Beautiful Nightmare

"If I Close My Eyes Forever"--Ozzy and Lita Ford

Ever get that feeling that someone’s watching you?

Yeah, I’ve got it. All. The. Time. For the past month. And for that past month, I haven’t seen Freddy at all.

…In fact, the dream domain of the boiler room remained empty. No Freddy. The first few nights, I thought that he was just busy. But no matter how much I willed, I couldn’t find him. I could SENSE that he was there, but I just couldn’t find him. I would sit on his bed in the room, playing with my knives and waiting for him to show up. But he didn’t.

It was now one month to the day I last saw Freddy, and I was just getting ready for bed. I had long since stopped sleeping in my clothes, but I still slept with the glove he made for me on. I just kept wishing for him to show up…

I put on my black pajama bottoms and my red tank top, secured my glove to my wrist, and slid into bed, pressing the button on my iPod to start it up and putting the earphones in place. I drifted off to the tune of Ozzy and Lita Ford’s “If I Close My Eyes Forever”, feeling the familiar darkness overcome me.

I snapped ‘awake’ in Freddy’s boiler room, on his bed, once more alone. I sat up and pulled the earphones out, sliding out of his bed and looking around. “…Freddy?” I called. As it had the last 31 days, I heard no response.

…But I did SEE something…

A shadow of something flickered to my left, and then vanished. I immediately went for it, seeing it flicker and lead me through the labyrinth of Freddy’s world until I found myself in the clearing; the very center of the dream domain.

…And then I was alone.

No shadows, no sounds—aside from the hisses and drips of the pips—and no Freddy.

“…Freddy?” My knives clinked at my side, the sound echoing through the red-lit room. I clenched my left hand. “…Damn you, you fucking nightmare…”

“How very astute,” said a deep voice behind me.

I whipped around and backed up when I saw three…things…floating and staring at me. They kind of looked like flaming skulls with bits of flesh still attached to them. I swallowed hard and splayed my knives in a defensive gesture.

“No need to be afraid,” another one of them said.

“Unless you WANT to be afraid,” a third one with a raspy, amused tone said.

“Who…WHAT are you…?” I asked, still keeping my distance from them.

“We are the Demons of the Altered States of Consciousnesses,” the second one said, obviously the leader of the three. “Our job is to cause as much mayhem and death as possible when humans are in altered states of consciousness.”

“…Like dreams,” I guessed. The third one giggled manically.

“Right you are!” it laughed. “We also have the job of giving power to humans to do our jobs for us. Those who were once like the ones they destroy are the best at what they do.”

“…Freddy works for you guys,” I guessed again.

“Indeed,” the one with the deep voice said. “At the moment of his death, we made him a deal—his black soul for the power to kill children eighteen and under in their dreams.”

“He can kill adults, too, if they manage to make it into his world,” the leader put in. “But he derives no power from them.”

“He must follow the rules, though,” the raspy one added. “He can only invade the dreams of those who know his name.”

“The more who know his name, the more power he has in the dream world,” the deep-voiced added.

“He is able to leave the dream world to come to the waking world,” the leader put in. “But he is susceptible to harm and even death in that world.”

“But he cant really die!” Raspy cut in again. “He just goes back to Hell until he can gain enough power to kill in dreams again!”

“And the longer he is forgotten,” Deep added, “the longer it takes to gain power back. Dying in the real world completely saps whatever power he gained killing and collecting the souls of children in the dream world.”

Leader spoke again, “But he aims to change that. If he can gain enough power, he can transcend into BOTH worlds at will, and even escape death in the real world.”

“How will he be able to do that?” I asked. The three demons looked at each other before looking back at me.

“You.” Leader’s voice was very matter-of-fact. I blinked.

“Me?” Raspy started snickering. “…Me?”

“You,” Deep said. “Originally, his other option for such a goal was his daughter, Katherine, but she killed him in the real world, and since, he hasn’t been able to find her. She’s left Springwood and Ohio altogether.”

“The last and finest detail,” Leader said. “He must operate within an Elm Street.”

“And everywhere,” Raspy said, “has an Elm Street.”

I absorbed this information, mulling over what I’d just heard. “So…Freddy…NEEDS me…to get out of Springwood…after the kids are gone?”

“Smart kid,” Raspy said. “You’re right on the spot.”

“Is that…all?” I added lamely. They seemed to understand what I was getting at.

