A/N: Wow look at me updating on time. Early, even.

Thank you to Cornichonthomas and Darkness Takes Over (who never left but was just using a new account, yay) for reviewing! You guys are everything.

Chapter 11: Snow Angel

A loud, squealing guitar riff blared from inside the house as Tina rang the doorbell. She stood in the porch light, tapping her foot and glancing behind her at each car that passed by. One of them slowed to a crawl and her heart thumped harder, but it was just the neighbor across the street pulling into their driveway. She yanked her hoodie down lower over her forehead, turned back to the door, and banged it with the side of her fist.

"Hello?" she called, struggling to see through the frosted glass window. "Angela?"

No answer.

She knocked harder.

Sweat broke out on her forehead. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe she should just keep to herself, hop a bus, try to disappear. This girl might turn her in the second the news broke. The second fingers started pointing at her. But Springwood was such a small town, and she knew someone would recognize her if she tried to run. She shuffled from foot to foot, weighing her options.

The choice was decided for her as the door opened.

"What do you want?" asked a husky voice. Tina looked up at Angela as she blew cigarette smoke out into the night air and crossed her arms.

Tina swallowed a dry lump. "Can I come in?"

"Oh shit, Tina? Is that you?"

Tina pulled her hood down and flashed a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Stepping aside, Angela ushered her up into the cramped foyer. She scanned Tina from head to toe. "It's the middle of the night, kid. Did you and Rod have an argument or something?"

Tina hoped the other woman didn't see her flinch at the mention of his name. She shook her head no. "I just need a place to stay tonight. Something happened and I don't know what to do."

In the relative safety of the dark entranceway, she felt all of the repressed emotions from the last few hours bubbling up to choke her. Angela asked what she was talking about, but she couldn't respond. She sobbed silently, tucking her chin and folding her arms around herself.

"Come sit down, honey. You can tell me later," Angela cooed. For the first time that night, Tina relaxed her shoulders. She couldn't call Angela her best friend, or anybody her best friend for that matter, but she'd gotten closer than anyone else since Nancy's death. The girls she used to hang out with in freshman and junior year all dropped her when she started dating Rod. Or maybe she'd dropped them without realizing it, devoting all her free time to her new boyfriend and assimilating into his crowd. His friends became her friends. At first it was exciting to hang out with twenty-something-year-olds who could get them booze and drugs, no questions asked. But now Rod was gone, and she didn't know where she stood without him.

She collapsed into a chair in the kitchen. Angela shut the radio off and placed a hot cup of tea before her, but it grew cold, untouched, as minutes passed in silence.

"I'll give you some space. You don't seem too chatty right now," Angela said, hopping down from the counter. "Unless you want to come watch the tube with me?"

Tina shook her head and mustered a weak "no thanks."

Angela nodded and disappeared into the living room. The dark archway filled with a blue glow as the television switched on. It sounded like a soap opera. Maybe Dynasty. She used to love the drama of shows like that, but it wasn't so fun in real life. Resting her head on the stained placemat, she tried to sort out her situation.

She almost jumped out of her seat when the phone on the wall behind her rang like an alarm. Angela padded across the black and white tiles, pulling it off the hook.

"Hello?" she said, nipping at her cuticles.

Her hand fell.

"What…?" Her voice tightened like piano wire. "What? I'll call you back."

Tina felt eyes on the back of her head. She cringed, squeezing her own shut as her friend slammed the telephone back down and ran to the living room. She followed behind her just in time to see the channel switch to local news.

"-live at Park Crest Apartments, where the body of seventeen-year-old Rod Lane was found brutally murdered in his own bed at eight o'clock this evening. Neighbors reported frequent fights between him and his girlfriend, Tina Grey, who was seen entering the building with Lane three hours prior." A photograph of Tina, smiling and straddling the fence outside their highschool, popped up in the corner of the screen next to the smartly-dressed reporter. Behind him, red and blue lights streaked the wet brick building. "She is believed to have fled the scene and is wanted for questioning. Authorities ask anyone with information on her whereabouts to please call the number below."

