(The following is a nonprofit work of fanfiction and is outside of the original canon. All names, characters, businesses, places, events, and/or incidents of any kind depicted within this story are being used for entertainment purposes only.)
(The Loud House and all related characters were created by Chris Savino and all rights belong to Nickelodeon.)
- Chapter Ten -
For Want of a Sleepover
Large beads of sweat ran down my face as I frantically dashed through the empty school hallway. The bright light of the full moon tried to shine through the windows that were now so dirty, you could barely see what was outside. A deep and evil-sounding laugh echoed through the locker-filled hallway. A familiar laugh that made my heart pound even harder and faster in my skinny chest. It did not help when the whispering voices of little children began to sing along with the evil laughter.
"One, two, Freddy's coming for you," they sang tauntingly. "Three, four, better lock your door."
"Stop it!" I shouted in defiance. "Go away!"
"Five, six, grab your crucifix," they continued, ignoring my howls. "Seven, eight, gonna stay up late."
"Shut up!" I cried out again. "Leave me alone!"
"Nine, ten, never sleep again..."
"Lincoooln..." a demonic-sounding voice whispered, as if it was directly behind my ear. Whatever hair I had around my body stood up on all ends. "Oh, Lincoooln..."
Do I dare look behind me? I thought, swallowing fearfully. Risking it, I turned my head around and was met with a sight that I was greatly hoping to never encounter again. Following after me was a tall shadow, one that was shaped an awful lot like a grown man, wearing a fedora hat on his head. And worn in his right hand was a glove with a long claw-like blade on each finger. They jingled against each other as he chased after me like a hungry lion chasing a fleeing gazelle.
"No running in the halls, kid!" Freddy Krueger shouted, a wicked smile on his burnt face. Seeing this was enough motivation for me to run even faster.
I did not know whether it was just my imagination acting up or if it was actually happening, but right before my eyes, the school hallway appeared to have stretched even longer, the otherside vanishing from sight. But no matter how seemingly endless it became, it did little to deter me from escaping my tormentor. Flashing light from outside shined through the dirty windows, and I could see the walls for a short moment, which were now striped red and green, just like Freddy's sweater.
"Hey, Lincoln!" Freddy bellowed with murderous intent. "You forgot your hall pass! And I have it right HERE!" Lifting his bladed gloved hand up, Freddy took one good swipe down at my head. I swiftly ducked my head down just before any one of his blades could land a good hit on me, missing me by an inch. Without even thinking, I made a sharp left turn, rounding the corner towards another hallway. All the little doors of the assorted lockers on each wall automatically opened and closed, followed by more ghostly voices that echoed all around me.
"Gotta get out of here!" I panted while desperately rushing straight through the red and green striped hallway.
When it started to feel like I was going to be running forever, a sense of hope lifted my spirits up when I saw the lit-up exit sign dead ahead in front of me. But I was met with the feeling of dispair once again when I came upon the exit doors which were all boarded up with long planks of aged wood. Some rusted chain links were wrapped firmly around the planks with an old padlock keeping them all together. I panted heavily and shook my head, staring wide eyed in complete horror.
"No..." I whispered hopelessly. Suddenly, a blood-curdling chuckle came from behind me. I whipped my head around and saw Freddy's silhouetted figure standing far in front of me. The bright light of the full moon shined through the glass windows directly behind him, giving the slasher villain a very ominous glow. The sight of this made me want to fall down to my knees. Out of nowhere, a dense fog quickly rolled along the black and white-tiled floor, concealing it from sight.
Freddy continued to chuckle sadistically as he slowly walked over to my location with both his arms held out. But then, they literally did stretch out, the fingers of his hands just barely touching the lockers on each wall. The sharp blades of his glove, however, scratched intensely along the metal, causing a terrible screech to resound throughout the hallway. I tried my best to cover my ears, but it was of no use, because I could still hear that teeth-grinding sound, along with Freddy's evil laughter.
"One, two, Freddy's coming for you…" the above-mentioned slasher villain sang in a grim tone. I stood there completely frozen, my back firmly against the boarded-up exit doors, sweat running down my whole face. "Three, four, better lock your door." At this point, I was hyperventilating so badly, it felt like I could pass out at any given moment from this terrifying scenery.
"Five, six, grab your crucifix," Freddy further sang, reaching closer and closer at almost a snail's pace. "Come on, you know the rest...!"
"S-Seven, eight, g-gonna stay up l-late," I stammered. "Nine, t-t-ten..."
