Disclaimer: NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!

Authors Note: Please don't kill me but there is no Freddy in this chapter. This is what we call the set up. After this chapter we're going to be hopping forward into present day and 13 years later during the events of the movie. Until then, I give you tasty heartbreak and angst as performed by Miss Frankie Jones.

Chapter 6

A few miles away a young woman sat up straight in her bed and screamed "FREDDY!" She was sweating, shaking. Frankie barely made it to the bathroom before she threw up what little food was in her stomach. She shook as the tremors slowly left her, laying in a fetal position on the floor. There was something wrong…

When she was able to, Frankie stood and washed out her mouth with a glass of water, staring at her pale reflection in the mirror. She may be younger than Freddy was, but right then Frankie thought she looked older than a mummy. Her pale blue eyes had dark circles beneath them, her skin was white as death and her light brown hair was hanging limp and lifeless. She felt worse than she looked, which was saying something. The red marks were fading from her cheek at least.

On unsteady legs she made her way back into her tiny bedroom. From beneath her pillow she pulled the rose keychain, squeezing it tightly in her hand. She'd decided, even if she had to tie him to the hood of the van, they were leaving tomorrow. There would be no more waiting.

That morning Frankie skipped school. She went through the motions of going, but instead of packing her schoolbooks she placed the few possessions she wanted to take with her in her backpack. Then on her bike she turned the opposite way and headed to Badham. When she got there she saw no one out front in the yard, and no sign of a single car in the small parking lot. Mrs. Davis wasn't even there. The building seemed sinister in the chilly morning fog, with not even one bird making a noise.

She rode her bike around back and leaned it against her normal place near the door to the basement. The door to it was locked, but Freddy had long ago shown her where the spare key was hidden. So she got it from under the medium sized rock it was stowed under and unlocked the door. She headed down and found his room empty. They typically neat bed was still neat, and hadn't even been slept in. There wasn't a sign he'd even been there the previous night. Then Frankie noticed the door to the ancient locker he had for a closet was slightly open.

Hesitantly she walked over, and pushed the door open with a loud creaking sound. His clothes were gone, even the scuffed up pair of wingtips he had for dress shoes. Frankie's lips parted in shock. Had he left without her? Her heart suddenly sped up and she felt sick to her stomach, just as she had when she'd woken up that morning. She bit her lip to stop it from quivering like a little girl. His record player was gone too…and his lone box of records. In fact everything that was anything to do with Fred Krueger had vanished from the basement that he'd called home for as long as she'd known him.

Frankie backed away, her hip knocking into the small folding table where she'd seen him only hours before. Tears were brimming in her eyes. He wouldn't have left without her. He couldn't be gone…

"Frankie?" A voice came from behind her on the stairs making her jump. She turned wide eyes to find Mrs. Davis standing there, looking as though she hadn't slept all night. Her normally neat graying hair was wild and messed up. She looked even more nervous than she had the last time she'd seen her.

"Mrs. Davis…" Frankie took a deep breath, willing her heart to slow. "I…I was looking for Freddy. I was hoping he could give me some pointers on my botany essay before class this morning." It was a lame lie, and she knew it. But the older teacher didn't look like she'd even notice if she had suddenly sprouted a second head.

"Oh…oh dear." Mrs. Davis stuttered as she came down the last few steps. "I'm afraid that is not going to happen Frankie."

Frankie felt her stomach flip over. She gripped one of the chair backs so the woman wouldn't see her hand tremble. "Why is that ma'am?"

"Freddy left town last night sweetheart. I…I just got word this morning from Alan Smith." Confusion crossed the teachers face. "I'm surprised…your father hadn't said anything to you…but maybe he doesn't know yet."

Frankie bit back the sob in her throat. There was something wrong here, but she couldn't figure it out. He wouldn't have left without a word. And why would the police know anything…unless her father had done something. Jesus, he'd said he'd felt like he was being followed. "Why…" Frankie licked her lips, willing the words to come out. "Why would my father know anything? Why would Alan Smith tell you Freddy had left town?"

"Oh my dear girl…" Mrs. Davis started crying, and Frankie was suddenly horrified. What the hell had happened? What was going on?

