by Willow Rose
"Now you two kiss," the nasty man said while sitting on the bed.
Nina smiled and looked at Blanka who smiled back. Yes, Nina was certain Blanka loved her as well and the thought of kissing her instead of that old ugly man was quite compelling. Nina leaned over and closed her eyes. The kiss was soft and tasted sweet. Nina's heart was beating fast in her chest.
"No, no," the man yelled. "With tongue. Like this," he said and stuck out his tongue. "Like that."
Nina shrugged, then leaned over and grabbed Blanka's face between her hands. She closed her eyes again as she opened her mouth and kissed the only person she had ever loved on this cruel earth.
Chapter 40
April 2013
"Ida? Where is Ida?"
Sophia looked at me nervously. I was standing by the door leading to the scene where Christoffer was auditioning right now. I couldn't hear much, but by the look on the judges' faces through the glass window, he shouldn't count on becoming famous any time soon.
"Have you seen Ida?" Sophia asked again.
I shook my head. "I thought she was with you."
"She was. We went to the bathroom together and I asked her to wait for me outside. I had to change Alma's diaper. When I came out she was gone.
"Do you think she might have gotten lost?" I asked. "There's a lot of corridors down there. It's an old theater where the actors were supposed to be able to get on stage from all kinds of places, probably even from under the stage."
Sophia nodded. "I guess she might be lost. Maybe I should go look for her?"
"Do that. I'll wait here for Christoffer. He should be done soon," I said.
I watched Sophia disappear down a corridor calling Ida's name. I turned my head and looked at Christoffer secretly hoping to catch a glimpse of Patrick, but he didn't seem to be in there with the judges.
"Well hello there. How's it going?"
The voice was coming from behind me and could come from none other than Patrick himself. I turned and looked at him. For some reason I blushed. "I think it's going pretty good," I lied.
Patrick's eyes flickered maniacally. I had never seen him this close in real life and never noticed that look on him before. It was a little creepy, like he was about to lose it and have a manic breakdown or something. I don't know what it was.
"So you're his mom?" Patrick asked and peeked in through the window, as well.
I stepped backwards to let him see better. He was wearing a long red cloak and a wig. I figured it was all a part of his weird act but there didn't seem to be any cameras around. Maybe he was just always acting.
"No, I'm his neighbor. His mom just went out to find his sister."
"So he has a sister too, huh? Does she sing?"
"She does. But right now we're afraid she might have gotten lost in the corridors of the theater."
Patrick turned his head fast, almost like an owl and looked at me. His right eye had a tick in it. "Oh? Is that so?" he said. "Well I do hope nothing bad has happened to her down there."
I wrinkled my forehead. "What do you mean? What bad could happen? We're in a theater and the place is packed with police."
"No. No. Of course not. Of course she's fine. I just meant that maybe she would be all AFRAID or something."
Patrick yelled the word very loud it made me jump. He was even weirder in person it seemed. I had always thought it was just an act but now I realized that it was just the way he was.
"Well, I think she'll be fine," I said and hoped Christoffer would be done soon so I could get away from this lunatic. I was highly uncomfortable in his presence. If he wasn't a famous TV host I think he would have been locked up somewhere and had the key thrown away. Or at the very least, highly medicated.
"Of COURSE she will," he yelled. "She's fine. She's just FINE."
Patrick breathed heavily and looked at me while his right eye kept blinking constantly. I think he saw that I noticed because he put on his sunglasses really fast. Then he smiled awkwardly. "Hot today, huh?"
It really wasn't. It was one of those icy cold days where the wind blew in from the North Sea, but I didn't want to tell him that. I was very disappointed and just wanted to go home.
I looked at him with a strange feeling that he wasn't really well, when suddenly we were interrupted by an ear piercing scream that made me forget everything. It was coming from the corridors. My heart literally stopped and everything inside of me froze. I knew that voice.
It was Sophia.