The report continued, but neither of them were watching it now. The remote slid from Angela's hand, clattering to the floor.

"What did you do?" she whispered.

"I didn't–"

"Don't fucking lie to me, Tina!" she screamed. Her face contorted around her nose ring like an angry bull.

Tina stepped forward, hands up, voice pleading. "I swear to god, I didn't do it. Someone else was in the room."

"Then why did you run away?" Angela asked, venom in every word.

"I don't know, I was scared."

She closed the space between them and gripped Tina's shoulders, shaking her. "Who hurt him? Who was it?"

Tina shrank away, crying. "I don't know."

"What did they look like?" Angela said, trying to calm herself.

For a second, Tina debated telling her the truth about the invisible attack. It sounded insane. Maybe she was insane.

"I didn't get a good look at him. It was dark."

Angela eyed her with uncertainty. "And this person just let you walk away?"

"I know how it sounds," Tina said, shrugging, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her hoodie. "But I didn't kill Rod. I loved him. He was all I had left."

A moment passed between them in silence.

"Tina…"

Tina looked up into her friend's face, searching for something. "Are you going to call the cops?"

Angela scoffed, gesturing to the powdery white residue on the coffee table in front of her beat-up sofa. "Hell no. If the police want to get in this house they'll need a battering ram."

For the second time that night, Tina tried to smile. She threw her arms around Angela's neck and rested a cheek on her shoulder. "Thank you. God, thank you. I swear I'll be out of here tomorrow."

Angela hesitated but hugged her back. "Do you know where you're going?"

"I'll figure something out," Tina said.

"Well. You're welcome to use the shower. I'll leave some clean clothes for you."

Feeling—and smelling—the sweat trickle down her chest and underarms, Tina nodded. "Thank you so much."

xxxxxx

Twisting the knobs off, Tina stepped out of the tub and onto the pink bathmat. She patted a towel over her face. The steam eased the pressure behind her eyes and the tension in her shoulders, although she still locked up every few minutes when memories from Rod's bedroom returned.

She slipped the Kiss t-shirt over her head and tugged on the pair of sweatpants Angela had laid out. They were long on her, bunching at her ankles. With a small towel draped around her neck, she opened the bathroom door.

She should have seen it coming. Should have heard footsteps, voices. How could she be so stupid.

A pair of large hands grabbed her by the throat and dragged her down the hallway. She clutched at the thick wrists, stumbling along. At the top of the stairs she twisted in an attempt to see the man's face but he threw her forward and she rolled down the steps. The landing knocked the wind out of her. As the ringing in her ears died down, she realized the music was on again, louder than before.

The shadowy figure took his time coming down after her. She glanced out into the living room, hoping for a chance to escape, but found her way blocked by two pairs of legs. The faces glaring down at her were so twisted with hate that she almost didn't recognize them. Rod's friends.

"Jimmy, Ed, what are you doing?" She groaned.

Ed, baring his crooked teeth like an alligator, kicked her in the ribs.

"Did you enjoy your shower?" He yelled. "Do you feel clean now? Like what you did is just going to disappear?"

She coughed and rolled over, trying to crawl into the other room. They let her get halfway there before yanking her back by the ankle. Angela sat on the couch, bent forward into the coffee table with one finger pressed to her nose. She snorted hard and leaned back.

"Help me," Tina cried, reaching towards her. But her stare was like ice.

"I told you I wouldn't call the cops," she said. She turned the music up to a deafening level.

"No, definitely not the cops," said Carson, Rod's best friend, as he reached the last step. He flipped his baseball cap backwards and crouched down to Tina's level. His blue eyes were cocaine-glazed. "They're far too lenient with murderers."

"Please, I didn't do it." She stared into his face, silently calling on all the nights they'd partied together with her and Rod, all the hungover trips to the diner in the morning, the petty shoplifting and beer-can target practice sessions in the woods. But these guys had known Rod for years. To them, she was just the flavor of the month.

