Disclaimer: I do not own Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger, or Springwood & I sadly & unfortunately do not make any money from these writings.
Chapter Two: Friends, Family, & Something to Look Forward To
Kali quickly threw on a pair of red and black Tripp pants remembering to take the straps off of them so she wouldn't have to deal with them getting caught on things at school. She threw on the first shirt she grabbed out of the closet, which was ironically her Nightmare on Elm Street shirt. It was black and the front said in red 'Freddy's got my back.' And had a red print of Freddy's glove scratching down the back. "Figures…" She said aloud to herself as she looked down at her shirt then pulled a red arm warmer over her left arm to cover up the bruises on her wrist and a long fingerless glove on her right that went past her elbow. Over the years after she was burned, she began collecting arm warmers and gloves to cover up her scars.
She put her wallet in her back pocket as she slid her feet into her shoes and rushed across the hallway into the bathroom and brushed her hair and washed her face. She never really did anything with her hair it always stayed straight so all she had to do was run a brush through it and tuck it behind her ears. Grabbing her keys and backpack from her room she locked her door behind her knowing Cindy, her little step sister, was notorious for going through her things when she wasn't home.
Her Mom was in the kitchen setting a plate of bacon on the table. She looked like a forty-year-old version of Kali only her hair was cut rather short. She was in her green hospital scrubs from the night before. She always got home from work at six or seven in the morning. Cindy sat at the table eating a pancake smothered in syrup. "Morning Mom." Kali sat at the table and helped herself to the bacon as her Mom smiled at her. "Hey I wanted the first piece!" Cindy whined. "Cindy…" Her mother warned. She pouted and put another piece of pancake in her mouth as she watched Kali eat the bacon. Cindy's dirty blonde hair almost touched her plate as she ate. She was a little chubby for her age and had grayish brown eyes.
Stupid whiney little brat child. Kali thought as she glared at Cindy from across the table. She was eight and always demanded attention. Luckily for Kali she had taken more of a liking to Trudy. As Kali drank the orange juice her Mother had set in front of her on the table Trudy entered the kitchen.
Trudy was two years older than Kali and her blonde roots were starting to show from beneath her black dyed hair. She was wearing a tank top that had several holes in it revealing her bra and pierced belly button, with a ragged jacket over it covered in pins and patches. Her faded jeans had been cut along the bottom and had an extra piece of fabric sewn between it making the bottom of her pants large enough to completely hide her large boots beneath. Metal studs stuck out of her nose, lips, and eyebrows. Kali's Mom eyed her in disapproval but said nothing and returned to what she was doing at the stove.
"Sissy can you take me to school today, pwease." Cindy pleaded smiling at Trudy. "Whatever…"
"Trudy be nice she just wants to spend some more time with you before you leave. It's your last day here, be nice." Kali's Mom pleaded.
"Fine." Trudy glared at her through her hair. Now that Trudy was twenty she decided that she was going to move out and live somewhere far away from everyone else. Kali was glad she was leaving, all she ever did was cause problems for her mom and was a bad influence on Cindy. Plus she still hated her for pushing her into the fire when she was younger. Then right after Trudy's dad, Kali's step dad, died she tried to kill Kali blaming her for his death. She couldn't be home alone with her for over a month after that, she couldn't wait for her to leave.
Kali finished her orange juice and put her glass in the sink avoiding Trudy's cold stare. As she headed for the door her mom stopped her. "Kali are you coming home after school today?"
"I don't think so… I think I'm going to hang out at Angela's for a while before I come home. Is that ok?" She asked already knowing what the answer was going to be. "Yes, that's fine, see you later." She said giving Kali a hug before she left out the front door. Kali could hear Cindy yell goodbye from the kitchen but ignored her and jumped into her car. She headed to school with her music blaring anxious to find Angela and talk to her.
Kali walked through the courtyard to find Andy and Angela sitting on the steps outside the cafeteria. Andy waved and Angela had a huge smile on her face. Kali raised an eyebrow at Angela. "What are you so happy about?"
"We got a little surprise for you!" She reached into her backpack and pulled out a flat piece of metal and held it out to Kali. She took it and looked at it. It was a street sign labeled 'Elm Street'. "Where did you get this?" Kali was surprised.
"I found it…" Andy smirked. "… it's from my neighborhood I figured you'd like it so we stole it this morning."
"Wow thanks you guys." Kali hugged them both then joined them on the steps. She turned to Angela. "I had the strangest dream last night after you left. I lost control. And I saw him, Freddy…" Kali began.
"Are you talking about your crazy dreams you two have together?" Andy asked sounding slightly annoyed. He didn't really like their obsession with dreams. "Yes, but she wasn't there when this happened." She explained.
