as a spooky eons sets a dog Barking down the block. A car goes by, then this pleasant residential street falls into silence.

Wolf has taken princess home that night, after discussing to everyone what happened he turns and looks up the stairs, calling.

"Princess, honey, you ok in there" he knocked on the bathroom door"

"Yes wolf I'm fine"
"don't fall asleep in there.

"I won't,wolf"

"Honey we can talk about it if you like" snake answers. "We just want to be sure that your Alright"

"I'm fine snake I promise"

Princess in the tub, so drowsy she can hardly rinse without falling asleep. The water in the tub is opaque with suds. Luxurious.

At Water level On princess. Her eyes droop. She
slides closer to the surface of the water, letting its heat sooth her nerves. Her eyes stare straight up, glazed; her breathing deepens.

across to her legs, crooked, one knee on each side of the tub. There's a ripple in the water between. Then something tiny and shiny breaks the surface between them. It pops up with a slithering music Cue and catches a sliver of light. Then it begins to rise.

Higher and higher it rises, soon accompanied by another, then two more shining, gleaming blades, and then the full glove and dark hairy hand and then the wrist and arm, straight up light an evil
sapling between the girl's knees, the knives bloosoming into a bright flower of razor sharp steel in the air, moving over the girl's belly. The hand rears back, the claws arch to strike.

"Princess?" Wolf knocks on the door as he was concerned.

Wolf raps on the door. The instant he does princess jerks up, opening her eyes groggily. The dark wet arm, hand and knifes are gone.

"Yeah?"

"You're not falling asleep, are you? You could drown, you know"

"I'm not wolf, I'm just resting my eyes for a bit"

"Well be careful It happens all the time honey, I've got some warm milk all ready for you. Why don't you jump into bed?"

"C'mon, now" snake says.

"I'm fine you guys, you don't need to worry about me"

"Princess, we care about you because we are just worried"

She slides down to water level again, and sings softly, thoughtfully to herself.

"One, two, Freddie's coming for you, three four, better lock your door, five six, grab your crucifix, seven eight gonna stay up late, nine ten, never
sleep again..."

The next instant she's jerked with incredible violence straight down beneath the surface of the tub as if the bottom had suddenly dropped out and she was in a bottomless well!

Looking Up Past Her Ankles princess pulled sharply down into really deep water, the dim light of the surface and bathroom beyond receding with each yank. And yet she somehow flails and gasps and struggles back towards the surface, managing by pure panic to break the surface with her hands!

Shark rushes to the door and listens, alarmed at the wild Splashing audible through the locked door.

"Princess! PRINCESS!"

Shark's voice reaches to the girl, who thrusts up through main force and breaks the surface.

Gasping and choking, princess breaks the surface of her bathwater, like a drowning sailer getting one last chance. Her father, shark voiced booms over her, echoed and frantic and the loud banging on the door finally opens her eyes. She turns and calls gasping to her family.

"Wolf!"

Shark, breaks through the door with his body, makes it into the room. He immediately rushes across to the tub. Princess is staggering up in the bathwater, again with solid porcelain beneath her feet.

Terrified, shark throws a towel around the gasping girl, and hugs her, the others came in when they heard everything.

"PRINCESS!" Wolf panicked.

Shark helps her from the tub and begins drying her like a child. Princess looks like she's likes paralized with some sort of weird dread.

"You okay honey?" Snake asked

"I-I don't know"

"c'mon. Let's get you to bed now" wolf helps shark escorted princess to her room.

Princess turns and looks at herself in the cabinet mirror, then opens the medicine chest and begins a quick, furtive search.

Closer as she takes out the box of No Doz and slips it into her robe.

Princess emerges from the bathroom yawning. The bad guys still surrounded her, follows as the
Young Cat plods obediently to her room.

"Ok princess, you just get some sleep And no school tomorrow, you take a little vacation, relax
and rest for a change. Ok honey" wolf ticks her in.

"Yes, wolf. G'night"

Wolf offers a smile, and a little yellow pill. "Take this, it'll help you sleep"

"Wolf I don't think-"

"Please sweetheart, do this for us" he pled and she saw how everyone including and mostly shark looking worried.

Princess pops it in her mouth and swallows obediently. Snake leans his neck in to her with a kiss.

"Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite baby" snake says.

"Sleep tight kiddo" webs crawls on the wall as they leave her room.

"Night night chica"

"Shark I want you to stay here and keep an eye on princess"

"Sure thing"

Wolf goes out, relieved then he closes the door, leans against it.

When shark had his back turned, princess spits the pill into her hand. She puts it in a glass of milk and takes a NoDoz.

