Cross your heart and hope to die (Emma Frost #4)

  "We have candles in The Green Room," Jon said.

  "Then go get them," I said.

  "Okay," Jesper said.

  Then I heard their steps and a door open.

  "Hoopla?" It was Erik's voice from up the stairs.

  "What was that?" Line asked.

  "Erik," I said with a deep sigh. "Erik Gundtofte. It's a long story. I have to help him down the stairs."

  "I thought Soren said he was dead," Preben wailed.

  "Well he’s not. He was hit by a car in 2005, but wasn't killed. He's in a wheelchair."

  "Gonzo!" Erik burst out.

  "What?" Line asked. "What did he just say?"

  "Boobs."

  "Excuse me?" Line said again.

  "He's having trouble speaking," I said. "Don't mind him. He's just agitated because he wanted to reveal himself to you all during our dinner and now it is all spoiled."

  "Is he the IDIOT who invited us here?" Preben yelled.

  "Yes. He'll tell you everything himself," I said and fumbled my way towards the stairs.

  "I'm gonna KILL him," Preben yelled. "Right after I kill you Soren for doing this to me!"

  "What? I didn't do anything," Soren said.

  "You stabbed Jacob," I said.

  "Well yes. That I did, but not the other thing."

  Erik was typing on his computer while I was deciding whether I believed Soren or not. Then the voice of the machine filled the air speaking some strange nonsense.

  "I'm coming," I said realizing Erik probably couldn't see what he was typing and walked up the stairs feeling my way by the rail. Luckily the moon shone in the windows every now and then when it was free from a cloud and gave some light. I grabbed the handles of the wheelchair.

  "Let me help you," Soren said and came up the stairs. He grabbed the wheelchair from underneath and helped me carry Erik down to the lobby.

  "There you go," Soren said when we sat him down.

  "Thank you," I said to him.

  It was strange. I was both afraid of him and yet somehow felt like he was genuinely trying to help. Something didn't quite add up in my mind. I couldn't understand how he could have done this to the others and at the same time be trying to help. Either he was a psychopath of the worst kind or we were completely wrong about him. I couldn't figure out which explanation I believed the most.

  Jesper returned with a lit flashlight.

  "Where is Jon?" I asked.

  "I don't know. I went to the kitchen to get the flashlight. The chef says they're done with dinner and have been for a long time in case anyone is hungry."

  A silence spread across the lobby. I, for one, was starving, but didn't like to say it. After all, there were people in serious pain here. How could we eat?

  "I'll get him to bring some food in here and then you can decide if you want any," Jesper said. He handed me the flashlight, then left again.

  I started looking forward to getting something to eat when another bone-piercing scream made me forget all about food.

  47

  December 2013

  "WHAT WAS THAT?" Line cried.

  "We'll have to go and check it out," I said. Then I paused. The screams continued. I wasn't sure I dared to go alone.

  "I'll go with you," Soren said.

  I put my hand in my pocket and felt the icepick that I still had on me. I clenched the handle between my fingers.

  "Okay," I said.

  "It sounded like it came from The Green Room," he said.

  I lit the way as we walked. I wasn't sure I wanted to go into a dark room alone with Soren, but there was no way out of it. I grabbed the handle of the door, opened it and held the flashlight up in the direction of the screaming sound. The light fell on Jon, the bell-boy. He was squirming on the floor, while screaming in pain.

  "My eye! My eye!"

  We ran to him and I kneeled in front of him. "What happened?"

  "I … I was looking for some candles in the dresser right there. When I turned my head, someone was standing behind me wearing an ugly old mask. He … He stabbed me in the eye with something. It hurts so badly!"

  "A needle," I said, as I examined Jon's face. "Just like the others." I felt a chill run down my spine.

  What if that person is still in here? What if he is watching us? Waiting to make his next move.

  The thought made me paranoid and I turned with the flashlight to light up all corners of the room.

  "Oh my God," Soren said.

