John Lindqvist - Let The Right One In aka Let Me In

"No, not up for it today. But you run along. If you hurry you'll be able to fall in step with the rest."

"See you later."

"Will do."

They parted in the underpass. Larry left at a slow pace in the same direction as the children, and Morgan walked up the stairs. Now his entire body was freezing. Soup out of a packet wasn't so bad, particularly if you put a dash of milk in it.

Oskar was walking with his teacher. He needed to talk to someone and his teacher was the only one he could think of. Even so he would have switched groups given the chance. Jonny and Micke normally never chose the walking group when they had field trips, but they had today. They had whispered about something this morning, looking at him.

So Oskar walked with his teacher, not sure himself if it was for protection or because he needed to talk to a grown-up.

He had been going steady with Eli for five days now. They met every evening, outside. Oskar always told his mom he was going out to see Johan.

Yesterday evening Eli had come in through his window again. They had lain awake for a long time, told each other stories that started where the other person stopped. Then they had fallen asleep with their arms around each other and in the morning Eli was gone.

In his pocket, next to the old, well-thumbed, worn one there was now a new note that he had found on his desk this morning as he was getting ready to go to school.

I MUST BE GONE AND LIVE, OR STAY AND DIE. YOURS, ELI.

He knew it was a quote from Romeo and Juliet. Eli had told him that what she wrote in her first note came from there and Oskar had checked out the book from the school library. He liked it quite a bit, even though there were a lot of words he didn't understand. Her vestal livery is but sick and green. Did Eli understand all those words?

Jonny, Micke, and the girls were walking twenty meters behind Oskar and the teacher. They passed China Park where some daycare kids were sledding, their sharp cries slicing through the air. Oskar kicked at a clump of snow, lowered his voice and said:

"Marie-Louise?"

"Yes?"

"How do you know when you're in love?"

"Oh, I…"

His teacher pushed her hands into the pockets of her duffel coat and cast a glance at the sky. Oskar wondered if she was thinking of that guy that had come and waited for her at the school a few times. Oskar had not liked the look of him. He looked creepy.

"It depends on who you are, but… I would say that it's when you know… or at least when you really believe that this is the person you always want to be with."

"You mean, when you feel you can't live without that person."

"Yes, exactly. Two who can't live without the other… isn't that what love is?"

"Like Romeo and Juliet'.'

"Yes, and the bigger the obstacles… have you seen it?"

"Read it."

His teacher looked at him and gave him a smile that Oskar had always liked before but that he right now found a little disconcerting. He said quickly,

"What if it's two guys?"

"Then that's friendship. That's also a form of love. Or if you mean… well, two guys can also love each other in that way."

"How do they do it?"

His teacher lowered her voice.

"Well, not that there's anything wrong with it, but… if you want to talk more about it we'll have to come back to it another time."

They walked a few paces in silence, arrived at the hill that led down to Kvarnviken Bay. Ghost Hill. His teacher drew the smell of pine forest deep into her lungs. Then she said:

"You form a covenant with someone, a union. Regardless of whether you're a boy or a girl you form a covenant saying that… that it's you and that person. Something just between the two of you."

Oskar nodded. He heard the girls' voices getting closer. Soon they would come and claim the teacher's attention. That's what normally happened. He was walking so close to his teacher that their coats touched, and he said:

"Can you be… both girl and boy at the same time? Or neither?"

"No, not people. There are some kinds of animals that…"

Michelle ran up to them and shouted in her squeaky voice: "Miss! Jonny put snow down my back!"

They were halfway down the hill. Shortly thereafter all the girls were there and told her what Jonny and Micke had done.

Oskar slowed down, fell back a few paces. He turned around. Jonny and Micke were at the top of the hill. They waved to Oskar, who didn't wave back. Instead he reached for a big branch on the side of the path, stripping the small twigs off it as he walked.

He passed the reputedly haunted house that gave the hill its name. A giant warehouse with walls of corrugated iron that looked completely out of place among the small trees. On the wall that faced the hill someone had sprayed in large letters:

CAN WE HAVE YOUR MOPED?

The girls and the teacher played tag, running down the path along the water. He was not planning to catch up to them. He knew Jonny and Micke were behind him. He gripped his stick more tightly, kept going.

It was nice out today. The ice had formed several days ago and now it was thick enough that the skating group could go out on it, led by Mr. Avila. When Jonny and Micke said they wanted to join the walking group, Oskar had seriously thought about rushing home to grab his skates, switchir five days now. They met every evening, outside. Oskar always told his mom he was going out to see Johan.

Yesterday evening Eli had come in through his window again. They had lain awake for a long time, told each other stories that started where the other person stopped. Then they had fallen asleep with their arms around each other and in the morning Eli was gone.

In his pocket, next to the old, well-thumbed, worn one there was now a new note that he had found on his desk this morning as he was getting ready to go to school.

I MUST BE GONE AND LIVE, OR STAY AND DIE. YOURS, ELI.

He knew it was a quote from Romeo and Juliet. Eli had told him that what she wrote in her first note came from there and Oskar had checked out the book from the school library. He liked it quite a bit, even though there were a lot of words he didn't understand. Her vestal livery is but sick and green. "

Then they were on the ice. There was nothing for him to brace his feet against. They dragged him backwards, toward the sauna bathing hole. His heels made double tracks in the snow. In between them he dragged the stick, drawing a shallower line in the middle.

Far away on the ice he saw tiny moving figures. He screamed. Screamed for help.

"Holler away. Maybe they'll come in time to pull you out."

The open water gaped darkly only a few steps away. Oskar tensed all the muscles he could muster and flung himself to the side, twisting with a sudden wrenching motion. Micke lost his grip. Oskar dangled from Jonny's arms and swung the stick against his shin; it almost bounced out of his hand when wood met leg.

"Oww, damn!"

Jonny let go of him and Oskar fell to the ice. He got up at the edge of the hole in the ice, holding the stick in both hands. Jonny grabbed his shin.

"Fucking idiot. Now I'll fucking…"

Jonny approached him slowly, probably not daring to run because he was afraid of falling into the water himself if he pushed Oskar like that. He pointed at the stick.

"Put that down or I'll kill you. Get it?"

Oskar clenched his teeth. When Jonny was a little more than an arm's length away, Oscar swung the stick against his shoulder. Jonny ducked and Oskar felt a mute thwack in his hands when the heavy end of the stick struck Jonny square on the ear. He fell to the side like a bowling pin, landing outstretched on the ice, howling.

Micke, who had been a couple of steps behind Jonny, now started to back up, holding his hands in front of him.