Chatper 5: Getting acquainted"The stars were bright --Oskar Eriksson Tuesday, November 24th It was 7:30 in the morning; the sun will rise in about a half hour. Oskar and Eli where in the living room watching TV. They successfully went back to the sporthall and carried the trunk to the house three hours before. They looked around the house for something that would enable them to transport the trunk to the house. They could find nothing around the house. Oskar came up with an idea to search the next door neighbor's garage. They went outside and where in front of what they thought was a garage. It was actually some kind of shack and it was bigger than your typical one. They both quietly searched the area and could find no way in. Oskar decided to twist the door knob and see what happens, it turned out that it wasn't locked. They rummaged the room and found one of those wagons kids usually have in one of the corners of the room. Oskar pulled on the wagon while walking to the sporthall and Eli followed. They both lifted the trunk and placed it onto the wagon. It managed to fit without being too big or small for it. Oskar pulled, Eli followed, and they carried the trunk into the house once they were outside the door. "Guess we should get you into the bathtub." "Yeah, looks like the morning will be here soon." Oskar got up and walked into the kitchen, Eli stayed in the living room, she seemed to be enjoying the cartoon. He looked around the kitchen hoping to find something that would be sufficient enough to block out the sunlight in the bathroom. He opened up one of the cabinets and found black trash bags, "Perfect", he thought. He walked up the stairwell and knocked on the woman's door. "What do you want?" "Do you have tape of any kind?" "Yeah, give me a second." The woman had scotch tape. She walked over to her dresser and grabbed a hold of the tape. She was about to turn, walk over to the door and give it to Oskar. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming amount of fear. She imagined that if she opened the door, Oskar was going to stab her. She started to panic, still indecisive on if she should stand still or drag her feet and walk toward the door. She opened up one of the drawers and grabbed a scissor. Oskar knocked on the door again. "Hello, miss? I just need some tape." The woman started to walk over to the door; she had a tighter grip on the scissor, preparing herself for an attack. The scissor was in her left hand, the tape in the right, and she opened up the door with the hand the tape was in. The door rapidly swung wide open and the woman held the scissor in the air, as though she was about to bring the hand down and stab Oskar. Oskar jumped back with both hands over his face, "Whoa, whoa, calm down!! I just asked for some tape. Did you actually think I was coming to kill you?" "You tried it once before. What do you expect." "What do I expect? I expect that you give me something to hold the trash bag over the bathroom window. I wasn't really going to kill you. I just needed to scare you a little, looks like it worked." The lady gave Oskar the tape and slammed the door in his face. *8:30 Oskar had helped Eli get into the bathtub; he was sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for the woman. A few minutes later the woman walked down the stairwell and when she met Oskar's gaze, the two of them stared each other down like two gunfighters at the O.K. corral. The woman walked closer to where Oskar was sitting, standing a few feet away from him, she said, "So..." "So....nice home you have." "Thank you. I am sorry for slamming the door before. This is all..... I don't know...... unreal." "Yes, it's a bit ironic, I know. Someone comes into your home trying to kill you, and the next thing you know, you're having breakfast with the person." The woman let out a laugh; she was becoming less frightened by him. She thought that he was brighter than your average 12 year old, already knew what irony was. "Would you like some scrambled eggs and toast?" "Yes, I'd love to have some." While the woman was at the stovetop cooking their breakfast, Oskar asked, "Can I have some bacon too? My Mom used to make eggs, toasts, and bacon for me a lot." "Sure". He started to think of his Mom. If he was at home, this is the exact scene that would have happened. His Mom would be cooking breakfast and he would be at the table reading the comics from the morning newspaper. His eyes started to widen and they became real glassy, as though he was ready to cry. The woman was done cooking; she turned around to give Oskar his plate, stopped, and then asked, "What's the matter? You look upset." Oskar sighed and said, "It's my Mom, I really miss her." "What happened to her?" "Nothing, I just can't go home..... ever." The woman looked at him, she wanted to say something but didn’t. She sat down at the table across from him and gave Oskar his plate. They sat there and began to eat; there was total silence for about five minutes as they were eating. The woman said, "What have you done that is bad enough that you can't ever see her again?" "Something terrible. Actually, I didn't do anything. I