LTROI-Novel

These characters are not mine but the bad writing and poor storytelling are.

I was right! ‘She’ lives here. ‘She’ lives with a man and a boy, as a girl. But how does she feed? I need to find out how she feeds. Then I need to finish her. No mistakes next time. She has many human friends she cares about. That is her weakness. I can use them to get her. All I need to do is wait and watch. Oskar could feel the Other One’s lustful thoughts turn towards Jack and Henry, could feel him fantasizing about…doing things to them, feeding on them, then leaving their small lifeless bodies on their doorstep.

Esteban glanced at his watch again; Eli was late. It was already dark, and he was ready to leave the house.

Eli never oversleeps when we're going to get blood.

Esteban got up, went to the cellar door and switched on the light. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he was surprised to see Eli was still sound asleep. Oskar stirred and blinked in the electric light. Esteban waved at him, knelt down next to the mattress and whispered 'Eli.'

Oskar sat up and turned towards his girlfriend.

'Wake up, sleepyhead.'

This is an alternate ending of 'Fugitives and Exiles,' it diverges from the original (http://let-the-right-one-in.com/fancontent/ff/fugitives-and-exiles) after the sixth chapter of the original (http://let-the-right-one-in.com/fancontent/ff/vi-the-vision).

Oskar was worried. It was 4:00AM and she wasn’t back yet. He had called out to her but there was nothing! He got up, put on his clothes, and went downstairs.

Dawson woke up with a start, as Oskar knocked loudly, entered his room and turned on the light. “Eli’s gone! She said she wanted to fly over her old neighborhood and left about.10:30. She isn’t back yet!”

Dawson quickly got up and put on his clothes. “Come on Oskar! We need to find her. She’s still weak. She may not be able to get home.” Oskar went upstairs, grabbed Eli’s suit and the Space Blanket, and headed back downstairs.

Oskar was sitting at his computer when he heard the phone ring. “Oskar? Would you get that?” Dad’s voice floated in through his open window. He jumped up, ran down the stairs and grabbed the phone. “Hello?” There was silence on the line for a minute, then, a familiar voice “Can I speak to Dr. Dawson?”

“Who’s this?” Oskar asked.

“…Seth”

“Ok, just a minute.” He ran out to the back porch, “Dad, it’s Seth. What does HE want?”

Dawson quickly came in and picked up the phone, “Seth? …Is there a problem? … Ok, stay with him. I’ll handle it. I’ll be right there.”

This is a composite of my postings at the related thread. I hope to finish this essay as time permits, because it is not complete.

One of the aspects of JAL’s novel that I very much enjoyed was how he portrayed love’s development between Oskar and Eli. I thought it would be fun to pull together the passages, big and small, which showed how their relationship began and deepened, and its impact on both characters.

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

“Oskar, would you get the door?” Dawson was helping Eli put away the dishes.

Oskar opened the front door and stepped back as Jack and Henry spilled in, talking excitedly.

“Seth is really mad,” Jack said, “Someone spread the news that he had been knocked around by a girl, and he’s been looking for us.” He turned and gave Henry a dirty look.

Oskar put his finger to his lips, and motioned them toward the stairs. “Dad, its Henry and Jack. We’re going upstairs, OK?”

“Ok, Oskar! Eli, I’ll finish up here. You run along.” She quickly followed the boys upstairs.

These characters are not mine but the bad writing and poor storytelling are.

Oskar gripped the flat stone firmly, cocked his arm, then sent the stone soaring just above the wet surface of the pond. He watched with amazed satisfaction as the stone traveled nearly to the other side of the pond before hitting the water , skipping three times, then disappearing beneath the surface. Oskar looked on with pride from the result of his effort as a ripple of rings began to expand across the calm water from the splash of the stone.

Spring 1983
Northern Finland

A thin stream of broken clouds stream quickly across an otherwise clear, cold night sky.
The cloudy swath of the Milky Way glows softly among the stars that shine above a remote tundra, veins of shallow water weaving together into the distance toward the shallow mountains at the horizon.
The spring night is chilly with a strong wind whispering through the fresh greenery and wildflowers that have pushed up through the long dead grass of the hillocks.