Chapter Seven – A Talk

She sat in silence near the boiler, listening to the flames crackling, back leaned against a wall of pipes. In front of her, Krueger sat in an old-looking chair while he sharpened his claws in a sort of small hand crank grinder, whose circle turned and turned, producing sparkles in contact with the blade.

"I must be crazy or just stupid to stay so close of him in those hours" It wasn't the first time she thought this. She had no motives to even want to stay near that creature who only tortured her, but she couldn't help it either. A person can only bear boredom until a certain point… Also, not for the first time, she wondered what Krueger did to pass time when there was no one to kill… Keep sharpening the knives countless times also didn't seem such a fun hobby.

"As if I understood things like that…" She didn't, really. Back on home, she was always busy with something. If she didn't have homework or anything to study for, she started to clean up the house or went looking for something to read, anything. It wasn't as much as a matter of having hobbies but more of having something to do. She always needed to have something to do, with her mind busy, the shadow's giggles weren't so loud. This was also one of the reasons why she kept reading in bed until she fell asleep. Never turned off the light unless she was almost sleeping already.

Thinking about her own habits, she moved, a bit uncomfortable. Shrunken, legs against chest, hugging them and writs crossing over them.

"How long…?".

Krueger's eyes ran to her at the same instant.

"Damnit, I let it slip…" Until now she had never spoke in times like this and stayed attentive, a doe ready to run if the wolf in front of her ever moved.

But Krueger didn't seem annoyed. He stared at her with that smile of scorn, a pretended expression as if only now he had noticed her there, as deep inside he wondered if she meant for how long more he planned to let her live, though he had the sensation that it wasn't this that was on her head.

"Of what the hell are you talking about?".

And now? He didn't seem irritated, but it could be only staging of his part. And attract his attention never seemed a good idea. Ignore him wasn't, too…

"Oh, screw it…".

"For how long… For how long have I been here?".

Krueger's smile grew a bit before he went back to working on his glove, still on the first knife. For some seconds, he didn't say anything, there was only the sharpening sound… Helyse was considering that she should leave before he decided to cut her…

"More or less three weeks and a half. I bet your family and little friends must be dying of worry, right?" The smile shone in his voice. Helyse didn't care. Three weeks and a half? It was really only that? It felt so much longer…

There was a brief silence between them, but that little and almost accidental exchange of words was like an open door.

"What about you?".

She looked back at him, not comprehending the question. What did he mean, what about her? He meant to ask if she was worried? No, nonsense, he wouldn't ask something this obvious, but them… "What about her", what?

Krueger apparently noticed that her hesitation was due to lack of comprehension, considering the way he rolled his eyes and spoke to her slowly, as one would do to a very small child.

"Aren't you worried, bitch? With the rest of your friends? Did you cry their deaths?".

Helyse only lifted her eyebrows. Why would he ask that? Did he think she was friends with Taýra or something of the sort? Well, maybe he thought she was at least Amanda's friend since she had helped her… And the "rest" of friends? As if the teens Krueger had and had not yet killed were her friends?

And cry their deaths? Her? She couldn't and didn't want to. Working almost strictly on base of an almost abnormal logic, Helyse was unable of understand why should she cry for people with whom she didn't have any form of affectionate relationship (or any relationship at all, to be honest).

Alright, Kurt had helped her and she was grateful for it. Then she had waked him up and any debt they had was now over and concluded… That didn't mean that, out of nowhere, they had become friends. And regarding Amanda… Well, this was settled too. She had helped her because she was a little child, that's all…

"Why you…" She chose her words with caution. "Why do you call me "bitch" and "whore" all the time?" It wasn't only her, Helyse had noticed that he name called any person who crossed his path.

"Because that's what you are. It's what women are, ungrateful bitches, only good to a fuck and they live of it. And teenagers are even worse".

Helyse blinked, mouth half opened.

"Oh, please, what is your deal? Mother issues?".

"Some, yes, but not all…".

In the second the words escaped her mouth, Krueger laughed. Of course she would say this, people just loved to play saints one to another and especially to themselves.

"Suuuure. How come I didn't notice? And you, for sure, are just a little pure and innocent little child, right?" Krueger shook his head, still laughing, but thought he knew what was behind this. "So, would you prefer that I called you by your name? Want me to recognize that you're a human being? Have me feel compassion for you?".

Helyse rolled her eyes, in a tired way.

"Do you honestly believe that I'm so stupid to the point of think that I can convince you to not kill me?".

Krueger still watched her attentively. The girl didn't seem to be lying. Her reaction had been as if the very idea, besides idiot, had never even crossed her mind. Maybe it was that, but there was something disturbing about the way she spoke of her own death.

Maybe Helyse thought that he still stared at her for wanting some justification. For the way she sighed in silence, Krueger had the impression that she wasn't used to talk so much or having to explain herself… But just maybe, the absence of emotion, in her face and as well in her voice, made it a bit hard to know what was going on with her.

