Freddy comes out of the poster

An overwhelming feeling of wrong pervaded Keith's room. The feeling flowed in from behind her, dousing her as if with a bucket of maggots. The laughter came from the adjoining bathroom. She did not want to go in there. She wanted to flee the room entirely. She turned and saw the poster, the poster that Keith claimed had been showing him strange pictures.

A door opened and Carrie turned. Keith walked from the bathroom.

"Keith..." she said, but her voice was quickly drowned out by a burst of laughter.

"You're right, Carrie," Keith said in a deep, utterly alien voice. "He did it. He killed them all." Keith started advancing toward her. "Skrag," he said, and took a step. "Sandra." Another step. "Pam... and Mario."

Carrie tried to stand her ground. "Keith didn't kill anyone. You did... whoever you are." Involuntarily she took a step backward toward the poster. "Who are you?" she demanded.

Instead of an answer, the thing simply left. The evil light left Keith's eyes. In its place was utter despair. Even if Keith wasn't responsible for the killings, his body had been used and he knew it. And felt responsible. He looked at her, pleading silently for help. The sight was almost enough to bring tears to her eyes. She didn't know how he was going to get through this, but she vowed to be by his side, no matter what happened. She stepped forward to take him in her arms, but stopped when a new look swept over his face. His eyes became huge with terror. He was looking behind her.

Carrie spun around, toward a roaring sound that began as soon as Keith started looking past her. The sound emanated from the poster, which had inexplicably changed. Instead of the swirl of colors, the surface had gone completely black. It appeared to be a doorway to dead space rather than a simple poster. Captivated by it, she approached, and noticed a red glow in the «distance» of the poster. Images of blazing furnaces sprung unbidden in her mind.

All at once, the poster was no longer empty. A horrible, charred man with a dirty red and green sweater looked from the frame. She recognized him as Freddy Krueger, the childkiller from long ago.

"How do you like this for 3-D?" Freddy roared. Before she could move, Freddy leapt through the poster and wrapped his arms around her. He had her, and proceeded to drag her toward the poster frame. Carrie's head soon penetrated the surface of the glass. There was only the weakest resistance as she passed through the "glass." Immediately she could feel the heat of a thousand fires. "You'll make a pretty picture," Freddy growled sensuously in her ear.

Twisting in his arms, Carrie managed to face Keith's room. Even though she wasn't fully through the picture, the room seemed a million miles away. Keith simply stood there, apparently catatonic.

"Keith! Help me! Please!" At first he didn't react. Freddy's laughter surged as he continued to draw her into his world. She was almost completely on the other side now. The air was stiflingly hot. In a desperate lunge, she grasped the edges of the poster frame in her hands. But Freddy was much stronger than she and would soon pry her hands loose. And she'd be lost. Taking a chance, Carrie allowed her legs to go past the frame. She savagely kicked at Freddy's chest, but seemingly to no avail. He merely continued to laugh, mockingly.

Then Keith appeared, grabbing at her. He had broken his trance.

"I've got you!" he yelled as he took her firmly by the arms and started to pull her out of the poster. Her kicks now seeming to have some effect, Freddy's grip loosened as Keith continued to pull. Carrie felt as if she'd be torn apart, but Keith appeared to be succeeding. Soon she was able to secure one foot on the edge of the frame. Pushing hard, she catapulted herself forward, knocking Keith to the ground.

Her feeling of safety lasted only a moment, as they both looked toward the poster. Freddy was beginning to emerge. But before he was fully through the frame, Keith was on his feet — hammer almost magically appearing in his hand. Using the claw end, he buried the hammer into Freddy's scarred head. Freddy screamed and recoiled. Wrenching the hammer away, Keith prepared for another blow. But this time, Freddy was prepared. With a swipe of his murderous talons, he slashed at Keith's arm, causing him to drop the hammer.

"I had planned on doing this ladies first," Freddy said as he hooked his other arm around Keith and drew him into the poster. "But I guess we'll go age before beauty!"

Carrie was at the poster with the hammer just as Keith was pulled through. His hands gripped weakly at the sides. He wouldn't last long, and Carrie knew she didn't have the strength to pull him back. Flailing with the hammer, she struck Freddy's arms, but he didn't notice.

"Smash the picture," Keith cried, "or whatever it is. You might be able to shatter it."

At first Carrie was confused. Then she understood: Breaking the picture might seal the entrance, or the hole, trapping Freddy on the other side. But that would mean trapping Keith as well. She started to protest when one of his hands slipped from the frame. He would be dragged in within seconds.

"Just do it!!" he yelled. His knuckles were white with strain.

Carrie realized she had no choice.

Drawing back the hammer with all her might, she brought it down on the glass. It shattered instantly, glass falling into the void just as Keith's hand finally slipped from the frame. With the breach came a rush of hot air, which blew her backward into the room. Sounds of laughing mingled with screaming as a glow formed in the center of the poster at the same time the frame seemed to buckle and shrink.

At the edges, the poster seemed to be collapsing in on itself, falling into Freddy's world. But the glow of the center came outward, forming a wormlike extension in the colors of the original poster. The worm shot out at her, stopping inches from her face. Its surface boiled and writhed. Finally a shape formed at the end of the worm: It was Freddy's face.

"Well, I guess you won't be joining my gallery, after all," he sneered. "But don't you worry, little girl, Freddy's never out of the picture for long!"

With that, the frame collapsed fully into itself, sealing the portal between the two worlds. This severed the worm's connection, causing it to dissolve in a shower of light.

All at once, the room appeared to return to normal. Carrie approached the wall slowly. Tentatively she touched the spot where the poster had been. The wall was solid. No trace remained of the poster, or what had been the hellish doorway. But the monster said he'd be back. Carrie believed him.

Springwood had not seen the last of Freddy Krueger.

   Freddy Krueger's Tales of Terror: Virtual Terror, chapter 15