He backhanded her hard, and she spat blood onto the wood floors.

"Of course you didn't," he sneered, patting her damp blonde hair.

"I'm going for a smoke. Clean up when you're done," Angela yelled across the room. She looked at Tina, a broken, terrified mess. "And don't forget to take out the trash."

His elbow came down on her face and the lights went out.

xxxxxx

A fire roared to life in the boiler room above. Nancy looked up and then behind herself for a split second before pressing her face back against the bars of the heavy dungeon door. The soot-smeared boy chained to the wall inside had pulled the restraints as far as they could go, but he was still several feet from Nancy. His eyes flashed wide and scared in the dim light as he listened.

"You need to go," he said. "Freddy's back."

Nancy shook her head, still unable to fully process what she'd learned. It was unbelievable and yet it made perfect sense. She watched him slink back into the shadows of the cell, his dirty, disheveled hair shielding his face as he curled into himself.

"Daniel," she said, ache in her voice. She may have just met this kid twenty minutes ago, but Fred Kruger had ruined both their lives and the bond they shared was as strong as it was instantaneous. "What can I do? How can I help you?"

Daniel must have been fifteen, but he made himself so small he could have been mistaken for an elementary school child. He shook his head. "You can't stop him. He always wins. He comes down here sometimes to brag to me about his plans, and, oh god man, it's going to be hell on earth. And it's all my fault."

"No it's not." Nancy said. She yanked on the door again, but the iron lock held it shut tight. "It's his fault."

The boy snapped his head up. "Go now!"

Stumbling backwards, Nancy climbed off the bucket she'd been tip-toeing on and rolled it to the side with the rest of the dusty old junk Freddy kept down here. She glanced back at the tiny barred window, then rushed away into the dark like a mouse.

Upstairs, the pipes were hot and rattling once again. The rusty joints leaked little, searing puffs of steam along the walls that Nancy dodged on her way back down the corridor. She stumbled into the boiler room and froze. Freddy was leaning against his rough wooden work table, boots crossed at the ankle, hat low over his scarred head. It hid everything except his mouth. He dragged a whetstone slowly along the edge of his finger-blade.

"How's my little explorer?" he sneered.

Nancy's heart caught in her throat. Did he know she'd been down there?

She opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off. "You can run as far as your little piggy legs can take you–wee wee wee all the way home. There's no way out." He splayed his glove, palm up. "I hold this entire world in my hand, bitch."

"Fuck you."

She glowered at him. He tipped the rim of his hat up with a single knifepoint and gave a rotten grin, stalking towards her. When she turned to run, he caught her arm in a bruising grip.

"Let go of me you freak," she snarled as he yanked her into the air. Her little shoes dangled. Then she saw it. From over his shoulder, she saw a ring of long black keys hanging on a hook above the boiler. How had she never noticed them?

"Lucky for you, our schedule is full today so I don't have time to stab your pretty blue eyes out for that," he snapped back.

Inches apart, Nancy smelled the smokey decay on his breath. She wrinkled her nose. He cackled and threw her into the cement floor. The impact scraped her elbow, but she refused to cry out, lifting her face up to the towering demon in front of her.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, cursing herself for the quiver in her voice.

He spread his arms wide. "We're back on the clock."

xxxxxx

Snowflakes drifted down to the busy streets of Center City as Tina stopped at a crosswalk. They dusted her knit hat, and she caught one on her tongue as the light changed from red to green. The walk icon flashed. She smiled. With hands buried deep in her toasty coat pockets, she continued down the sidewalk. Twinkling lights edged the windows of shops and restaurants, filling her with a sugar plum comfort she hadn't felt in years.

Two little boys ran past her, giggling. The younger one glanced over his shoulder and squealed, and the older one, behind him, held a snowball over his head, taking aim. Their mother called after them. Tina chuckled to herself and gazed out in wonder. All around her, people were hailing taxicabs, pushing out of department stores with gifts stacked to their chins, or holding hands with their special someone. How long had it been since she'd had a Christmas in the city?

