by Amy Cross
Sara paused, before shaking her head.
“Do you think this is a game?”
“No.”
“So do you know something or not?”
Sara paused again. “I know where Kari is.”
“Where?”
She shook her head.
“Sara!”
“I can't say.”
“Why not?”
“He made me promise not to tell anyone where he's staying!”
“He -” Pausing, Elizabeth stared into her little sister's eyes for a moment and saw traces of doubt in her eyes “You're talking about the man you met in the forest, aren't you?”
“Death.”
“His name is Jonah Lund.”
“No, his name's Death. He told me.”
“No, that's just what he thinks it is,” Elizabeth continued, trying not to lose her patience. “Sara, you need to distinguish fact from fiction. Jonah Lund is a very sick man with some serious mental issues, and if you know where he is, we need to tell the police immediately. It's their job to track down people like him, and we just have to give them any help we can.” She paused again. “Do you really know where we can find him?”
“Maybe.”
“Oh God,” Elizabeth whispered, looking across the field for a moment before getting to her feet and trying to pull Sara with her as she set off. “We have to tell the others -”
“No!” Sara shouted, slipping her hand free from her sister's grasp. “It's not allowed!”
“Not allowed?”
“I made a promise,” Sara replied, “and because of that, because he knows he can trust me, he told me some of his secrets, and they're big secrets, about really important things that you don't know about. It's okay, Elizabeth, everything's going to be fine. I can't tell you why, I just know.”
“Does Jonah Lund have Kari?”
“If -”
“Does Jonah Lund have Kari?” Elizabeth shouted, stepping back toward Sara and grabbing her by the shoulders for a moment. “Talk to me! I swear to God, if you don't spit it out, I'll -”
Pushing her away, Sara ran a few steps toward the line of trees and then stopped, turning back to her sister.
“I'm sorry,” Elizabeth continued, wiping tears from her cheeks, “I didn't mean to scare you, but Sara, if you know anything at all, even if it seems like it might not be important, you have to -”
“It'll be okay,” Sara replied, interrupting her. “I don't think he's going to do anything to Kari today.”
“Today?”
“Secrets,” the little girl continued with a grin. “He's just waiting to find out what he's forgotten, that's all.”
“Dear Lord,” Elizabeth sighed, “give me strength.” Turning, she saw a couple of men on top of a nearby hill, continuing their search for Kari. “Over here!” she shouted, waving at them. “We need help!” She felt a pang of relief as she saw that the men had heard her and were already hurrying over, but that relief vanished as soon as she turned and realized that Sara was nowhere to be seen.
Hurrying to the end of the line of trees, she looked around, and finally she spotted the little girl far away, already at the top of one of the other hills as she ran to the horizon.
“Sara!” she shouted, just as her sister disappeared from view. “Oh God,” she added, taking a step forward as the other men reached her. “What are you up to now?”
***
“Hello?” Sara called out as she approached the abandoned shed, finally stopping just before she reached the doorway. “Are you here?”
She waited, but all she heard was silence.
“Hello?” she said again, taking another step forward. “It's me, it's Sara Olesun. Don't worry, I'm alone. I know you said not to come and look for you, but...” She paused for a moment, wondering whether she was simply talking to emptiness. “I just wanted to come and see if you know where my sister is.”
From inside the shed, there was a faint bump.
“Can I come in?” she asked.
Silence.
“Please?”
Again, silence.
And then another bump.
Stepping forward, Sara reached the door and peered into the dark shed. There wasn't much light, but she immediately saw the silhouette of a man at the far end, crouching down over something on the ground. As the man turned toward her, Sara could immediately see from the shape of his head that it was the same person she'd met down by the river the previous day.
“Do you remember me?” she asked, taking another step forward.
The man's silhouette didn't move, but a faint grunt came from the darkness. Somehow, Sara felt as if the air in the shed was different, denser and more pressured, almost as if she was on the verge of stepping into another world.
“No-one followed me here,” she continued, “I swear, I was really, really careful. I even managed to slip away from Elizabeth. They're all out looking for my other sister Kari, and I think for you too, but they're going south from the farm because they think that's the way you went. I don't know why, but...” She paused for a moment, wondering why he wasn't saying anything when he'd been so talkative the last time they'd met. “I think they might come this way eventually,” she added cautiously. “Not because of me, but just because they're going to keep looking. You might want to find somewhere else to hide.”
“I'm not hiding,” the man replied.
“What are you doing, then?”
“I'm working.”
“On what?”
There was a pause, before the man looked back down at the shape on the floor and reached for something. A moment later, Sara heard a faint gasp from the darkness, followed by a sickening squelching sound.
“What are you doing?” she asked cautiously, taking another shuffling step forward.
“Do I come to your home and ask you what you're doing?” he replied. “Do I ask you all sorts of questions?”
