Five, six,
Grab a crucifix

Winter 1964

Springwood was the type of old fashioned town where every neighbor knew each other, and everyone felt safe leaving their doors unlocked at night. Everyone was invited to the neighborhood barbecue, and it wasn't uncommon to go across the street and ask for a cup of sugar. A perfect utopia for the suburban family, no matter how average or unique.

A part of the community died when they found the remains of a little girl, mercilessly tossed in a field on the outskirts of town. Springwood had never had dealt with such a terrible murder, and it frightened everyone. No one leaves their doors unlocked anymore, and people slowly began to realize that you can never truly know someone.

Everyone has secrets. Everyone has a past.

Lily Krueger was only thirteen, but she had to feel grown-up feelings. Clad in a black dress to symbolize her mourning, she slowly walked up the steps of the Thompson family home. The living room was full of neighbors, friends, and family of the Thompson's who were grieving the loss of their beautiful five year old daughter.

In Lily's hands was a casserole she made herself. She looked into the red and watery eyes of everyone in the room and reciprocated the emotion. Her lips twitched down into a frown as she walked into the kitchen to set her dish down on the counter, joining all the other dinners and pies people brought for the Thompson's.

Marge Thompson was standing by the refrigerator, dabbing her running nose with a handkerchief. She sniffed and looked up at Lily when she entered the room, and she took a deep breath for her. Seeing Lily reminded her that her daughter will never get to be her. She will never see her graduate high school, and she will never see her walk down the isle. She will never get to grow up and experience life. Her life was taken from her, by someone who she assumed was a stranger. Little did she know, her daughters murderer was her neighbor.

Lily noticed Marge and walked over to her after she set down her casserole that was wrapped in foil. Lily babysat for Marge, often watching her daughter on the weekends while Marge and her husband went out for dinner. She attended soccer games, and her school functions. She became a part of the family.

"I'm terribly sorry," Lily said. She gave Marge a hug, which Marge was thankful for.

Marge smiled at Lily gently, making a tear trickle down her flushed cheek. Lily was like a member of the family, as she was for many other families on Elm Street. She was a popular babysitter.

"Me too," Marge said with sorrow. Her eyes lingered to the drink but she immediately stopped herself. She had a past of abusing substances, but now she had to take care of herself for her second daughter, Nancy. Marge was pregnant, but she could never replace the child she lost so young.

Freddy Krueger made his way through the grieving household, the room still filling with people coming from the funeral. He found his daughter in the kitchen, so he came up behind her and looked Marge in the eyes. He put one hand on Lily's shoulder and extended his other hand out and said, "my sincere condolences."

Marge tearfully looked down at his hand, then back up into his sincere green eyes. What she saw, was true sorrow—or so she thought. She took his hand and thanked him. She had no idea that she was shaking hands with her daughters killer. She touched the very hand he used to slaughter her. No one could see the monster behind his eyes.

The Lantz's walked into the kitchen, where Lily talked to them a bit as well. She had babysat for their young son, but his funeral was just a month prior. He was killed the same way: murdered, and found in a field. His intestines had been cut and pulled from his body and found by his feet. Both were killed by the Springwood Slasher. Mrs. Lantz was also pregnant with her second child, Glen.

All these murders were very concerning for the community. No one had any idea who was mercilessly killing the children of Springwood, but they could only pray that the sick soul would be caught before anyone else got hurt.

March 1981

Every morning that Lily woke up, she naturally assumed that everything was a dream. She would convince herself of this until she would go downstairs and see her aunt in the kitchen instead of her father.

In the past few days that Lily had risen from the dead, Judy gave her a run down of everything she needed to know in order to blend back into society. This included slang terms she might be met with, fashion, pop culture references, everything she might need to know about the 1970's, and any technological advances she might encounter.

One thing that Lily was impressed by was the television. She did not realize how popular and affordable they were in 1981, because she did not have a television set growing up in the 50's and 60's. It wasn't until 1966 they finally got a television. Because of this, she was also unaware of reruns for programs. It blew her mind.