Mrs. Davis slumped into one of the chairs, her eyes gazing around the basement. Her expression was one of disgust and sadness. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry. I had no idea, none. He always seemed like such a nice man. So caring to the children and so polite, he was such a hard worker…"

Frankie couldn't take much more of this. "Mrs. Davis, what is going on?"

The other woman sighed heavily, wiping at the tears that had spilled on her cheeks. "He was abusing the children…doing things with them. I…I didn't see the signs. But Mr. Smith, he told me that Quentin had told him. And then Nancy, little Chris, and even Jesse. They all told their parents…" She turned her now puffy eyes to Frankie to find the young woman looking pale as a sheet.

"Frankie, dear…" Mrs. Davis reached over and touched her hand to comfort her, finding the skin quite cold. "He didn't….well…I guess you were too old for him to be interested in you that way."

Frankie wanted to punch the woman suddenly, or slap her. It took all of her will not to. She pulled her hand away and turned quickly, trying to control her breathing, trying not to fall to her knees and scream. She knew it was a lie. All of it was a complete fucking lie. But no one would believe her. Why would the kids lie? Why would the parents believe them? Where the hell had this all come from? The tears started then, and they wouldn't stop. She stumbled backward and fell hard into the other plastic chair, sobbing so harshly she thought she might choke.

"Frankie, sweetheart I'm so sorry. I know you were friends with him. You two where always helping me…and I know this is such a shock. I had no idea either." The teacher came around and patted her on the back, trying to soothe her.

Frankie had buried her head in her arms. She wanted to tell Mrs. Davis to go to hell and leave her alone. But she couldn't even summon that. She didn't know what to do. "Why did he leave…" She mumbled aloud, not even thinking.

"He was discovered dear, and before any of the parents could report him…he left." Mrs. Davis made it sounds so plausible.

Frankie realized the woman knew absolutely nothing of what really happened. She was on her own….literally. But she had a good idea that it all started with her father. The drunken slip up of him telling her she had a boyfriend. Freddy being watched, and the lies that had suddenly shown up. Fred would never hurt those kids. Frankie knew this, but something had convinced the parents, and where parents led, kids followed like lemmings. And who else would be more convincing than an officer of the law when it came to telling someone their kid was being diddled by the gardener?

It took a while but she finally convinced Mrs. Davis to leave her alone in the basement. She reassured the teacher that Fred had never done anything to her, and it killed her a little inside when she realized it just emphasized the woman's idea that he liked far younger girls than her. The thought made her want to vomit all over again.

Frankie gazed around the basement room again. She saw that her bag was still under the bed where they had stashed it on her last visit. She started crying all over again. No wonder he'd left her…the more she thought about it, the more Frankie realized he was really gone. She was the reason the rumors had started, her father had to be the one that started them, the bastard. And if she was in the same predicament, angry parents getting ready to throw her to the wolves, she'd leave too. She held her now throbbing head in her hands and cried even harder. They had been so close…

Maybe he hadn't left town yet though…the thought came to her suddenly. Maybe he was just hiding…driving around in the van and looking for her? The slim hope was all she had, and so Frankie grabbed hold of it and refused to let go.

Wiping her eyes she stood up and grabbed her bag from the floor and headed up the stairs. She placed it in the basket of her bike and secured her backpack on her shoulders. Without a glance to Mrs. Davis she peddled out into the street and headed towards one of the only two places he might be, if he was still around Springwood.

The first place she headed was their usual meeting place in Industry Way. When Frankie came into sight of the building she realized something had happened…and her bike skidded to a halt. Her eyes looked at the charred, blackened bricks near the now blown out windows. There was still the scent of acrid smoke in the air.

That now familiar sick feeling washed over her. She didn't want to go inside…Her mouth grew dry and her pale eyes flicked around at the dying landscape. Her hands gripped the handlebars so tightly her knuckles turned white. There was no sign of the van here, and she knew deep down that there wouldn't be. She couldn't look at the building without her chest hurting, similar to a fist grabbing hold of her heart and squeezing.

"Freddy…what happened…" She asked aloud. All the response she got was a breeze carrying the faint scent of smoke.

