by Willow Rose
“Sh. Keep your voice down. Dr. Sonnichsen is working with Maya upstairs. I saw her car in the driveway.”
“Have you completely lost it?” Morten asked very loudly. He was angry now. He was furious.
“You know you’re not supposed to go anywhere near a computer. If they find out, they’ll lock you up. Are you just trying to ruin everything?”
I froze. What did he just say?
“What do you mean ‘ruin everything’? You think this is entirely my fault, don’t you? You think I’m to blame for all this.”
Morten didn’t answer.
“Answer me, goddammit!” I said.
He shrugged. “Well…Yes.”
I couldn’t believe him. “What?”
“Well, if you hadn’t hacked into the police files so often, it would have never been discovered, would it? I bet that’s how they found the link on my computer. Because they were searching for material on you, to use in their case against you. So, they stumbled onto that stupid video, and now I’m going down with you.”
I scoffed. “I can’t believe what you’re saying here. You opened that email. Even though you knew it wasn’t from me. I mean, how stupid can you be to open a link like that? You brought this upon yourself. I had nothing to do with it.”
“Oh, now you’re finally telling the truth, huh? What happened to it could have happened to anyone, don’t be so hard on yourself? Huh? Was that just another of your acts?”
I looked at him feeling tears piling up. What was happening to us? “Morten…” I said, and reached out my hand to touch his arm, but he pulled it away. “Morten, do you want…”
He interrupted me as he got to his feet. “No, I don’t want anymore STUPID cake or candy or coffee or buns or whatever you want to fill me up with to make me shut up, to make us forget everything else. It might work for you, Emma, but it doesn’t work on me. I’m losing my job here. I might never get to work again. And it’s all your fault!” Stating the final words in a harsh tone, he stormed out and slammed the front door as he left.
Chapter Thirty-Five
November 2014
“OH, HAPPY DAY! Oh what fun we had today, didn’t we, little Missy? Yes, we did! We had so much fun!”
The numerologist walked—almost danced—into her apartment and let the rat out of her purse as she walked into the kitchen and started unpacking all of her groceries. The milk was placed in the fridge first to make sure wouldn’t go bad, then the eggs and the cheese. As she pulled out the apples, she couldn’t stop laughing, thinking about that woman in the supermarket and watching her upset face. What a bonus it had been to be able to tick her off like that. The numerologist knew perfectly well who she was, of course she did. It was that lady from the posters, the one running for mayor, who no longer had an opponent because the mayor had been killed. But it had been a lot of fun pretending she didn’t know. Just seeing the look on the woman’s face was priceless.
“Yes, she was the crazy one, wasn’t she Missy?” the numerologist said, as the rat came into the kitchen and crawled onto the counter. The numerologist unpacked her bags and handed the rat an apple. She sat in front of the computer while eating one herself. Juices from the apple ran down her hand. The numerologist went online to check out the newspapers. To her enjoyment, they were all over the story of the officer and boyfriend of Emma Frost who had been suspended because of some porn movie on his computer. No one asked how the police were tipped off about the movie. How did they even know to look for it?
That was between the numerologist and the chief of police in Esbjerg.
The numerologist took another big bite of her apple and slurped the juices from it, licking its sides. She stared at the articles on the screen and printed a couple of them out for her scrapbook. They were worth keeping. She was so immensely proud of herself and what she had accomplished.
While she was with Maya this afternoon at Emma Frost’s house, she had felt the extreme tension. Even Maya had been frustrated and angry and had talked to the numerologist about it.
“It’s just so typical that I have to be punished for my mom doing illegal stuff,” she had said. “I can’t believe her. I can’t believe she would do those things. Why can’t she just be an ordinary boring mom like everyone else? I always get dragged into her stupid problems. It’s so embarrassing. Everybody in school is talking about her. Everybody knows about her. And now they’ll be talking about her boyfriend too? I can’t take anymore!”
The numerologist had spoken for a long time with Maya about how almost all teenagers are ashamed of their parents, but that she also believed she was entitled to be angry with both of them.
“It’s very irresponsible of them to drag all of you into this,” she said, while smiling widely on the inside. She couldn’t believe how well her plan was working. It was even better than she had imagined. While sitting with Maya in her room, she had felt such joy listening to Emma and Morten arguing loudly downstairs. They were getting on each other’s nerves. The frustration was thick…almost to boiling. She even heard Morten slam the door in anger as he left the house.
It was pure music to her ears.
Missy was done with the apple and climbed on the table. The numerologist observed her with joy. There was nothing like Missy to make her happy. Pets were the best, weren’t they?
The numerologist chuckled with delight as she thought of her next move. A shiver went down her spine. Oh, how amazing it was going to be. She could hardly wait. It was cruel. It was evil.
It was perfect.
Chapter Thirty-Six
November 2014
HE HAD ALWAYS been a quiet and easy-going kid. That was what his grandparents had always said.
“Tommy is such a good kid. Tommy always has a smile on his face. Tommy always stays out of trouble.”