just happened to be in a bad spot." "Let me guess, that girl had something to do with it." "She had everything to do with it, people died." "Died... who were they?" "This kid Jonny and his brother Jimmy, but they had it coming. Jonny and his friends almost killed me one time by hanging my body over the train tracks and they didn't pull me back until a split second later. They often picked on me and I never did anything to them, not one damn thing!! Then, the one time I defend myself, his brother decides to seek vengeance by trying to poke out one of my eyes." He paused for a moment, trying to recollect himself before carrying on with his conversation with the woman. "This guy named Lacke died too. I spotted him in Eli's bathroom, trying to lift up the cardboard that covered the window. Eli sensed something and killed him because he was planning to harm her." "She is really a vampire, isn't she?" "Yes, for over two hundred years." "Looks like I will not be taking my normal, morning shower." "It looks that way". The woman stared at him, completely flabbergasted by everything he just told her. She couldn’t help but let a tear out for him, she found herself feeling more sympathetic for him. "I am going to call out of work today, do you want to go to the park for a little bit?" "Yeah, sure. But I need to sleep for a few hours, I didn't last night." *5:45 Oskar fell asleep for about nine hours. Since leaving Blackeberg his sleeping patterns became very erratic, some days he slept only a few hours and other days he was able to fit 7-8 hours in. The first thing he noticed since he has been awake was the smell coming from the kitchen, the lady was making Swedish meatballs. He walked into the kitchen; the lady turned around and he said, "Smells good. Need any help?" "Thanks, I'm okay though." He sat himself down at the kitchen table and watched the lady prepare dinner for what she would assume was for the three of them. She put Kaiser Rolls in a bread basket, mixed greens in a large wooden bowl. She started to cut cherry tomatoes in half and put them in the bowl. She sliced red onions in a crescent shape and put them in as well. She went into the refrigerator and took out feta cheese and sweet balsamic vinaigrette. Eli woke up from the bathtub fifteen minutes later, she could hear Oskar and the lady talking but she didn’t pay attention to what they were talking about. She looked into the mirror; she could tell the sickness was beginning to show. Her eyes drooped a little, tiny wrinkles formed around parts of her cheeks, and her lips were chapped. By tomorrow the white streaks in her hair will begin to appear and her skin will start to dry up. She looked into the mirror with an empty look; she made no facial movements and continued to look directly at her eyes. She stuck her right hand out so that the hand touched the mirror. She used her index and middle finger and glides them across the mirror as if she is caressing it. Within seconds, she saw images of Norrköping—her older siblings, the cottage, and her Father. She is playing outdoors with her older brother and sister. She helps her Father collect wood for the fire they set every night during the colder months. She pulled her fingers away from the mirror, a few seconds later; she saw her mom's reflection. It looked as though her mom was standing right behind her. Her mom was playing with her hair, stroking it and twirling it with her hand. "Mama, is that you?" The other images have happened before, it seemed to appear every time she was under complete distress, or when she hears the calling; it's when she can hear her mom's voice. When she arrived at her tombstone, she experienced a foreboding, sent by her mother whenever she was in danger. She looked around the bathroom, everything started to look fuzzy and she felt real dizzy. "Eli, Elll-llliii. Come home, come home my dear." It was her, her mom telling her to come home, again. Ever since her death, Eli has heard the call two times before. She put both of her hands around the side of the bathroom sink, keeping them separated by a couple of inches. She put her head down and a few seconds later she heard a voice, a raspy one. It said ominously, "Maj du aldrig se det ljus av dag". She heard it again and again, and each time the sound remained the same, it didn’t fade or get any louder. She lifts her head, turning it to the left and to the right, it didn’t sound like the voice was coming from the sides of her. She looked straight into the mirror by sticking her neck out, as though she was trying to jump in and saw a light gray smoke form, "Maj du aldrig se det ljus av dag". This time the voice was whispered and she felt worse than before. She felt massively starved and pulled herself back from the mirror a little bit. The smoke started to fill the mirror and she looked bug-eyed. It started to clear and she saw a long wooden table, at the far end there was a dark figure. The figure seemed to be wearing nothing but a solid black robe, like the ones a priest would wear. She didn’t know what was underneath; whatever it was it had the head pointed down and was wearing a hood. The smoke fully disappeared