Chapter Twenty Nine – Fear Led Us Here

Step by step, the colors came back to the world.

Or she was coming back to the world.

Helyse felt dizzy. Was there a buzz in the air or inside her ears? Did that even matter now?

Where was she?

It felt as if something was calling her name. It wasn't that her mind processed the sound in conscious level, it was a reaction to when one hears his name.

Slowly, the girl started to realize the existence of sounds, at first lost in mist and echoing in seconds, and then they started to stood out… The voices became clearer and almost physical.

She groaned without wanting to when a point at the back of her head pulsated with pain and forced her to open her eyes, trying to make sense of what was going on, of that mist of sounds and sensations.

"What the devil…?" There was even less sense now then back in the darkness. It was almost as if waking up in a body that was not her own and from which she could not be freed.

There was no way this was happening, right?

However, something in her, where the animal instincts were law, forced her to accept the situation even if she didn't understand it.

Ropes were strapping her wrists to the arms of a chair, going around her flesh three or four times, strong enough so she couldn't even move around and when she tried her legs, she realized they were tied up as well. Once more, she fought to get free although it was clear there was nothing she could do.

"Oh, no, don't do it, you're going to hurt yourself…" Someone spoke to her as if to a child who was poking a new made curative.

In front of her, Jessica, Amelia, Jonathan and Mark watched.

Mark had no wounds whatsoever.

They were not in the living room she had seen once entering the house, but someplace else. The floor was concrete, very clean and the walls were painted. A bit behind Mark and Amelia, she saw a stairs leading upstairs and a small armchair near Jessica. This was all her vision field could get.

What… What was that?

"Are you awake?" Jonathan asked, crouching at her left side as he touched her face, pulling away some strands of hair that had gotten lose from her braid. "Do you need something? Water, maybe?".

"What is going on?" His question was ignored as she hissed and tried to move again without thinking about what she was doing and ignoring the ropes brushing against her skin in protest. Jonathan put his hand on her left wrist as the others exchanged looks.

"Look, Hell… We're sorry. We're really, really sorry for all that happened" Amelia started and her expression was sincere, but it somehow sent alarms through Helyse's body. The girl's eyes were glass and Helyse was too dizzy to notice what else seemed wrong. "You went through a lot, no doubt…".

The girl was about to reply that this was no explanation to why she was tied up in a chair, but her voice wasn't working… They wouldn't do this without a reason, but even so…

Oh, please, what would they do? They were her friends, they wouldn't…

"I'm sorry I hit you". Mark intervened, trying to smile, but his voice was too much like iron to allow this. Despite her pain, Helyse didn't expect this… He had hit her?

"I tried to not use much strength, you see? And it isn't bleeding or anything so don't worry about it, okay?".

At Mark's side, Jessica put her hair behind her ear, avoiding looking at her when Helyse ran her eyes through her friends.

Yes, there was something clearly wrong here… But the point was how much wrong was it.

"I asked what is going on…" She repeated in a forced hiss, trying to choke down the tense taking over her muscles, aware she couldn't let it dominate her now…

The way they looked at her… Those expressions… Why were they doing this?

They exchanged looks again as bearers of bad news that none had the wish to voice. At least, Mark sighed.

"Helyse, remember how we asked you if you knew something about Krueger?".

"Hard to forget" Her reply was dry as Helyse ignored how Jonathan still held her wrist loving, as if afraid she would go back to struggling should they part contact.

How could she be now in this situation?

Mark barked a humorless laugh.

"Of course you remember, I mean, you're not idiot." He muttered, placing his hands in his pockets as if unsure of what to do with them. His eyes studied the girl the same way hers studied hers. "Well, we know you have to know something".

Helyse didn't need much focus to not show reaction. Fear tore her mind apart as she feared they had found out Krueger was no longer bound to the world of dreams and she could see him…

"You have to, because you spent months there" Amelia said shyly as she looked to the others, as if seeking support. "No one would pass this much time there and not know anything, it is just not possible, I mean, Mark here said it, you're not an idiot and we know it…".

Helyse wasn't paying much attention to the girl's blabbering. Would even finding out the truth be enough to tie her up like this? She cut contact with Mark's eyes and looked to Jessica, who until now hadn't said a thing. The blonde continued with her eyes landed at some point right to Helyse's chair (whatever it was, it should be a bit behind her, as the girl couldn't see what it was) and avoiding looking at her.

"But we're not idiots either" Jonathan explained. "That's what that bastard doesn't realize!" He added, with a comforting smile in which Helyse due to her situation, felt something unpleasant, though she didn't know what it was…

It didn't feel like they were referring to what she had thought, so Helyse opted to be quiet, unsure of what to do, what to say to get free…

"See this, let's just try to be logic, okay?" Amelia carried on with the hurry of a child trying to justify herself, hoping to not be misinterpreted. "No one would spend this time with him without figuring something out, right? Well…".

