She also knew she was going to enjoy it.
CHAPTER 43
I WENT TO visit my dad at the hospital alone later in the evening. I didn't want him to feel alone and I needed some answers.
He was in a grumpy mood when I entered his room.
"Rebekka!" he exclaimed. "Finally a friendly face. Those nurses ... I'm sick and tired of them. I don't trust them. They are so sloppy. They keep asking me the same questions. They're new ones almost every day so I have to explain everything to them over and over again. It's annoying, really."
I kissed his cheek and smiled at him. "How are you, Dad?"
He grumbled. "Getting tired of the food. Tired of just lying in this bed. Don't you think you could get me out of here soon?"
"I'm trying hard," I said. "But they need to see how you react to the new medicine first. They need to monitor you for at least a couple of days more."
Dad exhaled. "Well I guess I could do a day or two more, if that's what's best for me, but then I'm definitely going home. We're going back to Karrebaeksminde. I miss my own house and bed."
"I brought you these," I said and threw a bag of Piratos, salty licorice, on the small table next to him.
"Oh you're a darling!" he exclaimed and picked them up.
"I found them in your room. I also found something else when I packed your things," I said.
He blushed. "Ah what the heck, I can't keep it a secret forever," he said. "So what if I enjoy a cigarette every now and then?"
I sighed and patted his shoulder. "It's okay, Dad. I just feel hurt that you hid it from me."
Dad laughed. "Are you kidding me? The way you have been fussing about me and talking about my health the past two and a half years. How could I tell you? It would have killed you before it killed me. Either that or you would have taken away the last of my privileges and started escorting me everywhere making sure I wasn't tempted again. I enjoy my freedom and you keep taking it away from me."
I chuckled. "Point taken," I said. "Guess I have been treating you like a child."
"You have," he said with a smile. "Please don't ask me to slow down, stop cooking or stop taking care of the kids. I love those things, you know it. It keeps me sane."
I nodded. "I won't, Dad. I will get better at not fussing over you. I promise." I sighed deeply and stared at him. I was so scared of losing him. "It's just that I don't know what will become of me if you die."
"If I die? Sweetheart, there is a little thing you need to know. You will lose me someday. You will have to go on with your life without me some day. You will be just fine. You're a big girl." Dad smiled widely, chewing a big round licorice.
"I know you're right," I said and sat in a chair. I smiled at him eating his candy. "There is another thing I would like to know."
"Yes?" he said, mouth full of the black candy.
"When you sneaked out to smoke did you go into the forest?" I asked.
He nodded while still chewing. Some licorice was stuck to his teeth and he had to loosen it with his finger. "Go on," he said.
"Did you meet someone or something in there?" I asked.
He looked flabbergasted. "What do you mean? Someone? Who?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. A little girl maybe?" I knew how stupid it sounded as soon as it had left my lips.
Dad laughed out loud. "I would think I'd remember that! A little girl in the dark forest late in the evening. I don't think so."
"Well maybe she is an adult now. Did you see anyone in there?" I asked knowing that it didn't make any sense to my father.
"Rebekka. What are you talking about? Girls running around in the forest at night. Why are you asking me this?"
I exhaled and sat on his bed. "The people in the camp, the members of that sect, ‘The Way’ they're dying from radiation sickness, at least that's what I think. It hasn't been confirmed yet. But I have this idea that maybe you were exposed to the same thing, just a much smaller dose. That's why I'm asking you to tell me if you saw anything in there while you were smoking, did you encounter anything? Did you touch anything?"
Dad inhaled. "Well I only went into the forest on one occasion, on our first night here, since you and Sune were sitting outside on the porch. I was afraid you might see me or smell the smoke so I grabbed my flashlight and went for a walk in the forest. I guess I mostly just walked around. It was very cold so I couldn't stand still for long. I did at one point pass a water post, one that was set up for the joggers in the summer. I was happy to see it wasn't frozen, water could still flow through it, not much but a little bit. I was thirsty so I drank from it."
