Jackie walked along a dark and unfamiliar corridor.  There were pipes everywhere and a steady flow of  steam was rising off of them.  The ground was wet.  Her bare feet attested to that fact.  Jackie felt the hot air tickling her skin but she didn't feel like laughing.  She felt scared.  She wasn't alone, she didn't know how she knew it but someone was nearby.  Someone she didn't want to find.   

One foot after the other, around corners she walked.  This place was like a maze.  Why was she here?  Jackie Burkhart, princess of Point Place, would never be in a grungy place like this.  She was wearing her night gown too.  The lacy white one her dad had given her on her last birthday.  It was her favorite.  Why would she be dressed like this in public? How had she gotten here?  She couldn't remember.  She tried to let the questions cover the fear and kept walking.

Around another corner, more pipes, and she was no closer to finding any way out.  And then she heard it, jumping about a mile she stopped dead in her tracks.  Her hair was wet from all the moisture and she was beginning to sweat.  In the distance she heard the sound again.  It was like fingernails across a blackboard.  It made her skin crawl.  Goosebumps rose on her arms and she suddenly had the overwhelming urge to run.  Jackie Burkhart wasn't the kind of girl to deny herself, so she did. 

Turn after turn led her nowhere.  She was beginning to worry that she may be running in the wrong direction.  She still felt the presence of someone else.  And she was deathly afraid it was the guy making those noises.  He was after her. She knew that now.  She sped up her pace. 

A pipe spit out extra steam and she screamed.  A man was standing in front of her beyond the pipe.  Dressed in an old raggedy striped sweater and a tattered hat, she saw his face.  It was burned, grotesque and sneering.  He looked evil.  Jackie opened her mouth to scream again but no sound came out.  She began to back up instead. 

The man followed, matching every step back with one forward.  He had his hand behind his back. At first she was afraid he had a gun or a knife.  But when he revealed it, she knew that she hadn't come up with anything scary enough.  On his hand was a glove, with knives attached to the fingers.  They were long blades like a barber uses to shave old men at one of those places with the Candy Stripe poll. 

Jackie began to cry and thought of all the things she had wanted to do with her life.  She watched with dread as the disfigured man reached out for her swiping his claws across the front of her body and finally found the scream she had been looking for. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Jackie wailed sitting bolt upright in her bed. 

Panting she looked around the room.  Her room.  It was pink and comforting.  She reached out grabbing a random stuffed animal and tried to calm herself.  It was only a dream.  It was only a dream. 

Not for the first time she wished she wasn't alone in this big dumb house.  She could use some parents right about now. Sighing she laid back down cradling stuffed bear to her stomach.  She wasn't 8 anymore; her mother would only tease her for being a baby if she were here.  And her father, well her father would probably just give her his credit card.  She thought briefly about calling and waking up Steven but changed her mind.  She didn't want him worrying.  Pulling the toy Panda away from her body she decided to try and get back to sleep.  The bear's foot snagged in something though and she looked down to see what. 

There across her stomach were several long slits.  The fabric was frayed in long gashes, just exactly where the man in the dreams claws had swiped.  She stared in disbelief and knew she wouldn't be getting anymore sleep tonight. 

*******************************************************************

The next afternoon Jackie walked into the Hub with Donna, Eric and Steven.  They walked to their usual table and sat down. 

"Donna I'm telling you -this was the most real dream I have ever had".  Jackie insisted. 

The taller girl shook her head at the dramatics and laughed "More real than that one you had last week about your dad buying the mall?  And you were going on that giant shopping spree?  Cause that one involved the intricate details of 17 different outfits." 

Ericlaughed and Steven put his arm around her.  "Laugh all you want Donna, I'm telling you this was weird.  It was not a good dream.  I was really scared."

Jackie put her head on Steven's shoulder. 

"Come on babe, I told you.  If you have the dream again just tell yourself to wake up." 

She rolled her eyes at the ease of which he dismissed her fear.  And began to argue.  But Eric beat her to it.

"Man it is not that easy.  If you knew you were in a dream then you wouldn't be scared.  I mean dreams can't hurt you."

Jackie took a deep breath and prepared to sound crazy.  "Okay well guys… I don't know if that is true." 

Steven gave her a look.  She hadn't told him this part.  She wasn't going to tell anyone this part.  But she was too freaked out not to share.  "What?" he asked

She bit her lip and looked him in the eye.  "When I woke up I had claw cuts in my night gown."

Looking around the table she saw various stages of shock on her friend's faces.  Eric looked scared.  Steven looked confused.  Donna looked doubtful. 

"Jackie" the red head started "That is impossible.  You probably just got really into the dream and did it with your own nails." Reaching over she grabbed Jackie's hand.  "I mean look at these things." 

Jackie looked at her perfectly manicured nails, they were a fashionable length.  She wanted to believe that scenario, but she was still scared.  And Eric she noticed still looked uneasy himself. 

Steven though sighed and got up from the table.  "I'm gonna get something to eat.  You want anything?" 

She looked at him incredulous. 

"What?" he asked in that way he had of sounding like he didn't have any idea why you were mad.  "Look babe, it was just a dream.  And Donna is right, those nails are deadly weapons."  Wiggling his eyebrows suggestively he leaned over and kissed her forehead "I should know."

She swatted his shoulder and let out a laugh.  Maybe he was right, and Donna was as well. 

It had been one hell of a nightmare.