"Here shark, I want you to have some" she offers to share her drink.

"Thanks baby girl"

A monster movie in black and white. No Sound from the set.

Pull back to Reveal Nancy propped up in bed, furtively watching. Or is she just thinking? A bedside Clock reads 12:45 pm.

The girl yawns. She shakes herself violently and sits up straighter, forcing herself to concentrate on the movie.

On the Television Screen. A Diver struggles to keep facing a large circling shark.

On Nancy. Her eyes droop shut then she jerks awake, rattling her head as if it were a radio drifting off station. She tumbles out of bed, throws open the window and takes a deep breath of the cool night air.

At the bad guys, shark fell asleep on a chair next to princess bed, she was ready stories hoping to keep awake while listening to loud music, but her eyes started to give, she shakes her head and foxes on the book.

looks directly across the street to a lighted, open window. Its curtains, sucked out and waving in the night breeze, give the only motion to the
deserted street.

Then someone pitches out of the dark at her. Nancy gives a Yelp then clamps her hand over her mouth as she recognizes glen, balanced precariously on the rose trellis outside her window.

"Sorry! Saw your light on.Thought I'd see how you were" She gets herself together, barely.

"Sometimes I wish you didn't live right across the street"

"Shut up and let me in. You ever  stand on a rose trellis in your bare feet?"

Nancy looks over her shoulder to make sure her mother hasn't heard. Glen's already through her window and planted on her bed. Nancy points to a chair.

"If you don't mind" glen crosses to the chair and plops down.

"So. I heard you freaked out in English class today"

There's no maliciousness in his voice, and the familiar frankness is actually comforting to Nancy.

"Guess I did. So did princess"

"How is she?"

"I don't know, her family won't let me talk to her"

"Of course not they're the bad guys, they're very protective of her"

"Haven't slept, have you?"

"Not really"

Nancy tries to smile, but can't fake it very well. Glen looks her over.

"You look dead and rained on, if you want the ugly truth. And what you do to your arm?" She shrugs, trying to keep it casual.

"Burned myself in Englsh class" She hazards a look in the mirror, and her jaw drops.

"M'god, I look twenty years old. You have any weird dreams last night?"

"Slept like a rock"

"Well at least I have an objective wall to bounce this off. You believe it's possible to dream about what's going to happen?"

"No"

Then Nancy gets an idea, princess was reading horror stories when her phone rang.

"Hello....Nancy?"

"Princess? You believe in the Boogey Man?"

"One two, Freddie's coming  for you? No. Rod killed Tina. he's a fruitcake and you know it." Glen interrupts.

"You believe in anything? Princess"

"I do, yes"

"I believe in you, me, and Rock and Roll. And I'm not too sure about you lately" Nancy thinks.

"Thanks princess" she hangs up and turns to glen, "Listen, I got a crazy favor to ask"

"Uh-oh..."

"It's nothing too hard or anything, I'm just going to... LOOK for someone, and... I want you to be sort of a ...guard. Okay?" Glen makes the Twilight Zone sound.

"Okay?"

"Okay, okay, I think" She comes very close to him.

"You won't screw up, right? I mean, a whole lot might depend on it" The way she's looking at him gives him the creeps.

"Okay, I won't screw up"

Nancy takes a deep breath. Then without another word turns off  the TV and the light.

"Jesus, it's dark in here.

"Shhh. Now listen, here's what we're gonna do..."

Nancy, still in her pajamas, walking through the
shadowy streets near her home, listening for the slightest sound. But nothing, not even the dog barking earlier, is there now. Nancy peers into the darkness of lawns and trees behind her.

"You still there?"

Across the street and a distance away, glen steps from behind a tree.

"Yeah. So?"

"Just checking keep out of  sight!"

Glen throws up his hands in exasperation and walks back out of sight. Nancy turns and looks down between the houses, deep into a dark alleyway. Then she forces herself to walk into it.

She makes herself go deeper and deeper into
shadows. Each time she pauses and waits, the Music grows more threatening and expectant. The feeling is of immense tension we're sure the killer will come screaming out on her at any
second. But he doesn't. In fact absolutely nothing happens, and Nancy emerges from the far end of the alley unscathed. The only thing
strange is that she now finds her self looking across the mall to The Police Station. It takes her a little by surprise, it just seems to have appeared.

And back with princess, she gave in, she's fallen asleep, wolf and snake take a peek to check on her, they couldn't help but smiled.

Music creeps into the nightmare Theme as Nancy whispers hoarsely back down the dark alley.

"Still there?" the distant Voice, slightly echoed.

