It's been a long time coming, but today I present the revised version of the first five chapters and the prologue to Children of Elm Street. The remaining chapters will be updated periodically throughout the next several months, culminating in the long-awaited conclusion, which will be published all at once! I am also doing similar revisions to my other novels, Halloween: Vengeance and Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash. I also have some exciting new projects in the works, so stay tuned for more details...

CHILDREN OF ELM STREET: A NIGHTMARE TALE

By Jake Reed

Based on characters created by Wes Craven

In memory of Wes Craven

August 8, 1939-August 30th, 2015

Sleep in peace...

Prologue

A New Nightmare

May 16th

Three years ago...

Amelia Sterling ran down the hallway with her book bag swinging against her back. She had woken up late that morning and missed the bus, causing her to have to run to the high school. By the time she arrived, the bell had rung, and she was late for her first class.

Amy was a pretty girl. She was fifteen years old, but she was short for her age and a bit on the skinny side. Her auburn hair came down to her neck and the way she always styled it, the entire left side of her face was covered by it.

She stopped to catch her breath as she came up to her classroom. She was anticipating a stern lecture from Mr. Shaye about tardiness, and a bunch of dirty looks from her classmates. Amy took a deep breath and prepared herself to catch all kinds of hell when she opened the door. She looked around the classroom, but nobody was paying any attention to her; they all were looking down at their desks, taking what seemed to be some kind of exam. And instead of Mr. Shaye, someone else was in his desk; a substitute.

Despite the obvious receding of his blonde hair, he was kinda handsome. His glasses made him look younger than he appeared. He wore a red polo shirt with a green jacket, and had on his head a brown fedora, which looked like it had seen better days. Thin stubble decorated his chin, and his right hand had fingernails that gleamed like polished silver and seemed slightly longer than those on his other hand.

"Nice of you to join us, Ms..." He paused to look at the planning book. "Sterling, I presume?"

Amy nodded meekly.

"Well, Mr. Shaye is out sick today. I'll be your sub. Here, the other students are taking a quiz." He handed Amy a paper and she took her seat next to her friend, Arnold.

"Best of luck, Amy," the sub said. "It's open-book, by the way, so feel free to use it."

Amy opened her history book and instantly felt tired. It was like a wave of exhaustion had washed over her. It had also suddenly got very hot. It was like someone had stuck a space heater right on front of her desk.

"Hey, Arnold," she said. "Does it seem hot to you?"

Arnold didn't respond; he continued to stare down at his test. Amy closed her eyes as she wiped the sweat from her brow with her hand. There was a crackling sound coming from the back of the room, and it sounded, to Amy, like someone opening a bag of chips very loudly. She opened her eyes and turned around to ask the person messing with it to stop.

It wasn't a bag of chips. A fire was spreading through the back of the classroom. The students were screaming, stuck in their chairs, flames licking their bodies and melting their flesh from their bones. The students at the front of the room sat and did nothing while their classmates burned alive.

Arnold was also on fire, writhing on the floor next to his desk while the sub merely sat and watched, a look of grim satisfaction in his eyes.

Amy stood up and started to run over to Arnold help him, but she was too late. He doubled over and screamed as his body burnt to ashes right before her eyes. The sound of his scream didn't die until after his flesh was completely gone and the fire finally burnt his lungs, leaving only a still-screaming skeleton with burning organs laying on the floor beneath it.

The fire was spreading faster, and more students were being burned alive by it. Amy ran for the door and touched the handle, but yanked it away when she found it was glowing hot! She looked at her hand and saw welts already forming on her palms. She backed away and, realizing she was going to die, screamed.

"Aaaahhhhh!"

SCREEEECH!

Amy sat bolt upright. She took a deep breath and looked around for the source of the noise only to see she was still sitting at her desk in the classroom. But it wasn't her classroom. At least, she didn't think it was. But if it wasn't, where was she?

The whole room had been blackened and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air. This simply had to be a dream, couldn't it? In fact, she was pretty sure she could still feel the heat of the flames coming off her skin. The desks were burnt black and the floor was soft with a layer of grey ashes. Amy gasped as she realized charred skeletons were sitting in the desks. And moving! The "skeletons" continued to move as if they were doing school work, writing on paper and reading books as if nothing had happened. One skeleton, sitting in Arnold's seat, glanced over at her.

"Amy, are you okay? You're looking a bit pale." The lower jaw was the only thing moving as the skeleton spoke, sending chills through Amy's body. "Oh, do you know the answer to number seven?" it said in Arnold's voice.

That was when she screamed. Ashes filled her lungs with every gasp of breath she took, making it hard to breathe, and she began fidgeting in her seat. She tried to get up, but was somehow stuck to the seat. Her screams echoed in the burnt out building.

"Somebody get me the fuck out of here!"

SCREEEECH!

That sound again! She snapped her head forward. The substitute teacher was still sitting at the desk. Except, he looked... different.