"Did you do anything than that?"
"I don't think so. To be honest Rebekka I really don't remember. But come to think of it I have had a rash on my hand ever since."
"You poured the water in your hand and then drank from it?" I asked.
"Yes. It was too low for me to bend all the way down."
"Can I see the rash?" I asked.
Dad lifted his hand and showed me. It was a little swollen and reddish, but didn't look like much. "We have to have the doctor look at that," I said. "Why haven't you told me you had a rash before?"
"Rebekka. I'm seventy-eight years old. I have rashes all the time all over the body. I thought it was just psoriasis like your mother had. It looked just like it."
I nodded slowly trying to put together the pieces one by one. Dad had been contaminated by drinking from that water post, I was almost certain. Something had to be in that water at the water post. That was the source.
CHAPTER 44
DAD WAS TIRED and wanted to go to sleep early so I left him around nine. I was about to go home, but wanted to make a stop first.
The door to Mette Grithfeldt's room was open and a nurse was inside looking at a monitor, adjusting something.
"Excuse me?" I said and knocked at the open door.
The nurse turned and looked at me with a smile. "A visitor?" she said. "Are you a relative?"
"I'm afraid not."
"A friend?"
"Something like that."
The nurse smiled widely. "Well isn't that nice. Mette hasn't had a visitor ever since she got here. I was beginning to think she was all alone. It's good to know that at least someone cares about here."
I smiled briefly and nodded. "So how is she?"
"Better. Much better. Ever since the doctors found out that it was radiation sickness, we have been able to give her the right treatment. It has really improved her condition. She was even awake for a few minutes this afternoon. That's huge progress."
I exhaled deeply. It felt good to have at least been able to help her a little. Plus I was glad to realize that I had been right.
"So it was polonium poisoning?" I asked.
The nurse nodded. "God only knows how she came in contact with such a lethal material. I mean it's not something you come across every day around here."
"I bet it isn't."
The nurse sighed and put the blanket over Mette's body. Then she looked at me. "Well I guess I'll leave you two alone." The nurse smiled at me and walked towards the door. Then she turned and looked at me. "Talk to her. It might do her good to hear your voice."
Then she left.
I walked closer to Mette. Her skin was so pale and she looked so tiny in the big hospital bed. I felt bad, couldn't escape the feeling that it was still partially my fault she was laying there, even if I knew it wasn't true. She was sick when I hit her with the car. Sick with radiation poisoning. I turned my back at her and walked to the window. Lights from cars were flickering in the night.
"What on earth happened to you before you ran into that street," I murmured. "If only you could talk to me. Tell me why you were running."
I heard a noise and turned around. At that same moment Mette opened her eyes and looked at me briefly. I froze.
"Are you awake?" I asked.
She nodded slowly. Then she closed her eyes again like she was trying to regain her strength. A second later she look
ed at me again.
"Do you want me to call a nurse?" I asked.
"No," she said with a weak hoarse voice. She cleared her throat. Tubes through her nose helped her breathe. It caused her to make a hissing and wheezing sound when she spoke. "Who are you?" she asked.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Can't blame you for wondering. I'm Rebekka Franck. You don't know me. I brought you here. I ... kind of hit you with my car. It was snowing. I couldn't see you."
Mette nodded. She seemed groggy.
"Why were you out in the forest in the middle of the night in a snowstorm without even a jacket?"
Mette Grithfeldt opened her eyes big and wide. She looked frightened, scared to death. I approached her reaching out my hand but even if it looked like she was staring at me, she wasn't looking at me. It was as if she saw something completely different. I wondered if it was the memory of what had happened. I grabbed her hand and held it. She came back to me, looking directly at me.
"She was there ..." she stuttered. "She came back to get me, to drag me with her back to burn up in hell. But I ran. I escaped. But she won't let me go that easy. I will die. I know I will. I have to pay for what I've done."
