The Springwood College Library was relatively quiet when Doug walked in, not that he minded it. While he averaged out having about two hours to kill before he would've left before heading for the high school, he knew today was different because he knew his mother was driving Faith all the way to the outskirts of the town. Despite this, he decided to still leave at the time he mentally noted in his head as a way to keep the routine going because he knew after today, he would be the one to pick up the teen, even though it was Friday, and the weekend was approaching.
The day thankfully was uneventful and apart from having had Mark in one class and Donald in another, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Though Doug did find it surprising that Mark and Donald had not brought up Freddy at all, but he guessed it was for the best, not wanting to bring up anything about a monster that was meant to try to keep quiet from any children, even keeping the information quiet from anyone sitting in the classrooms of Springwood College. It also gave him a much better gage on their personalities. Doug found Mark to be pretty easy-going, laid-back, and even at times humorous while Donald was similar to Doug himself but more chill in comparison.
He found an empty table then took a seat, taking out his homework for the day, first starting with algebra. It wasn't horribly complicated, and it didn't take him very long, no more than about twenty minutes not including double checking his work, though he did suppose he would double check his work a third time sometime after heading home. After that, he moved onto history.
He was nearly done, having worked on it for precisely twenty minutes and had one question left to answer when he noticed Chloe take a seat beside him. He looked up at her, seeing her looking slightly slumped over, likely still reeling over Jake's death, and he couldn't blame her. He suddenly remembered Chloe's blog that Faith mentioned, but he didn't want to straight up ask her on the bat. Given Chloe's state, Doug figured he would have to be gentle trying to get to the topic he wanted to ask the blonde young woman about.
"Hello Chloe," said Doug, keeping his voice gentle.
"Hey Doug," smiled Chloe, turning to him though Doug was quick to notice the sadness in her voice. "How are you? You look a little rundown."
"I'm alright," he answered. "Just was up the whole night, the first half keeping an eye on Faith who was asleep and then after that, pretty uneventful— "
"Why was Faith asleep?" wondered Chloe, eyes widening in alarm, even her right now hushed voice was slowly building of concern. "Falling asleep is danger waiting to happen."
"That was Faith's idea," answered Doug, shuddering slightly. "She has her driver's test today and she was worried she would fall asleep during the test or something, so she chose to sleep and I kept watch over her. Bastard hurt her again." He shuddered again, remembering when he saw the wounds on his little sister, he hated remembering it. "And also by Faith's idea, she chose to 'balance it out' in her way to call it by having me go to sleep tonight and she watch over me."
"God damn, your sister is a saint," laughed Chloe.
She paused for a moment then looked over the sheet of notebook paper that was cover by Doug's handwriting.
"Is that US History homework?" she asked.
"Yes," answered Doug as he went to write on the sheet of paper again, being his answer for the last question he was working on. "From Professor Curtis."
"I have Curtis too," said Chloe. "She's got a way to engage you. Definitely better than Granger, he bored my ass to death, I'm pretty sure I spent most of his classes writing on my blog. Even Mark says Granger's classes are boring."
Doug didn't expect Chloe to quickly take that turn, but that was the opening he needed. He just didn't want to upset her.
"Speaking about your blog," he began. "I know we've been doing our part to figure out what Freddy has going on. Faith found your blog on that research and noticed your recent post."
A considerable amount of silence between the two as Chloe tried to find what to say. Despite the phrase "recent post" being used, Chloe knew exactly what Doug meant. Her eyes widened in surprise, hardly expecting him to tread in that direction. However, having remembered that day when she had to print the information for the Knight kids, she decided it was best to lend Doug an answer.
"Oh," she said at last. "Usually, I use that blog to talk about my music. But that time, I felt like I was warning people, wondering if anyone saw this information. No one has spoken to me about it nor have I heard anyone say anything about it so while I'm led to believe perhaps no one else read it and are safe, but I don't want to believe that on the face. I've actually been even considering deleting the post all together."
"That's probably your safest bet," suggested Doug, turning to the twenty-one-year-old. "The more people know about this, the more they're at risk. I know even Faith's worrying herself sick about having some extra blood on her hands, would be bad if I had a similar thing."
Chloe nodded, completely understanding Doug's words. While she never outright told anyone and neither did Jake, she couldn't imagine being in a similar situation. Even though Jake was dead, she couldn't spread the information like this. If it meant deleting her blog post about Freddy all together to ensure safety, then she would do that without question.
"You're right," she said, taking Doug's hand. "No one else should suffer like this. I'll delete the post sometime after I get home."
Doug was surprised see how well Chloe took the entire conversation. He chose not to elaborate any further and instead went onto put his history homework away, already have finished it.
