Let the Long Night End (Complete)

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SpartanAltego
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by SpartanAltego » Sat Dec 09, 2017 3:56 am

gkmoberg1 wrote:Apologies for being such a sloth of recent. Greetings to you! And what a story! Such a terrific start. Your examination of Oskar's world, post Blackeberg, mirror lines that I've taken as well as of course all who've worked into the same whether on the discussion threads or here in the fanficzone.

I would love to learn your Oskar's reflection of those three silent days between Eli's first flight from Blackeberg and then his reappearance at the pool. That time, the stage being empty with the loss of the main character who had come so fully into his life. Yet, the sequences you have him work through - about what life with Eli would mean, examining the loneliness of his situation as well as Eli's, all this is terrific and a bit terrifying to put on one young child.

Do continue!
That final moment on the train, to me, always seemed like the eye of a hurricane. Oskar and Eli have left Blackeberg and all its troubles behind for good, but are headed right on the path to new turmoil one way or another. It's still a happy ending to me despite it all, but I always got the feeling that the two should enjoy the peace while it lasts - because nothing lasts forever. The first chapter is really meant to strike that emphasis between the happiness he feels when they are together, but the loneliness and anguish he feels when Eli must go away again. It's like he's been sucker-punched twice, maybe thrice over: Eli comes into his life, then has to leave. Eli returns into his life (and saves it!) and they run away together, but Eli again has to go away...for far, far longer than three days. It's Daisy and the Ball; Eli just keeps getting yanked away.

Oskar is stronger than he gives himself credit for, but he's still just a kid, especially in those flashbacks. A kid who knew what he was getting into, made his choice, but still can't help the pain that comes with it. How he learned to cope - and continue to cope, as the story progresses - is a major part of his character arc. It could be said to be the main theme of the story, for all three of our lonely 'heroes.' How to cope with loss, loneliness, how to love yourself and therefore better love others. That it's okay to hope for a better tomorrow, again and again, even if it never comes.

I like to imagine love as being a house that is always under construction. Sometimes it takes a wrecking ball and collapses, but then you go back in and start clearing the wreckage, making new rooms, piecing things together in new and old ways. Like Eli's puzzle egg: the right (or wrong) actions can break it apart, but time and dedication can reconstruct the pieces into something beautiful again. And at its heart, something priceless.

And now, the teaser for the next chapter. Meet Levi, another cursed youth who has yet to find his own Right One...

- - - - - - - - - - -

Let the Long Night End
Part II
I’ve Got You Under My Skin


I’ve got you under my skin
I’ve got you deep in the heart of me
So deep in my heart
That you’re really a part of me
I’ve got you under my skin.

“In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.”
– Revelation 9:6



1983, Christmas Eve: Michigan

A young man sloughs through the snow, naked save for the travelling bag he kept secure on his shoulders. His breath fogged in the still, cold air, and although his skin was frost-bitten and stiff he did not deter from his course. The last light of the horizon was growing dimmer and dimmer, and soon it would be dark. He did not fear the dark, nor what lurked within it. But he did fear what this night’s darkness would bring.

The heavy snowfall did little to throw him off-course, despite the lack of visible footpaths or trails that he could take advantage of to guide him in warmer times. His senses were sharp, now, and he could smell the places where he had passed through before on the same arduous journey. Soon the trees will emerge into a small clearing, he thought. And at the center of the clearing...home. For tonight.

Indeed, he reached the top of the hill and found himself looking down on a small patch of forest unmarked by trees – he’d cut them down years ago, to better mark the place. Pointless in hindsight, now that he realized his senses were more than powerful enough to guide him where he needed to be. Looking at the beautiful, glittering snow ahead of him, he’s filled with a bitter parody of childish whimsy and decides to roll down the hill. The snow holds little chill to him at this point, even as it sticks to his skin and remains when his descent concludes. The tissue was all but dead anyways, and he wouldn’t need it for much longer.