"Still here!"

"On your toes, right?"

Nancy stares into the dark trying to see him, but she can't. She turns back and makes up her mind to move without him in sight.

Music mounts as nancy across the lawns to the police station, creeping to the first lighted window she sees. It's a low, barred basement window, and Nancy reacts as soon as she looks through it.

Nancy's POV down into Rod lane's cell. The boy is on his rough cot, twitching in disturbed sleep. And a long shadow is sliding across the wall.

A big Shape appears in the shadowed corridor outside the boy's cell, and as it walks closer Nancy can barely see it's the shambling, grimly scarred man with the filthy red and yellow sweater and strange slouch hat pulled across his brow. The killer from all of their nightmares.

Then with princess, her window was opened and she heard whispers of her name, she goes to check outside.

"Ello'"

And this giant shadow of a man passes through the bars of the cell it was the same one that was in princess room, sneaking up behind her, like so much evil Jello. Halfway through he pauses,
turning to check over his shoulder. the bars clearly penetrating his body, going in his head, passing out his ankles.

Then he turns back to ROD and moves forward, and within another heartbeat is beside the boy.

Nancy draws back sharply, swallowing in terror. She looks behind her for help.

"Glen" No answer.

"Glen?!" The street is absolutely deserted. There is no motion, and no
sound save one: the distant but unmistakeable sound of glen snoring.

"GLEN!"

A beat of silence after the shout's echoes die, then the steady,
boyish snores again. Nancy swears under her breath and jerks
back around, forcing herself to look again into Rod's cell.

the killer picks up Rod's bedsheet and tests it
between his powerful hands. Without thinking, Nancy bangs
against the glass.

"Rod! Look out!"

The killer wheels around, locking eyes with Nancy. The girl goes
white. The man's face is in the light, and it's horrible seething with hatred and a twisted, insane intelligence.

The hold of those eyes is only broken when rob rolls up on an
elbow with a deep, troubled groan. The instant rod does this,
the killer fades into the shadows in the cell. But even then his
eyes hold on Nancy's until the last second he's visible.

Rod looks around the cell groggily, runs his fingers through his
matted hair, then collapses back on his pillow. No matter how
hard Nancy screams, rod never once looks at the window. He just
pulls the twisted covers about his shoulders and succumbs once
more to sleep.

    And now the bed sheet is no longer on the bed. The killer,
materializing out of the shadow again, is holding it between his
hands like a garrote. He looks up and leers at Nancy, then moves
for rod

Nancy pounds on the window, then turns in
frustration and yells into the night.

"Glen" She turns back to the cell in desperation.

In princess, she Was looking outside when suddenly her curtains reached out behind her, she turns around and wakes up screaming.

It woke shark up, he gasped as he rushes to her side, then the others came on looking spirited.

"princess? You alright?" Wolf asked.

But before she could say anything, webs came in, it looked urgent.

"Wolf ,we got a problem"

"Not now webs"

"But it's important"

"Ugh what is it that could be so important right now"

"There's been a murder at the police station"

Everyone gasped abs muttered in horror but it didn't bother wolf.

"So?"

"It's rod lane" and the bubble burst.

ON a stark afternoon. On a hill of sere grass
overlooking the valley, the casket of rod lane is lowered into
its grave.

A small group of family and friends watches soberly as the
Minister raises his hand in benediction.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
May God be with this young man's
soul"

But princess then see the bad guys exchange looks. Furtive,quick glances that suggest an immense something that they all share, something beyond even this second death among their children. Then they are all staring ahead again, as if princess weren't even there.

"His life and his death attest to
the Scripture's warning that he who
lives by the sword shall die by
the sword"

Nancy, standing alone, not believing it for a minute.

"But let us recall also our Lord's
admonition that we 'Judge not,
lest we be judged.' Let us
attempt only to love. And may
Rod Lane rest in peace"

"Amen to that much" Nancy

The mourners walk away from the grave, the bad guys almost, it seems, speak. Then Diane approached them.

"How's princess doing?"

"I don't think she's slept since Tina died" wolf shakes his head.

"She's always been a delicate kid" snake added.

"But She's tougher than you think" shark says.

"How do you think-what do you think happened to that kid?" Piranha was puzzled.

"I don't know?" Wolf was unsure.

"I do" they all turn to shark, "it's him wolf, fre-"

"No"

"Stop"

"Don't say his name"

"Fine, whatever, we can't deny the fact that he's back, I swear he's back wolf, we need to princess"

"No! We can't, if we tell her it'll only scare her even more, besides we don't even know if it is him"

"She had scars on her arm and they were bleeding"

"No. this reminds me too much of ten years ago" snake says.

