Freddy vs. Jason 2: Nightmare Awakens

Chapter 1: Lori returns

The streets of Springwood were quiet as Lori Campbell pulled up along the curb outside Springwood High. She glanced at the clock—2:55 PM, just in time to pick up her students Alex, Maya, Jordan and Sophie from debate club.

Lori gazed out at the school, a pit forming in her stomach. It had been fifteen years since she last stepped foot in Springwood, determined to escape the horrors of her teenage years. Now she was back, called by an urge she couldn't quite explain to return to teach in the very hallways that still haunted her dreams.

The last bell of the day rang out, startling Lori from her reflections. She watched as students began pouring out of the school, chattering and laughing without a care in the world. Oh to be that young and innocent again, Lori thought.

Her four students emerged together, waving excitedly when they spotted her car. As they crossed the lawn, a blood-curdling scream rang out from down the street. Lori's breath caught in her throat—she knew that scream, the scream of unfathomable terror.

The students whipped their heads toward the sound as a young boy came barreling down the sidewalk, sobbing and clutching his arm. As he drew nearer, Lori saw blood streaming from a gash on his forearm.

"Freddy got me, Freddy got me!" the boy wailed before collapsing in a heap on the grass.

Lori was frozen, gripped by flashbacks of watching her friends succumb to similar unexplained injuries years before. It couldn't be happening again.

She rushed to the boy's side. His face had gone white, his t-shirt soaked with blood. As she applied pressure to the wound, his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.

"Call an ambulance, now!" Lori shouted. The students stood paralyzed in shock and confusion. "Now!" she repeated, snapping them into action.

As Maya dialed 911, Lori turned the boy's arm to examine the laceration. It was no accidental wound—five distinct slash marks tore across his forearm. The wounds of Freddy's razor claws were unmistakable.

Lori's hands trembled, her mind reeling. It was just like before, when the nightmare had come to life in Springwood. Freddy was back to prey on a new generation. And she was the only one who could stop him.

At the hospital, Lori paced the waiting room, deaf to the buzz of doctors and nurses around her. She knew they'd write this off as an unexplained trauma, just as they had with every other incident back then. No one would believe Freddy Krueger was responsible, not until it was too late.

She had to find answers, figure out why Freddy had returned to Springwood after all these years. Glancing back at her students slumped in the waiting room chairs, she knew it was up to her to protect them from meeting the same fate as her friends. She would not let Freddy claim more innocent lives.

Over the next few days, more teens arrived at the hospital with disturbing dreams and inexplicable injuries. Lori urgently questioned each one, searching for patterns, insights, anything that could explain Freddy's resurgence. But their nightmares were chaotic and impossible to decipher, leaving Lori grasping at straws.

That following weekend, Lori found herself wandering the aisles of the Springwood Library, poring over old records and newspaper archives. She had to dig deeper into the buried history of Freddy's first rampage through Springwood. There had to be some clue about the dream demon's origins and why he had returned.

After hours of fruitless searching, Lori slumped over a cluttered table, head in hands. This couldn't be happening again. She had to find a way to stop it.

A gentle voice spoke. "Finding everything you need, dear?" Lori looked up to see the elderly librarian gazing down at her, a sympathetic smile on her face.