Pressing onward, the naked man moves to the center of the clearing, where a patch of snow sits higher than the level ground around it. Slipping off his bag, the traveler lets it fall unceremoniously to the ground reaches into the pile, brushing the build-up aside with deft strokes. It exposes a wooden plank, which he slides off as well to peer into the depths. An old well, long since abandoned, dug deep into the earth, a classic bucket-and-rope design that had been stripped of the bucket and upgraded with heavy duty steel chain that extended all the way to the bottom. The traveler mournfully looks back, heart panging nervously as he realizes he cannot see the sun anymore.

But then, why would the sun want to shine on something like me?

A steady inhale. A shaky exhale. His fingers tremble, and his eyes sting. I don’t want to. I don’t… He whimpers, to his shame, as he grasps the chain and steadily climbs down into the darkness. Eventually, his feet meet ice – he’d reached the bottom. Down here, with the only source of light slipping away faster and faster above, he can barely see. But he can still smell, and the scent doubles him over, gagging. He can feel his soles stepping and squishing into the remains of a mess he is very grateful he doesn’t have to look at, and presses himself against the well walls, trying to hold his breath. The stench was appalling, rancid and vulgar. Worse than a skunk. Worse than shit. An ungodly smell, that’s what it was. Un-Godly.

All that was left now was to wait. He promises himself that he will not break this time. He won’t cry. He won’t beg. This night, he will keep his dignity even to the bitter end of it all, even when he ceases to know the meaning of the word – ceases to be himself at all. But already it is as before: the darkness, the knowledge of what was piled all around him in this pit, the awful smell…his hands shake ever more fiercely in anticipation of the horror to come.

It’s too hot down here. The cold kept him balanced, but in the depths of the well there was not enough exposure, no snow to cool his burning form. He itched all over, and bit his lip and clenched his hands, resisting the impulse to scratch and tear away the loose skin. He was molting – like a spider. The thought churned in his stomach, and bile exploded out from between his lips, hot and stinging. Coughing raggedly, the man can taste the iron on his tongue and knows he vomited more than stomach acids. His skin no longer itches: it sears, and he can’t help the hot tears that slip between clenched eyelids and roll down his cheeks.

”Daddy…” he sobs, curling into a ball, trembling. He can feel his ear pressing against something hard – a piece of bone. “Daddy. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t want to. Please-!”

He screams in anguish as the convulsions begin, and his hands move to a will not his own. Fingers lengthened into claws, they dig into the loose shroud of flesh wrapped to his torso and begin to peel it away, exposing blood-matted black hairs. The sound is dry, almost like a wrapper removed from candy, but the pain is impossible to describe. The boy, no longer able to pass as a man, screams and sobs, choking on his howls when the claws finally reach up to rip away his face. The tatters of his flesh join their older cousins on the well bottom, fresh and sticky and steaming in the cold air.
"The dark is patient, and it always wins. But its weakness lies in its strength: a single candle is enough to hold it at bay. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars." - Matthew Stover

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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by dongregg » Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:00 am

gkmoberg1 wrote:...Yet, the sequences you have him work through - about what life with Eli would mean, examining the loneliness of his situation as well as Eli's, all this is terrific and a bit terrifying to put on one young child.
Aw, GK, you're not that young. Oh, wait, you mean Oskar! :think:
“For drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.”

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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by dongregg » Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:19 am

Whoa! I'm knocked out by your last post. Fantastic, and fantastically well written.
“For drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.”

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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by gkmoberg1 » Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:45 am

SpartanAltego wrote:
gkmoberg1 wrote:...
I would love to learn your Oskar's reflection of those three silent days between Eli's first flight from Blackeberg and then his reappearance at the pool. That time, the stage being empty with the loss of the main character who had come so fully into his life. Yet, the sequences you have him work through - about what life with Eli would mean, examining the loneliness of his situation as well as Eli's, all this is terrific and a bit terrifying to put on one young child.

Do continue!
That final moment on the train, to me, always seemed like the eye of a hurricane. Oskar and Eli have left Blackeberg and all its troubles behind for good, but are headed right on the path to new turmoil one way or another. ...

