Alex continued to scream as she fell through an endless pit of darkness. She landed with a loud thud on a cold, concrete floor. She pushed herself up and looked around, scrunching up her face. She studied the many pipes and paths and steam around this strange new place. Was she in a boiler room?
She heard the sound of knives scraping metal from behind and quickly started walking. She had to find the way out of here before one of those creeps came back. What was she doing here? She didn't belong here; she belonged back in Mrs. Hillingburg's classroom, watching that boring movie about plants or whatever the hell it was about. She came upon a ladder and stared at it. Should she climb it or not? She heard another scraping from behind her and decided to climb, shaking with terror. Alex got to the top and slowly tiptoed, listening intently, and saw a little girl up ahead, staring at her. She felt very uneasy and forced a crooked smile.
"Um, hello? Can you tell me where I am?" Alex called out as quietly as she could, but so that the girl could still hear. The little girl shook her head no, a big grin painted on her face.
"Are you lost?" Alex asked, taking a step forward. The girl took a step back, and, still grinning, shook her head no.
"Who are you?" Alex asked, and the little girl spoke for the first time.
"One…two…Freddy's coming for you…"
What the hell is this girl on? Alex thought as her heart began to race.
"Three…four…better lock your door…" The little girl continued to chant, her words spoken to the rhythm of "one, two, buckle my shoe," at a slower pace.
"Five…six…grab your crucifix…"
"Ok, can you please stop? You're scaring me."
"Seven…eight…gonna stay up late…"
"Ok, thank you..." Alex said with a sigh of annoyance.
"Nine…ten…never sleep a-gain…" The little girl giggled, and waved. Alex raised an eyebrow.
"Where are you going?"
The little girl giggled once more and skipped away from Alex.
"Hey, come back!" Alex chased after her, and watched as she turned a corner. Alex turned, too, and bumped into someone in a red and green sweater, and was sent to the ground.
She rubbed her head and looked up.
"You," She muttered, standing up.
"Me," The man smiled, revealing his burnt face.
"This isn't even real!" Alex yelled. "It's all a dream!"
"Lucid dreaming, are we?" The man asked, approaching her. Alex began taking steps backwards.
"Yes, we are," She answered. The man chuckled.
"Don't be such a smart ass," He threatened, holding up his glove.
"Oh, what's that for?" She asked, pointing at his glove. "A back-scratcher? How inventive."
"Yes. Yes, it is pretty inventive…" The man said as Alex backed up into a wall and he continued to advance on her.
"I a-agree," Alex said, starting to panic.
"What's the matter? You're not scared, are you?"
"Of course not. None of this is real."
"Oh, really? Tell me if this is real!" He swiped at her arm, creating four deep cuts. Alex screamed out in pain, clutching her arm. The man laughed as a pipe overhead exploded. His laughing ceased and he and Alex looked up, tears welling up in Alex's eyes. Suddenly, another pipe nearby exploded, and then another, until most of the pipes were exploding.
"YOU," The man called out. "SHOW YOURSELF!"
William's hand rose from the floor and grasped the man's ankle. Another hand rose out and grabbed his other ankle. The man looked down at his foot then up at Alex before Will's hands tugged violently, tripping this creepy man on his stomach. Alex watched it horror as a blade shot up through the man's back.
"Argh!" Freddy cried out as more knives stabbed right through his body. William walked out from the distant steam, chuckling.
Alex began to back away while they were distracted; at least this place had more hiding spots than the bathroom they were in, though she didn't intend to play hide-and-seek. She quietly ran along many pipes giving off steam, disappearing as the two bickered.
"Stay out of my dreams!" Freddy spat, pushing William back.
"No, you stay out of my dreams!" Will demanded, pushing Freddy back, harder.
"Here's an idea!" Freddy said suddenly.
"What?"
Freddy swung his right arm and dug his knives right into the pit of Will's stomach. Will coughed up blood, holding his chest, eyes bugging out. He looked up at Freddy, who stared down at him, grinning. Freddy socked him in the temple with his left hand, and kicked him down to the floor.
Alex shrieked when Will's body came flying through the steam, slamming into a large pipe next to her, denting it. She heard footsteps from behind and quickly whipped around, her hair spinning. She heard the scraping of knives against metal as Freddy's silhouette formed. Alex's eyes widened and she screamed, backing up into a steaming hot pipe, feeling a great stinging in her back.
"ARRRGGGGHHH!!!" Alex shot up from her chair, screaming, her hands flapping around behind her. Mrs. Hillingburg's classroom grew silent as everybody stared at Alex, who was now standing in the center of the room, sweating, and breathing heavily.
"What?" She snapped after a moment.
"Are you okay, dear...?" Mrs. Hillingburg asked cautiously.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry...about that..."
"OK...class...back to the...m-movie..."
Freddy glared at Will. He stepped over to his body, and kicked right into his face, snapping Will's neck as his head flung to the side. Freddy then stabbed Will's wound with his glove once more, wiggling his knives in the wound before pulling out.
"This is no use…" Will said with a cough, slowly standing up. "We both know we're invincible here."
"Right you are," A Dream Demon spoke, as all three appeared in three separate balls of fire.
"You!" Freddy pointed at the floating demons. "You did this! Take him away! This job ain't big enough for the two of us, and I was here first. Plus, I'm just an all-around better dream stalker."
"Oh, come on, my whole bathroom nightmare was pretty cool until you rose from the toilet!"
"Oh, don't get me started on that-" Freddy started.
"That's why we've come up with this proposal," A second Dream Demon interrupted.
"You see," The third began. "We will hold a competition."
"A what?" Freddy asked. "Competitions aren't my thing."
"This particular competition…" The third continued. "Is a teen-slaughtering competition."
"On second thought," Freddy said with an evil grin.
"Let's see who can scare, stalk, and slaughter the most teens," The first Dream Demon went on. "The 3 S's of being a success in this business. Always remember that: Scare. Stalk. And Slaughter."
"Yeah, yeah, I do that stuff in my sleep," Will said. "Oh, no pun intended! Ha, ha!" Freddy stared at him and after a moment or two, slowly shook his head.
"No."
"When's the deadline?" Will asked, ignoring Freddy.
"Let's see…today's…Tuesday? You have one whole week."
"A whole week? Piece of cake. I'll whoop his ass and wipe it all over the floor!" Will said, smirking.
"Ah, getting cocky are we? That's always a sign you'll lose."
"Shut up."
"How childish, I don't have time for this, I have a competition to win."
And with that, Freddy vanished in a puff of smoke.
The three Dream Demons bowed to Will before disappearing in balls of fire.
"Springwood's teen's are in for a fun week…"