  I couldn't believe it. Now I didn't understand anything. Soren had been with me all the time, so it couldn't have been him. There was no way. It had to be someone else, but everyone else was hurt. Jacob wasn't even conscious.

  Cross your heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in your eye.

  Victor's words were flickering through my mind fast. I couldn't stop thinking about them. What was this all about? What the heck was going on here?

  "Let's get him out into the lobby with the others," Soren said. "I think I'll see if I can go outside for help."

  We helped Jon get up and carried him to the lobby.

  "Don't," I said to Soren when we had placed Jon in a chair with no pillows. "It's too dangerous."

  "I think it's the only way," Soren said. "People will end up dying in here if we don't get them to a hospital. They'll have to send a helicopter or something."

  "Not in this weather." It was Erik's machine that spoke. I shone my flashlight on him.

  Soren sighed. "Erik is right. They won't be able to get one airborne until the winds have ceased and that won't happen until early in the morning according to the weather forecast I saw on TV earlier in my room."

  I tore at my hair in distress. This situation was unbelievable. "Then there really isn't much we can do, is there?" I asked. "We're stuck in here waiting to get our eyes poked out with a needle. I think I'll take my chances with the storm."

  I walked to the door and looked out the window. Branches and trunks were airborne. If I walked out, I would definitely risk getting killed. I shone the flashlight at my old classmates in the lobby, then stopped when I found Erik.

  "What the heck are we even doing here, Erik? Could you at least answer that before we all get killed?"

  "Yeah I'd really like to know that as well," Preben said.

  "Yeah," Line said.

  "Yes, Erik, please explain," Soren said.

  Erik exhaled. He opened his mouth to speak.

  "Pillow," he said. "Paper, blade, pencil, knife."

  "Use the machine," I said. "I'll light the keyboard for you so you can see."

  Erik tapped. "Thanks," the machine said. "I was trying to tell you that I couldn't see anything."

  48

  December 2013

  EMMA WAS SHINING THE FLASHLIGHT in his face. It hurt his eyes. Erik squinted, then looked at his computer and typed the words he had been wanting to say for years and when planning this entire event. The computer voice read the words out loud. It made an echo in the lobby.

  "In 2005, I was in an accident. I was hit by a car that left me paralyzed and with brain damage. I know whoever did this to me is present here today."

  He looked up to see his classmates’ responses. But none came. No gasps. No crying or pleading guilty. He was prepared for that. Erik typed again.

  "Jacob threatened me shortly before the accident. Jacob, I believe you had a hand in this. I believe you put me in this chair."

  Emma cleared her throat. "Jacob is unconscious," she said.

  "Pocket!" Erik burst out unwillingly. He closed his eyes and tried to stay calm. If he got too agitated he couldn't stop words from jumping out of his mouth.

  Don't lose control now. You've got them where you want them.

  Erik opened his eyes again and typed. "Of course. I forgot. But to get to the bottom of this, I think Jacob arranged for me to be killed. I survived, but that wasn't his intention. I believe he and Preben had Soren hit me with a car."

  "Leave me out of it," Preben said.

  "Me
too," Soren said.

  Well this was highly annoying. The only one who could clarify this was unconscious. Now what should he do? Erik speculated. Nothing about this had turned out the way he wanted it too. Nothing about his life had turned out the way he wanted it to. It was all so … so incredibly frustrating.

  "Shellfish," he said.

  Erik shook his head.

  Keep calm. You can do it. You have to.

  He typed again. The computer read his words. Oh how he loathed that female voice that had to speak for him. It always reminded him of the fact that he couldn't speak for himself anymore.

  "So let me get this straight," Emma said. "You've invited all of us here and paid for our stay to find out who hit you with the car and maybe why they did it?"

  Erik scoffed. He typed again. "No."

  "Then why are we here?"

  "I invited you all here for another reason." Erik sighed and rubbed his forehead. This was all wrong. Not at all the way he planned it.

  "And what is that reason?" Emma asked. She seemed angry now. Her voice was trembling slightly.

