Chap. 12: Can't make a believer outta me...

" I'm telling you, Tracy, we just can't trust her!"

" Jesus, Maggie, cut her some slack, will ya?!"

Patricia laid in bed, filled with Hypnocil, listening to the angry voices of Maggie and Tracy downstairs. Because the house was dead silent elsewhere, their voices floated up to the second floor, clear as a bell. Every once and a while, Lori or Dr. Campbell would comment, but only once and a while. She frowned. They reminded her of her parents. They were always fighting about her...

" Tracy, how did she find out who I was? Answer me that." Maggie paced in front of the kitchen table again. Tracy stood on the other side, arms crossed, and livid.

" That doesn't mean we can't trust her, Maggie. Her best friend just DIED, and she's been through hell and back in the last fucking hour. Leave her alone.."

" We would have found out anyway." Lori tapped the open file on the table; the one Patricia had found. " This is probably how she found out."

" She's right, Maggie. Besides, why didn't you tell us you were his daughter in the first place?" Dr. Campbell sighed, drinking the last bit of his coffee.

" You didn't need to know. I'm not exactly proud of it, you know..." Maggie couldn't argue anymore. She sat at the table and put her head in her hands. She was wrong to revive her suspicions in Patricia again, but she couldn't help it. There was something about her that she couldn't trust.

" Everyone, just calm down...we can't fall apart this far in the game, all right?" Lori poured herself another cup of coffee. " What's done is done...all that matters now is that we find a way to beat him."

" You guys are all fuckin' nuts." Jacob exclaimed, standing in the doorway. " Can I leave yet?"

Dr, Campbell began.

" Listen, Jeremy--"

" Jacob. It's Jacob, man. Why are you keeping me here?"

" Jacob, look; This is going to be hard to swallow, but since you've come into contact with us, you have to believe."

" Believe what, old man? That 'dream demon' fuck that blondie here was trying to pull over my eyes?"

Tracy bristled.

" Shut the fuck up, man. We don't have to save your ass like this."

" Save my ass from what?!!"

Lori turned to him.

" You said you used to live in Springwood, right?"

" Yeah, so?"

" Didn't you ever hear the story about a man who came to you in your dreams? A bogeyman?"

" I'm not following you."

" Did you ever hear the jump rope song? 'One, Two; Freddy's coming for you'?"

"...Yeah, I remember...yeah, what about it?"

" That man's name is Fred Krueger. He's real, Jake. He's the one that's been causing all these deaths...he's the one that hurt Patricia."

Jacob let all this sink in. Some guy chases you down and murders you in your dreams.

"...Is there a gas leak in here?"

" Jacob, we're serious. For christ's sake, I'm asking you to stay the night with us, or atleast take some Hypnocil home with you. Please."

" I'll take your pills if you just let me get home, huh? Please? It's almost midnight, and I still have to drive."

Lori gave him 4 pills. " Two tonight, two tomorrow morning. Check in with us tomorrow, all right? All right?"

"Yeah, yeah, all right...Jesus...You guys need to get some sleep, or something. Maybe then you'll sound sane." Jacob gave the room and fleeting wave, slipped the pills into his pocket, and left. Maggie turned to Dr. Campbell.

" Think he'll take it?"

" Not bloody likely. But he is right about one thing: Lets all get to bed, all right?" Dr. Campbell dished out hypnocil to his motley crew of tired women, and sent them upstairs. Tracy made a stop at Patricia's room before going to her own(Sara's now unoccupied room).

" Trish? You still awake?"

Patricia gazed at the doorway.

" I know I can't dream...but I'm still afraid."

" I know the feeling." Tracy walked over and sat on her bed. " You've gotta get some sleep, though, Trish."

"...I know...I heard you downstairs. Thank you."

"...Hey, don't mention it. I'm sure Maggie really didn't mean any of that...we're all really high strung."

" I know." Patricia stared at the ceiling. "...I was really scared, Tracy...He would have killed me if..." Patricia put her hand over her eyes and sniffed. 4th crying fit within the last hour. Damn. "...Trace, why is he doing this?!"