Without warning, Freddy's stretched arms whipped out at me, and they coiled up around my legs and body like giant anacondas. I was now completely covered from neck to toe with no way of escape, with only my head sticking out. His arms squeezed so tightly that they could easily crush all my bones into nothing but dust. With relative ease, Freddy carried me over to him, suspending my body in the air with his snake arms. He then forced me to look at him straight in the burning eyes.
"Never sleep again..." he finished, smiling wickedly.
With that, Freddy let out a terrible cackle and I screamed for my life as the world around me faded to black.
Friday, June 26th…
I woke up with a gasp, my body jolting around and fighting desperately for survival. I looked around but then I quickly relaxed once after my vision had cleared up nicely. I was back in my own room once again, resting on my soft bed. I peered my eyes down at myself, expecting to find Freddy's snake-like arms still wrapped around me. Thankfully, I saw that it was only my blanket tangled around my legs and body. I flopped my head back down on my pillow with a frustrated groan.
"Ding dang darn it, Freddy," I grumbled, before pulling my arm out from under my blanket and rubbing my eyes.
Serves me right for watching that stupid movie to begin with, I guess. Wanting very much to push that less-than-pleasant nightmare out of my head, I climbed out of bed and went for my new Magic 8 Ball that lay hidden inside my nightstand's bottom drawer. Now on both my feet, I focused my eyes on the little plastic black sphere as I tried to think up what I wanted to say to it.
Unexpectedly, my brain veered off in a random direction, and that was when a certain blond-haired, rock 'n' roll-loving teenaged beauty appeared before my mind's eye. At this, I could not help but make a dopey-looking smile. Just by thinking about Sam's golden feathery locks, her beautiful yet soul-piercing eyes, even her cute little laugh was enough to drive me crazy like the lovesick puppy I was. With that in mind, I brought my Magic 8 Ball close to my face, now ready to ask my question.
"Will Sam and I get married one day?" I whispered. I gave the ball one good shake and then gazed into the little window behind where I saw the triangle appear above the surface through the dark blue liquid.
"Reply hazy. Try again." the words read. I furrowed my brows at this. That was not the answer I wanted to read. Doing as I was told; I repeated the question.
"Will Sam and I get married one day?" After a second attempt, I looked at the ball and another answer appeared through the little window.
"Ask again later." Again, not what I wanted. My left eye twitched in growing irritation. Okay, now you're starting to become a pain in the neck!
"Will-Sam-and-I-get-married-one-day?" I slowly repeated through my teeth, putting more emphasis on each word. I gave it one final good shake in my hands, a bit more firmly this time. When I saw the little triangle containing its response appear through the dark blue liquid, my eyes bulged wide in both disappointment and anger. Well, mostly in anger.
"Don't count on it."
"Are you kidding me?!" I nearly exclaimed. "Useless little piece of—!" Now very upset, I raised my left hand up, preparing to throw the stupid toy with all my strength against my bedroom wall. But I quickly stopped myself, realizing what I was about to do. Taking a slow and deep breath, I decided to place the Magic 8 Ball back inside my nightstand's bottom drawer and closed it shut. I lost the original ball once; I was certainly not going to lose this one the same way a second time.
That was when I suddenly remembered something.
Speaking of time, I thought, looking over at my alarm clock. It was now almost six in the afternoon. I then whipped around to see my calendar hanging over my bed, seeing a large red circle marked over the date. Remembering this had almost sent me into a state of instant delight. I sucked in my bottom lip to help try and contain myself. Today was the day. Tonight was going to be a historical moment for me. Tonight, my friends are coming over and we are going to have a sleepover...
Now, why exactly was I making such a big deal about something like this? What you've got to understand was that back then, sleepovers in our house were regarded as a major no-no, mostly because countless times in the past, they didn't always turn out so good. You can thank my sisters for that, as they were the sole reason why Mom and Dad banned sleepovers altogether. They often got so out of control and destructive, they would always end up making it appear like Rambo himself walked straight into our living room and then trashed the entire place with his M60 machine gun.
So, less than two months earlier, when I told Mom and Dad that I wanted to have a sleepover of my own, it took some pretty hard selling for me to actually get the both of them to change their minds. But in the end, they finally relented and said yes, much to my absolute delight. And with the knowledge that they were also going to keep all my sisters on a very short leash and not try to possibly ruin it for me, I felt even more assured that it was going to be smooth sailing from there on out. Or so I had originally believed. Trust me, you'll know why I say that.
