by A. Eggleston
As Steven patted the dirt, the silver crucifix that hung around his neck had escaped from under the collar of his black t-shirt, and swung in front of his face. Having to stare at the cross as he was burying his sister was taunting. Dejecting. But, it also reminded Steven that as long as he was still alive, he would everything he could to make sure Krueger burns in Hell for what he did.
He felt Evelyn's hand on his shoulder, and noticed her staring at him out of the corner of his eye. "Let's go." she said calmly.
Steven nodded his head and wiped his dirt-covered hands his jeans. "Okay." he mumbled.
They both stood up and began walking back to the fence. As they walked past the door, Steven looked to Evelyn and asked, "Where are we going to go?"
Evelyn scanned the houses around the street, and noticed several porch lights beaming in the distance. They must have heard the screaming. She thought to herself. And the gunshot. She started to walk a little faster and noticed Steven picking up the pace as well. "We have to get Faith first." she said. "If we hurry, I think we can get to her in time."
Steven looked around and saw a few of his neighbors stepping outside of their houses, looking around, curious about the noise. He felt as if they were all staring at him, like they knew. He could already imagine what they must have thought about him: There he his, that sick fuck who butchered his sister. He looked back at Evelyn as they jogged to Ash's Delta 88. "And then what?" he asked.
Evelyn reached out to grab the handle and pull the door open, while Steven ran to the passenger's side. "And then," she repeated Steven's words. "we're gonna make a quick stop at the police station." she tried to say the words nonchalantly, but it didn't stop Steven from doing a double-take.
He lifted his eyes from the door. "What?!" he said as he tried to look at Evelyn, but she had already ducked inside the car and slammed the door. Steven opened the door on his side and bent over to look her in the eye. "Why are we going there?" Steven got inside the car and shut the door, not breaking eye-contact with Evelyn.
"To break Ash out of jail." she said as she put the car in gear.
"He's in jail?" he asked. At first, he wanted an explanation, but he quickly let it go. He didn't care how he got there, what concerned him was how they were going to take care of it, especially since he figured the police were already hunting them down. "How are we gonna do that?"
Evelyn became frustrated. "I don't know yet, alright?" Evelyn returned her gaze back to the road. "We'll figure it out when we get there. Let's just...take care of one thing at a time."
Steven crossed his arms and stared in the distance. "I don't like this."
Evelyn snapped. "Well, deal with it!" She lifted her foot from the brake and slammed on the accelerator, making the tires squeal as they sped down the road. They could already hear the police sirens as they fled the neighborhood.
The moon hovering above acted as a beacon that Evelyn drove towards. It's bright light reflected down on them, backlighting the petrified trees on each side of the street that seemed to stretch over the night sky. Traveling in Ash's Oldsmobile, Evelyn and Steven raced down the road, hurrying to find Faith and, hopefully, get to Ash before it was too late.
Evelyn began to drive faster with each block she drove through. Out of the corner of her eye, she drove past one house that sent chills down her spine, but she didn't know why. She looked at what street she was on. 1400 Elm.
As she sped past 1428, she noticed a broken down home. It hadn't been condemned. She could see furniture inside the house as she glanced through the window. But the chipped paint, dead plant life, and especially the bars on the second-story windows gave her an eerie feeling. The house seemed to have a certain presence, or atmosphere about it. It seemed to tower above, intimidating those who stood in front of it. And there was a mysterious, blue-ish glow coming from all of the windows.
Lt. Moore and Officer Harris had taken Ash down to the police department about twenty minutes after he had been arrested. This had been the first time Ash had ever run into any serious trouble with the police. Considering how many times he had come close over the last twenty years, he figured he'd had a good run.
Except this time, it was a matter of life or death. For every second he would have to spend in that cell, his chances of defeating Freddy would grow slimmer. If he didn't find a way to get out of there quick, Freddy's reign of terror would spread like wildfire. By then, there would be nothing Ash could do about it. This might be the end for me. he feared.