"It must have been terrible for you, we know…" Jonathan interrupted, raising a hand and caressing her face, a touch so light that someone would think he was again treating her wounds and didn't mean to cause more pain. "The things he must have done to you…".

The girl was about to say Krueger hadn't done anything, but decided that it would be more sensate to keep still (especially about this point). Just now she realized how dry her mouth was. Helyse tried to tell herself that this wasn't happening, this wasn't real… Not even if to just find a brief comfort (as fake as it would be) in denial. But her nature didn't allow it.

"So, we talked about it…" Amelia continued. "It was clear that you should know something. And that something happened" Again, her voice didn't allow denials. "But then… Why wouldn't you tell us?" She remained in silence for some seconds as she gazed to Helyse in a way that was almost sad. "Why wouldn't you talk to us? Why wouldn't you tell us what you knew?".

Helyse was aware those were rhetoric questions and though she still meant to reply that there was nothing to tell, nothing she had found out, nothing Krueger had done, she forced herself to keep quiet. Disagreeing with them, at least now, wouldn't take her anywhere… If they were willing to listen to her, they wouldn't have tied her up.

How could she convince them she was telling the truth? And why the ropes? Until now, she had heard the same conjectures from before! A wild shiver ran through her veins and she fought the impulse of moving her wrist as she knew it would be useless.

"Easy, being defensive will just firm their ideas that you're hiding something… Right? Easy, calm down… Try to understand what they're thinking first, then cooperate…" She told herself as she tried to block the bitterness in her stomach.

Why were they doing this?

What did they intend?

"We've been thinking about other things, too…" Mark commented with a finger raised as a teacher in class. "We've seen the Dream World is something beyond what we can understand. And, well, we can't just go to sleep and try to learn, right?".

He laughed.

It wasn't at all like the laughs she had heard from him, it sounded as music without cadence. A poor imitation of a being trying to remember how laughs sounded, an alien sound.

"It… It makes sense…" She tried, still managing to keep her voice in a normal tone. "But… See, what reasons would I have to not say anything?".

Mark leaned his head to the side as he frowned and Amelia's face was torn up in a smile of sorrow and sweetness.

"Wait, you think we...?" She shook her head. "Oh, no! No, it isn't anything like that at all!".

"Oh, Hell…" Jonathan whispered. "You think we believed you had betrayed us?
Why would we think this?" The idea seemed to scandalize him. The girl bit her tongue to avoid saying anything. God, if they at least let her go, took off those ropes…

"You know I love you" The boy completed.

She tried to move her angles, hoping the ropes around them would be perhaps more loose. The friction started to hurt, but the girl didn't care anymore… Perhaps if she managed to get them a bit loose, just a little…

"We know you would have no reason to not tell us!" Amelia explained. "You joined us, saved Jonathan's life… Damn it, Hell, we're friends! It isn't that you don't want to tell us, you just can't!".

Helyse's mouth half opened as Amelia continued to look at her with the very same expression and a smile that would look more real in a mannequin. Mark nodded to her words, agreeing in silence. Jessica continued in silence, hands playing either with her ponytail resting on her shoulder or with her blouse.

"And we're really, really sorry for not seeing before that you needed help. Our help".

The girl didn't understand what they were referring to with their idea of "help", nor what she could say to convince them of otherwise, if she had already tried before telling them she was fine… Anything that went through her mind sounded too weak, too weak to create roots and have effects in the others, who were seemingly decided in rejecting any idea that Krueger had no weakness (at least none she knew about it(…

Maybe because this was the last idea that gave them any hope…

"Look, with all the power he has, and how we don't know the limits to it, if they exist… Nothing would stop Krueger from doing something to you" Jonathan explained with the same naturalness one would show when explaining Biology or any other subject. "With the amount of time you spent there, he may have done something to put you under his influence or control…".

"Say what?" Helyse didn't know what she had expected to hear, but it hadn't even come close to the list. What, were they thinking in the lines of a curse? Since when this was something they could associate to Krueger and what would he get by this? Why were they even thinking that…

But the way their eyes looked was answer to this.

She tried to say something, but Mark didn't let her.

"Or if he is using you as shield or something, point is…".

"Wait! This… This doesn't even make sense! Shield, influence, what are you even talking about?" The control she had managed to keep weakened by moments, no matter how much she tried to hold into it. Helyse couldn't care and was about to go on as she was interrupted once more.

