by Willow Rose
Ole nodded. "I do that sometimes."
"And what have you seen?"
Ole looked at his dad again. Bjarne nodded. "Go ahead. Tell her while I get some cookies to sweeten up that coffee." Then Bjarne got up and went into the kitchen.
Ole sniffed. He lifted his head and stared into my eyes. Something in them made me draw backwards. "Sex," he said.
"Excuse me?"
"I see them having sex. Orgies. They're dancing and screaming and singing. Then they take off their clothes and everybody touches each other."
There was something in Ole's voice that appalled me. It sounded almost like he enjoyed it, enjoyed talking about it. I wrote down what he was telling me.
"What else have you seen?"
"He is alone with them. One man and all these women," he said like he hadn't heard my question.
"Who is he?"
"The Priest." Ole started giggling. "One time he was screwing three different women and they seemed to like it, man. They loved it. They screamed for more."
Ole could hardly sit still on the couch now. "Those women liked it. They liked him doing those things to them." Ole looked down, then he lifted his head and looked at me. "I like to do things too," he said.
I stared at him. I wasn't sure I wanted him to say any more. Ole leaned over while looking at me creepily. "I like to watch them when he punishes them. He whips them then leaves them outside, naked, tied up all night. I watch them."
Ole moved closer. I swallowed hard wanting desperately for the father to come back.
"So how often do these orgies take place?" I asked and moved a little backwards on the couch when Ole came closer. He looked at me with a tilted head. Then he put his hand on my thigh. I jumped and pushed it away.
"Do you like it rough like those women do?" Ole whispered. "I bet you do," he said and giggled. "I can give it to you, if you want. Pretty, pretty girl. I can show you. They come out when it is a full moon. I see them out there every full moon. Like the vampires," he said and snapped his teeth. I jumped again and Ole burst into a loud laughter.
"Are you behaving?" Bjarne had come back and was standing in front of Ole with his hand lifted in front of his face like he was ready to slap him. "Do I need to find the belt?" he asked.
Ole crouched and moved away from me. "No, no, not the belt," he whined covering his head with his arm like he was already protecting himself from strokes.
Bjarne looked at me. "You'll have to excuse him," he growled. "I need to keep an eye on him. As I told you he is a little slow."
Bjarne placed a plate on the table in front of me.
"Cookie?" he asked.
CHAPTER 24
I HAD A strange feeling inside as I drove back to the cabin. Furthermore I felt like I had wasted my time. Ole's statements weren't something I could use for my article since it wasn't illegal to run around naked and have sex orgies on your own property. Also, Ole wasn't exactly what I would call a reliable source, I thought to myself as I parked the car in front of the cabin and got out. The house was quiet. It was getting darker. The heavy grey clouds above my head told me that it would snow again any minute now. I sighed and walked towards the front door. I really didn't want to be here anymore. I had a bad feeling about this place.
"I'm back!" I yelled and threw my bag on the kitchen table.
"We're in here!" Julie yelled. I could hear the sound of the kid's video games coming from the living room. I walked in and put my arms around Julie. I hugged her tightly and smelled her hair. Sune smiled at me from the couch. I sent him a finger-kiss. Tobias was concentrating on driving a car on the big screen TV. I let go of Julie and went to sit next to Sune. He had been reading the paper that was scattered all over the coffee table.
"So how did it go?" he asked.
I shrugged with a sigh. "It's all just rumors and talk. I can't seem to figure out who is more crazy, the sect members or the townspeople. These guys sure were strange. I talked to some farmer and his son." I felt a chill on my back and snuggled up closer to Sune. "The son was really weird in a creepy way. I could never use him as a source."
"So you're not going to do the article?" Sune asked.
"Not unless something new opens up the story. I think it's too hard. There might not even be a story there."
"Has Jens-Ole even contacted you about the second death?" Sune asked.
"Come to think of it, no he hasn't," I said. "Do you think he knows?"
"It was on the news on TV earlier, but just as a small note. There is a debate about early retirement pension that the government wants to abolish that has taken up all the room in the news today."
"Again?" I laughed. "This happens every six months. The government wants to abolish it and then the people gets angry."
"I know," Sune said. "It's a circus."
"It's boring that's what it is. I am so glad I never became a political reporter. But it certainly explains why Jens-Ole hasn't called. It's just not a big story anymore. So what did they say about the death?"
Sune shrugged. "Just that there has been another death at the camp in Arnakke and then they showed pictures from the outside taken yesterday. They said the police still don't know what caused it but that it seemed to be the same that killed the Priest. Might be food poisoning."
I got up, found my laptop and turned it on.
"There is coffee in the pot," Sune said.
"Already ahead of you," I said and showed him I was pouring as we spoke. "Want some?"
"I've got."
It felt good to finally get some real coffee and not that thick stuff that mostly reminded me of tar.
"Any news from the hospital?" Sune asked.
I shook my head. "No, but I'm planning on going up to see him in like half an hour."
"Do you want us to come with you?"
I shook my head again while burning my lip on the coffee. "I think it would be best for Julie to stay here with you and have fun. He is not awake and it is tough to see a person you love in those circumstances. I'll bring her with me tomorrow morning if she wants to visit him."