They both led him across the station and towards his cell. Officer Harris followed behind, keeping an eye on him, and making sure he wouldn't attempt to escape. Lt. Moore walked in front. They led Ash to his cell, where they planned to hold him for the next forty-eight hours before putting him on trial.
They had put Ash in handcuffs before putting him in the squad car earlier. The metal cuffs were so tight, they were starting to cut off his circulation in his left hand.
Still keeping in line with the two of them, Ash looked back at Officer Harris. "Hey, uh..." he began. "You think you could loosen those cuffs there, chief?"
Nathan cracked a sarcastic smile. "Not a chance." he replied.
"I'm just saying," said Ash. "this is starting to cut me off. It's the only hand I got left, and I'd like to keep it that way."
Harris chuckled softly. "Nice try, Ash."
Ash looked away from Officer Harris and turned to Lt. Moore. He stared straight ahead, so all he saw was the dark blonde hair falling from under his police cap. "What about you, Goldilocks?" said Ash. "Any chance you could let me go here?"
Unfazed, Moore continued to march forward and keep his gaze in front of him. "That's 'Lt. Moore' to you, scumbag." he said curtly.
Ash smirked. "'Moore' as in donuts there, tubby?" he taunted.
"Piss and moan all you want, Ash." said Harold. "You can't talk your way out of this."
"Just thought I'd have a little fun before I rot in the slammer."
After leading him down the cold, narrow hallway, they reached Ash's cell. Ash was looking at the floor at the time, when he noticed Lt. Moore's feet cease to move.
He stopped abruptly behind him, and looked up. "Well, here we are." he heard Moore say with an enthused tone that made Ash feel incredibly pissed. He saw his cell, which was about twice the size of a coat closet.
He smirked. "Cozy." he said sarcastically.
Lt. Moore unhooked the set of keys from his belt and flipped through each key until he found the one that fit the lock to Ash's cell. "Good." He said as he grabbed the right key and turned the lock, opening the door. The metal creaked as it swung open. "'Cause you're gonna be here for the next forty-eight hours." Moore cocked his head to the side, prompting Ash to step inside.
Ash was slow to move his feet. Officer Harris became impatient. He placed his hand on Ash's back and pushed him into his cell.
By the time he turned around, Lt. Moore had already slammed the door, and locked it. From behind the metal bars, Ash could see him smiling, taking joy in his imprisonment. Ash shot him an insolent look.
Moore continued to taunt him as he hooked his keys back onto his belt. "You know," he began. "I've been in this business for about 40 years now, and some days, it becomes too much for me to handle." He still leered at him. "Do you have any idea what it's like to go to work every day and deal with rotten little bastards who kill innocent people? And you're responsible to make sure these pieces of filth never see the light of day?"
Ash remained hunched over by the bars, pretending his eyes shot lasers and every time he blinked, Lt. Moore's head would be vaporized. He couldn't believe the irony in Lt. Moore's monologue. He decided to humor him. "It's funny you should say that--" But Moore cut him off, completely ignoring what Ash had to say.
"But whenever I see assholes like you behind bars, it reminds me while I'm still here."
"So you can lock up guys who didn't do anything wrong?" Ash retaliated.
"You've got some nerve, don't you, Williams?"
Moore said, angered. "You shot that boy in the head at point blank range. Everyone in the building heard you. We caught you attempting to flee the scene of the murder." Moore raised his voice at him. "For God's sake, we've got yours and Evelyn's prints on the gun you killed him with!"
Ash yelled back. "Alright, Starsky and Hutch, listen to me! You got the wrong guy!"
Lt. Moore ignored him and turned away. He walked over to Harris. "You know what, I'll keep an eye on him." he said. "Why don't you go home and get some sleep?"
As soon as he heard the word "sleep", Ash immediately jumped and gripped the bars tighter. Even though Harris was responsible for locking him up, he couldn't just let another person die. Worriedly, Ash shouted, "No! Don't do that!"
Both of them looked at Ash like he was insane.
"And why the hell not?" said Harris.
