Read Online The Circle by Mats Strandberg Sara B. Elfgren - Free Book Online
Authors: Mats Strandberg Sara B. Elfgren
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her mother’s scent. Minoo sobs until she has no more tears.
‘
Bashe azizam
,’ her mother says comfortingly.
That night her mother sits on the edge of the bed until Minoo has fallen sleep.
Vanessa is dreaming about Elias. He is standing in front of the dead trees in the playground, watching her. When she sees him, she feels sad. Elias Malmgren is dead and will only be remembered as the boy who killed himself in the school toilets.
She is woken by Wille’s phone vibrating hard against the floor . Damn it. They had fallen asleep on a mattress in Jonte’s house. Is it the middle of the night? It’s hard to tell with the blinds pulled down.
Wille’s telephone is still ringing when she lifts it to see what time it is. She rejects the call, but registers the name on the screen.
Wille has taken all the bedclothes as usual and she shivers. She lays her hand on Wille’s midriff and feels the warmth of his skin. He’s moving around uneasily – he looks so different when he’s asleep. It’s as if she can see him as a boy and as a very old man at the same time. Vanessa spoons against him and pulls the covers over them.
‘Linnéa W,’ it had said on the screen.
Linnéa Wallin.
Elias Malmgren’s best friend.
Wille’s ex.
7
THE CART BOUNCES and lurches along the road. She’s on her knees and has managed to free herself from the sack they pulled over her head. The morning air cools her sweaty face. She glances at the driver’s hunched back and floppy black felt hat.
She straightens up a little and struggles with the ropes. They are tied too tightly.
A forest stretches along one side of the road, dark and silent, and on the other, a wide expanse of open fields. Little grey huts lie scattered here and there, huddled beneath the clear sky. In the east, the morning star glows above the pink streak of dawn.
She tries to muster the courage to jump from the cart. But how far would she get with her broken body and fettered feet? Would she even survive the fall? She wouldn’t be able to catch herself with her bound hands.
But what holds her back more than anything else is despair.
What sort of life would await her if she escaped into the forest?
Alone and cast out. Hunted by those she had thought she could trust. Forsaken by those who had promised always to protect her.
The red sun will clear the horizon at any moment.
They are nearly there.
Rebecka opens her eyes. The smell of smoke stings her nose, more pungent than it was yesterday morning.
The floor feels cold beneath her feet. She pulls on her socks from yesterday, a sports bra, an old T-shirt and baggy tracksuit trousers. Then she sneaks out of the room and quietly closes the door behind her.
She peeks into her little sisters’ room. Alma and Moa are still asleep. Rebecka can hear their breathing, and is filled with the love she often feels for them. It takes away the sadness and fear she experienced in her dream.
Only when she steps out into the hall does she realise that it is only six o’clock. She can hear her mother’s gentle snoring from behind the closed bedroom door, the humming and clicking of the refrigerator. Not a sound from her brothers’ room. Rebecka laces up her jogging shoes, grabs her grey hoody from the chair and leaves the apartment.
As she’s running down the stairs she can feel the endorphins pumping into her bloodstream. By the time she steps out on to the street, euphoria is bubbling inside her. It’s a beautiful day again today. The sun bathes the dull three-storey brick apartment blocks in a warm glow.
Rebecka pulls out her battered MP3 player from the pocket of her hoody and puts on the earphones. She jogs down the street and turns left at the end. She quickens her pace. The only time she loves her body is when she’s running, when she can feel the blood surging through it. It’s a machine that burns calories and oxygen.
She wishes she could see her body the way Gustaf claims to see it. But to her all
‘
Bashe azizam
,’ her mother says comfortingly.
That night her mother sits on the edge of the bed until Minoo has fallen sleep.
Vanessa is dreaming about Elias. He is standing in front of the dead trees in the playground, watching her. When she sees him, she feels sad. Elias Malmgren is dead and will only be remembered as the boy who killed himself in the school toilets.
She is woken by Wille’s phone vibrating hard against the floor . Damn it. They had fallen asleep on a mattress in Jonte’s house. Is it the middle of the night? It’s hard to tell with the blinds pulled down.
Wille’s telephone is still ringing when she lifts it to see what time it is. She rejects the call, but registers the name on the screen.
Wille has taken all the bedclothes as usual and she shivers. She lays her hand on Wille’s midriff and feels the warmth of his skin. He’s moving around uneasily – he looks so different when he’s asleep. It’s as if she can see him as a boy and as a very old man at the same time. Vanessa spoons against him and pulls the covers over them.
‘Linnéa W,’ it had said on the screen.
Linnéa Wallin.
Elias Malmgren’s best friend.
Wille’s ex.
7
THE CART BOUNCES and lurches along the road. She’s on her knees and has managed to free herself from the sack they pulled over her head. The morning air cools her sweaty face. She glances at the driver’s hunched back and floppy black felt hat.
She straightens up a little and struggles with the ropes. They are tied too tightly.
A forest stretches along one side of the road, dark and silent, and on the other, a wide expanse of open fields. Little grey huts lie scattered here and there, huddled beneath the clear sky. In the east, the morning star glows above the pink streak of dawn.
She tries to muster the courage to jump from the cart. But how far would she get with her broken body and fettered feet? Would she even survive the fall? She wouldn’t be able to catch herself with her bound hands.
But what holds her back more than anything else is despair.
What sort of life would await her if she escaped into the forest?
Alone and cast out. Hunted by those she had thought she could trust. Forsaken by those who had promised always to protect her.
The red sun will clear the horizon at any moment.
They are nearly there.
Rebecka opens her eyes. The smell of smoke stings her nose, more pungent than it was yesterday morning.
The floor feels cold beneath her feet. She pulls on her socks from yesterday, a sports bra, an old T-shirt and baggy tracksuit trousers. Then she sneaks out of the room and quietly closes the door behind her.
She peeks into her little sisters’ room. Alma and Moa are still asleep. Rebecka can hear their breathing, and is filled with the love she often feels for them. It takes away the sadness and fear she experienced in her dream.
Only when she steps out into the hall does she realise that it is only six o’clock. She can hear her mother’s gentle snoring from behind the closed bedroom door, the humming and clicking of the refrigerator. Not a sound from her brothers’ room. Rebecka laces up her jogging shoes, grabs her grey hoody from the chair and leaves the apartment.
As she’s running down the stairs she can feel the endorphins pumping into her bloodstream. By the time she steps out on to the street, euphoria is bubbling inside her. It’s a beautiful day again today. The sun bathes the dull three-storey brick apartment blocks in a warm glow.
Rebecka pulls out her battered MP3 player from the pocket of her hoody and puts on the earphones. She jogs down the street and turns left at the end. She quickens her pace. The only time she loves her body is when she’s running, when she can feel the blood surging through it. It’s a machine that burns calories and oxygen.
She wishes she could see her body the way Gustaf claims to see it. But to her all
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