"Come on, Ems, lighten up," Damian sat down next to the girl and nudged her shoulder with his.

"Leave me alone. I don't feel like it right now," Emma sighed, hanging her head and crossing her arms in her lap.

Sitting on the steps of the school they had attended before being murdered, the young leader couldn't understand why the rest of her friends didn't have the same drive she did...this overwhelming need to torture Freddy Krueger for ruining their lives. How could they forget about what he had done to them so easily?

"Hey Ems," the tall boy jumped out from behind a tree and threw his arm over my shoulder.

"Damian," I blushed, "What are you doing here? If anyone tells my mom they saw us together..."

"You worry too much!" the older boy leaned over and kissed my cheek. "I haven't been able to spend any time with you because of those goddamn exams this week."

"I know," I smiled, "But hey, last day is tomorrow. I should be able to find plenty of excuses over the summer where we can hang out."

Damian graduated this year, making him about four years older than me. When I had told my mom he asked me out, she said I couldn't go and had then forbid me from even being friends with him after hearing that we hung out at school. Of course, I didn't give a fuck what she said. Damian was a sweetheart and we had hit it off the moment we met. Even so, I had to sneak around to be with him to keep any trouble my mom might cause at a minimum. Certainly since his birthday was coming up and that meant he'd be legal. I definitely didn't want her trying to pull some sort of statutory rape claim on him.

"Yeah, I was actually thinking about that. I heard the freshmen are throwing a party tomorrow night. Maybe if you could get your mom to let you out...I can meet up with you there and we can find somewhere quiet to go," the boy grinned.

"That sounds great!" I smiled, "Since it's supposed to be freshmen only, then I could tell her seniors like you weren't even allowed and I know my friend Amy would vouch for me."

Except the only problem was...Amy never made it to the party. The next morning at school...we were informed that she had been killed in her sleep. At first I thought it was some joke. Like a prank for the end of the school year...but I was wrong. Right after I finished my last test for the day, my mom had met me at the school and picked me up. After a few hours passed of Mom worrying over me, I finally brought the party up.

"Absolutely not!" she shook her head, "No chaperones? with a killer on the loose? No. You will stay here with me where it's safe."

"UGH, MOM! That is so unfair!" I complained, "Everyone is going to be there. I really doubt some dude is going to traipse into the middle of a crowded house and just start killing people."

"I said, no, Emma," the woman repeated.

I had marched up to my room and locked the door before turning my stereo on full blast. Another hour or so went by and I began hearing a small thudding sound outside of my window. Turning the music down just a bit, I went over to the glass and slid it open. Below on the ground, stood Damian.

"Hey, Ems, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," I rolled my eyes, "My mom wouldn't let me get out tonight."

"That sucks," his shoulders fell, "Well, at least I got to say good night."

"Wait!" I called as he turned to leave, "Don't go yet."

I then went back inside, carefully unlocking my door and peering out into the hallway. Nobody was there so I inched out to the top of the stairs and looked over the banister into the living room. Mom had fallen asleep on the sofa. I crept to my bedroom, closing and locking the door once more and returning to the window.

"What are you doing? Be careful!" Damian called in a hushed voice when he saw me climbing out and shimmying down the vines on the side of my house.

At first, the greenery and the bricks beneath were sturdy enough, but as I got lower, my foot slipped and I fell to the ground. Damian ran toward me after emitting a curse and helped me to my feet. I felt a little bruised. Otherwise I was fine. The two of us ran down the block to where he had parked his truck and then we drove out to the park. Admittedly, I was a little worried at first being alone, hidden under the trees at night with what had happened to Amy. However, my boyfriend quickly reassured me that he could handle everything. He locked the doors and showed me the baseball bat that he kept near his seat in case someone tried to bother us.

That night was absolutely wonderful. We had laid in the car, listening to music, kissing, watching the stars, and talking about the future. Eventually, we both fell asleep. We didn't mean for it to happen, but it did...and that's when the nightmare started. I would never forget every excruciating detail of it...how I was deceived with images of Damian betraying me...figuratively and then literally ripping my heart from my chest...then I heard the most evil, frenzied laughter I couldn't have even imagined...and just before Freddy Krueger plunged his claw into me and feasted on my soul, my real boyfriend showed up...and saved me.