"See? This rejection to the idea shows we're in the right way!" Amelia exclaimed, her smile increasing as she exclaimed. "Otherwise, you would consider this!" Oh, God… Wasn't there anything she could do or say to make them understand? And what they wanted with her, anyway? Her heart went faster, sending not blood, but ice to her body.

"And just so you know better, we're not thinking about the lines of magic or curse or anything like that" Mark explained, dismissing the idea with a wave of hand, smiling as if that was just a joke. "But he may be using influence in you to stop you from talking. As we said, we don't know the extent of his powers, right? There has to be a reason why he hasn't killed you, even when he had the chance!".

"I already told you everything… I…" Helyse muttered, even knowing it would be of no use and the others indeed just ignored her words, Amelia shaking her head as looking at her as one would to a wounded lamb that she wanted, but could not help.

"Or he may be using you as an anchor to life, to ensure his existence." Jonathan commented aside. "We thought about this as well".

"After seeing him close to you without hurting you, this theory might be correct too" Mark completed with an absent air, his eyes were on Helyse yet he was blind. "That is the only reason… The only one…".

"But I told you…".

"They need to listen, they need to understand, Amelia just said it, we're friend, right?" A part of her mind seemed to cry out with a child's voice. Helyse ignored it, wanting to concentrate herself in suffocating fear and focusing in logic, a way to deal with this.

"Yes, that was during your coma. He could have killed you after and he didn't. Why? Because of this!" Jonathan interrupted her, still with a sort of kindness in his voice. "And we know he may have done this even before your coma… Who knows?".

Before her accident? Did they really believe this? Something in her, some crazy hope she could reach to them made her want to protest against this insanity, as she hadn't ever even heard of Krueger before that damn accident, but chains were in her vocal chords and her mind went back to the clocks. The pills. The things they had said and considered...

All this echoed in her skull… God, the signs of their growing paranoia had been right in front of her and her… Stupid… She had ignored all that.

Mark and Jonathan's insistence to her to go clubbing that night, the apathy Amelia had showed…

"You planned all this… Since when?".

"Since after we went to that sleepover. We've been discussing that for a while, but after that night…" Jonathan explained with a sigh. "We're sorry for the lie and for scaring you saying Mark was hurt, but we couldn't take the risk of Krueger realizing it and doing something.".

So, even taking her to club had been just to ensure they would be nearby her? Did they expect to have a signal right there that Krueger had some connection with her that helped him to stay "alive"? What sense there was in this?

It was all so insane… So paranoid…

"Easy now, easy… You won't get out of this by getting nervous…" But those were just words, had no effect in her. The girl trying taking breaths in her attempt to control her voice.

"This… This isn't possible. You guys know it just doesn't make sense". Why did she try if she knew they wouldn't listen? At the same time, what else could she do?

"And why?" Jonathan asked with true interest, enough to give Helyse at least some seed of hope… It wasn't as if they hated her, but it was what the fear and stressed had led them to believe… She had to have some chance… And picked her words with care.

"Because I'm awake. Krueger is a Dream Demon, he can't affect us if we're awaken." No one interrupted her this time, which Helyse prayed was a sign of them considering what she said. "Therefore… Even if he had done something, it wouldn't work unless I was asleep…".

There was a second of silence, and in this second, an eternity.

To her surprise, Jonathan laughed.

Mark smiled as he shook his head, while Amelia's eyes seemed injected with a kind of light. Jessica still refused to look at Helyse.

"Oh, we thought about this possibility!" He exclaimed without hesitation, that smile that showed all his teeth as a ventriloquist doll. "You spent so much time with him, that his influence or whatever the fuck it is, works no matter if you're waken or not. Like a poison that never leaves you".

She stared at her friend, still smiling. Honey dripped from her words.

"See, Hell, it isn't your fault… We know it isn't.".

Helyse knew it was the end.

There was nothing she could say. Nothing she could do.

They wouldn't release her.

As Jonathan kept whispering words of comfort, Mark passed by her right side until Helyse could no longer see him… Noticing that the girl was trying to get a glimpse of what was going on, Amelia stepped closer, seeming tense now.

This wasn't a good signal…

Helyse heard a metallic noise, as soft as a silver bell and a circular-like sound, low and repetitive…

"That's why, you know, you have to keep in mind that this is for your own good. I said that, didn't I?" The brown-haired girl muttered, playing with her fingers and intertwining them. "We're sorry, Hell, so sorry…".

Mark came into view again, pushing a small table of metal with wheels.

"Just think that it will be over soon, okay?".

Oh, God…

"This is a nightmare, just another nightmare, nightmare, nightmare…" Her mind chanted and she was caught in a strange wish of laughing for this was not a dream, at least not the type Krueger created.