and you could see the hands. They were long and bony, and the fingernails were painted black. She saw that both hands were curled up. The left hand raises, in a swift motion the hand opens up, and a pair of large white dice bounces off the table and rolled a few times. Eli knew exactly who it was. In a deep male voice, it said, "Well hello, Elias. Or is it Eli that you call yourself now." She immediately jumped back from the mirror in sheer terror and said, "I thought you were dead!?!?" Both hands were over the hood, the hood came off, a black, long and heavy set of hair appeared. The head lifts up and it was a man with chalk white skin, deep indentations in both of his cheeks and blue eyes, they almost look crystallized the way they shine. He still looked youthful, even after all those years that have passed since they first met. "Dead?" In a demonic tone he said, "Aaa-ha-ha..... Aaa-ha-ha." They looked at each other, Eli then went for the door but it was locked. She turned around and the man is gesturing with his fingers, telling her to come back. "I can never die. I am.... forever." Eli encountered the man once before, one hundred years ago. He offered her to come with him, said that she can be as powerful as she wanted to be. She refused and continued to survive on her own, learning new skills as she went along. A black python slithered itself around his neck, hissing vehemently at her by sticking its' tongue out. The man had a red apple in his hand, he bit down into it, swallowed it, cleared his throat and said, "I am the evil that is inside you.... the parasite that lives in you... the blooding thirsting rage. But.... what am I that you are not.... the immortal being that can never be destroyed." She inhaled and exhaled deeply, clenched her teeth and then yelled, "Go away!!...... I don't want to be like you!!" "Mommy isn't going to save you every time. Stop trying to be the good one and get yourself a servant." The man stood still now, in seconds the table burst into flames and the man let out a sinister laugh, "Aaha-ha-ha - Aaha-ha-ha...... see you next time." The fire spreads even larger and Eli thought that the entire mirror was really on fire. She jumped back and pressed her back up against the wall. She looked around in complete dismay, subconsciously telling herself, "It's only a dream". She opened up her eyes and it was not a dream, everything is the same as it was. She was still up against the wall, terrified of the man. She gently fell to the floor and started to lose consciousness. She slowly crawled toward the bath tub, turned around, sat down on her buttocks and pressed her back against the side of the bathtub. Her eyes scanned the area but with her eyelids closing, she couldn’t stay awake.... *half hour later Oskar and the woman were setting up the table. Oskar put the bread basket in the center and the woman placed the meatballs to the left and the salad to the right. All the utensils were already set and he thought to himself, "Where's Eli". He went upstairs to check on her. He knocked on the bathroom door and said, "Eli, is everything okay?" No answer, Eli is lying motionless on the floor. "Eli..... say something." Still no reply and Oskar knocked harder on the door, twisting the door knob but it's locked. "Eli, Eli, Eli!!" The woman ran upstairs and asked him what's wrong. He told her that the door is locked and that she is in the room but won't say anything. The woman got the key from her bedroom, walked back and opened up the bathroom door. "Eli!!! wake up, wake up!!" Oskar grabbed her by the shoulders and shakes her; trying to wake her up. After a couple more attempts, one of her eyelids opened up, and then the other opened. "You're okay!! What happened?" She looked around the room as if she didn’t know where she was. "I.... don't know. The last thing I remember was looking into the mirror, then I suddenly felt real sick. It was like I couldn't stand on my own two feet any longer." They slowly brought Eli to her feet and guided her down the stairs. When they all sat down at the kitchen table, Eli showed no interest in eating with them. She pushed her plate to the side and stared at Oskar as though he should say something but the woman beat him to it and asked, "You don't eat, or is it that you can't?" "I can't, I live off blood. Remember?" "Yes I know, but I thought that maybe there can be some kind exception to the rule." "As far as I know, there is none." The woman was sipping on a glass of Merlot and Eli looked as though she was salivating from the blood red color of the wine. Oskar knew the look. He said, "Excuse me, but you never told me your name?" "My name is Greta, Greta Persson." "Greta, we need your help." "What is it?" "We are going to have to draw some blood from you." Greta sounded apprehensive when she said, "Does this mean I am going to die now?" Eli interjected and said, "No. It would be helpful if you could fill my glass with your blood." "How much, like a full glass?" "It doesn't have to be filled to the top, although, that would be lovely." Greta decided to do it. She walked over to one of the drawers and pulled out the sharpest knife