"Which is why we need to tell her"

"Yeah. Well... Let's not start digging up bodies just because we're in a cemetery"

He gives everyone a look that could cut stone. Then shark noticed princess staring.

"Fine just let me get princess out of here, but we're gonna have to tell her...eventually"

"Come on, Time to go home, baby" as shark escorts her home, princess looks back at her family, he moves her away from the brink of the hill.

Marge opens the door of the station wagon for Nancy. Nancy turns to them both, speaking in a still, small voice.

"The killer's still loose, you know"

She has a wild, Cassandra aspect that sends a chill right up marge's spine.

" You saying somebody else killed Tina? Who?"
Nancy smiles a weird sort of smile.

"I don't know who he is. But he's
burned, he wears a weird hat, a
red and yellow sweater, real
dirty, and he uses some sort of
knifes he's got made into a sort
of... glove. Like giant finger-
nails"

As Nancy has described this monster from her dream, unseen by her, the faces of marge and wolf

"I think you should keep Nancy
at home a few days. 'Til she's
really over the shock"

Fearing for the worst, they had princess sent to UCLA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE. UCLA's WESTWOOD CAMPUS and PAN TO SIGN:
UCLA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF SLEEP DISORDERS, in A LABORATORY SLEEPING CHAMBER.

A nurse applies sencors to the head, breast, arms, and fingers of princess. The girl is lying on a simple broad cot, in her pajamas. The room is subdued in color and holds only this single
bed. A large mirror set into one wall hides an observation room beyond.

"But I just don't feel... ready to sleep yet. Wolf Please, do I have to?"

a young, curly-haired internist; intelligent and wry. He treats princess at all times like a young adult, never patronizing. He winks as the nurse finishes.

"Don't worry honey this is gonna help you with your nightmares, I promise everything will be fine"

"Yes, listen to your father, Don't worry, you're not gonna change into Bride of Frankenstein
or anything"

Princess manages a smile, but she's haggard and visibly thinner. And the bad guys glare at the doctor. Marge, background, looks downright distraught.

"Princess have any severe childhood illnesses? Scarlet Fever? High temperatures -- concussions?"

"No, nothing like that at all"

"Nightmares are expected after psychological trauma. Don't worry, they go away"

"But the trauma I only had was....with my real father"

"But that was a long time ago" shark says, "I don't see why you couldn't just give me a pill to keep her from dreaming..."

"Everyone's got to dream. If you don't dream, you go..., he drills his finger at his temple, "All set?"

"No"

"They're just simple tests, We'll both be right
here"

"Look, I know it's been frightening, I know your dreams have seemed real. But... it's okay. Okay?"

"Please, princess. Trust us" wolf pled

The girls gauges her family, the doctor, the situation very carefully. Then lowers her eyes. Although shark is very unsure.

"It's not you I don't trust.It's...Okay. Let's do it"

Greatly relieved, snake concerned slithers over and gives princess a goodnight kiss, then
follows the doctor through a doorway near the mirror. As soon as her family is out of sight, princess eyes drift to the mirror itself. In its reflection she sees herself looking back, alone
on the bed.

They overlook princess sleeping chamber through the one-way mirror. And king monitors the girl even more closely with a bank of instruments -- a mass of glowing dials, graphs and meters. His manner with MARGE is slightly more sober.

"How long's this been going on?"

"For 3 weeks, but ever since the murder. It started to get worst" shark says.

"Not to worry. No signs of pathology in Nancy's EEG or pulse rate. I'd guess what we've got is a normal young girl who just happens to have gone through two days of hell"

"It's just made her think...her dreams are real..." wolf says.

"Explain the scars" shark muttered.

King adjusts a dial, watching the EKG like a hawk.

"Ever hear the old Buddhist tale about the King who dreamed he was a beggar who dreamed he
was a king?"

The guys were anxiously with anxiety, piranha twitches, wolf Was pacing, webs on the wall tries to distract herself on her phone, snake was worried but about of all of them: it was shark who was anxious the most, he shaking fidgeting with his fingers.

Then there's a slight alteration in the sound of the EKG. King nods in satisfaction.

"Okay, good. She's asleep"

"Thank God" wolf was relived.

Music roses Solemnly, Majestically into a haunting transition as A montage of shots, of the EKG graph, its inky needles calming, of a Meter tracing the quieting of princess pulse, and of other Instruments, indicating life processes we can only guess. All smoothing out.

Close On princess on Tv Monitor, asleep like the child she is Innocent.

"What the hell are dreams, anyway if you don't mind me asking?"