"Lincoln! Your friends are here!" Mom's voice called out from downstairs. I nearly squealed like a little girl when I heard that.
It's happening! I thought. It's actually happening! Leaving my bedroom, I sprinted through the hallway and trailed down the stairs into the living room. What I before me was a very welcoming sight because standing just out the mouth of the front doorway were Clyde, Rusty, Zach, Liam, and Stella, each one of them carrying their own respective sleeping bags. I noticed that standing closely next to Clyde was a young blond-haired kid who I also happened to know.
"Hey, guys!" I greeted. "Glad you can make it!" I looked over at the blond kid and smiled.
"Hey, Conner! You excited for tonight?"
"Oh, you know it!" he responded, giving me a high five. Conner was twelve years old like I was, and just about the same height. His short blond hair was soft-looking, and he wore an all-white baseball cap. He was dressed in an orange short-sleeved buttoned up shirt which was tucked underneath his blue jeans, and a brown leather belt wrapped nicely around his waist. And funny enough, he also wore a pair of white Nike Bruin shoes just like I did.
It was somewhere around a year ago, back in 1986, when the two of us first met...
One day, my sisters and I went out shopping with Mom at the local Super Mart where they were selling a brand-new cereal product that I wanted to buy very badly. To my surprise and great relief, I found that there was only one box left in the whole store. Right after I took it off the shelf, Conner appeared out of nowhere and snatched it from my hands, even though I had it first. Around that time, I didn't personally know who he was just yet.
All I saw back then was some random bratty kid who was trying to steal and make off with my box of cereal. I remember chasing him around the store until I finally caught up with him, snatched my cereal back, and he ended up getting in serious trouble with his mom. It wouldn't be until the beginning of September—on my very first day at Middle School—that the two of us would bump into each other again. At first, we argued about the whole cereal incident. But then, we started laughing and cracking jokes about it, and we both became really good friends afterward.
And now here he was, standing alongside my other friends as the newest member of our gang with his own rolled up sleeping bag in his skinny arms. It was kind of funny how things in life work out. After letting the group inside the living room, I told them to go ahead and make themselves as comfortable as possible and said I would be right back. I hastily made my way back up the stairs and into my room, and then I crawled underneath my bed to grab what I was looking for.
What I pulled out was a cardboard box containing my Dungeons & Dragons game along with the proper materials needed in order to play: miniature figures, character sheets, rulebook and manual, game-board, multi-numbered dice, the whole ding dang enchilada. With the box in my hands, I came back down to the living room and placed it on the dining room table. With this little side mission now complete, I turned around to face my group of friends.
"Alright, guys!" I spoke very clearly, clapping my hands together. "Let's do a quick little round up before we get started! I've already got Dungeons & Dragons, so what other bare essentials do we have? Clyde?"
"I got the popcorn," Clyde stated, pulling out a box of Orville Redenbacher's microwave popcorn from his satchel.
"Perfect. Snacks?"
"Already taken care of," Stella and Liam confirmed, each one of them carrying a plastic grocery bag half full of goodies.
"Soda pop?"
"Right here!" Zach and Rusty said, fishing out several cans of Coke and Diet Pepsi from inside their sleeping bags.
"Good. And movies?"
"Way ahead of you," Conner said, showing us three VHS tapes in his one hand. Seeing all that was good, I nodded and told them to wait for just a quick minute. I then took off into the kitchen where I found Mom having just got done talking on the phone that was mounted on the bright, blue-painted wall.
"Was that Domino's Pizza?" I asked. She nodded her blond-haired head with a smile.
"Just got done ordering, sweetheart," she said, hanging the long-corded receiver back onto the hook. "They'll be here in twenty-five minutes."
"Perfect! Thanks, Mom."
"Now, this won't end up being crazy, will it?" she asked me, a sense of worry creeping up.
"Don't worry, Mom," I assured her. "We're all just going to play some Dungeons & Dragons and watch a movie or two. Nothing more outrageous than that." My mother sighed as if she was holding her breath for a while now.
"Well, that sure is a relief," she stated, wiping a hand across her brow. But then her face became serious, looking me straight in the eyes. "But I'm warning you right now, Lincoln. If this turns out to be just as chaotic like your sisters', your father and I will not hesitate to prohibit sleepovers again. For good this time. Do I make myself clear, young man?" I inclined my head into one graceful nod.
"Crystal, ma'am." I answered. "I promise; all of us will be on our best behavior tonight." And with that over and done with, I walked out of the kitchen and came back to the living room, my friends still patiently waiting for me.