Mette put her other hand on top of mine. I looked into her eyes. They seemed darkened almost obscure.
"Who is she?" I asked.
"Edwina."
"Is that the girl they used to call the Chernobyl-kid?"
Mette grabbed my shirt and pulled me closer. She lifted her head. Then she whispered. "She has come back. They say if you dream about her it means she will come to kill you."
"Did you dream about her?" I asked confused.
She let go of my shirt and put her head on the pillow again. "Yes. I did. When I woke up she was still there. She was in my room. She was laughing at me like she did ... like when ..." Mette shook her head slowly. "Then I fell sick. Just like the others. I knew it was over but I ran anyway. I couldn't let her get me."
I swallowed hard looking at Mette's strained face. A wave of pain rolled in over her, she groaned and crumpled up in the bed. "Do you want me to call for someone?" I asked.
"No. It's no use. They can bring me all their medicine but it's no use. I'm already dead. Maybe it's for the best anyway. I guess I deserve it. I guess we all do."
"Who? Mette, who deserves it? And why?" I asked.
The pain seemed to be easing off now. Mette's face seemed less tense. "We do," she mumbled. "Me and all the others who killed her."
I swallowed. "You killed Edwina?"
"We all did. Trying to save her from herself. She was possessed. The demon made her do crazy things. She was completely out of control. She would scream, tear off her clothes, eat spiders and coal; she would even lick her own urine off the floor. The Priest didn't know what to do about her. He tried all kinds of treatments but nothing helped."
"What kind of treatments?" I asked. "Exorcism?"
Mette nodded. "The Priest had driven out demons from all of us and freed us, so naturally we all thought it would work. We all believed anyone could be freed from their demons if they were cast out. But it didn't work with her. The demon had too solid a stronghold on her, or maybe she didn't want it to leave, I don't know. But I do know that the Priest tried everything. Days and nights he worked on her, trying to cast out the demon from her body. The rites were performed for about ten months in 1993. Seventy-six exorcism sessions were held in our courtyard, one or two every week, some lasted up to nine hours. During those sessions Edwina demonstrated almost superhuman strength; sometimes it took three grown men to hold her down. It was like she grew stronger as time passed. Later they used chains to hold her body down, as they tied her to her bed in her room. She spoke to us, cursed us, using different languages and even different voices. But most of all she just laughed at us. This weird, shrill almost manic laughter. One thing she kept repeating I can't forget. She kept saying 'I'm the one who dwelled within Cain' in an eerie voice. During the exorcisms there was screaming in the camp and breaking of things. Edwina had an aversion towards religious objects. She would break pictures of Jesus and pull apart rosaries. The Priest tried everything, but nothing worked on her. Edwina endured seventy-six rites of exorcism over a period of ten months. Over time, the ligaments in her knees ruptured due to the hundreds of genuflections that she performed obsessively during each exorcism session. You know what that is, right? A genuflection?"
"Sure. Kneeling of some sort?" I answered.
"It's an act of reverence consisting of falling onto one or both knees. During Edwina's last rite of exorcism, she was too weak and emaciated to perform the genuflections on her own. The Priest and Isabella stood by her and helped carry her through the motions. Her knees were ripped to shreds and bloodied. They forced her to fast because they believed that it would rid her of Satan's influence. At the end, she weighed barely forty pounds."
"Then what happened to her?" I asked.
"The Priest and the rest of the leader group had this idea. Isabella Dubois had heard of the use of a re-birth as a way of cleansing a body."
"A re-birth?"
"Yes, the idea was that the demon was supposed to be born out of Edwina." Mette's eyes teared up suddenly. "Naturally not all of us thought that was a good idea. Several of us tried to protest, but the Priest loved the idea and he always had the final word. No one ever spoke up against him. Hans Christian Bille tried, but ended up being excluded from the leader-group and the Priest hardly ever spoke to him again."
I exhaled deeply. "So what did they do to Edwina?"
Mette looked at me while fighting her tears. "They had sex with her."
