"A needle?" It felt like everything stopped inside of Jacob. Like his heart stopped beating and the blood froze in his veins. He drew in a couple of deep breaths and felt how his body came back to life. Jacob had a thing with eyes. He was terrified of getting something into them and didn't want people get too close to them. He never understood how people could wear contacts and poke their finger in their eyes every day like that. To him, it was the most repulsive thing in the world.
He followed Emma down the stairs while his heart started hammering in his chest. Preben's scream increased in volume and the thought of what had happened to him made the screams even more unbearable to Jacob. He was getting hot now and had trouble breathing properly.
"He's right down here," Emma said and turned the corner.
Jacob followed. Then he stopped. He stared at Preben lying on the mattress on the floor with the needle sticking out of his eye, screaming in pain.
"Jacob?" Emma said, concerned. "Are you alright? You look pale. Do you want to sit down?"
He opened his mouth to speak, but there were no words. Only a warm mass of vomit that spurted out onto the floor and all over his expensive Armani shoes.
30
September 2005
HE WAS SUPPOSED TO LOSE his life, but he didn't. That was all he could think of when the doctor spoke to him the very next day, telling him he had suffered what they called a coup injury. The right side of his skull cracked open when it was slammed against the asphalt so hard that it had fractured in several places.
"You have two broken ribs as well," the doctor continued while Erik stared at him indifferently. He might as well have told him he had eaten potatoes for breakfast. All Erik could think about was the fact that he had been cheated, he was supposed to die and instead he was left with this.
Erik looked at Maria who was standing next to him with a smile meant to be sympathetic, but to him came off as condescending. Erik blinked a lot to try to focus better, but the sight of his right eye was blurred by curtains of red stripes. Blood, he thought to himself. Erik tried to move in the bed; he pulled the covers to the side even though his arm hurt so badly that he almost gave up. Then he tried to swing his body out of the bed, but it didn't obey. He tried again, but his legs didn't move an inch. Erik panicked.
"I … I can't …"
The doctor stopped him. "No, Erik. You can't move your legs. You have been paralyzed from the waist down."
Erik stared at the doctor who suddenly looked like he actually had potatoes in his mouth. He blinked his eyes again.
"You have suffered brain damage as well. It might cause you to see things that aren't really there. You'll have trouble remembering things and you might have some speech problems as well, but time will show how bad it really is." The doctor looked at Erik and smiled. Erik thought it looked like he moved in slow-motion. Were those potatoes or were those his ears?
"You were lucky, Erik. Usually a coup injury causes a person to become mentally impaired, but it seems you might get away with just minor issues."
Maria nodded slowly. "Like the memory loss and speech problems?"
"And hallucinations, yes."
Erik felt like he had left the room and they were talking about someone else. He wanted to speak, but couldn't find the words. Not the right ones at least. He could come up with a lot of words, just not the ones he wanted to use.
"Potato," he finally said after searching his mind.
The doctor and Maria looked at him for a second, then looked at each other again.
"How bad will the speech problems be?" she asked.
"Well you just witnessed it. He will have a hard time finding the right words to say what he means. It'll get better though, but he probably will never be like he was before. In the beginning, saying even simple things will be a struggle for him."
Maria nodded pensively while looking at Erik. He felt like screaming, yelling at everybody in the room, at the world, at God for keeping him alive.
"You'll get help, don't worry," the doctor said and put a hand on her shoulder like she was the one who was hurting here.
Erik wanted to yell at them that he was right there, that he was the one panicking right now, he was the one trapped inside of this strange body that he felt like he no longer knew. He wanted to cry for help, for compassion, but he didn't know what to say or how to say it.
"Bitch," he said instead.
Maria and the doctor looked at him again quickly, then at each other. "The government has a special program for people in your situation."
Your situation? Her situation? What about my situation? I'm the one who can't move. I'm the one who can't even freaking speak!
"Beetroot!" he yelled.
Maria and the doctor both turned their heads. Maria smiled, then leaned over and kissed his forehead gently. "I'll get you potatoes and beetroot, dear. Don't you worry. I'll take care of you."
Erik looked at the woman he had loved for so very long and for the first time in their marriage he wanted to punch her in the face. But he didn't. Instead he turned his head away with a grunt.
God, why did you do this to me? Why didn't you just kill me when you had the chance? I'm in hell and I have no idea why.
31
December 2013
BODIL, THE MERCILESS STORM was right above our heads now. The old house was cracking and creaking and trees were falling to the ground outside, one after another. I was standing next to Line, looking out the window at the raging storm while the hotel personnel were washing the floor where Jacob had thrown up. They had searched the entire hotel, but found no one who wasn't supposed to be there.
I looked at Jacob quickly as he was sitting on the couch in the lobby. He had taken his shoes off and the clerk told him they would clean them. Now he was staring like he was paralyzed at the hurting Preben who was still lying on the mattress, moaning in deep pain. At least now I knew that Jacob wasn’t the one who had done this to Preben, which had been my first impulse, but seeing his reaction made me certain he wasn't able to do this.
Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. That's what Victor had said on the phone. Victor knew. Somehow, he knew this would happen.
I turned my head and looked out the window again, anticipating seeing the ambulance approaching in the distance any moment now. It was getting dark and the storm was getting stronger by the minute. Branches and leaves were flying through the air. A tree was knocked down in the hotel's driveway. Line gasped as it landed in the gravel and was pulled closer to the building by the wind. I looked at my phone to see what time it was and realized I had no reception any longer. I pushed a couple of buttons and tried to walk to the other end of the lobby to see if I could get it back, but it was gone.
I exhaled and put it back in my pocket. I went back to Line.
"Do you have any reception?"
She didn’t answer, but continued staring out the window with a frightened look on her face.
"Line," I said again and pulled her shirt.
"What?"
"Do you have any reception on your phone?"
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell. She looked at the display, then shook her head.
"That's what I thought," I said. "We've been cut off from the world."
"Luckily the road is still open for the ambulance to get through," she said.
Her last words were accompanied by a loud crash that sounded like it was coming from outside. Line screamed and we both turned to look. A big tree had fallen right into the wing next to ours. Its branches had gone through the roof and into some of the rooms. Everybody in the lobby looked at each other with great confusion.
"I'll go see how bad it was," the clerk said with a shivering voice. "There is a door leading to the next wing upstairs."
He went upstairs and came back a few minutes later with a worried look on his face. "Two of the rooms upstairs are hit," he said. "Nobody used them so we're in the clear. But it's gonna be expensive to fix."
"Are there any other guests here at the hotel besides us?" I asked.
The clerk froze.
"There is, isn't there?" Jacob said and got up from the couch. "We're not alone!"
The clerk shook his head.
"Our host is here," I said. "Am I right?"
"Yes. You're right," the clerk said. "I wasn't supposed to say anything. It was going to be a surprise once dinner was on the table, then your host was supposed to show up."
The lights went out for a short minute, then came back on, then flickered a couple of times before they were steady again. Line shrieked.
"So where is our host now?" I asked. "It might be a good idea to have all of us gathered in one of the safer rooms down here, like the Yellow or Red room in case more trees should fall upon the building."
The clerk looked perplexed. "Yes of course. I'll go and tell your host."
"We'll keep an eye out for the ambulance," I said. "It shouldn't be long now."
"Okay," the clerk said and bit his lip. "Guess I'll go upstairs again, then. Be right back."
I exhaled and sat in one of the chairs feeling a little lost and maybe a little scared as well. This whole situation frightened me, no that was putting it too mildly, it creeped me out. I kept wondering who had done this to Preben. Could it have been our host? Could he for some reason have brought us here to hurt us? Was it really like one of those mystery books? If that was the case, wouldn't Preben be dead by now?
Another loud crash pulled me out of my stream of thoughts. Line screamed and ran to the window by the door to see better. I joined her. A huge tree trunk had fallen and was now blocking the road completely.
"Now we're cut off from the world outside," Line said.
"There is no chance in hell that an ambulance will be able to get through there," I said with a deep sigh. We were completely on our own.
32
December 2013
PREBEN HEARD THE CRASH AND felt deep within him that this was something big, this one was different than the other crashes. Still in pain, he managed to lift his head enough to be able to look at Emma and Line. Just by the look on their faces he knew this was bad. This was really bad.
"What happened?" he asked, then put his hurting head back on the pillow.
No one answered.
"WHAT HAPPENED?" he asked again, this time yelling. "What was that crash?"
Line cleared her throat and looked at him. "Well it … uh … it was another tree that fell."
"Where did it fall?" Preben asked. "WHERE?"
"Across the road," Emma said. "I'm afraid it is blocking it. I don't think the ambulance will be able to get through … I'm so sorry, Preben."
Preben wanted to close his eyes, to shut out this nightmare for just a second, but he couldn't. He tried so hard not to move his eyes at all since it was so incredibly painful to do so. Even blinking hurt so bad he would scream. He clenched his jaw and bit down even though he knew it was bad for his teeth and could scratch the surfaces.
"You're kidding me, right?" he asked with an almost maniacal laugh. "Please tell me you're kidding."
Emma exhaled. It wasn't a sound he wanted to hear. "Please don't exhale. Please don't sigh. Just tell me you were joking. Tell me it was some cruel and inappropriate joke on your part."
"Preben … I …"
"Just SAY IT, goddammit."
"It was a joke," Line answered.
Preben groaned and took in a deep breath.
Don't think it. Don't even think it. Don't think about how long it is going to take, don't imagine it's gonna take all night, don't even think it.
"Of all the times a storm could have hit, why on earth did it have to hit tonight of all nights?" Preben yelled.
"Try and stay calm," Emma said. "For your own good. I'm sure the ambulance will find another way to come here."
"How?" Soren asked. "By boat? In a storm?" Then he laughed. "No Preben old buddy, you're stuck here with us all night. Does it hurt? I bet it does." Then he laughed again and drank more from his almost empty bottle.