"Come on, guys! Let's make this the most awesome sleepover ever!" I proclaimed excitedly, pumping my fists up into the air.
After setting up our Dungeons & Dragons game, we took our respective seats on each side of the dining room table, with me sitting at the right side.
When we played this famous yet unfortunately media-scapegoated tabletop fantasy role-playing game, I would serve as our party's Dungeon Master. This meant that I was the master storyteller, organizing and challenging the other players as we went along through our campaign. For about three hours, the gang and I had traversed through spooky underground caverns and forgotten keeps in search of buried treasure as well as ancient knowledge which could potentially help us later in our quest.
Sometimes afterward, if not very often, we would find ourselves cutting down any manner of enemies that were unfortunate enough to cross our paths and then quickly rolling the dice in hopes of shooting magic fireballs or casting protection spells. And there was the occasional slaying of an orc or two and upgrading our character status and abilities. During one part of the campaign, we came upon some troglodytes, nothing too hard for us to handle.
But that was before we met with an even greater evil that none of us—except for me—could have anticipated; from out of the blue came a terrible Demogorgon, also known as the Prince of Demons, the Sibilant Beast, and the Master of the Spiraling Depths. It took some tricky strategies—and some desperate dice-rolling at that—but we somehow managed to defeat the Demogorgon, our characters barely making it out with their lives still intact.
"Boy, am I glad that mess is over," Conner sighed, leaning against his seat in relief.
"I swear," started Rusty, "if I see another Demogorgon again, it'll be too soon."
"Tarnation, Lincoln," Liam nearly exclaimed. "Go easy next time, will ya?" I smiled rather sheepishly.
"Sorry, guys," I chuckled, rubbing the back of my neck. "I couldn't resist."
"Well, please be sure to try next time, okay?" Zach grumbled. Clyde, sitting close to my right, breathed heavily and rubbed his tired eyes behind his glasses.
"At least we got a pretty sturdy reward out of it though," my best friend said. "Stats upgrades, new weapons, and armor. It's totally worth it."
"Oh, absotively," Rusty agreed, running his fingers through his curly red hair. Stella took one deep breath before stretching her slender arms out and taking a good bite of her half-eaten slice of pizza. I did the same with mine, which had ended up getting a little bit cold.
"I don't know about you guys," she said, after finishing her bite, "but I'm ready to relax and watch a good movie right now." The five of us nodded in agreement. Conner gulped down his half-empty soda can of Diet Pepsi.
"Me too," he said while arching his back into a graceful stretch. "Let's pause our game and pick up where we left off some other time." Again, we all agreed with a nod. We then excused ourselves from the table, and I placed all my Dungeons & Dragons stuff back into my cardboard box, and then I set it aside up against a right-side corner of the dining room. Everybody made a grab for their pajamas and walked upstairs to the bathroom to change.
They all stood in line, waiting for each of their turns, a routine that I was already too familiar with at this point.
While the gang were doing so, I went to my room and changed into my orange pajamas and came outside again to follow the gang back downstairs. Clyde then disappeared into the kitchen to make the popcorn. That was when we talked about other movies and what we're planning to do later this summer. That was when Rusty mentioned to us about the new Predator movie that had just come out two weeks earlier.
"Yeah, I've heard about it," I confirmed. "I've seen the poster for it a few times at the Royal Woods Cinema."
"Man, I want to see that movie so badly!" Rusty almost squealed like a little girl in his excitement. Given that my old friend was a pretty huge fanboy of Arnold Schwarzenegger, it wasn't really that much of a surprise to us. But then again, we honestly couldn't blame him for it either since we considered ourselves to be big fans of Arnold as well. Conner, on the other hand, was always more of a Sylvester Stallone kind of guy. He loved the Rocky movies, the third and fourth one especially where Stallone went up against Mr. T and Dolph Lundgren.
Yo, Adrian! I thought humorously.
"I want to see it because of the Predator itself!" Zach proclaimed jovially. "Who actually knows what that thing could look like?" Despite seeing the excitement in my friends, I could not help but feel very doubtful though. I thought it highly unlikely that they would even allow a small group of middle schoolers to watch an R-rated action movie, even if it had the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger in it. Wanting to switch gears, I finally got to tell the gang about the upcoming Garbage Pail Kids Movie and Jaws the Revenge.
"Dude, who hasn't at this point?" Conner asked us. "But I cannot seem to wrap my around the fact that Universal is releasing another Jaws film. And later this summer too? I mean, after what happened with the last one, you'd think they would have learned their lesson by now."