"What do you mean you saw him?" Angela asked confused. Kali went over everything that happened after Angela had left her alone in her own dream. "Wow that's really strange that you could feel pain and smell things that's definitely not normal. The only reason you couldn't pull me in was because I was probably already awake. I had to get up early so we could go and steal the sign. Maybe next time something like that happens you can pull Andy in." Angela looked to Andy. "Screw that I don't want to be a part of your weird dream cult thing."
"It's not a cult! It's lucid dreaming and mutual dreaming, haven't you ever had a dream where you can control what's going on around you?" Kali asked becoming annoyed.
"Maybe a few, but I don't see why you too are so obsessed with it. And you're creepily obsessed with those stupid Nightmare on Elm Street movies." He grumbled.
"Never mind… well I'm off to my locker. See you two later." Angela walked off towards the lockers.
"Why does it bother you so much that I like those movies?" Kali asked.
"I don't know you know me I don't like horror and …" Andy's attention drew to the red arm warmer on her left arm. "…why are you wearing an arm warmer over your good arm?" He questioned.
"Because I wanted to…" Andy's eyes narrowed and he pulled it off of her arm. His eyes set on the bruises around her wrists. "How did you get those? Please don't tell me they're from your dream." He pleaded.
"Actually… they're from Evan…" Kali looked down ashamed. Evan was her sad excuse of a boyfriend. Because of him several of her friends stopped talking to her, but she still stayed with him because he would threaten to hurt himself if she left him. "What did he do to you?" Andy stared into her hazel eyes.
"Yesterday I was over at his house, I told him that I wasn't happy being with him anymore and so he pinned me to the wall and made me promise to stay with him or else he'd kill himself." Kali explained becoming sad. "So now I'm stuck with him…"
"Fuck him, if he wants to kill himself just let the asshole do it." Andy was getting angry. He was always very overly protective of Kali. "I know you're right. Because of him stupid Julia, Gwen, and Mia hate me now. Most of their friends are mad at me too…" Kali put her arm warmer back on.
Julia, her now ex-best friend, had a huge crush on Evan but Evan had liked Kali since before either of them had even met Julia. Kali wasn't all that interested in Evan until he showed up on her doorstep late one night when she was home alone. He was very persistent and they ended up having sex that night. Since then, he considered them a couple even though she rarely saw him at school and they only hung out on the weekends. When Julia found out that they were together she was furious with Kali and got her other friends to hate Kali with her.
"Fuck them, if they want to hate you for something that you had no control over let them. Those stupid snobby bitches hold grudges forever, you don't need them, besides you've got me and Angela." Andy put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. "Thanks" She smiled back. "But seriously Kali you need to break it off with him for good. He's just going to keep causing you problems. He's such a…"
Andy stopped short as he saw Evan walking towards them. He was taller than Andy and was slightly muscular with brown hair parted down the middle that stopped just above his ears. His loose-fitting blue jeans had rips in the knees and he had on a gray Volcom shirt. "Hey darling where have you been all morning, I've been looking for ya." He asked as he glared at Andy with his hand on Kali's shoulder. Andy glared back.
"Just been sitting here talking with my friends." She stood and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Heh what friends?" He smirked still staring coldly at Andy with his brown eyes. Kali frowned at him. "Me you asshole! You know you're the reason she has barely any friends left!" Andy spat at him. "Aw I'm sorry, I wasn't talking to you." He turned to Kali. "You don't need any friends. You have me babe." Evan pulled Kali into a kiss. She didn't want to but she finally gave in and kissed him back. Evan smiled evilly at Andy over Kali's shoulder. Andy was beyond pissed. Kali didn't know it but Andy had a huge crush on her for a few years now. He grabbed his backpack and stormed off. "Andy wait!" Kali yelled after him but he kept walking.
"God damn it Evan! Why do you always have to piss everyone off?" Kali glared at him. "Whatever babe, I see how it is. You prefer him over me. I'll see you later if I don't decide to kill myself." Evan walked off towards the lockers where Kali could see Julia watching them. "Evan he's just my friend you know that!" Kali noticed Evan was walking towards Julia. "You know what screw this! I don't want to be with you anymore!" She screamed after him. He turned and looked back at her with an evil grin then met up with Julia and gave her a long hug. Julia looked surprised then sent an icy stare her way. Kali let out an annoyed sigh and stomped towards her first class.
Luckily today they started watching Schindler's List in history class so she didn't have to worry about paying attention. When she got to class she saw Angela sitting in the back with Jeremy and waved over at them. Angela had the biggest smile on her face. Jeremy was your typical jock popular boy. He had on his letterman jacket and a pair of jeans. His brown hair was spiked and his green eyes studied Angela as they flirted and laughed together. It made Kali happy to see that Angela's plan had worked.