"You finished your homework already?" wondered Chloe, choosing a different topic. "Damn! Smart jock, aren't you?"
She laughed, jabbing her elbow to Doug's ribs.
Doug couldn't hold back a short and quiet laugh. The young woman sitting next to him wasn't wrong. He was remarkably smart and while he did tend to double check his work a lot, he generally finished his homework fairly quick. He just didn't like to boast about his incredible intelligence that was on a slightly higher level than his incredible patience. However, the "jock" part caught him by surprise.
"Where did you get the jock part?" he asked.
"That was Mark's little joke," giggled Chloe. "But to be honest, given the crazy amount of Wattpad stories I read for morbid curiosity and then dying of cringe to the point Jake gets concerned as hell, apart from a few things, you're the picture-perfect Wattpad main male character. Well, without the shitty personalities that most of those assholes have. You're so much nicer."
"Faith did tell me something like that is where he gets uncomfortably interested in me while he takes pleasure in torturing me." The twenty-year old shuddered, remembering Faith telling him about Freddy's increasing interest in him. He found it downright disgusting.
"Eww, that's disgusting," grimaced Chloe. "Though I shouldn't be surprised. Similar situation with Donald. It's creepy and gross."
Doug nodded before taking a different tangent.
"How are you?" he asked.
"I'm alright," answered Chloe, shrugging. "Still doing my damnest to stay optimistic and try to survive for Jake."
Doug understood.
"I'm pulling for you to survive this mess," he said.
Chloe smiled.
"Hey you two."
Chloe and Doug turned to see Donald making his way to the table, taking a seat on the other side of Doug then tossed his backpack on the table.
"Hey!" Chloe sounded incredibly cheerful to see her friend again.
"Hi," smiled Doug though in a much more subdued manner than the young woman next to him.
Donald frowned slightly when he noticed his acquaintance's troubled expression.
"Doug, you okay man? You look like you went through one of the high levels of psychological torment since I last saw you earlier in class."
The twenty-year old shrugged.
"It's just that things have been kind of crazy to say the least," he said. "I know my sister has her driver's test today and of course that monster had to hurt her again while she was asleep— "
"Asleep?" Donald's eyes widened in alarm; he was just as concerned for his younger acquaintance as her brother was.
"It was her idea," replied Doug, his tone teetering on weariness and worry. "She was worried she would fall asleep during the test today, so she decided to sleep last night, and I kept watch over her. Though she also felt it was fair for me to sleep today while she watched me."
Donald inhaled sharply; he could tell Doug was probably soon going to worry himself sick. He knew Doug and Faith were very close and almost attached by the hip, a greater extent to how he'd seen Chloe and Jake's relationship along with his own relationship with his older sisters and even one of his older cousins Chuck. Regardless of whatever family, he knew they stuck with each other through any means.
"Is she okay?" he asked.
Doug began to feel a shiver down his spine when he remembered the recent injuries Faith received in her dream. Even through her sass and snarky personality in the entire situation, he knew she was just as troubled as he was, and the thought terrified him. Taking a deep breath, he brought his knees close to him, his sneakers touching the seat, but he didn't care.
"Honestly, as she puts it, as okay as she can be in her situation," he replied gravely.
He paused for a moment then looked up at his two acquaintances. Even through their understanding looks, he could tell they were still shaken, especially Chloe, though Chloe had already stated how she was. He turned to Donald who he hadn't spoken about everything since Crave Inn.
"Enough on me for now," he said. "How are you, Donald?"
Donald had a feeling this question was coming but it wasn't any easier for him to grasp. He had been having these nightmares for several weeks now, but everything only became scarier.
"Still shaken by everything," he said. "None of it makes sense. It's been weeks and I still don't know why this fucker is around. None of us seem to know which is scarier than anything else."
Doug shuddered at this, he remembered when everyone in that friend group including Donald and Chloe mentioning having seen Freddy for weeks. He knew he and Faith absolutely had to crack down on how Freddy was brought back. Their only clue was the internet, mentioned by Freddy himself.
Doug knew at this rate; he was going to continue trying to find answers. He would do it as soon as he got home, he was just about done with his homework anyway, though he knew college classes tended to be a little easier on the homework in the first week or so. He would also continue to find any alternatives if bringing Freddy into the real world didn't work, even if it hurt him to think about the possibility of it not working. He had to try.
"I'm with you there," he replied. "You have another class coming up?"
"I do," said Chloe currently checking her phone. "Shit, in seven minutes. See y'all later."
She got up from her seat then turned to leave the library, leaving Donald and Doug alone at the table.
