𝐿𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓𝑓

Chapter 1 - Mistletoe and Wine

Aurora Brandstorp and her family were going out Christmas shopping. She usually hated it, but this year was special.

Her brother, Mathias, was out of the hospital. He had never seen Oslo's Christmas market.

Oslo was her favourite place in Norway. She came from Bergen, but she had family that came from there.

"Vil du ha litt varm sjokolade?" The sixteen-year-old boy at the hot chocolate stall asked.

"Ja takk!" She replied, smiling.

She walked alone around the Christmas market, sipping her hot chocolate. Her parents had taken her brother to go see the lights on the tree being turned on.

She wanted to see the big concert in the town square, so she decided to walk down herself.

Her favourite artists were performing in it, which was a plus. She smiled as she thought of them, hoping that her favourite songs would play.

She sat down on a bench near the stage. There weren't many people there, most of them would be at the Christmas tree.

Beside her, there was a man dressed in black. She had a weird feeling about him but shook her head.

She saw KEiiNO, her second favourite band, talking to some fans beside the stage.

She eagerly walked up to them, wanting to get their autographs.

"Kan jeg få autografen din?" She asked, to which her favourite band member, Alexandra, nodded.

She sat back down on the bench, her heart was beating a million beats per second. She'd never seen KEiiNO in a concert before, let alone get their autographs!

It was beginning to snow when the concert started. Then she saw him, it was Tix.

Andreas Haukeland, or Tix, was her all-time favourite Norwegian artist. He was standing talking to his girlfriend, Efendi.

"Sett dere, alle sammen! Konserten er i ferd med å starte!" The woman who Aurora recognised as Christine Dancke announced.

She was about to applaud with the crowd of people that had now gathered, but something didn't feel right.

She glanced around. The man dressed in black was gone. She didn't have time to scream out for anyone as she felt hands gripping her from behind.

~

Liam Muharremaj woke up. It was 5 am on the morning of his birthday.

He could hear his older sister, Kayla, leaving their house and heading to work. He stared up at the ceiling.

Kalya never missed one of his birthdays, this was the first time.

He smiled slightly, thinking of the day ahead of him. He would be going to the most popular ice-rink in Switzerland with his girlfriend, Mia.

He hadn't seen her since she'd left for university in September. It was now December 17th.

Liam decided to get up, as he wanted to get ready early so he could buy Mia her Christmas present.

He knew exactly what she wanted. It was the one thing she'd begged her parents to get for her, but they'd never given in.

He put on his coat and hat, walking to the train station that was a few minutes away from his house.

It was bitterly cold, but he didn't mind it. He entered the train and sat down next to a person who was dressed in all black.

He thought they looked strange but didn't comment on them. His phone vibrated, Kayla had texted him.

Her message read, 'Avez-vous entendu dire que partout dans le monde, des gens sont kidnappés? Il y a quelques minutes, une fille de Norvège a été kidnappée... restez en sécurité quand vous êtes avec Mia!'

He frowned. People all over the world were getting kidnapped? He felt bad for the Norwegian girl who'd gotten kidnapped minutes before...

He shifted in his seat, uncomfortably. Something felt... off, but he couldn't think of what it was.

A lot of people got off the train, leaving him and the person dressed in black sitting in the same train carriage.

He was about to get off the train with everyone else when he felt someone tap on his shoulder. He turned around and the black gloves of a person grabbed his neck.

He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. Then there was darkness.

~

Benjamin Christianson, or Benny Cristo as he preferred to be called, woke up in a dimly lit room. He was lying on a dirty, uncomfortably bed that was positioned against the wall.

He sat up, rubbing the back of his head and muttering Danish swears under his breath.

He could hear people talking, but he couldn't understand what they were saying. He wished he'd paid more attention in his language classes at school...

He opened the door and saw two people sitting at a table, arguing in different languages.

"Jeg vet ikke hvordan vi kom hit, ok?!" Argued a girl with blonde hair.

"Je ne peux pas te comprendre..." Another person, a dark-haired boy, muttered.

"Hvem er du?" Benny asked, his voice was shaking.

"Endelig et nordisk! Hvor er du fra?"

"Danmark, dig?"

"Norge..."

They stared at eachother for a long time. Norwegians and Danes were commonly friends, but there was something that felt odd between them.

"Så hvor er vi?" Benny asked, after a minute of awkward silence.

"Jeg vet ikke, jeg forstår ikke hva han sier..." The girl muttered, gesturing to the boy sitting opposite her.

He had neatly cut, curly black hair and grey eyes, like whirlpools of rainclouds.

"Est-ce que quelqu'un parle français ? Je commence à renoncer à essayer de comprendre ce que vous dites tous les deux..." He said, avoiding the Nordic's eyes.

Just as Benny was about to reply, there was a high pitched scream from one of the other rooms.

The door to the room opened and two girls tumbled out, both shaking and breathing heavily.

"biz haradayıq?" The first girl asked, her voice was quiet yet it projected around the room.

The other girl sat up, rubbing her head, "Nu-mi amintesc nimic, ce s-a întâmplat?"

It seemed that Benny and the other girl were the only two that could understand eachother and at that, Danish and Norwegian had some differences.

"Jeg glemte at spørge, hvad er dit navn?" He asked.

She could just about make out what he was trying to ask, "Aurora, du?"

"Benny-" He was about to ask more, when the lights above them started to flicker on and off...