A Nightmare on Elm Street: One, Two, Freddy’s Coming for You

Adapted by E.L. Flood
Transcribed by Rob Nimmo

One, Two, Freddy’s Coming for You…

Fifteen-year-old Tina Gray stepped into the strange, white mist. Where in the world was she? A dark entrance loomed in front of her. Something told her she had to go in, even though it scared her. She was in a rectangular hallway. It looked like some kind of sewer. There was water all over the floor and steam pouring out of a broken pipe in the ceiling. Tina’s fear grew. Something was after her. She could feel it. She started to run down the hallway, away from the terrible white mist. “Tina,” called a deep, evil voice. “Tina…” Then the frightened girl heard a demonic laugh. She looked wildly around her. But there was no one there! Suddenly Tina found herself in a room full of metal pipes and ramps. It reminded her of the basement of her high school, where the boiler and furnace were. The air was hot and steamy. The evil laugh rang out again behind her. Gasping, Tina ran down a catwalk. She was desperate. How could she get out of this awful place? SKKKREEEAK! The noise sounded exactly like fingernails scraping on a blackboard. Only the noise was ten times louder. SKKKREEEAK! All of a sudden, a dark figure jumped out from behind a curtain. All Tina could see was hunched shoulders, a beat-up, wide-brimmed hat—and one hand. The hand had four impossibly long, sharp, gleaming fingers. They looked like knives. They looked deadly. The thing began to chase Tina. Its breathing sounded tortured, as if it was in terrible agony. Tina ran. She was running for her life! She turned a corner and stopped. The hallway turned into a dead end. Her way was blocked by a roaring fire. Trapped! Closing her eyes, she screamed. The thing’s frightful shadow moved along the wall toward her. Tina could see now that it was a man. She caught glimpse of a dirty red-and-green-striped sweater. And then the man went right on past! She caught her breath. Was it over? Was she safe? She stepped forward and looked around. With a horrible yell, something shot up out of the ground behind her. It was the man in the filthy hat and sweater! He poised his shiny knife-tipped fingers over her throat. He was ready to kill. Tina screamed again.

And then she woke up in her own bed at home. It had been nothing but a nightmare!

There was a light knock at her door. Tina’s mother stuck her head in. “You okay, Tina?” she asked. Tina was shaking so hard she could barely speak. “Just a dream, Ma,” she finally whispered. “Hmm. Some dream, judging from that,” said Tina’s mother. She nodded at the front of Tina’s nightgown. Tina looked down. There were four long gashes in the white cloth. They looked as if they had been made by sharp, deadly, metal fingernails!

The Next Morning…

Tina rode to school with best friend, Nancy Thompson, and Nancy’s boyfriend, Glen Lantz. On the way she told them about her nightmare. “I had a bad dream last night myself,” Nancy told Tina. Tina asked Glen and Nancy to stay at her house that night. Her mother was going to be away, and Tina was scared to be home alone. Tina’s boyfriend, Rod Lane, came over, too. Tina and Rod had had a fight, and Rod wanted to make up. Even though her friends were there, Tina couldn’t stop thinking about the man who had chased her in her dream. She told Nancy about the man’s awful knife-like fingernails. “Fingernails!” Nancy exclaimed. Now she remembered her own nightmare. She was being chased by a guy in a dirty red-and-green sweater. He had long knives attached to the ends of his fingers. When he scraped the knives along the wall, they made a horrible sound. “Skreee…” Nancy murmured. Tina leaned forward. “Nancy, you dreamed about the same creep I did!” she said. A chill ran down her spine.

Chapter 2: Three, Four, Better Lock Your Door…