"I don't," answered Donald. "Actually finished for the day. What about you?"
"Same," replied Doug. "I actually plan to leave in about an hour and a half as it's gonna be kind of routine since I would leave here anyway to pick up Faith starting next week. Maybe we can meet up here from now on until that time."
"Sounds good," smiled Donald, placing a hand on Doug's shoulder. "At least it feels safer to discuss Freddy stuff here than in classes."
"Exactly," agreed Doug, taking his sneakers off of the chair from his previous near curled-up position. "Would hate to spread anything."
— — — — —
Faith had walked into English, her last class of the day. The past few hours had been uneventful, thankfully. She wasn't sure whether to feel grateful that she was no longer really alone after the deaths of Mandy and Jake or to feel unnerved that two random people knew about Freddy who had decided to confide in her.
While she marveled the fact that the day had been relatively kind to her, not including her driver's test that was happening later today, was not expected to last. Despite this and despite her self-induced isolation, she was in a chipper mood. She still was and she was surprised it lasted this long, though she supposed that finding other things to keep herself occupied had been enough to keep her from daydreaming.
The raven-haired teen found an empty desk at the second row towards the middle then took the spot, internally laughing to herself that the surrounding desks were currently empty. She wasn't so much finding humor in being alone in general but rather the lonely feeling that was slowly beginning to creep up in her was becoming so profound quickly and the current circumstances that had been happening in the past few days did not help her case. It was also funny that this sudden feeling was beginning to creep up despite her being cheerful.
Cheerful and lonely, how the fuck did you coexist in me? Real cute.
She hastily grabbed out her materials for the class then put them on the desk even though class had not started yet. Better to be prepared.
She took out her phone then begin another round of writing fanfiction on her notes app when she suddenly heard someone.
"Hey."
She looked up, first looking to her right, desk empty. She turned to her left to see a dark brown-haired teenage boy. While he did look handsome, Faith wasn't so concerned about that, she was more worried about making sure she didn't accidentally tell him about Freddy like she did with her best friend.
"Hi," she said. "What's up?"
"Not much," replied the boy, shrugging. "Other than I've been hearing weird stuff is going on and honestly, I don't want to know. My parents said it's too dangerous to know what's going on. Yesterday was a special kind of strange."
"Oh yeah," recalled Faith, shuddering at the memory of seeing Mandy's corpse. "That shit was bad. Completely nuts how they sent us and Springwood College home and temporarily shut down businesses nearby. I'd rather not go into the details about yesterday."
The teen brunette nodded. Seeing the girl look troubled by the topic, he went for a different approach entirely.
"Oh, I should introduce myself," he said, raising his hand out to the black-haired girl. "I'm Theodore, Theodore Carpenter."
Faith couldn't help but smile as she reached her own hand out.
"I'm Faith, Faith Knight."
The two shook hands as Faith was now grasping the next possible acquaintance she met since Mandy and Jake's deaths. First, she met Charlene and Kristen at lunch, now she met Theodore Carpenter in her English class before it even started. Maybe she was finally getting the acquaintances that her mother was suggesting for her to get, but she knew she still had to be careful.
At the same time as the handshake, Theodore's eyes lit up in surprise.
"Oh, my parents, the twins, and I met your parents Damien and Layla," he said. "Y'all are our next-door neighbors! They spoke pretty highly of you and your brother."
"My mom mentioned y'all and the Englunds being our next-door neighbors," said Faith. "I'm new here. Came here for Columbus. Mom got a new job here so yep."
"Oh yeah, your mother did mention she got a job at Westin Hills or something. How are you liking Springwood?" Theodore's somewhat chipper tone began to falter slightly.
Faith noticed this but she didn't want to push him into trying to say why. She barely knew this guy anyway.
"Apart from the weird shit you mentioned, it's not so bad," she replied, shrugging. "A little different than what I was expecting but I didn't expect too much anyway."
Theodore nodded then placed his hand under his chin then stared at the wall almost longingly. Faith noticed this and this time, she decided to reach out.
"Dude, are you okay?"
Theodore shook out of his slight trance then turned to Faith.
"Sorry," he apologized. "It's just that, in that weird stuff that I'm certain it all came from, my ex-girlfriend was a casualty, Chrystal Smith. I mean, we did break up this past summer but on decent terms. I miss her. She was a good friend. All I knew was that recently before her death, she did complain about nightmares, but she wouldn't tell me because she said it was too dangerous to know, not that I blame her."
