Chapter three—Here on Elm Street

            "…and may Hallie Marie Long, rest in peace."

            Kai was in pure shock. What could have happened? He had been there just a while before, loving her, protecting her!

            Michael hugged Kai, not speaking for a while, "She'll be okay, man. She's safe now. And you'll be okay. Look, I don't know what to say…I'm sorry, man," Michael said.

            "But you don't know what happened, dude. I had just been there, what—maybe an hour?—before. I was there and I could have saved her! I could have killed the bastard trying to get to her, and now it's all my fault!" Kai shouted, crying as he slinked down to the floor. "And I didn't save her, what kind of boyfriend am I?" he yelled, standing up and pounding his fist across a tree. "She was so sweet, so innocent, and that bastard fucking murdered her!"

            Michael stood, speechless for a moment of time, "I know, Kai…but it wasn't your fault. It wasn't Hallie's, it wasn't yours. How were you to know it would have happened?"

            Kai looked at Michael, listening closely, still with tears down his face.

            "I'll leave you for awhile," Michael said, and he turned around and left.

            Walking home was nothing out of the ordinary…sort of. That is, if you call meeting with two girls telling you about some torched maniac nothing out of the ordinary.

            "Taryn told you about him. She told you," came the voice of a girl no older than fourteen, no younger than twelve. "I'm sorry about your girlfriend…"

            "Who are you? How do you know about Hallie?" Kai shouted, waiting for whoever the girl was to come and show herself. "Show yourself, don't be a coward!"

            "…No need to shout, I'm right here," the voice came from behind. Kai spun around quickly, and there was none other than a young, pretty blonde girl with long wavy locks, wearing nothing but a nightgown. Why she was in a nightgown at one in the afternoon, Kai didn't know, but she was. Right behind her was Taryn, the same girl from class, yet again decked out in all black. It was definitely odd, seeing those two together, one all in white, the other in dark. Let's just say it was an odd looking pair.

            "Who are you? And Taryn, what are you doing around here…you following me?" Kai asked.

            "I'm Jennifer…a friend of Taryn's. Nice to meet you," she let out her hand for a shake, but Kai, wary at the time, did not return it.

            "How did you know about my girlfriend? You killed her, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU??" Kai screamed.

            "No, goddammit, ya moron! There's a funeral just around the corner, you think we wouldn't have seen it—" Taryn snapped back, rolling her eyes. She had a temper.

            Jennifer, a bit quieter, more patient, interrupted Taryn. "Taryn, never mind that. He just lost his girlfriend; he's probably a little shaken up—"

            A little shaken up? Kai thought sarcastically. Goddamn right I'm a little shaken up? YA THINK?

            "—I know we were."

            What the hell did she mean by that? Kai thought, but spoke nothing of it.

            "Kai, we didn't kill your girlfriend. But he did. Freddy did," Jennifer explained.

            "How do you know? Are you helping him or something?" Kai was definitely cautious, slightly nervous.

            "God, you're getting to be really annoying," Taryn sighed, "You sure are useless, aren't you? Don't be such a moron. Can't you see we're trying to help you? It's Freddy…that guy I told you about. You even saw him, Kai," Taryn said, trying to make him understand what to them was obviously an easy concept. To Kai, however, getting the facts wasn't that simple. Even years before, really, it had been difficult making people understand, let alone believe.

            "Holy shit, don't start that again! Besides, my parents never torched any psycho…" Kai said, losing his calm and his rebuttal.

            Jennifer nodded. "Your parents didn't. They're parents did. Years ago, all the families were avenged…except for two. Two of them moved out of Springbrook, two of them were never avenged. And now that they're back, there's one down…and one to go."

            "…me."

            "…you, yeah. And he's stronger now. He can get more than the children of his killers…he can get anyone, as long as they're here on Elm Street," Jennifer continued.

            "Allright, this is too much…so what's he gonna do, kill my neighbors?" Kai asked sarcastically, but the girls were not fazed.

            "My guess is he'll go for your friends first, you know, cause you a little pain," Taryn explained. "But it's you he wants."

            Kai rubbed his eyes, closing them a bit to think things through. "So, what do I do, go and…and…"

            The girls were gone. Once again, Taryn and this time her friend had disappeared. Kai blinked, now unsure of whether he had imagined the whole thing. Maybe, maybe not.

            "Listen, Michael, have you been…noticing anything funny going on lately?" Kai asked the next morning. He, Michael, Tara, and Damian were all talking a bit before school a few days later. It felt so different, not driving Hallie to school, not having her nearby. Aside from that, Kai was exhausted, barely having slept the night before, surely not enough to have dreamt, anyway.

            "Nope. Not a thing," Michael and Tara alike replied. Damian, rather quiet, said not a word.

            "You haven't met any weird girls, haven't dreamt about a…a Freddy Krueger?" Kai asked. Michael and Tara did not seem fazed, yet Damian…there was something in his eyes; something giving Kai the feeling that Damian wasn't being sincere.

            "Freddy Krueger? What the hell's that, a pasta company?" Michael asked, obviously clueless.

            Kai rolled his eyes. "Dumbass. He's this freak psycho, you dream about him…I think he got Hallie."

            "Nonsense," Tara said. "Some creep killed Hallie. How would you know who it was?"