"...I'm sorry, Trish." Tracy rubbed her arm, trying to give her some sort of comfort. Too much happened too fast. " Try and get some sleep. Okay?"

Patricia nodded, and tried to relax herself. Sleep. He won't come after you tonight. Just sleep. Patricia gave a tiny smile to Tracy. She returned it, and left to her and Maggie's room. Maggie was looking out the window at the water tower. She hated that thing.

" What took you?"

" I stopped to see how Trish was doing."

" Oh."

" She heard you, you know. Downstairs."

Maggie turned.

" She did?"

" Yeah. I told her you were just stressed, and didn't mean any of it." Tracy sat by her on the bed. " You really didn't, did you?"

" I don't know, Trace...I really don't anymore. Lets get some sleep."

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Jacob closed the door to his dorm room, threw down his bag, jacket, and flopped onto his bed. It paid to have his roommate sleep like a rock every night. He rolled over and sighed. Jesus. Mom was right about this place. People here are weird. Bogeymen, girls getting cut up in their sleep, people dropping off like flies. Oh, yeah...great town. He suddenly remembered about the Hypnocil. He lifted his head and dug the 4 pills out of his pocket. Just to be safe? Ah, fuck it. They're all nuts. He threw them onto his night stand and laid back. One, Two Freddy's coming for you. He yawned.

Yeah, right.

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" NOOOOO!!!"

Freddy withdrew his blades from a screaming teen boy, and sliced his throat open. Fucking kids, and their screaming...all the shits do is scream, and run around like fuckin' idiots. He picked up the body and chucked it over the rail of the catwalk. He felt a rejuvenation as the young soul fed the evil within his body. Number 12. It felt great to be back in business. Still, nothing was sating his blind fury. She got away. AGAIN. He couldn't believe his fucking luck. Her throat was there, and he lost her. Goddamn it all. By now, they've got the bitch doped up on Hypnocil, and she'll never come again. Still, it was refreshing to see such a familiar face...Older? Yes. Different? No. Not by far. If anything, she was an even more delectable piggy than before. The shortness of her breath, the look in her eyes...The feeling of her skin beneath his blades...How the fuck did she get away?! After waiting all this time...A prisoner in the fire and darkness, her name crossed his mind every now and then. With every passing day, his heart had grown colder and crumbled into nothing. Soon, the memory of Patricia sparked nothing but the lust to kill. Finally, his chance had come...

Seeing her for the first time made the emptiness in his chest ache.

He felt something there. Whether it was hate, lust, anything, it was something he didn't want. She hit some kind of nerve that made him remember how it was to live. He utterly -loathed- that feeling. For the first time in 20 years, he almost thought twice about killing someone. Luckily, it hadn't been obvious, but...it was there. Little Patricia Tate. Still damn annoying as ever.

A sudden presence yanked him away from his brooding. A very familiar presence...Freddy smirked and headed to a particular part of the dreamscape; one he knew very well.

Whaddya know. That little shit Jacob's come home to play...

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" Do you want to come and play?"

Jacob opened his eyes to find dark brown ones boring into his own. He sat up and stared open mouthed at the figure of a girl in a gray dress and plain black shoes. Her hair was down and hung limply around her face.

" Do you want to come and play?" she repeated again. Jacob swung his legs over the side of the bed, compelled to follow her. What the hell was going on? She ran out of his room. Jacob stood and watching her shadow retreat down the hall. Whose kid was this? And how the fuck did she get into his room? He looked at his sleeping roommate, and slipped out the door.

The dorm hallway was gone. It was replaced with a decayed and broken church. The benches and stained glass windows lied in ruins, part of the ceiling had caved in. Wood and glass shards littered the ground under a hellish moon. The sky was bruised in purple and blue, scars of lightning illuminating the clouds. Wind blew through the church, rattling the doorway he had come through. Jacob groped for the door behind him and forced it to remain open against the winds. How the hell had he gotten here? Where had that little girl gone?

"One, two, Freddy's coming for you..."

Jacob looked up to see 3 little girls playing jump rope in the organ balcony.

"Aw, hell no..."

