Read Online I'm Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjørk - Free Book Online

want Mikkelson to know it. He was going back where he belonged. To Oslo. The unit was up and running again. He had got his old job back, and yet his joy was not complete. He had never seen Mia Krüger like this, so far gone, and he would not be bringing her back with him. And the thought of the little girl hanging from the tree continued to send shivers down the spine of the otherwise level-headed investigator.
    Munch looked up at the sky. The horizon was darkening now. The stars bathed the silence in a cold light. He tossed his cigarette into the sea and walked slowly back to the house.

Chapter 12
    Tobias Iversen found another branch and began making yet another arrow while he waited for his brother to come back. He liked using the knife. Liked the way the blade sliced its way through the wood, liked how steadily he had to angle the knife between the bark and wood in order not to dent the arrow. Tobias Iversen was good with his hands; it was in art and woodwork lessons where he received the most praise. He was only average in the other subjects, especially in maths, but when it came to his hands, then he was gifted. And in Norwegian, too. Tobias Iversen loved reading. Up until now, he had preferred fantasy and sci-fi, but last autumn they had got a cool, new Norwegian teacher, Emilie, who laughed out loud and had lots of freckles; it was almost as if she were not a teacher but a really nice, grown-up girl whose lessons were incredible fun, so different from their last teacher, who had just … come to think of it, he couldn’t remember anything they had done during those lessons. Emilie had given him a long list of books she thought he ought to read. He had almost finished Lord of the Flies , one of her suggestions, and realized how much he was looking forward to going home so he could carry on reading in bed. Or, at least, the reading in bed part; he wasn’t very keen on being at home. On paper, Tobias Iversen was only thirteen years old, but he was much older inside and he had experienced things that no child should. He often thought of running away, packing what little he owned into his rucksack and heading out into the world, away from the dark house, but it was a pipe dream. Where would he go? He had saved up some money from birthdays and Christmas, but it was not enough to travel anywhere and, besides, he couldn’t abandon his younger brother. Who would look after him, if not Tobias? He tried to think about something else, sliding the blade of the knife smoothly under the bark and smiling contentedly to himself when he managed to slice off a long strip without breaking it.
    Torben was keeping him waiting. Tobias glanced into the forest, but did not worry unduly. His younger brother was an inquisitive little boy, he had probably just stumbled across an interesting mushroom or an anthill.
    ‘Why don’t we shoot the Christian girls?’
    Tobias had to laugh. Kids, eh, so innocent; they knew nothing, they would say just about anything that came into their heads. It was the opposite in Tobias’s class or in the school playground, where you had to watch every word and thought in case it didn’t fall in line with the majority. Tobias had seen it happen so many times. It was just like in Lord of the Flies. If you showed weakness, you were marked out as a victim straightaway. Right now, he was worried about PE; he was athletic, fortunately, could run quickly, jump long and high, and his football skills were good. The trouble was his PE kit. A couple of new boys who had moved out here from Oslo had brought with them other ways, more money. It was all Adidas or Nike or Puma or Reebok now, and Tobias had had a few snide comments recently about his crappy shoes and shorts, jogging bottoms and the old T-shirts that did not have the right logo or style. Luckily, there was one thing that mattered more, and that was if girls liked you. If girls liked you, then no one cared about your PE kit or how clever you were or what music