Chapter 7
The Nightmare Society

They were all that was left from the time that could remember those who chose to remember and keep guard on any who strayed. They were the last to have actually seen the nightmare man, to have felt the heat of his hell and the pain of his knives. In resent months the entire student population of Springwood had become believers as well. When they woke in their dreams lost inside a house their parent's always warned them to stay away from. It was then that they knew it was time to band together even in their darkest hour to protect one another from the nightmares.

That was at least what Andrea told her. Melissa was just trying to make since of the emotional hell she had been put into the few short days she had been in Springwood.

Now it seemed she was on a scavenger hunt, trying to find some clues to her dreams, the voices, and history behind it all. It all seemed to be leading her somewhere, although she wasn't sure where. At the moment it was leading her down the street to Maple Avenue where Andrea told her to meet her after school. There were some people she wanted her to meet, some people she promised would help her, and perhaps she could help them.

Melissa looked down the quite street, it all seemed so peaceful and bright, it was hard to believe it was once the same town Andrea had told her people where killed in. But then again, who was Andrea? Melissa didn't really know her, how was she sure everything she was telling her was true? It all could be a joke on the new girl in town, to get her to believe the insanity. Still she kept riding, bike braked at the drive way near the stop sign, it had a brown roof and door with and oval frosted glass in the center. 'This is it.' She thought to herself and got off her bike and pushed it the rest of the way up the drive and parked it next to the garage. She then followed the flag stones up to the porch and rang the door bell. Melissa waited and looked through the glass. She saw a shadow emerge from the hall and walk up to the door. The door opened and Andrea smiled. "Come in" she said and turned away, Melissa followed and closed the door behind her.

Melissa looked around the immaculately decorated hallway. She could only guess how well decorated the rest of the house was. Andrea didn't stop to show her the 'grand tour'. Instead she headed straight to the kitchen. "Grab a pop out of the fridge if you want." She said and went to the drawer next to the sink. She grabbed a few items Melissa couldn't see and went through a door in a near by hall. Melissa did go to the fridge where she grabbed a diet soda and also went to the door in the hall.

She opened it and looked down. She listened. "Are you sure about this?" she heard a voice say below. It was not Andrea, but a boy. "Yes, I know what I'm talking about." Melissa cleared her throat. "Andrea" she called. "Melissa!" she answered, "come on down, I have some people I want you to meet." Melissa gripped the cold soda can nervously and stepped down the stairs. When she cleared the ceiling she saw that there were many more then once voice down in the basement. There were five more people in fact.

"What's all this?" She asked.

"The people I wanted you to meet." She replied. Melissa stood frozen on the stairs looking in to the eyes of the other kids who looked at her with caution. Andrea had to step forward and lead her the rest of the way down. "This is her, the one I've been telling you about."

"Well then, let's cut the crap and get to business." said the boy. "She knows the big evil, so let's see what all she knows."

"Matt, it's not that easy." said one girl seated on the couch. The entire basement was furnished like a small club, with a bar and stools and pool table in the corner. Melissa could have laughed. Other then the geometry lessons that could come from a pool game, Andrea didn't look like the pool table type. It must have belonged to her parents.

Andrea looked back to Melissa and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "These are the people I told you about. We call ourselves the Nightmare Society." Melissa nodded those to look at them they just looked like a bunch of kids out on a Friday night.

From behind her another kid came crashing down the stairs. He had dark hair and blue eyes, his jacket unzipped half way, sweat stained shirt underneath and a very panicked look on his face. He didn't even seem to see Melissa standing there, but pushed past her out of breath and near tears. This brought them all crashing down to earth.

"She's dead!" he said. Melissa blanched. Andrea turned from her once marvelous introduction to another school book end trying to control her life. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Lara." He said trusting a paper at her. It was the afternoon addition of the local paper. "The bastard got her." Andrea looked at the paper, and the blond girl on the cover.

