I am so sorry that it has taken this long for me to update, I really am. But everything has been a mess lately and in between family members almost dying and me almost loosing my right eye to a disease and school taking up all my time I haven't been able to focus on just myself in a while. But that's about to change. Here you have the latest chapter and I promise that I will put up the next one in two weeks tops.
I love you all my darlings and I hope that you haven't given up on me and my story just yet. Enjoy!
The coat is heavy and boiling so I shake it off of my shoulders, throwing it onto my bed.
"You know what? I changed my mind, you can't help me, your ideas suck." I say, turning on the doll. "I don't want this to be anything like with Sean Graye. Niles is like the brother I never had!"
The Greta-doll looked at me sheepishly. I just rolled my eyes at her, she can be so annoying but I still kind of like her.
"Whatever. Just don't give advice when you don't know what you're talking about." I say and wave my hand dismissively.
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"-and then she hit Alex in the face with the golf club. She didn't mean to do it but it still was priceless! You should have seen it." I said and laughed. Freddy looked over at me, the blue of his eye barely visible from under his half closed lids. The sun was shining and the water of the sea glittered.
"Mmhm..." he muttered and yawned slightly.
My mouth pulled into a half-frown before I sighed and readjusted myself where I was lying on the boom of the huge sailboat. "Did you know that yawning isn't mainly to give oxygen to the brain? It's actually a social signal you automatically do to show the individuals around you that you are tired. It's not because you're actually tired."
Freddy growled and pulled his hat down to cover his face. He was lying, spread out on deck. While I had dressed into swimming trunks that go to my knees and a thin unbuttoned shirt and a green tank top underneath he was wearing his regular attire of stripped shirt and trousers. The only change was that his glove was lying comfortably next to him.
"Don't you feel hot? It's really sunny today. I know, 'cause we made it so." I asked cheerfully. He shifted again, still ignoring me pointedly.
I smirked, wondering how long he'd actually be able to keep that up. "Maybe it's because you're so badly burned. Like the nerve endings disappeared or something. Can't you even feel the heat? Or cold? Maybe that's why you won't notice the fire when Lori'll pull you out of-"
"Do you ever shut up?" he finally interrupted me through gritted teeth.
"Do you ever relax?" I countered and propped myself up on my elbows on the boom, swaying dangerously for a second before finding my balance and avoiding falling off.
"What are you talking about?" he said, lifting his hat up to glare at me. "I'm relaxed now. I'm as fucking relaxed I can be!"
"No, you're not. You're just lying there to stop me from asking if we can relax. I practically had to drag you away to make you take a break. I can see your right hand flexing every time you feel someone falling into the dream realm." I said with a smirk. He propped himself up as well and glared at me again.
"So what? I like to kill. It's fun! I like to have fun! What's the problem?" he asked and smirked back.
"But you need to take a break every now and then. You don't want to run out of prey, right? Plus, if you do one thing over and over, no matter how fun it is, it will end up being a chore. Do you want killing to stop being fun? Do you?" I chided, fighting to keep the smile off my face.
"Are you being condescending?" he said and made a mock-scandalized face.
"Maybe." I replied and lay back down on the boom with my arms behind my head and my feet dangling on either side. "Don't you just hate it?"
"Just a little." he admitted. "But I feel restless. This is just a bit too.. I dunno, event less."
I slide off of the boom with a sigh and hold onto the railing so I won't fall into the water and walk over to Freddy, looking down on him with a slight frown.
"Killing is already like work for you, isn't it? Alas, I am too late to save you this time." I said dramatically and poked at his leg with my bare foot.
He ground his teeth and sat up, pulling his legs in to cross them. "I can't help it! I'm having, withdrawal symptoms or something. Look at my glove!"
I did and saw that the glove was tapping the deck impatiently all on its own. I snickered 'cause it looked pretty funny. I'd never seen a bored glove before.
"I never thought I'd have to say this to you Fred, but you need to loosen up." I said and pulled him to his feet. "C'mon, dance like no-one's watching."
He stared at me with a slightly horrified look as I jumped around on the deck, making random twirls and air kicks while snapping my fingers along with the music in my head.
