Chapter 21: Hanging by a Thread

A thick red burn mark marred Katherine's palm as she sat on the edge of her bed. Her back was directed towards the CCTV camera. The moment she jolted awake she was consumed in rage at her father's words. There was no way she was jealous. It was all a fucking ruse, a trick he was playing on her. And he using Nancy as part of it. But did Nancy see her in the dream? And if so, what would she think? Katherine knew that she should have tried to save Nancy, to stop her father's assault on the girl. But an unseen magnetic force was pinning her body in place in that corridor. Her gaze was set in stone directly at them both. It was apparent that her father wanted her to witness what he was doing to Nancy. He wanted to play some fucking twisted game with her. How could he do that to her?

The fingers on her right hand lightly trailed over the reddish burn and she hissed jerking her hand back. Her eyes darted towards the doorway, and she pondered on asking to use the bathroom. She needed some cool water on her wound. Though she had to hide her hand from the nurse as she would ask questions about her hand. She gently slid the hand into her front pocket and made her way out of the room down towards the nurse's station at the far end of the corridor.

….

"I can't believe your mother never heard you screaming. She should have been looking out for you" Donald seethed as he drove through the darkening streets of the neighbourhood. The image of his wife lying asleep in her drunken state with a empty vodka bottle in her hand riled him. He had warned Marge to look after Nancy. To keep an eye on her. But no, she was more interested in her fucking liquor. He glanced in the rear-view mirror into the back seats were Nancy sat beside Sandra. Her head was lying against the window of the car, with a small blanket draped shoulder as she shuddered thinking back to her dream. Sandra sat at her side, and every now and then she gently soothed her by rubbing her shoulders.

"I know dad" Nancy muttered her voice low, "But you know how mom is when she is drinking. No-one can wake her up when she has too much drink"

Donald shook his head, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. "It doesn't matter. You nearly died"

"I'm okay" Nancy murmured again.

"Nancy, you're not. He sexually assaulted you, didn't he?" Sandra looked at the young woman solemnly.

Her bright blue eyes glimmered with tears as she fought back the urge to cry. "Yes, he d-did. If I never had got that strength to fight him off me, he was going to…"

Sandra nodded quietly and snaked her left arm around her shoulders. Nancy shuddered as her tremors piked in intensity. Sandra whispered quietly to her. "I'd like to examine you, if that is okay with you? You can talk to me about what happened"

"No, look I'll be okay. I just want that fucker gone. Dead!" Nancy's head shot up and she looked down at her lap where the metal railing was laid. Her eyes scanned over the tip, and she lightly touched the gooey red substance that was Freddy's blood. "This means we can do something. We can pull him out of our dreams!"

"We can get Kristen to meet us" her father suggested. "I can bring you both to the motel to discuss what has happened with Michael. It'll be a big decision to decide who will go into the dream to bring Krueger out. It'll be dangerous too"

"It may be our only choice!" Nancy rebuked.

Sandra glanced out the window as the car pulled to a stop outside the Police Station. It parked a few yards down from her own car. "I'm going to Westin Hills to speak to Katherine" her gaze darted back to Nancy. "Did you see her in the dream?"

Nancy shook her head. "No. Maybe she was awake. I just saw Glenn. I tried to help him. But I couldn't…" her mind wandered back to when she was in her bedroom. Pondering how she succumbed to sleep. She was tidying her room and was standing at her bed, when she felt nauseated. A rush of fatigue just overcame her then she felt herself falling backwards onto the mattress. "Something happened to me to make me fall asleep. I wasn't even sitting down on the bed. I felt light-headed, really tired suddenly and then I just collapsed"

"Either you have developed narcolepsy, or he may have something to do with it" Sandra said grimly.

"Freddy?" Donald turned in his seat to face them. "You think that he made Nancy fall asleep?"

"Look at how many people he had murdered over the last week or so! His power is increasing. He's probably testing out what he can do now. I would say it is a strong possibility"

He exchanged a horrified look with Nancy. "You are staying with Michael and Kristen from now on. You can keep an eye on each other. I'll speak to your mother"

She smiled appreciatively. "Thanks dad. What about this?" Nancy lifted the broken railing and showed it to Sandra "Will you say to Katherine about this?"