Faith noted the evident sadness in the boy's voice, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She couldn't put her finger on why, but it all felt so similar to when she was beside Doug in his most vulnerable times. However this time, she had to be careful with lending a hand to Theodore by refusing to tell him about the situation on her predicament much like what Chrystal Smith had rightfully done.
The raven-haired teen placed a hand on Theodore as a sign of her reaching out, an offer of acquaintanceship.
"I'm sorry about your friend," she said softly. "She had every right not to tell you what's going on. Weird shit aside, I guess you can say you got a friend in me."
She saw his eyes widen in surprise then smiled. She decided that this rate, maybe there was hope for building friendships among people around her own age since Jake and Mandy's deaths. First Charlene and Kristen, now Theodore.
The only kind of ship she decidedly counted out was Reed. She wasn't really sure what to consider him as apart from just as classmate. He was kind of nice, but he had also tried to see what was wrong with her after everything with Mandy's death which she deflected from telling him everything because of her fears of putting him in danger, only for her to find out during lunch from the two girls that he too just about knew about Freddy. It wasn't so much that she didn't like Reed, it was more so that he tried to prod at her when she absolutely refused to for his own safety.
Faith now had to pinpoint another mission, this one to be careful by not saying a single word about Freddy to Theodore. Though she had to admit to herself even though she found it awkward to hear her mother bring it up earlier today, Theodore was pretty cute. However, she would tread through her third new acquaintanceship carefully and she was already looking forward to the rest of the day to come.
— — — — —
It had been about an hour since Layla picked up Faith from school and the two were now in the waiting room for Faith to get called to start her driver's test. Faith had earlier told her mother about Charlene, Kristen, and Theodore which her mother was proud of her over, wanting her to make some new friends.
Layla knew the absolute strong friendship between her daughter and her best friend, but she also knew that with Mallory attending college at her young age, the two meeting each other in school was unlikely. She remembered when the two had met in a youth creative writing club when Faith was nine and Mallory was eleven. The two practically became almost as inseparable as Layla's own children.
Layla had already since filled out her daughter's information, though this one with more confidence than she had with her son's. She supposed things got easier with the second child though Doug was also incredibly helpful, she had to credit his incredibly patient and compassionate personality.
Faith, out of boredom and any attempt to entertain herself until she heard her name get called, took out her phone, intending to write some more rounds of her fanfiction, opened it only to see two text messages that she noticed had only been sent a minute ago. She found if hilariously unsurprising but incredibly kind to see who the text messages were from. She first read the first one.
Best of luck on your driver's test today, Faith! Make me a proud father and I'll come home to a proud daughter!
She smiled at the text from her father. Despite the brief words, they were just as poignantly welcomed. She went onto send a quick reply.
Thanks Dad! Will do! :)
After sending that message, she read the second message.
Wishing you the best of luck on your driver's test, sis! Even though I'm not there right now, just imagine me cheering you on. You got this! Here's to the strongest woman I know!
From your supportive and loving brother, Doug
Faith couldn't help but smile at the second text. The message looked like it was straight up something out of what he would write in someone's card, though she had to hand it to him. He was her biggest supporter and she long since swore to herself that if there was anything she had to bring up to anyone, he was the first to know. She was quick to muster up a reply.
Thanks doofus!
After sending the reply, the teen was just about to tap on the notes app when a cool male voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Faith Natalia Knight."
"Make me proud, Faith," said Layla as she watched her daughter stand up to leave the waiting area towards the back of the building, no doubt where the driver's test was happening.
Layla had already sent her good luck and she knew her husband and especially her son had sent their good lucks.
— — — — —
The house was unsurprisingly quiet when Doug arrived home about an hour and a half earlier. He checked his phone to see a reply from his sister, thanking him in the way only she could.
Thanks doofus!
He laughed then put his phone back in pocket, having already long since finished his homework and then earlier finished his double-checking, decided that now was the time for him to continue gathering what he could. He figured that even despite that Freddy was purposely withholding the answer, he would do what it took to at least come close to finding an answer himself.
Currently sitting by his desk with his laptop open, the twenty-year old typed Freddy Krueger 2017 in the Google search bar, hitting enter on his keyboard, then opened another tab typing how to kill a dream demon on the search bar before hitting enter. This was going to be an interesting round of research though not as spicy as Faith's, he mused to himself.
Taking a deep breath, Doug clicked on the first tab, thank goodness he made sure to filter any information from years before that had nothing to do with the current year given that he'd seen multiple cases of something he'd sometimes search for in a current or certain year end up with results nowhere near what he was looking for. Only six results had popped up, four of the six were ones Faith had already found earlier.