Now Mette was crying, letting the tears roll across her cheeks. "They had this ceremony in the courtyard at night where they all wore masks and we were chanting these hymns while watching all the men have sex with that little girl. One after the other they raped her for hours and hours." Mette sobbed. "She was only twelve for Christ sake. I knew then that it wasn't right, but it was too late. No one would listen anymore. Me and Hans Christian kept close after that, trying hard to avoid trouble and the others. I know I should have done something. We all should. It just wasn't right." Mette sighed profoundly. "But I didn't. I have regretted it ever since."
"So what happened to her after that?"
"She became pregnant, right after the plan. The Priest told us the child was the demon that had become flesh. Being pregnant actually did seem to calm her down. She no longer acted crazy and possessed. She almost seemed like a normal little girl except for the growing stomach of course. She was carrying the devil's child, they kept telling her, but I think she didn't believe them. I think she finally found peace within, I could tell in her glowing green eyes that she was looking forward to becoming a mother. Even if it was at a very early age. It was like she grew along with the stomach."
"Did she have the baby?"
Mette dropped her eyes. She seemed weak, tired. I knew I shouldn't keep pushing her, but I really wanted to know.
"She had the baby, yes. They prepared for weeks for the ceremony," Mette said with a feeble voice. "When the contractions began they brought her to a stone altar they had built." Mette sighed and closed her eyes, trying to regain strength. "You have to excuse me," she said. "I haven't spoken about this to anyone before. It's hard to find the words."
I grabbed her hand. "Take your time," I said.
"Edwina screamed as the baby was delivered. It was a perfect little baby boy. They let her see him and she was so happy to see that he didn't have any deformities or abnormalities like she had. He looked perfectly normal. Ten fingers and ten toes just like he was supposed to. The Priest cut the umbilical cord and Edwina was so happy. Right until they took him away from her."
"They took the baby?" I gasped thinking about the time when I had given birth to Julie. I still remembered so vividly that moment when they put her on my stomach. I wanted her to stay there forever, I wanted nothing more of this life at that moment. It was so perfect. I couldn't imagine having her taken away
from me like that.
"Yes. They took him and removed her. Then they asked me to clean him up and put him in a small blanket. I did as ordered, but had a horrible feeling inside of me. I didn't know what the plan was or what was to happen to both of them but I had an idea. And I didn't like it one bit."
"What did they do?" My stomach was in a knot now.
Mette sighed. She closed her eyes as she spoke. "They told me to put him on the altar. It took five men to hold Edwina down. They tied her in chains to a pole where she could watch the baby on the altar. I will never forget her screams. I still think I hear them at night sometimes."
"Please tell me they didn't do something to the baby." I was almost in tears now. I wasn't even sure I wanted to hear the rest of this story.
Mette looked at me. She didn't have to speak. I knew the answer.
"Oh my God," I exclaimed heavily.
"They chanted a lot of words in Latin while the baby cried and screamed. They rebuked it as being the devil himself and then they left it to die. It was a February night just like tonight, they snow lay heavy on the land. It was freezing outside. They told us to go back to our rooms and pray while holding on tight to our crucifix cause there was going to be a battle tonight and we were going to win. I shall never forget that night. I lay awake listening to the screams of Edwina and the cries from the baby. I thought so many times of doing something, but I was so scared. I knew they would kill me accusing me of helping the devil. Part of me thought the Priest was doing the right thing. I wanted so badly to believe him. I guess I was nothing but a coward. We all were."
"So they both died that night?"
Mette shook her head. "The screaming died out at some point during the night. We don't know what happened and no one ever dared to speak of it. When we woke up they were both gone. The Priest declared that Edwina had been taken to hell by the devil along with the baby. He looked upon it as a failure. He had not managed to drive the demon out of her body; it had taken both of them with it instead. He wanted us all to be prepared for its return someday. It was going to kill all of us. I guess he was right. It is killing us now."