"No" she shook her head. "It'll be too risky to tell her anything of our plans"

Nancy nodded and they climbed out of the car. She drearily followed her father into the building, while Sandra rushed towards her car.

….

Katherine knelt over her duffle bag and discreetly unzipped the side compartment of the bag. Her right hand slipped into the bag and clutched the bottle that Sandra gave her from earlier. It may not be a wise idea to take the as he would be expecting her to fall asleep. But not tonight. She was furious with her father, and if he thought she would eagerly fall back to sleep tonight to be with him after what he did. Well, he was fucking mistaken. Her left hand clenched slowly and she looked down at the torn tissue that she had temporarily used as a bandage. It was dosed in water to sooth the burning sensation. But it wasn't helping. She was hoping that Sandra would assist in treating the wound. She would ask what had happened to her to get such an injury and Katherine knew by now that news of what happened to Nancy and Glenn would have reached her. In the dream it had unsettled her that she never once thought of Glenn. That she never felt a hint of concern for him. She felt nothing. The only emotion she had felt in the dream was fury. Annoyance towards her father. Every time she had fallen asleep his attention would always be on her. And she revelled in it. But the fact that he was too focused on Nancy, it irked her. She sighed grimly. Could he really be right? Could she be jealous?

She shook her head, trying to reject that question. It was just a game he was playing. Just like the numerous times before he was trying to screw with her mind. She was stronger than that. She would never fall for that again. Her morals were at stake. This last piece of sanity she had was something she had to cling onto. If she dared admit to him that she wanted him in that way, then it would really be over for her. And she could not allow that to happen. Not just her sanity was at stake but her relationship with Michael too.

She unscrewed the bottle in her right hand and shook out two small white tablets. Her gaze went towards a small plastic cup and a large plastic jug of water, and she quickly poured herself a cup. Throwing the tablets into her mouth she swiftly downed the drink and then heard a person entering the room. Her eyes landed on Sandra who dourly marched towards her.

"Katherine. I have something to tell you" She began.

"You don't need to say anything" Katherine interrupted. "I already know"

"What?" Sandra muttered incredulously. Quickly a frown of disappointment crossed her face. "You went to sleep, didn't you?"

Katherines' teeth clenched hard, a sneer crossing her face at this statement. "I didn't willingly go to sleep. I was watching TV and I felt this tiredness come over me. I blacked out. I never went to sleep, okay?"

There were a few seconds of silence as Sandra considered this. Was she telling the truth?

Katherine saw the look of doubt that clouded her eyes. She scoffed. "If you don't believe me, then you can check" she pointed sharply at the CCTV camera in the corner of the room. "That!"

She followed Katherine's finger and sighed, nodding once as she accepted the girl's words. "It's the exact same way Nancy described how she fell asleep. She collapsed in her bedroom. It must be your father. For some reason he can now manipulate your consciousness from the waking world. He can make you fall asleep!"

Katherine nodded in agreement and then absently rubbed at her wounded hand, hissing quietly at the abrupt intense sensation. Noticing the sound of pain Sandra took a step closer to her and inspected her hand, lifting it from her side. "What happened?" she unravelled the ripped tissue away. Her eyes widened in alarm at the red circular scald mark. It was thick and red, the skin rutted slightly.

"I woke myself up by burning my hand. It was after he attacked Nancy" Katherine bit down on her lip tightly.

"You saw him attacking Nancy? Did you not do anything to help her?" Sandra questioned.

"How could I?" Katherine retorted. "I wanted him to stop doing that to her. But I couldn't move. He has these powers to make you lose control of your body, where you can't move. He was forcing me to watch!"

"Let's get this treated and we can talk" she carefully clasped her arm and led her down the corridor. Katherine hid her hand under her right arm against her chest. As they approached the nurse's station, Sandra smiled politely at the nurse on duty. "I'm just taking Miss Krueger to the treatment room. She is a little nauseated. I'm just going to take her temperature and give her some tablets for her nausea"

"Do you need any help?"

"No, I'll be okay. Thank you" she smiled and turned down the corridor to the left with Katherine briskly following her.