I am going to disagree with you, yet we may each have our view and that is not a problem.

That 'eye of the hurricane' for me are those three days I asked about. Thank you for this metaphor; it is perfect! I see your point but bear me out. The build up of the prior weekend as so much of the novel comes to a climax is our first encounter with the inner wall of the storm Eli and Hakan have brought to Blackeberg and into Oskar's life and the lives (and deaths) of so many there. [In the course of that weekend Virginia is dead, Hakan is dead (again), Jocke and Lacke are eternally reunited, Tommy is shattered, Yvonne and (horrid) Staffan are likely finished. usw.] And then: Eli flees. Oskar remains. Calm. And for three pregnant days Oskar lives, discovering the air has been sucked out of his life. That, that, is the eye. There is much to considered about this. But then comes the farther wall of the storm. Eli returns and in fury carves another swath of destruction. The storm is back with all its might. Thus the departure, to me, is more of the two being flung off into the rain obscured distance than anything else. Yes, they are - I agree - "right on the path to new turmoil". Our imaginations, each, are where so much of our fanfic wanderings can explore.

But back to the eye - those three days. These are essential to Oskar's mindset on why he leaves with Eli. To nudge you I'll ask this: what if the pool scene had never occurred? As in, what if Oskar struggles and finds one foot and then another and moves back into life... and then one evening he encounters Eli... would he/they run away? Or, another question: what if the pool scene had occurred immediately on the same day as when Eli flees... yet Eli returns and sees the unfolding scene at the pool and dispatches the tormentors... would Oskar and he run away?

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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by gkmoberg1 » Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:50 am

dongregg wrote:
gkmoberg1 wrote:...Yet, the sequences you have him work through - about what life with Eli would mean, examining the loneliness of his situation as well as Eli's, all this is terrific and a bit terrifying to put on one young child.
Aw, GK, you're not that young. Oh, wait, you mean Oskar! :think:
I appreciate your confusion. Thank you

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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by gkmoberg1 » Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:56 am

SpartanAltego wrote:...
And now, the teaser for the next chapter. Meet Levi, another cursed youth who has yet to find his own Right One...
Tremendous!

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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by SpartanAltego » Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:29 am

gkmoberg1 wrote:
SpartanAltego wrote:
gkmoberg1 wrote:...
I would love to learn your Oskar's reflection of those three silent days between Eli's first flight from Blackeberg and then his reappearance at the pool. That time, the stage being empty with the loss of the main character who had come so fully into his life. Yet, the sequences you have him work through - about what life with Eli would mean, examining the loneliness of his situation as well as Eli's, all this is terrific and a bit terrifying to put on one young child.

Do continue!
That final moment on the train, to me, always seemed like the eye of a hurricane. Oskar and Eli have left Blackeberg and all its troubles behind for good, but are headed right on the path to new turmoil one way or another. ...

I am going to disagree with you, yet we may each have our view and that is not a problem.

That 'eye of the hurricane' for me are those three days I asked about. Thank you for this metaphor; it is perfect! I see your point but bear me out. The build up of the prior weekend as so much of the novel comes to a climax is our first encounter with the inner wall of the storm Eli and Hakan have brought to Blackeberg and into Oskar's life and the lives (and deaths) of so many there. [In the course of that weekend Virginia is dead, Hakan is dead (again), Jocke and Lacke are eternally reunited, Tommy is shattered, Yvonne and (horrid) Staffan are likely finished. usw.] And then: Eli flees. Oskar remains. Calm. And for three pregnant days Oskar lives, discovering the air has been sucked out of his life. That, that, is the eye. There is much to considered about this. But then comes the farther wall of the storm. Eli returns and in fury carves another swath of destruction. The storm is back with all its might. Thus the departure, to me, is more of the two being flung off into the rain obscured distance than anything else. Yes, they are - I agree - "right on the path to new turmoil". Our imaginations, each, are where so much of our fanfic wanderings can explore.

