"You know what?"I growled at the smug ghost, unable to hold back my rage at his insensitivity toward me any longer, "You have no fucking idea what I've been through, what my childhood was like, what I've had to endure! So stop standing there and berating me until you get a fucking clue!"

I had walked closer to him as I barked, but my sudden outburst seemed to do nothing but amuse him as I saw his lips play with a smirk. Emma, on the other hand did appear taken aback though I could barely see her out of the corner of my vision. After a moment of silent anger between Damian and I, she reached a hand out and took hold of my upper arm, tugging me around to face her again.

"Mark, calm down," she ordered.

My gaze fell from the guy leaning on my door to the girl who had grabbed me. Settling on her face, I saw that her expression was stern yet her eyes were soft...understanding. I took in a deep breath and calmed the rage but turned my agitation toward her, "So, I'm assuming you've got a plan for me to connect to Hell or whatever and allow Freddy into my dreams?"

Emma straightened up, removing her hand from my arm with a confused look, yet she didn't speak. She just watched as I stepped away, back around the couch toward my bedroom, plopping my back with a thud against the wall opposite of the ghosts and hanging my head as I continued trying to relax. Jesus, Mark, get it together. I needed to think... Was this really a good idea? It could all be a trick. I mean, granted I didn't wake up and realize that it was all some vivid dream or hallucination, that is. What if they had ulterior motives? What if they were the demons? Krueger himself even, and this was all a ploy to use me to get back here...and keep using me to stay in this world?

Then again, if they were telling the truth...was this really what I wanted? Would it work and would he really just do away with me like that? I was still frightened about dying, but thinking about my life as it was...living with all the memories and the pain...stuck in a dead-end existence and never progressing...what did I have to lose? If I gave up this chance, I may go the rest of my pathetic life regretting it. From what I could tell, dying by his hand meant he was consuming my soul so that meant I would be completely destroyed, right? No body or soul left to linger... I still found it odd that this chick seemed to understand how depressed I was yet unlike others, was offering me a way to off myself instead of urging me to keep going and get better. Perhaps she knew something I didn't. Well, that was obvious... What I meant was maybe she was bound by some rule not to tell me, but knew that this was the best course for me.

"Alright," I finally said, lifting my head to look at the teens, "What do I do?"

Emma's reaction wasn't what I had expected. Instead of immediately returning to her take-charge attitude, her expression was soft at first, contrasting the smirk that Damian was wearing and the excited high-five that the younger boys gave each other. I wondered what the reasoning was because it confused me that she wasn't happy to have gotten my consent. However, I didn't have long to ponder as she soon joined in with the others, letting a smile spread across her face before beginning to give me instructions.

"Have you ever heard of astral travel?" she asked.

"Uh," the question threw me off. What did any of this have to do with spaceships? "I don't see what that has to do with anything, but yeah, sure."

The kids on my sofa giggled, drawing my gaze as Todd spoke, "I don't think you know what it is then, you dodo."

I turned my head to look back at the girl who was rolling her eyes as she continued, "Astral travel, astral projection...out of body experience?"

Oh, I guess I was off, "You mean like when you wake up and you're looking over your body laying in bed? Like your soul jumped out of your body and is staring at it?"

"Yeah, exactly," she confirmed. "Astral travel is when you do this consciously."

My eyebrow raised, "Make my soul...leave my body...on purpose...without killing myself?"

"You're talking to ghosts; you believe in demons; and this sounds crazy to you?" Emma's brow furrowed as she crossed her arms in a judgmental stance.

"Oh, well, I-" my eyes widened and then fell awkwardly to the floor. Good point, dead chick... "So I need to astral travel to Hell?"

A brief look of annoyance flashed over her, but she quickly answered, "Yeah. I can guide you on how to do it. That should be enough for Freddy to latch onto you. Then, all you have to do is go to sleep. Since you've already been able to see us," she let one arm fall from her chest and gesture to the rest of her posse, "All you'll have to do is call for us when you enter your dream."

I lifted my back from the wall, standing straight while sliding my hands into the pockets of my jeans. Scanning my guests visually, I considered what I had been told, "How hard is it to astral travel?"

"Surprisingly easy, if you have an open mind," Emma grinned, pointing at her brain with a finger. "Does that mean you're ready?"

Inhaling sharply and then exhaling, I shrugged my shoulders, "I guess so."

"Good," the girl's attitude was back as she strolled toward and then past me, "Let's get you comfortable so we can do this quickly."

I watched as she walked through the doorway to my side, presumably making her way back to my bedroom. With a glance back at the others to see Damian lifting his brow in a seemingly impatient motion as he glared at me, I twisted in my spot and followed after her. Once there, Emma had taken a spot sitting on the foot of my bed, leaned back just enough that she could prop herself up with her hands resting atop the messy comforter. She smiled as I entered, patting the mattress with one hand as if to tell me to sit.

