by Willow Rose
I told Victor to go to bed at nine, even though he didn't exactly have to get up early in the morning since he didn't have school. He still needed his sleep. Victor could be absolutely impossible if he didn't get enough rest. And I was the one who had to deal with him all the next day and maybe even the rest of the week before we found out what was going to happen to him.
I decided I would call the county and ask them what to do with the boy the next day. The problem was that I knew what they were going to say. They had already told me the same thing last year when the school threatened to expel Victor. Fishy Pines. He wouldn't even have to live there like the really ill did, but just go to the school. But it wasn't what I wanted for him. I didn't want him to hang out with kids who had tried to commit suicide or who were psychotic or manic or paranoid. He wasn't sick. Victor wasn't sick, I kept telling them. He was just…different.
I fell into some stupid TV show and wasn't done until ten-thirty. I walked the dogs on the beach while wondering how I was going to convince the county that Victor needed to be in a normal school. I wanted them to understand that putting him in the same school as mentally ill kids was going to destroy him. Because he understood the difference.
It was freezing outside, and the wind bit my nose and cheeks. The sky was completely clear, and I could see so many stars it made me almost dizzy to think about all the solar systems out there, all those worlds that we knew nothing about.
Sometimes, I felt like Victor belonged out there. He didn't seem to belong here.
I walked up in the dunes when suddenly I couldn't see Kenneth II anymore. I called him, but he didn't return as he usually did. Brutus, on the other hand, walked right behind me like always, staring at me with those light blue eyes that lit up in the darkness.
"KENNETH!"
I had put a small bell on his collar because he often got lost, and this way I could hear him up in the dunes. I walked towards the sound, calling for him to come when I heard him growling like he had when splitting my cushion to pieces.
He had found something and was eating it. I could hear he was crunching it. It was very loud in the quiet night.
I sighed and hurried up. I had once found him with a dead seagull up in the dunes and he had eaten half of it and rolled himself in it before I got to him. I had to bathe him three times before the smell finally got out of his fur. I could still smell it sometimes when I thought about it.
"Kenneth! You better come back here…now. If you rolled in something again…I will…"
I used my phone as a flashlight when I approached the dog, who definitely was chewing on something and was growling while trying to rip it. As I got closer, I could tell he had dug something out of the sand. The stench of rot filled my nostrils and made me nauseous.
"Kenneth, let go of that," I yelled and shooed the dog away. Kenneth ran off, growling at me for ruining his feast. Brutus stayed behind me while I shone the light from my phone at the dog's findings.
I am not lying or exaggerating when I tell you that my heart literally stopped. Because what I saw there in the sand, between the dunes, was that terrifying and sickening.
Chapter 7
Susan woke up tied to a bed. She couldn't move her arms or legs, and something was covering her mouth, so she couldn't speak or scream.
Where am I?
It looked like a hospital, at least some part of it. The monitors and the tubes and the bed seemed like something from a hospital, but the room surrounding her was definitely not. The ceilings were high, more than ten feet, she guessed. They were gorgeous, decorated between the wooden pillars with beautiful paintings, making it look almost like a church ceiling.
Susan managed to lift her head and look around. It was a big room with lots of wooden furniture. There were bookshelves all the way to the ceiling and more books than she had seen even in the library downtown.
What is this place?
There were beautiful antique vases, a grandfather clock, a golden Buddha figure, what looked like some African art stuff, and clocks and watches in a glass display. Not ordinary watches, but hundreds and hundreds of old watches, in all shapes and colors, some very old, others new.
Susan grumbled and tried to get free, but she was tightly strapped to the bed. The medical equipment next to her seemed very out of place compared to all the collectibles and beautiful antiques in the room.
Help me. Someone, please help me.
She tried to scream but not much sound came out except muffled groans behind the gag.
Was she still high? She had taken too many mushrooms and gotten sick, she remembered that much, but maybe this was the mushrooms’ work? Maybe she was still in the dunes, still lying in the sand and imagining all this?
Susan closed her eyes and tried to wake herself up. She had never been this high before. Once, she had tried to get home from a party but been so high she ended up in a bush because she couldn't stand still and the world was constantly spinning around her. She had woken up in the bush a few hours later, not remembering how she got there or how long she had been there. Was this like that time? Was she simply dreaming all of this?
Susan opened her eyes, wondering if she could force her brain to get her back to the beach, but she was still in the bed, still tied down, and the fat baby angels on the ceiling were still staring back at her.
How did I get here? Why am I strapped down? Did I hurt someone? Did I hurt myself? What is this?
Susan tried to close her eyes once again, but when she returned to the same spot when opening them, she began to cry. She felt helpless.
I want to go home; please, someone, help me get back home.