Memories of plodding through the snow in tiny boots flooded back into her mind. She recalled being lifted onto her father's shoulders when she got sleepy. From that height, her mother had to stand on tip toe to wipe her little red nose. Her parents had taken her here every year, hadn't they? Every year until…

More memories crept in. Bad ones. Yelling, cursing, an engagement ring thrown in her father's face. His suitcase at the door.

Something deep inside hushed her, and all her worries melted away like icicles in the sun. She was here now. Everything was ok.

A giant Christmas tree filled the city square as she approached, towering as high as a building. She stared up at the enormity of it. It dwarfed her silhouette. A thousand small yellow lights criss-crossed over the heavy boughs like a lattice, fading into a hazy glow high above. Families gathered around and held each other tighter in its pleasant warmth. It called Tina closer. She reached out and traced a finger along a sparkling glass ornament.

With no warning, it shattered.

She yelled out more in surprise than from the tiny shards embedded in her bleeding finger. One by one, from the bottom to the top, the ornaments exploded. Tinkling glass rained down on the crowd below.

No, just on her. Everyone else was gone. She spun around, searching for the clusters of happy families and lovebirds that had surrounded her. "Hello? Where'd everybody go?"

A chorus of voices echoed around the cold, empty streets.

"Bells are ringing, children singing, all is merry and bright

Hang your stockings and say your prayers

'Cause Santa Claus comes tonight"

Tina looked over both shoulders. They sounded so close.

A few red drops stained the white snow at her feet. She looked up and a scream ripped through her throat. Each ornament had been replaced with a head, roughly severed, hanging by its hair and dripping with fresh blood. Some of them watched her, some had no eyes at all, but every single one of them was singing.

She turned to run but was halted by the figure in front of her. Her stomach sank. A lanky man stood in the center of the street, waving the long, sharp fingers on his hand and dropping the claw back to his side. He charged her.

She stood frozen in place with her hands up until the heat of steel blades slashed across her forearm. It tore through her jacket to the skin beneath, searing. She screamed and staggered backwards.

"Tina! Tina, up here!" came a familiar voice. It was high, a child's voice, but Tina knew it well.

"Nancy?" she called.

From the top of the tree, Nancy continued to yell for her friend. There was no time to think. Tina threw herself into the gore-slicked tree and started climbing. The chorus of heads sang on. She tried to pass between them, but in her rush it was impossible not to rub against the mutilated faces. She trained her eyes up, sobbing in silence as splotches of blood soaked through her shredded sleeve.

The electrical cord that wrapped the lights around the tree was gone now too, and in its place hung something impossibly long and slimy, twisting like a garland all the way to the top. It pulsed. She didn't want to guess what it was. A snake? A string of intestines?

Nancy cut into her thoughts again. "Hurry, Tina!"

Tina looked down, searching the ground for the clawed man. He was nowhere to be seen. She realized in a heart-stopping instant that he must be climbing after her. She grit her teeth and pulled herself up to the next branch. They were narrowing towards the apex. She could finally wrap her whole hand around them, which made the climbing faster and easier, but they bent under her weight. Her palms sweated.

The thick winter coat made her hot, and she ripped it off and chucked it as she reached the top.

Nancy smiled down at her, her small, pudgy face streaked with tears. Her body crowned the gruesome tree like an angel, mounted in place with arms outstretched. Tina reeled back.

"I'm dreaming," she said to herself. "You're dead, Nancy. You killed yourself. This can't be happening right now."

Shaking her head, the only part of her body she seemed to have control over, Nancy cried fresh. "It is happening. It's me."

"But how could you be here? And why are you a little girl again?"