"But yes, I'd rather that you stopped calling me like that" She shrugged vaguely, asking herself how the conversation had reached this point. Besides, why had she even opened her mouth? Krueger would laugh of her, that was what he would do. And he would kill her anyway, what difference it made how he called her?

She remained attentive to any change of stance of his part that could show irritation or that he had decided to attack her, but from his ironic little smile, he seemed to be having fun at her expense. Helyse didn't mind it, to a killer like him, anything she said must sound hilarious.

"And you haven't answered my questions yet."

"Hm?" Maybe it was the constant sensation of stepping on thin ice, but there was a moment when Helyse didn't know for sure of what questions he was talking about.

"I asked if you don't think that your family must be worried sick… And if you have been crying the deaths of your pathetical little friends" Krueger repeated, looking calm, as if the talk was something commonplace. Helyse hesitated… It was true that she thought or imagined that she could feel when her wounds were being treated, however she believed it was just imagination mixed with sensation of relief from pain…

So, if someone went to her room at the hospital and held her hand, would she feel it? Then she noticed she didn't want to think about it.

"I don't care about who died."

Krueger realized that she had left the first question answerless on purpose. And it seemed that she wasn't lying on the answer she had just given. He concluded that it just meant that he hadn't killed anyone who was her friend yet. Very well, at some time or another, he would cross paths with some friend of hers and then the girl would probably keep whimpering in despair. The same old litany that he had already heard from several people before.

He went back to working on his glove, waiting to see if she would take the chance to start some pathetical subject, such as asking why he killed, why wouldn't he stop and oh, why he had to be so cruel, and yadda, yadda, yadda.

"Why do you need… A constant source of fear?" Helyse gave thought to the last terms, not wanting to make any idiotic question like "why he needed her". It wasn't her he needed, it was only her fear. Any other person who had fallen in comatose could have had the same destiny, she had only been unlucky.

Krueger, at first, didn't answer. His strength derived from the souls he kept and his victim's fears and he knew the girl had already understood this. There was also the question that the more the energy he had, easier it became to invade dreams of people who hadn't heard about him yet…

And for the "safety measurement" that he had planned, he would need a lot of strength, which, at the moment, came from that comatose girl. And he had no reasons to tell that part to her.

"Are you complaining about being still alive?".

"No" She answered a little too quickly. "It's only that you seem to be strong enough and people already fear you, so…".

So what use he had for her?

"Fear is never too much" He waited for a protest, but Helyse only seemed to reflect about what he had said and nodded slowly, probably thinking that what he meant to say was that power was never too much. Yet, Helyse kept quiet, it looked like Krueger didn't intend to tell her what he wanted more strength for… But he should have a plan or something, if not, he would have already killed her. Somehow, she was still useful.

"Aren't people in Springwood terrified?" The tone was casual, but the girl was able to notice pleasure under it. Not that there was anything surprising about it…

Helyse nodded, but by the way Krueger still looked at her, he seemed to want a more complete answer.

"No one understands what is going on…" She perceived a movement of burnt muscles on his face, as if he was lifting an eyebrow to her and she interpreted it as sign to go on. Still with good sense enough to not arouse his anger, Helyse abided, though sounding a little uncertain. "Well… You know… People dying in closed rooms, some talking of mutilated corpses… Rumors around…".

Murders were enough to leave people tense and scared, but his no one could explain or figure out… Krueger should know this, she remembered how Kurt had told her that he used to be a killer in life, so why was he making her say what he already knew?

"And people always get scared of things they can't understand…" She commented, not fully aware of why.

That made her remember of Mr. Collins' last lecture… She had been thinking about it a little before she went on the bus, hadn't she? More or less three weeks and a half ago, wasn't it what Krueger had said? Some days more and it would be a month…

"Precisely" At least the girl wasn't a complete retard. "The whole town shivering, watching every corner, parents pissing themselves upon thinking in their adorable little kids dead… And the biggest joke? They can do whatever the fuck they want, but they won't be able to keep them safe. And isn't that just hilarious?".

"I'm almost breathless from laugher". She commented with calmness, but if you looked from his perspective (as sick as it was), Helyse thought that she understood why the idea excited him so much… He could kill at will, not needing to waste time thinking or worrying about authorities… And in this dimension, he could use all his creativity he wanted to. There were no limits. Maybe this all gave him a sensation of freedom a lot greater than he had felt in life…

"I wonder how long he went on his killings without getting caught or found out back then?".

"And meanwhile, the few fuckers who do know about me are too scared to do anything, all they can think about is not going to sleep." He chuckled. "Although some wonder what my great plan is…".

Helyse inclined her head to the side, an almost gentle gesture. Her face so inexpressible as that of a mannequin, but Krueger thought he could see something on her eyes, only he didn't know what it was. But he was getting used to this trait of hers.

"There is no great plan with you, right? As long as you can kill, you're satisfied."

Krueger smiled, putting his hand over his chest as if Helyse had complimented him.

