by A. Eggleston
"And people make fun of my car." he mocked her.
Evelyn couldn't help but laugh. It was the first laugh she'd had all day. It was comforting. "Yeah." she agreed. "But, it gets us around, so..." she grabbed the door handle and opened it by an inch.
"I guess I'll see you at work." said Ash.
"Well, it'll help me stay awake, right?"
"Yeah."
"And, Ash?" she asked.
He gazed back into her eyes as he turned the ignition.
She warned him. "Be careful." Evelyn stepped out and closed the door to Ash's Oldsmobile.
He watched her walk across the street and get into her car. Looking at his watch, he noticed it was almost 7:00 AM. His agenda for right now was to get home and change out of something less bloody. Ash figured the best way to stay awake right then was to get to work. At least he would be on his feet. And, he would have some time to conjure up a plan to get the Necronomicon from Freddy. Ash put his Delta 88 in gear and drove off, following the sunrise on the horizon.
Chapter Seventeen
An entire workday had passed, and not once did Evelyn fall asleep. Not even for even a minute. It was difficult, since it was a slow workday. Not many people wanted to go out in the wake of last night's murder spree.
It was now 5:17 PM. Evelyn had unlocked her door and walked into her apartment, dropping her S-Mart smock and her purse on the floor. She immediately went into the kitchen and stopped in front of her coffee maker on the counter. Lifting the lid, she grabbed a bag of coffee grounds and poured it into the filter. She took a cup from the pantry and filled it with water from the tap. After pouring the water, she flipped the switch then prepare another batch of coffee.
When she wasn't waiting on customers at work, she had spent most of her day walking around the building, and consuming anything caffeinated she could get her hands on. And now that she was home, the trend would continue.
By the time sundown had arrived, she pulled her curtains back and watched the sun set as she nervously drank her coffee. It was still steaming hot and it burned her tongue, but she didn't care. She considered it as a sign that her senses were still alive.
As Evelyn stood there in the middle of her living room, with dark circles under her green eyes, and her mind racing with paranoid thoughts, she realized that she was acting exactly as Ash had been not too long ago. She, Cooper, and her friends used to joke about the way he frantically loaded himself up with coffee and energy drinks, always keeping himself guarded, like someone was after him. And now, Evelyn was in that same state of mind.
She so desperately wanted it to stop, to get away from where she was, even for just a few minutes. Even though she knew it was impossible, she wanted to go back to the way everything was before Ash and Freddy entered her life. She just wanted act like she and everyone else she loved wasn't in danger of dying by that bastard.
Evelyn took one final sip from her mug and set it down on her table in the living room. She wiped her pink, coffee-stained lips and headed towards the front door. She closed the door behind her and walked to the door just across from hers. Balling her hand up into a fist, she raised it and knocked on the door three times.
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
She waited about ten seconds before she heard the latch unlock and saw the door open by about two feet.
Poking his head out from the front door was Cooper. He had his headset around his neck. Evelyn knew he must have been playing a game. His face lit up when he saw her. Cooper greeted her with a wide smile.
His voice was surprisingly cheery. "Hey!" he opened the door all the way. "Come to see me?" he assumed.
She tried to grin with the same enthusiasm as Cooper, but could only manage a timid half-smile. She nodded her head "yes."
"Well, don't be shy. Come in." he said. "I got a new game today, you wanna play?"
For the first time that day, her eyes glimmered and she smiled so wide, her teeth showed. "Yeah, I would."
Cooper stepped out of her way and extended his arm out, inviting her in. He was wearing a white, tattered, “Jimi Hendrix” t-shirt. The hem of his jeans rolled under his bare feet.
Evelyn walked into his apartment, which was identical to hers, except it wasn't as neatly kept. There was dirty laundry lazily thrown on the couch, and some on the floor. Instead of pictures, Cooper covered his wall with posters of his favorite games and movies. Above his sofa, right next to the door, was a poster for "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" with rips and tears along the edges. On the opposite side of the room, above his TV where he had been playing, was a poster of favorite game, the original "Alone in the Dark" with the poster resembling the cover art of a boy holding a lantern up to a gothic mansion.