            "Yeah, some creep got her," Kai agreed. "Some creep that killed her in her dream that goes by the name of Fred Krueger."

            "Listen, Kai—" Tara began, but Kai interrupted her. He couldn't stand Tara, anyway, he just wanted Hallie.

            "No, I don't want to listen. Look, I don't want him killing you guys, Michael, Damian," he paused, clearing his throat. "…Tara. Not the way he damn near ripped Hallie apart. So tell me…you haven't dreamed anything, have you?"

            They all replied with a no, but something about Damian…it wasn't sincere. Damian was extremely clever, and would have probably been able to word out a perfect lie, but Kai figured Damian had not given this a thought. Something in the way his voice quivered, something about the quickness he had to deny the dreams tipped Kai off, surely.

            "Well, alright…" Kai said, still not convinced but not wanting to make his friends think him crazy. Besides, it was class time. Once more, but in private, he asked Damian for the truth. Again, he was denied.

            Damian was a good guy, though. A bit small in comparison to his friends at only 5'7'', he showed that size proved nothing over courage. Only he, Damian, had the wits to stand up to bullies even Michael had never imagined. And sure, they had kicked the shit out of him, but that didn't mean Damian didn't outsmart them in the end. Red haired and skinny and looking nothing out of the ordinary, Damian was not considered "the man" to hang out with (which he relatively cared nothing of), but he was an undoubtedly good friend.

            Well, class was alright. No Taryn, no killing, no Freddy. No sleep, at that. Kai was even starting to believe the girls, whoever they were, they sure as hell knew their facts about Freddy. Kai had his writing, Tara had her shopping, his step-dad had his alcohol…they had Freddy. Well, everyone's got to know about something.

            Later on, walking home, Kai took the long way, through the playground. He didn't completely choose to, but it was as if something drawing him to it. There were some girls jump roping in the park…to the Freddy song.

            Note to self: Avoid these kids.

            There was also a game of baseball going on. He didn't know why, but Kai felt he had to talk to them. He just had to.

            He trampled up the field to speak with the team at bat while benched. Oh yeah, and he tripped along the way, but hey, at least he got there.

            "He's an athlete, isn't he?" the boy next to him said, pointing to the boy at bat. "Ron Grady," he said, shaking Kai's hand. "Team captain, most guys just call me Grady."

            Kai nodded, introducing himself. Grady was tall, just a bit taller than Kai himself, and handsome with a dark tone to him. He had medium length brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin. Average, in a way. He was definitely built for sports. Grady further introduced the other guys, there was a Phil, two Erics, a Joey, a Mark, tons of guys, and all…vaguely familiar.

            "This fine gentleman next to me is Rick Johnson, great guy," Grady continued, pointing to an average sized guy with a warm, open face.

            "Hey," he waved.

            "…And the athlete over there is Glen Lantz." Grady said, pointing.

            Glen Lantz? Now, surely, that one was familiar.

            "Is he related to the old Lantz couple?" Kai asked, "I live next door to them."

            Grady paused, not speaking a word. Finally, he shrugged. "They've met."

            Kai dared not ask more in fear of sounding nosy. He knew the Lantz's had only one boy, murdered years ago, but he couldn't remember the boy's name. Besides, it wasn't like there was only one Lantz family in the whole world.

            Glen was a small guy, maybe around 5'9, but he looked fast. He looked smart, and his handsome face was friendly; he looked like a nice guy. Kai figured he could have any girl he wanted, he just looked like that. One of those too perfect guys, you know? Glen waved, and went back to his game.

            "What school are you all from?" Kai asked. He didn't recognize any of them. Definitely not Springbrook High.

            "Springbrook High."

            No fuckin' way. Hell no.

            "Really?" Kai asked suspiciously, "I've never seen any of you there…"

            "We're from around," Grady assured.

            "Alright…well, I'd better get going," Kai said, standing up and waving. "Nice meeting everyone."

            The guys smiled, they were quite friendly, like a good group of kids. A little weird, but nice.

            As Kai left the park, he turned back one last time to look—but they were all nowhere to be found. All that was left were the little girls.

            Kai squinted, unsure of what he was seeing. Or unsure of what he was not seeing, more like it. Boy, people sure did a hell of a job at playing the disappearing act nowadays, didn't they? And it seemed as if the more time progressed, the stranger things seemed to get. And who the hell were all these people, anyway? In the last, what, two days, Kai had met more new people than ever in his life!

            He continued walking home, sure he would probably run into at least one more new person before he reached his house. But he was wrong. It amazed him, really, but he actually was able to get home in peace! Now, it was at home that was an issue. Sitting on Kai's front porch was none other than a small black girl, wearing huge glasses over a bony, thin face, and decked out in ten times oversized overalls.

            "I was expecting this…" Kai started. "Who are you? And what do all you people want with me, anyway?" He panted, having run home and now was without patience. He mindlessly ignored her of any answer and bolted through the front door. It was no use. As he ran up to his room, he noticed she was already there.

            "The name's Sheila, since you asked. And all we want is to help you," she said, turning toward the door and starting to leave. "But since you don't want it…"

            "No! Wait!" Kai yelled, but it was too late. Just as the others had, she disappeared out of nowhere.