Ash felt as if he had backed himself into a corner at that point. Well, it was gonna come to this anyway. Might as well make a dramatic spiel about it. Ash calmed himself down, and when he spoke, he made sure to keep his voice level. "I know why all this is happening. I know who's behind this. And I'm the only one who can stop him." he said.
"Cut the bullshit, Ash." Moore said, impatiently. "Who are you talking about?"
"The guy that Springwood seems to have a tough time getting rid of." said Ash. "Freddy Krueger."
Ash could tell by the look in their eyes, that as soon as he said Freddy's name, they didn't think of him as their killer anymore.
Chapter Twenty Three
Nathan sniped at Ash in a hushed tone. "Are you insane?!" He looked behind him to make sure no one else was around that could have heard them.
Lt. Moore pointed a finger at Ash and looked at him angrily, but at the same time, fearful for what Ash had just admitted to them. "We don't talk about Krueger out in the open!"
Ash straightened his posture so that he was at eye-level with Moore. He leered at him and condescended him for the remark. "Yeah, well maybe that's the problem." Ash let go of the bars and opened his arms, reminding Moore and Harris that he was sitting in a cell. "And besides," he said. "it's not like I can run outside and blab this around town, now can I?"
Moore stared at Ash for a moment before saying something, examining his face. Now that he took Ash's words into consideration, it started to make sense. Now that he had seen him up close, he noticed the dark circles around his eyes. He must have stayed awake for days. he figured. He had seen that same look on so many faces at the scene of a crime that was inevitably caused by Freddy Krueger.
The thing Lt. Moore had felt most ashamed of, was that he had arrested Ash for a crime he didn't commit. In trying to keep the children safe from Freddy, he ended up only making the situation worse. How did I not see this before? he wondered. But still, one thing didn't make sense. Krueger always went after Springwood's youth, not some 50-year-old drifter passing through town. Why this guy? And how does he even know who Freddy is? Moore leaned in and asked Ash that very question. "Let me ask you something. Why you? What do you think Freddy went after you?"
I guess it's monologue time again. Ash dreaded this. He had just convinced the two of them that he wasn't crazy. He was afraid he was going to lose them again this time. He answered Moore's question with another question. "Are you familiar with ancient Sumerian spell books?" he asked. "The kind that can resurrect the dead and take over the living?"
Moore stepped back and looked at Ash suspiciously. "No." he said bluntly. "It's not part the job."
"Well," Ash countered. "it's a big part of my job."
Officer Harris stared, astounded, at Ash. He had no idea that the night would end up like this. Just twenty-four hours ago, he thought of Ash as just an odd resident of Springwood. He didn't stand out much, aside from a few strange nuances that Harris now realized was because of Freddy hunting him down. He walked closer to the bars, where Ash stood at the opposite side. "Who are you?" asked Harris.
Well, what is there to say? Ash wondered before answering him. The truth, I guess would be a fine place to start. "I'm the Chosen One." he said, sort of embarrassed, but he figured it was a hell of a way to start off his explanation. He noticed the shared look of confusion amongst the both of them. He didn't like it, but he knew this was going to be a long night.
Moore looked at him skeptically. "Excuse me?"
"I'll give you the CliffsNotes version." he said. "I go wherever I'm needed, snuff out all of the undead bastards crawling around in the world, and that book--the Necronomicon--is the reason why all this happens."
"What's a 'Necronomicon'?" asked Moore.
"It's this collection of burial rites, funerary incantations, and demon resurrection passages." he explained. "It's not something you want to get your hands on, trust me."
"But," Moore cut in. "you did, I assume."
Ash couldn't deny that. "Well, yeah--I--have come across it a few times." he admitted. "I found it back when I was in Michigan State--"
Harris interrupted him. "You went to college?" he asked in disbelief.
"Hey, who's talkin' here, four-eyes?!" he sniped. "Yeah, I found it, and like a dumb kid, I read from it. Even though the whole bound-in-human-flesh-and-inked-in-blood thing was kind of a dead giveaway that I shouldn't have." His mind brought him back to
that night when it all came apart for him. "And since then," To this day, he would still think back and wonder that if he did anything differently, would it have mattered? Or, sometime down the line, would fate have caught up to him, and there was just no way to escape the hell his life had become after that? "those things just keep showing up. And I'm the one who has to protect people from them.