There was only one other place even worth looking. And so Frankie peddled back towards Badham. He'd be a fool to still be the few blocks down from the school. But no one knew about their plans, nor did they know about the van. At least she'd told no one about it. So when she pulled around the corner and saw it still parked where Freddy had said he left it, she was surprised…and then afraid.

She got off her bike and walked the few remaining feet to the driver's side and wasn't shocked to find it empty. Frankie looked around the quiet neighborhood and saw that no one was paying any attention to her. She looked back at the van, examining it, not sure why she was bothering. But she was disturbed to find it didn't even seem to have been moved since it had been parked there a few days earlier.

She started shaking again. If he'd left town…why wouldn't he have taken the van? How else did he leave? He wouldn't have taken the schools truck, not when he had this. So where the hell was he? Frankie leaned her head against the driver's side window and tried to breathe normally. Too many thoughts were clamoring for her attention, too many ideas of what had happened to the man she loved and who was now public enemy number one in Springwood.

Frankie reached into her pocket and pulled out the key Fred had given her. Taking a deep breath she moved over to the side door, slipped it in the lock and turned. It opened easily. Inside the van was just as she'd seen it before. Fred had even added pillows and a blanket to the bed in the back. There were even a couple grocery bags of "road food." She tried not to start crying again at the sight.

Leaning her bike against the van she walked inside and sat down in the passenger seat. Her throat choked up as she glanced over to where he would have been setting, imagining the goofy smile on his face as they sang badly along to the radio. Frankie wiped away the new tears that were flowing down her cheeks. She checked around for a sign, for anything to tell her where he might be or if he had been there. But it only looked very nice and clean. No trash laying about, no receipts or notes. Nothing to give her a clue as to where he might have gone or what happened. She decided obvious would be next and so she opened the glove box. She stopped breathing all together as she saw what was inside, her eyes growing as big as saucers.

With shaking fingers she reached and pulled out a small box. A box, the kind made for only one thing. She held it tightly, her eyes closing. She swallowed, and forced her self to look at it. Then she opened it. Sitting in the center was a small plain gold band with a tiny sliver of a diamond in the middle. The sound that came from her throat was part gasp and part sob.

That fist was back around her heart and she couldn't breathe at all. Because Frankie realized at that moment something very bad had happened to Freddy. He wasn't coming back, she knew that too. He wouldn't have left her, not with this sitting there, waiting to be found. Frankie could almost hear his line of "Hey, hand me that map out of the box, I need to find something." And there it would be waiting for her.

"Fred…what did they do?" She whispered to nothing. She had nothing. He was gone. Frankie couldn't go back to her father, not ever. Not knowing that he had something to do with whatever happened. She'd have to leave because he'd kill her if he thought for a moment she suspected anything. If he thought she knew and would try to expose him for the liar he was…she'd wind up as good as dead.

Her hands were trembling as she took the ring out of the box and slid it on her left hand. It fit perfectly. She wiped her eyes again, and shut the box, placing it back into the glove compartment. Taking a deep breath she stood and reached out into the street, pulling her bike into the interior of the van and placing it on the floor. Then she slid the door shut with a satisfying click.

Frankie sat down in the driver's seat and stuck the key in the ignition. The van started smoothly and she saw that Freddy had even filled it full of gas already. That was good since she had maybe three hundred dollars that she'd saved up and brought with her. It would get her somewhere other than Springwood, and that's all she wanted right then, away.

Frankie put the van in gear and took the side streets until she reached the city limits of Springwood. She thanked whatever was looking out for her that she hadn't run into Mark Jones or any of his lackeys or spies. No one knew the van she was sure, or it would have disappeared along with Freddy's belongings too.

When she drove over the city limits she looked back in the rearview mirror one last time. Springwood was disappearing behind her. Frankie's eyes were hard as she glared back at the hateful town. Somewhere in her heart she knew that Springwood would forget Freddy Krueger, would sweep him under its rug and never think on him again. They would cover up his ever being there. But Frankie Jones would remember, she'd remember every single thing about him. And she'd remember how this was the day Springwood took from her the only thing that ever mattered and left her with nothing but those memories.