Harbor by John Lindqvist (classic novels for teens txt) 📕

he was lucky she hadn’t been gone long, and he would catch up with her along the road.

His head was buzzing with the intoxication that had been on its way towards a hangover, but had been stopped in its tracks. The dancing beam of the torch moving along the track made him feel slightly unwell. When he got to the point where the track divided, he had a stroke of genius and turned off for Simon’s house.

Simon’s bike was propped up against the birch tree by the track. It wasn’t locked. It was an old army bike and not really worth stealing, even for the most desperate thief. Besides which, Simon had said he couldn’t use it any longer, and anyone who needed it was welcome to take it.

Anders took it. He noticed something unusual: Simon’s house was in darkness, but there was a light on in Anna-Greta’s. Then he remembered.

They’re probably sitting up making plans.

The thought cheered him up, and the chilly night air had cleared his head. He hung the bag of clothes on the handlebars, got on the bike and pedalled off, using the torch to light his way, since the lamp on the front of the bike had been broken since time immemorial. There was a chance that someone else might have stopped Elin, but it wasn’t great. It was only in summer that people on Domarö were moving about at night.

He passed the shop and the mission house without seeing any sign of the sleepwalker. By the time he got on to the track through the forest, he was puffing and sweating. There was a sour, smoky taste in his mouth, and as he swept the torch over the gloomy trees, despondency came over him once again and a line from ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ popped up in his head.

The Smiths. It was many years since a line from one of their songshad come unbidden into his mind, and it made him follow a chain of thought back through the years as he pedalled through the forest. He came out into the opening leading towards Kattudden, continued for fifty metres or so, then caught sight of something that made him brake so sharply that the tyres skidded through the gravel.

He tried to correct the bike, but couldn’t keep it upright. It slid sideways and he went down with a clatter and a ping from the bell. His right knee scraped along the gravel then the speed took him and rolled him over a couple of times before he was eventually stopped by a fence. He pulled himself up into a sitting position and tried to make sense of what his eyes were seeing.

Henrik’s platform moped was parked under a lamppost. In the garden next door, Elin was walking with two other people. The sound of Anders crashing his bike made them turn around. It was Henrik and Björn. They both looked roughly the same age as when Anders had last seen them, eighteen years earlier.

This isn’t real. This isn’t happening.

Henrik and Björn were contemplating him calmly as he sat there like a dazed animal, caught in the glow of the lamp. Elin carried on along the side of the house. It wasn’t a house Anders was familiar with. Just one of many summer cottages. Elin was carrying something heavy. It was hard to see what it was, because the light didn’t reach that far.

The taste of blood seeped into Anders’ mouth and he looked around for the torch. It was by his feet, and it was still shining. He pointed it at Henrik, who gave a start as the bright light hit him. Then he smiled.

‘Unfortunately it’s not that simple, Anders.’

Something in Henrik’s hand reflected the light and dazzled Anders before the reflection vanished. A knife. The blade was so long it almost reached the ground as Henrik held the handle between his index and middle finger, letting the sharp edge swing to and fro. If it hadn’t been for the shape of the blade, it could have been a machete.

Anders got to his feet. His trousers were ripped over his rightknee, which was throbbing with pain. There was no point in questioning the evidence of his own eyes. Henrik and Björn were standing there. They looked the same as they had done all those years ago, Henrik’s voice was the same. Anders spat out a gob of saliva mixed with blood and asked, ‘What are you doing?’

Henrik looked at Björn and Björn said, ‘Burning down the discotheque.’

Henrik gave him the thumbs-up sign. Anders shone the torch towards the house. Elin really was wearing only her underclothes, and the narrow band of her bra glowed white against her back. She was carrying a can of petrol in her hands, and was just throwing the last of the petrol over the corner of the house.

Why…

The thoughts whirled around in Anders’ head, tinged with red and with no sense of order. The only thing he could manage to get out was that one simple question, ‘…why?’

Henrik pursed his lips and frowned, as if Anders’ lack of knowledge annoyed him. He said, ‘I think you know.’

‘No.’

‘Oh, come on.’

‘I don’t understand what you mean.’

Henrik waved the knife around and said to Björn, ‘Now I’m fucking disappointed. Aren’t you disappointed?’

The corners of Björn’s mouth turned down. ‘Truly disappointed.’

They were playing some kind of game, and Anders didn’t want to join in. The fact that they were standing there in front of him, alive and talking and playing their game, was just too much to take in, so Anders clung to the reason he had come here. ‘What’s Elin got to do with all this?’

Björn shook his head. ‘You really don’t understand anything, do you? Mind or body? Which rules the other? I dunno.’

Henrik waved the knife in Elin’s direction and said, ‘Come on, old woman.’

Elin went and stood between them. She was moving like asleepwalker, just as she had done the previous night, and her eyes were empty. The