1, 2, Guess Who's Coming For You!

Doctor Gregory Gwenn Jr. walked calmly through the halls of Westin Hills, his demeanor was relaxed. A smile was on his handsome face. He was happy with the progress he was making with Isabella, even if what she was telling him was down right depressing.


He swore at times, he needed to prescribe himself some Zanex or Paxil. But, it meant that Ms. Paxton actually trusted him to some extent. So far, she’s only told him about when the demon known as Freddy Krueger has only barely made contact with her.


‘I think there’s some part of me that wants to get to the juicy, macabre center of this fable.’ Gregory thought to himself, Isabella’s meal in his left hand. ‘A small price to pay to get inside her psyche and get to know the real Isabella.’


He came to a stop at Isabella’s new room. Since she was so far behaving herself, she was moved up to a residency, she got a nicer room with her own bathroom and a small closet. The bathroom itself was small but better then border lining a prison cell.


He was stopped by his father, Dr. Greg Gwenn Sr. “Yes, father?” he asked, his green eyes in line with his father’s brown ones.


“Son, I want you to drug that girl’s meal, we need to at least monitor her dreams to make sure nothing happens.” his father’s gruff voice ordered, a hand on his son’s left shoulder.


“I’m sorry, sir, but I cannot do that. I am truly gaining her trust and getting her side of the story.” But, his father interrupted him.


“We do not have the time for these ideological games of your’s, Gregory. We do not need her side, her opinion or anything of the sort.” Gregory kept his cool, not yelling back at his more hot-headed father.


“Ideological or not, her side can mean a good deal. And it was you who once told me, father, doctors need to have that childlike curiosity. And I’ve always felt, the more you know, the more likely your plan will succeed. So I ask you, hold off on your extreme measures and give my approach a chance.” Gregory implored, keeping strong with his resolve.


“Fine. But, that girl spells doom for us all. As long as she lives.” the elder Gwenn stormed off, white coat trailing behind him.


Gregory recomposed himself, taking a deep, calming breath and entered his patient’s room. “Good evening, Isabella.” he greeted, a smile on his face as he set the bag and drink on the table in front of the brunette.


Isabella was looking much healthier, when compared to how she first was when he saw her. There was now some color to her, a very slight peachy tone. And a small glimmer of life could be seen in her hazel eyes. And due to her getting one meal a day, there was even some meat on her bones now.


“Hey, doc. How’s things?” she asked, yawning as her doctor sat across from her. “Oh, Chinese huh?” she grinned somewhat, taking her meal out. A huge container filled with rice was not in her hands.


Isabella opened the box and inhaled. “House Special Fried Rice? Nice!” She had a nice selection of chicken, roast pork and shrimp with a few vegetables mixed in. Before she began digging in, she took a sip of the soda Dr. Gwenn Jr. got for her, a Cherry Pepsi.


“How have you been sleeping, if I may ask?” Gregory inquired as Isabella began eating her large meal of rice.


“Fairly ok I suppose. Had a pretty messed up dream just before I woke up.” she told him. “No Freddy. But it was still a mindfuck.” she added, playfully tossing a shrimp into her mouth.


“Dream demon or no, dreams are a source of fascination and wonderment for me. So I am naturally curious, Isabella.” he told the young girl truthfully. Why else would he dedicate eight plus years of college to the study of dreams and medicine?


“Well, I was thrown in prison…like a gothic asylum or something like that. Dunno why but, Carrot Top was there. And there was also something about death by LSD. And right near the end, before I woke up, I heard a dark kinda hoarse disembodied voice calling out to me. I couldn’t understand a word it said though.” Isabella explained, confused as to what her dream could mean. “Maybe it was the Devil?” she wondered out loud.


Gregory wrote down every little detail she just told him down, determined to discover its meaning if it had one. Whatever haunted this girl, there’s a chance it could still be in her subconscious.


“That does sound like quite the doozy of a dream. Now, I have a question about the man you used to see in your dreams. Would you mind talking about him?”


“You mean Freddy?” Gregory nodded in response to her question, a leg folded over his right as his clipboard rested on his lap, waiting patiently for Isabella’s answer.


“I’m sure you’ve heard of him and his description from several other children that are here.” she grumbled, sipping on her soda.


“Other doctors have, I for one am still in the dark about this Freddy Krueger. I haven’t been in Springwood long. And, we just want to be sure everything is…consistent.” he explained, voice still calm. Inside, Gregory was rather anxious and he was itching to learn more about this girl. Well, one should be rather involved in their work.