Lily sat down at the table while Judy poured them each bowls of Honey Nut Cheerios. Introduced in 1979, Lily had never had them before but she enjoyed them immensely. She also liked Cocoa Pebbles because she used to enjoy watching The Flintstones, but she found Wheaties to be boring.

With Judy's guidance and lessons, Lily had gone shopping with her at their local shopping mall, which was an entirely new experience for Lily. It was her first time out in public since the incident, and everything was so vibrant and new. Neon was a new shade to her, which burned her eyes. They bought an entire wardrobe for Lily, an event that made her look at her aunt like the motherly figure that she never had. They picked clothes that fit Lily's taste, while still modernizing her into the 80's. Judy wanted Lily to be comfortable with what she was wearing, so they added jeans, slacks, and sneakers into her fresh wardrobe.

The sounds of the silverware hitting the bottoms of their bowls twinkled in the air, with the sound of the radio playing the newest hit song 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton in the background. Judy looked at Lily like she was a typical teenager, and she finally felt comfortable letting Lily go back to school.

Clad in light washed jeans and a dark blue sweater, Lily was looking forward for her first day of school. She was curious as to how different it will be to when she was a senior in 1968, and she hoped that no one would recognize her since she was going to go to the same school.

"Is Laugh-In still playing on the boob tube?" Lily asked.

Judy shook her head and said, "no, it ended in '73."

Laugh-In was a sketch comedy series that ran from 1967-1973. Hosted by the comedic duo: Dan Rowen and Dick Martin, it quickly became one of the most popular shows in the United States. Lily used to watch it every Monday night at 8pm after doing her homework.

"I'm surprised. It was so popular. It's a gas," Lily said. She caught a glance at her nails, which were painted blue to hide the gray and purple appearance they had.

"Oh, and we don't call it the boob tube anymore."

"No?" Lily asked.

"We just call it a television now. Or a T.V."

Lily chanted under her breath, "television, television, television," to get the term to stick in her head.

"You good?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'm not going to let my freak flag fly."

"See, it's things like that that you say that make me uncomfortable with letting you out into the world."

"No, it's okay. I'm as mellow as a cello."

That did not make Judy feel any better about the situation, but it was the best they could do in such a short amount of time. She knew it wasn't going to be perfect.

"I forgot to tell you, but Ronald Reagan is the president," Judy said before she took another bite of her cereal.

Lily's eyes grew as wide as saucers. A little laugh escaped her throat as she pictured Reagan. "Ronald Reagan? The actor? Who's Vice President? Jerry Lewis?"

Judy chuckled and ate another bite. After hearing it out loud, it would sound ridiculous to someone who wasn't coming from the 1980's. She glanced at the clock and said, "shoot. You're gonna be late."

Judy had already called the school to enroll Lily into it, with a white lie. Judy and Lily both agreed that they should keep her true identity a secret from the community. They came up with a backstory if anyone asks, that she is Lilith Krueger's cousin from Idaho. Lily took Judy's last name, Taylor, for this cover.

Since her drivers license was expired by approximately ten years, Judy opted to drive Lily to school. She looked out the window, in awe about the new and fascinating world around her. They passed fast food joints that she had never heard of before, and she saw women with big hair in leotards and leggings participating in aerobics through giant windows. The fashion for teenagers in 1981 still shocked her more than she thought it would, but it was beginning to grow on her.

Judy dropped her off at the high school campus, and said that if she needed anything at all, all she needed to do is call. She drove off, leaving Lily alone for the first time since she came back to Springwood.

She walked into the building, distracted by everything around her. It was so familiar to her, yet so different. Teenagers were running amok with their friends, shouting obscene things that Lily could only guess what they were saying. The slang was strange, but she figured she understood most of it. She could remember watching films and television shows that predicted the future. She really was in the future. She really thought there would be time traveling cars by then, or cars that could fly. Maybe in a few years.

