Get off of me, pervert! 
Stop! 
Asshole! 
You don't scare me! and at least a dozen other things to say came to mind upon feeling his blades tug at the clothes I wore as if he were deciding on which way he wanted to eat me. Yet, I said nothing. Instead, I just stood there studying him curiously as I contemplated my escape. This was the Freddy Krueger, after all. The infamous Springwood Slasher turned dream demon...my near obsession for about a year now. I couldn't just run away from such a grand opportunity, could I?

"Now there's a look I haven't seen in ages," the burnt man suddenly purred before jolting forward and grabbing the chains still holding me. The sudden shaking would have normally brought a gasp, but I was too focused on his intense amber eyes boring into me, "What's in your head, kitten?" he rasped, our noses almost touching. 

"I..." my attempt to answer fell short, my mind seemingly taken over, the world around me becoming nothing but those auborn spheres staring at me, taking control. 

He feeds on fear. He's good at finding out what hurts the most. The warnings from the testimonies concerning Freddy's kills through use of the dream realm returned to me. Was he reading my mind? What frightens you, little girl? Now it was his voice speaking inside my head. My brain pushed back against him, refusing to become his next victim...refusing to allow him to see this inner most part of me...my secrets. Rattling the chains wrapped around me, my entire body began to struggle. I wasn't afraid of Freddy. I was afraid of...fear. Being afraid frightened me.

He got inside your head. You get inside of his. More words from people who fought him in the past. That was it! If he could force his way inside my mind, that means if I let him...just a little...then I could use that connection to creep into his as well. Slowly, I allowed him to drill into my brain, my thoughts. I let him come in bit by bit, making it seem as if I were losing this battle of wills. That way he wouldn't suspect what I had planned until it was too late. If this didn't work, I might be royally fucked for having focused my energy on attempting this trick instead of breaking out of my binds.

I could feel his essence pricking at my own, eager to see what made me tick. Every thought, every part of me, kept sight on that feeling and imagined myself standing next to it, ready to reach out and grasp it at the right moment. Gradually, Freddy's lips curled into a triumphant smirk, knowing he had won. Doing my best to remain still and refrain from expressing anything other than feigned worry, my imaginary hand shot out, clutching the strands of his energy that were prying into my privacy. I didn't know how easy it would be for him to see what was going on and put a stop to it, so I moved rapidly to dive into the stream that he had sent into my brain, focusing on reaching his core from my own.

There was an incredible, stabbing pain then as if someone had plunged a dagger into my skull. Coupling the experience was a bright light enveloping my entire sight, down to my own body as if I had disappeared and become part of the white. However, the intensity started to ease away quickly into different colors that began taking forms of their own until the transformation was complete and I was left in a familiar place.

1428 Elm Street.

Freddy wasn't there. I was no longer in chains nor could I feel the damp environment of the boiler room. In its place were the row of homes lining that old Springwood road, the day sunny and warm with a gentle breeze wafting back and forth. The house that I had seen in person for the first time only hours ago looked very different, yet had the same strange draw. Its white paint was pure and new, the green shingles each in their appropriate places, and the door was painted a bright red instead of being covered by a plain sheet of wood. 

I scanned the area around me, noting the perfectly trimmed yards and antique yet contemporary vehicles parked down the side of the street or in the driveways of various homes. Even the roads seemed complete and without the slightest flaw- no cracks and no potholes. I turned around to face Freddy's old home once more, taking a deep breath in before strolling up the sidewalk and instinctively raising a fist to knock. Oh, right. I shook myself from the polite gesture, remembering that it was just a dream and instead reached down to open it myself.

Just as my hand was about to rest on the door handle, I heard a yell from the backyard that caused me to jerk my arm away from the door and my head to twist abruptly to the sound. I backed off of the porch and strolled carefully around the perimeter of the home until I could see the tiny opening, adorned by a white arbor crawling with green vines, that led to the back of it. I stepped through the archway carefully, poking my head out in front and peering around the structures to see what I was about to be upon. 

Even when I was standing completely on the back lawn, I saw nothing. Nobody was there and there was no hint of unrest. The garden was in beautiful order, the grass was bare, and there were no toys or tools laying anywhere. Making careful paces further in, I finally saw it: the only sign of sentient life recently about was a spilled glass of tea sitting atop the patio table, the contents still pouring off its side and onto the cushion of the lawn chair that was slightly pulled out of its place.

