21 Walpurgis Night 1986

I know that Eva-Britt is worried about Leo too. She’s done her best to keep us together, while keeping Lasse and Leo apart, but it’s getting more and more difficult. The walls and the ceiling in the house are closing in. We are heading for a catastrophe, if no one does anything to stop it. If no one sacrifices himself or herself.

Walpurgis Night is fast approaching. You haven’t forgotten what’s going to happen, have you? How this story ends for Elita Svart?

Everything had gone exactly as Leo had hoped. The bitter coffee burned in his belly as he stood there in the middle of the kitchen, his head buzzing with intoxication and pride. He’d broken the spell, shown them all that it was possible to defeat Lasse Svart.

Now he wanted to speak to Elita alone, tell her about the cottage, show her the key. Tell her that it was all for real, that they could leave, just as he’d promised her before he went off to join the army.

Unfortunately, after Lasse had walked out and slammed the door, Lola had run upstairs and Elita had followed her, leaving only Leo and his mother in the kitchen.

‘You shouldn’t have done that,’ Eva-Britt whispered as she fastened the top button of his shirt and straightened his tie.

‘Why not? I’ve been practising all winter. One of the guys in my platoon is a Swedish champion in arm wrestling.’

Eva-Britt shook her head. ‘Lasse’s dangerous. You need to be careful – you saw the knife!’

Leo snorted. ‘He was only trying to scare me. Have you ever seen him stab someone?’

Eva-Britt didn’t reply.

‘I’m not scared of Lasse,’ Leo went on. ‘Not anymore.’ He placed his hands on his mother’s shoulders. ‘And you and Lola and Elita don’t need to be afraid either. We can take the car and leave right now, all four of us. One of my comrades has a cottage outside Ystad that we can borrow. Elita and I have already talked about it. I’ve got the key in my duffel bag. It’s all set up.’

Eva-Britt removed his hands, glanced around with a worried look on her face.

‘Don’t say that. Lasse will never let us go. You and me maybe, but not Lola, and definitely not Elita. He would never allow it – never! He’d rather kill both of you.’

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