As Lily walked through the school, she could see the ghosts of her old friends and classmates in the hallways, and gossiping by the lockers. She saw the beehives, varsity jackets, tweed skirts, and the iconic fringe. When she blinked, they vanished. She passed by her old locker, locker 184, and she could still feel the energy of years past when she was the owner of it. Lily closed her eyes, and could see the happy faces of her best friends, who all still believed her to be dead. Friends she would likely never meet again.

After a brief meeting in the office, she received her schedule. The bell rang, so she walked out of the office while looking down at her paper. Physics, Room 709.

Lily frowned to herself and mumbled, "when did they add that room?"

When she attended the school, the highest room number was 621. What she had assumed would be an easy first day at school already became anxiety inducing. She needed to figure out where this extra building addition was before the bell rang again.

"Hey, need help?" She heard. She looked up and saw a kid towering over her. He had shaggy blonde hair, and a skateboard in his grip. This was her only interaction with Travis. He was a senior, but a burn-out and he was rarely at school. He would rather go to the skate park than attend class.

"Hi, yes, please. I'm looking for room 709," Lily said and folded her schedule in her hands.

"I can take ya," he offered. He automatically assumed that she was a new kid, because he had never seen her before and based on her looking lost. Most of the kids at Springwood High School grew up with each other. Those who survived the clutches of Freddy Krueger, that is. He stopped and asked, "are you a new kid or something?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Great. Uh, welcome to Springwood High School. I'm Travis."

"Lily," she introduced herself.

"Short for Lillian, I presume?" He asked.

"Close. Lilith." She smiled pleasantly.

"Lilith? Old fashioned, I like that. Means ghost, or night monster."

"I didn't know that," Lily replied honestly. She looked past Travis for just a second, but it was enough to get instantly distracted by a brunet boy on the other side of the student center.

Travis continued to talk to her, but Lily was so lost by the boy behind him, she didn't listen to anything he was saying. His voice blended in with the hazy background, and Lily couldn't stop herself from staring.

The boy was Glen Lantz. He was laughing with one of his buddies, a routine he had kept up with since freshman year. He is one of the jocks that attends Springwood High School. He was a very popular kid at Springwood, and practically every girl swooned over him because they all thought he was dreamy. He had fluffy brown hair, and the kindest dark brown eyes. Lily melted at his sweet smile. Finally, Lily snapped out of it when she noticed that Travis had stopped talking to wait for her response.

To get her attention, he said, "hello, McFly?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Need me to walk you to your first class? What do you have?" He took a peek at her schedule and said, "oh, you have physics with Brown. Bitchin."

"What did you just call me?" Lily was quick to ask. Her dark eyebrows raised and crinkled her forehead because of his offensive choice of words.

He understood the confusion and he said, "no, no, no, I mean, he's a great teacher. You'll like him a lot."

Lily figured that this was just another example of slang she wasn't familiar with and let it go. She let her face relax again and she said, "oh, groovy."

"He's in the other building. I'll take you."

Travis began walking through the sea of students who were also trying to find their class. Lily followed him, but looked back over her shoulder to try to find Glen. The students had already swarmed the student center, so finding him would be like finding a needle in a haystack. She turned back around and spotted the back of Travis's head and his skateboard and bounced directly behind him so she wouldn't lose him. Her mind would not stop floating to Glen, and she couldn't get his face out of her head.

______________________________

Lily quickly found a seat in the middle of the classroom and more and more kids filtered into the room. Lily had her backpack down by her feet, and she fiddled with her pencil between her fingers as she waited for class to start. She kept her eyes on the door and watched as the students came into the room. One of them, was Glen. Her breath caught in her throat and she nervously looked down at her hands and up at the board. Looking at anything but Glen, because she didn't want him to think she was looking at him.

