Chapter 3: Oskars Challenge

“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.

They spread out in Oskar’s room; Jack and Henry on the window seat, and Eli and Oskar on the edge of his bed “I’m really sorry, Jack, I only told Clayton about it. He’s my best friend. He said he wouldn’t tell. I’m sorry!”

“Well, what’s done is done. It’s ok, Henry. It’s really not your fault.” Jack patted him on the back.

“Does Seth know who ratted him out?” Eli asked.

“No, but he can put two and two together. We were the only ones who were there,” Jack said.

“Really? Oskar and I don’t count? I’ll just tell him that I spread the news. That’ll get you off the hook.”

“No! I’m not going to hide behind you on this. You think that because you’re a girl that he won’t knock you around? After what you did, you’re probably on his list anyway.”

“Jack, think about Henry. You can’t watch him all the time. And from what you tell me, Seth would beat up Henry just to get back at you. We can’t let that happen.”

“I could tell him I did it, too. That might confuse him.” Oskar said.

“No, that would just mean that Seth would beat you both up. You don’t know him like we do. He’s not a nice guy.”

“Why don’t we talk to Dad? Maybe he can talk to Seth’s parents,” Oskar asked.

“No! I don’t want Papa to know about the fight at the stream.”

“That wouldn’t work anyway. His dad’s a drunk and his mom is dead. Your dad would likely be beaten up himself if he tried it.”

“That…will definitely not happen,” Eli said, steely-eyed.

“What’ll we do then?” Henry was getting scared.

Eli stepped over and gave him a hug. “Don’t worry. We’ll all just stick together. He’s basically a coward. He won’t fight with us all. We’ll just stick together until he gets tired of being angry and this all blows over. Deal?”

“Deal!” they said in unison.

“Any time you are going out alone, give us a call. If we can’t go with you, don’t go! Oskar and I can take care of ourselves.”

“No deal! It either works both ways, or not at all,” Jack insisted.

Oskar glanced at Eli, “Jack’s right. It needs to be all for one and one for all. Just like the Three Musketeers!” They all crossed imaginary swords.

“You two need to show us where Seth lives. Why don’t we do that now?” Eli started for the door.

Oskar grabbed her by the arm. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” He pointed outside, where the sun was low, but still visible on the horizon. “We need to wait at least a half hour. I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to have your suit on if we run into him.”

Eli paced back and forth. “Where does he normally hang out?”

“I see him over behind the school a lot,” Henry volunteered.

“And over by the old warehouse, smoking with some of his older friends.” Jack said.

“Oskar, see if Papa has a map we can have.” Oskar disappeared down the stairs. He was back almost immediately. “Dad has a whole collection of them in an endtable in the living room. He told me to help myself.” They spread the map out on Oskar’s table.

“Here’s where he lives, and here’s the school. Over here is the warehouse.” Jack pointed to the different locations. Eli marked them down.

“Ok then,” she said, glancing out the window, “Let’s go take a look.”

“Dad, we’re going out for a while, but we’ll be back in about an hour or so,” Oskar yelled as they all went out the front door.

“Don’t go too far. It’ll be dark soon.” Dawson said.

It took them almost 20 minutes to get to the neighborhood of red-brick houses where Seth lived. The area was tired-looking and threadbare, with litter in the streets and an old car with a flat tire up against the high brick fence. The same stream that was so beautiful in their neighborhood degenerated into a muddy trash-filled ditch, running through an empty lot lined with the ghosts of old tenement foundations and littered with garbage, across the street from Seth’s house.

“That’s his house over there, the third from the corner, “Jack whispered.

“Ok. Which way to the school?”

“It’s closer to our neighborhood. I’ll show you on the way back.” He pointed toward the empty lot. “You can just make out the stacks by the warehouse over there. I don’t think we need to go there; we probably wouldn’t make it back in time.”

“Ok, then. Let’s head back. Lead the way, Jack!” Eli said. As they turned, they spotted Seth standing by his front gate, watching them intently. Two other boys were lounging against the fence next to him. Eli hesitated for a moment, then started across the street towards them.