His face was pitted and red. A large chunk of flesh was missing from his cheek, so his teeth were visible. His right hand was now covered in a dirty glove with metal fingers, each with a blade about five inches long. His shirt was a dirty red and green Christmas sweater and on his head was a battered, brown fedora. The name plate on the desk identified him as, "Mr. Krueger."

"Looks like you missed the fire drill, Ms. Sterling," the sub said. His voice was deep and scary, like a cross between a groan and a growl. Amy sat up, ready to run. Suddenly, the man was upon her, as if he teleported to her. He raised his gloved hand and pressed it to her neck and face. She could feel the index blade pressing down a little too close to her eye. Slivers of her hair fell away after being cut away by the blade. Amy let out a whimper as the man spoke.

"What are you whimpering about? I haven't even cut you yet..."

The man disappeared. Amy looked around for him. She didn't see him and breathed a sigh of relief.

She felt something cold on her backside. Cold steel cut into her shirt and against her back. Something wet pressed itself to Amy's neck. It moved. Amy jerked away from it, but it still found its way back to her.

Krueger pulled his tongue away from her and reached around for her chest. He put one blade inside her collar and sliced down, the flayed cloth falling away from her small breasts-

"Enough!" Amy screamed as she threw Krueger off her.

"Feisty little bitch, huh!" Krueger whipped around in front of her and sat down in a chair Amy was sure he had pulled from thin air. He put the elbow of his clawed hand on the desk and put one blade against her neckline.

"Guess what? Come on, guess!" Amy backed up in surprise and shook her head.

"You're in my world now, bitch. And in my world, you do as I say. And I say..."

Krueger leaned forward so Amy could smell his hot, smelly breath. The holes in his cheeks dripped blood, the metallic odor mixing with his foul breath and making her gag. Amy could see the muscles in his cheek twitch and move as he spoke.

"Die!" Krueger whispered harshly. He drew back his knives and thrust forward. The index blade pressed against Amy's shoulder and she screamed. The blade went in smoothly, slicing skin, flesh, muscles, nerves, scraping past bone. Amy felt the blade scratch her shoulder blade and twitched, causing the blade to twist and open the wound so blood poured out onto the desk. The pain-

Amy woke with a start! She sat bolt upright in her bed and let out a loud scream of pain! She instinctively grabbed her shoulder, trying to stem the tide of blood pouring from the wound! Tears flowed down her face as she tried to bury the pain, and she forced herself to pull her hand away so she could examine the wound! She looked down, half-expecting her hand and her bed to be covered in blood!

But, when she examined the split in her shirt, there was nothing. No blood, no wound. With the exception of the gash in her shirt, she was totally fine.

Amy fought to regain control of herself, finally drying her eyes and calming herself down. "It's just a dream," she told herself. "You're awake now, and he can't get you." But no matter how many times she told herself that, she didn't believe her own words.

She dried her eyes one last time and looked around her room. The walls were covered in a lot of somewhat girly posters, most of them containing revealing images of Channing Tatum and Taylor Lautner. There were also posters for several horror movies as well, a stark juxtaposition with the bare-chested likes of the Hollywood hunks.

Amy crawled out of her bed and walked towards the comfortably cramped space of her personal bathroom, which was the second of three doors in her room, the other two being the door to the living room and her closet. She closed the door and sat down on the toilet. She looked over and looked on the counter for her bottle of caffeine pills. She popped the lid, poured out two of them, and dry swallowed them. She put the pills back on the counter, reached into her bra and pulled out her cellphone. She scrolled down her contacts and came across the name and number of Cameron.

At that moment, Cameron Craven was asleep in his bed. It was only when his phone began to ring loudly that he was aroused from his peaceful sleep. Cameron wiped his brown hair from his eyes and looked at the display, seeing Amy's name.

"Hey, babe, what's up?" he said sleepily into the phone.

"I had another one," she said to him.

"What happened this time?" Cameron was fully awake now. This was the third night in a row.

"He's getting stronger," Amy cried softly into the phone. "He stabbed my shoulder with his knives. I wasn't bleeding when I woke up, but it still hurt. That's never happened before."

"Well you're awake now," Cameron soothed. "So you're safe. If you want, I can come over and stay up with you."

"No," Amy said with a laugh. "Two nights together was enough; I can't ask you to do it again. Besides, we have school in the morning and you need your sleep."

"Hey, Cunningham's tests are a breeze," Cameron said. "Besides, I don't think I could function properly if I wasn't 100% sure that you were going to be alright."

"Cameron, please," Amy blushed. "Are really going to sneak out a third night in a row for me?"

"For you, and only you, baby," Cameron smiled. "I'll be there in five minutes."

"Thank you," Amy said. "You're the best boyfriend I could ever ask for." Amy hung up the phone and let out a huge sigh of relief.

Cameron had been her boyfriend for almost a year now and it was when the nightmares had started only the previous Friday that things between them started getting serious. When Cameron had come over that first night, she had given herself to him and they spent every waking moment together the following two days, prompting much joking ridiculing from Cameron's immature friends, Dustin and Randal.