Glen confidently walked into the room, naturally assuming that this was going to be a typical, normal school day. The class didn't have assigned seats, so he scanned to room to find an open one. That's when his eyes landed on Lily, who was pretending to dig through her backpack to find something. When she looked up, they made eye contact for just a moment before she immediately broke it and looked back up at the board.

Glen froze, which made someone bump into him from behind. He apologized and couldn't help but gaze in her direction again. He had never seen her before, but there was something about her that beckoned to him like a moth to a light. He thought that she must have stepped out of a dream. Her eyes caught his, and her unique gray eyes entranced him deeply. He tried to be cool, but Lily made him melt. Her gothic and eerie complexion made people get a chill on the backs of their necks, but there was something about her that drew Glen in. There was something about her looking half-dead that made her attractive to him. She radiated with the kindness she had when she was alive.

Glen finally got his feet to move and he slowly began walking to the aisle she was in. Then, he noticed an empty seat beside her, which he was quick to take. Lily saw him in the corner of her eye, and she felt her face grow warm. She pretended not to see him, and soon the bell rang and Mr. Brown entered the room and started the class period. Both Glen and Lily were too shy to strike up a conversation for the entire period. However, they kept exchanging glances and Glen smiled when he saw Lily blush.

When the bell rang, Lily immediately stood up and headed off to the gym. Glen was giving himself a pep talk to talk to her as he put his things away in his backpack, and when he turned around she was gone. She vanished, like a ghost. He sighed and slung his backpack over his back, and figured that he would try again the next day.

Lily got to the foyer of the gym, but could not find the motivation to actually go in. She never really enjoyed gym class when she was in high school, and she assumed that they were not much different now. She took a deep and relaxing breath to try to coax herself into going in, but she caught sight of a trophy case on the wall. She had a double take, and noticed a little shrine in one of the cases. Lily had no self control. She felt compelled to step up to it and she saw a framed picture of herself in the glass case. She swallowed harshly, and read the paper inside that celebrated her life.

She didn't notice that someone came up to her until he said, "sad, isn't it?"

Lily nearly jumped out of her skin when she turned to see him. It was Glen. He just got to the foyer, and realized that she was there. He immediately recognized her by her dreamy raven hair. He had watched her for just a moment before he got the courage to talk to her. He looked down at her with his backpack slung over his shoulder, and his lips twitched up in a smile when he looked at her.

"Oh, God! You scared me," Lily chuckled and turned her attention back to her shrine.

"God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," Glen chuckled and stepped up beside her. "Hey, you're new, aren't you?"

"Me?" Lily nearly scoffed, but remembered that she technically was. "Oh, uh—yeah."

"I think we have physics together. With Brown."

"Yes, we do. You sat beside me, remember?" She tried to fight the smirk that was making a home on her lips.

Glen chuckled, "I think I recall."

Lily turned her attention back to the shrine, which Glen followed with his eyes. The shrine had been there for as long as he could remember, and he could look back on how he felt when he first saw it and heard the tragic story. He always felt drawn to her, with no idea why. But, he noticed he had a similar feeling when he first saw Lily. He sighed and said, "that poor girl. Could you imagine?"

Lily had yet to learn the truth about her father. She asked Judy many times over the past few days what had happened but she was never given a proper answer. From the lack of information given to her by her aunt, and the amnesia from that fateful night, Lily knew practically nothing about the entire situation. "Imagine what?"

Glen's eyes narrowed at her and he asked, "you haven't heard what happened?"

"No."

"It's like, Springwood's biggest case."

Lily shook her head. "I haven't heard anything."

"Long story short, this girl, Lilith, found out that her father, Freddy, murdered like twenty kids, and she split town the night he died. Never to be seen or heard from again. She was a senior here."

Lily's eyes bugged and she asked loudly, "her father killed twenty kids?!"

Glen nodded, "yep. What a monster that guy is."

Lily felt rage over the slander against her father. She loved him dearly, and was never introduced to his monstrous side. According to her, he was a very kind man, an amazing father, very funny and extremely nice. In her mind, there was no way her father could do something so horrific and terrible.