“Eli! Let’s go home!” Oskar hissed, as he hurried to catch up. Jack and Henry held back, but still followed them across the street.

“Hello, Seth. I just know you’ll be relieved to hear that our ducks are doing just fine!”

“You think you’re so smart? You’re in my part of town now. Your mommy’s a long way away, snitch!” He directed this last comment at Jack and Henry. “You’re really stupid to come down here after spreading lies about me.” He turned to the others. “This is the little bitch that they claimed beat me up.” They all laughed.

“Watch your mouth, Seth, or I’ll tell them what happened after Jack and Henry left. Oskar here will back me up.” Oskar stepped up beside her defiantly, and stuck out his hand, “Need a towel?” he grinned at Seth.

“Get the hell out of here or you’ll be sorry!” he snarled. “Come on! Let’s go. We’re late already.” He motioned to the other two boys and they quickly headed down the street.

“Wow! I’ve never seen him act like that before. What’d you do after we left?” Jack asked.

“She pushed him into the pond! He went completely underwater and was totally soaked!”

“Oskar, you weren’t supposed to tell!” Eli was smiling in spite of herself.

Jack looked at her in amazement. “I thought so! You weren’t lucky; you’re just really good! I bet Seth was sorry he ever ran into you!” They all started laughing as they headed back towards the school.

=======

The car pulled into the driveway. It had barely come to a stop when both rear doors opened simultaneously and Oskar and Eli piled out and raced for the house.

“Don’t forget your stuff – and close the car doors!” Dawson called after them. They had just returned from a shopping trip downtown, their first daytime excursion with Eli’s new suit. She actually almost enjoyed all the attention she got. People were so nice and understanding. It was fun looking at all the shops and record stores, but the only thing that interested her was a box of wire puzzles she found in a hobby shop. Oskar bought a couple of ABBA albums he didn’t have, but like Eli, he preferred to window shop and explore.

Eli was already working on one of the puzzles when she heard Oskar put on a record in his room. He stepped in and watched her for a minute, then sat down and started working on one of the puzzles himself. “What do you do with them once you’ve solved them? It must be boring to do them over and over.”

“I hadn’t thought about it. I’ve had the old puzzles for over a hundred years, but I guess boredom is relative. You’d be surprised how much fun these can be if you live in a cave and don’t have anyone to talk to. Now…you’re probably right. I’ll probably do them once and maybe give them to Henry or Jack. There’s too much around here to do that’s more fun!” she smiled at him. “There! This one’s done.” She tossed it up on the dresser under the window. “Let’s see who can do one the fastest!” she handed him one, and picked a new one for herself.

“No fair! You’ve been doing this for over 200 years, and I’m only a child. I’m only12 years old,” he looked at her with an exaggerated pout, “How about a handicap?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… why don’t you try doing it with your eyes closed? That’d be fair. Or are you afraid I’d beat you?”

“Ha! That’ll be the day. You’re on! I’ll close my eyes and you hand one to me.” She scrunched up her eyes and held out her hand.

“Ok, here. No peaking now.” He concentrated on his puzzle, twisting and turning the wires, trying to get them apart. Eli’s fingers were almost a blur as she concentrated with a half-smile on her face.

Just as he gave his the last twist, she shouted, “I got it!” and pitched the two loose pieces up on the dresser, where they bounced against the wall and slid down the back to the floor.
Oskar carefully put his two pieces on the dresser, “You missed! I won!” he taunted.

“That wasn’t the deal.” She protested, “I finished first!”

“How do I know you really finished? For all I know, you tossed it up there before you solved it.”

“I’ll prove it to you!” She got up and headed for the dresser.

“Don’t Eli! Take off your suit first. You’ll tear it. That’s a really heavy dresser.”