"I know, partner," concurred Liam through his southern drawl. "But the Garbage Pail Kids?"
"You got that right, Liam," I confirmed. "And it's going to be released this coming August."
"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle," he proclaimed. "This summer just keeps gettin' better and better."
"I'll vouch for that," Stella agreed. But then, before we could divulge any more about anything else, a strong smell quickly wafted into the living room. The hypnotic aroma of salt and melted butter. We all looked over and saw Clyde now standing before us with a large plastic bowl filled with fresh popcorn. Judging from the size of the bowl itself, he must have used at least two bags worth.
"Finally," Conner said. "Now we can watch our movie." He then walked over to the Zenith and grabbed the three movies he set on top of my family's VCR player and he placed them all down flat on the coffee table for us to observe. We saw the front of the VHS cases showing each of the titles and covers. Firstly, there was The Dark Crystal, then Big Trouble in Little China, and then lastly—All the color disappeared from my face when I saw the third movie's title on the plastic case...
A Nightmare on Elm Street...
I looked up at Conner like he just committed the most heinous crime of the century—which he might as well have in my eyes.
"Of all the movies, Conner," I accosted him. "Just why did you bring over this one?"
"What?" he asked, believing he had done nothing wrong. "I heard it's pretty good."
"Conner, you know my family and I are not allowed to watch R-rated horror movies," I explained. "Especially if they're Slashers. If my parents or any one of my sisters catches us red-handed, we'll be in deep trouble for sure."
"You need to take a chill pill, dude," he replied ignorantly. "We're not going to get caught. Besides, other people are saying that it's actually not that bad."
You truly have no idea what you're getting yourself into! I thought as I looked at him dumbfounded.
"Do your mom and dad let you watch this?" Clyde questioned while setting the bowl full of popcorn down on the coffee table. Knowing just how strict both Conner's parents could be at times, I effectively had my doubts that they would even allow him—let alone the rest of their family—to go near these types of movies. Conner averted his gaze from us, and he hesitated to answer for a moment.
"No..., not exactly," he admitted awkwardly.
"Do they even know you bought it?" Stella inquired.
"No, I didn't buy it!" Conner corrected almost defensively. "I got it at the movie rental store, same as the others."
How the heck did he manage to do that without getting caught? I wondered in my head.
"Unbelievable," I murmured, massaging the bridge of my nose.
"Come on, guys," Conner tried to reason. "You don't know until you actually try it, right?" If he only knew.
"I'm not so sure about this," Stella expressed uncomfortably, rubbing the back of her neck.
"What's there to be so worried about?" Conner asked her. "I'm telling you guys, it's—"
"Forget it!" I interrupted. "We're not watching the movie!"
"But Lincoln!" Conner whined.
"Conner, if I had to choose between this movie and Scarface," I said, "I would rather watch Al Pacino scream, 'Say hello to my little friend!'! So, you can just forget about it! We're watching something else, and that's final!" Conner stared at me with a hard look before he crossed his arms and then a wicked smile spread across his face.
"What's the matter, Linky? Ya chicken?" he unexpectedly asked. As if on cue, everybody let out a collective set of gasps. I temporarily froze for a moment before my brain could register what had happened.
"What did you just say…?" I asked before staring him down with a glare. "Nobody. Calls. Me. Chicken." Conner's smile became smug before he grabbed the movie from the coffee table and held the tape out in front of me.
"Oh yeah? Then prove it." he challenged. I looked at him annoyedly before rolling my eyes and shaking my head.
"I don't need to prove anything!" I argued.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Well, I dare you!" Another gasp resounded, followed by overlapping whispers shared between the others. I could scarcely believe it myself. But I was determined not to watch this movie, determined not to relive that unfortunate night. So, I stood my ground very firmly as best as I could, my lips curling into a defiant sneer.
"This is just stupid!" I proclaimed. "I'm not going to do it! Why don't we watch The Dark Crystal instead?"
And his response...?
"I double dog dare you!" I soundlessly gaped at him in shock, as did the rest of the gang. It was one thing to be dared by another. But for them to take it a step further and use a double dog dare? That was when we knew things were starting to get serious. Very serious. My heart started to pound violently in my chest, and I felt my knees turning into gelatin. How was I going to get myself out of this one? I tried to think up any feasible escape route in my head, but they ended up a lot worse than the other.