"Sandra, are you able to get more of them tablets?" Katherine asked quietly. "I took two before you came into the room. There are two left. But I don't want to go to sleep tonight. I want to try and stay awake£

As she entered the treatment room Sandra ushered her inside and swiftly closed the door. "I only have about ten more tablets. I was hoping to give some more to Michael. But I can give you two more. I'll get you some coffee too"

Katherine nodded and smiled in appreciation. "Thanks"

Sandra began to scour through the cabinets for anti-septic cream and bandages for the burn mark. Katherine settled on a small chair beside the row of cabinets and mumbled lowly to herself as she discarded the tissue from her hand onto the ground. She watched as Sandra knelt before her and unscrewed a small tub and scooped a blob onto a few pieces of cotton wool. Katherine stretched out her fingers on her left hand and allowed the smoothing cream to be applied to her burns. She gritted her teeth and fought back her tears.

"Are you okay?"

"No" she hissed through her gasps of pain. "He was taunting me in the dream. It happened after Nancy woke up. He was trying to provoke me! By saying I was jealous!"

Sandra withdrew the cotton wool from Katherine's palm and began to wrap the hand with a thin strap of bandage. Intertwining the material in between the index finger and thumb then around the back of her hand. "What do you mean, he said you were jealous? How?"

"Because he was touching Nancy. He had the audacity to say that I was jealous because I wished it was me being touched by him!" she scoffed, and her right hand tightened into fist that shook on her lap. "I know that I had admitted to you before that I liked the sex with him. But that doesn't mean that I want it to happen again. But he's under the impression that I do! But I don't. I know it's wrong! It's the last piece of my sanity that I have left"

After applying a few small thin sticky tapes to the dressing Sandra gently clutched Katherine's shaking face. Her lips were pressed together, face red with fury. Why was she letting herself become annoyed at this? "You know your true feelings. Trust them. Don't let what he says to you or try to insinuate to you make you think otherwise. You know what you are saying is true. It is a debauched way of him corrupting your mind even more so than he already has. Do you remember I mentioned to you that you have traumatic bonding?"

Katherine sniffled and exhaled long and hard. Then nodded "Yes"

"You have these feelings, these notions to protect your father. Look at the secrets you kept for him. There are some cases where I have dealt with where the victim of abuse develops a strange clinginess to the abuser. Do you remember living with him as a little girl? How you were so close to him?"

Katherine thought back to her childhood, the sentiments of that time coming back to her in waves. She was so paranoid and afraid at not being near him, there was this constant need to be close to him. Either in the house or even out in the park. It never occurred to her until now how clingy she was to him. The night they had come for her to take her away, she was fucking petrified. Her body was consumed by anger. She blinked away a few tears and nodded. "Yes, I do. I never wanted to leave him"

Sandra sighed sadly. "Do you understand now? It's related to the condition that you have sweetheart. It's where the victim crave the attention of their abuser. There has been cases where I have discovered that the victims would allow the abuser to perform sexual acts on them. They want to please the abuser and so will do anything to get their praise. It develops into unstable, damaging relationships. Just like the one you have with your father" Sandra carefully explained. She studied Katherines' contemplative gaze as she processed the words.

Sandra probably was right. Her relationship with her father was toxic. It was lingering on the edge of an obsession. Not only from her father towards her. But a fixation she was developing towards him. Maybe that was why she was envious of what had happened between her father and Nancy.

"How is she?"

Sandra sat down on a chair beside Katherine, throwing her a confused glance.

"Nancy" Katherine said, "How is she?"

"She's pretty shaken up. She has some lacerations on her chest and stomach. We arrived there just in time"

She nodded sluggishly and wiggled her fingers on her left hand, inspecting her dressing. "Have you seen Michael or Kristen?"

"No, Kristen is at her house. Michael is at the motel. Nancy and Kristen are being brought over to the motel. Donald is going to leave them over. I have a few phone calls I need to make. I'll get you a coffee and then i will leave you back to your room. Later I want us to have a talk about what has happened in your dreams"

Katherine breathed deeply then exhaled. As much as she didn't want to divulge her dreams to Sandra, perhaps it would be best to get all her frustrations off her mind. She nodded and followed her out of the room.

….

"Hello, Alan?" Sandra closed her small red notebook that contained her list of work colleagues.

The deep, friendly voice of her work colleague Alan Reynolds boomed down the line. "Hello Sandra, how are you?"