But back to the eye - those three days. These are essential to Oskar's mindset on why he leaves with Eli. To nudge you I'll ask this: what if the pool scene had never occurred? As in, what if Oskar struggles and finds one foot and then another and moves back into life... and then one evening he encounters Eli... would he/they run away? Or, another question: what if the pool scene had occurred immediately on the same day as when Eli flees... yet Eli returns and sees the unfolding scene at the pool and dispatches the tormentors... would Oskar and he run away?
Those three days served as a sort of emotional pressure cooker for Oskar. Eli offered to make him a vampire just after Lacke's demise, but Oskar refused. Implied in that refusal, I think, was a rejection of any notion of running away with Eli at that time. He wants Eli to stay, but he doesn't want to leave either. The three days in solitude are what changes his mind: he nearly burns down the school, wallows in abject despair now that he is alone and all the more aware of how alone he is, and finds even his relationship with Mr. Avila has been tainted and taken from him. When Oskar sees Avila looking at him with pity, that's the last straw: the moment Oskar decides he's no longer interested in being part of that world. The pool attack and Eli's rescue just reinforced his conviction by that point.

So my opinion is that the three days of isolation are indeed critical and act as the real turning point for Oskar. He is made fully conscious of the sheer disconnect between himself and everyone else in his life, and decides that he doesn't want to stay anymore: either by dying, or by going with Eli.
"The dark is patient, and it always wins. But its weakness lies in its strength: a single candle is enough to hold it at bay. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars." - Matthew Stover

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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by metoo » Sat Dec 09, 2017 8:30 am

While I don't want to discourage you to continue exploring your view, SpartanAltegon, I have to confess that I share gkmoberg1's view: the proverbial eye of Oskar's hurricane was those three days without Eli.

In the novel, we see things from Oskar's vantage point whenever he is present. But in the pool he slips away, out of focus, and we only see him in the eyes of others thereafter. First through Micke's anguished eyes, as he powerlessly realises that the game had been playing has taken a nasty turn and that he doesn't longer want to play. Then, finally, we glimpse Oskar through the eyes of Stefan Larsson, the ticket controller. What we see then is a remarkably happy kid, Oskar is virtually shining with bliss. He has finally come through, is at the other side. He is not in a temporary eye of a hurricane, but has left it behind.

Now, there is an observation I have written about several times, but that you might have missed. It has to do with the timing of things at the very end of the novel. Thus:

The training sessions at the pool house starts at 7 pm, and ends about an hour later. I conclude the latter because when Oskar leaves for the first training, he first tells his mum that he will be back at half past eight, which would include the time he would need to shower after training, dress, and walk home.

Thus, Eli crashes through the window shortly after eight o' clock. The whole process of decapitating the Forsberg brothers and leaving with Oskar wouldn't have added many minutes to that.

When we meet Oskar the next time, Stefan Larsson remarks that Oskar will arrive to Karlstad after dark. This implies that it wasn't dark when Oskar left Stockholm. It is not hard to learn when the sun set in Karlstad at the 13th of November 1981: 15:45. The train ride is roughly three hours. That gives a departure time shortly after noon.

So, there is a period of about 16 hours between 8 am and 12 pm the next day. Why? Why didn't Oskar and Eli leave immediately, while it still was dark? Why waiting until noon the next day, when it would be so much more difficult?

Well, the only explanation I have been able to produce was that Oskar wasn't yet prepared to leave. He didn't make his final decision until the morning of the 13th, probably late in the morning. Thus not until he had had time to contemplate his options for a few hours. Maybe talking it through with Eli, too. (The latter is something I have not yet made up my mind about.)


This observation, I think, makes a difference. Oskar wasn't prepared to leave immediately after the pool event. Or, perhaps Eli wasn't prepared to bring Oskar to a life Eli knew wasn't very glorious, notwithstanding his earlier proposal? Ooh, I love when things get complicated! Anyway, they did spend a considerable amount of time together before deciding to leave, and this asks for an explanation.