The table (something clearly used by Mark's mother) had a small package of cigarettes, a lighter, a bottle of liquid that she didn't know what was (or wanted to know)… Shadows indicated that there should be more stuff in the platter underneath, but Helyse didn't want to see and turned her face to the others… They were not going to… By god, they couldn't be actually thinking about…?

"You won't… C'mon, guys, you're not…" She started as despair filled her being to the point breathing hurt, unable to escape the feeling…

They could.

They could and they would.

Jonathan touched her face in a caress that turned her stomach.

"We'll help you, Hell, I swear" He kissed her hand. "I love you, remember?".

At her side, she could smell rather than see, Mark lightening a cigarette.

"I swear, there is nothing!" Helyse ran her eyes to the others, hoping someone would realize the truth in her words and what they were actually doing, how there was no sense in any of this. "What will this accomplish?".

"Maybe…" Jessica muttered, finally moving her eyes to Mark and seeming about to step closer, than changing her mind as if the physical proximity made her ill. "Maybe this won't help, Mark, we'll be just…".

"It is for her sake!" Mark snapped and then sighed. "And for our own! It is the only way to set her free, we'll know if this harms Krueger too!".

"We all agreed to it, Jay…" Amelia told her friend placing a hand on her shoulder. "None of us likes this, but if Krueger indeed has some link with her, we have to try understanding it… Try to break whatever he is using to keep her quiet.".

Helyse's mind still attempted to find words, even lies, something she could say it was Krueger's weakness just so they wouldn't harm her… But she knew, oh, how she knew it would be useless. They were set in not believing her, at least not until they had tried to "set her free".

Would they, at any point, believe her? At any point, would they let her just go home?

She knew they didn't have intentions of killing her…

But this didn't help her at all. It actually made her even more scared and there was a pain that came from inside…

Mark lit a cigarette. The end shined in orange and the smell filled the air.

The redheaded leaned to her, never blinking. On her other side, Jonathan still held her wrist, caressing her arm.

"Easy, dear, it will be okay soon…".

Helyse struggled again, disgusted at how his words touched and slithered over her skin, in anger, in fear…

Mark crouched at her side.

There was no freedom to be achieved and the movement merely woken pain where the ropes hugged her skin.

The end of the cigar came near her other wrist, she felt the heat preceding the touch.

Helyse screamed when a point of pain pierced her as the boy pressed the cigar against her flesh. The girl tried to get away somehow, only able to feel that point of burning nerves.

"Be strong, Hell" Amelia whispered to her, coming closer. "It will be over soon, okay? I promise you!".

Helyse's eyes opened to give a reply, but her words died when she realized Mark was lighting another cigarette, his expression never changing and Amelia, tentatively, lighted another cigar.

"None of us want to do this" She muttered. "None of us want to do this, but we have to, we just have to".

Jessica took a deep breath and took steps forward.

Grasping at the hope the blonde wasn't as lost as the others, Helyse cried to her, but was ignored. Still not looking at her, all Jessica did was to stand near Amelia.

Useless words still managed to appear in her mind, as Amelia passed the cigarettes to Jonathan. The girl struggled by instinct, her wrists in more pain and her ankles now as well due to the rope biting her flesh. A new nest of pain surged in the back of her shoulder. Leaning forward, trying to get away, Helyse felt Mark's hand forcing in place without much need and pressing more and more the skin where the cigar burned the skin away.

Helyse whimpered. She shrunk. The heat went beyond her skin, burning its way to her nerves.

"Easy, Hell, no one will see it" Amelia told her. Did she think Helyse was worried about looks? The girl didn't try to understand the nature of the comment, she just wanted to leave!

"You won't look worse, c'mon!" Mark said with some annoyance, forcing her in place when she tried to struggle again and Amelia pulled her blouse so she could burn another spot in her back. "You've been through worse".

Indeed she had, but pain was pain…

Not saying anything, Jonathan sighed and, closing his eyes as if suffering with her, pressed a cigar against her other shoulder. Another point of agony.

She yelled as loud as her lungs allowed her, hoping the neighbors would listen, that someone would be furious with the noise and call the cops… If she yelled loud enough… Long enough… Maybe, just maybe…

Something came down her head, covering her face as a cold mantle. Air soon left her and her lungs protested. Empty, empty nostrils, empty lungs…

Her head became lighter, throat dry…

"Maybe they are going to kill me?" The thought was not in words, but the sensation of suffocating, as her skin was pierced by what felt like a sewing needle right above one of her burns…

Air!