Amy cleaned herself up and walked back into her room. She opened her closet door and glanced through it, looking for something to wear for when Cameron got there. She pulled out a loose-fitting purple night-shirt and a long white skirt, and laid them down on the back of a chair. She pulled her shirt and bra off and let her breasts dangle free for a moment before putting on the shirt. She pulled off her underwear before pulling the skirt on, and tossed them in a laundry hamper near the front door. She paused for a moment to listen for her parents, who were sleeping in their own room down the hall. Nothing; all was quiet.

Amy lay back down on her bed and waited for Cameron to climb the tree outside her window and tap the window to let her know he was there. She put a set of headphones into her ear and turned her iPod up to full volume.

"I'm waiting, and fading, floating away!

Waiting, and fading, floating away!

Waiting, and fading, floating away!

Waiting and fading, waiting and fading!

When you see yourself in a crowded room,

Do your fingers itch, are you pistol-whipped?

Do you step in line or release the glitch?

Do you think she'll sleep with a panic switch?"

Amy closed her eyes, and felt something wet between her legs. God, Cameron wasn't even here yet and she was already getting excited. Then, she was drowning!

Her bed had become like water, causing her to drop like a stone deep inside it! She took in a sharp breath, nearly filling her lungs with water! She struggled against something that was holding her ankle, trying to drag her down into the depths! She made a grab for… anything! She reached her hands upwards, and her fingertips broke the surface of the water!

She groped around and found purchase on the edge of her bed! She pulled herself up with all her strength, but it felt like she had suddenly gained about a hundred and seventy-five pounds! She pulled her head above the water and saw Cameron tapping on the window outside, but just tapping! He wasn't banging on the glass or calling for help. Couldn't he see that she was drowning?

"Help me!" Amy shouted. "Cameron! Save me!" She screamed again before a razor-gloved hand sprang from the water, covered her mouth, and dragged her back down...

Cameron looked in on the sleeping Amy and smiled. God, she looked so cute while she slept. He began to fiddle with the edge of the window, trying to find a way to jimmy it open so he could wake her up gently.

Amy continued thrashing about in the water, feeling the razor-sharp talons cut at her flesh. She could barely see the horrible visage of Krueger through the water, laughing as he cut at her again and again. Amy managed to, somehow, break free of Krueger's grasp and made another bold kick for the surface. She broke the water again and pulled herself over the side. She landed on the floor in a heap and snapped her eyes open!

Cameron was baffled by what he had just seen. One second, Amy was asleep soundly on her bed, and the next she was thrashing about wildly before launching herself to the floor, now soaking wet. Something on the bed moved, rising up to form a humanoid shape behind Amy.

A razor blade came through the sheet and ripped straight down, and a tall, burnt man emerged, stepping down to the floor with an evil smile! Cameron stared for a long moment before finally coming back to reality and began banging on the window pane, trying to break it and get inside to save Amy.

Soaked from head to toe in a mix of blood and water, Amy looked up at the window and saw Cameron beating on the window. He was shouting something, but Amy couldn't hear him.

"What?" she asked nervously.

"BEHIND YOU!" Cameron shouted.

Amy turned to see Krueger standing mere inches away from her. Krueger jumped her, pinned her to the floor, and began ravishing her. He pulled her skirt up and used his talons to rip away her shirt, letting her breasts fall free!

"I always did like 'em young," Krueger said menacingly. "Old enough to bleed, old enough to breed…" He punctuated his sentence with a devious laugh and sliced Amy's arm deep, blood flowing onto the carpeted floor!

Amy screamed and kicked Krueger away! He growled and slashed at her pretty face, cutting away a good portion of her long hair and leaving four, perfectly symmetrical, bloody gashes ranging from her forehead, across her eyes and nose, and down her lips, the blood gushing down her alabaster cheek! Amy screamed again just as Cameron finally found the strength to break the glass! At that exact same moment, her father broke down the door!

Cameron leaped through the window and threw himself on Krueger, who twirled around and backhanded him across the arm with his glove. The force of the blow sent Cameron backwards; he felt the tips of the blades cut him, but they didn't feel them go any deeper than the skin. Krueger whirled back towards Amy, and saw her father cradling her in his arms. Her father looked up at Krueger, who simply smiled.

"It's really you," he whispered. "You're not real; you're dead!"

"I got better," Krueger whispered, twitching the blades on his fingers and laughing as he vanished, seemingly winking out of existence. His voice still hung in the air, however. "And this is just the beginning…"

Krueger's words hung in the air as Cameron stood. Amy's father stared at where Krueger had been, saying nothing.

"Do you know who that was?" He asked Cameron sharply. Cameron just stared off into space, unable to fully comprehend what had just happened. His eyes drifted down to Amy, and then opened wide in terror.

"Amy!" Cameron shouted. Amy's eyes were open, but they had begun rolling back into her head, and her body had started convulsing in her father's arms. Spittle pooled at the corner of her mouth, and her head began to continuously hit the floor with loud thuds. Those thuds soon turned into wet squelches, however, as the carpet became saturated with her blood!

"No!" her father called out. "AMY!"