CHAPTER 17

BY THE THROAT

The hammer clicked down on the revolver, but hit nothing but an empty chamber. Randal's heart skipped several beats, waiting for the explosion and the shower of red that never came. By the time Cameron realized what had happened, Randal was upon him, knocking the gun from his hand and pushing him to the floor. Dustin came in behind him and reached for the gun on the floor.

"What the fuck was that?" Randal screamed at Cameron, who was now fighting the full weight of his friend kneeling on his backside.

"Give me my fucking gun back!"

"Fat fucking chance!" Dustin yelled. He opened the chamber with a click and found three bullets evenly spaced in the six-shot gun. "Were you seriously in here playing Russian Roulette?"

"That's none of your fucking business," Cameron spat.

"You just tried to redecorate Jake's office in Blood and Brain Red," Randal countered. "It's our fucking business. What the hell were you thinking?" Cameron went silent, watching Dustin unload the gun and place the bullets in his pocket before sliding the revolver into his pants waist.

Satisfied that the gun was no longer a threat, Randal pulled his knee off Cameron's back. Cameron thrashed as he scurried away from the Randal, backing himself against the wall on the floor.

"Why, man?" Randal asked calmly? "Why do this? What kind of fight did you and Amy have that made you think taking the chicken exit was a good idea?"

Cameron looked up at Randal, his face contorted in confusion. "How did you know about the fight?"

"It's called a cell phone. We use it to communicate. Randal and Taylor are very good at that." Dustin snidely remarked. "And where the hell did you get this thing, anyway?"

Cameron was silent, contemplative, as he drew his knees into his chest and rested his arms on his kneecaps, clearly trying to come up with the words to express what he was going through.

"After the Halloween thing, I knew that Amy wasn't going to be getting any better any time soon. And I thought that if Krueger was back, it would only get worse. So, I dialed back on her and kept my distance. She called me out on it today, and we got into a huge fight over it. I said some things that weren't nice, and she told me to fuck off."

Cameron took a ragged breath and began sobbing. Tears rolled down his face and his cheeks turned beet red as he cried his next words.

"This whole thing has been super hard. I mean, I spent all that time thinking she was dead. And then when I found out she was alive, the years of not knowing if she was going to ever come back, and now she is back and all this stuff that's been going on... I just couldn't take it!"

"So you decided you were going to clean your ears with a lead Q-tip," Randal noted. "I'm questioning your logic behind this. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, it's not something to fuck around with. And it's a selfish way to go, too."

"Think about your mom," Dustin said. "What do you think she would do if you died? She'd go right back to alcohol. Didn't she go to rehab so she could take care of you?"

Cameron nodded in agreement, and another sob emitted from his mouth.

"Or us, your friends?" Randal added. "Did it not occur to you that it would suck major balls for us if you killed yourself?" Cameron nodded again, tears pooling by his mouth. "What about Amy?" Cameron perked up at Amy's name.

"What about her?" he asked almost disdainfully.

"You were being so self-centered that you didn't stop to think about how this is affecting her. Think about what she's going through. She's the one that has to suffer with the mental breakdowns, the hallucinations. She's the one that takes every pill in the pharmacy. And those cuts on her arms? It's not Jake's cat, Cameron!"

Randal knelt down beside Cameron and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She needs your support more now than she ever has before. She still loves you, I know she does. Probably as much as you love her. And she's come so far since that first encounter. How do you think she would react if she lost the only person in the world who's been with her every step of the way?"

Cameron suddenly erupted into a full-blown cry-fest. The comic shop became filled with the sounds of his heavy sobbing and he shakily gasped for air in between his cries of "I'm sorry" and "I didn't want to hurt anyone." Cameron leaned into Randal and cried on his shoulder for what seemed like an eternity.

...

"Fuck Cameron," Amy said as she inhaled Carla's concoction, tossing the glass on the floor where it clattered loudly on the tile. "That little prick doesn't give two shits about me!"

"I wouldn't bet on that," Carla said as she sat on the bathtub, sipping her own drink and picking Amy's cup off the floor. There was a rather loud knock at the door, and Taylor, who was leaning against the doorway, turned around startled by the sudden sound. Carla looked up in surprise.

"I didn't expect anybody else this early," she said.

"I'll go answer it," Taylor said. She turned and walked into the entrance hall peeking through the peephole in the door. Dustin stood outside in the snow, a look of urgency on his face.

"It's Dustin," Taylor called out as she opened the door. "Hey," she said as she embraced him. "What are you doing here? I thought you were working today."

"Taylor, what I'm about to tell you is very serious," Dustin said gravely. "Can you get Carla in here?"