"I am never dancing like that. You look like a fucking idiot." he said slowly, following me with his eyes. It's like he's watching a car accident, no matter how horrifying it looks you just can't seem to tear your eyes away.
"I know." I replied as I did a little make-believe jig. "That's why it's called dance like no-one's watching."
He gave me a thoughtful look and began tapping his foot against the floor. For a second I thought he was actually gonna do it before I as good as saw him give himself a mental slap and stood up straight. "Nope, never going to happen." he said in a final tone.
"Ahh. Come on, why not? You do know how to dance, don't you?" I said and twirled around a few times on one foot.
"Apparently I don't have to 'cause whatever it is you're doing isn't dancing."
"Touché." I said and stopped spinning in front of him, holding my arms out for a bit until the world stopped turning before my eyes. "But you know what I mean. Do you know how to dance?"
"I can waltz." he replied with a shrug.
"Good. Then waltz with me."
Freddy just snorted and turned around to climb into my abandoned seat on the boom.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked and walked over to him resting my chin on my arms on the boom.
"It means no." he said simply, looking at the small slices of cloud that drifted by on the otherwise blue sky.
"Why won't you waltz with me?" I said with a small pout.
"'Cause we don't have time. You know how long we've been just lying around on this boat? Half an hour. And it took maybe fifteen minutes to make this sea and the sky and the boat so we've been letting people live for forty-five minutes. If we were doing something productive then maybe we could take a break but this is just a waste of time." he said while sitting up. He dangled his feet down on either side of the boom, tapping me in the side with his right booth a few times.
"So, if we do something productive first you'll dance, is that what you're saying?" I asked, beaming.
Freddy frowned in confusion, thinking over what he had just said. "I don't think that's that I'm saying.." he said hesitantly.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure it was."
"Really?" he asked with a small wince.
"Yes. And now you can't take it back." I said and stood on my toes to climb up on the boom. It swayed dangerously when I struggled to get up, Freddy just looked at me, unaffected and unimpressed.
"Fine. What are you going to do then?"
"Me?"
"Well, yeah." Fred said with a smirk. "If you don't do it, you don't earn the dance, do you?"
"I guess that makes sense." I admitted and Freddy leaned back with his arms behind his head. I frowned while trying to think things up. It's not like I wasn't imaginative. No no. Sometimes my imagination could even run away with me. Maybe it's just difficult to come up with something when you have to.
"I'd like to do something like Saw." I thought out loud. Freddy cracked one eye open and gave me a puzzled look.
"Huh?"
"Saw. In the future someone will make disgusting films about people that have to do incredibly painful stuff if they wanna live." I explained. I forgot Freddy's not really from my time.
"Painful like how?" he curiously asked, sitting up to look at me.
"Like there's this one guy who has an iron maiden around his head, and it will close unless he finds the key in time." I said, shaping the death-trap in the air with my hands. "Only, the key is behind his eye, so he has to dig it out with a scalpel. It's very nasty."
Freddy snorted and leaned back again. "You could never pull something like that off."
I gave him a dirty glare. "Why not?"
The demon nailed me with a look that said 'I'm an adult and you're not so now I'm gonna share my wisdom, little girl', and I frowned at him while began to talk.
"To make someone truly afraid using pain you have to have actually been in pain. And you, Hannah, might have sprained an ankle while doing the ballet, but don't know what it is to be in pain. You can't even feel it anymore." he said smugly.
I drove my fingernails into my palms but did, indeed, not feel any discomfort even though they went through my skin. "Oh? Well, fuck you Mr. My-Childhood-Was-Crap-Cause-My-Stepdad-Beat-Me-And-I-Started-Cutting-Since-I'm-An-Unimaginative-Brat! But I believe I was hit by a fucking car!" I said loudly and hit him on his right knee.
His knee twitched but apart from that he didn't move and still had that smug look on his face.
I slid of the boom and crossed my arms, sitting down on deck. "Fine, be a bitch then."
When I thought about it, I couldn't really remember much about the accident. Maybe I was too busy thinking; fuck, oh fuck! It hurts! Make it stop! Anybody! Fuck!, to care what was happening.