Sune nodded. "Sounds good."
I sighed and looked at the screen. Then I Googled "Ranters." I had never heard the name before and was curious. Four hundred and fifty-five thousand hits. I opened the first link. Wikipedia. According to that article Yvonne was correct. The article stated that the Ranters were a sect in the English Commonwealth from 1649 till 1660 that were often associated with nudity that they used as a social protest as well as religious expression as a symbol of abandoning earthly goods. They were accused of antinomianism, fanaticism and sexual immorality and were put in prison until they recanted.
I leaned back and stared out the window. Big snowflakes were dancing outside as they slowly found their way to the ground. I wondered how the people of this town had even heard about the Ranters. Then I went back to Google and took the next link. It was a web-page describing the Ranters as some who embraced the concept of the 'indwelling spirit.' Whatever was done in the Spirit was justifiable to a Ranter. Apparently the Ranters were seen often parading naked in the streets at a time when nudity was a huge taboo. I went back to Google and found a definition of a 'Ranter' on the free online dictionary. According to it to rant meant 'to speak or to write in an angry or violent manner.' I sighed and opened one more web-page that stated that the Ranters were an Anarchic religious extremist group of the English Revolution that was often accused of sexual immorality, blasphemy and drunkenness.
I exhaled and closed the laptop. This was leading nowhere. It was nothing but a nickname.
"Well I'd better get going now before the roads are closed with snow," I said and emptied my coffee.
"You sure you don't want us to come with you?" Asked Sune.
"I'm positive."
CHAPTER 25
METTE GRITHFELDT DIDN'T go down for dinner that evening. She wasn't feeling well and stayed in her room thinking about her past and if she was going to have a future after this night. Someone brought he
r evening tea that they always drank before bedtime. It was a soothing herb tea that always made her relax and get ready to sleep. The Priest had called it medicine for the soul and told them to drink it every night before bed in order to get closer to God. What was in it Mette didn't know, but it always did make her feel better. Right now she needed to feel better, she needed to calm down. She exhaled deeply and emptied the cup while thinking yet again about the Priest and how they first met.
Nadja had kept her word to Mette. The next day she woke her up by touching her hair gently. All the girls had just fallen asleep on the cold tiles in the room. They didn't know if it was night or day, they never knew since the men came at all times. Mette had woken with a start thinking it was another client, another man who wanted to use her. She was shaking and Nadja had held a hand over her mouth. Then she had signaled to her to be quiet. Mette understood. She got up from the floor, sore all over from all the men who beat her and taken her as they willed. Nadja held her by the hand and led her to the window that was covered with plywood behind a thick curtain that didn't let any sunlight get in to let them know it was day. Nadja looked at her with worn out eyes. Then she reached in her pocket and showed Mette something. A knife. A small pocket knife. Mette never knew where she had gotten it from but guessed that she had stolen it from some client. Maybe went through his pockets while he was on her. She didn't tell Mette since they never spoke in order to not let the people standing outside the door know they were awake. They would beat the women half to death if they knew they were talking. They had seen it and both felt it before. No one was supposed to talk. “Just lie still and be ready for next client,” the men said. Punishment for not obeying was hard and often led to death. Mette was terrified of becoming their next victim. She knew she meant nothing to them and she had been there so long the clients were growing tired of her, they craved fresh meat and hers was growing old.
Nadja began working on the plywood with the pocket knife and Mette looked at her resignedly. This was her plan? This was it? There was no way they would be able to cut through the thick plywood with just a small pocketknife. Had Nadja lost it?
But Nadja didn't give up, with almost supernatural strength given their situation and circumstances she kept working on the plywood with her bony fingers, jagging the knife into the wood and chopping it. Her face was strained and almost manic as she kept hacking the knife into the wood again and again. Mette had no idea how long it took but it felt like forever, until suddenly a small ray of sunlight broke through the plywood. Mette looked at Nadja and suddenly realized that even if it seemed impossible then miracles did happen and might happen to her right there, right then. So she started pulling the edges of the plywood with all her strength while Nadja made the hole bigger with the knife. She was smiling, trying to make as little noise as possible to not alert the men on the other side of the door.
Suddenly more sunlight broke through when Nadja managed to make the hole bigger and Mette could put in a hand and with all she had she pulled it and some of it broke off. Mette froze when she realized how loud it had to have sounded. She stared at the door, her heart in the throat, but it didn't open. She turned and looked at Nadja who was staring out the hole with a paralyzed look in her eyes. Then she let Mette look through it as well. It hurt her eyes and she had to shield her face from the brightness. But what a sight. Houses and mountains in the distance. All that space and oh oh the sky, the blue sky right above her, leading to an endless limitless universe. If she ever managed to get out of that room, Mette promised herself she would never live in a small place again. She would sleep outside in the open whenever the weather permitted it, she would live in houses with high ceilings and she would never ever lock the door.