"Why, I am a man of simple pleasures". Plan? The only thing he wanted to do was killing. Not that the process was as simple as some might think. Even if that was his world, curved to his rules, there were basic details that couldn't be ignored.

Invading dreams wasn't as simple as it looked like. Many times he needed to let some victims alive, only disturb them enough so they would talk about him to their friends, so he, like a disease, could spread. It was only when and if he had enough power that he could go into dreams of people who had never even heard about him, until them, he could only send visions and glimpses. So, if coming out a weak period, he always chose his first victims with care.

"Why you…" She stopped, thinking what would be the correct (or most safe) way to ask what she wanted and if the risk was worth it… "What happened to you?".

"Of what are you talking about now?".

"Why you have so many burns?" Helyse was sure they had been the cause of Krueger's death, but that didn't answer how he had gotten them.

"Why, how talkative are we today, hm?" He smiled like a shark, watching her with the corner of his eyes, already noticed that the girl hadn't relaxed not even for a minute, always paying attention and ready to run if it seemed necessary. Sincerely, he didn't think that was bad. At least the Blake girl wasn't stupid to lower her guard and get comfortable thinking that he wouldn't hurt her in case he felt like it all of sudden just because they were talking. And it was fun to tease her.

Before he could give her a rude answer, the young woman just turned her eyes down. Not in a shy or embarrassed way, she just looked down.

"No need to tell me… After all, it is not my business…".

But now Krueger was annoyed at her, at least a little and he didn't know why. Rationally speaking, she hadn't done anything wrong, nor had she said anything wrong until now… Then why he was so… Perturbed, he supposed it would have to do, with the way she spoke, the way she turned her dark blue eyes away? There was no reason to be mad at her (and he noticed that despite everything, he hadn't been annoyed with her since the beginning of that conversation)…

Damn it all, why was he curious about that girl? It wasn't a curiosity that would help him to find out more secret fears of hers, it was a curiosity about her.

"And you?" He asked in a rough tone.

"What about me?" Now she seemed confused, but cautious, for she had noticed his anger. The girl didn't seem to know that he couldn't see her fears with all clarity… And if she didn't, Krueger wouldn't be the one telling her.

But they were complex fear, this he could see… How could she hide them? How? He supposed that if he knew what they were, then he would understand.

"The dark place… The chain…" His smile became cruel and, seeing that the girl remained in silence, he stood up and went to her. Blake didn't say a word and held still.

Crouching down in front of her, Krueger lifted her face with his claws, teasing her skin, scratching almost delicately with the point of the blades.

"Oh, c'mon… Tell Freddy what happened… After all, we're having a friendly little conversation here, aren't we?" He mocked, but Helyse still didn't say anything and didn't move to avoid the cold touch.

"Now, this…" She finally said and her voice wasn't above a sarcastic whisper. "Isn't of your business…".

Krueger really thought about using the old and good persuasion with Helyse, but felt something that called his attention. Someone had fallen asleep… A brat was there, only waiting to be killed. Hunt's excitement burning inside, he decided he could deal with the girl later.

He let her go and started to walk away, but something made him turn back to her. Helyse just looked at the fire, empty eyes as ever, reflecting the flames that made them look brighter… As if they held blue flames inside.

"Hey, girl…".

Helyse turned her eyes to him, silently wondering what he wanted. At least he hadn't called bitch or whore her this time.

"Come with me".

Helyse, thought not feeling safe or liking the idea, knew there was the chance he could get angered if she refused, so she did as he told, not knowing where he was taking her and nor what he would do.


Ana: Must we do this every chapter?

Freddy: Yes.

Ana: But it's getting repetitive!

Freddy: Do I look like I care?

Ana: Okay, okay... I don't own anything here. And I'm not making money... But I received more reviews this time, which always make me happy!

SethadoreVGC: Thanks so much for your compliment! It makes me a lot proud!

Freddy: I always get surprised that people actually think this is worth their time.

Ana: Buzz off, to not use other vulgar terms, okay, Krueger? Hey, I hope you liked this chapter!

Darth's Daughter: Freddy: Aha, see! Told ya, I'm the star around here!

Ana: Yes, but she said that she kept reading because the story is good!

Helyse: Plus, this IS a "NOES" fanfic, isn't it a given that people would give it a try BECAUSE of Krueger?

Freddy: ...

Ana: ...

Freddy/Ana: Are you kinda of on my/his side on this one?

Helyse: Don't be silly, I was merely stating a fact, no more, no less.

Ana: Always the same logic-driven character. We're all happy that you like this story and have given up on it, despite all the times I spent without giving a sign of life! Hope we'll reach the end this year.

MegaPixels: Thanks so much for the kind words! I'm hoping I can update more now in July!

TheGirlNextDoor54: Now I kinda feel bad I left this chapter on a cliffhanger...

Helyse: No, you're not.

Ana: Well... Yeah, I'm not. I like to leave my readers curious when I can! But I promise you won't wait long!

Well, everyone, thanks for everything! See ya next chapter!