Chapter 443 There Is Only One Truth
The expressions of the three changed as they exclaimed in unison, “That’s the place!”
Luke looked at their faces. “It seems that all of you went to this place in your dreams?”
They nodded.
Luke continued, “Something happened in this kindergarten twelve years ago, and it was related to the kids there. If I’m right, all of you are around seventeen now, or a little younger?”
They nodded again and didn’t say anything; they were clearly in the right age range.
Luke said, “This kindergarten is in Springwood, so you may have gone to school there twelve years ago. Also, look at this…”
Luke zoomed in and then pulled up another photo. Putting the two photos together, Luke asked, “Notice anything?” Frowning, they looked at the photos for a moment, and Nancy’s expression changed. “This is… the same place?”
Luke hummed in response and said, “So, Dean and Kris at least were at this kindergarten back then.”
The second photo was the one Luke took at Dean’s funeral and was an impromptu shot of Kris and Dean when they were kids.
The slide that Dean was playing on, the white fence behind Kris and the bungalows nearby were identical to what was in the old photo of Badham Kindergarten.
“Whether or not your parents are hiding anything isn’t the important point.” Luke went on, “Because that man is leading you step by step closer to what he wants you to know.”
The three of them had bewildered looks on their faces.
Luke suddenly smiled. “Don’t be scared. At least you have us as backup. As both outsiders and detectives, we’re more clear-headed; that man is indeed tricky, but he isn’t invincible, or he wouldn’t have waited twelve years to come after you.”
Also, the man was really inefficient when it came to murder!
He still hadn’t gotten revenge on the adults who burned him alive back then.
Luke didn’t believe that the man was magnanimous enough to spare them.
Seeing how Dean and Jessie were dead, the man was indeed a murderer, but he wasn’t killing all of them in one go for some reason.
The three students found it incredible. How can you describe such a terrifying person so lightly? Are we really talking about the same thing?
Luke didn’t pay any attention to their expressions. “So, it’s not hard if we want answers or the truth; visiting this place should be enough.”
Everybody looked at the pictures on the laptop screen.
“Are we… going now?” Kris asked uneasily.
Luke shrugged. “Whether we go or not isn’t a big deal, but all of you look like you really want answers.”
Fine; actually, he was very curious to know what on earth this Freddy Krueger was thinking or what he was up to.
Was he simply playing at a ma.s.sacre? Luke felt that it was more complicated than that.
Kris, Nancy and Quentin traded looks and started to discuss it.
Kris didn’t really want to go, but Nancy and Quentin did.
In the end, she deferred to the majority.
Luke and Selina just watched from the side and didn’t interrupt them.
Only after they reached a unanimous decision did he say, “Let’s go.”
Kris’s lips moved but she didn’t say anything. After Luke stood up, she subconsciously followed him.
Nancy had snuck out her window and come over in Quentin’s car. The two of them took his car again.
Kris, however, got into Luke’s car without hesitation and sat in the backseat with Bobby.
Bobby: I’m just an animal tamer. Why do I have to go too? Luke ignored Bobby’s aggrieved expression since he couldn’t explain it.
Could he say that with Bobby’s rotten luck, he might be inexplicably pulled into a nightmare by Freddy again after he fell asleep?
It was better not to say such a painful thing.
Six people in two cars drove through town in the middle of the night and reached the woods on the edge of town a few minutes later.
They parked and got out. Luke led everyone through the woods until they came out onto an old, desolate trail that was surrounded by cornfields as far as the eye could see.
After walking dozens of meters down the trail, they saw a building next to the road.
It was a bungalow.
The sign on the roof was damaged and broken, and only the letters “Ba” remained.
In front of the bungalow and next to the curb was a wooden pillar from which hung an old gray metal sign inscribed with the faint words: “Badham Kindergarten.”
The complexions of the three kids turned pale.
Even though it was late at night and there were no lights here, even though the building had long fallen into disrepair, they instinctively knew that this was the right place.
Seeing all of them acting dazed in front of the house, Luke prodded, “Shall we go in?”
Standing around outside the house wouldn’t do anything but waste energy.
In a situation like this, one should go in right away, or turn around and leave, and find another way. Hesitation was the least helpful choice.
Luke also couldn’t hang around here for very much longer either.
Coming back to themselves with a start, the three kids traded looks, before Nancy and Quentin stepped toward the building.
Kris, however, followed one step behind Luke once again.
All of them went in except for Selina, who stayed outdoors and monitored things on her tablet.
This was something Luke had discussed with her earlier. He told everyone else that Selina was the backup plan.
As for exactly what the backup plan was, he naturally didn’t say. If Bobby’s luck wasn’t already bad enough for him to be pulled into Freddy’s nightmare, Luke would’ve left him outside too.
This could be considered a private a.s.signment, and there was no need to get them involved. They wouldn’t be able to help, to say nothing of the danger. Five of them entered the building, with Luke and Bobby holding two LED flashlights.
The bright light broke through the dark house.
Dust was everywhere. Clearly, it had been a very long time since anyone was here.
After making one round through the house, none of the kids looked good.
While there were quite a number of differences compared with their nightmares, the main environment was the same.
They had already entered this place too many times in their dreams before Freddy scared them into waking up.
Seeing how they were a little freaked out, Luke said again, “Let’s go. It doesn’t seem like the answers you want are here.”
Nancy and Quentin traded looks, then followed Luke through a corridor. When they turned a corner, they saw a door at the end that had the word “Maintenance” on it.
Luke opened the door and headed downstairs.
This was the bas.e.m.e.nt, as well as a typical maintenance room, which was also old and dusty.