"Maybe you should lay off the booze for a little while," Emma said. "We're gonna need everyone to be ready for whatever might come tonight."
Soren grinned. "Oh I'm ready alright. I'm ready for whatever will come my way. Don't you worry about that."
Preben tried to shut him out by not listening to him and all his crap. More than ever he wanted to kill him, to finish him off like he wanted to do back in 1999 when they were afraid Soren was going to tell. Preben had wanted to burn down the house he lived in with Soren inside of it. But Jacob had thought of another idea.
"This is much better," he had said. "Much more cruel. And no one will ever suspect us."
They had put her in his own basement and once she turned up dead, Soren was accused of killing her. The police couldn't prove anything though, since they found none of his fingerprints or his DNA on her body or on the duct tape they had used to tie her down. So he was acquitted. Then they used him to kill Hans Frandsen and Preben admitted that this was way better than simply killing Soren and then having to deal with Hans Frandsen afterwards. Preben thought Soren would go down for the killing of the old biology teacher, but somehow he found a way out of that one as well. It annoyed Preben back then and still did. More than ever. He never liked Soren and never wanted him to be a part of anything they did. He knew Soren was bad news from the beginning, he was way too weak to be in on what they were doing, but the others wouldn't listen. Especially Erik, he had liked Soren and wanted him in.
How could he have been so blind, so stupid?
Preben groaned again. A thought had entered his mind and he couldn’t get rid of it. Ever since he stood in front of that masked person in his room, he had been wondering who was hiding behind it and now, looking at Soren standing next to him, he felt suddenly overwhelmed with a certainty that it had to be him. It had to be Soren. Only he would be such a coward and hide behind a mask instead of facing his victim like a true man. But he wasn't going to get away with it. Preben might have fallen, but he wasn't dead yet.
33
December 2013
"THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!" Line yelled. "I want to go home, I want out of this place."
She was no longer able to hold herself together and keep calm. When the tree crashed down and blocked the road, the panic had slowly spread throughout her body. Emma was trying to calm her down, but it didn't help. All Line could think about was the baby in her stomach that she was afraid she would never get to see.
"How are we going to get out of here?" she asked, looking at Emma. "Tell me how? How Emma?"
"We'll just have to wait," Emma said with a soothing voice.
"Wait? How are we supposed to wait here when there is someone out to get us? Huh? Can you explain that to me? We're like sitting ducks waiting to get killed."
"You have to keep calm, Line," Emma said harshly. "We can't lose it. Just be happy you're not the one on the mattress with the needle in your eye, okay?"
Line looked at Preben who was sweating with pain. She bit her lip, then took in a deep breath. Emma was right. At least she wasn't the one in pain.
"There is nothing we can do," Emma said. "Except stay calm and collected. The paramedics will find a way. The storm will stop eventually and we'll all get to go home. It's all gonna be just fine."
Line nodded while staring at Preben. She could understand why someone would want to hurt him. She had dreamt about hurting him for many years. He probably had a ton of enemies. Maybe that was all this was? Someone getting back at him for something he had done a long time ago? She shot a glance at Jacob sitting on the couch looking pale. Chances were that he would be the next if there was to be one.
Jacob sighed. "Where is that clerk?"
Soren giggled. Emma shrugged. "It is odd," she said. "He has been gone for like half an hour."
Line could hear her own heartbeat. She tried to calm herself down, but that only made it worse.
If something happened to the clerk,
then something could happen to any of us.
"Where is he?" she asked as she walked towards the stairs and looked up. She tried to listen, but there was no sound.
"Maybe he just went into the kitchen to check on dinner. They're still working on getting it ready in there," one of the two bellboys sitting in the lobby said.
Line inhaled. Yes there was a nice smell of food in the building. But could anyone eat under these circumstances? She touched her stomach. Well maybe just a little. She had to think of the baby too. But it was hard to keep an appetite with Preben wailing in the building.
"Maybe the bell-boy is right," Line said.
Emma looked at her quizzically. "But we saw him walk up the stairs," she said. "Wouldn't he have to come down here in order to go into the kitchen?"
They all went quiet. Line looked out the window into the deep darkness that surrounded them. The moon was shining brightly between passing clouds and she could still see branches sweeping across the hotel's driveway. The building was still creaking loudly and every now and then she wondered if it would even be able to sustain the strong winds.
Line's stomach growled. The thought of food made her hungry all of a sudden. She hoped they weren't preparing one of those long meals with small dishes again. Line really wanted a real meal with enough to eat on her plate. Plus it would be a nice break for them to forget their circumstances. She looked at Soren who had been to the hotel bar and gotten himself a couple of drinks that he shared with Preben. She felt a little jealous. She desired a drink more than anything right now. Just to make her forget.
Line sighed and closed her eyes. She imagined herself holding her baby in her arms. She had dreamt of becoming a mother for so incredibly long. Nothing was going to get in the way of that now. Nothing and no one.