"I don't have time to explain all of that. You need to listen carefully, okay?" she said. "There's a doctor at Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital–"

"Where they sent you? When you…" Tina's words trailed off. She searched Nancy's tiny wrist for the scar but instead found the thin purple string of her friendship bracelet. She pulled it off to examine it. Four little white block letters spelled out T-I-N-A. Scenes from her bedroom floor, sitting with Nancy around her new jewelry-making kit, flickered back into her memory. "Where did you get this?"

"You gave it to me," Nancy said.

"When?"

She turned frantic again. "Nevermind that. Look, I didn't kill myself and I know you didn't kill Rod. Freddy did it, and he's going to do the same thing to you and Glen and everyone else if we don't stop him."

Tina shook her head. "Nobody killed Rod. It was like the cuts just appeared on him."

"Freddy did it," Nancy said. Her gaze grew cold, far-away. "Trust me, I was there. He came through Rod's dreams, and he's in yours right now. "

On reflex, Tina glanced down into the branches below. He hadn't caught up to her yet, and she wasn't sure what she'd do when he did.

"That's crazy."

"Tina, please. Please believe me. Dr. Gordon is going to perform some kind of sick fucking brain surgery on everyone at Westin Hills so they can never stop dreaming. There'll be nowhere to hide. You have to warn them."

"Why would he do that?"

Nancy closed her eyes and swallowed hard, remembering Daniel's terrified, soot-smeared face. "Because Freddy has his son."

"They won't believe me," Tina said. She didn't believe any of this herself, even seeing what she'd seen.

"Just try," Nancy screamed. The hot tears had never stopped falling but they came full-force now. Tina stared into her eyes. None of this was possible, and yet she felt the tug of that eternal red cord between her heart and the heart of her dearest and only friend.

She wiped Nancy's cheeks.

The limb shook beneath her feet, and she slipped down into the next layer of branches, spreading her arms to catch herself. Pine needles scratched at her skin. Something slimy grazed her ankle as the long flesh tube twisted to the top of the tree. It shot out into the sky above Nancy and reared its burnt face down at them like a cobra ready to strike.

"Leave her alone, Kruger!" Nancy yelled. The threat in her tone was undercut by the smallness of her voice. She struggled against her restraints, managing to get a leg free.

When Tina pushed herself back up to get between the monster and her friend, Nancy kicked her backwards.

xxxxxx

Tina bolted upright, wincing at the pain in her ribs. And then at the stench. She sat in a nest of wet plastic bags, broken electronics, and empty takeout containers. The pungent smell of rotting food burned her nostrils. She stood up, finding new shooting pains in her legs, and tried to see over the edge of the dumpster. It was too high. She jumped and caught the wall and cried out as something ripped in her arm. She twisted it around and saw four deep gashes in the skin, crusted around the edges with hot red blood coursing down to her elbow. She must have been dreaming about that freak with the claws while Rod's friends were slicing her up. With teeth clenched tight, she hauled herself over the rusted metal side and fell into the alley, tucking her head.

Those assholes.

Something fell to her feet and she stooped to pick it up. Her friendship bracelet. The one she hadn't seen in years, here in the palm of her dirty hand.

She rolled the block letters with her thumb, mouth gaping. It was impossible.

The dream was real?

She knotted the purple string around her wrist and checked her sock for the roll of dollar bills stashed there. At least she still had enough for a cab ride. Westin Hills was only a few miles away, and as long as she stayed calm and avoided eye contact, she could probably make it there without being spotted.

Dr. Neil Gordon, Nancy's words echoed in her throbbing head.

She didn't fully understand what was going on, but her friend needed her help and she was going to do whatever it took this time. She wouldn't let Nancy down. Not again. With renewed spirits, she ran to the end of the alley and-

Two police cruisers cut her off, sirens screeching.

Fuck.

.

.

.

To be continued...

A/N: If all goes as planned you can expect an update within 3 weeks, maybe sooner. Thanks so much for reading and please leave a review! I'd love to know what you guys think. Positive or negative-it all helps me improve. Hope everyone has a happy Halloween.