She immediately noticed all of the empty bottles of soda lying around on his table, one on the chair in his kitchen, and strewn across the counter. She squinted her eyes to focus on the bottle that was on the edge of Cooper's counter. The label read "No-Doze". He's taking pills to stay awake. she realized. He's just as scared as I am. This time when Evelyn looked up into Cooper's blue, bloodshot eyes, she started to doubt that it was from staring at his TV screen, but rather because he was frantically trying to keep himself awake.
"So," Cooper carried on. "it's this zombie survival game. There's a lot of stealth in it, so you can either sneak around them, or just blow their brains out. Personally, I prefer to--"
Cooper was about to say "blow their brains out" when Evelyn quickly pulled him in and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back.
Evelyn had her arms around him so tight, she could feel his heart beat against her ear. She nestled her head against his chest. "I don't want to lose you." she said nervously.
Cooper let go of her, and lowered himself so he was at eye-level with Evelyn. He rested his hands on her shoulders. He smiled in hopes to make her feel better. "I'm not going anywhere." he held both of her hands in his. "I would never leave you, okay?"
She mumbled so quietly, Cooper almost couldn't hear her. "Okay." she replied. "Come on, let's play. I'm sick of being sad."
He eagerly raised his arms up like a little kid. "Yay!" he said. "I'll get a controller for
you." he ran over to the television stand to get Evelyn her own controller.
As Evelyn watched her boyfriend scramble to get a controller for her, she felt a smile turn on the corners of her mouth. She felt happy that, at least for a few hours, she could go back to the way everything was before.
They played on Cooper's brown, leather, sofa for nearly an hour. The orange sunset outside had now turned to dusk. All that lighted the apartment now was the television screen and the light coming from the kitchen not far from them.
Both sat in the same position: on the edge of the cushions, hunched over, with their forearms resting on their laps. Evelyn sat next to Cooper, on his right side.
At the moment, the game was set in an old, abandoned house with dark rooms and hallways.
"Oh, corridors!" warned Cooper. "That's never good."
Her eyes did not leave the screen. "Why's that?" she asked.
"It's always in the movies." he explained. "You go into a dark corner, and they load you with jump scares."
"Are you afraid of the dark?" she teased.
"Pbbt! No!" he said. "I'm afraid of the things in the dark."
"Well, good." she said. "Because I'm going outside."
"Alright, well then...I'll follow you...ladies first."
They escaped the empty house in the game and proceeded outside, where it too was dark and unnerving.
"I'm gonna go in the woods." Evelyn said.
"What?" Cooper said, almost laughing. "That's the worst place to go when there are zombies after you."
"Well, I'm bored. I wanna shoot something."
"No--no--no." Cooper protested. "Go in that ramshackle over there," Cooper pointed at the screen. "You can find some weapons there."
Evelyn squinted her eyes, searching. "I don't see anything i
n here."
"Well, in this game, you can use anything as a weapon." he explained. "Pick up that pan."
"I don't wanna use the pan. Why can't I use my gun?" she inquired.
"Fine, I'll use it." he said. "If you use the pan, you get to bash their head in--"
Just as Cooper was explaining, a decayed, gray-skinned zombie had snuck up right behind his character. It burst in the ramshackle with a loud hiss.
Cooper leapt in his seat and let out a loud scream. "Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!" he twitched his thumbs on his controller trying to run away. His words ran together. "Pickupthepanpickupthepanpickupthepanpickupthepan!"
Evelyn tilted her head up and laughed at Cooper's discomfort. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Cooper picked up the pan and whacked the undead monster in the head. "That's right! How do you like that?!" he threatened. "I'll smack the ugly out of you with my pan! Your name is Peter Pan now! You like it? You like your new name?"
Evelyn kept laughing to the point where she thought she couldn't breathe.
Apparently, his choice of weaponry was wasn't so wise. It wasn't long before he was cornered by zombies, and his character died instantly. Cooper threw his hands in the air. "Oh, fuck my ass!" he yelled.