“Ok, ok!” She took off the suit, hung it up in the wardrobe, and headed for the dresser, but as she glanced out the window, she saw Seth standing on the sidewalk in front of Jack’s and Henry’s house. Seth looked up and saw her in the window at almost the same time. “Oskar, Seth is outside in front of their house. Go call them and warn them so they don’t go outside.” Oskar quickly headed down the stairs as Eli pulled the dresser out from the wall and stooped down behind it, looking for the puzzle.

She grabbed the puzzle pieces but, just as she stood up, there was an explosion of glass! She felt the pain as hundreds of sharp slivers of glass buried themselves in her back, bounced off the dresser and fell like rain on the floor. A large rock rolled to a stop in the middle of the room. Instantly, she was exposed to the full unfiltered rays of the sun as they poured down on her with a fury. Caught off guard, she screamed in agony, and scrambled to get away, but was momentarily trapped between the heavy dresser and the wall. Blinded by the pain, she put her foot against the top of the dresser, pushed it over and clambered over the top of it, fell and felt the sun’s rays searing her face and chest. She could smell her flesh burning, and fought to remain conscious, just as Oskar rushed into the room. She managed to get to her knees, just as he grabbed a blanket off the bed, threw it over her, snatched her up, stumbled across the hall into his room and slammed the door. Almost immediately, the door burst open and Dawson rushed in. “Oskar! What happened?”

“Her window broke and she was in the sun! You can smell her burning! Is she going to die?!” Dawson picked her up off the floor, put her on Oskar’s bed, and carefully pulled back the blanket. Eli was a mass of blisters and tattered skin. In some places, her skin hung in strips; everywhere else it was bright red, and covered with spots of blood welling up around the splinters of glass that seemed to be everywhere. Her eyes were closed and her body was shaking. “Oskar, go get my bag!” He felt for her pulse. There! Strong and steady! She was breathing fast, and her fists were clenched at her sides.

“Papa? It…hurts so much!” Eli looked up at him, her teeth clenched. Oskar rushed in with the bag.

“What can I do to help you heal yourself?” Dawson whispered.

She swallowed, and closed her eyes. She shook her head slowly. “Nothing. I don’t know if I can…” she said hoarsely. Oskar took her hand and felt her pain. Eli let me help! What can I do? Anything! Please?

Oskar, just stay with me. It hurts so much! Oskar could feel her moving in and out of consciousness through the pain. Eli, don’t go away! Please! Don’t die! Oskar could feel her slipping into the darkness. He held her hand tightly, willing her to stay awake, to no avail. She suddenly disappeared. He was completely and utterly alone – more alone than he had been in his life before. Oskar moaned softly.

“Oskar, she’s just fainted from the pain! Her pulse is still strong, and I see slight signs of healing in progress. She’s going to be fine!” Inside, he wasn’t so sure.

“She’s gone! She’s not here any more! Even when she’s asleep, I can feel her. She’s not there.” Oskar kissed her hand and held it to his cheek. “She never complains about pain! When the moose almost killed her, she didn’t hurt this much! What’s wrong? Where is she?”
“Oskar, I think the sun is the one thing we need to worry about with Eli. I honestly don’t know if she will recover from this nearly as fast as she does from other injuries. I suspect she won’t, actually. I see nowhere near the healing activity I saw after the incident with the moose.”

Oskar?...

“Eli!?” Oskar jumped up and squeezed her hand again. “She’s here. She’s back!” he leaned over her and kissed her on the forehead as she opened her eyes. Dawson opened his bag.

“Eli, I’m only going to remove the pieces of glass. Let me know if this hurts too much and I’ll stop.” Dawson began picking out the slivers as gently as he could with a fine pair of tweezers. There were so many!

After an hour, he thought he had it all. He could see signs that Eli was finally, but slowly beginning to heal. Her skin had smoothed out a bit, even though she was covered with black and blue splotches on her chest and face. Her back was still bright red and sensitive. “Oskar, go get her some food.” He put his arm behind her back and gently raised her up to a sitting position. Oskar handed him the first bag. He quickly removed the clamp and pressed the tube to her lips. After a few moments, she began to drink, slowly at first, then steadily until she finished three bags.

