The Boy From Sweden

by Craig Smith

Jacobs onto the backseat and Siswe got behind the wheel. He was relieved to see it was an automatic. He looked up, a police van was coming towards them and he froze in fear.

  “Move it, Siswe!”

  Siswe jabbed his foot into the gas pedal and the car jerked forward. He turned off to the left, just missing a truck that was coming through the intersection.

  Siswe drove and concentrated on not crashing. The police van came looming up behind them with its lights going and sirens blaring. It felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. Siswe drove with Jacobs shouting behind him to drive faster. Siswe tried to ignore him. He hated Jacobs even more for getting him into this mess and most of all he was upset with himself for agreeing to do it in the first place. If he got caught his life would be ruined.

  The police van was almost up beside them. The BMW was a sports a model and they were doing 120km/h in an 80km/h zone. They came to another quiet intersection. At the last second Siswe turned to the left. His steering was so wild that he almost rolled the car and hit the curb on the other side of the road. A girl jumped out of the way. He thought she looked a little familiar, but had no time to think about things like that.

  Siswe cursed to himself as he had to swerve around three cars before he got to the left side of the road. The police van had missed the intersection and had turned around.

  “Damn!” said Jacobs after he had collected himself from the back seat. “You’re crazy.”

  Siswe smiled nervously. It was dangerous, but exhilarating.

  Without realizing it, Siswe noticed that he was driving back to his mother’s house. There was no way he could take a stolen car there, but he didn’t have to worry; Jacobs directed him away from the town and to the local informal settlement. Siswe was surprised that he had lost the police car, but he doubted if it was for long, there would soon be more of them out there.

  Once they reached the settlement, they drove slowly towards one of the outer houses and drove over the crowded pavement into a makeshift garage just a few meters off the curb. Once they were inside the door closed behind them. Siswe let out a huge sigh of relief and slowly let go of the steering wheel. His arms and hands were stiff from holding onto the steering wheel so hard.

  Siswe looked behind him and at Jacobs. The man seemed to be in a daze. His foot must have been seriously injured. “You would make your bro proud. A natural.”

  “Thanks,” said Siswe. “What happens now?” He was quite a way from home and he wanted to get away from the stolen car and Jacobs as soon as possible.

  “You’re taking me to the damn doctor,” said Jacobs, gritting his teeth in pain.

  “In the car?”

  “No,” said Jacobs opening the door. “I have a guy close by.”

  Sunday 10:35am

  What seemed like hours later Gunter heard squeaking wheels. He tentatively opened his eyes and looked up. He could see long lights flashing past him. His side was aching very badly. He looked up to his side. It was Mary. She had tears in her eyes and she was holding Gunter’s hand very tightly.

  The pain in his side was worse. It was the most pain he had felt in his entire life.

  “I’m so so sorry, Gunter!”

  Gunter didn’t know what to say. He felt groggy and could hardly concentrate, but he knew he couldn’t blame the Johnsons. He just hoped his parents weren’t too worried. He was pushed through some doors into a very white and bright room. Mary gave his hand one last squeeze.

  “Take good care of him.” Her voice was a little frail, and she seemed to be on the verge of bursting into tears once again.

  “We will,” said the doctor.

  Gunter was placed very carefully on the operating table and a mask was put over his mouth.

  “We’re going to operate to get the bullet out of you, understand?” Gunter felt as if he was in safe hands. The doctor’s face was round and friendly.

  “I do.”

  “Good, now count to ten for me please,” said the doctor.

  Gunter got to three before he passed out.

  Sunday 9:45pm

  Siswe walked along the road that led back to his mother’s house. His head was racing with the day’s events and his stomach ached with worry. After they had parked the car at Jacobs’ house he had taken the older man to his “guy”. The man said he was a doctor, but Siswe had his doubts about that. The man’s operating room wasn’t very clean and the supplies he had were minimal, but that’s the price you pay for being on the wrong side of the law. Siswe hoped he never ended up needing medical treatment in a place like this. Jacobs didn’t seem to mind how filthy the place was and let the man get to work sorting out his foot.

