Thirteen, Fourteen ... Little boy unseen (Rebekka Franck Book 7)

  The next day, their parents had taken Alex away and put her in that mental hospital. They told the man his sister was sick. They called it schizophrenia. When she returned, she was never the same. They had destroyed her. Broken her. And all their plans were gone. All their dreams for the future vanished. She wasn’t his sister anymore. The girl who returned was someone else.

  The man touched his reflection and cried at the memories.

  “I’m so sorry I let them do this to you. I am so, so sorry.”

  55

  I COULDN’T SLEEP. I kept tossing and turning in my bed, being either too hot or too cold. The bed felt so empty without Sune in it. I cried a lot and hit my face on the pillow, while cursing him and begging him to come back at the same time.

  He said he loved you. He said he still loved you. Maybe there’s still hope? But, why would he choose to move out if he still loved you? Why would he get a place of his own? I don’t understand what I did wrong.

  “Just come back,” I whispered, while staring at the ceiling. It was a full moon outside and one of those freezing crystal clear nights. The light from the moon lit up parts of my bedroom through the curtain.

  I looked at my phone one last time around two o’clock, hoping he would have texted me, but he hadn’t. After that, I finally dozed off into an uneasy sleep.

  I dreamt of Sune. Of course I dreamt about him. He was all I had on my mind. I dreamt we had taken a trip together. Just the two of us. It looked like Egypt, but we kept saying we were in Germany for some reason. It didn’t look anything like Germany. It looked like the place in Egypt where I had been with Peter and Julie many years ago. But it didn’t matter. What mattered was us. It was just us. There was no one else in the resort, or even in the world. The ocean was crystal clear and very blue. We went snorkeling. Sune was laughing. I was laughing. We were swimming in the pool, drinking in the bar, and dancing while walking back to our hotel room. We were hanging out on the balcony, drinking champagne and only having eyes for one another. At night, we made passionate love in the bedroom. My longing to feel him close to me was so real.

  I was crying in my sleep, when suddenly, I felt someone in the bed with me. A warm naked body. Thinking I was still dreaming, I moaned and crept closer. It felt so good.

  “Sune,” I moaned.

  “Mmmm,” he moaned back.

  I felt hands on my thighs, creeping up towards my panties. I reached out and grabbed his face, then moved up and touched his Mohawk. I pulled him closer as my desire for him rose.

  “Sune,” I mumbled again, while slowly waking up. I couldn’t believe this. Had he come back? Had he really come back to me?

  His hands were touching my breasts now. Caressing my stomach. He was kissing my neck and chest and moaning deeply. I felt his hand in my panties and they were pulled off. I smiled and pulled him closer. I was still crying; tears were slowly rolling across my cheeks. I had never wanted him more. I had never desired Sune more than in this second.

  My T-shirt was pulled off and his lips were soon on my breasts. I closed my eyes and enjoyed his touches. He was getting hard now. I felt him, and he moaned in my ear. Then he kissed my breasts again and sucked on my nipples before he went further down. A chill when through my body and I shivered with excitement. Sune’s tongue caressed me, and I moaned deeply with pleasure. I couldn’t restrain myself. I had to come with a loud orgasm.

  “Oh, my God, Sune!”

  The waves of orgasm rolled through my body and made me forget everything, every tension, and every fight we ever had. For a few seconds, I felt better than I had in months, since I fell into the sinkhole in October. But it was just for a few wonderful seconds.

  As the waves of excitement slowly vanished, I looked down, just as the light from the moon fell on Sune’s face. The sight that met me was beyond terrifying. The eyes looking back at me didn’t belong to Sune. The man looking back at me from between my naked legs wasn’t Sune.

  It was Jeppe.

  56

  I SCREAMED and kicked Jeppe in the face, so he fell backwards onto the floor. I grabbed a blanket and pulled it over me to cover myself up, then turned the light on.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I grunted. I could have killed him right there. Who the hell did he think he was? Why was he pretending to be Sune?