But, again, please don't let the above confuse you, SpartanAltegon! Stay with your story - I want to see where it goes!
Last edited by metoo on Sat Dec 09, 2017 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by sauvin » Sat Dec 09, 2017 10:11 am

Metoo, and yet, there are two broad-brush possible futures for Oskar that we know of:

(1) Oskar remains uninfected;
(2) Oskar becomes infected.

The latter possibility, as I understand it, is mentioned in LTODD, where he's said to have a kind of "predatory" look. One presumes the kids live happily ever after, more or less. The former possibility means he'll be happy in some respects and miserable in others. Maybe Oskar's still headed for even greater crises in either event. Without knowing what kinds of things the kids might have discussed and decided, Oskar on that train is "blissfully" unaware of even greater horrors yet to come?
Fais tomber les barrières entre nous qui sommes tous des frères

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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by SpartanAltego » Sat Dec 09, 2017 11:04 am

metoo wrote:While I don't want to discourage you to continue exploring your view, SpartanAltegon, I have to confess that I share gkmoberg1's view: the proverbial eye of Oskar's hurricane was those three days without Eli.

The training sessions at the pool house starts at 7 pm, and ends about an hour later. I conclude the latter because when Oskar leaves for the first training, he first tells his mum that he will be back at half past eight, which would include the time he would need to shower after training, dress, and walk home.

Thus, Eli crashes through the window shortly after eight o' clock. The whole process of decapitating the Forsberg brothers and leaving with Oskar wouldn't have added many minutes to that.

When we meet Oskar the next time, Stefan Larsson remarks that Oskar will arrive to Karlstad after dark. This implies that it wasn't dark when Oskar left Stockholm. It is not hard to learn when the sun set in Karlstad at the 13th of November 1981: 15:45. The train ride is roughly three hours. That gives a departure time shortly after noon.

So, there is a period of about 16 hours between 8 am and 12 pm the next day. Why? Why didn't Oskar and Eli leave immediately, while it still was dark? Why waiting until noon the next day, when it would be so much more difficult?

Well, the only explanation I have been able to produce was that Oskar wasn't yet prepared to leave. He didn't make his final decision until the morning of the 13th, probably late in the morning. Thus not until he had had time to contemplate his options for a few hours. Maybe talking it through with Eli, too. (The latter is something I have not yet made up my mind about.)


This observation, I think, makes a difference. Oskar wasn't prepared to leave immediately after the pool event. Or, perhaps Eli wasn't prepared to bring Oskar to a life Eli knew wasn't very glorious, notwithstanding his earlier proposal? Ooh, I love when things get complicated! Anyway, they did spend a considerable amount of time together before deciding to leave, and this asks for an explanation.
The time factor is quite illuminating, but the time delay could very well be explained or handwaved by other factors than Oskar's reluctance. As you said, Eli may have made the offer to turn Oskar and by implication take Oskar with him during his first flight from Blackeburg, but that resolve was made in the context of Eli leaving and never returning. When Eli makes his decision to come back, he's resolved that he isn't going to give up on that connection despite the risk, and so wouldn't be so inclined to encourage any desire to flee together if only for the hardship it would put on Oskar. Or maybe they couldn't find a good exit from the area that night, or Oskar was still weak from nearly drowning for some time later.

It wouldn't surprise me if they spent the immediate aftermath of the pool just "catching up" emotionally with each other. We only see the three days from Oskar's perspective, but we can intuit from the hopelessness of his outlook and demeanor that Eli was likely experiencing a similar crisis. Even if they both did want to leave immediately, they might've just wanted to take time to be with each other before getting down to business.

All this is pretty plausible to my eye, but that being said the 16 hours does invite speculation about what the two were doing during that period. Now that I'm aware of that gap, perhaps I'll throw in my own interpretation of what happened as another flash-back for LtLNE...

Once again, thank you everyone for the encouraging and insightful feedback. It's a real treat to get to check up on the thread and not only hear your thoughts but learn something new about a story I thought I knew inside and out.
"The dark is patient, and it always wins. But its weakness lies in its strength: a single candle is enough to hold it at bay. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars." - Matthew Stover

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