"My name, it was said?" Carla appeared in the entrance hall, and seemed just as surprised as Taylor had been to see Dustin.

"Cameron just tried to kill himself," Dustin said quietly.

The words hit Taylor's ear and left her dumbstruck, as if the whole sentence was a foreign language. "What?" she finally responded after the full weight of the action fully sank in.

"Cameron somehow found a revolver and tried to play Russian Roulette with it in the shop office." Dustin pulled the revolver out of his waist and held it up. Carla's face twisted up in confusion.

"What the shit?" she whispered, snatching the gun from his hand.

"Is Cameron okay?" Taylor asked.

"He's fine. A little distraught, but he's fine."

"Is he with you?"

"No, he's not," Dustin asked. "I dropped him and Randal off at Jake's house."

"Good, that'll keep him out of trouble," Carla said. "Now if we can just get Amy..." Carla turned back into the bathroom and suddenly went silent before springing to life and bolting into the bathroom.

"Amy, Jesus Christ!" Carla shouted loudly as she rushed into the bathroom. Taylor rushed in after her and saw Amy sitting on the toilet seat, wrist extended before her and dragging something along her arm. Blood dripped down onto the floor and it clicked in Taylor's head that Amy was cutting again. Carla grab Amy's arm and wrestled a small, thin razor blade, fresh with wet blood, from her hands and threw it into the sink. Dustin pushed past her with a towel in hand and pressed it onto Amy's slashed wrist.

"Goddammit, Amy, why now, of all times?" Carla asked angrily. Amy didn't respond, instead staring blankly off into the distance. Carla quickly bandaged Amy's wrists and helped her stand up.

"Taylor, could you help her into my room?" Carla asked. "I need to talk with Dustin for a moment." Taylor nodded and took Amy by the shoulders and steered her towards the back bedroom. Once she was out of earshot, Carla finally flipped shit.

"Goddamnit, the last thing we need is this shit on our laps!" She continued as Dustin shushed her, telling her to keep her voice down. "First the nightmares, then Cameron, and now this? I'm at a loss what to do. I don't know how to handle this. Freddy, I can deal with. But two of my friends attempting suicide on the same day..." Carla choked on her own breath as tears began streaming down her face.

"Hey, don't cry," Dustin said, wiping away the tears from Carla's face. "They're both still alive."

"This is so out of character for both of them," Carla said through tears. "I wouldn't be surprised if Freddy was somehow pulling the strings on this. Trying to get them to off themselves somehow."

"It could be," Dustin said. "It could also be they just had a bad idea at the same time and need to chill out for a day or two to come to their senses."

"I hope so," Carla shook her head.

...

Taylor was relaxing on the couch in Carla's bedroom a while later while Amy slept on the bed. Carla and Dustin had gone over to Jake's house to talk to Cameron, and Carla had decided to call off the "sleepover" due to the circumstances. The plan now was to have Jake and Dustin keep an eye on Cameron ad Jake's house while Randal and Carla helped Taylor watch Amy. They had left Taylor in charge of Amy while they were gone, mostly to keep her bandages changed whenever they got too bloody. Fortunately, the cuts hadn't been very deep, but they were still not pleasant to look at. Taylor had already changed them once before the bleeding slowed and nearly fainted at the sight of them.

Despite the events of the day, Taylor was actually resting rather soundly. She wished she could say the same for Amy, however. She'd been sleeping restlessly for nearly an hour now, muttering every once in a while about Cameron or her parents. Taylor wondered if she should wake her up and try to calm her down, but decided that Amy really needed to rest. She was under the impression that Amy wasn't sleeping very well, and in truth Taylor herself was having trouble falling asleep. She wasn't sure why, but the last several weeks, she'd been apprehensive about falling asleep. The only times when she felt safe enough to go to sleep was when Randal was sleeping next to her.

The muffled sound of the X-Files whistle came from Taylor's pocket, signaling a text message. She checked her phone and saw a message from Randal.

Randal: Getting ready to head back; still awake?

Taylor: For the moment. Everything good with Cam?

Randal: He's fine. He got a stern lecture and an apple pie from Alice.

Taylor chuckled at that. Alice was definitely the kind of mom to hug you with one arm and beat some sense into you with the other.

Taylor: Probably not gonna sleep tonight; where's the coffee? Lol

Randal: Carla says 3rd cabinet from the fridge. Save some for me :)

Taylor smiled as she made her way into the kitchen. She flipped on the coffee pot and soon had herself a hot cup of joe brewing. She heard footsteps enter the kitchen and turned to see Amy shuffling out of the hallway, hair frazzled and clothes creased from where she had laid on them.

"Hey, sleepy head," Taylor remarked. "Feeling better?"