"Was it proved?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"Did they prove that he did it? Or was it just speculation?"

Glen thought for a moment before he answered, "speculation, I guess."

"Then we shouldn't talk ill of a deceased man who is unable to defend himself, huh?"

"A lot of it is just rumors," Glen tried to defend.

"What are the rumors?"

"Uh... like, Lilith. No one truly knows what happened to her. Most have come to the conclusion that she's dead, but her body has never been found."

"You guys think she died?" Lily asked softly. She remembered how she woke up in the woods after clawing her way out of the dirt, and thirteen years had passed. It wasn't crazy for her to think that she was dead for those thirteen years. Is that conclusion logical? Yes. Is it possible? It shouldn't be.

He shrugged. "It's just gossip."

"What do you think happened?"

"I think she was afraid that she would get in trouble for her fathers crimes and she skipped town. Some people think she joined a cult, others think she killed herself... it really depends on who you ask. More think she found out about what he was doing and he killed her himself with his glove. But, I just hope she's found peace wherever she is."

Lily sighed, "me too." Suddenly, Glen's words echoed in her mind. She stopped and asked, "wait—a glove? What glove?"

Glen said, "Freddy made himself a glove with blades on his fingers to kill the kids he lured into the room he designated for the killings. Sadistic bastard."

Suddenly, a memory of a glove with knives attached to the fingers flashed across Lily's memory. She saw fire reflect in the blades, and the sharping sound they made when they rubbed together brought chills down her spine, which made the memory disappear. She remembered the four slash marks she found across her stomach, and her eyebrows came together in uncertainty. She put her hand on her stomach and felt the cotton fabric of her shirt under her fingertips.

"She was beautiful, wasn't she?" He asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"What?" Lily automatically asked before her breath halted in her throat. Her eyes gazed up at the old photo. It was the one taken for her senior photo for the yearbook, that became dedicated to her memory. Her smile was beaming, and the black and white photograph could not properly capture the brightness of her eyes. She had spent all morning perfecting the makeup on her creamy skin and making sure not a single hair was out of place. She had a bouffant top, and kept the rest of her brown hair long with curled ends. She usually let her hair stay long and straight, she didn't like to fuss with it most days.

"My folks said that they knew her. She lived right across the street. It seemed like they tried to force themselves not to talk about her, but when they did, they would say how great of a kid she was. You can almost feel her energy through the photograph, you know? I feel like she's still out there... I'm sure I sound just insane right now."

"No, I can dig it," she said.

Glen peered back at Lily, but then he paused. His eyes looked between Lily and the photograph fleetingly. He finally chuckled, "say, you look just like her."

"I do?" Lily asked, acting dumb.

"Yeah, like, you guys are crazy similar. Wow, you really could be twins. You have the exact same eyes," he said.

Lily could not help herself but blush gently at his compliments to both her and the photograph. She hoped her face wasn't getting red, because she would become very embarrassed. His words rang in her head and only one question popped up from it: did he just call her beautiful?

"Oh, I'm Glen, by the way. Glen Lantz," he said. He offered his calloused hand out to her.

She took it and she immediately recognized his last name. She gazed deep into his eyes, and could see little bits of both of his parents in his face. She cleared her throat and said, "I'm Lily Taylor."

"Lily. That's a beautiful name," he smiled. He got so lost in her eyes, he barely realized how there was no warmth in her hand as he held it. He also didn't connect how Lily is a nickname for Lilith. Glen was a very sweet boy, but not exactly the brightest.

"Thank you." She grinned.

"You're welcome." He smiled back at her.

Lily couldn't help herself to ask, "did you know anyone who was killed by Freddy?"

Glen shook his head. "No. I don't. Why?"

"Just curious," she played it off. She quickly figured out that Glen doesn't know about his older brother that was killed by the Springwood Slasher back in 1964. She was not going to be the one to tell him, so she kept her mouth shut.