“That, and getting laid,” Raspy snickered.

…Ow. My pride.

“…Why are you telling me this?” I asked, blinking back tears. The three demons stared at each other again.

“To make a deal with you,” Leader stated. “It’s come to our attention that you are…prime material.”

“We think that you would make an excellent addition to the Dream Demon team,” Raspy added.

“You can manipulate your dreams without prior practice,” Deep said. “And you have managed with Freddy far better than Katherine had.”

“You have the makings of a real Dream Demoness,” Leader finished.

I again mulled over what they said. Me? A Dream Demon?

“…What’s the catch?” I asked.

“Told you she was smart,” Raspy told the other two. “Freddy didn’t even bother to hear the pros and cons before saying that he wanted it all.”

“Very well,” Leader said, floating over to me, slithering around me like a snake. “Your conditions will differ from Freddy’s. For one, you are not dying, nor do you have to die to attain this power.”

“You will be able to slide into other’s dreams through your own,” Deep added. “And like Freddy, you will have control and immunity to harm and death in the dream world. You will be able to bend dreams to your will.”

“And,” Raspy put in, “no one has to know your name for you to enter their dreams.”

I thought this over. “…I’m not much of a kid killer,” I said.

“That’s just fine,” Leader said. “You can have dominion over those sixteen and over, to the age of thirty.”

“A MUCH broader age group than Freddy’s,” Raspy said slyly. “You can even compete with him over ages fifteen to eighteen—one of his favorite age groups.”

“Teenagers give him a greater thrill,” Deep said. “But children are his passion.”

“Um, creepy,” I commented. “Go on.”

“You can still die,” Leader continued, “But when you die, you will be like Freddy, only with your own domain. And you will be bound to a certain area of
work.”

“What area?”

“The area you currently inhabit,” Raspy replied. “Hope you’re in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles should you die.”

“…And?”

“…And,” Deep said, “should you gain enough power, you too can transcend the barriers of the dream and reality worlds.”

Neither one of them said a word more. I sat down on a large pipe and thought about it. “…Limitless power in the dream world,” I said to myself. “…Practical immortality.” I looked up at the demons, my knives scraping against the metal, making a loud ‘screeeeeech’.

“…Forget it.”

“…What?” Wow, I surprised Leader. Shocking.

“I said forget it,” I repeated. “I’m way above selling my soul.” I eyed them. “My soul’s worth a hellofalot more than those nice perks, which WERE nice, don’t get me wrong.” I stood up, pacing the lines of pips and screeching my knives over them. “…But my soul belongs to ME.” I suddenly paused, my knives halting. I had an epiphany. “…And I can already enter dreams. I can already manipulate dreams. I exist within the realm! AS the realm!”

I spread my arms and the scene changed from a boiler room to what looked like my basement, only decked out in heavy Gothic décor and torture devices. Black obsidian stone lined the floor and walls, and a large, Emperor-sized bed with black sheets and chains on the sharp metal headboard dominated the left-hand side of the basement. Dead in the middle of the basement was the furnace, only it was five times the size of a normal furnace and also obsidian black stone. It was roaring with red flames, illuminating the beautiful torture room.

“…I don’t need to sell my soul for what I already have,” I said, my pajamas disappearing into a red-and-black-striped tube top with black pants, stiletto boots, and a black lady’s fedora. I splayed my knives, kissing them to my lips. “…And if all I’m good for is a free ticket to real life and a side-order of sex, then freebies have just been revoked.”

I sliced my knives over the obsidian wall, creating sparks and heated metal down the trail. “…You tell Freddy that if he wants me, then he has to EARN me.” I walked over to my bed and reclined on it, staring up at my ceiling, which bore a skeleton in shackles to the ceiling. “…That will be all, fellows. Please, keep in touch; I found our conversation quite stimulating.”

I smiled when they vanished, and with a flick of my knives, blared Rob Zombie in my little torture sanctuary. “…I may be your girl but I’m nobody’s toy, Freddy,” I said to myself in the darkness. “Keep playing with me, and you’ll see just how much of a BITCH I really can be…”
____________________________________________________________________________________

“She’s perfect,” Leader said to his comrades.

“TOO perfect,” Deep retorted. “And she’s correct. Her disposition DOES make her the realm. She saw right through the ploy.”

