The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,107
down her throat. She gags a few times as if she’s going to puke and hopes Jari doesn’t notice.
‘Good shit, huh?’ Jari says.
‘M-hm.’ She has another swig. This time it goes down more easily, as if the first gulp had numbed her mouth and throat. She tips the bottle back again, lets more of the liquid run down her throat.
‘Take it easy.’ Jari laughs.
Just for that Anna-Karin, of course, has to take an extra gulp before she hands it back to him.
As she opens the basement door, they’re hit by a full-frontal assault from a wailing hard-rock guitar.
Minoo is dreaming of Ophelia. Ophelia who is Rebecka. She’s drowning and Minoo is trying to save her. She wades into the stream. It’s surprisingly deep and she has to struggle against the current to stay upright. She tries to grab the white nightgown that is billowing around her friend in the water. But it keeps slipping through her fingers. Rebecka looks at her with doleful eyes, as if she’s sad for Minoo.
Minoo … Minoo, you have to wake up now.
Minoo objects, still half asleep. She hasn’t finished her dream. She has to grab Rebecka.
Wake up.
She opens her eyes and looks around in a daze, adjusting slowly to the darkness. The familiar contours of the room come into view. She tries to remember what woke her, but she has difficulty in concentrating.
Minoo …
Her heart skips a beat. It’s a voice that isn’t a voice. It’s inside her head, disguised as one of her own thoughts. It’s warm and comforting, and it terrifies her.
Minoo sits up in bed. She fumbles for the lamp at her bedside and presses the switch.
She looks around, her heart pounding. The fear is so intense that she feels like a hunted animal, driven by instinct. She doesn’t dare to breathe. The awful presence will find her if she makes the slightest sound.
The bedside lamp flickers.
Get up.
Minoo’s body obeys: she gets out of bed and walks towards the door.
And she realises that the awful presence is inside her.
When she steps out into the corridor, the bathroom door is wide open. The sound of running water reaches her ears. The bath is filling. Step by step she approaches the open door.
No pain, the voice whispers. No pain, I promise.
Minoo walks quietly into the bathroom and the door swings shut behind her.
40
JARI LEADS ANNA-KARIN into one of the smaller rooms upstairs. Cushions are scattered about the floor and there’s a ping-pong table. Two girls are plucking ice cubes from each other’s glasses, then passing them between their mouths with kisses. It’s clear that they’re putting on a show for the guys who are sitting on the cushions.
Anna-Karin props her elbows on the ping-pong table. The whole world is heaving, as if she was at sea. She doesn’t feel quite so sick if she focuses straight ahead.
‘Are you all right?’ Jari asks.
Sweet, considerate Jari. With his sweet, beautiful eyes. It can’t just be Anna-Karin’s magic that makes him look at her like that. He must really like her.
‘I feel so fuuucking goood,’ she says. Her tongue is sort of numb. Slack and numb, can’t quite keep up. And her head feels so heavy it’s hard to keep it upright. But what she says is true. She feels so fucking good. She’s with Jari. The boy of her dreams.
‘It’s not just because I’ve been fat and ugly all my life that I’ve become like this. It’s my mother’s fault. I fucking believe that. She’s made me totally anti-men. She’s never …’
Here Anna-Karin has to swallow back the puke that bubbles up her oesophagus before she can continue. She clears her throat and looks around the room to include the guys sitting on the floor cushions. ‘She’s never said anything good about you. I mean, not, like, you guys, but like guys. You know?’ Anna-Karin isn’t sure if she’s about to laugh or cry. Everything’s so much fun and so terribly sad at the same time. And so unsteady. ‘But you’re so fucking nice. I’m so fucking happy you exist. Guys are fucking nice. Guys, guys, guys. More guys!’
She can hear how idiotic she’s being. She’s always thought that drunk people have no idea how stupid they sound. Now she knows that when you’re drunk you just don’t care that you sound ridiculous. She doesn’t give a flying fuck. About anything. It’s like a thousand kilos have been lifted off her chest.
‘Maybe you should give her some water,’ she hears someone tell Jari.