Suddenly, air! Blessed air! She took it in several times, panting as she tried to look back and could see Mark with a plastic bag. At his side, Amelia had a bloody needle and acted as if they hadn't been interrupted.

There was no mercy in those eyes, even if she sought for it. Nothing of the warmth she had seen in Amelia when they had had that sleepover at Jonathan's… Just that glass-like gaze, fixated on her wounds as if not fully understanding what she saw.

"C'mon, Hell, you need to work with us here!" Mark scolded her, yet those words could have come from a robot. "Look, we know this hurts, but try to hold it, okay? We're doing this for everyone's sake… Think about this, okay? It is for all of Springwood!".

"We had to bring you down her just in case, but someone may still hear. So try to hold on". Amelia said. "Fight this with us" And Helyse saw that smiling coming back. Seeing the ones she had considered friends, her first friends, made her want to close her eyes…

"There is nothing to fight against!" She yelled, tears coming to her eyes as Jonathan carried on his procedure and she cried when a burn came to me in the spot between her fingers. Jonathan sighed and Mark faced her for a second with cold calculation before he forced a needle against one the fresh burns, taking it out soon and throwing it away.

"We will win against it, no matter what!" He growled with irritation. "Krueger won't kill us, he won't, we won't let him!".

He held her shoulder, piercing skin with his nails and pressing her skin. A nerve went in the shock of a lamp burning bright before going out and Helyse cried out, a wave of agony finding birth there and spreading to the rest of her body.

The bag came down again and an intense pain surged in her back. Part of the plastic pressed her neck as the boy pulled it back, the taste of plastic on her tongue when she tried to open her mouth. There was another needle in her shoulder too, going beyond epidermis to touch flesh and nerves… Helyse fought to keep still, but the pain was too much, the lack of air was too much…

This time, Mark took some more seconds before allowing her to breathe.

Her breathing was erratic, she almost needed to force her lungs into working as her body tried to deal with the pain her "friends" placed her through.

"Helyse, either you control yourself, or we will need to put something in your throat!" Jonathan asked in anguish. Helyse wasn't sure what was worse, his pleas, Mark's expression or Amelia's… That emptiness she had never heard before…

"We don't mean to make this worse" He said as he placed another cigarette in the junction of her thumb and indicator, the thin skin feeling as it was being pulled away from flesh. Her back was in waves of pain and with Mark forcing her in place, it hurt the exposed skin when it touched anything that was not air.

Surprising her, Jonathan leaned and kissed a burn in her wrist, with the lightest touch he could.

"But you're making this harder, Hell… Please, hold on. After we're done, everything will be fine, trust me!". He said and the girl felt that spot in her skin throb in pain at the same time disgust washed over her.

How he still kissed her? How could he still do this?

The girl could just whimper, not wanting Mark to put that bag over her again…

"Maybe his parents will be back… Maybe… C'mon, think! Think about something you can say is Krueger's weakness!" But it had to be something they would believe, otherwise would make her own situation worse.

"Won't you scream anymore?" The guy of red hair asked in a sigh, apparently tired of her stubbornness and refusal to be quiet. The message, however, was too clear. Scream and you won't have air. Scream, and there will be needles in you.

Hating herself, she nodded. Screaming wouldn't be of any help if they would cut air supply, no one would listen. Still staring at her, Mark petted her.

"Good girl". Somehow, he smiled. The girl was unsure it was due to her "cooperativeness" or he was just surprised the negative stimuli had worked so quickly. "Damn, Hell, this is for your own sake too! Of course it hurt, but it is necessary".

"It is for everyone, okay? For everyone. You, us…" Amelia went on with a try of smile while she put away a cigar and brushed her burn. The touch renewed the pain and before she knew, it was the very match against the same spot.

Mark saw this and just nodded.

"Is he… Is he enjoying this? Are they enjoying hurting me?" They had been spending time together for long, but still the memories shined in her mind. Amelia smiling to her… Jonathan kissing her that day… Mark making a joke as Jessica showed what she could do in dreams…

Now, those were the eyes on her. Those were the expressions.

Her teeth went to the flesh of her lower lip when something beyond what she had felt just now made her burns explode, a touch of something liquid that brought no relief at all and merely make the exposed nerves twist in agony and beg to stop existing.

Unable to keep tears away, not even bothering with them, the girl let them run… Somehow, Jessica saw those and crouched at her side.

"Helyse… Are you crying?". She blinked, tilting her head to the side as if seeing something her mind couldn't fully process. "I never saw you crying before…".

"Never knew she could cry…". Someone muttered, but Helyse didn't know who had it been right away. Her mind was dizzy, it hurt to think…

Jonathan kissed her face.

