A Nightmare on Elm Street — Adaptation Excerpts

Adapted by Bob Italia
Transcribed by Rob Nimmo
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Parker saw Nancy and someone else fall just inside the window. “Poor woman’s got her hands full with that kid,” he muttered. “Maybe I better tell the lieutenant.” He jogged into Glen’s house and up the stairs to Glen’s bedroom where Thompson was examining the scene. Just then the coroner walked in. “Found you something, Donald,” the coroner said to Thompson. “Should remind you of something.” The coroner shoved his hand out to Thompson. Thompson stared at the strange object in the coroner’s hand, refusing to touch it. It was a long, thin steel blade, razor sharp, attached to some sort of ring and armature—broken off. “Only place I ever heard of such a thing before was ten years ago. Remember that lunatic Fred Krueger?” Parker frowned. “Hey,” he said to Thompson, “your daughter’s acting kinda… strange!” Thompson’s eye widened.

—

Krueger seized Marge and raised his deadly knives. Nancy wheeled behind him and stuck him in the kidneys with her fists, spilling him back off the bed. Nancy rushed to the door. “Hey, pretty boy,” she said to Krueger, “can’t catch me!” Enraged, Krueger howled after Nancy. Nancy cleared the hall and raced down the steps. Krueger lurched through the doorway after her.

Nancy crossed the living room and reached the front door, banging against it with terrified fury. “Come on,” she cried, “he’s in here! Daddy! Don’t let him kill me too!” Krueger thumped down the stairs, his long fingernails scraping the wall. When he reached the main floor, Nancy dove behind the couch. Krueger’s feet hit another wire. The Lifesaver jerked out of the clothespin and the tongs snapped together, completing the circuit with a crackling spark. An explosion ripped out of the floor lamp next to Krueger and knocked him sprawling across the room. Nancy peeked out from behind the couch. Krueger lay in a smoking heap. Nancy ran to the window and screamed out again. “Hey Daddy! Hey! I got the creep!” Krueger roared up behind her. Nancy bolted sideways and careened down the cellar stairs, throwing on the lights as Krueger thundered after her.

Nancy stopped at a wall. There was nowhere left to hide. She turned and saw Krueger holding his knife-ladened fingers up for her. “Ready for these?” he said. Nancy ducked behind the furnace. She came out the other side with a jug of gasoline and smashed the jug over Krueger’s head. Krueger staggered backward with a roar of fury, Nancy screaming after him with a box of stick matches. She ignited the whole box and threw it at Krueger. In a blinding flash, Freddy went up in a terrific ball of fire. Nancy rushed past the howling maniac and ran up the stairs, Freddy after her in full pyrrhic rage. When she reached the top of the stairs, Nancy slammed the door and bolted it. Freddy slammed the door again and again. His terrible screams and curses peaked, then grew weaker and more garbled. Finally, all was quiet. Nancy staggered half blind from the kitchen. Smoke poured from everywhere. Nancy found her way to the living room window and saw her father and other police officers running across the street toward the house. “Dad,” she cried, “get us out of here!”

Thompson and his men battered the front door down as black smoke poured out of the house. Once inside, Thompson pulled Nancy into the safety of his arms. But Nancy immediately fought free and headed for the kitchen, beckoning her father to follow. “I got him,” she said. “I got Fred Krueger!” Thompson stared in astonishment, then ran after her. The others followed, coughing and choking. But when they arrived in the kitchen, smoke poured from the cellar. The door was flat on the kitchen floor. Frowning, Nancy wheeled around. She saw a series of tiny, isolated fire burns across the living room and up the stairs—Freddy’s firesteps! “He’s after Mom!” she cried. “Come on!” Nancy and the others rushed up the stairs. They stopped in the splintered doorway of Marge’s bedroom and gazed in horror. Freddy was aflame on Marge’s bed.

Nancy let out a roar, grabbed a chair, and brought nit down over Krueger’s fiery back, stunning him. Thompson raced into the room with a blanket and threw it over Krueger and Marge. Then he fought the flames. “He’s under there!” Nancy shouted. “Watch it!” Thompson pulled out his .38 and yanked off the blanket. Marge’s body sank through the mattress, then the bed solidified. Krueger had disappeared. Thompson shoved his .38 into the holster. Then his shaking hands found a cigarette.

“Now do you believe me?” Nancy said glumly, her face as white as her ghostly hair. Thompson left the room. Nancy was about to join her father when she noticed a lump in the bed. The lump rose slowly—then suddenly, Freddy tore his way out. “You think you was gonna get away from me?” he said. Nancy shook her head with a strange calmness. “I know you too well now, Freddy.” Krueger smiled bitterly and raised the gleaming talons. “And now you die.” Nancy simply shook her head again. “It’s too late, Krueger. I know the secret now. This is just a dream, too. You’re not alive. The whole thing is a dream—so get lost! I want my mother and friends again.” Freddy grinned insanely, confused and amused at the same time. “You what?” “I take back every bit of energy I ever gave you,” Nancy said. “You’re nothing.” Nancy turned her back on him. Freddy bunched his fingers, producing a single ragged bundle of razor talons. He raised his hand over the back of her head and neck.

Nancy closed her eyes and stepped to the door, her hand touching the doorknob. Freddy stabbed downward—and right through Nancy! Losing his balance, Freddy fell down into an abyss and disappeared. The nightmare on Elm Street was over.

Chapter 5 | Chapter 7