  Jeppe laughed and got up from the floor. He was standing in front of me, naked and hard.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me?” I yelled.

  He walked closer. He had something in his hand.

  It was a police baton. He looked down at his crotch.

  “As you can tell, I’m not quite done yet,” he said with a grin. “Now, come here and let me finish what I came here for. If you act nice, I won’t hurt you…well, not too much at least.”

  I whimpered and pulled the blanket closer. I looked at my phone on the table next to my bed. I could try and go for it. I looked at Jeppe, walking closer. His engorged penis seemed almost unnaturally big. A vein was pumping in his forehead. He was clenching his jaw.

  “Please, don’t hurt me,” I said, and took one more glance at the phone. Could I reach it and press something, maybe make a call to the alarm central before he could get to me?

  “Now, that’s not fair. You know I can’t promise that,” he said.

  I glanced at him, then at the phone, and made a jump for it. I managed to grab it, but Jeppe was fast, and soon he was on top of me, holding me down. He grabbed my hands while I fought to press a button, anything, when he slammed my hand into the table, causing the phone to fall to the floor. I tried to push him off of me, to punch him and kick him, but he was strong. I managed to get one kick in that forced him backwards slightly, then I jumped out of bed, but Jeppe grabbed my foot mid-air and pulled me forcefully back. I hit my chest on the edge of the bed and it knocked the air out of me.

  “You sure have a nice piece of ass,” he said, and caressed my behind gently.

  I felt the baton roll over it. Its cold surface made me shiver. I caught my breath while he played with the baton on top of me, letting it drop a few times like he was spanking me. It hurt.

  “Ouch!”

  “Quiet!” he yelled.

  Jeppe crept on top of my back and sat on me. He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “You’re mine to play with now. Do everything I tell you to or I’ll kill you. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Let me go,” I cried.

  “Sorry, but I can’t. See, I need you to get out of Sune’s life, so he and I can move on. You’re constantly on his mind, and I can’t have that. I want him for myself. You’re in our way. I need him. Alex and I are going to be happy again.”

  “Who the hell is Alex?” I grunted, while trying to get free from his grasp.

  I didn’t see it happen, but I sure felt it. The baton hit the back of my head so hard I almost lost consciousness immediately.

  “Stop with the questions!” Jeppe yelled.

  I screamed. The blow made me dizzy, and I felt like I had to throw up. I fought hard to not doze off, when suddenly, the door to the bedroom opened. Sune stood in the opening, holding a gun and pointing it at Jeppe.

  “Get off of her now! Get down!”

  I felt the weight disappear from my back, and in my dizziness, I saw Jeppe walk away with his hands held up in the air. The gun was shaking crazily in Sune’s hands. He hated guns more than anything in this world, and I knew he had never held one before.

  “Sune?” I said, in the seconds before everything turned into a myriad of stars.

  57

  WHEN I woke up, I was lying on the bed. Sune was sitting on a chair next to me, holding his head between his hands.

  “Sune?”

  “Shh, lay still. I called for an ambulance. They’re on their way.”

  “How…?” I tried to sit up, but had to lay back down. “Where’s Jeppe?”

  That was when I noticed the big bruise on Sune’s forehead. He was bleeding and holding a wet cloth to it. Sune sighed.

/>   “I lost him. He ran off. I’m sorry, Rebekka. I’m such a coward. Jeppe called me out. He knew I was bluffing. He grabbed that lamp you see on the floor down there with my blood on it and asked me to shoot him. Slowly, he walked closer while I yelled at him to get back. Of course, I couldn’t shoot him. I could never shoot anyone. So he swung the lamp and knocked me out. He took the gun and ran.”

  “I’m sorry you were hurt,” I said, and reached out my hand. Sune grabbed it. “But you’re no coward. You’re just not a killer.”

  Sune looked at me and smiled. “I’m so sorry. You were right about him all along. I had no idea. I thought you were just against me having fun. And, I guess I was slightly upset with the fact that I can’t even provide for my own family, let alone give them a real home of their own. I felt emasculated. It was stupid. I can’t believe he was such a creep.”