He right clicked the two other results, one titled Freddy Krueger Holy Shit 2017 and the other titled Freddy Krueger Is Back 2017, occasionally referring back to the article Chloe printed the other day. He had to try to find some kind of link going on with the only clue being the internet sitting at the front of his mind. He was now trying to decide which of the two additional tabs to click on first.
DING DONG!
Doug was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the doorbell then looked out his window to see an Amazon truck by the curb. He turned to head downstairs then went to open the door to see a small package by the front porch. He almost questioned it but then realized that was it might be a book of traps Faith had searched for the other day then sent to their mother.
He took the package then shut the door, locked it, then placed the package on the counter, believing it was best for his mother to be the one to open it. Then again, it would be a while before she and Faith would return home, but that didn't matter.
Sighing, he headed back upstairs to his room to continue his research, hoping for two things. One to not fall asleep or daydream and two to find at least more adequate information that would at least get him closer to an answer if he got any at all. He knew this would be difficult, given that he knew it had been twelve years since Freddy's last round of attacks and seven years since very similar events happened.
— — — — —
Faith wasn't sure how long it had been since she was first called in but that hardly mattered to her. She was just ready for the test to begin at any moment.
She was currently sitting in the driver's seat in her mother's car after taken a somewhat brief written assessment before she would get to actually her behind the wheel. She didn't want to leave any bad first impressions for whoever was going to assess her so instead of taking out her phone which she would've done in normal circumstances, she took to looking and assessing the locket she was wearing.
Holy shit, why does Doug have to be so sentimental?
The teen mused over this, having long since known her brother was incredibly thoughtful. It wasn't just him being the eldest of the two but knowing he had already gone through teenage-hood and besides her parents, he had been the one to guide her way through it.
She then wondered if he had taken on doing any research himself, she vaguely remembered him mentioning something like that. She hoped he had better luck finding anything than she did, knowing that the bastard haunting her dreams was purposely withholding the answer.
Faith looked up, just in time to see an average-looking what she assumed a forty-something-year old man walking up to the window of the car. She quickly unlocked the car then the man opened the door to let himself in. He turned to her before he spoke.
"Faith Knight?"
"Yep, that's me." Faith nodded.
"I'm Don Holbrook, your driver assessor, but you can refer to me as Mr. Holbrook. Any questions?"
Faith shook her head.
Mr. Holbrook gave a slight nod in understanding then looked down at his clipboard he was holding, his eyes widened slightly.
"And you're from Springwood?"
"Moved to Springwood a few days ago from Columbus," replied Faith her tone rather chipper. "But yes, I'm from Springwood."
"I remember Springwood," recalled Mr. Holbrook, his easy voice faltering slightly and become more somber. "Haven't been there in seven years. Was last there for my ex-wife's funeral. Whatever happened in that town that murdered her and terrorized my daughter, it's not pretty. I'm glad my daughter is away from that town and is now happily married and letting her art shine."
Faith couldn't help but feel bad for the man. Given what came from his mouth, Springwood was starting to sound more sinister.
"I'm sorry about your ex-wife," she said softly.
Mr. Holbrook nodded, as if accepting her sympathy.
"Springwood has bad history all over it," he continued. "I'm a good friend of your father's. When your father told me that you were moving to Springwood, I was supportive, but I was also scared for your family. Springwood has especially been cursed for kids, especially for ones around your age. I'll save the rest of the story until after your test. Are you ready?"
Faith smiled.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
— — — — —
Doug clicked on the first open tab from his initial search page. The page turned out to be yet another Blogspot.
Do kids use Blogspot that much?
The twenty-year old wasn't too sure but he didn't want to draw conclusions from a tangent far from the one he was currently focused on. He went to carefully read what appeared to be one single entry from a username called LuvPressure69.
Entry by LuvPressure69, AKA Sharon Mights posted August 24th, 2017, 7:08 AM
So, I have no idea what the hell compelled me to vent on here, but I figured this'll be fun, except for the subject matter I'm venting about. I've been having these weird dreams in the past several weeks. I don't know what the fuck happened, all I knew is that Weston told me, Chrystal (someone should've hooked those two up after Chrystal broke up with Theo), and Jake that Freddy is coming for us and that was weeks ago. I thought he was just hysterical or something but after that first dream I had of that asshole, I'm not so sure. And fuck, Weston and Chrystal are dead and this bitch ass in the sweater was telling me he wants Layla but would have to make do with playing with her children until he kills them too in the future or something. Does this bastard think this is a game? Besides, I don't even know who this Layla is or her kids. Weston never said someone told him, but he did find something regarding that shithead while scrolling through some wholesome anime fanfiction. That's all.