They heard the bell ringing downstairs. “Oskar, go see who that is. I’ll stay with Eli.”

A few minutes later, Oskar came back into the room, a strange, detached look on his face. “That was Jack. He said he saw Seth throwing rocks at the house. His mom went out and Seth ran off. I told him what happened to Eli.”

“Who’s Seth?”

“Just a kid in the neighborhood,” Oskar said quietly. “Eli, are you ok? Are you going to be ok?”

She took his hand, “I’m fine, Oskar. You know you probably saved my life don’t you? If you hadn’t thrown the blanket over me and pulled me out of the room, I don’t know what might have happened. That’s the longest I’ve ever been in the sun before.”

He smiled at her, then looked away, “Dad, can I go talk to Jack? I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

“Sure. Go ahead. I’ll stay with Eli.”

He quickly headed downstairs. Dawson checked Eli’s wounds one more time, and put a fresh blanket over her. “What exactly happened, Eli? Why were you in the sun so long?”

“I was moving the dresser to get a puzzle that dropped behind it and when the window broke, I was caught between the wall and the dresser. By the time I pushed it over, I just…”

Eli suddenly sat up straight in bed. “Papa, you have to stop him! He’s going to do something stupid. He’s going after Seth!”

“Eli, Oskar wouldn’t do that. He’s a sensible kid. He knows that we’ll get to the bottom of this and Seth will be handled…”

“You don’t understand! I heard him! He’s going to get himself hurt because of me. He’s not thinking.” She started to get out of bed.

“Stay where you are! I’m not going to run the risk of loosing you both again. I’ll go look for him. The sun is still out, remember.”

“Take Jack with you. He knows where Seth lives,” she called after him as he hurried down the stairs.

Just as he started out the door, he noticed his cricket bat was no longer hanging on the wall next to the fireplace. Oh Oskar! He hurried across the street. Jack was standing on the front porch.

“Jack, I think Oskar’s gone after Seth. Can you come with me and show me where Seth lives?”

“Ok!” He quickly joined Dawson on the sidewalk. “Sir, Seth will really hurt him! He’s a good foot taller than Oskar. He’ll be all alone and Seth is really mad at all of us. Why would he do that?” they started down the street quickly.

“Jack, he really loves Eli, and Seth, by breaking the window and cutting her with the glass, also exposed her to the direct sunlight. She’s burned pretty badly. Oskar, at least for a moment, thought she might die.”

=======

Oskar was filled with rage. He had never felt this way before, even with Jonny. That was just about him; this was Eli. That f…ing animal had almost killed her! There was no way this would ever happen again! He was going to put an end to him now! He held the bat tightly in both hands and swung it over his head, as his anger grew. All he could see was that a…hole laughing at Eli with his stupid friends. Well, they’d better stay out of my way, or they’ll get some of this too! He quickened his pace.

He rounded the corner, and headed down Seth’s street. Sure enough, all three of them were outside the fence, smoking and laughing. He held the bat down in front of him with both hands as he strode rapidly towards them. All he could see was Seth.

Seth looked up as Oskar approached. “Well, look who’s here! That little cunt’s baby brother. Did she hear me coming this time, or did I catch her by surprise?” he taunted. He stepped towards Oskar.

Without breaking stride, Oskar swung the bat as hard as he could as he bore down on him. Seth’s face was framed against a blood-red sky, as Oskar’s anger and all his strength was contained completely in that swing. The edge of the bat caught Seth just below his left shoulder. There was a sharp crack as the bat met bone and Seth bounced back against the brick fence. As he scrambled to his feet, Oskar swung again; the flat side of the bat connected with Seth’s head with a meaty smack. His hand went to his ear as he went down again. The other two made a move towards him, as he brought the bat back for another swing. “Get the hell out of here or I’ll kill you both!” Oskar screamed at them. “I just want him!” They stepped back, startled by Oskar’s intensity. He swung again, but Seth rolled over and just caught a glancing blow on the back. He whimpered in pain, stumbled to his feet and headed for the gate, his left arm hanging by his side and his right hand against his head. Blood was oozing through his fingers. Oskar brought the bat back for another swing as the faces of all his past tormenters swam before his eyes and merged into the retreating form in front of him. I want you dead! You’ve taken the last thing from me you’re ever going to get! His swing was suddenly stopped short, and he felt a strong grip on his wrist.