He backed into his dorm quietly...Something hit the middle of his back.

SCCCCCRRRRREEEEEEEEEE.....

Jacob whirled around to find his room was gone. He was standing on an elevated platform surrounded by hissing pipes, and unstable cat walks. The door behind him slammed shut.

" Shit--!" Jacob tried and tried to pull it back open , but it wouldn't budge. He leaned over the rail and searched for any signs of life. Nothing. He paced for a minute. Okay, just...relax, Jake. Take things one at a time. One: He's not in his dorm. Two: Some really freaky shit was going on. Three:...Was he in a dream or something? No way. There was no damn way that that Maggie character could have been right.

SCRREEEEE...

" Aw, shit..." Jacob looked around. Still, that Maggie did know more about this crap than he did...it wouldn't hurt to have a little company in this freaky place. Jacob suddenly felt something like a string yanking at the top of his brain. His mind was pulling on something...but what? Suddenly, a body crashed down beside him, hard. Jacob stared wide eyed at the figure of a woman in dark blue pajamas.

"...What the fuck?!"

"Patricia?"

Dr. Campbell had gone downstairs to fix himself something to eat, only to find Patricia in the kitchen with a box of tissues, red eyed and somber. She jerked her head in his direction, fresh tears streaming down her face. She grabbed a tissue.

"I know I can sleep, but...I just can't bring myself to close my eyes. I'm sorry if I..."

" It's all right." He sat by her. " I know how you feel. Uh...The coroner told me to call him tomorrow. I know you don't want to hear about it, but...funeral arrangements have to be made for Will and Sara sometime this week. Because you were closest to Sara, I thought you might want to handle things for her; calling her parents, whether or not they want her to be buried back in her home town or not..."

" I will." Patricia nodded and wiped her eyes again. Sara was really gone. There was no reason to stay in Springwood without Sara. What now?...She had to go back to Mother. It was her only home now. Everytime she had some hope...she always had to go back to Mother. Patricia didn't want to go back to nothing. She had lost too much...Sara...Father...Mr. Krueger. Freddy. Patricia sobbed anew. Dr. Campbell put a hand on her shoulder, attempting weak comfort.

" Patricia, I'm sorry this had to happen. When you went under today, I was afraid we would lose you too. We're all relieved you're all right."

" Oh, Dr. Campbell...when I saw him..." Patricia held her forehead, a migraine forming in her temples. She would never forget that sight..." What happened to him?!"

" Don't think about it, Trish. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"...I have to go home."

" What?"

" Mother...I have to go back home to Mother."

" I thought you said she was on vacation?"

"...No...She's not. Sara wanted me to come to Springwood to get away from Mother." Patricia rubbed her temples, trying to release the building pressure.

" Get away from her? Why?"

"...Mother isn't the greatest person to live with." Patricia wasn't going to say anything else. She couldn't. Patricia reached for another tissue. Dr. Campbell caught glimpse of the side of her head. He pulled the hair from to the side and inspected a large S-shaped scar on her temple. Patricia pulled away, covering the mark with her hair again. She rubbed the scar on her palm.

"...Where did you get that, Patricia?"

" I fell down the kitchen stairs when I was younger. It's nothing."

" Patricia, is that really what happened?" Dr. Campbell put a gentle hand on her own, making her stop fidgeting.

"...Mother needs me, Dr. Campbell. I can't...I can't just leave her alone. That's what I told Sara, but she made me come--" Patricia's eyes welled with tears, and Dr. Campbell handed her a tissue.

" Calm down, Trish...it's all right. I won't press the matter, but if you're in any harm...tell me. We'll take care of you." He gave her a smile. Patricia couldn't bring herself to smile back, but she did feel a little better. A little is better than nothing.

"Jacob...what did you -do-?!" Maggie stood, holding her back from the fall. She was in the dreamscape, and goddamnit, she wasn't happy about it. Jacob stood beside her, bewildered.

" I don't...I don't know!! Where the fuck am I?!"

" We're in a dream, dumbass! You dragged me into YOUR dream! How?!"

" Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?! I pulled you into my dreams?!"

" Apparently!" Maggie looked around for any sign of Krueger. Ok, calm down...She remembered taking Hypnocil right after Patricia had gone up to bed. So how was she in Jacob's dream? "How did you do this?"

" I-I don't know. I was...I was thinking about that shit you said, and how you couldn't be right, and...you just kinda appeared or something."

" That doesn't make any sense!!" Maggie paced. They had to wake up. They had to, or Fred---

SCCCCCRRRRREEEEEEEEE.....

"...Oh, my God."

Jacob and Maggie watched in horror as a bed of rusted, mangled spikes came propelling down a catwalk directly toward them, scraping the rails causing electric sparks to fly. Petrified, Jacob stood there like an idiot. Maggie snatched his wrist and ran like hell.

" WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!"

" It's a dream, you fucking idiot! We've gone over this!! You've got to find a way to get us out!!" Maggie ran down a flight of stairs and headed for a darkened doorway, hopefully leading out of the boiler room. She turned to see the spikes still coming after them at break-neck speed, closer and closer.

Maggie leapt through the doorway and lost Jacob's hand along the way. She landed hard on her stomach against a metal walkway. She heard the spikes crash into the narrow doorway. Sitting up she was surrounded by stairwells and catwalks. She searched for Jacob.

" Jake? Jake?! Come on, talk to me...Jake?!" Jacob, please..

"MAGGIE?!!" His panicked voice came from above. Maggie looked up. Jacob was leaning over a rail peering down at her.

" How the hell did you get up there?!"

" Fuck if I know, lady!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Chilling laughter echoed off the walls and pipes. Both parties frantically searched the hundreds of catwalks around them. Nothing. Jacob headed for the nearest stairwell.

" Maggie, you stay there I'll..make my way down or something." Jacob stopped at the bottom of the stairs and planned his next route. Maggie nodded and paced her catwalk.

" I don't understand...how could you drag me into your dreams?"

Jacob crossed a catwalk to another flight of stairs.

" I'm as about as lost as you are...literally..." He climbed down a ladder and ran across the catwalk it ended at.

" I was under the influence of hypnocil, and so were you..."

" Uh...right." Jacob leaned over the side, trying to figure out how to get down.

"...You didn't take it did you?!"

" Well, you guys seemed pretty damn nuts from my angle, lady." He crossed a catwalk parallel to Maggie's. The space between them was pretty far. " Claiming death by dream demon is far-fetched you have to admit."

" Yeah, well, you believe us now, don't you?"

" Possibly."

" POSSIBLY?!"

" I could be dreaming right now, you know! This could all be bullshit!"

" Right, well, if you wake-up dead, don't blame me you stupid son-of-a--!"

" -Isn't this sweet.-"

Maggie and Jacob craned their heads above them.

" Jakey and my little Princess together. What a pleasant surprise..." Freddy stood upon the rail of a catwalk, grinning down at them.

" Is this guy for real?!"

" Whassamatta Jake?" A hoarse voice hissed into his ear. Jacob whirled around and met the cruel eyes of their attacker.

"You little shit. You don't recognize me? I'm so hurt!"

He jumped back.

" Who the hell are you, man?!"

Freddy advanced on him, plain arm folded calmly behind his back. He sized him up, inspecting his features. Maggie gripped the rail across from them.

" Leave him alone, you asshole!!"

" Now, now, Katherine. No need to get so impatient!" Freddy stretched out his claws, and her catwalk was yanked roughly over to his. Caught by surprise, Maggie lost her nerve when shoved nose-to-nose with her would-be father. He snatched her by her neck and lifted her feet off the ground. Jacob, frozen in fear, stayed put, not sure of what to do. Maggie gave him a frantic look.

" You've been a bad girl, Katherine. Bad little girls need to be punished..." Freddy cut into her neck.

" NO!!" Maggie struggled against him and the bar. " JACOB HELP ME!!" Fuckin' kid. He's frozen stiff. No way she was going like this...not by HIM. Maggie then realized something. She had invaded his mind before. She had the power. Remember what Doc said. Just concentrate...she doesn't need those glasses. Concentrate.