LuvPressure69/Sharon
Doug inhaled sharply; a shiver began to run up his spine. Did Sharon Mights basically confirm that it seemed like Weston was the one who was heavily involved in Freddy's return after twelve years? Even though he still decided digging more into his research would be a good idea, a terrible concluding realization was beginning to hit him.
He knew Freddy was purposely keeping the true information of who brought him back from telling him until he and Faith were in the same dream, but that didn't stop him from trying to dig into possible conclusions. He already knew Freddy was brought back through the internet's involvement, but he also remembered a recent conclusion from Mark the other day that this Weston kid was involved.
Did Weston Heights bring back Freddy Krueger using the internet?
Horrified by his likely realization, Doug suppressed a gasp, now clicking on the second open tab to a different website. He knew this was getting critical. He had to tell Faith and the remaining survivors who knew about this.
Much to his horror and disgust, the website he opened up turned up to be a T-shirt website with five shirts shown, all with the same red and green pattern. The text was incredibly simplistic on each shirt but with what appeared to be in the font Chiller. From left to right, the text on each shirt read; Welcome to Prime-Time Bitch, Freddy Krueger is Back 2017 Bitches, Ready for New Fresh Meat 2017, More Incoming Young Millennial and Gen Z Fresh Meat, You're All My Children Now.
Shuddering from the horror that came from seeing this completely out there, the brunette clicked to his next Google search tab, now hoping for better results.
— — — — —
Faith wasn't sure how much time had passed but that didn't matter to her. She was currently driving in a neighborhood about ten minutes away from the building, being rather careful with her speed, especially with now seeing kids playing around and even some random late afternoon joggers and walkers.
She earlier breezed through checking the lights on the car with no issue and to top it off, she didn't have a huge amount of trouble with parallel parking even though she found the process rather annoying. Even the driving backwards and regular parking has been without trouble. Her parents had especially prepared her well and even her brother had put some inputs himself.
The raven-haired teen had already pulled up her impression of her assessor Mr. Holbrook. Apart from seemingly like he'd been through quite a lot, he seemed to be genuinely friendly who while was professional, also seemed like he had a knack for wanting to put his testers at ease, not that she was nervous.
"I remember also assessing your brother about four or five years ago," piped up Mr. Holbrook, breaking the mostly silent time. "Douglas, I believe it was."
"Yep, that's him," replied Faith, still keeping her eyes on the road.
"He was a really good driver, though he seemed to be too careful at times."
Faith almost laughed at the comment, having long since known about her brother's cautious mindset. "Yep, he's been like that. Can't fault him for that."
"Sounds like you know him pretty well."
"We're pretty damn close." She stopped at a stop sign. "He's like my best friend apart from my own best friend."
"I don't blame you for saying that. I still remember my conversations with him, and he spoke pretty highly of you."
"Even though I'm the sassy no-filtered Knight child as opposed to Doug being the quiet and cautious Knight child."
After checking both ways to be sure she was clear, Faith slowly began to accelerate her speed. Even through her noticing the occasional time Mr. Holbrook wrote on his clipboard, the conversation was nice. Though she wasn't sure if it was just simply an extra challenge or if he just wants to be friendly for whatever reason. Luckily, she had no instances of nearly falling asleep even though it was tempting. She was tired but she refused to risk this and adding an extra opportunity for Freddy to weasel his way into her psyche.
"You're doing pretty well so far," said Mr. Holbrook.
"Thanks," laughed Faith. "Good to hear even though I'm running on barely much sleep. Springwood is giving some fun stuff."
"You mean Fred Krueger?"
Faith stopped at another stop sign, this time a little harder than before out of horror. She hadn't expected Mr. Holbrook to bring up his name like that.
"How do you know about that?"
Mr. Holbrook took a shaky breath before he gave his brief answer.
"I've come to Springwood a few times for business reasons, and I've heard his name before. I came by here last week and there was the talk again, all amongst adults."
Faith mouthed an "oh shit" as she checked to see if she was clear to go, to which she was clear to go. She now was letting it sink in that apart from her parents, Maggie Burroughs, and Neil Gordon, Mr. Holbrook was another adult who Faith herself had interacted with who knew about the Freddy stuff.
"I haven't told anyone though," continued Mr. Holbrook, an air of sternness and concern etched in his voice. "Not even told my daughter Nancy nor her husband Quentin. It's best for them to not get involved in this mess, especially Nancy."
Faith didn't ask for further elaboration as she continued to drive further down the neighborhood carefully.