  "Spit it out you bastard!" Preben yelled.

  Erik typed. He had to just tell them, didn't he? There was no way around it. "Well, as you might know, all who are present here share a horrible secret. One big secret that we had to carry for years and keep to ourselves."

  The room went quiet. Even Preben stopped moaning.

  "What secret is that?" Emma asked. She shone the flashlight in his eyes.

  "Well Emma. You're the only one who doesn't know it, but it involves you. That's why you're here."

  Emma grunted angrily. "What the …?" She shone the flashlight at the others. Their eyes avoided hers. "What is he talking about? Preben? Line? Soren?"

  "The content of the secret doesn't matter," Erik continued. "But I can tell you this much. No one in this room wants it to be revealed. We all swore not to. That's why we're here. That's why I invited all of you here."

  "You're not telling her," Preben yelled. "I'm not tolerating it."

  "Could anyone just tell me what is going on?" Emma continued.

  "I'll kill you if you say anything," Preben continued.

  Erik smiled. Maybe he could still get it the way he wanted it, after all. He typed again. "That's exactly what I thought."

  "What do you mean?" Soren asked.

  "Ever since I was put in this chair, my life has been miserable and not worth living. I have lost everything. My wife, my children, everything. I can't do anything, I can't even speak on my own. The last many years, I have been wondering how to get out of here and then I came up with this. By inviting you all here and threatening to reveal the secret we all share to Emma here, I thought I could manage to upset at least one of you enough to want to kill me. After all, you tried to kill me years ago, so now I'm gonna give you the chance to finish the job."

  "What on earth are you talking about?" Preben asked.

  "I want to be killed. I want to be put out of my misery. But I don't want to go unnoticed. I want it to be spectacular. So after much consideration, I found a way. I thought I'd do it like in the Ten Little Indians, you know the book, where someone invites all of them to the same deserted place. You haven't read it?"

  "Can't say I have," Soren said.

  "Nope," Line said.

  "It's called And Then There Were None," Emma said. "The book is. The movie is called Ten Little Indians."

  "Whatever," Erik's machine said.

  There was silence in the room. Everyone was staring at Erik.

  "Do you have any idea how insane all of this sounds?" Emma said.

  "Yes, Erik," Preben said. "I can't believe you'd bring us into this situation just because you feel bad about yourself. I’ve lost my EYE here, Erik. Don't you think you're being just a little SELFISH? DON'T YOU?"

  Erik nodded. Preben was getting himself all worked up. That was good. That had been Erik's intention all along.

  "Yeah, why the heck did we have to get hurt?" Line asked.

  Erik typed on his computer. "I had nothing to do with what happened to you. I'm very sorry that it did happen, but I had no part of it. I did not intend to hurt any of you; that was never my plan."

  "How do you expect us to believe you?" Soren asked.

  "Well, you just have to. Cause I didn't. I was here with you when the bell-boy was attacked, right?"

  "He's got a point," Emma said.

  "Thank you."

  She shone the flashlight in his face again. "But that doesn't mean you couldn't have someone else here to do it for you."

  Erik shrugged. Then he typed again. "Believe what you want. I'm sticking to my plan. If no one stops me, I'll reveal the secret tomorrow morning at breakfast. Now, if you don't mind, I'll roll into The Green Room and wait for my destiny."

  Erik grabbed the wheels and started rolling towards the door. Emma shone the flashlight on it.

  "How very theatrical," Preben yelled after him. "You always were such a drama queen."

  Erik ignored him and kept rolling. He grabbed the handle and pulled the door wide open.

  "Come on, Erik," Emma said. "This is ridiculous. You don't want to die. No one should die. We've had too much blood in this hotel already."

  Erik turned around and looked at her even though he couldn't see her face behind the flashlight. He had dreamt about saying something so clever, something they'd all remember when they thought back on this weekend and his goodbye. His final words. He had thought about them for a long time and practiced them with his speech therapist, who had no idea why he wanted to learn these exact words, but never dared or cared enough to ask. He opened his mouth and let the words glide over his lips just like he had rehearsed over and over again.