" Die, you little bi--"

Maggie grabbed Freddy by the forehead and felt herself being plunged into another memory wave as Freddy's screams echoed in her ears.

Patricia walked up the stairs, calmed and ready to sleep. She regretted saying anything about Mother... Things like that don't need to be told. Though, it did feel better to talk to Dr. Campbell. He reminded her of Mr. Krueger...he listened and helped when he could. He was hardly Mr. Krueger, though. No one could take HIS place...never.

She passed Lori's room. Lori had been nice from the beginning. It was such a shame about Will...

She stopped at what used to be Sara's room, that was now occupied by Tracy(who was sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag) and Maggie(who was sleeping in the bed). Tracy was a very nice girl. She defended Patricia...Maggie was too pessimistic for her tastes. She always had this look about her like she had lived too much already. Still, it wasn't fair to pass judgement...Mr. Krueger had tried to kill her too. She recalled the framed picture on the coffee table. The name Katherine seemed so foreign. She wasn't that smiling little girl she had seen so long ago, nor the one she had seen in her dream. She just wasn't the same. Maggie and Katherine were two very separate people...She wondered if that's how Mr. Krueger saw it.

Mr. Krueger.

Patricia knew they had to stop him. Too many people had died already, including Sara. He had to be destroyed...Patricia hugged her arms. He had to die again. For good. How many times had he died already? He wasn't dead yet...he lived on still, killing and heartless. He would kill her too. The very thought of death frightened her. She wanted to be happy. She wanted Mr. Krueger. When Patricia thought about him, she would forget how afraid she was of death, and just smile. After years of mourning, she had found him again. Could she really say good-bye for good...?

Maggie suddenly jerked in bed. Patricia frowned. That's..odd. She walked to Maggie and looked down at her sleeping form. Was she seizuring or something...?

Much like watching a movie, Maggie's physical form remained suspended on the catwalk, but she could see flashes of memories going by before her eyes. Again, she saw him as a child, plucking the feathers from a dead blue jay, a picture of Loretta smiling, then, it changed to the grisly scene of a tiny blonde girl spread-eagled and mutilated on a pink bed-spread. The scene paneled to Freddy facing another little girl with dreary brown hair and a sickly complexion. A claw was hooked ever-so-lightly under her chin.

"Do you know how to keep a secret, Patricia?"

"Yes....I always keep a promise."

Maggie watched in horror as the little girl smiled lovingly at the psychotic murderer before her. Then, she felt herself being dropped, almost tossed away. The connection with Freddy's mind was severed as he threw her onto the metal walkway.

" That's the last time you peek into my mind, you fucking whore..." Freddy stepped over the rail onto her catwalk and advanced. Maggie back away, petrified once again. "DIE, BITCH!!"

"Jacob--! Get us out!"

" What?! How the fuck am I supposed to do that?!"

" Concentrate, Jake! You got us in, and damnit, you can bring us out! WAKE UP!!"

Jacob closed his eyes and concentrated. Wake up, Jake...wake up...

"NOW, JACOB!!"

Jacob felt himself being jolted upward by a cord attached to his skull. Suddenly, he felt himself grounded and warm. Jake shot up out of his bed in a cold sweat. He was awake...he was fuckin' ALIVE!!

"AAHH!!"

Maggie jumped up from her bed and collided with something. An arm draped across her shoulders in an attempt to calm her.

" Maggie?!--What happened?"

Maggie looked up and met the worried eyes of Patricia. The memories she had witnessed in the dream flashed before her eyes. It couldn't have been...setting her priorities, she pushed it into the back of her mind. Tracy stirred from the floor.

"What the hell is going on?"

Maggie turned back to Patricia.

"Trish, go wake up Lori and tell her to call Jacob right now."

" I don't...understand--"

" Just do it, please! I'll explain everything when he gets here."

Patricia nodded and headed to Lori's room. Tracy walked to the bed.

"What's this all about??"

Maggie sighed and picked up the Hypnocil bottle from the bedside table.

"...He's found a way around the drugs."

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