I crept nearer to the scene, glancing around nervously, thinking I would be pounced at some point. Upon reaching the furniture, I caught sight of something else out of the corner of my vision. It was a basement, its white wooden doors flung open to reveal darkness inside. Standing where I was, I stared at it for a moment until I could hear noise coming from within. It sounded like a man, cursing and stumbling about. Was it...could that be Freddy? Had I been successful in getting into his memory?

I trotted closer to the entrance, hesitating at the top of the stairs. Inhaling sharply, I reminded myself that I needed to know what was going on. I needed to witness this memory before I was pulled out. It was my best shot at defending against him and perhaps my only chance to take advantage of the situation I had been presented with. I let the breath out as I began to descend the stairs, the his words becoming clearer.

"Aw, come on, buddy. Is that any way to treat an old friend?" Freddy asked, his tone thick.

"Shhhhh. Shut up! SHUT UP!!!" an unknown male voice growled back.

Wait. He wasn't by himself? There was someone else with him? Who? I eased down onto the last step, for some reason trying to be entirely quiet though of course these were shadows and had no knowledge of my presence.

"Calm down," Freddy soothed slyly, "Why are you getting so worked up?"

"GO AWAY! I don't need you! I don't need you anymore!!!" the other man yelled, his voice shaking and frightened.

"Everyone needs a little fun. That's all I want-vfor us to have a little fun."

Another pace successfully took me off of the staircase and onto the floor.  One more had me nearing the middle of the underground store room. As I began the third, a man fell into view, his form barely distinguishable in the darkness of the low level.  His back was to me, hands on his head, clutching onto short, dirty blonde hair, as he hunched over. Slowly, he straightened his back, his white button down falling into place above his black pants.

"There, see? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Freddy's raspy voice cooed as the man stood.

I stared quizzically at the figure, beginning to step forward again, desperate to see where Freddy was and why he was taunting this guy. However, right as I moved, the man spun around, glaring directly at me even though I knew he couldn't see me. He couldn't, right? No, this was just a memory. And yet, those eyes...those angry and intense amber eyes...

Suddenly, I was jerked from the scene around me, the blur of light and then color that had brought me to it, rapidly working in reverse to throw me back into the boiler room. I fell to the ground, banging my knees against the jagged steel of the factory floor, finally free from those useless links that had previously held me in place. The sensation of having the wind kicked out of me kept me from cursing at the ache pulsing in my head from the experience, but somehow I managed to look up and rest my vision on the burnt man in the filthy striped sweater whose mind I had invaded.

The fury I expected to flow from those eyes and through his entire being was absent, shock taking their place. Freddy had backpedaled away from me, but kept his gaze on my body as I was slowly able to lift myself from the floor, planting my feet firmly and readying for the coming battle. The only problem was, I wasn't sure exactly what I had witnessed so how the hell was I supposed to use it against him? I focused on the demon positioned several feet away from me now, hoping that perhaps this problem would answer itself.

Freddy appeared flabbergasted. The confusion as to what had just happened or at least to how it had happened was slowly replaced with a snarl as he lifted his arm and pointed a blade at me, "You think you're pretty smart, huh, bitch?"

I swallowed hard, unsure and without a plan. My gaze fell to his claw. It looked exactly like the one resting on my nightstand. I wasn't given time for further thought before he was upon me again, grabbing hold of my shoulders and rotating our bodies so that my back thudded against the steamy pipes of the wall. 

"If you know what's good for you, you'll get off of me," I bluffed, hoping that my little stunt had unsettled him enough that he might consider the possibility that I wasn't ordinary prey.

"You watch your pretty little mouth!" he snapped, once more raising his claw, readying to swipe it across my face.

But something strange happened then. When I saw the glove, blades extended in the air, my thoughts flashed with the remembrance of the weapon displayed on my bedside table along with the feeling of having my own hand within it, curling and flicking those knives myself. My brow furrowed, bewildered upon seeing not blades, but Freddy's bare hand falling onto my cheek as if to slap instead of gash me.

He, too, was bemused by the rapture of his glove, an angered expression jolting to his naked hand as he cursed, "What the fuck?!?"

Then, I felt the weight of the weapon upon my own arm which had been hanging at my side. Carefully, I lifted it in the same moment that Freddy pushed his palms against the building behind me in order to stand fully upright and decipher the situation. His eyes soon found my newly bladed fingers as I put them in front of my face, smiling wickedly before putting my vision on the dream demon and purring, "Looks like you're in my world now...bitch."