"Mom," Erik spoke up later that night as his whole family, his parents, sister, and himself, sat at the kitchen table, eating pork chops.
"Yes, dear?" Mrs. Woods said in her sweet, but quiet, voice.
"Do you know anything about a crazy murderer from the 80's from Springwood?"
"No? Why?"
"I don't know…I was reading up on some stuff, and it said there used to be some crazy killer that lived in this house."
"WHAT?!" Brittany croaked, spitting her water out of her mouth.
"Brittany!" Mrs. Woods said angrily, brushing water off of herself.
"What is wrong with you?!" Mr. Woods said, his facing turning slightly red.
"I'm sorry, but I don't do living in crazy murderer houses!"
"Calm down, he's dead," Erik said, rolling his eyes.
"And how do you know?" Brittany said, scrunching her face up, staring into Erik's dark eyes.
"Because he was murdered! Burned alive!" Erik yelled.
"Erik, inside voices, sweetie," Mrs. Woods murmured.
"Sorry, it's just…well…I just think it's weird, what with that crazy murderer out there right now…" Erik mumbled. Mrs. Woods looked across to Mr. Woods, frowning and sighing.
"Freddy…" A voice spoke in the darkness. "Your power is slowly returning…you should be able to invade dreams once more…"
"Yes…" A low voice said. "Yes…finally…I've been trapped in here for too long…"
"We know, we know," A third voice spoke.
"It ain't exactly a picnic for us, either," said a fourth.
"How long until I can return to dream stalking?" The low voice asked.
"Soon, Freddy, soon…"
Erik awoke to the sound of his alarm clock going off at 6:05 in the morning. He hit the snooze button, and rolled over, yawning. Just five more minutes, he thought.
Across the street, a teenage girl the same age as Erik was busy applying make-up in front of a mirror in her bedroom.
"Kate?" There came a knock on her door, and a woman with short, graying brown hair in a nightgown opened it. "Kate, dear, do you want me to make you something to eat?"
"Can you make some pop-tarts for me?" The girl asked, turning away from the mirror to face her mother.
"Sure thing," The woman smiled and walked away. The girl, Kate, walked over to her bed and picked up her cell phone and texted her friend, Sam.
"Hey, u up?" She quickly typed in and sent, setting the phone back down on her bed and going to the mirror to brush her shoulder length brown hair. She heard the phone vibrate, finished on her hair, and picked the phone up, reading the new message she received.
"Omg, turn the news on."
Kate raised an eyebrow and turned her TV on, flipping from VH1 to the local news.
"And for those of you just tuning in," The news reporter said, turning so she faced the camera. "Young miss Allison Collins was murdered right at the corner of Thompson Lane late last night." The scene changed, and the camera showed a stretcher with a covered up body being wheeled to the ambulance.
"It appears," the reporter went on, as the camera switched back to her, "That the murderer of Springwood has struck again, making this his fourth victim in two weeks. It seems Allison was attacked with what appears to be at least two different sharp knives or objects of some sort, police weren't too clear, and weren't willing to answer many of our questions."
"That's terrible!" Kate sent a text to Sam.
"I kno," Sam replied back a minute later.
About an hour later, the students of Springwood high were arriving to school.
"Hey, there you two love birds are!" Kate said, as she and her boyfriend, Adam, came over to Erik and Sam, who were both talking under the shade of a large tree.
"Hey!" Sam said brightly, turning to face them.
"Did you hear about what happened to that girl Allison?" Adam said, looking over to Sam and Erik.
"Yeah, it's so sad…and scary…" Sam said, looking down and rubbing her nose. Erik nodded.
"I know, I feel so bad for her family…They are such nice people," Kate commented, shaking her head, and glancing around.
"Looking for someone?" Adam asked, giving Kate a strange look.
"I just have the strangest feeling we're being watched…" Kate said, looking into Adam's eyes. Suddenly, the bell rang.
"See you in Period 4," Erik said, kissing Sam and walking inside.
"See you later, Kate," Adam said, also going inside.
"Don't worry, nobody's stalking us," Sam joked. "Come on, let's get inside before we're late."
"Right…" Kate said as Sam started walking. She took one last look around and quickly followed after her.