I did as she wanted, taking a seat in front of my pillows and facing her as my eyes lifted, observing the three boys take various positions around my room- Damian at the door, Todd on the floor, and Chris, the only one with his focus not on me, stood next to the window and was peeking through the raggedy curtain.

"Do I just sit here or...?" I inquired of the girl in front of me.

"Yeah, just get relaxed, but stay sitting up...it helps your energy focus," she explained.

I shifted slightly before putting my eyes obviously back on her.

"Close your eyes," she ordered.

I obeyed, instantly expecting to feel the brunt of her partner's baseball bat striking my temple or thinking that perhaps it was an excuse to distract me so they could steal from me...not that I had anything of value to anyone...

"A large part of this is being able to visualize things in your head," she went on, "You can do that, right?"

My eyes shot open. It seemed like such a stupid question, "Of course I can."

"Keep your eyes shut!" the girl growled.

I let my lids fall again, having had them open long enough to see that everyone had stayed the same. I took a deep breath and waited for further explanation.

"What you need to do is imagine your mind and your body separating," her voice had become low, soothing, "Think about everything you feel physically...hot, cold, the air, the fabric you're sitting on...and then think about what's in your head...all your thoughts about life, about what you want, all the things that you may be feeling emotionally right now...like sadness or fear... Think about those physical things as one, your body, and think about that stuff in your head as two, your mind. Now, take one and two...and pull them away from each other...make them entirely different things instead of parts of the same thing."

I thought about how much I hated life and all the questions I had about death. Then, I focused on where I was, how comfortable the bed felt, and the slight brushes of air hitting my skin from the air conditioning running in my apartment. I tried to imagine being a mind alone without feeling those physical things.

"Now that you've gotten them separated, pull your mind further...envision it leaving your body completely," Emma continued, "Your mind is just outside your body and it can see your room...where your body is sitting...can you picture what your room looks like?"

I heard the question, yet for some reason, I couldn't answer audibly. I could see in my head my mind and my body as separate and could feel my mind moving away from the bed. However, I could still feel what my body felt. It was strange...if this worked, I had expected to lose sensation of touch, yet it wasn't like that at all...it was as if I were now split in two. My body and my mind. My mind was moving; my body was staying still. In my head, I could see all four of the ghosts in the same places as before and could see myself as well.

I gave a small nod.

"Go even farther away. Try to float up to the ceiling, pass through it, and see the top of the building."

Once more, I did as I was told. My heart seemed to become worried as I pushed my mind out of the apartments, gazing down upon the old complex and seeing the parking lot and the roads around it also. I could even spot headlights of the cars moving in the night. My heart rate had definitely picked up, but I tried to ignore it.

"Keep going," the girl's voice had grown quieter. "Keep upward, seeing more and more of the world beneath you until you see that you're about to reach space...try to stop there and let me know."

My mind flew higher and higher, gradually seeing the rest of the neighborhood I lived in, then the whole city, then the state...the more I journeyed, the smaller everything below me was. It was like being in a plane and picturing everything below as some sort of architectural model. I found my mind...my spirit floated easier and faster the farther away from my body it went. Heart was still revving and it had gotten harder to breath. Emma must have noticed because she spoke again.

"Try to relax. You're in no danger," her voice was but a whisper.

I did my best to listen to her, but my chest was beginning to hurt...my spirit was still leaving even though I wasn't envisioning it or telling it to. I could feel my body panicking and I wanted to open my eyes. However, it was as if my brain was no longer connected to it, making me incapable of giving it the simple command to lift its lids and look around. I couldn't keep my spirit where it was...it kept moving away! Suddenly, viciously, I was able to nod twice...yet I couldn't speak...couldn't tell her I had lost control. What the fuck was going on?

"Alright, Mark, it's ok, listen!" she still sounded quiet, but her tone had heightened, "I need you to picture a light, a red light twisting in a long, crooked line. The light has a lot of black spots running down it. They're all uneven as well...there's no pattern to them. You're getting closer to this light...the black spots are getting bigger..."

As she spoke, the description she gave me came fully to life in my head. It had been odd, almost difficult to see everything in my home and the things after when I first started. Yet somehow, now, it was all going so fast and coming together so easily. The spiritual trek had now become a physical ache...a separation of my mind and body that I could no longer command. Without thinking about any of it, I simply watched as she dictated exactly what was happening to me.

"There's one black spot that you can almost touch...I know it's frightening...there are voices...screams...don't be afraid, Mark. Just go inside of it. Allow the darkness to envelop you. This is where Freddy is...this...is Hell."