  I closed my eyes for a second to get the dizziness to go away. My head was spinning and hurting like crazy. My hands were shaking. Seconds later, it seemed to get better. I looked at Sune again.

  “I’m surprised he didn’t kill the both of us,” I said.

  “Well, your dad came to our rescue. After Jeppe knocked me down, he was about to shoot both of us, but your dad was suddenly in the door holding a rifle and pointing it at him. Did you know he had a rifle?”

  “It’s an old one from back when he used to go hunting. I don’t think it even works anymore.”

  “Oh, it works alright. Your dad shot Jeppe in the foot. Jeppe screamed, then ran towards your dad and pushed him aside. He ran out and down the stairs.”

  “Oh, my God. Is my dad alright?”

  “Yes. He says he didn’t even hurt himself. I helped him get back to his bed.”

  “And the kids?”

  “They’re fine. Tobias was the only one who woke up from the shot. I put him back to bed. William and Julie slept through everything.” Sune scoffed. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. Why didn’t I listen to you? I put all of you in danger.”

  “True. But you also saved us. I can’t even dare to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t come. How did you know we were in trouble?”

  “It was the weirdest thing. Jeppe had been acting strange all day. It was like he didn’t want me to get an apartment. He helped me look at places, but none were good enough. He was trying to get me to stay with him instead, and he kept calling me Alex. He talked to me like we had known each other for years, like we were brothers. It got really creepy. I had never noticed it before, but sometimes it’s like he slips into another world, if you know what I mean. He pauses when he speaks, and then it’s like he’s gone for a little while, and when he returns he acts differently. I don’t know how to explain it, but I don’t think he’s well.”

  “I think we can agree on that,” I said, and chuckled, but it hurt my head. Sune smiled and kissed me. He looked into my eyes.

  “He tried so hard to get me to forget about you, and he kept telling me that, finally, we were all alone, and it started to freak me out. I went to bed early, but woke up around one o’clock, when I heard Jeppe walking around in the living room. I snuck closer and watched him as he talked to himself in the mirror…dressed in his uniform in the middle of the night.”

  “He’s a police officer?” I said.

  “I thought you knew. He works with Naestved Police Department.”

  “But, he never seemed to work?” I asked.

  “Well, he had taken two weeks off to move. But I did see him leave his house in his uniform a couple of times this week anyway, so maybe he did go to work after all. He also left me several times at the café during the day, telling me he had to work for a few hours. I never thought much about it, but now I do. Anyway, I watched him talk to his own reflection, and then he left the house. At first, I thought I’d just go back to bed, so I went back to my room, but through my window, I saw him walk to our house. I saw him open the back door with a key. I guess he must have stolen my key and made a copy or something.”

  “My dad keeps extra keys in his drawer downstairs in the hallway because, in my family, we constantly lose our keys. Not very safe, but what can you do? It would only take Jeppe a few minutes alone downstairs to find them.”

  “That makes sense. So, he was here that night when you saw him looking at us. I guess he must have used that same key.” Sune shivered and looked at me. “When I saw him walk into your dad’s house, I was terrified. Suddenly, I realized that everything you had told me was true. I feared for you and the kids, but had no idea how to stop him. I searched the entire house for a weapon, anything I could use in case I needed it, and finally I found the gun in his closet. I’m surprised he has both his baton and gun in his house, since officers are supposed to leave all that at the station when they leave.”

  “Guess Jeppe doesn’t play by the rules,” I said. “Did you call the police?”

  “Yes. I talked to Henrik Pedersen, who was on duty, and they have all the patrols looking for him. He won’t get far.”

  58

  I SPENT the rest of the night in the hospital, while the doctors checked me and held me under observation for a concussion. I felt great after a few hours, but they insisted on keeping me, so I wasn’t going to take any chances.

  Sune was being checked on too, but they released him after just a few hours, and he stayed by my side through every examination and waiting period. My dad had promised to take care of the kids. I called Anne-Marie, Julie’s best friend’s mother and asked her to help get the kids to school and William to his day-care. When she heard what happened, she told me not to worry.