— — — — —
Doug tried to look through the second Google search tab results he had open and only one article result popped up. The title read My Story of Dream Demons by Doc posted in 2001. He clicked on the article, noticing that apart from the post being from the year 2001, there was no specified date which caused him to raise his eyebrow slightly in suspicion, but he couldn't dwell too much on suspicions. He had to see what was going on in this article and if there any other answers about destroying the monster in his dreams permanently. Shifting his position slightly, he began to read the article.
Throughout my years of interest of studying dreams and specializing in dream therapy, I've made many discoveries. However, at the time I am writing this, I have recently dealt with a very different dream phenomenon that was unlike anything else. For confidential reasons, I will not disclose the individual's name that I will bring up momentarily. I have always been fascinated by dreams, but the entire topic of the "dream demon" was something that especially intrigued me. I won't go into too much details on that particular subject, but the "dream demon" was tied to an individual who had committed terrible crimes in his previous life. I had first stumbled upon this individual during dream therapy, but I ripped off a piece of that fucker's sweater and then when I woke up, the piece of the cloth was still in my hand. After making this discovery, it was up to me, my coworker Maggie Burroughs, and a shelter resident Tracy to end this individual's acts once and for all. While I unfortunately had found no other way about dealing with these particular situations, I can say the experience has taught me a lot.
Doug stared at the article, shaking his head. This was unfortunately another round of unsuccessfully finding any other way to destroy the bastard attacking him in his dreams. And to top it off, who was this "Doc" anyway? Doug wasn't sure but he did consider one thing if there was really only one way apart from likely turning his back on Freddy which he refused to do because he didn't want anyone else getting hurt. He didn't want to straight up lose hope, but it was starting to become close to being inevitable and the thought frustrated him.
If there was no other way around finding other ways to destroy Freddy that didn't involve turning backs on him, then the initial way the twenty-year old and the teen had stuck to in the beginning had to work.
Sighing somberly, Doug closed his laptop, still keeping the tabs he had to show Faith when he had a chance to. Though he didn't want to intrude in the middle of finding out if Faith had passed her driver's test or not. He took a seat on his bed and was about to do yet another round of checking his homework which was nearly sprawled on the bed when he heard something he had expected sooner or later.
DING!
Doug stood up from his bed then took his phone from his desk. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the home screen on his phone to read the text message he received.
— — — — —
Ten Minutes Earlier…
Faith was quite glad that Mr. Holbrook kept his talk about Freddy to a minimum. Not that she hated it, but she didn't want to fully dwell on it while she was focused on the road. However, she had a feeling that the test was coming to an end.
Mr. Holbrook, while having not brought up how many points he'd taken off nor given, did offer up some comments. Though the teen had to laugh at the man's comment on that while she was careful, it definitely wasn't to Doug's extent to careful. Though she decidedly chucked it on the trait on carefulness being one of the few things that differentiated between the two siblings.
Before she realized it, Mr. Holbrook went onto direct her to the lot where she was when he first came into the car. She did so with little trouble then after stopping at the lot, she put the car on park then put on the parking brake. Mr. Holbrook turned to her with a somewhat warm expression.
"In general, you were definitely solid out there on the road," he said. "No major hiccups at all, just some minor things including going only slightly above the speed limit in a few areas but other than that, nothing too bad."
With that said, he got out of the car then walked inside the building. Faith, having well-noted the test's conclusion, had decided to take out her phone then opened the notes app to write a little more of her in-progress fanfiction. Even despite being tired, she was rather surprised that she went through this test with little issue, though she figured Mr. Holbrook would give her a brief lecture about driving while tired.
Time seemed to fly as Faith was typing away on her phone, periodically looking up just in case Mr. Holbrook ended up returning to the car. She only vaguely remembered the process when Doug had his driver's test roughly five years ago and the details were kinda foggy. She remembered having gone out to the mall with her friend Mallory and while Doug did give good details, the details had overtime gone foggy.
The one thing for sure that the black-haired teen kept in mind was regardless on if she passed her test or not, she'd make sure that Doug would be the first to know. Speaking of Doug, she began to wonder how he was doing, if he decided to clock in some extra research, she felt bad for him, especially that given that even despite him noticing her troubled state of mind, he'd also shown he was just as distressed. She knew she would have to do her damnest to stay up for him, she owed him that much after she long since laid that deal without question.
After what felt like another minute, Faith looked up to see Mr. Holbrook making his way to the car. Faith quickly shoved her phone back in her pocket as she unlocked the door for the man then he let himself in the car, turning to her still with that easy warm expression on his face.
"After going through everything and scoring everything during both tests," he began. "You passed."
Holy shit!
Faith swallowed hard to keep her composure, but she smiled wide, pleased to hear the news.
"Holy cow, thank you." She kept her voice level but also snuck in some of her excitement.