She read aloud "Lara Lyn Larson was found in her garage early in the morning by her mother Carla Larson. Police have confirmed the death as an accident. A combination of an oil slick in the garage floor caused the young girl to slip and fall upon a garden rake Tuesday evening. Mrs. Larson says she came down stairs when she heard her daughter call for her mother's help. Mrs. Larson then proceeded to the garage where she found her daughter impaled upon the rake. Paramedics attempted to revive the teenager but she succumbed to a punctured lung. Police suspect no foul play and service will be arranges at the Springwood funeral home later this week. Lara Lyn was a student at Springwood High School. This would have been her senior year. Mrs. Larson says her daughter hoped to move to Los Angeles California after school to attend UCLA." They all sat in silence.

"That was a bunch of bull," said Andrea. They all looked at her gravely. "I mean she wanted to go to Harvard, not UCLA." Melissa could have hit her, but didn't know this Lara girl to even suggest it.

"That's not the point!" cried another girl. She had long red hair and was already crying. "Lara was supposed to be here!" The boy who had run in leaned over and began to comfort her.

"We can't let this get to us." said Andrea. "We can't let him get to us."

"What do you suggest we do oh wise one?" Melissa asked sarcastically.

"I say we open you up, and see what makes you tick." She replied.

"I say you quit yanking my chain and tell me some truth or I'm out of here." Melissa said back bitterly. Her head hurt from lack of sleep and she wasn't in the mood to take anymore tricks.

"Fine, then I'll tell you. Have seat, this could take a while." Melissa sat in big cushy chair in the corner and waited at the others joined her. Some had to regain their composure, and fight back tears. When they were all seated facing her Andrea began her story.

"We are what are left from."

"Skip the theatrics and give me details." Melissa cut in.

"Fine." Andrea said shortly. "His name was Jacob Johnson. His mother was Alice Johnson. She was the last one to face Freddy Krueger."

"And you know all of this how? A fortune cookie?" Melissa asked.

"No, from me." said a dark skinned boy. "And I heard it from my sister Yvonne."

"Oh and this is something she tells her little brother before bed, isn't it." Melissa said bitterly. There was something about this whole mess she didn't like.

"No, she told me after I started having nightmares." He replied. "When I was little, I told her I had a boogie man in my dreams. When I told her what he looked like she told me about Freddy Krueger, and how he had almost killed her until she released the soul of his dead mother to stop him, but he didn't stay away. She told Alice about my nightmares and that is when she found out that her son Jacob was having them too."

"But before you get there you have to tell her about the others, Troy." said another girl.

"Fine, you tell it, Lana." Troy replied.

"It all started with a girl named Nancy." When Melissa heard the name she flinched.

"I don't want to hear anymore." She said and stood up. As she past them a hand grabbed her from the couch. "You have to listen."

"I don't have to listen to any of this." The hand pulled harder and when she looked back to who held her she screamed. She was looking in the pale face of what could only be a ghost. The persons face had a shiny film on it, its eyes were clouded and its dark hair lay stringy down to her shoulders. Melissa jerked her arm away and ran for the stairs. Andrea cut her off at the steps.

"What did you see?" Andrea demanded. "What do you know?" Melissa turned back to the others still seated on the couch; the dead girl was not there.

"I've heard them." She replied. "Nancy, Rod, Tina.." But before she said anymore she knew from the looks on their faces that she was right. They had not even told her the names, yet she already knew them. She had confirmed everything they needed to know and they had confirmed her fears. "I'm being haunted."

"Alice Johnson left with her son after the nightmares started again. The dream power she had gotten from Kristen Parker had past to her son, and at his age he could not control his dreams. She left town and when she did the nightmare stopped."

"But they have started again." Melissa said fighting back tears.

"Yes, and we don't know why, But I think you do."

"No, I don't." Melissa pleaded. "I'm not from here. I've never been here. I don't know why I'm having nightmares."

"It's like you said." Lana said. "You're being haunted."