Her wrist was numb with pain. As if afraid she was falling asleep, there was a stronger pain on it as Amelia passed a wet cotton on it. Whatever it was, it wasn't for healing and the girl's head went up, a scream sounding muffled when Jessica pulled her hair and kept pulling, as if to tear her scalp away.

"You can't sleep, Hell! It will be horrible if you sleep!" Jonathan cried with despair as he held her abused flesh, pressing it, suffocating it. "We'll be here, we'll take of everything!".

"Let me go… Leave me alone…" Why was she even talking? Pleads and tears wouldn't move them anymore than her protests and truth, she knew this… And suddenly, there was a giggle among the wish for screaming, just because her body couldn't take it and just her mind keeping the sound away from becoming real…

Because she had protested and pleaded before, not to Krueger, but to other person…

And she had protested and asked back in school too, to be left alone…

Did that ever work?

But now, they believed they were helping her and themselves and every possible prey of Krueger, so they would go through with this until the end, whatever it was.

"What is the end? Will there be an end?".

Jonathan looked at her with pity, but not enough to break his decision. He muttered words of comfort while burning and burning her skin, even when it was too weak to hold the blood and Helyse didn't even try to understand what he said as it was so useless.

"We could have stolen the keys of your house and left you there tied up, no one would know" Above her, Amelia said as she hit the same spot over and over with a heated cigar, wearing skin away. It was hard to feel, her nerves too lost in pain and this time, there was no actual reason behind this…

Oh, they did believe what they were doing was for the best, but Helyse knew the reality, so there was nothing…

"So, thinking like this, Krueger should have picked someone others would miss, but perhaps he did this to you because of the circumstances! Oh, Helyse, I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner" She sounded regretful, but also somehow cheerful as if there was comfort in the thought that Krueger had finally, in some level, made a mistake.

In her anxiety for results, perhaps Amelia wasn't even fully thinking about the results of what she was doing and was merely… Doing it.

The brown haired one had just said they were friends, so why and how she continued to abuse the flesh of her back, as if merely experimenting how long the burns hurt and what to make them hurt more, as if in a duty? Helyse knew the only way she was being cut or whipped was because those would leave more evident marks and shed blood… Pain was all her body knew and she could no longer fully recognize where the center of its birth was…

Trying to mutter something, Helyse's voice barely worked as her throat hurt. However, it did work to call the other's attention.

"Helyse?".

They leaned to her, vultures anxious for whatever carcass they could get their talons on. Deep in her mind, Helyse doubted they would actually stop… But her nerves were unable to even appreciate the moment of their distraction, as there was no relief she could feel…

Oh, if at least their insanity would fill gaps of lies and give them ideas based in just some words of hers, if there was this chance…

"Fire. He died by fire…" Trying to force her brain to come up with something alike a theory, she went on. "Despite being what he is now, he still hates fire, so…".

"Oh, we figured that out already, silly! But we also know this isn't enough to end him! But that's fine, you're speaking of this, so we're having some progress!" At each word, more pain.

And Helyse had thought she was (and could even had been!) in love with Jonathan! She had trusted him… Trusted them all. Considered Amelia to be her first friend, worried about them all, in a way she hadn't done in years! She had let them touch her heart and now… Now…

She just wanted to leave, she just wanted to go home!

Jonathan once more kissed her skin and the effect would have been the same if he had cut her. He smiled, eyes glassed and injected with sweet insanity and… Pride. As if she had done something very good just now.

"Thanks, Hell! See, you're fighting it too! I knew you're stronger than this! Remember what we told you? He would pay for hurting you? It was a promise, and we meant it!".

Something snapped in her, releasing a cry that went pass the caring if Mark would force something in her throat.

"He didn't do ANYTHING!" Nothing in the levels they thought, at least and she had told them over and over, why couldn't they just believe her? Jonathan had said he loved her, but didn't love imply also trust? Her anger managed to last just a few moments.

"OF COURSE HE DID!" Jonathan yelled in her face, the obsession for something, anything, breaking whatever self control he had left. "THAT BASTARD DID, WE WON'T LET HIM KILL US! WE WON'T LET HIM HURT ANYONE ELSE!". The hand on her wrist was firm against her flesh, the fingernails digging it to uncover blood.

"I would even bet he did something before your accident. Maybe that's why you were… Like that" Someone else said it. Amelia? Jessica? Did it matter?

However, the words pulled memories of everything Krueger had done… Moments when she had cried for death… And she would have liked to say what happened now was nothing next to all he had done, but…

It wasn't as such.

Oh, they had been more in impact, in pain even, however this reality was far from being something free of hurt. It reached her in places and ways Krueger hadn't been able to.