"Not exactly," Amy replied. "Where is everyone? I thought this was supposed to be some kind of sleepover?"

"Carla cancelled it," Taylor said. "Coffee?"

"Please," Amy nodded. Taylor poured two cups and handed one to Amy. Amy reached into a jar and pulled out a heaping spoon of sugar.

"Can't sleep either?" Taylor asked.

"No," Amy answered. "Haven't slept much at all since Halloween."

"Me neither," Taylor said. "I've lately been pretty apprehensive about sleeping."

"You've been having nightmares, too?" Amy asked eagerly.

Taylor cocked her eyebrows and shook her head. "No, I haven't. I mean, I had one pretty rough one a while back, but none since. I'm just feeling uneasy about sleep."

"Lucky," Amy shook her head. "I see him every time I close my eyes almost."

"Who, Cameron?" Taylor asked.

"No, not Cameron," Amy took a sip of her coffee. "Freddy. Freddy Krueger."

A chill went up Taylor's spine at Freddy's name. That was the man she had dreamed about, the name Amy had been screaming when she was taken to the hospital that same night.

"He's dead, sweetie," Taylor said attempting to soothe Amy's clear unease. "He can't hurt you."

"I wish I could believe that," Amy replied somberly. "I see his ugly, scarred face every time I close my eyes. I feel his hot, sticky breath on my face and neck, his hands closing around my throat, blades digging into my face..." Amy's body shivered in fear and she continued. "No, Taylor, Freddy is very much alive..." Amy took her finger and tapped her head. "...in here."

She took another sip of her coffee. "He's in our heads, finds us in our dreams, when we're the most vulnerable. And he's left a mark on each of us." Amy made a point of pulling her hair back and showing off her full set of scars and her blind eye. Taylor had briefly glimpsed them before, but she hadn't gotten a close look at them; the scars were uniform and precise, four parallel lines crossing her face diagonally across her eye, which was milky white with a blue hue to it

"Oh Lord," Taylor gasped. She reached up with her hand and traced down one scar.

"I was fifteen when he gave me this, right before I spent three years in Westin Hills for mental trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. So no, as much as I'd like to believe you, that Freddy is dead and gone, he's still very much alive..."

Taylor's phone signaled another text from Randal. Taylor checked it quickly while Amy took another sip of coffee,

Randal: Have you heard from Cameron?

Taylor was somewhat confused by the question. Hadn't Randal said earlier that he was with Cameron was at Jake's?

Taylor: No, I haven't. Why?

Randal: Because he's gone, and we can't find him.

Taylor's face dropped in confusion. Gone? Where the hell could he have gotten off to?

"Hey, Amy, do you have your pho-" There was a sound of shattering glass and Taylor quickly looked up in the kitchen, but Amy was gone now, too. Her coffee, however, was spilled onto the floor, cup shattered to pieces. "Amy?" Taylor called out. "Amy, are you in the bathroom again?"

Taylor stepped out into the hallway and looked around. The rest of the apartment was dark, but the closed door at end of the hall had a light coming from under it. The apartment was also inexplicably getting somewhat warm. Taylor walked up to the door and pushed it open.

Amy was sleeping soundly on the bed, as she had been a few minutes ago when Taylor left her to make coffee, but there was someone standing over her now, too, with his back to the door, Taylor couldn't see his face, but she recognized his clothes from earlier that day.

"Cameron?" Taylor called. Cameron turned to face Taylor, and revealed a massive hole his left cheek, smoking as if from a gunshot. Blood poured down his neck and his teeth were visible through the hole, blackened and charred from the heat of the gunshot. He raised up his right hand, which was covered in a leather glove with four long razors on each finger. He held up the index blade to his lips and pressed it to them so that it cut into his flesh.

"Shhhh... She's asleep..." Cameron said in a voice that wasn't Cameron's, very unnatural sounding and clearly sinister.

Taylor stood in the doorway, frozen as "Cameron" took the razor claws and traced all of them across the scars on Amy's face. "Still as young and fresh as the day I gave her these..."

As quickly as Taylor could blink, "Cameron" was suddenly sitting on the couch, his face normal once more, but he was motionless. Where he had stood, Taylor recognized the man from her nightmare on Halloween.

Freddy Krueger.

He took his razor fingers and dragged them across Amy's face, tracing along her scars. He gave a quick flick and left a small cut on her cheek, and small drops of blood welled up around the tiny wound. Krueger leaned down and licked the blood off Amy's skin. Taylor squirmed inside her own skin as Krueger spoke.

"I think I'll save this sweet thing for later..."

