let him get you or anyone else. I-"
"Don't you start that macho shit on me Frank Hunter! He has control in dreams! Everyone has to sleep sometime! Once in a dream you have no control! He is entirely in charge. Whether you wanna believe it or not he's far stronger than you!"
Frank opened his mouth to speak but was cut off as their doorbell rang. He gave Kathy a look of fury and stomped off towards the door. Kathy followed to make sure he wasn't gonna swing at some travelling salesman.
It was a young woman. She smiled a warm smile at them.
"Hi. I hope you guys are okay after all that. Mister Lantz tends to do things like that on occasion. This town had a really bad history a long time ago and he seems to remember it better than most. My name's Lori Rollins. I live across the street at that corner house."
"Nice to meet you Lori. I'm Katherine Hunter this is my husband Frank."
"Hi." was all Frank could muster without a snarl. His temper was still far from cooled down.
"Did I come over at a bad time?"
"No. It's alright. We were just having a somewhat heated discussion."
"Well, I just wanted to kinda formally welcome you guys. My husband, Will, would've come over but the kids are being a handful."
"I've got something to do." said Frank before stomping off.
"I'm sorry about him. His temper lingers." said Kathy.
"Listen, I don't know how much you know about the town so I'll not say too much. I lived in this house my whole childhood. A few years ago my father moved to the other end of town and Will and I bought the one at the corner. This house has a really really bad past. Actually more of a really bad past tentant. If weird things start happening to you or anyone here come to me. I'm the only one who will actually tell you what's going on rather than be all hush hush about it. This house has a tendancy to create some real bad memories for whoever is living in it. Are things normal so far?"
Kathy was utterly astounded at the Lori's comments. She knew about it but was surprised that Lori did.
"I know what you're talking about. Nothing bad has happened. I'm still terrified something will. I didn't move here willingly. I'm guessing he's tormented you too?"
"Holy shit. You know who he is."
"Yeah. Listen, I really really wanna continue this conversation with you but it's gonna have to wait. Do you have to go to work really early or get up early? We could continue this later tonight."
"I would but I do have to get up because of the kids. Tommorow is Thursday though. Let's shoot for Friday. Will can take the kids for the day. Does that work?"
"Yeah. Yeah it does. Promise me something though."
"Huh?"
"Try to not have any nightmares before Friday."
"Same to you. See you around then."
"Yeah."
Lori walked back to her house and Kathy went inside. She couldn't find Frank and figured from the sounds upstairs that he was organizing things. She went into the living room and sat on the couch. Astounded about Lori knowing so much. She sat there in thought for a while then got up in search of something to drink. While walking out of the living room she had to admire how good the room looked after being there only a few hours. It looked a little Retro. She wandered into the clean organized kitchen and opened the fridge. There was a couple of plates with foil over them. She pushed past them and grabbed the Lemonade. As she went to pour it she stopped. I don't remember making Lemonade. She thought. She shrugged and guessed one of the girls probably did it. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs toward the kitchen. She could tell they were boots.
"Dammit Jack you were told to say out of the basement." she said without turning. When there was no defiant or angry reply she turned.
At first she thought it was Jack. Then as realization hit she dropped the glass. As it crashed on the floor not a bit of it spilled nor did any glass land on the floor. It had disappeared. She didn't notice though. She was too shocked while staring into the face of her father. Alive. Human. Looking as if he was in his late twenties. He didn't even remotely notice her. Another woman that nearly perfectly resembled Kathy walked into the room. She was pregnant.
"Did you come in from the basement again?" asked an alive and well Loretta Krueger.
"Yeah. Why?" asked Fred in a soft voice that he no longer possessed.
"You do know we have a front door don't you?" she replied with the hint of a smile.
"Yes. I'm aware of this. I make less noise coming in from the basement. Plus I usually have things to do down there when I get home." he replied dusting some factory scum off his jacket.
"Alright then. Just wondering. Food's on the table."
"Okay."
They continued speaking but the voices were muffled. The image of them and the house was becoming blurry.
"Katherine..." said a disembodied voice that she and all others that he'd tormented knew. This voice was far from soft, and sounded highly amused.
She woke up violently in a cold sweat. She was half lying on her couch. She was panting. She was afraid.
"Oh no." was all she could muster.
