The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,2

seen him a few times, but he’s impossible to forget. It’s those big ice-blue eyes. Eyes that stare at Elias as if they could see all his secrets.

Elias peers at the floor as he walks past. And still he can feel those eyes burning into the back of his neck. He quickens his pace, nausea rising in his throat. It’s as if his heart is throbbing so hard that it’s triggering his gag reflex.

Everything’s been getting better over the last six months. He’s felt that things are happening inside him, that he’s changing. The new psychologist at the CAP centre isn’t an idiot like the last one, and it seems she actually understands him a little. Above all, he has Linnéa. She makes him feel alive, makes him want to leave the suffocating yet familiar darkness.

That’s why it’s so hard to understand why this is happening now – now when he can finally sleep at night, now that he can even feel happy.

Three days ago he had seen his face change in the mirror. He had seen it stretch and contort beyond recognition. And he had realised he was going mad. Hearing voices and seeing hallucinations. It had scared the shit out of him.

For three days he had held out against the razor blades and Jonte’s merchandise. He had avoided mirrors. But yesterday he had caught sight of himself in a shop window, had seen his face quiver and pour away as if it were made of water.

That was when he called Jonte.

You’re losing it.

A strange whisper in his head. Elias looks around and discovers he’s climbed the spiral staircase again and is back in the corridor outside the principal’s office. He doesn’t know why. The lights flicker and go out.

The door to the stairwell slowly swings shut behind him. Just before it closes he hears it. The sound of a soft shoe sole on the stairs.

Hide.

Elias runs along the dark corridor. After each row of lockers he expects someone or something to suddenly appear. Just as he’s rounded a corner he hears the door to the stairwell open far behind him. The footsteps draw closer, slowly but surely.

He reaches the big stone steps that form the school’s backbone.

Run up the stairs.

Elias’s legs obey, clearing two at a time. Once he’s reached the top floor, he continues running towards the little corridor where a locked door leads to the school’s attic. It’s a dead end, one of the school’s forgotten places. There are a few toilets here that no one else uses. He and Linnéa usually meet here.

The footsteps draw closer.

Hide.

Elias opens the door to the toilets and slips inside. He closes the door carefully behind him and tries to breathe as quietly as possible. Listens. The only sound he can hear is a motorcycle accelerating in the distance.

Elias puts his ear to the door.

He can’t hear anything. But he knows. Someone’s standing there. On the other side.

Elias.

The whispering is louder now, but Elias is sure that it’s only in his head.

It’s finally happened: I’ve lost my mind, he thinks, and at once the voice responds: Yes. You have.

He looks out of the window towards the pale blue sky. The white tiles glisten. It’s cold in here. He’s filled with an immense loneliness.

Turn around.

Elias doesn’t want to, but he turns just the same. It’s as if he’s no longer in control of his body. The voice is controlling it, as if he were a puppet of flesh and blood.

He’s standing in front of the row of three sinks with mirrors mounted above them. When he catches sight of his pale face he wants to shut his eyes, but he can’t.

Smash the mirror.

Elias’s body obeys. His grip tightens around the strap of his book bag and he swings it through the air.

The sound echoes off the tiled walls when the mirror shatters. Big shards break off and crash into the sink where they splinter into smaller pieces with a tinkling noise.

Someone must have heard, Elias thinks. Please, let someone have heard.

But no one comes. He’s alone with the voice.

Elias’s body goes up to the sink and picks up the largest shard. He understands what’s going to happen. He feels dizzy with fear.

You’re broken. Impossible to fix.

Slowly he backs into one of the open cubicles.

It’ll soon be over. Soon you’ll never have to be afraid again.

The voice sounds almost comforting now.

Elias locks the door and sinks on to the toilet seat. He struggles to open his mouth, tries desperately to cry out.