He then smiled at Taylor, baring his pointed, bloody teeth before turning his gaze to the couch where Cameron lay on the couch, slowly stirring. Oddly, it wasn't the couch Taylor had been sleeping on earlier, but she recognized it as one from Jake's house.

"How about I start with this one?" Krueger suggested mockingly as he crossed the room to the couch. He ran his finger blades through Cameron's hair, dragging them down the side of his face and putting them around his throat. Krueger chuckled demonically as Taylor tried to step forward, but her legs refused to move.

"No!" she screamed. It was like her feet were super-glued to the floor. No, it was like her feet were part of the floor! Every time she tried to lift her leg to move, her feet refused to budge! Panic rose inside her and her heart began beating like a jackhammer! "No, stop! Please, let him go!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Krueger taunted. "Didn't you know? This is my world, bitch. In my world, you do what I say. And I say..."

Cameron's eyes snapped open and he quickly locked eyes with Krueger as he stood over him.

"..DIE!"

"No!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "No, not you! Not you! You're dead! YOU'RE DEAD-"

Freddy quickly drew his claws back and dug the four blades deep into Cameron's neck! Blood poured from the wounds as Freddy dragged the blades around Cameron's neck with the unsettling sound of ripping flesh and neck bones cracking, opening it up so blood gushed like a waterfall from his throat! Air escaped from his lungs through the gashes and caused the blood to bubble and pop, Cameron's mouth still frozen mid-scream, life draining from his face!

And Taylor could do nothing but watch mortified as her friend was slaughtered before her eyes! Krueger dug his fist into his neck and pulled him off the couch, tossing the corpse at Taylor's feet. She involuntarily collapsed to her knees and found herself staring directly into Cameron's eyes as the last bits of life finally left them, and they became cold and dead.

"This isn't over, princess," Krueger hissed. He took one blade and pressed the tip to the bottom of Taylor's chin, forcing her to look up at him. "I'm just getting started...

"Ah-hahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Krueger lunged in and ferociously licked Taylor's cheeks and forced his tongue into her mouth, causing her to scream!

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

...

"Cameron!"

Taylor sat bolt upright on the couch, drenched in sweat, and felt the chills going up and down her spine and arms. Her breaths were shallow and ragged, and she could hear herself sobbing uncontrollably.

It was just a nightmare, she told herself. It wasn't real.

It took her several moments to realize the sobbing was not coming from her, but from the bed a few feet over.

"Cameron!" Amy screamed again. "No!"

"Amy, what's wrong," Taylor asked, leaping from the couch and onto the bed. "Amy, baby, calm down for a minute!"

Amy finally caught her breath, but tears still streaked down her face. She sobbed breathlessly between words. "I... had... a... nightmare... about... Cameron!"

Taylor felt the bottom of her stomach bottom out, and she suddenly became very nauseous. She anticipated what was coming next with dread.

"Freddy... Freddy killed him. He slit his throat open and... and..." Amy broke into hysterical sobbing, and Taylor quickly threw her arms around her to comfort her.

"It's fine, sweetie, it was all just a dream. Just a bad dream, that's it..." Taylor said, convincing enough that she almost believed it herself. "I'm gonna go make us some coffee, okay?" Amy nodded and wiped the tears from her face. Taylor kissed her on the forehead and went into the kitchen.

Taylor felt a crunch underfoot and a sharp pain in her heel. She jumped up and leapt backwards, twisting her foot around to see the bottom of it; a small shard of glass was sticking out of her heel. She pulled it out with her fingernails and set her foot back down gingerly.

She then noticed the shattered mug on the floor, the same one Amy had earlier before, the one that she had dropped on the floor when she disappeared...

"What the shit?" Taylor muttered. The coffee on the floor was still warm, too. Taylor looked at the coffee pot and saw it still full of steaming coffee.

"That's not possible," she whispered. "It was a dream, wasn't it?"

Taylor's phone suddenly went off from inside her pocket, startling her momentarily. She quickly answered it before looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" she asked apprehensively.

"Taylor!" shouted Randal, clearly upset, sounding to be on the brink of tears himself. "Thank God you're alright!"

"Randal!" Taylor sighed. "Something really weird is happening-"

"Cameron's dead."

The words took a full minute to sink in. Taylor heard them, but she could not comprehend them at all. "What did you say?"

"Cameron is dead, I don't..." Randal's voice cracked as he spoke. He tried to form more words, but failed.

"What happened to him?" Taylor asked, even though she already knew the answer. "And Randal, please, do not lie to me."

Randal was silent and Taylor was about to hang up when Jake's voice spoke through the phone.

"He was murdered," Jake explained. "He was murdered by Freddy-"

"Freddy Krueger," Taylor finished, and she hung up the phone.

Proceed to next chapter...