She smiled. "I've been better. Do you remember our conversation the other day? About that I would need your help?"

"Yes"

"Well, I do need it. You know that I am currently in Springwood and has been for the last two weeks. I'm here with my son and his girlfriend. They have been suffering from severe nightmares. There were some other kids who were having nightmares. But they've sadly died"

"Died?" he asked, concerned. "May I ask how?"

"It's a long story. It's to do with their dreams. I need to get the dreams stopped. I know that you deal with hypnotherapy and dream therapy. It's my understanding that you have access to hypnocil?"

He nodded as he sat in his spacious lounge in his apartment in Central City. "Yes, my facility has that drug. Though, I am rather cautious to prescribe it to people without having access to their full medical history. You do know there can be side-effects and they can vary from person to person"

She took a sip of her coffee. "I understand. But I am desperate for help. I would also need you to admit someone to your facility. It's Michael's girlfriend. She is in danger from her dreams"

"What do you mean in danger?"

"Her dreams are real. She's been dreaming of someone from her past and…" she paused. God, was he going to think she was insane? But she knew that Doc, as he liked to be called, had an open mind. His years of experience in dream therapy and the power of lucid dreaming made him open to various theories and concepts. He had to believe her. "she's been dreaming of her father. He died over eight years ago. But he's now alive in her dreams. But not just her dreams. My son's and a few other kids dreams"

Alan sat up on his chair, becoming intrigued. "Tell me what you can"

….

Donald stood in the corridor of Springwood Community College Sports Building. It had been thirty minutes earlier when he had left Nancy over at Michael's motel. Surprisingly, Kristen had managed to leave her own house and made her own way over. It was by a stroke of luck that her mother and new boyfriend had decided to go to the local country club a few miles outside of Springwood for a social evening with her friends. It gave Kristen the perfect opportunity to sneak out. It gave him some relief to know that Nancy was with Kristen and Michael. Hopefully, they would endeavor to evade sleep. It unnerved him at how many deaths had occurred in such a short span of time.

He crossed his arms and took a step to the side as a gurney was rolled out of a far room down to the right On top was the body bag that contained Glenn's corpse. He had received the phone call from one of the coaches about 6.15pm. Coach Snider had found Glenn slumped against one of the lockers. His face was marred with bruises and upon inspection under his shirt there was other black and blue abrasions and his flesh around his ribcage had rutted skin, the flesh pushed outwards as a piece of his rib was protruded through his body. When he had visited the boy's home and spoken to Glenn's mother Carole to break the devastating news to her, he swore that she would never stop screaming. His father Eric Lantz was quiet, shaken. He kept muttering over and over that it was pay back. The sin that they had committed eight years ago was coming back to haunt them. They were being punished. Donald didn't say anything. Because he knew that Eric was right.

When would it end?

The only option that they had was to proceed with Sandra's plan on getting Katherine out of Westin Hills. He knew that Nancy would prefer to stay in Springwood with her mother. But he had to persuade her and Kristen to leave the town. If they could even leave the town for a few months, to go to that clinic that Sandra had mentioned to him about, then there was the strong possibility they could stop the dreams. Then they would be safe.

Donald lowered his gaze to his right pocket and slipped out his smokes and lit one up as he walked out into the night. Lt Garcia stood at one of the marked police cars. He approached him as he chatted to a few other officers, giving out orders. He turned left down the sidewalk towards his own car and popped opened the boot to lift out a thin plastic evidence bag. Inside was the metal broken railing that Nancy had pulled out of her dream. This could be the key. There was the opportunity to pull that fucker out of the dream, then he would be vulnerable to pain. He could bleed. He could die. They would bury him properly. His remains were still sealed in one of them old furnaces in the power plant. In the room where he was burnt to death. His fingers tightened slightly around the white tip of his cigarette, and he flicked a dash of ash on the pavement. Perhaps he should volunteer to go into the dream. He was stronger than Michael. He wanted some retribution for what that fucker did to his little girl.

Krueger was abominable. If he had done that to Nancy. Then what was he doing to his own daughter in her own dreams? If only Sandra could get through to Katherine. To make her understand that her father didn't love her.

"Sir?"