To most people, Tommy Malthesen was an average sixteen-year-old kid who was being raised by two loving grandparents. Tommy’s dad had died in a car accident when he was five, and his mother hadn’t been able to take care of him properly. So, she had given him to her parents and he had lived with them the last ten years. It had been ten good years for all of them. Especially for Tommy, who had enjoyed having a stable life, even though it meant he only saw his mother once or twice a year. He missed her and, in the beginning, it had been difficult for him to understand why she couldn’t keep him, but like in all other aspects of life, Tommy had never said anything, nor had he complained. Tommy was a good boy, a straight A student at the local high school, even if he wasn’t the type that anyone took any notice of. For him, life was all about staying out of sight. Making himself invisible.
That was until he saw Maya. The day he had spotted her in the school’s hallway for the first time was the day his life had begun. That was when everything changed. For the first time, he no longer desired to stay invisible to the world. For the first time, he wanted to be seen. He wanted her to see him.
But she never had. He had tried to approach her on several occasions. He tried to talk to her in the cafeteria line or at the library, but she still had no idea who he was. She remained unapproachable. And, worst of all, Tommy remained invisible to her. Now he was sitting at home in his room at his grandparents’ house. He was staring at the picture of Maya he had printed out from her Instagram account so that he could put it up on his wall. He touched it gently while waiting.
“It’s all for you, my beautiful. I’m doing it for your sake.”
There was one time she had noticed him. He had been standing in the hallway staring at her like he always did when she and her friends had walked past him. Her friend Annika had laughed and told the others that Tommy had a crush on Maya…that he was constantly eyeballing her, then she had called him vanilla with a loud laugh. Tommy knew what that meant. It meant he was boring and conventional. Tommy had never thought of himself as boring, but it had hurt his feelings, and he had later decided to prove them wrong, to prove to Maya that her friend wasn’t right.
Tommy looked at the compu
ter screen. He had logged in to Minecraft and entered the house in the server where he used to meet him. He was the one that had taught Tommy that he didn’t have to remain invisible for the rest of his life, that he was worth something, that he was an important person and that he deserved to be seen. And he had known exactly how to do it. How to make him the talk of the town.
“Soon you’ll see me, my dear Maya. Soon, you’ll see my face everywhere,” he mumbled, while waiting for Slender Man to appear.
It didn’t take many seconds before he did. The faceless figure walked towards him, wearing his suit and tie.
Tommy smiled and wrote:
>Hello<
A few seconds passed. Then the man replied.
>Hello, my friend<
Tommy loved that he called him his friend. Tommy had no other friends, but had always wanted one. He knew it was just a character someone had created in the game, but the person behind it was his friend. He was his best friend, and best friends would go far to help each other out.
>I’ve got everything you told me to get< Tommy wrote.
>Excellent. Do you have any questions?<
Tommy thought for a few seconds. He had a million questions, but wasn’t sure he wanted to ask them. He just wanted to make Slender Man happy; he wanted so badly to make him proud and become one of his proxies. Almost as much as he wanted to be seen by Maya. He wanted her to know his name. Know that he had done something extraordinary. And that he had done it for her sake. Because he would do anything for her. He was going to make sure she knew. He wasn’t just vanilla. There was so much more to him and they would soon learn.
>No. I’m ready. Let’s do it. YOLO, right? You Only Live Once<
Chapter Thirty-Seven
November 2014
I WAS UPSET. No, it was more than that. I was furious. I was sad. I was frustrated. All at once. I felt like whoever was doing this to us was winning. That was the plan, wasn’t it? To drive us nuts? To make us turn on each other and fight. And he was succeeding. I got a strange feeling that this was all brilliantly planned, that we were merely puppets in a show, not having any influence over what happened to us.
Why were we so stupid to fall for it? Why were we so helpless? Why were we letting this happen?
I took the dogs for their evening walk and decided to make the walk a little longer than usual. We walked through the yard and onto the beach at the end of my property. I walked for half an hour before turning around and walking back. Kenneth constantly barked at everything. He pulled on the leash, while Brutus walked steadily and quietly next to me. I was beginning to like the dog. It was nice that he was so quiet. He wasn’t at all like the shelter had said. He hardly ever growled at me anymore. Only if I touched him, which I never did…well, only to put on the leash, but I could do that with hardly touching his fur. I got a feeling he liked it at our house, and especially liked being with Victor. Those two understood each other in a way I would never comprehend.
“You’re not so bad, are you Brutus?” I asked into the darkness, while Kenneth pulled the leash so hard he started wheezing.
Brutus didn’t even react. He kept walking next to me, completely soundless. I had no idea how such a big dog could be this quiet. He kept sneaking up on me, appearing in my room at times when I least expected it, and without the door even being open, it seemed. It freaked me out constantly. But he never hurt a fly. Not even Kenneth, even though everyone else in the house—except for Maya, naturally—wanted to hurt him, or at least make him shut up for just one second.
I felt strange as I walked with the two dogs along the beach. It was pitch dark and I couldn’t see a thing; still, I felt like someone was watching me. I had felt that a lot lately, but now the feeling was very strong. My heart rate went up and I started to walk faster.
You’re being paranoid, Emma. It’s nothing. Besides you have the dogs with you. No one will ever dare to hurt you when you have Brutus by your side.