“Oskar!! Stop!” Dawson wrenched the bat out of his hands and grabbed him, pinning his arms to his sides. The blood-red sky gradually faded with the fury as Oskar watched Seth fumble with the gate latch, and finally stumble into his yard, out of sight. The other two were just disappearing around the fence at the end of the block. Oskar went limp in Dawson’s arms and dissolved in tears. Dawson relaxed his grip, and Oskar stepped away, refusing to look at him. Instead, he focused on the bat, lying at his feet.

“I’m not sorry! I’ll never be sorry!” he sobbed, and headed for home without looking back.

“Jack, please stick as close to him as you can. I have to see if I can help Seth.” He handed the bat to Jack. “Take this over to your house for now. Tell your Mom what happened, and see if she’ll check in on Eli and Oskar for me until I get back. He watched as Jack hurried after Oskar. He turned and walked through the gate.

======

As hard as he tried, Jack didn’t catch up with Oskar until they were almost home. “Oskar, is Eli going to be all right? Is she hurt bad?”

Oskar turned and looked at him for a moment, then continued on without saying anything. Jack followed him in the house and up the stairs. He left the bat on the front porch; he felt uneasy carrying it, remembering what it had just done.

“Oskar, are you all right?” Jack could hear Eli’s voice floating down the stairs as they approached the landing.

As Jack reached the top of the stairs, he could see bits of glass glittering on the floor just inside Eli’s room. He paused and shut her door before following Oskar into his room. Oskar was already sitting next to her on the bed with his arm around her. Jack gasped as he caught sight of Eli’s face; it was a mass of black, blue and red splotches. “Gosh, Eli! You look terrible! Does it hurt much?”

She smiled at him. “I’m ok. It just looks bad! Where’s Papa? Did you go with him?” she asked.

“He’s ok. He’s helping Seth. Oskar beat him up with a cricket bat. You should have seen it! Things have certainly gotten exciting around here since you two moved in.” He looked at her admiringly. “Boy, that’s got to hurt!”

“You should see my back,” she said, as she started to take off her shirt.

“Eli!” Oskar grabbed her hand and turned red.

“Oops! Sorry!” she giggled. She turned her back and raised her shirt up, revealing black and blue streaks, sprinkled with what looked like chicken pox. “That’s where Papa took out all the pieces of glass.”

“Wow!” he said admiringly, “That looks awful!” He took on a more serious tone, “Are you going to be ok? Dr. Dawson wanted me to send Mom over to look in on you, so I’d better go on home.” He started for the door.

“Jack? Thanks for going with Papa. And thanks for bringing Oskar home.”

He blushed, “Actually I just followed him home…but you’re welcome,” he turned and bumped into the door frame on his way out. “Sorry,” he mumbled as he disappeared around the corner.

“Oskar, I was so worried! You promised you wouldn’t take chances anymore.”

“I’m sorry Eli. When I saw you and felt how much pain you were in, and all because of …him. I couldn’t help it. I’ve never felt that way before. Let me get you some more food.” He quickly stepped into her room, grabbed a bag and sat down beside her again. She drank it gratefully as she lay back down on the bed, and smiled up at him.

They heard the door open, then footsteps on the stairs. “Papa! Are you ok? Did you see Seth’s dad?” Eli said anxiously.

Dawson came into the room and sat down on the window seat. “I’m fine, Eli.” He looked at her face carefully, then lifted her shirt and looked at her back. “This is going to take a while to heal. It’s not at all like your usual injuries. Even the glass injuries haven’t healed yet. Oskar and I need to have a talk. Can I borrow him for a few minutes?”