He looked up from the ground as Garcia strolled up to him. "Garcia, I need to show you something" he motioned for him towards the opened boot. He bent in to lift the plastic see-through bag. "Nancy brought this out of her dream"

"What?" he threw his commanding officer a look of doubt.

He reached into the plastic and pulled out the metal, studying it closely. "You see his blood?"

"Fucking hell" he whispered. "What happened?"

"Krueger attacked her. Molested her" Donald sneered in disdain. "She tried to fiend him off with this"

Garcia traced his right hand over the corroded metal. The red substance was still visible, and he touched it with a finger and rubbed the liquid in between his fingers. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Donald nodded. "Yeah. Nancy suggested the idea of pulling the bastard out of the dream. We could use Kristen as bait. She has the gift to wake herself up. Also, Sandra can use the epinephrine to wake her up, if she is having difficulties"

"But what do we do after that? I mean, if everything goes according to plan"

"One thing at a time. Our main priority now is to get Katherine out of the hospital safely" Donald mused. "I want to arrange a meeting with everyone tomorrow. Sandra is staying overnight with Katherine. She is hoping to help her stay awake"

"That's good" he handed the bag and metal back to Donald. "Has Dr Turner contacted her colleague?"

"Yes. She was phoning him this evening to explain everything"

"Do you think he'll help us?"

"I hope so. We need all the help we can get"

X x x x

The light clinking of mugs clattering against each other echoed in the small kitchenette of Michael's motel room. He was glad of Max's company over the last day. He was a good man. Someone who was easy to talk to. The older man ventured from the kitchen with a tray of fresh coffee in four white mugs. He bent down and smiled as three of the mugs were taken by Michael, Kristen and Nancy. Nancy shifted uncomfortably on the bed. Her mind was constantly wondering back to her dream from earlier. Despite her resolute stance that she wanted to back into the dream and carry out her plan, Kristen was uneasy about this. She had tried to convey her reasons to her friend. It was too soon, especially after the vicious attack that Krueger had carried out on Nancy. Judging from her body language, the constant shaking and shivering and the distance stare, Kristen knew that she was not in the right frame of mind to confront that fucker so soon. It would be down to her to trick that bastard and she would relish it.

"I'm glad that we have some sort of plan" Michael nodded to himself. The skin around his eyes were dark, bags starting to form under his eyelashes. "When shall we do it?"

"I think we should discuss it further with your mom. We need to plan it out in more detail" Nancy whispered.

"We will" Michael replied. He turned towards Max as he sat at the kitchen table. "Max, you can head home if you want?"

He glanced at his watch. The time glaring up at him. 10.15pm. "I can stay for a little while longer. I have the next day or two off. Though, I am hoping to get assigned to Katherine's ward"

"Why?" Kristen asked.

"I'm sorry, I can't say" he glimpsed at Michael and shrugged. "I promised your mother I wouldn't say anything"

Michael sighed. "She's still afraid that Krueger will find out about her plans"

"Yes" he nodded.

A sudden shrill ring shattered the silence. Nancy jerked on the bed, nearly scalding herself with the hot liquid. Michael threw her a concerned glance as he reached over for the phone. "Hello?" he asked as he pressed it against his right ear.

There was a muffled reply.

"Hi, mom. We're okay. We've got some coffee. Have you any more of those adrenaline tablets?"

Sandra pushed away her empty mug and sagged drearily into her seat at her desk. "I'll try and get you all some more. It may be tricky. I just wanted to check in on you all quickly. I'm going to be sitting with Katherine tonight. She wants to stay awake tonight"

His lips curled into a surprised smile. "Really? That's good. Uh, did she fall asleep?"

Nancy and Kristen twisted on the bed and listened in.

"She did Michael. It was the same way that Nancy had fallen asleep. He must have forced her to collapse. He also forced her to watch what happened to Nancy. She couldn't move to help her" Sandra replied. "She said that he tried to get her to admit that she was jealous"

"What? Jealous of what?" he asked skeptically.

"Of what he did to Nancy. He's fucking with her mind again, by suggesting that she is envious of what happened between him and Nancy" she sighed. Then continued briskly. "He trying to corrupt her mind to the point where she wants him to touch her. He was using Nancy"

Michael's face paled. There was no way he could disclose this piece of news to Nancy. "I understand. Is she okay?"

