AURORA (Original Novel)

Chapter 16. Let's fly

A black Volkswagen drove up to Thomas's house. Ulle was sitting behind the wheel with a cigarette in his mouth. Before the New Year, he had to return to Gruve because his sister went crazy. The mother could not find a place, and the father strictly ordered his son to drag his ass back home. Camilla had been lying in a fever for ten days, not letting anyone except her mother near her bed and clutching a crucifix in her hands. She came home from school all soapy and torn, but did not say what happened to her, only twitching at every rustle and sudden movement. Olaf was convinced that his daughter was attacked by some villains. They took her to the doctor, thinking that the girl could have been raped, but this was not confirmed. At this time, Ulle could not stay at home for a long time, listen to his sister's sobs in the next room and see his mother's frightened gaze, so as soon as he had the chance, he slipped away. After everything that had happened, he didn't really want to see Thomas, but he was the only one, besides Boshe, with whom he could discuss the mysterious return of the victim from the other world. The fat man was constantly stuck at home and didn't want to remember anything and fill his head with different theories. Whether he wanted to or not, Ege decided to visit the shaved man. Large flakes of snow swirled in a slow dance, all the houses already had decorations, everyone celebrated the holiday in any way. Somewhere the decorations dedicated to Christmas were still glowing, somewhere an old man in a red sheepskin coat was driving his sleigh pulled by reindeer.

Trem was filled with a fairy-tale spirit, even the boats at the pier at dusk were flashing with colorful garlands. Only Thomas's apartment stood as a gloomy spot among the cheerful, atmosphere of the street. Ulle put out his cigarette butt in the ashtray and, shivering, got out of the car. There was no light in the windows; they were all taped up on the ground floor or tightly curtained from the inside with curtains and strange rags; the sight was strange and suspicious. Ege called Elstad a couple of hours ago, but no one answered the phone. Stomping his feet on the wooden steps of the porch, shaking off the accumulated snow, he knocked on the doorframe. From the depths of the house there was a dull sound, as if something had fallen.

"Thomas, it's me, Ulle!" The guy shouted. No one was in a hurry to open it. He rapped his knuckles on the rough board a few more times, silence was the answer. "Well, to hell with him!" Camilla's brother thought and ran downstairs. He got into the car and turned the key in the ignition, starting the engine. Today at exactly seven o'clock in the evening they were waiting for him at the quarry. Ege's friends decided to throw a party in a picturesque place. No one had any particular desire to call the shaved man; everyone knew his bad character, especially Ulle and Boshe. Thomas has been acting very strange lately. Horror, there's no other way to describe what happened in the abandoned place, it changed Elstad a lot, something switched in his head. Hidden aggression for the time being burst out, and an unpleasant shine appeared in his eyes, as did the smell; they said that the shaved man began to smell like rotten meat, but of course no one said this to his face. Ulle himself was very worried about what happened; of course, what worried him most was the possibility of going to prison. He was also afraid of his father, thinking that perhaps if he found out the truth, then he, Ulle, would not live to see the prison cell, Olaf would not allow shame to happen in his family and would rather finish off his son by writing everything off as an accident, thereby preserving his good name.

The guy was struck by the anger of the shaved man; he had never been a sweetheart, but the delusional ideas that cleared Elstad's brain grew into very nasty shoots. First a puppy, then a child. Ege decided to run away to Bergen to his uncle, who was just building a new house and, under the pretext of helping a relative, he planned to learn carpentry at the same time, the guy left, shaking with fear, away from his psychotic friend and bad memories. Then the incredible happened and everything was resolved very well, in Ulle's opinion, but he was in no hurry to return, thinking about staying in the big city completely and getting a job as a construction worker. Damn Camilla, as her brother thought, apparently had eaten too much poisonous mushrooms, otherwise her behavior could not be explained, knowing what a sly fox his sister was, he suspected that she was just once again putting on a show, attracting unnecessary attention to herself, but when he saw how she peed herself in hysterical, I realized that this time there was no smell of playing an actress.