"E-Enough…" Jessica came into view as she stepped away, arms falling along her body, hands shivering. "I don't think this is working out, guys… Can't we… Can't we just?".

Jonathan turned to her, his hold on Helyse once more becoming sharp.

"Do you want to give up? To see us all dead? She needs this, she needs us!".

The blonde denial with her head at once, a look of dread before the idea. Helyse remembered her, screaming she would do all to keep her friends save, that they wouldn't die…

"No, of course no… I… It's just…".

"It is the only way, Jay! We're not enjoying this either!" But Mark's touch on her wounds, something in his voice, told of different emotions. A sigh was heard from Amelia.

"But I'm not sure is working that well either…" Helyse felt the girl passing her hand through her hair. In her struggling, it had fallen lose from her braid.

"She spent too much time with Krueger. This may have helped her to get more resistant to pain… We won't get anywhere like this!" Mark cursed as Amelia wet to the small table, crouching to get something.

"I wish we didn't have to go for this…" She commented bitterly as she stood. In one of her hands, she had a lighter…

"NO! ENOUGH! Don't do this, please…" Helyse cried as she felt the strong hands of Jonathan releasing the ropes of her ankles, the skin breathing coming alive again as Jessica took her shoes off and Mark crouched at her side. The girl saw, for a moment, red lines along her flesh, trying to kick without success. Her legs were weak and the two boys were stronger than her. Pulling away the end of her pants, Jonathan and Mark held each ankle and pulled them a bit, pressing. Her heels felt the coldness of the floor.

"Don't be nervous, we won't let it for long…" Amelia promised as she crouched in front of her feet. Mark nodded and Jessica was behind Helyse, hands on her shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm sure we're almost there…".

Both boys pressed her ankles with more strength. Amelia, the lighter lit, put it near Helyse's feet… The girl struggled, cried, aware the discomfort of the heat would soon turn into something new.

"Helyse, what did Krueger do? How can we get rid of him?".

Sweat dripped in her face, mixing with tears. The heat was bruising, unbearable…

"Think about a lie, something else that they will believe…".

"I told you, fire… He…".

A scream couldn't be stopped as the flame touched the middle of her foot sole, before going to the membrane uniting toe and finger of the left foot. Jessica's hands were stronger in her shoulders as though she was a misbehaved puppy.

The lighter destroyed the skin, crossed it to go to muscle and nerves connections, stopping impulses with heat. The smell of burn flesh filled the air… The nerves struggled processing the pain and it went up her legs, up her veins…

"We know that already!" Jonathan reminded her.

"And fire wouldn't do shit… Does he think we're idiots? It's got to be something else".

Amelia put the flame away. Helyse panted, lacking strength, lungs afraid of working…

"Fight it, Helyse, you can do it" Jonathan encouraged her. "Break away from his grasp, come to us. Remember what you saw… I know this hurts, but it may be hurting him too. Use it, use the pain to break away…".

Helyse couldn't protest there was no sense in this, as her mind was too tired and frightened to make a thought into words, she had to think about a lie!

The flame approached her feet once more, whose skin shivered anticipating more agony. The strength Jonathan and Mark applied in her ankles rendered her immobile, allowing Amelia to place the fire with the exact precision.

Behind her, hands over her burns, Jessica still asked.

"What did you see? What do you know?".

"No… Nothing…" The word escaped her out of her control. Anyone would know people in pain are not confessing, merely saying anything to be left in peace… But Helyse had not even a lie to lean on, they didn't want something that could work, but an exact weakness, something solid…

As part of her flesh turned into a red mass that would give birth to blisters, the girl cried just to have Jessica's hands going to her mouth before the plastic bag was back in her face. The girl, weak, didn't try to understand if those words had been referring to what they were doing to her or about what she supposedly knew about Krueger…

The flame went away, Helyse panted as the plastic freed her face. Part of her mind tried to make up a lie, but she lacked strength now…

Oh, if at least she would lose conscious… If at least she fainted…

Jessica leaned, face at Helyse's side and watching her. There was a certain sorrow in her gaze, along with a kind of curiosity.

"She is really crying… Guys…".

"Don't mind it!" Mark muttered, not even looking up. "We talked about this, she doesn't feel like us".

The fire was once more on her skin, devouring it. And once more, she cried…

The smell of burned flesh made her remember her first nightmare with Krueger… Krueger who…

Who…

The flame went away once more. It didn't matter, the pain remained. At her side, Jessica continued with questions her mind didn't bother to proceed.

"Thought you had called me" This voice echoed in her mind, cutting through a mist. He had said this when… When had it been? She didn't remember, even though it felt so obvious. What had she done to make him say that?