"You know what," I began, looking up at Freddy, "I hope I got hit in the hip."
Freddy stopped ignoring me with a What the fuck?-face and looked back down on me. "Dare I ask why?"
"'Cause it makes your body flop around like a dead monkey. I bet I was doing combo-moves from Tekken." I said and snickered at the familiar joke.
Fred blinked slowly a few times before swinging his leg so that he kicked me over the head. "Half the things you say don't make any sense and the other half is just plain weird."
"It's a quote. Dane Cook said it. Or will say it, I guess."
"Dane Cook...?"
"God, there's just no talking to you, is there? You don't know anything!" I said and threw myself down on my back on the deck.
"That's because you take things and put them out of context all the time. Now who is unimaginative, you can't even come up with your own things to say." he said and laughed at me.
I wasn't paying attention though, a though had suddenly struck me.
"Gay crab dream..." I thought out loud.
"There you go again."
"In a joke he had a dream where he was chased by a gigantic crab. I always thought it was just a joke, like everything else. But what if I make it real..?" I said and sat up, a happy grin on my face.
"Are you listening to me?"
"I need to make a crab, and some lighting. And there's a beach right there!" I said and pointed excitedly at the sandy beach close to our ship.
"Don't ignore me!"
Suddenly I was hit over the head with a shoe. I looked up at Freddy who was missing one of his brown shoes and was looking down on me with annoyance. "What are you on about this time?" he demanded.
"I need to make a crab who's wearing loafers. And lighting coming out of its eyes!"
"Because it's a dream..?"
"Yes, the gay crab dream." I supplied.
"Nope, I'm putting my foot down. We're not making a gay crab." he said and sat up, looking at me sternly.
"You're right. We're not. I am." I said and stood up, shooting my chest out proudly with my hands on my hips.
The demon gave me a blank look before laughing loudly in a bark-like manner.
"What..?" I asked sourly as my confident stance sagged down.
"Well, I was only half listening before, but didn't you say the crab was fucking huge?" he said and leered down at me. I only nodded, not really seeing where he was going with this. "So? How are you gonna manage that? Look around you for a sec. Try to find something in this world we created that you did. That's bigger than a soccer ball, that is."
I did as he said and observed the beautiful scenery, trying to remember what I had done in it. I remember doing the seashells, they we're all kinds of colours I liked. And lots of weird shapes. But they weren't big enough. I looked towards the forest in the other side of the line of sandy beach. I saw a squirrel, clinging to the side of a tree, it wasn't very big. I had made it and a few more. Plus a flock of seagulls who were around somewhere. They barely made the cut. I also knew that the fish in the sea weren't enough either. And if I were to ball my clothes into a bundle they might be bigger but that didn't really count, now did they?
Finally I turned to Fred and gave him a nasty look. "It's called a 'Football' actually, soccer is just an American shenanigan." I said through my teeth.
He looked very pleased with himself as he slipped of the boom and leaned on the railing next to me, shoving his foot back into his shoe on the floor. "Nice save." he said mockingly "But if you can't do it you lose and we go back to Elmstreet."
I put a hand on his elbow to stop him as he looked like he was about to leave.
"Hey now, just 'cause I haven't done it doesn't mean I can't. Just let me try for fuck sakes." I said angrily. He gave me a long look before shrugging and taking a step back, gesturing towards the beach as if he was handing over a stage.
"Give it your best shot, kid."
I bit the inside of my cheek and glared at the sand. I tried to picture a crab but for some reason all I could see was Sebastian from the little mermaid, this made me snicker quietly, but not quietly enough.
"If you're not gonna take this seriously-"
"No, sorry, I'm taking it seriously." I assured quickly and put my hands on the railing in front of me.
'Come on Come on Come on. Don't be a little bitch.' I thought to myself and stared at the beach again. 'Picture it. See it. Make it. Big fucking crab.' A small ripple in the air, like a shockwave emitted from me and rushed towards land. Before it could take real shape though I could feel that it was too small, not bigger than a cat, so I drew it back. I braced myself but still stumbled slightly when it came back.