Neither of them let go of the other. Their hands stayed latched together until the bell rang to signify the end of the class period. She finally let her cold hand slip from his warm one and she cracked her stiff finger joints.

"Have we really been out here for that long?" Lily asked.

"I guess so," Glen chuckled. "Can I walk you to your next class?"

Lily smiled at him. "I'd like that."

Glen and Lily walked out of the gym foyer together, side by side. He pointed out different buildings and their names to help her navigate the large campus better, as well as the cafeteria. She didn't have the heart to tell him that she already knew pretty much everything. She enjoyed being around him immensely, and found his attempt to help her to be really sweet.

"Do you want to get together tonight? I can help you catch up on physics since the semester started like a month ago," Glen offered when they stood outside of her next class.

"That would be swell," Lily said. She couldn't stop smiling when she looked at him. She tried to fight it, but it made her cheeks ache.

Glen slipped his backpack off and grinned at Lily as he said back, "swell."

He bent down to open the zipper and he ripped off a sheet of paper and grabbed his pencil. He pressed the paper against his kneecap and he wrote down his telephone number. He stood up and handed it to Lily.

"I'll phone you," she said and looked down at the paper, trying to memorize the series of numbers that would connect her to Glen.

Glen looked at her with a little smirk. He had never heard anyone his age say it like that, but he found it endearing.

Before he could say anything, someone from across the hall called out, "hey, Glen!"

Glen and Lily both shot their heads to the source of the sound, and Lily noticed a brunette student walking up to them. Nancy Thompson has been dating Glen for a few months. Glen had been dodging her calls lately, because he has been trying to find a way out of his relationship. He found her dull and boring, and he was ready for their relationship to be over. However, all the reasons why he wanted to end things didn't really matter until he met Lily. He found himself to be happier in the couple of hours they've spent together than in the few months he has spent with Nancy.

"Who's that?" Lily asked softly so she couldn't hear them.

"That's Nancy," he said with a bit of disappointment in his voice.

"Hey," Nancy said as she walked up to the duo. She greeted Glen with a peck on the lips and she leaned into him while holding her textbooks up to her chest. She looked Lily up and down and asked, "babe, who's this?"

"This is Lily, she's new so I was helping her get to her next class," Glen explained. Lily quickly palmed his number so Nancy didn't see and slipped it into her pocket.

"Oh. Nice to meet you," Nancy said.

"You as well." Lily forced a smile.

Nancy gave Lily one last smile, as if expecting Lily to leave them alone. But the look on Glen's face told her to stay. Nancy turned to Glen and asked, "wanna hangout tonight?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm gonna help Lily tonight with physics. Tomorrow?"

Nancy gave Lily the side-eye which made her visibly uncomfortable. She wiggled her head so her puffy brown hair could fall past her shoulders and she said in a low voice, "I just really need to talk to you about something."

"Shoot."

"In private," Nancy finished.

"Can it wait?"

"You already agreed to hangout with Tina and Rod tonight. Remember?"

"I did?" Glen asked. He raised the right side of his top lip up in a snarl.

Nancy nodded.

Lily spoke up because she didn't want Glen to get into any sort of trouble with his girlfriend. "No, Glen, it's okay. You don't have to worry about it."

"Hey, Lily, why don't you come over and hang out with us?" Glen offered. "You can meet Rod, and Tina... they're real nice."

Nancy's face twitched as she tried to smile but just couldn't muster it. She had no reason to dislike Lily already, but she felt like Lily was getting a little too close to her boyfriend. Since they were already starting to drift apart, she felt even more protective over him. She hoped that Lily would not come to the sleepover, but would never say it.

"Sounds like a gas. I can dig it," Lily smiled.

Glen wasn't quite sure what that meant exactly but assumed it was a yes. He said, "great! We will see you tonight?"

"Yeah." The bell rang so Lily said as she walked into her classroom, "see you guys later."