She paused for a moment, seeing Mr. Holbrook looked as pleased as she was. She though knew she would have to offer up her warnings to him after having heard what he mentioned earlier.
"Also," she continued gravely. "Whatever you do, tell your daughter not to return to Springwood. It's bad there. Don't tell her anything on why, she'll likely be in danger."
Mr. Holbrook nodded then gave her a goodbye as he exited the car then signaled to the teen that she was clear to go.
Faith went onto to exit the area then began to find a decent parking space in the parking lot. She found the process a little more troublesome, but she did manage to find a parking spot then put the car on park then put on the parking brake. She knew what she had to do next.
She pulled out her phone from her pocket then opened up the text messages app. She first tapped on the only directed to Doug. She could barely contain her excitement when she began typing away.
Hey doofus. I got some pretty awesome news. I passed my driver's test! Also, I got some spicy stuff to tell you whenever it's just the two of us. Just be ready for that!
After sending the text, she then went to the text messages only to her father. She then began to text.
Hey Dad! I got fantastic news; I passed my driver's test!
After sending that text, the teen shut off the engine then got out of the car, putting her phone in her pocket. After locking the car, she walked briskly to the building's entrance, fighting to keep her excitement at bay, wanting to surprise her mother.
After entering the building, she found her mother still in the same seat as before. Now it was real, she had to tell her.
"Hey Mom."
"Hey, sweetie, how was it?" asked Layla as she watched her daughter take a seat right next to her.
Faith turned to her mother, taking a quick making sure that she had her attention to her. Taking a deep breath, the teen was ready to reveal the news.
"I passed my test."
Layla nearly jumped up from her seat, but she kept herself down, but she definitely didn't hold back her excitement.
"Oh Faithy, I'm so proud of you!" She wrapped her arms around her daughter for a good few seconds before letting her go.
"Don't fret, Mom," said Faith. "I told Doug and Dad."
"Let me guess, you told Doug first?"
"Hell yes."
The mother and daughter duo laughed. Shortly after, Faith decidedly checked her phone. She noticed she did get a reply from Doug.
Faith, that's fantastic! Tell me everything or whatever you can when we see each other in person again. Also, you're kind of scaring me about the spicy stuff.
Faith quickly replied to the text.
I will. Also, don't freak out on me, man.
After sending that, barely two minutes passed when she felt her phone vibrate again. She looked at the reply, unsurprisingly finding out the reply came from Doug.
I'll try not to. Also, I also found some stuff to tell you as well.
Faith didn't hesitate to reply.
Oh, holy shit! I'm ready, dork!
She sent the text, just when she heard a ding from the intercom and then the cool male voice called out her name again. This time, both mother and daughter walked over to the desk that called the teen.
— — — — —
Doug felt the intense split between the excitement for his sister and the dread from the likely conclusion he earlier came up with. He was just now texting to Faith's reply.
Okay. It's just all quite horrifying to put it lightly.
After sending the text, he put his phone back in his pocket then took a seat on his bed, still wondering what the earlier information he found could all mean. He was unsure what to make of his current state of mind, the intense back and forth between excitement and dread. The intensity of his dread only caused a shiver to crawl up and down his spine.
Deciding not to dwell too much on his realizations, Doug went to do more double-checking in his homework. It hadn't been the first time he ended up finishing his homework for the weekend before it even started but he took a fair amount of time to double check it, courtesy of his incredibly careful mindset.
After looking through his homework for what he had to guess thirty minutes, the twenty-year old heard what sounded like someone using their keys to unlock the door, catching him by surprise. He got up from his bed then walked out of his room, heading downstairs.
By the time he made it downstairs, he saw the door open, and Faith came running in the house then threw her arms around the tall young man. The force of Faith running for him almost made him fall, but he extra-steadied himself then wrapped his arms around the teen, the two siblings were hugging each other.
"Holy shit, I can't believe I fucking passed," gasped Faith.
"We're all so proud of you," said Doug. "I knew you could do it. We all knew you could do it."
"How about dinner at Crave Inn?" piped up Layla who was smiling as she watched her two children hugging before the two let each other go. "I already suggested this to your father and he's up for it. He should be home in about an hour."
"Cool," smiled Faith.
She turned to her older brother.
"You said you wanted to show me some stuff?"
He stiffened ever so slightly but he gave a slow nod then silently gestured to her to head upstairs to his room. He took the lead, though he was already becoming anxious at the thought of telling her his conclusions. The dread was pulsating in his veins, but he knew he had to tell her.
…
The revised chapters of Doug's Encounter, A Conversation, and Vivid are up.