But to her surprise and disappointment Mette also realized that even if they had managed to make a hole in the wood big enough for them to escape, they were in an apartment many, many floors above the ground. Too many. They wouldn't be able to jump without killing themselves. She turned and looked at Nadja who had just realized the same thing. Together they stared at freedom right outside these windows knowing they would never be able to reach it.
That was when they felt a hand grab their necks from behind. Mette turned and looked into the eyes of the man she recognized as one of those guarding the door. He held them one in each hand, clutching her throat so she was almost choking. Behind him Mette realized he had forgotten to close the door. The other girls were awakened by the noise and saw the open door.
After that hell broke loose.
All the girls were on their feet and ran towards the door. Another guy outside tried to stop them, by beating them, hitting them, throwing them back, some fell to the floor but others managed to escape. They were screaming panicky, hysterically freaking the guards out. Scratching them, hitting them, taking chances, jumping from the top of the stairs, hurting themselves as they landed. The guy holding Mette and Nadja dropped them to the ground and pulled out his gun. Then he turned and shot Nadja. Mette screamed and kicked the gun out of his hand. Then he slapped her across the face till she landed on the tiles. Blood was running from her forehead. While the guard looked for his gun, Mette managed to get back up and run towards the door. The other guard was shooting wildly at all the girls swarming the place like bats, like wild animals who had nothing to lose. Then Mette jumped. She jumped over the banister and was in the air, falling towards the next floor and the stone stairs. She heard shots being fired behind her but it drowned in the screams from the other girls. Mette hit the stairs and heard bones break in her arm. Then she heard another shot fired and looked up. The guard who had killed Nadja was standing on the top floor aiming at her. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She managed to get on her feet and looked into his eyes once more before she was on her feet again and started running down the next set of stairs. She heard them yell and shoot after her but the fear and anxiety gave her the power to run faster and faster and finally escape out the building into the open. Then she ran all she could and never looked back.
After a while she ran out of strength and sank down on the pavement. A woman approached her and took her hand. She helped Mette get to a center where they took care of young girls who had been sold as sex-slaves. At the center run by a local church she met hundreds of girls with the same story as hers.
She also met a man whose merciful eyes she would never forget. His name was Anders Granlund and he was also from Denmark.
CHAPTER 26
MY DAD WAS feeling better, a nurse said when I entered his room. He wasn't awake yet, but they were expecting him to wake up soon.
"Probably will happen tomorrow," she said just before she left the room. I pulled a chair up next to his bed. He looked so pale lying on the bed breathing through the tubes. I held his hand tight and squeezed it hoping he could feel it, hoping he knew I was there, that he wasn't alone. I had called my sister earlier and she was on her way, but the heavy snowfall on the south side of Zeeland had stopped her half way. The roads were blocked and she had called me and told me she had to turn around and go back home. I assured her I was taking good care of Dad and hung up. I felt tears piling up behind my eyes when I looked at my father. Suddenly I missed my mother like crazy. I didn't want to be alone with this. I needed my family around me. I needed us to be happy and laugh. Life was so short. Suddenly people were no longer there.
"I'm sorry, Dad," I mumbled. "I overburdened you. I should never have let you do all this work for us, taking care of the kids, always cooking when you should have rested instead. I should have known better after the stroke."
"Don't say that," a voice behind me said.
I turned and faced the doctor that I had spoken to earlier. Doctor Philipsen, his nametag said. "Sorry," he explained. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was just checking in on my patient before I go home for the day."
I smiled and wiped the tears of my eyes. "It's okay. I'm glad you care," I said.
"Well I do," Dr. Philipsen said. "And I have to tell you that kee
ping your dad busy with work at the house, taking care of grandkids isn't why he ended up in here. On the contrary he needs it. He needs to keep his body working. Sitting still after a blood clot is the worst you can do. You need to move around, take long walks or whatever works for you. If housework is what your dad likes to do he should keep it up, by all means. It is in his best interest."
"But ... I don't understand. Why did he get the blood clot then? If it wasn't because he overdid something?"
"I don't know, but the lab says they did detect something unusual in his blood sample that they want to look into," Dr. Philipsen said.
"What are you saying?" I asked, quite startled.
"I don't know anything for sure yet, but even after he wakes up we will need to keep your dad for a couple of days in order to run more tests."
"But what did they detect in the blood?"
"I don't know the details, just that they have to run more tests."
I sniffed. "Did they find cancer or something?"
"As I said I really don't know, just that they are asking for more time. Let's wait and see. It's probably nothing."
Dr. Philipsen gave me a not very reassuring smile. It felt like all the blood inside of my veins froze. There was definitely something he wasn't telling me.
"I'll let you know as soon as we have the results," he said and left the room with a gentle “Goodbye.”
I exhaled deeply and stroked my dad across the cheek. "Poor little daddy. What is happening to you?" I said while the tears rolled fast down my cheeks.
The snow fell thick and made the roads almost impassable when I tried to drive back from the hospital. The small roads leading to Arnakke had become slippery and hard to drive through. My car kept getting stuck in small piles of snow or slipping off to the side so I almost lost control. I texted Sune on my way that it was going to take a while for me to get back and he texted back that there was no need to hurry, he had started getting the kids ready for bed and they were all fine. Just be careful.