Kenneth stopped to pee, and I looked around in the darkness to see if I could spot anything or anyone. I had a flashlight that I used. Kenneth did a number two and I bent over to pick it up with the bag. I heard a sound behind me and turned to look. I shone the flashlight, but there was nothing there.
“Who’s there?” I asked. My voice was shivering slightly.
Nothing but darkness surrounded me.
“Hello?” I asked.
It’s all in your head. This entire affair is making you sick. You need to relax, or you’ll lose it.
I had taken in a couple of deep breaths of sea air, then started walking again, when I was certain I heard steps right behind me. I turned fast this time and shone the flashlight, but still…no one. It was all very strange. I walked a few steps more, then turned to look again. Still nothing but sand and ocean. On the land side, several of the houses had trees leading all the way to the beach like my property had. I wondered why they hadn’t cut them down to get better views from their houses. I was keeping mine for Victor’s sake, but if I didn’t have him, I would have removed them immediately. Maybe people just liked their privacy. It was silly, I thought. But everyone was different. Right now, the big pine trees were making the scene extra creepy, and I walked even faster once I returned to my track. When I turned to look behind me one more time, the flashlight accidentally hit the sand where I had been walking. Then, I stopped. In the wet sand behind me, there was an extra set of footprints next to mine, like I had been walking with someone. They stopped right where I was. My heart was racing in my chest as I frantically shone the flashlight around me.
“Where are you?” I yelled. “I know you’re there. Show yourself to me, you coward! Do you want to fight, huh? Is that what you want? Let’s just settle this here and now! Stop watching me, stop harassing my family and me. Leave me alone!!”
As I yelled the last words, I panted in agitation and waited for the answer. But it never came. There wasn’t even a sound. Kenneth barked again and started pulling the leash. Still panting in furor, I walked home.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
November 2014
PETER LARSEN was worried. While packing his bag, he found a picture of him and his brother from back when they were just teenagers. He touched it gently and felt a sadness come over him. So many years had passed. So many years wasted.
He hadn’t had time to grieve the loss of his brother much, and there was no time now. Peter knew he had to get off this island as soon as possible. He had originally planned to leave tomorrow, but after his talk with Jonna, he knew he had to leave now. Take the last boat right after midnight. He had seen the concern in her eyes and felt it deep within his heart. The fact that both Ulrik and Erling were killed within a few days of each other was no coincidence. It couldn’t be.
It was the past finally catching up to them.
Peter put the picture inside the backpack, then closed it tightly. He wasn’t taking much. Just some clothes and a few personal possessions. If he needed anything else, he could buy it.
His plan was to take his bike through Germany and France, make a few stops on the way, and then end up in Bibione in Italy. It was his favorite place in the world, and he had spent many summers there with his biker-friends, bringing nothing but their bikes and a tent. It was the simple life. He needed that.
Peter hadn’t had a particularly happy or quiet life. Things had been complicated. He had been complicated. At least that was what many women had told him over the years when he refused to let them in. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to. He had met several women over the years that he would have liked to tell everything to, that he would have loved to share his life and secrets with, but he couldn’t. He simply couldn’t. He had no idea how to be close to another human being. He had no idea how to be in a relationship. He didn’t want to spend the night at their places; he didn’t want to leave a toothbrush. Some stayed with him for up till three years before they finally grew tired of his lack of commitment. He couldn’t blame them for leaving.
Peter
grabbed his leather jacket from the closet and put it on. The emblem on his back said Hells Angels Denmark. Yes, he knew they were troublemakers, but they were also his friends and had been for many years. They were the family he didn’t have any longer. They took care of each other, even in jail where Peter had spent a few years. He knew he could count on his buddies anywhere at any time.
They just couldn’t help him with this.
Peter knew he was old, and thought that he might be too old for riding a bike across Europe. But he didn’t feel old. At the age of sixty-six, he felt strong, and his doctor had told him he was going to live for a long time. He had excellent vision and no diseases. He had made a lot of money over the years, along with his buddies, doing their business that he never told anyone about, laundering the money through Peter’s carpentry company. Yes, Peter knew he had done many things he wasn’t very proud of, but he had never hurt anyone by doing it, he kept telling himself.
Peter ran a hand across his silver hair and made a ponytail. He had showered one last time before he started packing. He took one last glance at the hallway mirror in his apartment, then lifted up the backpack and swung it over his shoulder.
His doctor had told him he had many good years left to live; he wasn’t going to waste them here. He wasn’t going to let it all end on this forsaken island that had been his destiny and brought him so much sorrow.
Peter grabbed the door handle and swung the door open. Then he froze. On the other side, in the hallway, stood a tall, faceless figure dressed in a black suit and tie.
Peter gasped and stepped backwards, remembering the stories from his childhood they used to tell each other while playing in the woods at night. Stories about a tall man who lured little children to come to him before he killed them.
The tall, slender man stepped forward and, with a smooth movement, slit Peter’s throat. In his dying moments, while bleeding to death on the tiles in his own apartment, Peter Larsen thought of his brothers. For the first time in many years, he dared to think of both of them.