"Now, I--uh--guess you guys are thinking what does this have to do with Freddy." he said, guilty. "Somehow, he managed to cross over from his world back to ours."
"But," Harris added. "Freddy's been dead for years. How did this happen?"
"That's right." said Moore. "We've had this problem under control for quite some time before you strolled in." he said accusingly. "Explain that to us."
"Well you see," Ash tried to laugh it off, like it was a harmless mistake, but one look on Lt. Moore's face proved he wasn't going to take this lightly. "I've only been here a few weeks, getting rid of all the Deadites in this po-dunk little town--you're welcome for that by the way--but, that must've been enough time for Freddy to use me to get a hold of the book."
"What the hell are 'Deadites'?" asked Moore.
"Whenever the...evil...inside that book is let out, it possesses the living. Those things are what they're called." After having the past few days to think about it, he figured that in order to have such power over the book, Freddy must have been a Deadite himself. "And I think Freddy's one of them, at least, part of one anyway. I found the book buried underneath the boiler room where he used to work."
"It makes sense now--well, sort of." said Harris. "For weeks, we've been trying to figure out what those things were."
"But how was he able to get out of the dream realm through you?" Moore asked.
Officer Harris leaned in and mentioned something to him quietly so Ash couldn't hear. "I forgot to mention, sir," he said in a hushed tone. "he's the one who lives in that house."
Moore looked at him, surprised. "You don't mean the one on Elm Street, do you?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," confirmed. "That one."
Lt. Moore turned his gaze back to Ash, except now he looked at him like he was the most naíve man on the planet. "You've been living in that house?" He started to raise his voice. "The one Krueger used to live in? The one where most of the murders took place because he killed those kids in their dreams?" he turned back to Harris. "I thought we condemned that house years ago!"
Harris answered calmly. "We did for a while, but people thought it would arouse suspicion, so it's been put back on the market."
Out of frustration, Lt. Moore smacked his palm against his forehead. "God damn it!" he turned back to Ash. "You have to be the biggest fool I have every come acr
oss in my entire career!"
Ash raised his voice so that it was louder than Lt. Moore's. "Hey! I didn't know at the time, alright?!" he shouted. "Now, as soon as I found out about Freddy, I got the book, and I was gonna destroy it. Except..." The volume of Ash's voice lowered out of shame. "...he used it to bring himself back. Before I could do anything, he took it with him." Ash stood up straight. "And the longer I'm in here, that bastard's only gonna get stronger. Now, are you gonna stop asking questions and let me out of here, or not?"
Moore didn't say anything. He reached for the key looped around his belt and freed Ash from his cell.
Evelyn looked at Faith, who sat in the backseat of the Oldsmobile, through the rear view mirror. "I'm glad you're alive." said Evelyn.
She had driven as fast as she could to get to her, all the while thinking that she might have met the same fate Jill had. Seeing her face as she stood by the sidewalk waiting for them had given Evelyn hope that they can survive this.
Steven turned around from the passenger seat to catch a glance at Faith. "So am I." said Steven. For the first time in what seemed like forever to him, he smiled. Losing Jill was enough for him. He was going to live up to the promise that he made not to let Freddy take any more of his friends.
Faith gave him a half-smile. She still felt numb from knowing that two of her friends had been murdered. She sunk into the aged leather seats and stared at the floor. Since the last time they had met, Faith had changed into a dark gray shirt, torn black jeans, and black lace-up boots. Her blue bra was slightly visible under the thin fabric.
Steven looked into her brown, cat-like eyes. "We were afraid we wouldn't get to you in time."
She mumbled in her low, hazy voice. "Yeah, well...I wasn't gonna be a dumb-ass and just go to sleep after you told me not to, right?"
It was quiet for a moment after that. Evelyn had leaned back into her seat, while
Steven nervously looked all around him.