  "Yippee ki-yay motherfuckers."

  Then he smiled from ear to ear over his own victory, turned the wheelchair around and left.

  49

  December 2013

  I COULDN'T BELIEVE THIS. There was so much going through my mind at this exact moment. I was angry, sad, frustrated and afraid all at the same time. It was like a rollercoaster, really.

  I stared at Erik as he left the room and suddenly remembered his tendency to overdramatize things immensely. It would have been funny and I would have laughed if the circumstances had been different. But they weren't. The situation was insane and I was certain that if I ever left the place alive no one would ever believe me. I wasn't even sure anyone would believe the story if I wrote it as fiction. It was simply too bizarre.

  Meanwhile, the winds were howling outside the hotel and still making it impossible for us to leave or for the ambulance to arrive. All we could do was wait and hope to not be the next victim of the eye-poking psychopath who was running lose.

  It was unbelievable.

  And then there was this secret. It made me so angry that they all knew what it was, and that I was the only one who had no idea what they were talking about. It frightened me that it apparently was so gruesome a secret that they would kill each other to keep me from knowing it. What kind of secret is that bad if revealed?

  The others in the lobby were all very quiet after Erik left. I couldn't see their faces, but the tension was thick. Preben and Line were still both in pain, but they weren't moaning as loudly as they had before. I guessed Erik had given them something to think about.

  Something creaked and I shone the flashlight in the direction of the sound. It was Soren. He had gotten up from his chair.

  "Where are you going?" I asked.

  "I …"

  "Sit back down. No one is even going near The Green Room. I don't want anyone near Erik. I want to know this secret and if none of you present here will tell me, then I'll wait till the morning for Erik to spill the beans. I'm not leaving this hotel without knowing what it is. Just so you understand me correctly. The secret doesn't die with Erik either. No one kills him, do you hear me?"

  Preben grumbled something and I shone the flashlight at him.

  "That goes for you as well," I
said. "We'll have no more killings, no more people getting needles in their eyes. This ends here. The bloodbath ends now."

  The door opened to the lobby from The Yellow Room. I shone my flashlight at the door and spotted Jesper coming through it with a small wagon packed with plates and dishes.

  "I brought food enough for everyone," he said with a wide smile.

  "Jon was hurt," I said and pointed the flashlight on Jon. Jesper shrieked and ran to him. "I'm so sorry," he said to Jon. "Did you see who it was?"

  "No," Jon whimpered. "It hurts so bad."

  Jesper rose to his feet again and looked at me. "Guess no one is hungry anymore, huh?"

  I shrugged. My stomach was growling. "I could go for a bite. Lord knows I need the strength to get through the night. Is there any coffee to help us stay awake?"

  "No, but I can go back and get some," Jesper said. "I'm sure they have some in the kitchen. Let me ask the chef."

  I grabbed his arm and held him back. "Don't. I don't like you running around the hotel all by yourself."

  I took a piece of bread and found some foie gras that I smeared on it. It felt good to get something to eat. I found a soda, opened it and drank.

  I shone the flashlight at the others. The entire scene reminded me of a lazaret from a war movie. Even Soren was so badly beat up that his entire face was swollen. But I no longer felt as sorry for them as I had earlier. Knowing that they were hiding something from me made me want to hurt them myself.

  I decided to be the bigger person instead.

  "Anyone else want something to eat?"

  No one said anything. So I continued eating while keeping my flashlight on them, making sure none of them tried to make a move. I found a piece of cockerel breast in a sauce and ate it with my fingers. It tasted heavenly. Then I finished my orange soda, still keeping my eyes on the others. None of them spoke or even moved. I guessed they felt bad and I was happy that they did. I could maybe understand that the guys would do something horrible and keep it from me, but Line? She had been my friend. Was that why we lost contact after high-school? Was it because she couldn't face me?