“No, but...” She paused, listening to more squelching sounds coming from whatever the man was working on. “I just came to look for my sister. I thought maybe -”
“Have some manners!”
“But -”
“You've got no right to be here,” the man said suddenly, interrupting her again. Getting to his feet, still silhouetted against the open door at the other end of the shed, he grabbed a rag and seemed to be wiping his hands, before stepping over something and making his way toward Sara. “I need to be left alone. I'm not good around people, when I'm around people I...” He paused, before glancing back into the barn for a moment. “I do things. There's something wrong with me. I should just be left alone until I can remember what I came here to do.”
“I just want to know about my sister,” she replied, taking a step back as the man emerged from the shadows. There was blood on his hands, and on his shirt too, and his clothes seemed a little more ragged than before.
“I already explained,” he continued, “that when the time is right, when I remember, everything's going to be okay. That time hasn't come yet. I think I was close earlier, but something interrupted me. Do you understand?”
She nodded, unable to stop staring at his red-stained hands.
“So you're wasting your time here,” he told her, “and you could have ended up accidentally leading someone right to me. If you'd done that, our agreement would have been null and void. You know what that means, don't you?”
“I was really careful.”
“You're a child,” he replied. “You can't be careful enough. I should never have talked to you in the first place.”
She looked up at his face and saw that his expression seemed a little more serious today, as if he wasn't enjoying himself so much.
“Have you seen my sister?” she asked finally, her voice sounding scrunched and nervous.
“Would it matter if I had?”
Peering past him, she saw that the dark shape on the floor wasn't moving.
“You've got to trust me a little here,” the man continued. “I'm
Death, after all. I think I've earned the right to a little respect, don't you? What are you, anyway? You're just a kid. Don't even think for one moment that you can give me advice or tell me what to do.” He paused for a moment, before frowning. “I just wish I could remember...”
“Your name isn't Death.” She paused. “My sister said that maybe your name is really something different.”
“She does?”
Sara nodded.
“What does she think my name is?”
“Jonah. Jonah Lund.”
He stared at her for a moment. “No,” he said finally. “Never heard it before. I'm Death.”
“That's what I told her, but she insisted. She said your name is Jonah Lund and that you escaped from somewhere.”
“Jonah Lund,” he replied. “Maybe I have heard that before, but I'm not sure whether...” He paused. “I need to be alone, so I can try to remember.”
“But -”
“You love your sister, don't you?”
She nodded, before thinking for a moment. “I mean, Kari's stupid sometimes, but she's still my sister. Sometimes I think Elizabeth's my favorite, and I know I shouldn't say that, but it doesn't mean I don't want Kari to be okay too. Elizabeth's just more fun. Once, she started adding things to Kari's diary, just to wind her up. She likes doing things like that.” Looking past the man again, she desperately wanted to know what was on the floor at the far end of the barn, but she didn't dare ask. She was scared of the answer.
“Well, you'll see her again,” he continued, “that's for sure. My name is Death, and I promise you, hand on heart, that you will see your sister Kari again.” With that, he placed a hand on his chest, directly over his heart. “I don't lie.”
“So she's coming home?”
“She's coming home. When the stars are aligned the right way.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you should run back to your other sister and tell her you just have to wait. Kari will be back when the forces of the universe deem the proper moment to have arrived, and even I don't have full control over that process. She'll be back not a second sooner, and not a second later, than the universe decides. If you or anyone else tries to force the issue, there will only be more bloodshed. I give you my word on that point, and my word is my bond.”
Sara stared at him for a moment. “Okay,” she said finally, taking a step back. “I understand.”
“You seem different,” he replied.
“Do I?”
“Has something changed since the last time I saw you?”
Sara thought for a moment, before shaking her head.
“There's a hint of darkness about you,” he continued.
“I...” She paused, thinking back to the moment earlier in the day when she'd entered the lower part of the barn and heard the heartbeat. “I went somewhere I shouldn't,” she said finally.
“And where might that have been?”
“I went into our barn.”
“Your -” He paused, with a hint of recognition in his eyes. “What barn?”
“The one on Pappa's farm. It's a big barn, but there's on part that no-one's supposed to go into. But I did.”
Staring at her, he seemed lost in thought for a moment.
“Was that wrong?” she asked finally. “Do you think that's why I've changed?”
“It might well be,” he replied. “Do you remember what happened to you while you were in there?”
She shook her head.
“I went into a barn once,” he continued, staring out across the fields. “Your family's farm... It's that one, isn't it?” He pointed toward the building that could be seen far away, almost as far as the horizon. “I've seen it before.”
“That's Pappa's,” Sara replied. “It's the biggest farm for miles and miles.”
“I swear I've...” Pausing, the man seemed momentarily mesmerized by the sight of the farm for a moment. “What was that name again? The one your sister mentioned?”