"See you," Glen said and walked off to his next class, leaving Nancy in the middle of the hallway.

Nancy simply sighed and walked off herself. She was jealous by the way Glen looked at Lily, because he had never looked at her that way before. Nancy had barely gotten any sleep the night before, which made her cranky. It was because of a nightmare, and she was going to tell Glen all about it as soon as she could.

______________________________

That night, Lily came home and she told Judy all about her day. She could have gone on and on about Glen, but decided to keep the topic of him brief. Judy was relieved that she had a good and non-eventful time at school, because she had been stressing about it the entire day.

Since Lily had spent thirteen years underground, this day at school sucked out all the energy she had. She kicked off her shoes and decided to go to bed very early. She said goodnight to Judy, and headed up into her room.

Lily has taken the opportunity to clean her room since she has been back. She has washed the bedsheets, gotten new pillows, fixed her clothes, cleaned out her closet, and dusted and wiped every inch of her room. She even got a candle so her room can always smell like peppermint when she lights it.

She laid down on her bed with a yawn and took Glen's number out of her pocket. She grabbed the telephone she has in her room and placed the base on her lap. She dialed the number, and did not have to wait long for him to answer.

"Lantz residence," Glen's voice answered in monotone.

"Hey, Glen, it's Lily."

"Hey!" His tone completely switched to excitement. "Real quick, what's your number so I can call you?"

"Ready?" Lily asked.

Glen got a pencil and paper ready. He wrote her name on it and said, "ready."

"555."

"555," he repeated.

"1428."

"1428," he mumbled as he wrote. "Great, got it. What's up? I was just getting ready to head over to Tina's. Do you need the address?"

"Yeah, about that, I'm really tired so I'm going to have to take a rain check on tonight. I'm sorry."

"Oh, that's okay." Lily could hear the disappointment in his voice. "Want me to come over?"

"No, that's okay, really. Have fun with your friends."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Absolutely positive?"

Lily giggled, "I'm absolutely positive."

"All right. Good night, Lily."

"Good night."

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you." She smiled.

"Bye."

"Bye," she said and finally hung up.

Even though her entire body was tired, her mind was never resting. She laid on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. The craziness of her entire situation was finally settling in, and she had come to terms with the fact that she somehow missed the past thirteen years of the world. She felt so lost, and not sure where her place in the world was anymore.

Her eyes finally fluttered closed, and sleep overcame her. She was met with a swarm of darkness, which clouded her vision and transported her to dreamland.

In her dream, Lily opened her eyes and found herself in a dark room. She thought she recognized the room, but couldn't see how she recognized it. Pipes were attached to the walls and ceiling, and bursts of fire made the entire room unbearably hot. She didn't feel like she was dreaming, but she knew she was dreaming.

"Lily..." she heard a gruff voice say behind her.

Lily recognized the voice all too well. She spun around, and saw the silhouette of a man standing in front of her at the other end of the room. She saw the outline of his fedora, and she thought she could see his melted facial features through the dark.

"Dad?" She asked.

"Yes, my flower, it's me," he said as he slowly approached her. The fire around them illuminated Freddy, and her heart beat faster when she saw what he had become.

"It's not possible," Lily gasped.

"It's real... I'm real," he said as he put his hand on top of Lily's shoulder.

When Freddy was right in front of Lily, she realized that he was clearly not alive. Scars covered his body. His flesh was severely burned, and his facial flesh was practically dripping off his skull. He wore his favorite tattered red and green striped sweater, and a brown fedora on top of his scorched head.

But, Lily didn't care. All the emotions that she had been holding in after finding out that her beloved dad was dead came flooding back to her and she rushed into his arms. She hugged him tight, and he placed his hand on her back to express his love back to her. He was careful not to knick her with his glove.

"I thought I was never going to see you again," Lily said with her lips pressing into the burnt fabric of his iconic sweater. He smelled like smoke. Not like cigarettes, but of a campfire.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," Freddy said. He gently placed his gloved hand across her shoulders, gently dropping one finger at a time onto her back. "I'm coming home."