"Come on, dude," I nervously argued. "Can't we just watch—"
"—I triple dog dare you!" he said out of the blue, catching us all off guard while he smirked evilly. We were left absolutely speechless by this unexpected turn of events. I could not believe what I had actually heard. Conner went straight ahead for it. The big one. The queen mother of all dares. It was there I realized that no amount of reasoning or carefully thought-out tactics were going to get me out of this now inescapable position.
If I backed down, I would never be able to show my face in school—or maybe in all of Royal Woods—ever again. I would be labeled an outcast for the rest of my life. And worst of all, Sam might never want to see or speak to me again in the near future. What an amazing girl like her would even consider a pathetic little coward like me as potential boyfriend material? Truly, there was no escape. Conner had me firmly by the throat.
I took one long breath through my nose and sucked in my bottom lip, knowing that he was going to regret this.
"Let's watch the movie..." I grumbled aloud. Immediately after that, the gang took their spots around the living room coach after having moved the coffee table aside, pajamas, sleeping bags, large bowl of popcorn and all. I removed the video tape from its respective case and stuffed the tape inside the VCR player. With the remote control in my hand, I kept the volume of the Zenith at a certain downlow for fear of possibly waking up everybody in the whole house, which I really didn't want.
Swallowing a fear-induced lump in my throat, I hit the play button on the VCR and went over to my spot on the coach. Clyde and Liam sat to my left while Stella and Conner were on my right. Rusty and Zach rested on the carpeted floor all cozied up inside their sleeping bags, completely oblivious to what they were about to get themselves into. It was not long before they were met with terrors that none of them knew could be thought possible. It was too bad I already knew about it first.
To my friends, each scene was a lot scarier than the last. But for me, they were just as I remembered them. Stella shivered when she heard Freddy's spine-tingling chuckle as his arms stretched across the TV screen. Zach and Rusty almost sprung out of their sleeping bags when Freddy suddenly appeared and chased Nancy through his terrifying boiler room. Clyde struggled not to throw up after Glen was pulled through his bed and a huge geyser of blood splashed up to the ceiling.
I glanced over to see Conner. He was shaking like a leaf as he covered half his face with his sleeping bag, his fear-stricken eyes wide as they were allowed to be.
You get what you paid for, jerk! I thought with an angry glare. When the movie was FINALLY over, the feeling of relief washed over us. As the end credits appeared, Conner did not hesitate in hopping from the coach, taking the tape out from the VCR player, and then stuffing the tape itself deep inside his sleeping bag, along with its case. I could easily tell that he was definitely not planning on watching that movie ever again in the near future.
"W-W-Well..., at least it's over, right guys?" he said with a nervous chuckle. The movie may have been over, but the damage was already done. Right after that, we went to work where we were going to sleep; Zach, Rusty, Liam, Conner, and myself chose to sleep on the floor while Clyde and Stella took each side of the coach. With everything set and done, I turned off the lamp on the coffee table, incasing the entire living room in total darkness.
The only small form of light which could be seen came from Clyde's nightlight which was plugged into the wall closely next to the television set. After what we had just watched, after what I had been forced to re-live, none of us had any argument about it whatsoever. We uttered our goodnights to each other and then we tried our best to fall asleep despite our fear of what might happen if we did.
This is going to be a very long night. As a precautionary measure, I folded my hands together and tilted my head down. It was better to be safe rather than sorry about it later.
"Now I lay me down to sleep," I whispered under my breath. "I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take. Amen." With those words, I closed my eyes and finally drifted off to sleep. But despite the now deafening silence all around us, I could still faintly hear the skin-crawling nursery rhyme play out in my mind.
One, two, Freddy's coming for you...
Holy cow! I did not expect to write this many words for this chapter. I guess that's what happens when you really get into your work.
And also, I'm really sorry if I got anything inaccurate in my portrayal of Dungeons & Dragons. I'm not exactly familiar with how the tabletop game itself is actually played, so please don't get mad at me. And yes, the part where the kids are facing the Demogorgon is a direct reference to the first opening scene from Season One of Stranger Things. I thought it would be cool if I threw that in here since this story and the series are both set in the 80's. When the part where Lincoln is called a chicken by Conner, that is a reference to Back to the Future: Part II.
And the part where Conner uses the triple dog dare, that is also a reference to a beloved 80's classic: A Christmas Story.
Aaaand since it's now almost Halloween, I figured it would make sense that Lincoln and his pals were made to watch a scary movie for their sleepover. And what better scary movie from the 80's than the very one responsible for giving Lincoln the most grief to begin with? LOL.
Let me know about what you guys think in your reviews.
Until then, have a splendid October. ;)