A Nightmare on Elm Street: Three, Four, Better Lock Your Door…
Adapted by E.L. Flood
Transcribed by Rob Nimmo
Three, Four, Better Lock Your Door…
At last the four teenagers went to sleep. But Tina had barely drifted off when she heard a noise outside. It sounded as if someone was throwing pebbles at the window. “Tina…” came a soft, deadly voice. “Tinaaaa…” Tina got up and went to the window. She looked out. She couldn’t see anyone there. But someone—or something—was there. She knew it. “Who do you think you are?” she asked, trying to sound brave. But her voice shook. “Whoever you are,” she added. Down the hall in Nancy’s room, the wall by the bed suddenly started to move. It stretched and twisted like putty. A monstrous face and two clawed hands appeared, looming over the sleeping girl’s head. Nancy woke up suddenly. She had the feeling something bizarre was happening. But when she looked around, everything seemed normal. Except that the crucifix that had been on the wall was now lying on her bed. How had it gotten there? She picked it up and hung it back on its nail. Then she went back to sleep.
Tina’s Nightmare
In her room, Tina made a decision. She was sick and tired of this. She had to find out who was scaring her. Right now. She went downstairs and snapped on the porch light. Then she strode out into the night. “Tina!” The evil voice seemed to be coming from the garage. Tina hurried toward it. She knew she had to stay angry. Otherwise her courage would melt away. A sound behind her made her spin around. A garbage can lid rolled out of the bushes. Who had done that? Then Tina looked up at the garage doors. A shadow loomed on the doors. A shadow with a battered, wide-brimmed hat. Slowly Tina turned around. There he stood, blocking her way back to the house. The man from her dream. “Tina,” he said again. He sounded satisfied. Then he started to chuckle. The sound was low and evil. He knew he had her. He walked slowly toward her, holding out his arms. As he walked, the arms grew longer and longer! They stretched until finally his fingers scraped the walls on both sides of him. Sparks flew from his knife-tipped right hand. There was no way Tina could get by. “Please!” Tina cried. The man held his awful claw up to his face. Tina could see that his skin had been torn and burned. He looked as if he’d been in a horrible accident. He flexed his fingers, making the knives glitter. An evil laugh was his only answer. Tina screamed and ran. But she couldn’t escape. The nightmare man was everywhere! No matter how she dodged and turned, he was always right there. “Tina,” he whispered. “Watch this.” With his knife-tipped hand, the man casually sliced two of the fingers off his own left hand! Tina felt sick with fear. She whirled and ran for the door of her house. But when she got there, the man leaped out at her again. He grabbed her. “Somebody open the door! Please!” Tina begged as she tried to fight him off. She grabbed at his face. It came off in her hand! In the big bedroom, Rod woke to the sound of screams. He jumped up. What in God’s name was happening to Tina? He snatched the sheet off her bed. She was tossing and thrashing in her sleep. It seemed as if she was fighting someone, but there was no one else there. No one that Rod could see, at least. He switched on the light. Suddenly Tina’s shirt split open. Before Rod’s horrified eyes, four deep gashes opened up on her bare stomach. Tina flew up into the air. Her body whirled around and around, and hit Rod in the face. He fell back. Tina was hurled into the opposite corner of the room. Then, screaming, she was dragged up the wall and onto the ceiling! “Rod, help me! Rod!” Tina cried. But there was nothing Rod could do. He couldn’t stop the invisible killer. Helplessly he watched his girlfriend struggle. Then it was over. Her lifeless body fell. It hit the bed with a thud and slid to the floor. Tina had been murdered by her dream! Rod panicked. He climbed out the window and ran away into the night.
What’s That Noise?
Nancy and Glen heard the noise and ran to the bedroom. They pounded on the locked door. Finally it came open and they raced in. But they were too late. Much too late. When the police came, the officers said that Rod Lane must have killed Tina. Nancy wasn’t so sure. She tried to convince her father, Lieutenant Thomson, that Rod could be innocent. Thompson was the police officer in charge of the case. Nancy told him that Tina had dreamed about being killed before it happened. And the dream killer wasn’t Rod! But Thompson wouldn’t listen. He set a trap for Rod and caught him. Rod was put in jail. And that was that. As far as Thompson was concerned, the murder was solved.
Nightmare at School
The next day in English class, Nancy tried to stay awake. But she was exhausted. She hadn’t slept at all the night before. Finally she nodded off. In her dream Nancy heard Tina calling her. She looked up and saw Tina standing in the hall outside of the English room. She was wrapped in a clear plastic body bag, and she was covered with blood. Then she disappeared! Nancy ran into the hall. A trail of blood went around the corner. Nancy hurried after it. She bumped into a hall monitor and knocked the girl down. “Where’s your pass?” the girl demanded. Nancy ignored her. “Hey, Nancy!” the girl yelled. But her voice sounded deep. Nancy turned around. The girl held up her right hand. It was tipped with four gleaming knives! “No running in the hallway,” the girl croaked. She wiggled the steel fingers and laughed. Nancy ran on. She followed the trail of blood down some steps into a boiler room. It looked like the one Tina had described from her dream! Steam hissed out of cracks in the pipes. The wet floor gleamed. And someone there was breathing very heavily. “Tina?” Nancy called. She walked into the gloomy room.
A figure appeared at the end of a catwalk. But it wasn’t Tina. It was a man in a dirty red-and-green-striped sweater. He had a beat-up hat and a hand made of razor-sharp knives. His skin was scarred from burns, and some of it was eaten away. The nightmare man! He lurched toward Nancy. She gasped and ran. As he chased her, he scraped his knives along the metal pipes. They made a horrible screeching noise. SKREEAAK! SKREEEAAKK! “Gonna get you,” crooned the nightmare man. He laughed. Nancy backed into a corner between two pipes. She was trapped. Pure terror washed over her. “It’s only a dream!” she yelled. “Come to Freddy,” the man whispered. Then he raised his clawed hand high. Nancy did the only thing she could think of., She held her arm against the hot steam pipe and burned it. If it really was a dream, the pain would wake her up.
Nancy woke up screaming in the middle of English class. So she was right. It had been nothing but a bad dream after all! Her teacher was shocked. She told Nancy to go home for the rest of the day. When Nancy got outside, she looked at her arm. There was a red burn mark on it. Nancy was sure now that Rod hadn’t killed Tina. Freddy, the nightmare man, was the murderer. Somehow he had killed Tina in her dream. And now he wanted to kill Nancy. Nancy was afraid Freddy would get her if she fell asleep. She had to stay awake. But she was so tired! When she got home, she took a bath to calm her nerves. It was a big mistake. She fell asleep in the tub. A knife-tipped hand shot out of the water. It seized Nancy and pulled her down into the tub. She choked and gasped, trying to get to the water’s surface. The tub seemed endlessly deep. Mocking laughter rang in Nancy’s ears. This could only be happening in a nightmare. Nightmares could be deadly! Nancy used all her strength and tore away from Freddy’s grip. At last, her head broke the surface of the water. She clung to the side of the tub, trying to get her breath. For the moment, she was safe. But only for the moment.
Chapter 1: One, Two, Freddy’s Coming for You | Chapter 3: Five, Six, Grab Your Crucifix…