Chapter 41
August 2004
Their lips parted and Nina opened her eyes. She immediately felt remorse for letting go of Blanka's lips. It was like being torn in half. Nina wanted the kiss to last longer, she wanted them to stay this close forever. Just the two of them forgetting everything around them, forgetting about the fat sweaty man who was breathing heavily on the bed now, forgetting that they were trapped in this place, in this prison of hell. Forgetting the world with all its strange desires and unpleasantries.
"Yeah, that's the stuff. Now you touch her breast, bite her nipple," the man said to Nina. He had taken his pants off and was holding his thing in his hand. He was rubbing it and moaning heavily.
Nina looked at Blanka, looked into her deep brown eyes where she knew she could escape, swim deep into them like an ocean and forget all else, just shut out the cruelties of the world. In there, in those deep brown eyes, was salvation. There Nina found the safe haven that she had been longing for for so desperately long.
Nina lifted her hand and stroke Blanka's cheek gently. Then she grabbed her tiny breast in her hand, cupped it, and held it for a little while. Blanka gasped. Nina smiled and leaned over to kiss her again, dreaming about those soft lips touching hers once again, but the sweaty man interrupted them.
"No kissing. Biting," he said and snapped his teeth. "Bite the nipple."
Nina looked at Blanka again. She was still holding her breast in her one hand like it was the most important treasure in the world. Blanka smiled. Nina smiled back. Then she leaned over and put Blanka's breast in her mouth.
"Yeah. Yeah. That's it," the man yelled while touching himself. "That's the stuff I like. Now bite the nipple. Bite it."
Nina let her tongue caress the nipple gently and closed her eyes listening to the beating of Blanka's heart. Carefully, she bit the nipple gently. Blanka gasped and moaned. Nina breathed heavily as she sucked on it and then on the other one, nipping on them, letting them fill her mouth and tasting the sweet drops of sweat on Blanka's skin.
"Yeah. Yeah. That's it."
The man kept going, but the girls didn't hear him anymore, they hardly even sensed his presence in the room any longer. It was like he wasn't important anymore. Soon he became like a distant figure that had no relevance to the two of them. Nina simply didn't care about him anymore. She had finally figured out where she belonged in this forsaken and evil world. For the first time in her almost fourteen years of living she felt like she belonged. She had finally come home.
But it didn't last many minutes before she was pulled out of it and back to the harsh reality of her miserable life. As she was kissing Blanka's soft skin on her stomach, she was pulled out of her hands, ripped from her place of safety.
The man had gotten up from the bed and grabbed Blanka around the waist. He pulled her towards the bed and threw her on top of it. Blanka whimpered with fear.
"No," Nina said. Her heart racing in her chest. "Take me instead. She is too young. I have experience."
The man walked over to Nina and hammered his fist into her face. Nina fell backwards onto the floor, her nose bleeding heavily. The room was spinning as she was trying to figure out what was up and what was down. She heard Blanka cry and the man moan and as Nina regained her sight and was able to focus again, she saw Blanka bent over the bed and the man bent over her from the back getting ready to enter her from behind. He was slapping her on her back and behind as he got himself ready. Now he leaned down to the floor and found his socks. He rolled them into a
small ball that he stuffed into Blanka's throat. She was crying and whimpering looking at Nina for help as he grabbed her around the waist and forced her to bend over further. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and the socks in her throat caused her to have to fight to breathe. Furthermore, the man held a hand across her face so she couldn't open her mouth and she could hardly breathe through her nose, either because of her crying. Nina watched with anxiousness as the man entered Blanka from behind, fear rolling across her eyes while she was fighting to cry and to breathe. Blanka was trying to scream but ended up gagging. Soon she started choking. The man behind her was pumping, holding his hand on her face like he wanted to make it hard for her to breathe. He was laughing and riding her so hard, Nina was afraid he was going to split her in two. He was so big and she so incredibly small. Nina started to cry worrying about him hurting Blanka. She got up on her feet and walked towards them. The man was groaning and moaning.