Isabella sighed, leaning back against her seat, a rather comfy tan single chair with a soft cushion. She thanked God that her room was more Earth toned then the blinding and mind-numbing white that her other room had. “His name was Freddy Krueger. Like all us kids have been saying, he’s in our dreams, well dreams for me, nightmares from the others. His whole body is horribly burned, flesh torn in several places showing muscle tissue. The only ‘human’ bit of him is his eyes, such a wonderful blue…” she seemed to trail off, as if fondly remembering this Dream Demon that was being blamed for the deaths of countless children.


Gregory cleared his throat, snapping Isabella out of her reverie. “He wears a green and red striped sweater with black work pants and heavy black boots. Its all topped off with a fedora.”


“What about his weapon? There were numerous reports of deep slashes on the victims.”


“His claw? Oh it looks so cool really! He made it himself, when he was still alive of course. it’s a brown leather glove, like a gardener would use, with some metal here and there, rivets holding the metal in place on the glove and four blades coming off his fingers. I tried making one but failed epically. Almost cut my wrist.” Isabella explained further, a look of nostalgia on her face, along with a lazy grin.


Gregory nodded as he wrote down more notes. Mostly pointing to some type of admiration or infatuation with this dream figure. ‘Like a twisted version of Stockholm Syndrome. But, Isabella wasn’t kidnapped. Not to my knowledge anyway.’ he pondered as he finished with his notes, turning the scribbled page to a clean one. “Is there anything new you would like to tell me about your involvement with Mr. Krueger?” he asked, taking a sip of the water he brought in for himself.


“Sure, it actually feels nice talking about it to someone. Where did I leave off?” she wondered absent-mindedly.


“He found you in a classroom and said something about helping each other.” Greg Jr. reminded her.


“Ah, right you are.” she said with a snap of her fingers.


*Flashback*

Isabella paced her room the next night, chewing on her thumbnail and thinking about her dream from the night before. Never had she been able to recall a dream so vividly.


“Just who was he?” she wondered out loud, bare feet padding against the soft carpet that was missing bits of the plush fabric.


She snapped to attention when she heard the front door slam open then shut with equal if not more force. Her parents were home…and judging from the movement she heard, they were hammered. ‘Not again.’ she thought with dread.


She quickly slipped on her sneakers threw on a black jacket and grabbed her overnight bag she found in the attic years ago. Packed inside was a pillow, sleeping bag, a change of clothes and a brush.


She learned to avoid her parents when they were drunk, if she came near them, they would beat her, shouting incoherently about how they wished she was never born. Typical white trash child beating drunkards.


The home the Paxton family lived in was a small single story fixer-upper. So, Isabella hopped out her window, making sure to shut it silently. Escaping drunken assailants can make one pretty stealthy over the years.


As she made her way to what she considered her safe house, she took her I-Pod out of her backpack that she brought with her for school the next day. She popped the headphones on and tuning into Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Osbourne. She got the I-Pod from her grandfather.


Her grandmother recently passed away at the age of fifty-eight. Both grandparents on her mother’s side were dead. But, her father’s father; Charlie was a rather nice man but stubborn, like her father except never drunk. Charlie was a hard-working man, making a good living at a Steel Plant, rising to General Manager and earning a rather nice pay.


Isabella wanted to tell Charlie about her living conditions, maybe to move in with him. But, she knew he would want evidence. Her grandfather, while kind wanted actual proof to something happening. So, she’d have to get beaten by her parents THEN somehow make it to his home. And that was something she didn’t want to do. She didn’t like pain at all.


So, all she could do was fight it out until the drunken idiots got into an accident and maybe Charlie would open his home to her.


Isabella kicked a rock outside an abandoned factory. No one ever thought to look for her here. ‘Not like anyone wants to find me.’ she thought, depression coming over her.


The young brunette made her way down to the boiler as her I-Pod switched to Be My Escape by Relient K. She knew her way around this factory well. She always hid here over the years and was thankful that it wasn’t torn down.


Something strange to Isabella was constant lingering of a burning smell, though nothing was burning. When she first found this place, Isabella felt drawn to it somehow.


Her destination was now in her sights as she made her way through the maze of pipes to the boiler that was always somehow warm. Isabella always camped here, the boiler kept this section toasty and she would set her little camp site up in a corner, a few feet away from the boiler.

The sleeping bag was actually a very nice one, before her parent’s turned to the bottle to drown in their sadness over the deaths of their own parent’s they would go camping several times a year. So, she grabbed the larger sleeping bag, a small luxury while she had to run away for the night.


After laying her sleeping bag down and placing her pillow and battery-operated alarm clock by her sleeping area, Isabella walked over to the cabinet she found hidden and stored old pans in for making food.