"She woke herself up from the dream by burning her hand. It may leave a scar"

He shook his head. "Would you tell her that I miss her? And I hope to see her soon. Okay?"

"I will Michael. Look after each other. Especially Nancy. She has been through quite a harrowing experience today"

"We will. I'll see you in the morning. I love you" he whispered and with a sullen sigh he placed down the phone.

….

A smile of relief swept over Sandra's face as she entered Katherine's room. The girl was anxiously walking up and down at the side of her bed. Her hands ran through her matted hair as she glimpsed at the bed. "Uh, sorry" she looked over to her. "I'm just scared. I'm usually asleep by this time and he'll know that I am avoiding him. He'll be angry. B-but I know that I need to stay awake tonight"

And it was out of spite that she was doing it. She wanted him to know that she was pissed off at him.

Sandra held out a cup of coffee. "You'll be okay. We can watch some TV. Or if you want to talk about what has happened to you? You haven't really talked about Joey's death. What did you see?"

Her hands shook as she took the beverage from Sandra. "Uh, he created this sordid strip club. He had me dressed in this skimpy red lingerie set. God, it was disgusting. I mean, he made me look like a stripper!"

Sandra motioned for her to sit beside her at the table. "Sit down. Tell me what happened"

Katherine cradled her cup in her hands and slumped down on her chair. "He changed himself to the way he was when he was alive" the corner of her lips curled into a faint smile at the memory. "He knows that I prefer seeing him that way"

"Don't be fooled by that Katherine" Sandra warned. "It's a subtle way of getting you to lower your guard"

She gave a timid nod. "He healed me again" her hands left the coffee on the table, and she gingerly lifted the rim of her top up around her neck, showing the smooth skin around her chest. "See? The scars are away"

"How?" Sandra stared in awe at the skin then watched as the girl adjusted her top back in place.

Katherine blushed. "He licked them. When he was licking them, they began to heal. He was trying to get me to feel aroused" her head lowered in shame as she admitted. "And he got what he wanted. I was aroused. It was making me feel excited to have him do that to me. And he knew it!"

Sandra reached over to grasp her shaking hand and pulled it onto the table. She gave it a light squeeze. "It's okay"

"But it isn't Sandra!" Katherine's head whipped up and she wiped at her tears. "He brought up the time when he had sex with me in my old bedroom. Oh god, it was repulsive the way he talked to me! Saying that he could remember himself inside of him as he fucked me. It brought back the memory of that night. And despite how revolting it was to think of that night. I remembered enjoying it. I never felt anything like it. I was starting to become lost in that memory, reliving it in my mind. But I knew I had to resist. I had to compose myself. I was so close to kissing him"

Sandra pulled her chair around to face the girl and gently titled her face upwards to face hers. "Katherine-"

"I hate myself!" Katherine said abruptly. "I hate myself so much!"

This statement startled Sandra who leaned back in her chair. Her blue eyes roamed over the girl's trembling body. She was nearing breaking point. "Katherine" her fingers again curled under her chin and tipped her head up. "You shouldn't hate yourself! You should hate him!"

Katherine scoffed a laugh of disbelief and shook her head in discord. "But I don't hate him! I know you think I'm fucking mad. Maybe I've always been fucked up in the head. Ever since that day in the garden when he killed my mother. The way he warped my way of thinking as a little girl. The years that followed where my mind was corrupted by him. He changed me so much and despite what he still does to me. I still love him. I always will. And I know that you don't understand it!"

Sandra tried to reason with her. "But sweetheart, I do-"

She was caught off again as Katherine seethed through her sobs. "No! You don't understand! Michael doesn't, no one does! You all keep saying that you understand. But you don't! I love my father and even if he beats me every fucking night, my feelings for him will never change" her voice trembled, and she laughed softly. "Oh god, I must be crazy, aren't I?"

Drawing the girl into her arms Sandra gently hushed her as she wept uncontrollably in her arms. Her chest heaved up and down, her face buried in Sandra's chest. All the emotions of the last few weeks, the confusion, angst and despair flooded out of her through her sobs. Sandra felt tears form in her eyes and she swiftly took a deep breath. She had to get this traumatized girl out of Westin Hills and Springwood fast.

Katherine's sanity and rationality was hanging by a thread. And she knew that Freddy was ready to cut it.