I woke up to find myself clinging to his bloodied body, the scene gorier than anything I'd ever seen in a horror film. I screamed and cried and cursed the demon that had taken my boyfriend from me. But none of it did any good. When the police finally arrived and found me, having been alerted to my absence from my mom, I was too far gone. I fought them, swinging at them with the baseball bat...I was so angry...I couldn't let them take me away from Damian.

Nonetheless, they did. I stayed another night in the hospital and was sent home, only to be admitted to the psych ward after two weeks of doing nothing other than stare out my window, thinking maybe if I wished really hard...Damian would come back to me. I had slept so sparingly during that time that I didn't even dream so I hadn't encountered Krueger again until I was forced into slumber with medicine at the juvenile psychiatric institute. Then, my mind remembered everything. Remembered the TRUE story and not the bullshit the adults had been trying to feed me about blocking the memory of whoever had attacked and killed Damian that night.

And I knew not to believe the vision of my boyfriend that he fed me. I fought against it until the demon showed himself and then, I went after him. I punch and kicked and scratched. I grabbed onto every item around me and threw it at him or struck him with it directly. It was all a blur, but when I awoke again the next day...alive...I thought I had succeeded in killing Freddy. That was until I read about more deaths in the paper. So I went after him again...this time in utter despair. I wanted him to kill me and I grew angry when he refused...delighting in torturing me.

I lived for eight more months. Eight months of sheer agony. And that's when I decided...I'd do it myself. If I couldn't kill Krueger and he wouldn't kill me...I'd end my own life. I tried...I really did. Down the alley and not across the street, they said that was the proper way to gash your wrist. So I did just that. I locked the bathroom door and dipped myself into the warm bath, ripping the blade the entire length of one arm...and then did the same with the other. Then, I waited. At last, I passed out and was met with the sweet, cheerful face of my lost lover. His warm embrace was so inviting...so perfect, but then he backed away from me...his face twisted in pain.

"Ems, why would you keep me here? It hurts! Let me go!" he cried.

"Damian?" tears soaked my face and I screamed the boy's name, "DAMIAN!"

Yet I was powerless to the scene unfolding in front of me. The same wounds that had killed him slowly reappeared on his body, ripping his abdomen apart and strewing the organs from inside everywhere around us. His blood soaked his own face and mine...the crimson drenched my clothes as he fell to the ground. I rushed over to him, cradling his body in my arms and sobbing his name over and over amidst desperate apologies.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

The laughter returned, along with a gut-wrenching pain in my stomach. I opened my eyes to see the boy I loved turn into the hideously burned monster... He finally murdered me...set me free...or so I thought, but he really didn't. When I was at last reunited with Damian...the real Damian in the next life, I realized...the agony...the torture I had gone through...I couldn't escape. My hatred for Krueger couldn't be stopped and it welled inside of me, giving birth to this walking shell that felt nothing but a lust for revenge. Even being able to gaze onto the face of the boy I had loved every day for eternity...being able to feel him, to be in his company at any and every moment...I could feel nothing except my hatred...loathing that would never be satiated until Krueger had lived a thousand lifetimes of the same torment I had endured.

I looked up to where Todd and Chris were sparring, laughing and smiling as they fought playfully. I hated them. How could they be so happy? So carefree? Damian and I had only picked up these two other victims because they also refused to be happy in another life. The both of them had nearly died by the hands of their own guardians, their childhoods as horrible as the one Mark had lived. Except Krueger did save them...saved them from the same weary life that Mark had fought through... I realized then that I hated him too. I wanted him to suffer for denying me my victory...my only chance at attaining happiness again...of giving Damian the existence he deserved.

I rose from my seat and began walking away, "Come on. It's time to go to work."

"Where are we going?" Damian was instantly at my side.

"Just shut up and follow me," I growled.