"Don't try too hard, Hannah. You might pull something." Freddy remarked with amusement from behind me. It was obvious that he wasn't impressed.
I growled and tried to see it again. My knuckles were turning white as I clenched my fists tighter around the side of the ship. 'Again. Better. Again.' As I ground my teeth together and reached out again it felt like the wave took little pieces of me with it. But it still wasn't enough so I ignored the sensation and dragged the wave back. This time as it hit me I almost fell over as my hands blew off the railing as if it had exploded under my fingers. I placed my feet far apart and leaned forward and concentrated again. I didn't even notice that my hearing was suddenly gone. "Fuck" I hissed, it had maybe been as tall as me but I was after something, more. Something impressive. Without pausing I started on a new one. Without me noticing Freddy had moved so that he was standing next to me. He was looking at the air around us as if he could see it move as I tried. Even though I felt like I was standing in a tornado, the sky was as blue as before and Fred's shirt barely moved in the wind. This time it was a big one, if I didn't make it on this one I wasn't sure what would happen when I pulled it back in. I could only just feel as blood started dripping from both my nose and ears when I gave this one all I had. Freddy had to grab onto his hat as the wave, carrying blood, skin, and flesh, rushed away from me.
Three things happened then.
My vision blurred to the extent that I could only see colours.
I saw something enormous, reddish brown standing on the beach.
My legs gave out and I toppled over the railing and fell into the water as everything turned black.
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I blinked slowly when I gained back my consciousness. I was lying on one of the sofas in the house on Elmstreet. Freddy was sitting on the floor with his back to me, a huge card house taking shape in front of him. I waited until after he let go of the cards he were using at the moment before saying something.
"How did I do?" I whispered, my voice sounding hoarse.
Freddy glanced at me over his shoulder. "Better than before. But still not all that well." He said with a snicker.
"I don't even know what that means." I murmured and let my legs fall over the side of the sofa as I made myself sit up.
"It means," Freddy said slowly, concentrating on the cards in his hands. "That you managed to make a giant crab but you tore bits of your body off and passed out in the process. Not very practical if you ask me."
"But I made it, didn't I? That was the point, right?" I said, trying to push myself of the sofa. I fell to the floor rather gracelessly.
"I guess." Freddy said uncommittedly and tugged at a card that was trapped under my elbow. I lifted my arm and rolled onto my side to sit up.
"You know what that means don't you?" I beamed.
He looked down on me with his brow raised. "I do?"
"You owe me a waltz." I said and shakily got to my feet.
"Oh." Freddy said and turned back so his cards. "No I don't."
I blinked at him a few times before frowning. "Wha-? Yes you do!"
"No I don't." He repeated. "I did owe you a waltz, but now I don't."
I shook my head incredulously. "Wait, look, okey. I must have lost some brain cells to that crab because the words coming out of your mouth don't make any sense."
Freddy let out a long suffering sigh. "I mean, I owed you a waltz, but then we waltzed and now I don't."
"No no no, we didn't waltz. I don't recall anything of the kind happening ever!" I said, swaying from side to side a bit as my legs began trembeling from the effort of standing.
"Too bad you don't remember. 'Cause it's never happening again. I took these." He said with a smirk and handed me three pieces of paper. My legs were shaking so much I decided to sit down before looking at them. But when I did I saw that they were Polaroids. Of...
"You waltzed with me while I was unconscious?! How is that fair?!" I glared at him.
He let out a barking laugh. "I don't care!"
"But what about me?" I demanded and waved the pictures at him.
"Well," he began with a smirk. "You'll always have Polaroids."
I let my arm fall and peered at him. "Was that? Did you just quote Casablanca?"
"Hm, I believe I did, yes." He said and turned back to the card house. He had to stand up now to reach the top.
I watched him quietly for a minute until the house groaned and all the cards tumbled to the floor. He frowned at the cealing.
"Fuck." He said bitterly. I scooted closer and picked up two cards and began on a new foundation.
"Who cares for you anyway? You're just a pack of cards." I said and looked up at him expectantly.
He worried his lip for a moment before sitting down. "Alice in wonderland, isn't it?"
"Yes." I said with a grin.