“Jonah Lund.” She turned to him and raised a hand to protect her eyes a little from the sunlight. “Is it your name?”
“I need to think,” he whispered, seemingly a little shocked. “I...” Glancing down at her, he almost seemed shocked to remember that she was around. “Go,” he said finally. “I need to be alone, I need to think. Don't come here again.”
She nodded, before watching as he turned and headed back into the shadows. For a moment, she remained in place, craning her neck a little in the hope of seeing what he was working on. All she could make out, as he crouched down and the squelching sound began again, was a shape on the ground that looked about person-sized, as if it was someone who'd been rolled onto their side.
“Go!” he shouted.
Turning, she ran.
Chapter Sixteen
Today
It took a while, but eventually Paula found the three gravestones at the farthest end of the cemetery, almost as if they'd been hidden away.
Standing next to the bare cherry tree, she looked down at the first stone:
Elizabeth Olesun
7. Januar 1963 til 17. Mai 1979
Then the next:
Kari Olesun
8. February 1966 til 17. Mai 1979
And finally the third:
Sara Marie Olesun
21. Januar 1971 til 17. Mai 1979
She felt a shiver run down her spine as she thought of those three little girls down in the ground, and of the horrific night when they'd been murdered. And then, remembering why she'd come, she crouched down and laid flowers on each grave, just because she'd passed a florist's shop on the way to the cemetery and it had occurred to her that she should show her respect.
“Hallo?” a voice called out suddenly, adding something in Norwegian.
Turning, Paula saw that an old man was approaching, dressed in the black of a priest. He was limping, and his right leg appeared to have been replaced by a prosthetic attachment.
“Oh,” she said, “I'm sorry, I don't speak Norwegian yet.”
He smiled as he reached her. “English?”
She nodded.
“I know who you are,” he continued, reaching out and shaking her hand. “You and your father have taken on the Bondalen farm, haven't you?”
“That's right, but how -”
“It's not so hard to put two and two together,” he told her. “A new face in town, plus you seem interested in...” His voice trailed off for a moment as he looked down at the graves. “I don't think anyone has ever laid flowers for them, at least not since the funeral. There are only two of them here, you know.”
“There are?”
“Elizabeth and Kari,” he continued, pointing first at one of the graves, then at the other, before turning to look down at the third. “Since they never found poor little Sara, we didn't really know what to do, but it felt wrong for her not to have a grave at all.”
“Of course,” Paula replied. “I read that, but I'd forgotten.”
“They were such sweet children.”
“Did you know them?”
“I've been the priest here for a long time,” he continued. “My name is Martin Skallen, and yes, I remember all three of the Olesun girls. Back then, people were a little quicker to call on the local priest in times of trouble, sometimes even before they called for the police. I always tried my best, but...” His voice trailed off for a moment. “Little Kari Olesun, she was...”
“She was what?” Paula asked.
“They say every man of faith faces one true test in his life,” he replied, staring at Kari's grave as if he was remembering something horrific. “I think I've had more than my fair share. She was one of them.”
She waited for him to continue, but the memory seemed to be almost too much for him.
“What that girl went through,” he added, with a hint of tears in his eyes, “made me...” He turned and looked back at the church for a moment. “I don't mind admitting that I questioned some of my deepest beliefs that
day, after seeing what had been done to her. That God would put such monsters among us seemed... incompatible with the idea of a just and good world.”
“She lost her eyes, didn't she?” Paula asked.
Turning back to her, he nodded. “She had other injuries, too.”
“Like what?”
“I'd rather not discuss the details.”
“But -”
“Please,” he added, “let's just... Leave some things in the past. That farm stood empty for so long after the Olesuns left, I started to think it was never be used again. Every time I drove past, I'd see it all boarded up and empty, and it reminded me of what happened. There was some disagreement about whether it should be sold, but I for one was so glad to hear that a new family would be moving in.”
“It's just me and my father,” she told him.
“No children?”
She shook her head.
“Well, one step at a time,” he continued. “The important thing is that when I drove past last night, I saw there were lights on in the farmhouse, and that was a good thing. The house itself was starting to look like a tombstone, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt that way. The whole town has lived under the shadow of what happened to the Olesuns, but at least now...”
“You can try to forget?”
“Not forget,” he replied, “but move on.”
“I looked online but I didn't find much about what happened,” she continued. “In Britain, something like that would be all over the papers, but it's as if it barely merited more than a few mentions here.”
“We do things differently,” he replied, “especially in this town. Some of us get together for coffee a few times a week, and we talk about current events, and when difficult matters arise we decide how they should be handled...” He paused for a moment. “Well, you know how it is. Sometimes, things just need to be dealt with internally, without attracting the attention of the outside world. You're new to the area, but trust me, it's better to go with the flow rather than causing a fuss. Don't go digging into things.”