She nodded. “Papa, please don’t be angry with him. He didn’t mean to.”

Dawson smiled at her. “Let’s go Oskar,” he closed the door behind him and directed Oskar into Eli’s room. The glass crunched under their shoes as they walked over and sat on Eli’s window seat. He saw the overturned dresser, the jagged remains of her favorite window, puzzles strewn all over the floor and smears of blood near the door where Oskar had half-carried and dragged her into his room. “Oskar, looking around Eli’s room I can understand what it must have been like for you when you came in. I understand why you got so angry. I’m frankly surprised, but I understand. But you have to try to keep this from happening ever again. You’re going to be twelve for a long time and you need to learn to control yourself better.” He grabbed Oskar firmly by the shoulders. “Oskar, you might have killed him! What do you think that would have done to Eli? She was already frantic worrying about you. Isn’t she in enough pain already that you have to add to it by getting yourself arrested for assault? Or Murder? In the worst case scenario, they could find out who you really are! You’d never see her again!” He knew he was being hard on him, but he had to make him understand. He also knew that Eli could hear everything they were saying. She needed to hear this too.

Oskar had tears in his eyes, “I don’t even know what happened. I got madder and madder and then it was like I was someone else. All I could see was Seth and I hated him. I wanted to…” he put his face in his hands. “I’m sorry!” he shook his head. “I’ve been saying that a lot lately. Maybe I should have waited till I grew up a little before I infected myself. Now I’m going to be an idiot forever.”

“Oskar, please come to me before you do anything like that again. You have to trust me! You know I’ll make things right.”

“How’s Seth?”

“It wasn’t as bad as it looked. I calmed his Dad down and we made an…arrangement. I’m paying all his Doctor’s bills, plus a bit more to help them out at home. I don’t think there’ll be any more problems from Seth. Especially when I told his Dad what he did to Eli, and what the charges would be if he caused any more trouble.”

Oskar got up and began picking up Eli’s puzzles and carefully placing them on her table. Together, they swept the glass into a pile, set the dresser upright and pushed it back against the wall. When they were finished, Oskar put his arms around his Dad and squeezed. He knew there was nothing he could say at this point that would matter. He just knew he had to change, to become more grown up. He owed that to them both.

“Now, you go on in and take care of Eli. I’ll cover the window and get someone up here tomorrow to clean up the room. It’ll take a while to replace the glass though. I can’t just buy it at the closest DIY store.” He watched as Oskar hurried across the hall and closed the door behind him.

He walked over to Eli and hugged her tightly. “I love you so much! Even though I mess up all the time.” He kissed her, and went in to take a shower. He thought about what had happened. Living his fantasy hadn’t been as satisfying as he thought it would be. He felt ashamed, dirty somehow. In fact he felt as if he had been selfish yet again. What, in his fantasy, he thought he was doing for her, he was really doing for himself – for all the years he hadn’t done it before. He went into the room and climbed into bed. Eli pulled him to her and hugged him tightly. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek. Exhausted, they quickly fell asleep together.

When she woke up later in the darkness, he was sitting up looking at her lovingly. “I’m afraid of you.” He said softly. “I can never do enough for you. There’s never enough. I feel like there is something I just have to give you, but whenever I try, it’s not nearly enough.”

“Oskar, you’ve given me more than I’ve ever had before in my life. I feel like you are the only thing that can keep me from the darkness that’s been a part of my life for so long. I feel it just behind you, waiting for a chance to take me back. It’s only completely gone when you’re in my mind, loving me. I’m afraid of you, too. I’m afraid you’ll go away, and I’ll be lost again forever.”

He lay down beside her, and gently pulled her to him. They held each other, his cheek pressing against hers. He reached back and pulled the blanket over their heads, and felt the heat of their bodies as the space around them gradually became toasty warm. He imagined they were completely safe and protected from the world by their love and warmth inside their little cocoon. Eli smiled at him in his mind and her love enveloped him. At this precious moment, they were everything in the whole world that they needed.