she had. She walked over to Eli, hands the knife to her, and closed her eyes. Eli made her curl her forearm back so that it would be easier for the blood to drip into the cup. She cut underneath the elbow just like she did with Tommy and Lars. Oskar watched as the blood dripped into the glass. Greta opened up one of her eyelids every few seconds, hoping that it would be over with soon. Eli placed one of her hands around the wound and squeezed so that the blood could drip into the glass at a faster rate. It didn’t help very much because the cut was not very deep. She cut into the wound a little deeper and when she squeezed again, the process picked up speed. When the glass was a little more than half full, Greta pulled her arm back and said, "I feel really woozy, I need to sit down. I hope this is enough." "Yes. This will do." She sat down at the table with her hand over the wound. Some blood managed to miss the glass and spilled onto the floor. Eli didn’t want to waste a single drop; she got down on her knees and licked the floor while Oskar and Greta watched. Greta's eyebrows raised as her eyes widen, she leaned so far back from her seat that the front end of the chair lifted slightly off the ground. Eli started to look angry and said, "Stop looking at me that way. Do I have five heads or something!?" "I am sorry. I have never seen someone do that before." Eli wiped the blood off her lips, smiled, and said, "I'm sorry. I don't like it when people look at me like I came from another planet. I am a person too." "I know, a beautiful one at that. It's just that, you don't hear about vampires in Sweden. You hear more about them in other parts of the world." "I once had a chance to leave, but I decided to stay here." Eli finished her glass with three big gulps. Within a few minutes the dark shadows underneath her eyes lightened and they didn’t sag as much, the wrinkles on her face dissipated, and her lips appeared glossier, not chapped as before. Greta looked on in amazement and said, "How have you managed to survive for so long?" "I've killed a lot of people, for the most part." Greta looks stunned and couldn’t find the words to form another question. With her blood stained lips, Eli said, "I think we should take care of that cut, some blood is dripping onto the floor." Before Greta and Eli went upstairs to use the bathroom, Eli licked the remaining blood off from the floor. Oskar insisted on cleaning the kitchen. The two of them were in the bathroom. Greta told Eli that she has some alcohol and gauze pads in one of the drawers. Eli took a cloth from the bathroom, poured some of the alcohol on it and pressed it against the wound. Blood was still oozing out even after her attempts to cover it with the gauze pads. "Looks like you cut a little too deep. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." "It's okay. You any good at stitching?" "I have done it a few times". Greta told Eli to go into her room; she had the scissor in there, and a sowing needle. In the basement there was a fishing rod, she told her to cut a piece off from it. Greta kept all her husbands personal belongings in the basement. Eli came back with all of the supplies. She flushed the wound out with water for about 3 minutes and then poured some of the alcohol on it. Next, she threaded the needle with the fishing line. Eli began to stitch the wound up and after they were done, she asked if she could take a shower. Greta went into her room and rested for a while. *10:30 Oskar and Eli where in the empty room, they wrestled for a little and then played I spy by looking out the window and having each other guess exactly what it was their little eye saw. Eli was not very good; she couldn't describe the things around her half as well as Oskar could. After they finished playing, Eli asked, "What do you think of Greta?" "She seems nice, I like her. She has that motherly look." "Yeah. She seems very motherly. She kind of looks like Alice from Alice in Wonderland, only older, a lot older." "I can see that too. They do look somewhat alike. How do you know about that story?" "Oskar, come on, I have been alive for over two hundred years. When you're trapped inside someone's home, the only thing you really can do is read." "Alice had one crazy adventure. Too bad it was all a dream." "Hmmmm, too bad my life is one never-ending crazy adventure. Sometimes, I wish my life was nothing but a dream." Oskar didn’t respond back, he just stared at Eli. "I'm going downstairs to see what she is up to, are you coming?" "No, I am going to stay here for a moment." He walked over to the window and focused his attention on what Eli said about wishing that life was nothing but a dream. He said to himself, "Have I been doing that? Living in my own world?" He thinks about his fantasies, the ones filled with murder. The game in which he thinks of himself as a murderer had no real value to him anymore. "That was in Blackeberg, I don't live there anymore." The images of him loathing in his first kill started to sicken him. "That's not who I am". For the first time since they died he thought about Jimmy and Jonny. He never really had intentions on