The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,27

which way is up. When the air in her lungs is almost exhausted, she launches herself upward and almost feels the first twinge of panic before she finally breaks the surface. She was deeper than she’d thought. She looks towards the beach again.

Wille has stripped to his underwear, and is standing knee-deep in the water.

‘For fuck’s saaake!’ he shouts, and Vanessa laughs.

‘You’re such an old woman,’ she yells back.

Wille wades out further and sinks down till the water reaches his shoulders. He keeps on swearing.

‘It’ll feel really good once you’re in, I promise,’ she calls teasingly.

‘You always make promises you can’t keep!’

That makes Vanessa think of Linnéa. How Wille had promised they weren’t in touch any more.

Vanessa isn’t the jealous type, except when it comes to Linnéa. Because she knows that it was she who dumped him. If she hadn’t, maybe they’d still be together. But Vanessa has no intention of mentioning the phone call. She won’t let anyone see that Linnéa makes her feel insecure. Besides, she despises girls who secretly check their boyfriends’ mobiles.

Wille takes big strokes. She can make out his features now. Soon he reaches her and puts his arms around her. Their wet faces meet and she kisses him. Their bodies glide easily towards each other beneath the surface.

‘You’re so fucking sexy,’ Wille whispers, in that voice. The one that makes her feel warm inside.

‘Look who’s talking,’ she murmurs, running her finger along the elastic waistband of his briefs. ‘Go and get a blanket.’

‘The usual spot?’ Wille asks, with a drunken smile.

She nods and they kiss again.

‘Hurry up,’ she whispers, then kicks away, doing a few strokes on her back.

Wille teases her for always wanting sex, but he loves her for it, she knows. He thinks it’s all his doing, that he’s so incredible in bed she just can’t have enough of him. But Vanessa has always loved sex. Even the first time, when everyone said it was supposed to hurt. Having sex for her is like being drunk. It makes her forget everything she doesn’t want to think about. It makes her feel like the centre of the universe.

Vanessa shivers as she steps out of the water. Her body feels heavy on land. She hasn’t sobered up nearly as much as she’d thought. She staggers as she bends to pick up her underwear and pulls it on.

When she looks up she sees the moon again. It’s blood red. She’s never seen anything like it.

Wille is lying on the blanket, waiting for her, as she enters the little cluster of trees. Their spot.

‘Have you seen the moon?’ she asks.

Wille doesn’t answer, just pats the blanket next to him. She lies down and he immediately rolls on top of her. Suddenly she feels the earth move beneath her. ‘I feel sick,’ she says and shoves him away.

A moment’s dizziness, and then she feels something take control of her body. She sits up involuntarily.

‘What are you doing?’ Wille asks, far away.

Vanessa feels dizzy again. Her perspective is askew. It’s like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. She feels her body rise and yanks at the blanket so hard that Wille rolls off it. Then she wraps it around herself and starts to walk. Her feet find their way, in spite of the darkness and the ground, which is littered with rocks and holes. Her legs are steady.

Wille grabs her shoulder and spins her around. He looks worried and she wants to calm him, but she can’t speak. She pulls free of him and walks out into the night. Somewhere nearby a raven caws.

‘Well fucking forget it then!’ Wille shouts after her.

I must be really hammered, Vanessa thinks.

Anna-Karin is sitting in her room in front of the computer. She’s staring at the screen, at the chats taking place.

In primary school, she had created a profile on one of the most popular sites. She still gets angry when she thinks about it, angry that she could have been so stupid as to imagine she could make friends. Of course they’d found her. Erik Forslund and Ida had tricked her into revealing her password. She’ll never forget the pictures they put up. The things they wrote.

The profile is still there. Naturally they had changed the password so that she couldn’t delete the account. Sometimes she goes in and looks at it, just to remind herself that she can never trust anyone. It’s a scab she can’t stop picking at.

Often she reads other people’s blogs where they write about