“I keep telling you, she’s intelligent!” Raspy chimed in gleefully. “We don’t have a soul, but Hell, we have an ally! An ally that may bring even Freddy back down to his place!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Leader said pensively. “She may exist as the realm, but she might just get too full of herself, too. But we do need her. Freddy needs to be kept on a leash.”

“Indeed,” Deep agreed. “He’ll be pissed for the interim, but he IS first and foremost a man. And she provides his needs.”

“And THEN we’ll see who the REAL bitch is!” Raspy added, laughing manically.

Leader looked over the dream realm in its entirety, seeing Freddy in a state of fury at the fact that he couldn’t find his companion (at first, that being the work of the Demons, but now she was concealing herself), and Angelia, who was in her own little world, keeping Freddy out until HE called for HER.

“…Let the games commence.”
____________________________________________________________________________________

“WHERE IS SHE!?!?”

Freddy tore through every corner of the dream world he could find on Elm Street—even all of Springwood—but still no sign of her! It was like she disappeared from the face of the Earth! But HOW!? He had integrated with her psyche! He should be able to see what she saw, especially where she was right now!

Transporting himself back to his boiler room, he dragged a seventeen-year-old girl with him by the hair, ignoring her screams of pain and fear; odd, considering those were two things that he strived on. He threw the little bitch into the room and immediately began slashing her with his knives, starting with her face and working his way down until her face was nothing but a bloody mass of guck and her torso was torn wide open like she was being dissected in Biology class—only, less careful and more organs were damaged than anything.

When the bitch was finally dead, she vanished from the dream world and Freddy felt a tiny swell of extra power run through him; but it was like pouring a cup of water into an Olympic-sized swimming pool—pointless.

That, and the kill did nothing for his mood; his ticket to the real world was still absent, and he had no clue as to why…

Wait. Just. A goddamned. Moment.

The Demons.

“SHIT!” He threw a random object into the wall of his room. Of COURSE it was them! They were the only ones with enough power to block Freddy’s attachment to her. And he was willing to bet his knives and fedora that they even told her what his intentions were toward her.

Freddy threw himself down in the chair next to his desk and growled to himself. …All was not well in the dream world, that much was for damn sure. He looked around, trying with every ounce of power he had to sense her. She had to be asleep by now. “Angelia…” he murmured under his breath.

And suddenly, instead of sitting in his desk chair, he was sitting on the edge of an enormous black-clad bed. He blinked and looked around, noting the obsidian walls and flooring, the huge furnace in the middle of the room, and random torture devices that gave him more than a few giddy ideas.

“Well, well, the Dream Demon graces me with his presence.”
____________________________________________________________________________________

I saw Freddy whip around to see me reclining against my metal headboard, tapping it with my blades. I smirked at him, crossing my legs. “Hello, Freddy,” I said, looking at him from under the brim of my fedora.

“…The fuck?” I giggled at his surprised exclamation.

“Eloquent as always, I see,” I replied. I spread my arms. “How do you like it? My own design.”

“Where have you been?” I looked at the reflection of my green eyes in my knives.

“…Around,” I replied, shrugging. “I’ve been asleep, if that’s what you’re wondering. But I had a very scintillating conversation with a trio of demons who were trying to recruit me…” The look on Freddy’s face was so priceless, I wish I had a camera. “…I see you’re familiar with them; I call them Leader, Deep, and Raspy. But that’s just me.”

“…You’ve been recruited?” he asked, his eyes flashing.

“Nope,” I said. “I declined their offer. I value my soul too much to throw it away for the life of plot holes and spelling errors that is your life.” I giggled and licked my lips. “But I think they gave me something almost as good.”

“And what would THAT be?” Freddy demanded. I grinned, and suddenly, we had switched positions; he was leaning against my headboard, only his wrists were in the shackles attached to the metal, and I was sitting on the end of my bed.

“Realization,” I said. I stood up on my bed and walked across it, swaying my hips purposely to make sure I had his attention. “…Realization that I AM the realm. I AM in control. And right now, I control YOU!” I raised my leg and slammed my stiletto-clad foot into his chest, grounding the heel into his sternum and making him cry out in actual PAIN. Fascinating. I took my boot off his chest and leaned down, straddling his hips and pulling his fedora off his head. I used my bladed index finger to tip his chin up so he was looking at me, and I grinned down at him.

“Welcome to MY world, bitch.”