When Lily pulled away, she asked, "what happened?"

"You really don't remember, do you?"

She shook her head no. That question was beginning to get on her nerves. She wished people would just tell her what she obviously should already know.

Freddy sighed, but knew he had to tell her, but stuck to his version of the events of that tragic night thirteen years ago. "You and me were chased into this very boiler room. The parents of Springwood thought I did something terrible, that I would never do. They killed us in this room, leaving me to burn."

"If we both died here, why are you burned and I'm not?" Lily asked.

Freddy said, "I killed you in the least painful way I could so you didn't suffer."

"You killed me?" Lily asked. Her lips parted in shock.

"I had no choice. Burning alive is the worst way to die, so I killed you before that could happen to you."

"Is that what this is?" Lily asked, looking down at her arm. When she noticed her father's glove, she realized that was where the slash marks on her stomach came from. She died by his hand.

Freddy said, "it's all their fault that we died. I've come back because I want to exact revenge on the people who killed us. You should join me. Kill for me. I should warn you, the first time tends to get a little... messy."

Lily was astonished that her father would ask her to do such a terrible thing. It didn't sound like him at all. She responded, "no."

"No?" He sounded astonished. He thought that she would be just as angry to be killed as he was and would want revenge.

"How are you exacting revenge?" She asked.

"By killing their children."

Lily's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe that she was truly talking to her father. She thought she knew him, but she never really knew him at all. She shook her head and said, "I don't want to. Those people are nice to me."

"They're afraid of you," he growled.

"No, they're not. They don't know who I am."

"They think you're a monster!" He yelled.

"No, they don't!" Lily shouted back. She stood her ground and kept her head high,

"Kill for me!" He shouted, letting his anger get the better of him. He gripped her black glossy hair in his hand and pulled her head back.

"In your dreams!" She snapped up at him. It was then that she realized that the rumors were true. He really did kill all those kids. And now, he was determined to get his revenge.

Freddy suddenly got calm and he stared his daughter down. He saw how strong she was, but fear was beginning to creep into her eyes. He finally let her go and she took a step back away from him. His voice was level, but he chillingly said, "fine. I'll do it myself."

With a snap of his fingers, Lily shot up, finding herself back in her childhood bedroom. The brutal heat of the fires that burst in the boiler room had disappeared, and she was surrounded by the chill of death once again. She was breathing heavily, and she brought her fingers up to her temple to feel a bead of cold sweat against her skin. She managed to get her breathing under control, but she was still horrified by her nightmare.

It was too real to just ignore.

Suddenly, the phone rang which made Lily jump. She placed her hand over her heart, then picked up the phone. She took a deep breath and put the receiver up to her ear.

"Lily," she said groggily.

"Lily? Lily?" She heard Glen's voice on the other end say frantically.

"Yeah?" She asked, concerned by the urgency in his voice. 

"Tina's dead. She died tonight."

Lily sat up straighter. "Oh my god."

"Yeah."

"In the house?" She asked.

"In the house."

Lily glanced outside and noticed flashing red and blue lights barreling down the pitch black suburb street. "Are you guys okay?"

"Everyone is pretty shook up. Rod said that he saw Tina getting dragged up the walls, whatever that means. He's on the run so we think he did it."

"Dragged up the walls?" Lily repeated. "Oh my god. How did she die?"

"The bastard sliced through her stomach. Four slash marks."

That made Lily's blood run cold. Her lips trembled as she asked, "four?"

"Yeah. Sorry to be calling you so late, but I thought you should know in case he is in your side of the street... um, I gotta go. I'll see you in the morning."

"Uh-huh. Bye."

"Bye."

Lily hung up, her hand was shaking from terror. She covered her open mouth with her hand and closed her eyes, sending a tear down her cheek. Was her dad really behind it?

Did Freddy really come home?