killing them, it was entertaining to think about, but he could never actually go along with it. He wanted Mr. Avila to help him with the various work out routines so that he could get big and strong and beat the crap out of anyone who gave him a hard time. Oskar the body builder, Oskar the strongest man in the universe, that's what he was aiming for, ultimately. He wondered if they were in heaven, if there even is a heaven. He has heard about how people go to heaven if they lived a good life, a righteous one. Is that where they went? He thought if anyone went to hell, it was going to be Jimmy. He was into drugs, crime, and hung around a rowdy crew, the type that will instigate a fight for no reason. He could hear the bagpipes playing for Jonny inside his head, and with that he said, "Rest in peace". He looked up at the sky, it was a clear night and the stars seemed to twinkle a little brighter on this night. He opened up the window because he started to feel sick to his stomach. He backed away and walked around the room with his hands pressed against his stomach. A swarm of black flies flew through the window and circled around the room opposite to where he was standing. He heard a dark, ominous voice. It sounded baleful as death, "Come Oskar..... come with me." He slowly bends down, rolled his body to the right, and shriveled up with his arms folded together like only a child would do. He closed his eyes and saw nothing but blackness........ After a brief period, he saw a castle; it was the same one as in the flashback. Everything started to brighten, he saw the man, the room, the same as in the flashback. He said, "Oskar, I can give you everything you want. All you have to do is turn for me. Come..... come away with me." He didn’t understand what was going on. He wanted to open up his eyes but it felt like they were sown shut. He moved his body around as though he is convulsing, he couldn’t even manage to lift his body up off the ground. He felt a cold sensation run through his body, it's like his blood is ice cold. He felt paralyzed, but calmer, as the ice cold feeling passed throughout all parts of his body. He saw what appeared to be a montage: ....He sees Eli in her wingless creature form and she mutilates the bodies by using her claws to hack their arms off.... ....He sees Jonny's and Jimmy's head chopped off, sinking to the bottom of the pool.... ....She is in her bodily form, naked, cleansed by splashing the pool water onto herself before she helps Oskar return to the surface.... He started freaking out, "Open!.... open up my fucking eyes!" He still couldn’t open them. He heard laughing in the background, it sounded pervasive, echoing throughout the entire room. He saw something else, something much worse. All he saw were neon lights speeding past him; they were shining every color in the spectrum. Everything fades away and he felt paralyzed again. He saw dark clouds swirling around and the man appeared before it. The clouds parted ways and they were back in the dungeon. Oskar saw himself running toward the man. He was jerking his body around as though that was going to stop himself from running. The man grabbed Oskar's face by using two hands; he looked deep into his eyes, licking his lips, drove his mouth toward Oskar's neck and bites down. Then, Oskar felt something venomous enter his bloodstream. He was gasping for air; it felt like his lungs were being crushed. He felt his heart slowly give way, and for a few minutes, he was dead. He saw his life flash before his eyes: His birth.... mom.... dad.... the times they were a family.... the times thereafter.... everything before the massacre, before Eli.... his own tombstone. He opened up his eyes and they were blood red. He gave the man a joyous smile and the man helped him to his feet. The man opened up a giant black door that was in the room, it opened, and there were two people chained up. The feet and hands were chained together. They seemed to be wearing some kind of gagging device that was strapped onto their face. The man whistled and out came the funny fat man. He was dancing around maniacally while dragging the two victims toward the man. The man walked toward one of the victims, it was a woman. He lifts her up from the ground and looked at Oskar. He said, "This is how you do it". He bit into the woman's neck and sucked on the blood for a while, then he snapped her neck. Oskar walked aimlessly toward the second victim, a man. Without any hesitation, he does exactly what the man taught him and when he was finished, the man said, "Good job". The scene abruptly ended and they were at a graveyard. It was very dark; it was so clouded out that you couldn’t see the stars and the moon. There was an eerie mist floating throughout the graveyard, it was neon green, but the color was not as pronounced, like an episode from Scooby-Doo. It was very cold out, he could feel it. He could hear the wind howl against the lifeless trees as he looked around the site. There was nothing but tombstones, big and small, and a bunch of dirt trails. He didn’t recognize the name on the tombstone, it read, Helena Lindberg: 1728 - 1761. He asked