Evelyn caught her breath and turned to Cooper. "Calm down!" she said, still smiling. "I'm taking a break." she got up and went into the kitchen.
"Okay." he said. "I'm gonna play something else." he fiddled with the controls and switched over to a different game.
"Good." Evelyn said from afar. "Maybe then, you'll calm down."
He put his headphones back on his head and began playing. Cooper sat back and slumped into the cushions, putting one foot over the coffee table.
This time, he had switched over to a very dark, gritty, 1st person survival game. His character had no weapons to protect himself. He was trapped in an underground torture chamber, and his only objective was to escape, or face the consequences.
Cooper had owned this game for a few years, so the graphics weren't as advanced as the game he and Evelyn had just played. His character walked through a long, stretched-out tunnel made out of brick with lanterns mounted on the wall.
He knew this game inside and out. He knew that after he passed this tunnel, he would enter a dungeon, where he would be chased by underground monsters. But something had changed. Cooper heard eerie music playing as he ventured further. "I don't remember this part having music." he muttered. He progressed anyway.
Suddenly, he heard a sharp, musical sting! coming from his game. It was especially loud hearing it from his headphones. "Ow!" Cooper said as he lifted the right side of his headphones to stop the ringing in his hears. He looked to his left to see Evelyn standing by the counter drinking a soda from the fridge. She didn't seem to notice him at all.
Cooper turned back to the screen, his headphones slightly askew now. His character left the tunnel, but wasn't in the area Cooper knew he was supposed to be in. As soon as he entered this place, the entire look of the game had changed. It didn't look like a video game at all. It looked so real. Cooper tilted the camera up and saw pipes and boilers everywhere. He pointed it down and saw he was walking on a grated, metal, walkway. He brushed his dark blonde hair back so he could see clearly. Instead of music, Cooper now heard faint cries and whispers. It sounded like...children? And then, screams of pain and agony. Poor Cooper's face contorted in shock. His eyes were wide, his body stiffened, and he brought his controller up close to his face. He kept progressing, just to see what would happen next.
He was in Freddy's world now. At least...he was close...oh, so very close. Freddy had waited for nightfall to arrive. By then, he was able to use the Necronomicon to its full potential. Now, he could sense Cooper slipping away from reality. And as an added bonus, he didn't have to worry about any unnecessary distractions or setbacks from that airhead Ash Williams, since Freddy could just send more Deadites out for him while he conducted his special work. Now that he had the Book of the Dead, after Freddy took the souls of one of his victims, their dead bodies wouldn't go to waste. Just another service the book provides for me. Freddy thought.
Cooper couldn't see, more accurately, he refused to. His eyes stared straight at the screen, meaning he was oblivious to what was lurking under the sofa. Out from under the sofa, Freddy's gloved hand emerged, his blades crawling slowly like a spider's legs. He reached closer and closer to Cooper's bare foot. Freddy was just about to grab him by the ankle and pull him under when--
Cooper put both of his feet on the cushions. He clutched his knees like a child would when watching a scary movie. "I don't wanna play anymore!" he whined.
Freddy retreated his hand. He decided to wait just a little longer. When the time was right. Soon enough...little piggy.
Just after Cooper had cried in fear, blood splattered on the television screen. He couldn't tell if it was coming from inside the game, or if it was really happening. Cooper shouted. "Aaah!" He turned his head away from the screen. "Evelyn!" he called.
Evelyn set her drink down on the table and walked to Cooper. "What is it?!" she worriedly asked.
His voice was shaky and he could barely manage to even get the words out. "Th-th-there's...s-something...wr-wrong...something's very wrong." he said. He pointed to the bloody screen. His breathing was uneven. "Look!"
Evelyn calmly looked at the screen, which was still covered in blood, and the sounds of tortured screaming had become so loud that it was audible through Cooper's headphones. She returned her gaze back at her boyfriend, her calm demeanor remained unchanged. She smiled and shrugged. Her look was empty, but her voice was happy. "What are you talking about?"