She heard a sound coming from the door at the end of the room. Susan stopped trying to get loose and looked. The handle moved. First, it turned left, then right, then left again. Susan's heart was beating so fast, she wondered if it could jump out of her chest. She watched the door as it opened slowly and someone entered the room, a shadowy figure moving swiftly toward her. As he came closer, she could see that he was wearing a mask of some sort to cover his face. A big plastic mask. As he breathed through it, he sounded like Darth Vader. As he reached out his hand toward her, she noticed that the skin on it was peeling and scaling. It was falling off like dandruff, and some of it landed on her black shirt.
Chapter 8
"It was Kenneth who found him."
I was still shaking while talking to Morten. I had called him right away when I saw the fingers that my dog had chewed on.
"I think he dug him out of the dunes. Or at least some of him."
Morten shone his flashlight at the arm that seemed to still be attached to the body. He had called for his three colleagues to come and help dig out the body, and now they had the boy’s head and torso uncovered. I felt so terrible when looking at the bite marks my dog had made on the fingers and the hand. Morten's two colleagues pulled the rest of the body out of the sand and we all looked at one another.
"What the…?" I asked.
Morten knelt next to it, then looked up at his colleague Allan. There was something in the way they looked at one another that made me uneasy.
"Is that…?"
Allan nodded with a sniffle. "I think so."
Morten approached me. "Maybe we should get you home."
He was trying to protect me, but it was too late. The body was in bad shape; it looked strangely old and wrinkled like it was almost deflated, but I could still see who it was. His name was Asgar and he went to school with Maya; they were in the same class. He was one of the few that Maya found joy in spending time with and who actually seemed to be a good friend to her, and I had hoped they might start dating one day.
"That's Asgar," I said. "Asgar Dragstedt. Am I right?"
"Emma. You need to get away from here…"
"Am I right?"
"We don't know yet. We think so. It looks like him. But, of course, we can't say anything until it is confirmed. The forensics team is on its way from Copenhagen. You shouldn't be her
e when they arrive. I’ve taken your statement and you need to get back to the kids, Emma."
I agreed to let him take me and the dogs home, then got into his police car, the dogs in the back, me in the front.
"I didn't even know he was missing," I said, still shocked as we drove down my street. All the houses on the beach were so quiet and dark, in complete oblivion. No one inside of them had any idea what they were going to wake up to. It was this type of thing that would completely shock a small peaceful island like ours.
Morten shook his head. "Me either."
"But the body has been there for quite some time, right? I mean, it looked old; it was hard to even recognize him."
"No one knows how long he has been there," he said, his voice heavy. I could tell this bothered him. He knew these kids very well and had a daughter only two years older.
"Not till we get the autopsy results. For now, I will have to ask you to be discreet about this find. Don't tell anyone. Especially not Maya since we don't want rumors to run amok. Asgar's family needs to be notified first and then we'll have to tell the school and the kids somehow."
I nodded, heavy at heart. "Of course. My lips are sealed."
He sighed, leaned over, and kissed me. "All right. Get some sleep. I'll check in on you tomorrow once this quiets down a little."
"You really think it will quiet down?"
"Probably not," he said with a sigh as I exited the car. "Knowing this island, it will probably get pretty heated up in the coming days and maybe even weeks."
Chapter 9
I heard him before I even opened the door. Morten had already left when it began. His screams were ear-piercing. I stormed inside and slammed the door behind me.
"Victor!"
I ran up the stairs and into his room, the two dogs right behind me. Maya was already in there, sitting by his bedside, trying to calm him down without touching him because she knew that would only make everything worse. Maya looked at me when I entered.
"Mom, please. I can't make him stop."
"Victor," I said again.
He was still screaming, holding both hands to his head like there was something inside of it that was making him scream. I knelt in front of him, careful not to touch him.
"Victor, honey, sweetie."
"Please, Mom. I hate it when he screams like this. Please, make him stop," Maya said, her face twisted in anguish.
"I’m trying, Maya, I’m trying." I took in a deep breath. "Victor, honey. You've got to stop screaming, please."
His hands and legs were shaking, almost rhythmically. He lifted his head and his eyes rolled back, and as they did, he stopped screaming. I turned my head and spotted Brutus. He had entered the room and was sitting in front of Victor, staring at him. Victor's entire body was shaking heavily, and gurgling sounds emerged from his throat, sounds that soon became something similar to a word.
"What's that, Victor? Are you trying to say something, sweetie? What are you saying?"
The shaking intensified. I worried he would choke on his own tongue or have trouble breathing, but I had been through this before with him and usually, it stopped on its own after a little while.
"Please, Vic," I said. "Please, just come back to us."