The pots and pans were from the kitchen in the factory and she moved them here, mostly making ramen or soup, any type of non-perishables did the trick, and she even brought snacks and drinks.


She found a secret compartment that was large enough to hoard food. And she could clean up dishes or even bathe if she had to, there was of course a sink that worker’s would use to wash their hands and a small shower in case someone caught fire.


So, Isabella also kept a towel or two here with some shampoo and conditioner.


And, since everyone stayed away from this place for some reason, kids thinking it might be haunted with how desolate and dilapidated the whole area was, this was the perfect home away from home for Isabella.


She sat on her comfy sleeping bag and ate her ramen noodles and off-brand BBQ chips while sipping some water. And after taking a quick shower to wash her hair and brush her teeth, she settled in under the sleeping bag, head on her pillow and alarm set. ‘Why does he seem so familiar…?’ she wondered as she drifted off to sleep.


In her dreams, Isabella found herself in the same boiler room. Except, it felt much warmer now. Everything was lit by red lights, making the boiler room seem hellish. And she felt strange, as if someone had changed her clothes. She looked down and saw not the loose jeans and plain red t-shirt she had on before she fell asleep but a yellow and white gingham dress with yellow Mary-Janes and ruffled white socks.


As she examined the rather child-like dress, Isabella heard a rather familiar sound, the sound of metal sliding against metal. That undeniable screech that sent shivers down your spine and goosebumps across one’s flesh.


“So nice to see you again, little Izzy.” it was the same man from last night! Isabella looked up to her left where a pair of stairs led up to the scaffolding above and saw him, Freddy for the first time.


He must have only been an inch taller then her, but his appearance was rather intimidating and disturbing. From what she could see, he was burned beyond any type of repair, lips and nose almost gone, as was any hair.


His ears were now just small holes on either side of his head, the flesh now melted against the side of his cranium. The nails on his fingers were barely noticeable.


Freddy wore what she thought to be a Christmas sweater with a pair of black slacks and black boots. And, there was the clawed glove that had been mere inches away from her face last night, sliding across the railing with a gleeful screeching sound.


“Still as beautiful as I remember.” he added, a grin spreading across his melted lips as he moved closer to the fifteen year old who was frozen in place.


He seemed to glide somewhat and had a type of confident swagger to his movements. The dark brown fedora blocked his eyes from view for the moment, making Isabella somewhat terrified of what he had planned for her.


The burned man was no only a foot away from her, bladed fingers twitching. Isabella gulped nervously, not liking the deadly silence between the two. “What do you want from me?” she asked meekly, stepping back into the wall behind her.


“I’m not gonna hurt you, Izzy. You’re such a good girl after all, keeping our secrets for so long.” he answered, cracked voice sounding rather affectionate.


“Secrets? I have no idea what you’re talking about, man.” she sighed, glad that for now, she was safe from those blades. “I don’t even know who you are…” she whispered, not taking her eyes off that demented glove.


The man twitched the index blade, making Isabella jump, her back smacking the concrete wall. This gave the man the perfect chance to pin his victim to the wall, ungloved hand holding her’s above her head.

“What the hell do you want from me?!” she asked, panicking now at how close this man was yet again.


He chuckled darkly, freezing the blood in her veins. “I told you last night, we can help each other. Those people out there, all the ones who treat you so badly, its time that they were punished. Bring them to me, Izzy. All their taunting, the beatings, everything stops. I just need to bring them here.” he explained, clawed hand on her hip as he stared into her hazel eyes, her gaze was going straight through him however.


“Why do you want to help me?” she asked in a confused tone, images of the times her parents beat her and no one helped her and of school bullies doing what they do best, making others’ lives a living hell.


“We’re old friends, you and me. I was your best friend not too long ago. Pity you forgot.” as he spoke, Isabella heard that song from last night but, the lyrics were different.


One, two, Freddy’s coming for you
Three, four, better lock your door
Five, Six, grab your crucifix
Seven, eight, better stay up late
Nine, ten, never sleep again.


“So, what do you say, hmm? Just say yes, Izzy and I’ll make all the bad things stop.” he told her in a soft but still demonic voice, his gloved hand rubbing her hip in an almost reassuring manner.


‘This has to be a dream. Might as well play along and see what happens.’ she told herself. “I’ll do my best…” she told the strange yet familiar man who smirked at her answer.


“That’s a good girl. You start tomorrow.” His head perked up, hearing the sound of her alarm clock going off. “The name’s Freddy, don’t forget it this time.” he chuckled then blew air on her, making her disappear from the dream world.


End


Freddy Fun fact: Freddy wasn’t a child molester in the first one, not defined as one anyway, due to several child molestation suits that were flying around California at the time the movie was released.