"Stop," Nina whispered. Then she repeated it a little louder. "You have to stop." The man didn't react he was too deep into what he was doing, sweating like a pig, holding Blanka down and hurting her badly. Nina could tell by the look on her face she was in deep pain. That was when she realized Blanka had thrown up in her throat.
"She's choking. You have to stop. She's choking!" Nina suddenly yelled.
But it was too late. Nina watched Blanka's eyes rolled back in her head and she lost consciousness.
"Stop!" Nina yelled again and ran to help Blanka. She tried to remove the fingers from Blanka's face to ease her breathing so she could cough up the vomit before it blocked her throat completely and suffocated her. But the man lifted his hand and slapped her so hard Nina fell backwards and down from the bed. The man kept pumping behind her, but Blanka was no longer moving. Before Nina managed to get back on her legs, he came and pulled out with a smile. The man leg her go, but Blanka still didn't move. Nina ran to Blanka and opened her mouth. She reached down in her throat and pulled out the socks that blocked her breathing, but it was too late. Nina felt for a pulse, but there was none.
Blanka was dead.
Chapter 42
April 2013
I ran as fast as I could down the corridor followed by Patrick and another guy who had heard the scream also.
We found Sophia standing in front of an open door. She had both of her hands to her face and an open mouth. When I got to her she was still screaming. My heart was beating fast now while a million thoughts ran through my mind.
Is it Ida? Has something happened to Ida? Please don't let it be her. Please let it be something else. Let it be a huge rat or something. Not Ida.
I put my arm on Sophia's shoulder and she stopped screaming. "What's going on? What happened?" As I spoke I turned my head and looked inside the room that Sophia was still staring into. Patrick did the same. Then he started screaming as well holding his hands to his face.
"Oh my God," he said cupping his mouth. "Oh my God."
"The door was open," Sophia said sobbing. "I looked in and found this, found her sitting like that."
I gasped as I realized what it was Sophia had seen. A small girl was sitting inside the room on a chair, her head hanging to the side, her eyes staring blank into the empty air. Underneath her chair was a huge pool of blood that had run down from the chair. The lights in the room were on and turned towards her like spotlights on stage. Like she was on display, like the killer wanted us to see her.
"It's not Ida," I said. "It's not Ida." I wasn't proud of it but a big part of me was so relieved that it wasn't her, but some other girl. I calmed my breathing and tried to think fast. That was when I noticed the bowtie. It was sewn into her chest since the girl wasn't old enough to have developed breasts yet. It made me feel sick. Who would hurt such a young innocent girl? What kind of sick bastard would do something like this?
"The police. We need to alert the police. They're outside with all the contestants by the waiting room. I'll run out to them," I said.
"I'll go with you," Patrick said and started walking next to me. The third person who had run to the scene put his arm around Sophia and helped her sit down on a cardboard box next to them.
We ran through the corridor and not far from the scene I suddenly spotted Ida walking towards us.
"What's going on?"
"Ida!" I yelled and grabbed her in my arms.
"What's going on?" she repeated.
"I thought…for one small second there I was so scared that…" I inhaled deeply then looked into Ida's eyes. "Something bad happened back there. I want you to walk with me. I don't want you to see it. Maybe you could go back and be there when your brother comes out of his audition. He's probably done by now. Could you do that for me?"
Ida looked at Patrick in his red cloak. He smiled at her and she smiled back. "Okay. I can do that."
"Great. I'll be right back."
I grabbed Patrick's arm and pulled him with me towards the waiting area. The crowd started screaming when they spotted Patrick with me, but he didn't seem to notice. He seemed perplexed and out of it. I spotted Officer Morten right away and ran towards him. Patrick followed me.
"We have a situation in the back," I said. "It's bad. It's really bad."
Officer Morten became serious. "Is it…?