"To the devil…" Jonathan cursed in exasperation, turning his eyes to her. Mark did the same as his eyes burned with impatience, as if they were before Kruger himself and not Helyse.

"Helyse, please, tell us… How can we hurt Krueger? How can we get rid of him?".

Helyse turned her gaze to them… Through her tears, things seemed to be seen through a dark crystal.

She spit in Mark's face.

A sound stopped the air.

The girl shivered, the side of her face cold with the shock for a moment, before being taken by heat of the slap. Mark had stood up and hit her.

"Mark!" Jonathan growled in warning, green eyes full of anger. "Don't you fucking dare…".

However, Helyse started to have something alike an idea in her… But… Oh, what she was thinking about? It was ludicrous!

He would laugh at her… But… But what other chance did she have?

"Fuck it…" The redheaded whispering upon seeing what he had done. "Oh, shit, Hell, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to, I swear…".

Amelia shook her head to this, holding Helyse's ankle that Mark had released. The girl looked disgusted by what she had done, doing her best to not look at Helyse's feet. The hands in her ankles were cold and quivering.

There was a moment of silence, save by the barely held sobs from Amelia and the broken breathing of Helyse. Until Jessica suggested.

"Should we try… Breaking her fingers?".

"Hey!" Jonathan protested. But it was all Helyse heard… In her state, her mind was unable to focus in what was happening around her, too caught up in her pain…

This was her only chance…

"We need to finish this soon, let's try a bit more and then…".

Maybe… Just maybe…

Forcing herself to recall words that felt buried in the depths of herself, forcing her voice to work even with her tongue muddling a bit the words along with the sensation of a mass in her throat, Helyse kept a low tone.

Between some words, she coughed, the taste of puke going to her mouth.

O-One, two... F-Freddy's coming for y-you...
Three... Three, four, b-better lock your door...

"Helyse?" Mark sounded surprised and leaned to her. "What are you?" Realizing she was muttering a song, he looked to Jonathan and Amelia while Jessica stared at the girl as one would to a mentally ill person who could, at any moment, turn violent.

Five, six, grab your... Crucifix...
Seven... Eight... Gonna stay up late...

"Guys…What… What is she?".

"Helyse, shut up! Please!" Amelia cried, more to tension the song caused her rather than for understanding what Helyse was trying to achieve.

Nine... Ten... Never... Never sleep again...


Ana: Thanks everyone for the support in the last chapter due to the rude message I received. As I said, I don't mind when people are just honest when saying they don't like the story and why, but there are times when limits are crossed. Well, as I said it, I'm not giving this up. Plus, we're nearly the ending!

Helyse: Did this chapter have any purpose besides torture?

Ana: Well, Jonathan and the others finally went to the deep end. Fear and paranoia can lead people to do quite horrible things and lack of sleep doesn't help.

Krueger: Let me get this straight, she called me to help her?

Helyse: Don't be full of yourself, I was at the end, it was all I could think of.

Ana: It is sadly ironic when the guy who hurt you and tried to kill you is the only one you can call for help.

Helyse: Who do I have to thank this for, again?

Ana: Details.

storybook thumb: Thanks for the support. I honestly can't say if this was a flame, considering the stuff said. I don't know why someone would go to this level of… Well, insult and hate. Still, as I said, I won't quit.

Helyse: Yeah, she just showed this… But burning my feet, do you even know how much this hurts?

Ana: Part of the plot, okay?

Helyse: What plot?

Ana: I'm glad you like the story and I swear, I'll finish it. Once again, thanks for the support. Well, let's just see what happens now after Helyse got into this mess, then =D

Anon: Cakeee! Thanks! Cake always makes things better!

Helyse: Oh, damn, she has candy…

Krueger: Do you guys even know how much a big ant she is when it comes down to sugar?

Helyse: Hey, at least share! We're working in this place!

Ana (just eating the cake): And this is how Nirvana is closer to us! Thanks, I really wanted that to be a creepy nightmare. And honestly, people-turning-into-puppets/dolls always had a scaring vibe to me.

Krueger: At least it worked enough.

Ana: The genre of my novel would be horror.

Helyse: And zero people were surprised…

xQueen-Of-Applesx: I must admit I like it too, even if they give me a headache. I guess this is one of the reasons why people shipped them… At least Krueger doesn't complain as much now about it.

Krueger: Hey!

Ana: It is true.

Helyse: Let me complain in his place then, there is no way I'll…

Ana: You called him for help, Hell. Do I even NEED to start?

Helyse: Oh, shut up, it doesn't mean anything!

Ana: I don't know if this is one of the best, but I have fun with it! And yes, not abandoning, but going until the very end! Thanks!