And that was when the gurgling became real words, or at least what sounded like real words. His eyes rolled back down and soon he stared at me while he spoke. He grabbed both my arms and held them tight, so tight he was hurting me.
"It's happening," he said, spitting as he spoke. "It's happening again."
I stared at him, perplexed. What on earth was the boy talking about? Did he know I had found a body? Was that what this was all about?
"What do you mean, Victor? What's happening?"
He was still staring at me, but I sensed he wasn't really looking at me, more like looking into somewhere else. It was like he could see something I couldn't. And he was staring right at it.
"Rats," he said.
"Rats?" I asked as I looked at Maya, then back at Victor. "What do you mean by rats?"
"RATS!" he yelled and covered his face. "Rats are everywhere. Everywhere. Get them off me. Get them OFF ME!"
Chapter 10
I managed to get him to calm down. If it was me or just because he wore himself out, I will never know, but Victor fell back asleep. I kissed Maya goodnight and sat on her bed while we had a short chat about Victor. I told her he wasn't doing so well and that he was going to have to get some more help in the future since they had thrown him out of school. I hadn't told her earlier because the last thing I wanted was for her to be concerned. She did too much worrying already and I didn't want to add more to it.
"So, Victor doesn’t go to school anymore?" she asked.
"That's right. I have to figure out what to do with him," I said.
I looked into her eyes, then wondered how she was going to take Asgar's death. I feared that it would totally break her and that was the last thing I wanted for her. I thought about the coming day and what it would be like when the principal told them all about it.
"Mom. You're shaking," she said.
"Yes. I’m sorry," I said. I tried hard, but couldn't hold back the tears. "I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry."
She sat up in her bed. "Mom, you're crying. What's wrong? Is it Victor? I can help you more if you need me to."
I shook my head, crying full-blown.
"Mom, what's wrong? I’m sure you'll figure something out. You'll find a school for him."
"That's not it," I said and shook my head. I wiped tears off with my sleeve, then grabbed Maya's hand in mine.
"Then what is it, Mom? You're scaring me."
"Something happened. I promised Morten not to tell you, but I think I need to. I can't send you to school tomorrow knowing this…"
Her eyes grew wide. "What are you talking about, Mom? You're freaking me out. Tell me what it is."
I held her hand in mine, rubbed the top of it, then sniffled. "It's Asgar."
She wrinkled her forehead. "Asgar? What about him?"
"I know you've known him for years and you two have grown pretty close, so that's why…"
"Mom! Tell me what is going on. What happened to Asgar?"
I took in a deep breath. I knew Morten would be angry with me for this, but maybe he didn't have to know. Maya wasn't the type to run out and tell everyone anyway.
"Oh, sweetie…he's…he is…they found him. In the dunes. "
"Who found him?"
"Actually, it was me. Or it was Kenneth II. I heard him crunch something and then I walked up there and saw…him…or parts of him."
"Just tell me, Mom, what happened to Asgar?" Maya said, annoyed.
Our eyes met. "He's dead, honey. They found his body in the sand."
I could tell she didn't believe me. She kept staring at me, her eyes skeptical, then, as they softened, she said, "He's…dead?"
I nodded and held her hand tightly in mine.
"Oh, sweetie. I am so, so sorry…"
"But…he’s skiing with his parents," she said.
"Skiing?" I said with a sniffle.
"Yeah, they left last week for the Alps, as they always do this time of year."
"No, sweetie. He isn't skiing…he’s gone, Maya."
"No," she said. "He went skiing with his parents. I mean…he did, didn't he?"
"I don't think so."
"But…he was supposed to be with his parents? You're telling me they left without him?"
"Maybe," I said, sniffling. "I don't really know."
Tears sprang to Maya's eyes. "I can't believe he’s gone. I can't believe it. You’re sure it was him?"
I nodded. "I'm sure."
Chapter 11
Her mother told her she didn't have to go to school, that she could stay home today, but Maya wanted to be there. She wanted to be at the school when they told everyone.
It happened at one o'clock, after their lunch break. Maya spotted her mother's boyfriend, officer Morten Bredballe, as he wa
lked across the school courtyard and, shortly after, they were all told to gather in the gym.
"What do you think is going on?" Maya's friend Christina asked as she came up next to her. Christina was new in town and had only been at the school for a few months. Maya liked talking to her since she never had to worry about her asking her something or talking about something that happened when they were younger. It was just easier to hang with her than the others. Maya didn't like being reminded that she had suffered a memory loss. She wanted badly to move on.
Maya shrugged. She felt another tear escape her eye and wiped it away. She had been crying a lot all night and had a hard time holding it back in class, thinking about Asgar and glancing at his empty chair in the classroom.