  After it had been rather painfully straightened Siswe took Jacobs home; declined the offer of staying over for the night and walked home. He doubted he would have been able to sleep under the same roof as a car he had helped steal or anywhere near Jacobs.

  He hoped his mother would be asleep when he got home. He used his key to get through the side gate of the house and was disappointed to see that his mother’s light was still on. Once opening the door and seeing her sad and tired face he knew that it was going to be hard to keep the whole thing a secret. He hated lying, but he felt that he had to protect his mother from more heartache.

  “Siswe,” she said putting down her cup of tea.

  “Yes, mom?” She had always tried to speak English to him as much as she could; she said it was to make him more prepared for the world. A world where a good understanding of English would go a long way, but recently now that he knew English just as well as the next person, she only seemed to speak English when she was angry or upset about something.

  “Where exactly have you been?”

  “I went out with Johnny and Amanda,” said Siswe.

  “That’s strange,” said his mother with a raised eyebrow. “I saw them walk past the house this afternoon and you weren’t with them.”

  Siswe’s mind started to race again. “Ah… I went to the mall with them and just as we were about to leave we bumped into Lionus and he offered to watch movies with me so we did.”

  “Is that so,” she said, taking the last sip of her tea.

  “Yes.” Lying to his mother was harder than he remembered. The last time he had told a big lie was when he was playing with one of Thomas’ toys and accidentally broke it.

  “Mmm... which movie did you see?” she said looking him up and down. “You look a little too tired and worn out for someone who relaxed all day at the mall.”

  “I spent all my money on popcorn and drinks and didn’t have enough for taxi fare to get home so I had to walk.”

  Siswe was amazed at how sharp his mother was, she seemed to know that something was up.

  “Ah, I see,” she said with a deep sigh. “I have another long day tomorrow so I’m going to sleep. I suggest you get cleaned up and do the same.”

  “Yes, mother.” He was even more upset with himself for lying to his mother. He felt slightly better after the shower. He lay down for half an hour before he eventually fell asleep. That night he had nightmares that he would rather forget. He hoped that school would be very busy that week and help him keep his mind off that which had happened over the weekend. The thing that worried him the most was if someone had been hurt in the car that Jacobs had shot at. Not only would that make the crime more heinous but it would also mean that he had helped get an innocent person injured or killed and there was no way that he could forgive himself if that had happened. Siswe was surprised he got any sleep at all.

  Wednesday 20th March 9:30am

  Gunter heard some voices; they sounded close by, then they seemed to fade away and he went back to sleep. Quite some time later he felt something brush his against his hand. He tentatively opened his eyes. His vision was blurred and his eyes stung with pain. He looked up. It was Mary. She looked just as worried as before. She had her eyes closed and Amy was sitting next to her.

  “Gunter!” she said
putting down her phone.

  “Where am I?”

  “At the Hospital,” said Mary opening her eyes and smiling. “You were shot.”

  “I remember,” said Gunter, surprised at how little pain he felt in his side.

  “Because the bullet had to travel through the car, it was slowed down and got lodged in your side. Thankfully the doctors were able to get it out in time.”

  “I’m glad too. How long I have been here?”

  “You’ve been here a few days,” said Mary. “It’s Wednesday morning.”

  Gunter’s head was spinning. He couldn’t believe he had been out for almost 3 days!

  “Wow...” said Gunter not sure what else to say. “What about my parents?”

  “We’ve been on the phone to them every day,” said Mary. “They’re very scared and worried for you. They want you to get on the next flight home as soon as you’re healthy enough.”

  “But I just got here!” said Gunter. He felt really torn. He wanted to go home, but a part of him wanted to stay and see this thing through. It felt wrong to come all that way and then just give up.

  Mary’s phone rang. She looked at the screen and passed it to Gunter. “It’s your parents.”

  Gunter still felt pretty weak and his shaky hand took a hold of the phone.

  “Hej,” he said in Swedish.

  It was his mother and she screamed with joy. Gunter smiled and pulled the phone away from his ear. It felt really good to hear his mother’s voice. He then went into a long conversation with his mom and dad, and felt like crying a few times,