"Mysteries. Incredible body hookus pokus. Truth is we still don't know what they are or where they come from As for nightmares... Did you know that in the last three years twenty Philipino refugees in California died in the middle of nightmares? Not from heart attacks, either. They just died"

He gives a "Ah don' know" shrug. Shark looks out into the sleeping room. Princess is a motionless bundle in the middle of the bed.

Angle On A needle on an EKG dipping to a lower reading. the mother and DOCTOR watching.

"What happened? That needle sank like a rock" snake hissed.

"She's entering deep sleep now. Heart rate's a little high due to anxiety, but otherwise she's
nicely relaxed. All normal.She could dream at any time now. Right now she's like a diver
on the bottom of an ocean no one's mapped yet. Waiting to see what shows up"

Princess rift from the initial stage, over the
brink into deep sleep. Her hair falls into her eyes; her face relaxes; her shoulders curl round her like comforters. The Music Deepens, and begins to hint at the tones of the nightmare theme.

Dr. King and the bad guys watch the instruments' every move.

One of the machines begins a slight chipping. King scans it, liking what he sees.

"Okay, she's started to dream"

He leans forward in his chair, like a pilot starting an instrument approach.

"How can you tell?"

"R.E.M.'s. Rapid eye movements.The eyes follow the dream-—their movement picks up on this-"

He prods a dial with his pencil and scribbles the time on a note pad.

"Beta Waves are slowing, too. She's dreaming, all right. A good one, too"

They watches the Tv monitor. It's in extra-close on princess eyes -- and they're darting beneath the lids, reacting to events lost behind a skein of flesh and neurons.

King points to a moving graph. A needle's begun waving lazily between plus and minus three. The doctor nods, assured.

"Typical dream parameter. A nightmare, now, would be plus or minus five or six; she's just
around three point --"

He stops. Outside, visible through the glass, princess twists around. Eyes still closed, she's nevertheless holding her head in the attitude of prey listening to the first faint sound of the
predator's approach.

Shark looks from their daughter to the doctor, color draining from her face.

"What the hell's this? She awake or asleep?"

The needle of the graph gives a jagged pitch up, plunges, then surges well above the eight mark. A strange Music Cue --disonant and threatening, creeps in -- the Nightmare Theme slurred into awful minors and weird disonance. King stares at
the gauge in disbelief, rapping his finger on its glass.

"Can't be. It never gets this high..." The needle swings even higher, benind.

"Jesus H. Christ"

He's cut off by the high-pitched keening of the girl, the sound cutting through the double thickness of the glass like a lasar.

A warning beeper has begun, the instruments light up like a Christmas tree -- and outside in the sleeping room, princess is contorting as if shot through with a thousand volts. King knocks
over his chair in his sprint for the door.

The doctor and the bad guys come in on the run princess flailing and screaming as if the devil himself were after her. King grabs her to shake her awake; looking in terror Sound echoed Strangely.

"Princess!!! IT'S OK -- princess!!!!" Wolf cups the back of her head.

Some deep bolt of psychic power smacks through the girl, and her eyes flap open they're glazed with terror and fury, but open. Princess awake.

She stares around like a cornered animal in the middle of the bed, her purple face gasping out gut-wrenching Sobs. The nurse and bad guys dare to go back in and hold the sweat-drenched girl as dr. King comes for her with the needle.

"Now, this is just going to let you relax and sleep, pri --"

With incredible swiftness, princess backhands the hypodermic into a far wall, shattering it into a million pieces.

"No" shark shouts, "That's enough sleep"

Her eyes are windows straight into white fire as she locks into KING'S face. He dabs his split lip, swallowing painfully.

"Okay, kid. Okay. Fair enough"

He holds out his hand. Princess at last takes it, and sags back into her pillow, exhausted. Then king comes up with blood on his hand.

He stares at it, dumbfounded, then at the girl. Across her left forearm, a deep gash is bleeding freely, as if made by a very sharp instrument.

"Oh my god, oh my god..." shark whimper as he holds her arm.

"Get the kit!"

The nurse scrambles away as the Doctor claps his hand over the wounds. He looks into princess face. What he sees frightens him even more: princess haunted, ghost-like eyes turn from him to her mother, and a terrible, chilling smile opens across princess white lips.s

She pulls her free arm from beneath the sheets and reveals a strange hat, filthy and worn -- the Killer's hat. The sight of it frightens the guys more than anything that's come before.

"Where did you get that?" Wolf asked, Princess fixes her with Xray eyes.

"I grabbed it off his head"

The guys stares at the hat as if it held her whole future, and her future was a horror.