"Hm, they float. They all float, and when you're down here with me, you'll float too." Freddy replied after a moment of thinking.
"Um, is it.. IT?" I tried slowly.
"Ceerrect!" he said in an imitation of Pennywise the dancing clown. I beamed back at him as we continued our game.
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This isn't working; I need his help after all. I open the door and poke my head outside it. "Oi, Fred! Where are you?" After 21 years I feel like I can kind of find my way around here so I dare to venture outside my room. I find him after maybe ten minutes of hollering. He's standing at the bottom of a pit-like space under some bridges. He seems to be in deep concentration, bent over a phone of some kind, poking and prodding at it with wicked looking tools.
I walk up behind him, looking down on the odd object over his shoulder. "Freddy, what's up?" He's so surprised that he actually drops the thing. It breaks a little as it hits the floor. Freddy gives me a dark look before stooping down to pick it up.
"Sorry." I say sheepishly "What 'you got there anyway?"
"Knock knock." He says dryly. Oh, a joke! "Who's there?" I ask happily.
"Nonya." He says as he examines two pieces of the phone thing.
"Nonya who?"
"Nonya business." He finishes and gives me a dead pan look. I put up my hands in front of me to show that I surrender. "Alright, I get it. Just don't stab me in the neck, I wanted to talk to you."
He raises his brow as he puts the phone thingy away. "Stab you in the neck? Have you been spacing out again? 'Cause I haven't done that for months." Freddy was right, it had been a while. "True, true. Have you gotten nicer or have I become less annoying?" I ask and jump up on the tools table. Freddy stares at me sceptically before pulling my footing out from under me, making me lose my balance. "Neither seems very likely." He growls, peeking over the edge of the tipped table down on me.
"You're so funny I forget to laugh." He doesn't need me to laugh 'cause he's doing a pretty good job of that himself. "I was gonna talk to you 'bout something. I need your help."
He glances at me with a light frown on his face. "S'that right?"
"Yeah, I can't think of what to do with Niles. Can you help me?"
Freddy closed his eyes and rolls his head on his shoulders, craning his neck 'til it made little cracking noises, before looking back at me. "I dunno. Who's Niles?" He said moodily. Wow, I thought, I must have interrupted some really important work since he's this annoyed with me.
"He's kind of the reason why I'm here. Remember? The one that didn't believe me and pissed me off so much that I didn't pay attention and got hit by a car. That Niles. Ring any bells, no?" I try to remind him carefully.
"That one? I remember him, just didn't care for his name, is all." He says and crosses his arms thoughtfully. "Sure I can help you." He grinned and I could tell he was plotting something.
"You can't kill him, remember that!" I say and give him a look that says I'll be keeping an eye on him. "Yeah yeah." He waves his knives like it's a minimal detail.
"Let's see... I like the idea that we kill you but the impact it'll have on him depends."
"Depends on what?" I say and sit down the floor Indian-style, I love listening to Freddy when he plans things. It's genius at work.
"Depends on how much he trusts and cares for you. For example; if we pull him in here and then scare him up a bit with the usual. Some smoke, hot pipes, screeching metal, etc etc. Then he comes across you." He points one of his claws at me and I grin as I can see it in front of me. "You're terrified, bleeding, running, and y'try to tell him that yours truly," he takes a pause to puff out his chest and look dignified," is coming and that he's got to run and save himself." Freddy sits down on the floor, mirroring me. "There are three different possibilities.
One, he doesn't believe you and thinks that it's a normal dream.
Two, he listens to you and runs for his life, leaving poor Hannah behind.
And three, he is a 'true' friend and tries to save you from me.
Now, I don't know 'him like you do, so which is the most likely?"
I have to think about this for a while. What would he do? I'm positive that he would never leave me, he's too nice for that. He's a typical nice guy. But would he trust me when I say that it's for real? I'm not so sure about that.
"Number one." I say bitterly. "He's a guy of science and he's very logic. He's not a dreamer, like us." Freddy nods and clicks his claws together skilfully as he adds this to his calculations. "I see. Then I know what we can do."
Two weeks, I swear. Please rewiev an tell me what you think.
Love /Jokerina