I exhaled deeply. "Yes. I'm afraid it is. And it's a child this time. A little girl." It hurt like swallowing knives to say it out loud.
Patrick seemed pretty out of it and was whimpering and walking in circles as I spoke to the officer. "Oh man," he said biting his nails. "She had a bowtie…right here," he said and pointed at the chest.
"Let's go," Officer Morten said. "Show me the way."
Chapter 43
April 2013
It was the most fun Patrick had ever had. And it was all his own doing.
You only have the fun you create yourself. Life is what you make of it. If you get lemons, then…well, then don't worry about it, just have your fun anyway. Try to stab someone, see the blood running, feel the power of life and death in your hands. That'll make you forget everything else.
He wanted so badly to laugh out loud and jump around in exaltation, but he restrained himself. He had to continue to play out his act. It was all part of the show. He had to stay in character. And he was so believable it was almost frightening. Not a soul suspected a thing. He was as upset and troubled about this as anyone. Maybe even more than most people. Producer Hanne had heard about it and was now holding his hand as he was sitting on a chair in the corridor, crying his heart out letting her know how absolutely awful this all was. How terrified he was that people could be so evil, so cruel.
"She was only a little girl," he said holding a hand theatrically to his chest. Hanne patted him on his shoulder.
From the corner of his eye, Patrick watched as the police worked the scene. He recognized the officers who had been to his suite the day before, Nyberg and Gammelgaard. They seemed troubled and concerned. Their faces so deadly serious. Patrick enjoyed watching them immensely. He could hardly believe that this was all his work. And what a work indeed.
Beautiful, Patrick. Your best one yet. And the lights? The girl killed on her search for fame, put in the spotlight for the entire world to see. Making her more famous that she would ever have been on her own? Genius. It's as simple as that. The work of a mastermind. Some might even say you did her a favor. You fulfilled her dream in death. Astonishing. You've outdone yourself this time.
"Do you want to go back to the hotel and rest a little?" Hanne said looking at her watch. "We'll have to take a break here anyway, probably for the rest of the day till the police are done examining the room." Hanne sighed and cursed. "Bloody day to chose and kill someone. We're losing a lot of money here, people. Lots of money."
Patrick hid his face in between his hands and peered out inconspicuously between the fingers. He spotted the woman sitting not too far away. She was the one who had been waiting outside the door when they heard the scream. There was something about her that made h
im want to watch her. She wasn't pretty in the way his many victims had been. But she had a beautiful face and that annoyed him immensely. She was comforting the other woman, the one that had found the body, while talking to a police officer. He was taking her statement and writing down what she said.
"I think I need to talk to the police first," Patrick said. They told anyone who was at the scene when the body was found to stay. Afterwards, I would love to go back to the hotel and rest."
"Alright," Hanne said with a yawn. "I'll take you then." She looked at her watch again, then pulled out her phone and started tapping on it. Then she sighed. "Okay. Now it's official. They've called off the auditions for today. We'll just have to take the rest tomorrow. It's gonna be one hell of a long day. Better be ready for that, darling."
Patrick nodded. "I'm ready," he said. "Aint no killer gonna stop me from doing what I love to do. The show must go on, right?"
Hanne laughed. It seemed delightfully inappropriate given the circumstances. Patrick liked that. He wanted to laugh too, but he had the decency to stay in character. That was what made him a good actor, a great showman. He never lost his cool. Not in public at least.
"That's my Patrick," she said. "That's what I like to hear."
Chapter 44
August 2004
Nina stared at the sweaty man as he looked at her thirsty with lust.
"So now you and me, alright? Come over here."
Nina exhaled sharply. "She's…she's…she's dead. You killed her." Her voice was quavering, her heart was beating fast now and she felt sick to her stomach. She could hardly believe this was happening. How could this be happening? Now? When she had finally found someone…someone to love, when she was finally starting to believe that there was something nice in this world again, that somewhere there was a place for her in all this evil, all this malice that she was surrounded by.
