Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare — Adaptation Excerpts

Adapted by Bob Italia
Transcribed by Rob Nimmo
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SEVEN

Tracy stared at herself in the mirror of the girls’ bathroom as she got ready for bed. Then she splashed cold water over her face. Behind her, she heard a stall door creak open. She looked at it in the mirror, then lowered her head to splash her face again. But when she gazed into the mirror, she saw that the stalls had disappeared. She was no longer in the girls’ bathroom at the shelter. She was in the bathroom of a trashy, rundown tract house—the house in which she once lived. “Tracy, girl,” a raspy voice called out. “Daddy’s home!” Tracy whirled around and saw Freddy staring at her, his arms open wide. “How about a little hug for daddy?” Freddy said. “Forget it, jerk face!” Tracy shouted. “What’s with kids today?” Freddy said. “No respect.” He moved toward her. “You can’t hurt me,” Tracy said. “This is my dream and I’ll go where I want.” She tried the backdoor in the kitchen, but it was locked. “This may be your dream, but it’s my rules!” Freddy said, laughing. Tracy panicked, desperate to escape as Freddy slowly made his way toward her. She eyed the stove, then ran to it. Turning on the burners, she held her arms over them. “Careful, honey,” Freddy said. “You mustn’t hurt yourself. That’s my job.” Suddenly, Tracy heard a familiar voice from somewhere in the dream plane. “Tracy?” Doc shouted. “Where are you, girl? Wake yourself up. Get out!” Tracy thrust her arms into the burning flames and screamed. When she woke in the girls’ wing of the shelter, she saw Maggie charging in. Tracy’s arms were covered with burns. “Doc’s in there!” Tracy cried. Maggie and Tracy ran from the wing down the hall.

—

Doc entered the rec room, still calling out for Tracy. All was quiet. Getting scared, Doc picked up a bat and continued his search. “Doc?” Tracy’s voice called out. “Is that you?” “Yeah, Tracy, where are you?” “I’m here. I’m stuck in one of the lockers. Help me out.” Doc opened the lockers one by one until he came to the end of the row. He reached out for the last locker and flung it open. It was empty. “Where are you?” he called out. “Right here,” the raspy voice said. Doc spun around to face Freddy. “You taught her a lot,” Freddy said. “But there’s so much more to learn.” Freddy took a swipe at Doc who ducked out of the way. Doc hammered Freddy with his bat until he lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. Freddy started moaning…but then his moans turned into a hideous giggle as he slowly rose to his feet. “Sticks and stones may break my bones,” Freddy said, “but nothing will ever kill me.” Then he held up his claw. “Let’s see,” he said, counting on his claw, “they tried burning me. They tried burying me. They even tried holy water. But I keep on ticking. They promised me that—” “They?” Doc interrupted. “The dream people…the ones who gave me this job!” Freddy drew closer. “You think you know about dreams? You know nothing. In dreams, I am forever! Too bad you’re not!” Freddy lunged toward Doc. Doc’s hand grabbed Freddy’s sweater. Freddy pulled away as a piece of his sweater tore off in Doc’s hand. Freddy maneuvered Doc into a killing position. But just as he was about to deliver the death blow, a bell sounded. Doc began fading away. Freddy swiped the empty air with a frustrated grunt.

—

Maggie and Tracy burst into Doc’s office. Doc was sitting in his chair, shutting off a nearby alarm clock. He looked up at them. “What?” he said. “I’m not stupid, you know.” Then he held out the piece of Freddy’s sweater and smiled. “And I think we have a way to get him.” He sat Maggie down in a chair and affixed electrodes to her forehead. The electrodes were attached to Doc’s computer equipment. The monitor registered a jagged sine wave. “We can’t get him in the dream,” he said, holding up the piece of sweater, “but if this can come out, he can come out. And once he’s out, he’s real. And if he’s real, he can bleed.” “And die,” Tracy said. “Right,” Doc said. “He may be forever in his world, but we’ll own him in ours.” “How will you know when I have him?” Maggie said. Doc nodded toward the monitor. “This’ll tell me when you’ve found him, then I’ll bring you out. But you have to be holding onto him to carry him out.” “I know,” Maggie said bravely. “He’s going to try and trick you,” Doc said, “just like he did with me and Tracy.” “I can’t beat him until I know what it is. He won’t let me get there.” “You have to get there yourself,” Doc said. “And to do it…” He handed her the 3-D glasses. Maggie stared at him. “Are you for real?” “They mean nothing here. But inside the dream they can be anything you want. He’ll use your eyes to fool you. Use these to see beyond his tricks. He got inside your head, you get inside his.” Tracy put her hand on Maggie. “Be careful. He’s good at finding out where it hurts you the most.” Maggie smiled, then nodded to Doc. He turned on the unit as she relaxed. The sine wave flattened out and leveled. It did not take long for Maggie’s eyes to grow heavy. Her lids fluttered, and soon she fell asleep.