He felt hopeless. Cooper just shook his head and cried "No! No!" He was about to leap up and run away when, quick as a jungle cat, Freddy's hand shot out from between the sofa cushions. Cooper screamed as loud as he could. "Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!" He grabbed
Cooper and pulled him in, sinking him down into the dark recesses of what laid beneath.
Chapter Eighteen
He awoke on a wooden table. Thick, sludgy, water seeped into his clothes and hair. His head ached and every bone in his body was still buzzing. Cooper realized he still had his controller in his right hand. He figured he must've been so scared that he clutched it tighter than he thought. Well, Cooper thought. at least I have a weapon...I guess.
Cooper tried to pick himself up, but it wasn't without a struggle. He felt like his arms and legs were broken from the impact. He didn't even remember falling or landing here. He just remembered being pulled in and being consumed in darkness. He groaned in pain as he stood up.
He looked up and saw that he was inside an old, beaten-down, ramshackle. It was the exact same location as the game he and Evelyn were playing. There was termite-infested wood paneling. Moss-covered pantries on the sides, filled with rusted pots and pans. Below was mucky water, about two feet deep. His led slipped from the mossy table, sending his whole body falling in the water. He could taste the bitterness of the slimy, green water as it entered his mouth. He stood back up, his clothes now heavy from being soaked underwater. He gasped and choked trying to spit out the dirty water.
As he looked around, he couldn't believe what was surrounding him. Everything looked and felt real. He was actually roaming around inside his video game.
Cooper stepped away from table and decided to explore. If I keep moving, he thought. maybe he won't find me. He sloshed through the water, trying not to make too much noise. To his left, he was bombarded with tall cabinets with moldy panels and chipped wood. To his right, was the door that led outside. The further he went, the more he could see the night sky. It was hazy, and more he looked, he realized that the sky was a dark red. He was now out of the ramshackle, and no longer stepping into a small pool of dirty water. The path that he was on led uphill. He was afraid as to what waited for him there, so he turned a corner, circling the shack.
It was getting darker. It was as if he was walking into a dark cave. In a matter of seconds, i
t was pitch-black, and Cooper had to graze the side of the shack to guide him through. He whispered to himself. "I can't see shit!" He noticed a corner up ahead and turned sharply to his left.
As soon as he took his first step, he tripped. He gasped as he fell over a metal barrel that had fallen over in the middle of his path. The trip sent him landing flat on his face. He now had a mouthful of dirt. "Fucking barrels!" he whispered. He looked to his left and saw a row of barrels next to him. He rolled over and, out of anger, Cooper kicked one them, thinking it wouldn't make much of a noise. Unfortunately for him, the barrel knocked over, creating a domino effect and crashed loudly against the others. The noise was so loud, it echoed throughout.
Cooper froze and felt his heart race. He's gonna find me now! "Goddammit!" he hissed. He struggled to get back up, using his hands to navigate in the dark. Out of the emptiness, he heard a god-awful scraping noise against something metal.
Scrreeeechhhh!
Cooper flinched. He knew it had to be Freddy. He quickly got up while trying to get the ringing in his ear to stop. How the fuck did this happen? I didn't fall asleep! Did I?! Please, God, I don't want to die...
Scrreeeechhhh!
The sound came distantly from behind him. This time, Cooper turned around. He wanted to know how far Freddy was from him so he could try to lose him. He could hear the sound of Freddy's work boots, heavily and slowly, thudding against the soft ground. He felt his breathing getting faster and his sweat dripping down his forehead. He felt like his heart had shot up to the top of his throat.
Scrreeeechhhh!
Now that he was facing in front of him, he could see bright, white sparks flying as Freddy scraped his claws against a stack of pipes along the side of the shack. As he did so, it allowed Cooper to catch a glimmer of Freddy's hideous face from the light.
His face had become even more repulsive than just from the burns. It's as if the Book of the Dead was affecting him the longer he had it. Barely visible under his wool hat, his ears grown long and tapered at the ends with sharp point, almost like horns. His burned skin appeared even more red and scarred.