She searched for a seat and saw an empty one in the back of the room. Julia sat a few seats in front of her. Kali looked up at the door to see Wesley walk in. He smiled and waved at her walking in her direction. Wesley was tall and a little more muscular than Evan. His blonde hair was so short it stood up on its own. His blue eyes met with Kali's and was stopped by Julia as he walked past her desk. "Hey Wes why don't you sit with me today?" She smiled sweetly as Kali stared at her in disbelief. "I'm sorry I'd rather sit with my real friend instead of a selfish bitch like you." He replied coldly, and sat behind Kali. Julia sat there speechless with a shocked look on her face.
"Thanks." She smiled up at him. "Anytime, I never liked her anyways… so I heard what happened with you and Evan…" He sounded hopeful.
"You mean what happened ten minutes ago?" She asked and Wesley nodded. "Wow news sure travels fast here…"
"Yeah. So, you're finally single now, huh?" He smiled and leaned closer to her as she turned around in her seat to face him. "Yeah finally." She smiled back and he put his hand on top of hers on his desk. They both really liked each other and they both knew it. Over the past few months, they'd been flirting and talking a lot since they had three classes together. Luckily this class was the only one with any of her ex-friends in it.
Julia saw Kali and Wesley holding hands. "I'm telling Evan." She snorted. In unison Kali and Wesley flipped her off and she turned around and started whispering to the girl in front of her. The class hushed quiet as the teacher entered the class and the bell rang. The old gray-haired man lectured for a few minutes before starting the movie and turning the lights off. Twenty minutes into the movie most of the kids were passing notes or were taking a nap on their desk. Wesley had fallen asleep and Angela was passing notes with Jeremy. Kali used her back pack as a pillow on her desk and let her eyes close.
When she opened them she was in her classroom only now it was empty. She had a plan and closed her eyes. Opening her eyes she was in the strange classroom from her dream the night before. Half the lights in the room were out leaving it partially cloaked in darkness. Walking up to the white board a Freddy glove appeared on her hand and she began scratching something into it. She winced at the sound the blades made but continued to scratch her message. Backing away she examined it, it read '1, 2, 3 Freddy Come and Get Me' She sniffed the air and was greeted with the familiar scent of grass and dirt. If she could still smell things then he had to be there. "Where are you?" She screamed looking around the room. This is crazy… She thought. …there is no way he's still here, I bet I… When she looked back at the white board it was bleeding from where she etched her message and its metallic scent filled her nose.
She heard the faint clink of metal in the darkened corner of the room and headed towards it. One of the lights flickered on and revealed him sitting there on top of a desk with his head down, his fedora covering his face. As she neared him she felt the glove on her hand disappear. She was only a few feet away when he slowly tilted his head up locking eyes with her.
"Freddy?" She asked as she stopped only a foot away from him. He took in a slow breath and Kali could smell his burnt flesh from where she stood. "How did I get here?" He asked as he slid to the floor and stood only a few inches off of her causing her to take a step back. He continued to take in slow deep breaths waiting for her to answer. "I… I don't know I must've accidentally pulled you in last night… Are you ok?" His deep breathing unnerved her.
"No one's ever wanted to pull me in before. I didn't even know it was possible…" He was very aware of how close she stood to him and it made him uneasy. It's not that he was afraid of her, but being that close to another person was strange for him, especially since he wasn't trying to scare or kill her. He knew she needed to stay alive. She could bring him more souls. She didn't seem to be afraid of him, but she was afraid that he wasn't real. Which to him was odd. Only one other time did someone purposely find him, but they just wanted to use him. As his eyes ran over her he nearly laughed when his eyes set on her shirt.
"Is it really you?" Kali was getting anxious and it bothered her that she still wasn't entirely sure if he was real or if she had just done a really good job of making him up in her head. When he spoke again it almost made her jump. "You think I'm not real…" He laughed. "I'm starting to think I made you up in my head."
Kali stared back at him and was tempted to touch him to make sure he really was real. He backed away before she even reached her hand up. Can he read my mind?
"Yes, I can, but it's not enough… I need to know more before I decide if you're going to be useful enough to keep alive." He motioned for her to come closer with his blades and she hesitantly closed the gap between them. Freddy took in another deep breath before grabbing Kali and turning her so her back was flush against his chest and he quickly put one hand on either side of her head.
Kali's head felt like it had a bunch of nails poking at it and the room began to spin as Freddy invaded her mind. He held her still as she screamed out in pain and attempted to pry his hands off of her head. The feel of his skin on hers was so strange to her, she wasn't used to being able to feel things in her dream, and now her head felt like it was going to split open.
Freddy was only halfway through when she suddenly disappeared. He slammed his fist on a nearby desk and it burst into flames, but from what he had seen so far, he liked, and knew she would be more than willing to help him. He grinned evilly to himself as he walked out of the classroom and into his boiler room. For the first time in a long time, he had something to look forward to.