  “I’ll take care of everything,” she said.

  The police came to my bedside and asked me a ton of questions. They still hadn’t found Jeppe, they told me, but they were doing all they could.

  Henrik Pedersen told me to get better soon and to contact him in case I needed anything. “This case is very close to my heart,” he said. “We’ll get the bastard. Don’t worry about it.”

  “I think the officer has a little crush on you,” Sune said, when Officer Pedersen had left.

  “Oh, my goodness,” I said, and held a hand to my head. It still hurt when I laughed, but not as bad as earlier.

  “I just wish they would get the creep, you know?” Sune said. “It’s not like this town is that big. There are only so many places for a guy with a green Mohawk to hide.”

  “You should know…” I paused and looked intently at him. “Wasn’t there another doctor?”

  “What was that?” Sune asked.

  I sat up. My head didn’t hurt anymore. “There was. What was his name again? He was working with Dr. Korner on those children. The secretary told us. Dr.…Dr. I have it on the tip of my tongue. Dr. Winter! Yes, that was it. His name was Dr. Winter.”

  I grabbed my phone and called Sara.

  “I need you to find Dr. Winter for me,” I said, without any explanation.

  “Well, hello to you too, Rebekka,” she answered. “Getting better, I reckon?” I heard her tap on her computer. “Here. That was easy. Dr. Winter is retired now and lives on Enoe. On Enoe Kystvej. Nice address.”

  “Enoe Kystvej,” I repeated, while taking off my covers and signaling Sune, who looked like he didn’t understand anything. “What number?”

  “Sixteen.”

  “Great, thanks,” I said, and hung up.

  I looked at Sune. He shook his head. “No, Rebekka. You’re in here for observation, remember?”

  I swung my legs out of the bed. “Give me the bag with my clothes.”

  “Rebekka!”

  “What?”

  “You’re hurt. Lie down and rest. Tell the police what you’re thinking. Let them take care of it.”

  Just as he spoke, the doctor entered the room. He was smiling. That was a good sign. “All the tests were perfect, Rebekka. You’re good to go. We’re done with you. Just make sure you get proper rest over the coming days.”

  I jumped out of bed and grabbe
d my bag of clothes. “I will, Doctor. Don’t worry about it.”

  I got dressed as soon as the doctor left and looked at Sune. “I want to talk to this doctor. I have a feeling he holds the key to this story. We’ve made it this far. Don’t let it be for nothing. I want answers.”

  59

  “DR. WINTER?”

  The old man looked at me like he was confused. He was standing in the doorway of his house, which was located on the beach of Enoe, one of the most beautiful places you could live in our area, at least that’s how I felt. I had always dreamt of living in one of these houses on the beach.

  “Yes? Who are you?” the old man asked.

  I reached out my hand. “My name is Rebekka Franck. This is Sune Johansen. We work for Zeeland Times. Could we talk with you for a second?”

  “Rebekka Franck? I know you. I read your stories in my paper all the time. What on earth do you want to talk to me about?”

  “The Toft family,” I said.

  Dr. Winter looked down. “Ah, them. Well, I guess there’s no harm in that. Come on in.”

  We followed him into the living room, where we sat on the couch looking out at the ocean. It was gorgeous. Breathtaking even. It suddenly occurred to me that I did want a house of my own. I wanted a place I could decorate the way I wanted to, a place that was ours, just ours, just Sune’s and mine. I wanted a house like this one.

  “It’s such an old story,” the doctor said with a sigh.

  “I know. But we would like to know it. We would like to hear your side of it. Please. We want to know what happened to Alex and Hans Toft.”

  The doctor smiled. “I ran this program under the title Gender reassignment. Basically, we tried to prove that gender isn’t something you are born with, it is taught and could be altered by the nature of what you are exposed to during childhood. So parents came to us if their children suffered from what we called gender confusion, like if their little boy dressed up as a girl or vice versa. We tried to influence them in the right way. Basically, to make life easier for them.”