who the person was and the man replied, "You'll end up like her". The man laughed like he was the devil and with a snap of the finger, he disappeared. Oskar could open up his eyes and everything was black. He thought he has gone blind, he could feel his eyes move but the eyes didn't seem to form a picture, it just stayed black. He screamed to himself, "I'm blind, I'm blind!" He started to cough and felt like vomiting. He coughed and coughed, so hard that he thought that if he coughed any harder, he will cough out his lungs. He opened up his mouth as though he wants the vomit to come out, but nothing happened. He tasted something on his tongue, something he can't describe because he had never experienced it. Bitter was the only word that came to mind and it made him gag a little more. He swirled his tongue around, hoping to get rid of the nasty taste that seemed to linger. He couldn’t swoosh his saliva around because his mouth was dry, it's not like it would have made any difference. He said to himself, "It tastes like death". He started to crawl his way toward one of the walls; he felt it, trying to look for the light switch. He couldn’t seem to feel it, and so he got on all fours and crawled the opposite way until he reached the wall. He felt the switch and turned it on. His eyes immediately feel as though they are burning and he shields away from the light by lifting up his left forearm and covering his eyes. After a few minutes, he felt better and opened them. He could keep them open and he blinked a few times. He walked toward the window, looked at the sky and it was cloudy out, same as the graveyard scene. He looked on with terror as he saw the resemblance. He turned around and walked out of the room, down the stairs, and saw that Eli and Greta were sitting on the couch talking. "We took this picture the same day my husband bought the house." They didn't hear Oskar go down the stairs and he thought to himself, "Crap". His bag was in the living room; he intended on throwing out his scrapbook and didn't want them to see it. He hid behind the wall and told himself that if he kills, he's doing it for Eli, so she can live. He stayed behind the wall for just a few minutes longer. They looked like mother and daughter. It was the first time that he noticed how Eli seemed to be interested in someone other than himself. It didn’t bother him at all, he relished on the scene a little longer before making his appearance. He finally walked in and Greta greeted him, Eli did the same. "Come sit with us, I was telling Eli about the photos." Oskar sat between the two of them and asked, "Greta, how come you don't have any kids?" Greta's body tensed up, she didn’t look like the same happy person just a few minutes ago. "I never tried again". "What do you mean never tried again?" "A few years ago my husband and I planned to have a baby, I was two months pregnant before the miscarriage. We tried once more, and it never worked out. We decided to adopt a child, but my husband died before that could happen. I swear, sometimes I feel like I am cursed." Eli's eyes brightened up when she heard Greta say that. She asked, "What happened to your husband?" "He died in a car accident. Late one night he was coming home from a friend's house, he fell asleep behind the wheel and drove the car off a cliff as he was making a sharp turn." "I'm sorry to hear that". For a moment, Oskar had a cruel sense of humor and laughed inside his head as he saw the man drive his car off a cliff. He thought Greta's line was from a comedy movie-- a car, driving off the cliff, a man is sleeping while it's happening. He quickly blinked his eyes as though he was back in reality. He understands the severity of the situation now. He tried to think of something to say. He went with, "What was his name?" "Karl". Greta let out laughter as she said his name. It sounded as though she was trying to mask the real emotion that was inside; the one filled with heartache and despair. "Karl, Karlstad, funny how it's associated with sunshine. That's what he brought to my life, sunshine and happiness." Eli stretched the muscles in her face; the contours on her cheeks formed different shapes as she moved her lips around. "Do think you'll ever find love again?" "I already found it my dear. Even in death, Karl will always be with me. I don't need another man in my life." Greta got up from the couch, walked over to the fireplace, and started a fire for them. When she returned to her seat, Oskar asked, "I was wondering, if things take a little longer for me and Eli to decide where to go next, can we stay here?" "You guys can stay here as long as you need to. If you want, this can be our home. I am not going anywhere else." * 3:00AM The three of them where still by the fireplace. They watched the wood burn and the fire switch from a high rise flame to a low rise flame. Oskar and Eli took turns keeping the fire going when it looked like it was about to die off. Greta felt tired and went up the stairs to go to her room. The two of them stayed close by the fire for the entire night. |
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Infected Art & Fiction |