—

Maggie opened her eyes and found herself alone in Doc’s office. She caught sight of the dream demon painting and stared at it. Somehow, it seemed important. She put on the 3-D glasses. They dissolved into her eyes. When she looked at the painting again, it took on an added dimension. It seemed like a hologram. Maggie approached the painting and stared at it again. When she reached out to touch it, her hand disappeared into the canvas. She pulled it out, then stuck her head in. The painting was a pathway into Freddy’s brain! Get inside his brain… Maggie dove into the painting. Now a blur of light, she streaked toward the center of Freddy’s brain at the speed of sound. It was filled with bizarre, floating shadows. They surrounded Maggie as she streaked through.

Then in a brilliant flash of light, Maggie found herself in the back of a grade school classroom. The windows were covered and the room dim. Eight-year-old Freddy was at a chalkboard, writing I WILL BE KIND TO ANIMALS over and over again. “Son of a hundred maniacs,” his classmates taunted him. “Son of a hundred maniacs!” “I’m in his memories,” Maggie said to herself. Another flash of light took her to the basement of the Elm Street house. Teenage Freddy was in his foster father’s workshop when he entered with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a leather belt in the other. “You been a waste since the day I took you in,” the old man said in a mean and drunken voice. “It’s time to take your medicine!” He snapped the belt, then raised it high to strike. Another flash of light took Maggie to Freddy’s shack. Freddy, now an adult, was asleep on his cot when a group of enraged adults appeared. “He’s in there!” someone called out. “Spread the gasoline around. The courts should’ve taken care of this already.” A flaming bottle crashed through a window and exploded on the floor. Flames erupted everywhere. Freddy jumped up and tried to escape, but the flames consumed him. Freddy screamed in pain, but soon his cries subsided as strange things took shape in the fire. Suddenly, three eerie forms emerged. They looked like the dream demons in Doc’s painting. They swirled around the burning Freddy. “We know what you want,” the demons said. “I want it all!” Freddy cried. “Then open up, and you shall be forever!” The demons blasted into Freddy, causing another flash of light.

Maggie found herself back in the Elm Street basement. But now she was the little girl in her recurring dream—young Katherine Krueger. She could hear the thudding outside and ran out the cellar doors. The little girl ran to the side of the house. There, Fred stood over Loretta’s body. “Mommy?” the little girl said fearfully. Fred turned to his daughter. “Don’t worry, baby. Mommy had to take her medicine for snooping in daddy’s special workshop. But you won’t tell, will you?” “I won’t tell,” the little girl said, crying. Suddenly, a flash of light brought Maggie to Freddy’s boiler room. “But you did tell, didn’t you?” a raspy voice said. Maggie turned to face Freddy. “Now it’s time to take your medicine,” Freddy said. “You killed my mother,” Maggie said. Freddy giggled. “She’s down here…waiting for you.” Freddy advanced, but Maggie wasn’t afraid. “You killed my mother!” she roared. She grabbed him and held on tight. “Now!” she cried.

Back in reality, the wave on Doc’s monitor went wild. “She’s got him!” Tracy said. Doc moved to the slumbering Maggie on the chair. “Then let’s get her out.” Maggie and Freddy started fading away. Freddy’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening. “Noooo!” he cried. Doc woke up Maggie. She came out of the dream violently. They looked around the room, ready for an attack. But Freddy was nowhere to be seen. “Where is he?” Tracy said. “I had him,” Maggie insisted. “Maybe the trip killed him,” Tracy said. Maggie put her hands to her eyes. “No…I’m still seeing things his way, like in the dream. He’s still alive. It’s not over.”

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